- May 30, 2012
- 1:01 pm
- khustad
EMERGE this summer
Have you ever been stuck on how to craft an e-mail? Have you ever struggled with a difficult conversation in the workplace?
This summer any Loyola staff member can learn how to confront these tricky, but common, workplace challenges with a course from EMERGE, a series of classes aimed at professional development. These classes are free of charge, exclusively for Loyola staff and faculty, and are taught by experts outside of Loyola. Courses are offered as an option for individual staff members looking to gain a little boost, or for departments hoping to help their entire staff grow together.
The summer course session begins June 5, and Jorene Richards, manager of human resources training and development, says that two particular classes “Writing Effective E-mails” and “Crucial Conversations” are two she is excited to be offering this summer, as they have been popular in the past.
“Writing Effective E-mails” she says, is especially helpful as e-mail has become a dominant form of communication in today’s workplace.
“A lot of people communicate by e-mail and it is kind of tricky,” she says. “There are rules to keeping a polite, professional business relationship. Sometimes people get a little too casual, and sometimes things can be misconstrued.”
She also points out that the course is being taught by Donna Young, author of Angry E-Mail: How to Put a Lid on It, who was recently featured in a Chicago Tribune article on how to properly send e-mails at work. Young offers tips like creating a personal link and editing before sending.
“Crucial Conversations” on the other hand, deals difficult conversations that are a necessary evil of any work environment. Richards points out that often people are so uncomfortable with the situation, they end up not having these conversations, and the side effects can infect other areas of work.
“You either talk it out or act it out,” she says. “If you don’t have those conversations to let people know they are taking advantage of you, we don’t talk it out we act it out instead, [because] we really have not addressed this larger issue.”
However, with EMERGE, faculty and staff members can rest assured the program will be based on the best. The course is based on The New York Times best-selling book by the same name (Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When The Stakes Are High) which deals with how to keep cool, whether the conversation is over a promotion or an argument with a significant other.
Though classes are taught year round, summer offers a chance to work on the little things that may have been pushed to the wayside during the busy school year, or even as a way to make a good thing better. Richards says though some departments use the classes as a way to tweak issues, some departments look at taking classes as a way to build on an already productive work environment. Professional development, she says, is always beneficial.
“I think that professional development is always important here at Loyola,” she says. “Our promise is to prepare our students for an extraordinary life; I think our organization is committed to helping all people develop and be the best they can be. These EMERGE classes are no cost, time-effective, and convenient way for people to develop and grow.”
For a full list of classes and more about EMERGE, visit the website here. If you are interested in setting up a specific class just for your department, e-mail Jorene Richards at jrich1@luc.edu.
