Annual Staff Development Workshop Series

Unlocking your Authentic Voice: The Art of Public Speaking   

9:00-11:00 am

Held in the Division of Human Resources Training Room, Suite 102 in the East Hill Office Building (EHOB) at 395 Pine Tree Rd.  

Ari Mack, Organizational Development & Effectiveness Senior Management Consultant

Nervous about leading that meeting? Losing sleep over how you’ll manage to give that talk in front of all those people? Join us for this staff development teaser program where you will explore how to unlock the power of authenticity in public speaking.  Our immersive course is designed to empower your voice and presence whether you're a seasoned speaker or stepping onto the stage for the first time. This class is tailored to help you connect deeply with your audience through genuine,  communication and impactful presence.

• Techniques to overcome nervousness and speak confidently.
• How to explore/discover your personal speaking style that reflects your true self and values.
• Strategies for connecting with your audience on multiple levels.
• Understand the importance of authenticity in building trust and credibility with an audience.
• Develop a toolkit of practical techniques to deliver memorable and impactful presentations.

Delegating for Development and Effectiveness  

1:00-3:00 pm

Held in the Division of Human Resources Training Room, Suite 102 in the East Hill Office Building (EHOB) at 395 Pine Tree Rd.  

Kathy Burkgren, AVP Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Delegating responsibility is a powerful statement to employees about how much they are trusted and how competent and valued they are considered to be to the organization. 

• Understand the importance of delegation and its impact. 
• Learn what you can do to support high performing individuals and teams. 
• Understand the impact of development opportunities. 
• Consider what gets in your way of delegating and what you might do to overcome it for you own health and wellbeing and to create opportunities for others.

How to Shine as an Internal Candidate

1:00-2:00 pm (Virtual)

Carolyn Chow, Talent Acquisition Partner, HR Recruitment & Employment Center

Would you like to expand your opportunities to grow within Cornell? Applying for an internal job posting may allow you to advance your career, move to a different department, and learn new skills. In this workshop, you will learn about Cornell’s recruiting process and what you can do to stand out as an internal candidate.

Coaching for Development: Up, Down and Across

9:00-11:00 am

Kathy Burkgren, AVP Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Coaching is key to helping colleagues all around you develop, whether a person is your peer, a direct report, or a people leader. This session focuses on how you can help others develop and create action plans to be more effective and move and implement their ideas to advance the organization.

Unleashing the Power of Your Team  

9:00-11:30 am

Marcus Brooks, Senior Management Consultant and Trainer, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

What does it mean to be a leader and unleash the power of your team? In this course, you will explore the behaviors and cultural issues that get in the way of leading effectively, as well as your role in creating an environment where all employees feel empowered.

• Understand what it means to be a leader and to empower someone 
• Explore the leader’s role in empowering their direct reports and the specific challenges faced by under-represented employees 
• Learn how to create an environment where employees can excel in their zone of genius 
• Understand what it means to thrive in the workplace

Leading Diverse Teams   

9:00-11:00 am

Tanya Grove, Assistant Director and Senior Management Consultant and Jennifer Fonseca, Senior Management Consultant, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Designed to equip you with essential insights and strategies for navigating the vibrant landscape of diverse teams. Uncover the undeniable value diversity brings to teams and organizations while exploring behaviors that cultivate an inclusive and empowering team culture. Gain a deeper understanding of your pivotal role in creating environments where everyone can thrive. This session explores what it truly means to foster a culture of inclusion that resonates throughout the organization. From identifying the keys to a truly inclusive culture to addressing the challenges that arise in a diverse workplace, we'll engage in discussions to empower you to lead with empathy, respect, and effectiveness in today's diverse work landscape.

• Understand how diversity benefits teams and organizations -Explore behaviors that promote an inclusive team environment 
• Develop an understanding of your role in creating the conditions where all individuals can thrive -Discover what it takes to have a culture of inclusion that permeates the organization
• Explore the challenges of a workplace characterized by difference

Managing Up  

11:00-12:30 pm

Ari Mack, Senior Management Consultant, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Managing up from any seat allows us to foster effective relationships throughout the organization, regardless of your role. In this session you’ll gain the awareness and tools that will help you consciously establish communication channels with your leaders! Explore managing up skills that help you be the architect of your own workplace experience!

