Category: Development and Training

Training, education and ongoing professional development is very important to your ongoing success at MSU. This category highlights professional development news, views and opportunities.

Interested in Learning about Emotional Intelligence?

Published on by Megan MacGregorLeave a comment

The essence of emotional intelligence (also known as EQ or EI) is our ability to identify and manage our own emotions and to identify emotions in others and manage interpersonal relationships. In today’s high-stress, multi-tasking workplace, having a high EQ can lead to better stress management, stronger relationships and increased job satisfaction.

Organization and Professional Development  is offering two new courses about emotional intelligence, one for all employee types and one with a leadership focus:

Honing Your Emotional Intelligence

Isn’t it interesting how some people have the seemingly natural talent for handling themselves and/or others with ease? Most likely, these individuals have mastered the principles found within EQ. Specifically, this course will focus on:

  • Why EQ is an essential competency in today’s work world.
  • How to fully engage the four fundamental areas of EQ: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
  • How to increase your EQ.
  • Why EQ has a direct impact on job satisfaction and performance excellence.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

A strong leader ignites motivation and unleashes productivity creating an environment in which individuals want to follow. Specifically, the course will focus on:

  • A case for EQ as a necessary leadership competency.
  • The link between EQ, retention, motivation and productivity.
  • The four competencies of EQ (self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skill).
  • Building skill as it relates to the four competencies of EQ.
  • How to design an emotional intelligent culture.

Ready to sign up?

Register for courses by logging into the EBS Portal and selecting My Career and Training, then Courses for Employees at MSU. Click Browse Current Courses, then Organization and Professional Development. You’ll find both of the above courses in the All Current Courses folder.

No time for class? Visit elevateU.

The online learning platform elevateU has tons of resources related to emotional intelligence that you can work through at your own pace. Access elevateU here and select the ‘Develop Your Professional Skill Set’ icon on the homepage to dive right into resources about EQ.

Financial Knowledge for All: Upcoming Workshops

Published on by MSU Human Resources2 Comments

Setting a budget. Managing debt. Planning for a loved one’s future college education expenses. You may find yourself in the midst of one or all of these financial situations and looking for financial knowledge and tips to help you manage everything. Retirement vendor, TIAA, is hosting several upcoming workshops as a part of their Financial Essentials education to provide free workshops to staff and faculty. Click the workshop location to register.

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Start saving and financial planning for the future.

 

Lifetime Income: Help secure your retirement
Wednesday, November 8, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Live Webinar

This webinar will discuss planning for retirement now, financial risks during working years and in retirement and the importance of creating an income stream for life.

College Savings Seminar
Wednesday, November 15, Noon – 1 p.m.
Chittenden Hall, Room 110

RSVP here by November 14.

This session will provide information on how you can start saving for your loved ones’ higher education expenses with Michigan’s 529 College Savings Plan.

Managing Difficult Customers

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Every day, we are faced with new situations, people and conflicts. Organization and Professional Development has created a class to help you prevent and de-escalate situations.

In this featured course, attendee’s will be provided with practical information and methods designed to enhance internal and external customer service, learn strategies to maximize individual and team performance, positive communication and cohesiveness to manage circumstances before, during and after the situation.

The objectives of this course include:

  • Learn self-management techniques to enhance one’s ability to effectively navigate a potentially difficult situation.
  • Learn to proactively identify precipitating factors, situations, and dispositions that could be warning signs.
  • Explore the Integrated Experience and Verbal Escalation Continuums.
  • Learn, discuss, and practice non-violent (hands off) crisis intervention techniques.

This course will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 am in Room 10, Nisbet. Come out and learn something new and share your experiences!

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Happy National Online Learning Day!

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A vital part to a successful career is constant development and training. MSU HR and MSU IT have teamed together to create a way for our employees to constantly learn and develop new skills from the comfort of their own computer.

elevateU resources include traditional online courses, job aids, skill briefs, business impacts, challenge series, simulations, books, videos, practice tests and mentoring. Another unique feature is inGenius too, a tool that can assist you in social networking and bringing together a community with similar interests to you.

Course content ranges from leadership, IT & Desktop, Finance and Human Resources, to Change Management, Project Management, Interpersonal Skills and more.

elevateU is available on all computers and now, mobile! Android and iOS users can download the Skillsoft Learning App to access elevateU courses on the go.

To login to your elevateU profile, use your MSU NetID and password.

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PDS Highlight “Everything DiSC: Behavior Styles at Work”

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Have you ever wondered why some people just don’t get you? Or ever thought, “I thought I did exactly what was expected…how could there have been such a big misunderstanding?” You’re not alone! Most of us have felt that way at one time or another.

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It’s important to realize that no work behavioral style is necessarily better than another. The key is understanding yourself and learning how to flex your style when working with others who are different. The good news is that there’s a simple tool designed to help you understand yourself and others.

The upcoming Professional Development class, “Everything DiSC: Behavior Styles at Work” will help you build more effective working relationships based on an understanding of different behavior styles. The class will give you a detailed report that will be a roadmap to greater understanding.

“Everything DiSC: Behavior Styles at Work” is Wednesday, August 9, 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. in 10 Nisbet. The cost is $75.

Upcoming ARO Training for Staffing Coordinators

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As part of the Agile Recruiting & Onboarding (ARO) project, MSU Human Resources will begin training sessions this week for those who may hold a staffing coordinator role on job postings.

