Supervisor Development Opportunities, Fall 2016-Spring 2017

Date* / Event Title / Targeted Competency / Description
Location
October
7, 14, 21, 28
November 4
9:00-3:30 / Crucial Conversation Suites- OPTION 1
Training / Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Accountability / The Crucial Conversations Training Suite will enable you to explore the skills you need to find your voice when stakes are high, emotions are strong, opinions clash,andothers have let you down, violated expectations, broken promises, or behaved badly. You'll learn how tospeak honestly, clearly, and respectfully,and derive a plan that bothmotivatesandenablesthe other person to change behaviors successfully.
HR Training Rm., IBC Bank Building
October 10
11:30-1:00 / Communicating Change
Supervisor Roundtable / Communication / Communicating effectively can be challenging. Change can be difficult, and often meets with resistance. Communicating (about) Change can seem like a daunting task . . . but it doesn’t have to be. Join us to discuss barriers to communicating and to change, brainstorm ways to communicate change, and walk away with some best practices for delivering your message and garnering support for the impending change.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
October
11, 18, 25
November 1, 8
9:00-3:30 / Crucial Conversation Suites- OPTION 2
Training / Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Accountability / The Crucial Conversations Training Suite will enable you to explore the skills you need to find your voice when stakes are high, emotions are strong, opinions clash,andothers have let you down, violated expectations, broken promises, or behaved badly. You'll learn how tospeak honestly, clearly, and respectfully,and derive a plan that bothmotivatesandenablesthe other person to change behaviors successfully.
HR Training Rm., IBC Bank Building
October 20
9:00-noon / Presenting with Confidence
Workshop / Communication
Strategic Focus / Through the use of hands-on activities and authentic examples, participants will gain exposure to topics like creating a presentation story line, identifying the expectations of an audience, applying appropriate design principles, and speaking with confidence. This workshop will help you learn how to organize your thoughts, design better slides, and appear more confident when presenting.
HR Training Rm., IBC Bank Building
October 27
9:00-10:30 / Bagels & Laws
Forum / Compliance
Accountability / Bagels & Laws is a forum for Rice supervisors to learn about different employment laws and regulations, how they impact their staff and their work, and how to safely navigate them. Some of the topics covered include: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination laws, Pay Transparency, and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).The session this fall (10/27) will largely focus on the interrelation of the FMLA, ADA, Short Term Disability (STD), and Worker’s Comp (WC).
Farnsworth Pavilion (Student
Center)
November 7
11:30-1:00 / Getting Things Done
Supervisor Roundtable / Accountability
Decision Making
Strategic Focus / We all have the same 168 hours in a week, so how is it that some people seem to get things done and find time to relax and play, while the rest of us feel like the proverbial hamster in the wheel, constantly in motion but not sure our efforts are yielding good results, let alone relaxation time?
If you find yourself in the latter category, this session is for you! Join us for the November Supervisor Roundtable, where you will:
  • learn some key steps, and important thought processes, for managing your workflow at work, at home, in your life
  • practice putting these steps into action
  • preview a program that can assist you in managing your workflow
  • leave with some guidelines and a tool to help you manage the “stuff” in your life.