So, You Want to Be a People Leader?

1:00-3:00 pm

Marcus Brooks, Senior Management Consultant and Trainer, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Discover if you have the desire and would like to acquire or hone the skills to be an excellent people leader. Data recently gathered at Cornell and supported by data being reported on across the world, indicates that people don’t leave jobs, they leave bad managers and toxic work environments. Too often in the past individuals who were good technical experts were chosen to lead and manage others. Often the skill that makes you the best technical expert is completely different than the skill of leading and managing others. Excellent people leaders are critical to creating a culture where people feel valued, a sense of belonging, and engaged. 

• Understand the role and expectations Cornell has of people leaders
• Learn the significance of people leaders having a passion for leading, developing, and coaching others towards the accomplishment of the mission and vision of the organization 
• Discover the importance of emotional intelligence in managing others 
• Learn the skills to lead and develop individuals and teams 
• Know the critical role coaching plays in developing others 
• Align and implement objectives to advance the strategy of the department

Online Learning 101

2:00-3:00 pm

Julia Leonard, Program Assistant, CIT Communications

This workshop is for those wanting to learn some tips to help make online learning easier to navigate. We will demonstrate how to log in and navigate many of the free online learning options available to active Faculty, Staff, and Students. Platforms such as CULearn, eCornell, Skillsoft, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft, Adobe, and Edx will be covered with time for questions as we go along.

Microsoft Teams

2:30-3:30 pm

Tom St. Martin, Logical Operations

Collaborate with Team Members in Real Time from Shared files. Organize your content to have focus and purpose; and make Just The Right stuff available to Just The Right People at Just The Right Time. Maximize the Effectiveness and Quality of your Team Efforts with these Powerful tools.

How to Prioritize Work When Everything Feels Important   

9:00-10:30 am

Tanya Grove, Assistant Director and Senior Management Consultant, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by your workload? Do you struggle to stay focused in a world full of distractions? Join us on a journey toward productivity mastery, where you will develop habits that will keep you agile and on track in an ever-changing environment. 

• Understand the steps for prioritizing work 
• Discover tools to manage work 
• Consider how to evaluate tasks based urgency and importance 
• Learn the 1-3-5 rule to planning work 
• Explore how to focus and be successful in a distracted world. 
• Develop habits to review and adjust priorities

HR 3083 Compassion Fatigue and Burnout

10-11 am

We are all vulnerable to compassion fatigue, whether as a result of working directly with people, the current state of affairs in our world, living amidst a global pandemic, the social unrest in so many of our communities, and/or the current polarized political climate. This workshop will get participants thinking about how they are managing in the current environment and what tools can be used to support our mental and social health.

De-Mystifying Burnout  10:30 am �� 12:00 pm

Ari Mack, Senior Management Consultant, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

Today’s workplace presents a multitude of challenges for us to overcome! It’s hard to be at our best when we feel bogged down by the weight of burnout. We will explore how to build awareness of what your burnout activators might be and how to effectively navigate through them while building resilience when stress and burnout set in.

Discover and Combat Microstress  

An interactive workshop with author Karen Dillon '86

12:30 - 2:00 pm

Register here

Do you ever crawl into bed exhausted and struggle to identify why, despite it seeming like just a "normal" day? Or, do you know why you're so tired, but feel at loss on what to do about it?

Karen Dillon’s research on high performers (with Babson professor Rob Cross) reveals a hidden culprit behind fatigue: microstress. Microstress is so subtle that you might not even know you're experiencing it. It can affect your performance at work and your everyday life. Microstress can pack a big punch, affecting your overall wellbeing and productivity. 

In this interactive workshop, we'll delve into the world of microstress:

• Learn what microstress is, the various forms it takes, where it comes from, and how our bodies respond to it.
• In small breakout groups, you'll assess your own sources of microstress and start crafting a plan to tackle them both personally and professionally.
• Discover how work culture can perpetuate microstress, identify red flags, and discuss strategies to shift towards a healthier environment.
• Explore insights from the top 10% of our research participants who handle microstress exceptionally well. 

