Organizational Development, Equity, and Health

Developed by the Office of Sustainability in 2012, Green Spaces celebrates the efforts of offices and events that strive for sustainability. The program allows for three levels of certification (Bronze, Silver, and Green & Gold) in a process that encourages across campus to adopt sustainable practices in their work, school, and living environments. Participants sign up for the program and a leader within their organization is identified who guides the office or event planning through a series of sustainable actions. The actions are identified on an easy to use checklist that is customizable to the needs of the space or event itself. A Green Office is defined by the Office of Sustainability as a ‘work unit that has made a collective commitment to reducing resource use and improving the overall sustainability of their day to day operations.’ A Green Event is ‘an event of conference that incorporates multiple sustainable features into its delivery and attendees are encouraged

At OLE, we are proud to be recognized among the leaders and developers of learning and development on campus at the UofA. Check out an excerpt on learning and development opportunities from the April issue of the NASA newsletter entitled @WORK  (Sent 23 April 2013):   Learning & Development Opportunities—Everywhere You Look There are a number of venues from which you can access learning. There are also a variety of funding sources that you might be able to use in pursuit of your development goals. Within the Collective Agreement, you will find tuition remission for University (of Alberta) Credit Courses as well as the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF). They provide support in very different ways. After one year of service, Regular and Auxiliary employees are entitled to a subsidy for credit courses. Tuition remission applies only to the instructional fee attached to the credit course; as a student, you are still responsible for all the non-instructional fees (e.

The Following sessions are currently open for registration:   Pathways Learning Series   The following sessions are targeted for Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series. Creative and Critical Thinking - REGISTER  Date(s): 6 May, 2013 Time: 1:00 to 4:30 Location: 1-38, University Terrace Fee: Free Audience: Open to all Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Dare to Discover 101 - REGISTER  Date(s): 15 May, 2013 Time: 8:30 to 4:00 Location: Glacier Room, Lister Conference Centre Fee: Free Audience: Open to all Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Maximizing Performance - REGISTER  Date(s): 22 May, 2013 Time: 8:30 to 12:00 Location: 1-38, University Terrace Fee: Free Audience: Open to all Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness T

The Following sessions are currently open for registration:   Pathways Learning Series   The following sessions are targeted for Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series. Teams from Good to Great - REGISTER  Date(s): 8 April, 2013 Time: 1:00pm - 4:30pm Location: 1 - 38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Communicating Through Conflict - REGISTER  Date(s): 10 April, 2013 Time: 8:30am - 4:30pm Location: 1 - 38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Respect 101 - REGISTER  Date(s): 22 April, 2013 Time: 1:00pm - 4:30pm Location: 1-38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Emotional Intelligence - REGISTER  Date(s): 25 April, 2013 Time: 8:30am - 12:00pm Location: 1-38, University Terrace Fee: Free – Refreshments Provided Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness MBTI - REGISTER  Date(s)

GIVE to Habitat for Humanity By now you have heard about the upcoming exciting support staff learning event GIVE, GROW, PLAY, scheduled for June 25th and June 26th, 2013. One of the objectives of GIVE, GROW, PLAY is to give U of A support staff the opportunity to increase awareness of, and interaction with, the community in which they live. For more information on this great event, visit: www.hrs.ualberta.ca/GiveGrowPlay  As part of the event, there will be several opportunities for staff within the U of A to give back to our community. A Blood Drive for Canadian Blood Services is already underway and we are now excited to tell you about another great opportunity to give back. Have you ever considered volunteering your time in order to learn new skills, make a difference, meet new people, or see a different reality? Then join the GIVE, GROW, PLAY Habitat for Humanity Build! Habitat for Humanity Canada is an organization that believes that every Canadian family des

Each year Skillsoft honors clients for their work in corporate learning and development. The purpose of the awards program is to recognize innovative ideas, powerful programs and inspiring leaders who are helping to transform the corporate learning landscape by leveraging Skillsoft's products and services. The University of Alberta has been nominated this year for the Program of the Year for our Pathways Learning Series. The Pathways Learning Series was launched in January 2012, and is designed to empower support staff to develop and practice skills around seven core competencies: Demonstrating Organizational Citizenship  Communicating  Providing Service  Thriving as a Team Member  Being Adaptable and Flexible  Using Technology and Equipment  Demonstrating Professionalism  The program offers 19 face-to-face workshops and/or a series of online courses through Skillsoft. Our approach to designing and marketing the program caught the attention of our partners at Ski

