Course Content
Effective communication is vital in effective geoscience teams. Without it, poor decisions are made and morale slips, and individuals start looking for different opportunities. Leaders and mentors can increase their impact on retention of talent by engaging professionals in focused conversations. The purpose is to get beyond the short-term and think into the future. These Essential Conversations are low tech, high touch in-depth and long-term. They lay the foundation for key retention factors:
- Value-based, long-term career goals;
- Improved job fit and increased job satisfaction;
- Higher levels of personal performance;
- Increased power and influence through enhanced networking;
- Anticipation of the future through personal scenario planning;
- The conversations can also catalyze the discovery of hidden talents.
This seminar describes these conversations as a series of questions to be explored: What defines you? What drives you? How large is your network? Can you access everything you need? How are you positioned? What is your creative domain? What is your Plan B? ... and Plan C? These are questions that only need to be answered once. The answers do not become obsolete. But they need to be explored in some depth. It is a long-term investment by all parties; just as retention is a long-term issue. The conversations are also the basis for a final critical retention ingredient…mutual trust. The expense of time and effort will pay off, and is certainly preferable to the high cost of attrition.
Key Concepts
- Essential Conversations
- Value-based, Need-driven Career Goals
- What Drives You?
- Job Fit
- Networking as a Source of Power and Influence
- Positioning Professionals
- Creative Domain
- Managing Transition and Uncertainty
- Personal Scenario Planning
- Personal Career Profile
- Low-Tech, High Touch, In-Depth, Long-Term
Structure of the E-Symposium
Each e-symposium consists of one-hour live e-symposium, along with material for one full day of independent study. The live portion will be followed by a full day of independent study (not a live event). The one-hour live e-symposium can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world using a high-speed internet connection. After the event is over, you will receive via email information about accessing the asynchronous segment (not live) which consists of your independent study materials, to be accessed and studied at any time. You will be able to email responses to the readings, along with your study question answers for CEU credit (if you sign up for the extended package).