The good news is once you understand where microstress comes from, you can do something about it. Years of social science research show that negative interactions have 3-5 times the impact of positive ones. So identifying and reducing even a few can make a significant difference in your overall wellbeing.

Karen Dillon '86 is a former editor of Harvard Business Review magazine and the coauthor of three books with Clayton Christensen, including the New York Times best-seller How Will You Measure Your Life? She’s also the co-author of The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems – and What to Do About It, which was named a Thinkers50 best management book of 2023. Currently on the faculty of Intermountain Leadership Institute and a contributing editor to Harvard Business Review, Dillon was named by Ashoka as one of the world’s most influential and inspiring women.

HR 3055 Managing and Facilitating Meetings  

1:00-2:30 pm

Marcus Brooks, Senior Management Consultant and Trainer, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

As a result of communicating in remote, onsite, and hybrid work environments, you will learn effective techniques for facilitating business meetings.

Navigating Negative Self-Talk  

2:00-3:30 pm

Ari Mack, Senior Management Consultant, Organizational Development & Effectiveness

You know the voice, now explore how to tend and befriend your negative self-talk! Join us as we create awareness and gain skills that help us turn our negative self-talk/thoughts into strengths and confidence!

Interviewing With Confidence  

2:30-3:30 pm 

Brad Stock, Talent Acquisition Partner, HR Recruitment & Employment Center

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Ben Franklin. Being offered an interview is exciting and can also be daunting. Hear from an expert recruiter about everything you need to prepare for your interview and feel equipped to answer confidently. You will learn how to present your true self, highlight your strongest attributes, and adequately prepare for anticipated questions. Walk into the next job interview with total confidence.

Meditation for the Non-Meditator  

3:30-4:15 pm

Kerry Howell, Director, Cornell University Wellness Program

Attend this workshop to try out 4 different forms of meditation all led by Kerry Howell, director of Cornell Wellness. Don’t consider yourself a meditator but intrigued by some of the health and wellness benefits associated with meditation such as decreased stress and anxiety, increased relaxation and concentration, improved sleep quality, improved ability to manage cravings and eating behaviors? Give this workshop a try and sample 5 minutes of each meditation style to see which ones resonate with you most. 

Write Your Next Chapter: 5 Steps to Setting Your Retirement Date

9:00-10:00 am

Grant Trisch, TIAA

For anyone starting to think seriously about when to retire, this webinar takes you through five steps to deciding when the time is right, including estimating retirement expenses, closing any income gap and understanding key milestones that can impact your retirement finances. 

Make the Most of Your Retirement Savings 

10:00-11:00 am

Fidelity

• See the importance of saving as much as possible 

• Learn the benefits of saving more 

• Identify different retirement account types

What Educational Benefits are Available to Me? 

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Michelle La Fave, Benefits Associate, Health and Welfare Benefit Programs

It really is possible to be a full-time employee and complete an undergraduate or graduate degree at the same time! One of the biggest advantages is that you have an open-ended graduation date. No pressure! Representatives from Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions will provide you with information on how to begin the process and answer your questions. 

Invest for Success: 5 Principles You Need to Know

12:00-1:00 pm

Grant Trisch, TIAA

No matter where you are in your career journey, this webinar can help you understand the key principles of investing for retirement. From compounding to taxes to choosing investments, you’ll learn that how you invest for retirement is just as important as how much you save.

How Can I Get a Degree While Working? 

1:00-2:00 pm

Michelle La Fave, Benefits Associate, Health and Welfare Benefit Programs

Managing coursework and a full-time job can be tough, but there are ways to make it work. Here’s an opportunity to meet participants in the Employee Degree Program and hear about their experiences combining work, family, and studies, each with a unique story about their journey.

Tackle Debt and Understand Your Credit Score

2:00-3:00 pm

Fidelity

• Discover different strategies for paying down debt 

• Learn how to better understand credit scores 

• Take better control of finances