Three training session options will be offered; two are in-person in the Erickson Kiva and one is online via Zoom. You only need to register for one session because they all will provide training on the same information, so please choose the date and time that works best with your schedule.

msu-aro-identity-full_blue-blackThe sessions are:

Friday, March 24, 2017
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Erickson Kiva
Register Here

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom*
Register Here

Friday, March 31, 2017
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Erickson Kiva
Register Here

During this training, there is a blended learning approach of self-paced eLearning and scheduled, live training sessions. You will gain basic software and process knowledge through the eLearning modules, followed by presenter-led sessions that include demonstrations, key takeaways and opportunities to ask questions. Be sure to review the Staffing Coordinator eLearning Module prior to attending a training session, and look over the Staffing Coordinator Training Guide.

MSU HR is committed to ensuring that you, the MSU hiring community, have the information and knowledge you need to recruit and hire the most qualified candidates using our new system. Without your partnership, ARO cannot succeed, so be sure to register for a training session today!

We look forward to seeing you!

Agile Recruiting and Onboarding (ARO) Coming Soon

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The Agile Recruiting and Onboarding (ARO) project officially formed in April 2016 as “an initiative to strengthen hiring, recruiting and onboarding processes and systems.” The ARO project will be implementing PageUp People, a modern and efficient applicant tracking and onboarding system. Careers @ MSU will be the name of the new website for applying; there will be internal and external versions of the site. New features include a variety of filters to search postings, the ability to upload a CV/resume to prefill portions of the application, the ability to apply to postings from a tablet or mobile device, and many more.msu-aro-identity-full_blue-blackThe planned outcomes of these changes include the following:

  • Automate candidate evaluation and selection
  • Address time it takes to fill positions
  • Deliver more robust system functionality
  • Improve processes with fewer manual steps
  • Offer new onboarding tools
  • Enhance reporting measures and metrics
  • Improve applicant experience

Overview Roadshows will be open to MSU employees interested in learning more about the ARO project and the new systems. Topics include a project overview, system roles and features, and the applicant experience. Visit the ARO Training and Education page for more information.

ARO will go-live on Wednesday, April 26. For more information and for answers to some frequently asked questions, visit ARO FAQs.

Faculty Performance Review Workshop

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The Academic Advancement Network is hosting an informal workshop for academic administrators on the topic of faculty performance reviews. During this session, participants will learn about evaluation of tenure track faculty from two perspectives – the annual performance review and consideration for merit and market raise recommendations.

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Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.

In addition to the workshop, there are resources available online to help academic administrators conduct faculty performance reviews. On the HR website, there is information concerning what questions you should ask, how to format the review and how to write the review.

The workshop will be held Wednesday February 22, 2017, from 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. in the Hannah Administration Building 4th floor board room. If you are interested in attending, you can register online through the AAN website.

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

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At MSU, there are endless opportunities to learn something new or further develop an existing skill, including Professional Development Services (PDS) of Human Resources. PDS helps staff and departments excel through instructor-led classes, online training, leadership development and departmental programs. This February and March, PDS has several great classes to help you continue your success at MSU.

Crucial Conversations will take place on Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in 10 Nisbet. This program will teach step-by-step tools for promoting open, honest dialogue around high-stakes, emotional, or risky topics at all levels of an organization.

Core Competencies for Supervisors will be held on Tuesday, March 7, from 8:30 a.m. – noon in 10 Nisbet. This program explores how the role of a supervisor adds value to an organization, how to successfully move from peer to supervisor, and how to build communication skills, motivate and give effective feedback.

Communicating and Influencing Up will take place on Tuesday, March 7, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. in 10 Nisbet. This class will cover the fundamentals of effective communication, specifically focusing on using communication skills to influence others.

Don’t miss out on any of these great professional development opportunities, and sign up for what could lead to the next step-up in your career! Visit Professional Development Services for more information.

Preparing for an Internal Interview

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If you’re looking for a different opportunity internally, you will need to prepare for the internal interview just like you would if you were an outside candidate. In many ways, it can be more difficult to prepare for an internal interview because you are working from a set of assumptions that you already know the culture and the work.

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Make sure to prepare for an internal interview as if you were an outside candidate.

Here are some tips to help you understand the hiring process and prepare for the interview.

  1. At MSU, applicants are screened based on the stated minimums. Units will then review candidates based on all of the job factors.
  2. Update your resume for each job.
    1. If your resume has an objective, replace it with a professional summary of skills.
    2. Include actual metrics in your resume. If you state you serve customers, include how many a week/month/year? You must show evidence of your accomplishments.
  3. Prepare early. Ask for advice and attend regular professional development opportunities to keep your skills up.
  4. Do your research. Seek out information on the department: what do they do, who are the key players, what is their role in the University, what research are they doing? A simple web search can yield enough information to ask intelligent questions.
  5. Have questions prepared for the interview. Be honest about what you need out of the job. What is the type of work you most like to do? What is the culture where you will most thrive? Dress professionally. The old adage “dress for the job you want” is a little different these days, but make sure that clothing that is clean, pressed and stain-free.
  6. Don’t assume being an internal candidate is a plus. Remember that many hiring managers are looking for fresh ideas and may want to implement changes. Address these issues through your answers as to why you are the best candidate to implement new ideas.
  7. If you know your interviewer well, do not short cut your answers. You should approach your interview with friendly formalness, but remember that the interviewing team cannot “fill in the blanks.” This is particularly true if there is a panel. You are being compared to other candidates.
  8. Let your boss know. Your supervisor’s support can be a key factor in helping you reach your goals.
  9. Be honest. It’s likely you have made mistakes in the past, who hasn’t? Know your reputation before you interview and address any issues head on with a candid approach. Demonstrate that you’ve learned from these missteps.
  10. Say thank you. Courteous and professional thank you notes are still appreciated. Make sure you have their names spelled correctly! Nothing says “lack of detail” like having a person’s name spelled wrong.

For more information on this topic, visit the MSU HR website.