BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID;X-RICAL-TZSOURCE=TZINFO:-//Calagator//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:Calagator METHOD:PUBLISH VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID;X-RICAL-TZSOURCE=TZINFO:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20111106T020000 RDATE:20111106T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CREATED;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120216T200650Z DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120308T210000 DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120308T180000 DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120216T200650Z LAST-MODIFIED;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20120216T200650Z UID:http://calagator.org/events/1250461975 DESCRIPTION:h1. Essential Soft Skills for Engineering Professionals \; \n \;\nh2. A 10 week seminar series presented on Thursday evenings fr om March 8th to May 10th \;\n6 pm - Check in and light dinner\, 7 pm – Presentation\, 8:15 – Small group discussion \;\n \;\n*Tektronix Conference Center\, Building 38 on Tektronix Campus\, at the Northwest corner of SW Terman Road and Zworykin Ave.\, Beaverton* \;\n \;\n* Max Stop:* Millikan Way MAX Station on Blue Line \;\n \;\nEnginee rs have the technical background their job requires\; however\, they oft en don’t understand the non-technical dynamics of working in a corporati on or the non-technical skills that are essential to success. Although e ngineering is based upon technical skills\, it is very much a human acti vity. It’s the people aspect of engineering that is the difference betwe en success and failure. Your degree prepared you for the technical side of engineering\, not the human side - the soft\, fuzzy side. This semin ar series provides an understanding of essential soft\, human skills and how they benefit one’s career. The importance of soft skills to your en gineering career is best shown inn the chart below which shows response s to the soft skills survey question: _How beneficial is an understandin g of the non-technical aspects of engineering?_ \;\n \;\n!https:// lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G81EbsF-PQc/Ty8P5SFUtcI/AAAAAAAAACE/ep-l4j6YL bU/s621/survey+result+q1.jpg! \;\n \;\nYou will gain an understand ing of soft skills\, their importance and how they benefit one’s career. This includes foundational skills – listening\, writing and verbal comm unications and\, more importantly understanding and adapting to your emp loyer’s culture. Specifically\, you will learn: \;\n \;\n* How to adapt to your new environment through understanding of the corporate hie rarchy\, history\, and culture \;\n* What it means to be a part of a team and how to get results \;\n* Understanding who you are and recog nizing your non-technical abilities \;\n* How to manage your time\, t asks\, and priorities \;\n* How emotions influence you and your inter actions with others \;\n* The importance of listening and the element s of effective verbal communications \;\n* The consequences of decisi ons and what influences decision making \;\n* Leadership – what it in volves and how leaders adapt \;\n* How to contribute through innovati on and entrepreneurship \;\n \;\nAfter each presentation there wil l be small group discussions lead by industry veterans to discuss the pr esentation. \;\n \;\nThis seminar series is particularly valuable for recent college graduates. It will provide invaluable insights that t ypically take years to acquire. The value of soft skills is best express ed by survey respondents: \;\n \;\np((. _“It [non-technical skills ] has allowed me to advance my career from being a technical contributor \, to a technical leader\, into technical management. …. I still heavily rely on my technical skills\, but the non-technical skills have allowed me to guide my career into areas that interest me.”_ \;\n \;\np(( ((. - Soft skills survey respondent \;\n \;\np((. _“I could not ha ve been a manager and a good employee in multi-talented\, many-thousand worker companies without such skills. Nor could I have contributed as a volunteer in professional societies or my communities.”_ \;\n \;\n p((((. - Soft skills survey respondent \;\n \;\np((. _“The ability to work well with people\, and communicate ideas well to other technica l leaders has given me many positions that elevated me above my peer gro up and furthered my career. This happened through all stages of my caree r.”_ \;\n \;\np((((. - Soft skills survey respondent \;\n \; \np((. _“I didn't start with good non-technical skills (other than stand ard educational skills such as writing)\, but I have acquired some over time. These days\, I wouldn't be employed without understanding my place in the company\, what I need to do to contribute to the company's goals \, and how to assure that my contributions are noticed and valued.”