Your first opportunity to GIVE! One of the objectives of the GIVE, GROW, PLAY learning event is to give U of A support staff the opportunity to increase our awareness of, and interaction with, the community in which we live. As part of the event, there will be several opportunities for staff within the U of A to give back to our community. One of those opportunities is available to you right now! The University has joined forces with Canadian Blood Services as a Partner for Life . The Partners for Life Program is a nationwide program that is designed for corporate and community organizations to join forces with Canadian Blood Services and and save lives. One unit of blood can save the lives of up to three people. To have your donation counted as part of the Partners for Life Program anywhere and any time you donate, register as a Partners for Life member at www.blood.ca/partnersforlife Click ‘Join Partners for Life’ and you will then be able to enter the U of A's partner

The Following sessions are currently open for registration:   Pathways Learning Series   The following sessions are targeted for Support Staff as part of the Pathways Learning Series. Verbal Communication - REGISTER  Date(s): 4 March, 2013 Time: 1:00pm - 4:30pm Location: 1 - 38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Personal Sides of Change and Transition - REGISTER  Date(s): 6 March, 2013 Time: 8:30 - 12:00 Location: 1 - 38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Written Communication - REGISTER  Date(s): 13 March, 2013 Time: 8:30am - 12:00pm Location: 1-38, University Terrace Fee: Free Facilitator: Organizational Learning and Effectiveness Utilizing Technology & Equipment - REGISTER  Module 1 - Familiarizing and Finding the Tools I Need Module 2 - Building my Tools Set Date(s): 20 March, 2013 Time: 8:30am - 4:30pm Location: 1-38 (Morning) & 2-47 , Un

The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) and Organizational Learning and Effectiveness (OLE) are thrilled to announce that an exciting learning event for support staff is being planned for late June 2013: “GIVE, GROW, PLAY.” The event will be an opportunity for support staff to connect as a community and learn through:   GIVE –You will have several opportunities to come together, give back to the community, and learn through charitable and humanitarian organizations. There will be three opportunities to participate in a ‘giving’ activity through: Corporate Challenge Blood Drive, a Habitat for Humanity build in Edmonton, and Food Drive for the Campus and Edmonton Food Banks.  GROW - The event will include the usual conference-style program with speakers and short workshops. The event will have two identical days of programming, giving you lots of flexibility to attend what interests you. More information will follow on this in the coming months.  PLAY – The event will wra

DACUM 2013   This January marks a pivotal time for the University of Alberta Office of the Registrar as it represents the year in which the new Student Connect service model will be implemented. At OLE, we are involved in helping the Registrar’s Office define and develop a curriculum to support the new Student Connect Office and the whole team in the RO in ensuring that the student experience at the U of A is second to none! One of the first steps we have taken is in the area of defining training needs to support an updated training curriculum. The tool we are using is called a DACUM, which stands for D eveloping A C urricul um . DACUM is a model used for competency based training development. It is also sometimes referred to as a Job Task Analysis. It is comprised of 3 main components: competency analysis, competency-based program development, and competency-based program administration. The competency analysis is the first and most critical stage, it was also the st

As leaders of change, transformation and personal development, it is only fitting that a significant portion of our programming is focused around self-awareness and behaviour. We know that personality and preferences do not define character or behaviour, but they do impact actions, mind sets, and how people view the world. One tool that OLE uses to enhance individual and team awareness and to support inclusive team processes and communication is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The indicator was developed by Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, and based on theory originally proposed by Carl Jung. This Type Indicator tool relies on a series of questions designed to provide insight into individual personality preferences by categorizing and theming people’s choices into four areas of behaviour: E/I = Focus and direction of attention and energy, (where one prefers to focus to re-energize – from outside their person, or from within),  S/N = Ways people u

On December 7, 2012 , OLE hosted the inaugural Pathways Gala.    The celebration of learning took place in our training room in University Terrace, which was decked out with luminaria-style Pathways bags and lanterns.     We invited close to 60 people who completed at least one Pathways course in three or more Paths, either online or at a face-to-face workshop.   The event included some yummy appetizers, a Pathways-inspired activity to encourage mingling, and a short recognition ceremony.    We were thrilled to present Certificates of Recognition to the following people who have completed courses: One of the attendees has not only completed all of the content, but has submitted her assessment guides for all six Paths!      We presented Sherron Becker with an HBC blanket and Pathways “patches” for each competency.    Sherron Becker and Cara Jones Finally, we introduced our Trail Guides program, for Pathways graduates who want to give back and con