The Flash
Newsletter of the 2019 IAWP Workforce Development Conference
Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
Career Development Theories--The Who, The What, and the Why
By Cassandra Baker (MD)
Amber Drake promised to make an otherwise dull subject interesting...and she knocked it out of the park. Through engaging class activities and practical, job relevant exercises, we uncovered thought provoking ideas about how to inspire customers to take action on necessary life changes. We discussed life situations that might influence our customers' inability to take action too. While we touched on Holland, Krumboltz, and Schlossberg's theories, the two most memorable parts of the workshop were the Holland Party and a simple beading exercise we did later about making life changes.
The Holland Code exercise focused on who we intrinsically are based on our personality. There were 6 posters placed around the room, each with the different Holland codes on them--Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic, and Investigative. We were then asked to decide which group we identified with the most, and to go stand by our Holland group's poster to talk in a cluster about why we felt we belonged there. My main Holland code is Creative. As I was listening to the others in my group tell their stories, I realized that even though we all belonged in the Creative group, we were all very different Creatives. I read a book a few months ago called "The Four Tendencies” by Gretchen Rubin. In it, she said, "We are all more like everyone else than we think, and we are all less like everyone else than we think."
Most of us in the class agreed there would probably be more of us Career Development Facilitors (CDFs) in the Social and Enterprising groups and fewer of us in the Realistic and Investigative groups. But it was soon pointed out by workshop participants how lost we CDFs would all be without our Realistics/Investigatives in our IT and Accounting departments.
The bracelet beading exercise was, in the end, a tool for decision making. Colored beads represented six parts of our lives--Learning, Citizenship, Leisure, Family, Working, and Spirituality. We were asked to express in a chain of 30 beads what the majority of our life focuses on. Mine had quite a lot of red (learning) and green (working). We were then asked to build a bracelet using the bead colors representing the parts of our lives we would LIKE to see changed--in our perfect world. It was very revealing. I had very little orange in my first bracelet which made me really sad. Orange was for family. I made sure I had plenty of orange family pieces in the second bracelet. Sam Virgil from Washington State then cracked up the class when he joked that he would now be planning a career change in pony-bead bracelet making.
The exercise allowed us to create a VISUAL of what is going on in our lives right now and what we would LIKE to have more or+ less of in our lives in the future. Amber said customers could use this tangible take away after meeting with a CDF. They could use muscle memory to remind them of changes they would like to make in their lives. Ultimately the exercise was a nice segue back to more discussion about decision making and ways to get customers to buy into their own future planning and decision making.
My final takeaway from Amber's class on career theories was the idea that all people have ideas about what success looks like to them. One person's idea of success may not look like another person's idea of success. In other words, a CDF's idea of success may not be the same as the customer's so tread lightly and let your customer make as many of the decisions as possible about changing their own life and setting goals for themselves.
Jason Huang has the key and wants you to have it too
Perception – What You See Isn’t Always What You Get
By Dr. Rhetta Barker
Rebekah Wilkes playfully brought forth for our learning a subject that should require a lot of serious thought: Our Perception!
It is a good practice to look carefully at how we perceive what our minds are absorbing through our senses, like sight, touch and smell. But more importantly, how easily even those senses we depend on daily can be fooled with perception from another angle.
Included in the presentation were visual illustrations of sidewalk chalk drawings that gave the mind the message there was a horse bursting through the ground below being ridden by a young lady as the horse reached the ground level! The perception was very vividly illustrated, and the mind adapted accordingly; but reality demonstrated the horse, the hole in the ground from which it was leaping, even the surrounding destruction of the concrete and brick surfaces were all an illusion of a very skillful artist; intended to change our perception of the world around us. The girl in the illustration was simply sitting on the sidewalk perfectly positioned to add even more depth to illusion we taking in.
Rebekah brought home the fact that we can’t afford to let what we see on the surface be the only view of the people and situations we encounter daily. We need to delve into the facts contributing to the circumstances surrounding each individual separately, until we can view the whole picture; sort out any conscious or unconscious biases we may have; then provide the excellence in customer service our clients are entitled to.
Rebekah also reminded us to communicate clearly, concisely, and with good intent; as to not deliver a negative experience engaging our customers and co-workers; but to enhance every experience as we come to it. Reminding ourselves that this could be our only opportunity to contribute something of value to another individual’s life, an encounter with our various departments will make each engagement a memorable one and will allow us the pleasure of measurable successes.
Rebekah enjoys a quote “If you do what you love, you will never work another day in your life”. By including more positive self-talk, rather than negative aspersions daily, we treat ourselves better, we treat others better, and we learn to celebrate more moments in life!
Great job Rebekah!
2019 IAWP Retiree Brunch
By Sharon Mike
On Tuesday, 25 retiree members along with tour guides Denise Foster and Joanne Brown, Conference Local Arrangements Co-chairs, traveled by trolley to enjoy breakfast at Mi Tierra Café y Panaderia, one of San Antonio’s oldest and most beloved eating establishments. We tasted traditional Mexican pastries and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon and potatoes. We even had a Mariachi group sing two songs at the table. A walk around the restaurant reveals colorful decorations, family portraits and an American Dream mural that encompasses several walls top to bottom.
Here’s the story behind the restaurant that was found attached to the wrapped pralines we received as a token for being there:
“During the Depression of the 1930’s, Pete Cortez, an enterprising young man from Guadalajara, Mexico moved to San Antonio. There he married a charming local girl, Cruz Llames, and together they worked to fulfill their American Dream. It all started in 1941 with a three-table café, a collection of family recipes and $150.00. Pete was proud of his Mexican Heritage and his American citizenship, often commenting, “I’m American by choice, not by chance.” Hard-working Cruz was an astute business partner and loving mother of four sons and a daughter, the foundation for the Cortez legacy, which has continued into the fourth generation. Today, our Familia has grown to include over 550 loyal partners who help us continue the Cortez Family’s dedication to quality, culture, sincere hospitality, and community patronage. Thank you for being part of our journey.”
The restaurant is open 24 hours a day so maybe you will have time to visit before departing San Antonio.
After breakfast we visited two buildings in the Market Square with indoor vendors selling many different wares from pottery to clothing to jewelry and much more. Lots of shopping ensued! Since our trolley pass was good for the entire day, some retirees chose to stay longer or venture on to other places since they could hop on and off as they chose. The rest of us took the trolley back to the hotel for afternoon activities.
You can see our gathering on the Eversnap site! It was so great to see and spend some time with fellow retirees and I’ll look forward to next year!
Contact The Flash
Email: flash@workforceconference.org
Phone: 503-752-4489
Flash Editorial Team
- Steve Strain - Editor-in-Chief (OR)
- Jenny Yarian-Scalpelli - Editor (IN)
- John Habig - Editor (IN)
- Sharon Mike Editor (MD)
Flash Contributors
- Steve Corwin - Oregon
- Dr. Rhetta Barker - Washington
- Tiara Jones - Illinois
- Troy McMillan - Illinois
- Rebekah Wilkes - Washington
- Terri Pasternik - Illinois
- Sharon Mike - Maryland
- Cassandra Baker - Maryland
- Lanae Vetsch - Montana
- Steve Bent - Texas