_ \;\n \;\np((((. - Soft skills survey respondent \;\n \;\np((. _ “Companies seem to want to hire young inexperienced people\, but they do n't have much patience for a long learning curve. …. The more prepared t hat you are\, the more you know about how businesses operate and about w orkplace expectations\, the better.”_ \;\n \;\np((((. - Soft skill s survey respondent \;\n \;\np((. _ “Relational skills got me the job I have today. The combination of that with good organizational skill s\, planning\, and procedures ensures that I excel. It's the people who stick with things\, relate to others well\, and think and evaluate what and how they are doing who succeed. “_ \;\n \;\np((((. - Soft skil ls survey respondent \;\n \;\np((. _“In small companies especially \, good communication and personal skills are very valuable to stewardin g a project through to completion\, and they can sometimes make the diff erence between a really good idea being implemented versus just a "\ ;get by"\; idea.”_ \;\n \;\np((((. - Soft skills survey respon dent \;\n \;\n \;\nAgenda: \;\nh2. March 8th: Adapting to y our new environment and community \;\nLea McLeod \;\n \;\np((. Understanding and adapting to the working environment is as crucial as g etting the job itself. Every industry\, company\, department\, and group has its own\, history\, structure and culture that have shaped what it is today. You must adapt to this context\, in a manner that allows you t o show your strengths and contributes to the successes of you and your n ew community. \;\n \;\np=. The workplace doesn’t adapt to you.&# 13\;\nYou must adapt to it. \;\n \;\np((. You will learn how to ad apt to your new environment through understanding of the corporate hiera rchy and culture – how an entity is structured and ran - and the resulti ng expectations and ethics - what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to do it. \;\n \;\nh2. March 15th: Functioning as a part of your company \;\nLea McLeod \;\n \;\np((. Engineering is as much a human activity as it is technology. All the work you do\, if not done with someone\, will be done for someone or will be used by someone . To be an engineer is to be a part of a team. However\, you are evaluat ed on your contributions\, which depend on your contribution to the team \, how you contribute in meetings\, and your relationship with your mana ger. \;\n \;\np((. You will learn what it means to be a part of a team and how to get results. This includes assisting your team in accomp lishing its objectives\, contributing in meetings\, understanding the ro le of management\, and working with your manager. \;\n \;\n \; \nh2. March 22nd: Understanding yourself and others\, in the objective s ense \;\nJoan Badbaw \;\n \;\n \;\np((. As engineering profe ssionals you are required to be adept at a plethora of technical skills. Yet\, the most powerful instrument you have to deliver and use those sk ills is yourself. Your ability to use yourself effectively relies in a l arge part on the level of awareness you have on the impact you make and your choices to direct and modify that impact. \;\n \;\n \;\np( (. Results from instruments such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator\, Gallop Strengths Finder\, and Gallop Q12 provide quite a bit of insightful inf ormation. The goal is to find a way to translate that information into s omething usable in everyday interactions. \;\n \;\n \;\nh2. Mar ch 29th: Deadlines and projects: The real world you work in \;\nGreg Hutchins \;\n \;\np((. More and more\, we live in a projectized wo rld. What do I mean? Work is being chunked in terms of a project with hard deadlines. If you work for a large company\, you’ll also be workin g with global project teams. \;\n \;\np((. You will learn: \;\n \;\n* Why today’s business and work environment is all about VUCA (V olatility\, Uncertainty\, Complexity\, &\; Ambiguity). \;\n* Why p roject management is the key to work and life competency. \;\n* How t o manage a project to ensure success. \;\n* Why the future of work is all about project risk management. \;\n \;\nh2. April 5th: Unders tanding the Subjective Aspects of the Workplace \;\nJulie Endress  3\;\n \;\n \;\np((. Humans are more than rational beings and at ti mes our emotions dictate our actions without us realizing it. Dealing wi th the emotional actions of others can cause stress. Yet\, if dealt with appropriately\, these situations can add to understanding and lead to e nhanced teamwork\, creativity\, and a fun atmosphere. \;\n \;\np( (. Being effective with others requires us to be effective in managing o urselves. We do this best when we have full access to our head\, heart a nd gut. This talk will show the significance of the interior experience including emotions. It will introduce and provide an opportunity to prac tice in two skill areas: Sensing and centering as well as communication. \;\n \;\nh2. April 12th: Speaking With Impact: Presentation Skil ls for Engineers \;\nDave Underhill \;\n \;\n \;\np((. Today \, engineers are constantly challenged to communicate the value of their work with customers\, co-workers\, managers