Miner Lounge (Student Center)
December 5
11:30-1:00 / Boundary Spanning & Crowd Sourcing
Supervisor Roundtable / Collaboration / Rice is a community of smart, resourceful people who collectively know a lot about getting the job done effectively and efficiently. But our silos and focused attention on our own tasks often prevent us from leveraging the wisdom of the masses. At the December Supervisor Roundtable, let’s hit the “pause” button for 90 minutes, kick off Employee Learning Week, and come together to share resources, tips, tricks, and best practices. Bring lists of your favorite websites, go-to colleagues, templates, and “can’t live without” tools. Leave with even longer lists of useful websites, go-to colleagues, and other resources to help you work more efficiently and effectively.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
December
13-15
9:00-3:00 / Influencer
Training / Communication
Developing Others / Influencer Training teaches proven strategies for successfully uprooting entrenched habits, driving sustained improvement, and executing change initiatives. It can help you become empowered to solve problems within your team and learn to diagnose the real causes behind problems and create real solutions. Finally, you will learn the best way to influence across the organization, with or without formal authority.
HR Training Rm., IBC Bank Building
January 23
11:30-1:00 / Vision Casting
Supervisor Roundtable / Strategic Focus
Leadership
Accountability / You’ve heard the saying, “if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time”. Great leaders know that sharing their vision is the surest way of accomplishing their goals. Take John F. Kennedy for example, he shared his vision of putting a man on the moon and did it. Or even our very own founder, Edgar Lovett; who envisioned a “university standing of the highest grade”, and proposed “no upper limit to [Rice’s] educational endeavor”. These leaders not only shared their vision, but they created enthusiasm and support from others to achieve their visions.
Effective leaders know that visions determine their mission and outcome. Therefore it is critical that leaders not only know what their mission and vision is, but that they also communicate it in a way that generates passion and commitment from others.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
February 27
11:30-1:00 / Developing Yourself: Put Your Oxygen Mask on First
Supervisor Roundtable / Developing Others
Leadership / If you have traveled anywhere by airplane, you have no doubt heard the flight attendant say “Put your OWN oxygen mask on first”as it pertains to how to respond to situations. Basically, taking care of your needs first will allow you to best assist others. It is no different with professional development. In today’s world of constant change, professional s must make development a priority by first modeling its significance through self-development.
As Supervisors it can be hard to maintain self-focus as we are pulled in many directions while at work and even personally. Luckily, there are many avenues available that will allow you to develop effectively and intentionally while also meeting your individual needs for learning, accessibility and limited time for development. Join us as we assess your self-development and present options, both at and outside of Rice, that will support you in developing professionally and ultimately being a more effective supervisor.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
March 27
11:30-1:00 / Developing Your Staff
Supervisor Roundtable / Developing Others / Are there real benefits to intentional staff development? Let’s be honest, as a supervisor it can be challenging to develop our staff. Time and resources are limited and each person has unique needs despite the job they occupy. Here’s the good news…you are not in it alone!
Not only are there substantial benefits, staff development does not have to be time-consuming, budget-busting or solely developed and maintained by the supervisor. Learn about the 5 conversations you should have with each employee and how to co-develop a plan where the employee takes ownership with your support, as well as the support of Rice University. You will also receive a tool that will guide you in facilitating this process and how to access associated tools and resources.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
April 24
11:30-1:00 / Flexing Your Leadership Style
Supervisor Roundtable / Authentic Leadership / Why should YOU have to adjust your style, and why is flexing even necessary? Well, you may be able to get away with not “flexing” in the gym but in today’s work environment, it is non-negotiable. Considering the pace of our work day to day, and the consistency of change overall, being flexible is a huge leadership advantage. Add in the fact that you work with a diverse range of people and situations and you can see the need to “flex” is becoming more and more important for leaders.
As supervisors and leaders, we all have strengths and experiences to leverage when leading others. Like it or not, we all also have blind spots and areas to improve as leaders. Join us as we explore flexing one’s leadership style, including when and how to do so in a way that is most effective and least costly to you personally. We also will tie in the 4 areas of emotional intelligence, and discuss not only how each impacts the way you may be perceived as a leader, but also what situations may derail you in your goal to be an effective leader.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)
May 15
11:30-1:00 / Courageous Decision Making
Supervisor Roundtable / Decision Making
Authentic Leadership / Making decisions is hard. Making decisions that affect others and which may not be popular can be grueling to make. A lot of people can be paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong or unpopular decision because of the consequences, how others will view them, or even how the decision will make them feel. However, as difficult as it may seem, decision making is a critical part of a supervisor’s job and is necessary to move organizations and projects forward. Join us for this month’s discussion on Courageous Decision Making and learn some tips to take the fear out of decision making and replace it with courage.
Miner Lounge (Student Center)

*Registration details available in September