and other key decision make rs within their organizations. This is important in any situation\, fro m team meetings to project status updates. One way to address this chal lenge is by delivering clear\, concise and compelling presentations. In this presentation\, you will gain insights on how to: \;\n \;\n* Focus on what’s important to your audience\; \;\n* Create a clear mes sage\; \;\n* Tell a compelling story\; and \;\n* Engage people in your presentation\; \;\n \;\np((. You’ll walk away with new ideas and tools you can use right away! \;\n \;\nh2. April 19th: Organiz ing Ideas – The Key to Effective Writing \;\nMatthew Spence \;\n&# 13\;\n \;\np((. Engineers frequently struggle with presenting the res ults of their work in written form. Explaining complex topics to nontech nical audiences and determining how much detail readers need to know can be particularly challenging. \;\n \;\np((. Therefore\, the sessio n on Written Communication will present principles of written communicat ion that will enable you to identify your most important information and organize your ideas about a topic in less time. The session will identi fy common mistakes people make in business writing\, and present a forma t for e-mails\, text messages\, memos\, and executive summaries that wil l enable you to summarize any message in a single page. Guidelines for t ailoring your message to readers’ needs and composing longer documents w ill also be discussed. \;\n \;\nh2. April 26th: The Impact of Emot ions\, Irrationality\, and Temperament on Decisions \;\nJohn Prohodsk y \;\n \;\n \;\np((. We make decisions continuously - large dec isions\, small decisions\, trivial decisions\, and routine decisions. Th e decisions we make have a major influence on career success. Making go od decisions not only helps the project and company to succeed\, but als o builds a positive reputation. Your technical training has prepared you to make rational decisions based on facts… is wrong! Decisions are base d on not only what we know but are also filtered by emotions\, influence d by temperament\, and grounded in previous decisions. Being human means we are both rational and irrational beings. The interplay between our r ational and irrational sides shapes our decisions. In this presentation you will learn about the: \;\n \;\n* Consequences of decisions\;&# 13\;\n* Emotional filtering of decisions\; \;\n* Influence of tempera ment\; \;\n* Impact of external influences\; and \;\n* Effect of irrationality \;\n \;\nh2. May 3rd: Adaptive Leadership \;\nBob Lieberman \;\n \;\n \;\np((. As leaders\, we must often suspen d judgment and delay commitment (and know how and when to do so)\, becau se leading people is a messy business. Teamwork is not a linear enterpri se\, and teams (and departments and companies) need social and psycholog ical support\, not just direction and a good set of tools. Teams also ne ed champions\, just as much as their ideas do. \;\n \;\np((. It's a leader's job to provide these things. First\, he or she must inspire and win the trust and support of fellow colleagues – up\, down and sidew ays in the organizational hierarchy. Then\, he or she must connect with others\, understand others' needs and aspirations\, show and command res pect\, and communicate effectively. If you're an engineer\, these skills represent a second repertoire for you\, one which requires you to see t he workplace as an opportunity for adaptation and growth\, not just prod uction. This session provides you with a framework for seeing the workpl ace in that way. \;\n \;\nh2. May 10th: Contributing Through Innov ation and Entrepreneurship \;\nSteve Morris \;\n \;\n \;\np( (. Everyone says we need more innovation and entrepreneurship\; the prod ucts and services created by entrepreneurs increase profits and market s hare and grow the GDP. However\, their attitude is best expressed by Jea n Luc Picard\, captain of the Enterprise in _Star Trek: Next Generation_ \, saying “Make it so.” There’s a small problem - most companies don’t k now how to innovate and be entrepreneurial. The steps can be taught but the essence can’t. Innovation and entrepreneurship steps include generat ing ideas\, business model development\, market evaluation\, budgets\, r isk management\, and continuous evaluation and learning. Then you need t o pitch your great idea to those who will fund its development. \;\n& #13\;\np((. You will learn the typical steps innovators and entrepreneur s go through\, how to evaluate ideas\, what can go wrong\, and why ideas get funded. \;\n \;\n \;\nLocation: \;\nBldg: Tektronix C onference Center\, Building 38 on Tektronix Campus\, \;\nNorthwest co rner of SW Terman Road and Zworykin Ave. \;\nBeaverton\n\nImported fr om: http://calagator.org/events/1250461975 SUMMARY:Essential Soft Skills for Engineering Professionals - a 10 week s eminar series LOCATION:Tektronix Bldg 38: 3025 SW Zworykin Avenue\, Beaverton Oregon 97 077 US SEQUENCE:2 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR