Learning & Development Opportunities

ANR Learning & Development | Webinar Recordings 

Engaging Youth in Natural Resources
Please join us for our Eighth (in a series of nine) webinar!
March 4 at 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST.
Register here.

This webinar is open to all! 
Please distribute to your colleagues and other interested people.

Webinar summary:
To maintain attraction to and retention of new and diverse talent in applied STEM careers, youth engagement in natural resources is critical. However, due to limited funding, widespread disconnect to natural systems, and a lack of effective science communication on behalf of the STEM community, youth engagement in natural resources is dwindling. Cooperative Extension is well positioned to address this challenge. This webinar will explore three very different ways that Extension personnel have engaged youth in natural resources and speakers will illustrate how to initiate and maintain new youth programming across states.

Impact Collaborative Innovation Facilitator Training 
March 9 & 11, 2021
10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST
eXtension Foundation Members – Click to register.

Become an Innovation Facilitator -
Are you someone who is always looking for new ways to improve?  Do you like adopting innovative ideas and helping others along the way? Would you like to be a leader that helps teams design cutting edge programs/projects that make real impact? If so, please consider joining our Innovation Facilitator team!

Our Innovation Facilitator training provides you with a new way of looking at innovation. Once trained, you are an invaluable asset in helping teams develop projects or programs more quickly and connect them with national resources. You will use our innovation incubator process to bring fresh ideas aligned with institutional goals to every team you work with.

Today, there are 151 Innovation Facilitators across Cooperative Extension working to synergize innovative efforts in their own states, institutions, and supporting regional & national teams. Click to register

Sponsorship - (If you are reading this, you should watch this webinar!)

Wednesday, March 17, 2021
10 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Learn to incorporate sponsorships into your events. This webinar will provide a basic overview of sponsorships for virtual and in-person events, and will review strategies for identifying who would make a good sponsor, how to establish sponsorship levels and the ANR policies that will guide you as you solicit and recognize your sponsors. You will also discover ways to work with Development Services to secure larger sponsorships in the future. Learning Objectives: 

• Learn about sponsorships and why we have them
• Explore strategies for identifying sponsor prospects, developing sponsor levels and associated benefits
• Understand the ANR policies for how you can recognize your sponsor

With Scott Brayton, major gifts officer, and Andrea Ambrose, director of advancement. Zoom access:

https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09
Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID: 751 701 428

Come See the New Integrated Web Platform Demo! Third Thursday WebANR
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Noon – 12:30 p.m.

Join ANR IT colleagues Sree Mada and Jon Wilson as they demo ANR's new and under-construction integrated web platform. Find out what it will look like, how you and your clientele will use it, and the improvements it will provide for the people of California. Zoom access:

https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09
Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID: 751 701 428

Intro to Contracts & Grants and Grant Tracking System
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
9:30 a.m.-10 a.m.

This training is for academics and staff who are new, or just need a refresher, to submitting proposals for external funding. We will provide an introduction to the Office of Contracts and Grants including an overview of the proposal submission process and the Grant Tracking System. With Kimberly Lamar and Kendra Rose. Zoom access:

https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09
Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID: 751 701 428

Who? Extension Professionals from Extension Foundation member institutions leading five or more peers. Rev-up Your Virtual Leadership includes discussions on how to lead when we've lost the ability to put a hand on a shoulder.

It's not time that builds trust, it's our behaviors.  Learn what you can do to keep it from eroding and create an environment where trust can thrive! Click to read more.

Big Dig Day & Social Media: Strategies for Success
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
10 - 10:45 a.m.

Join Emily Delk, Director of Annual Giving and Dora Garay, Social Media Strategist, as they share how to make the most of UC ANR's Big Dig Day (June 4, 2021) giving day campaign to raise money for your program. You will learn how to plan your campaign, including themes, tools, and timelines. And together we will learn the ins and outs of using social media to promote your campaign—from the basics of each platform to more advanced strategies to expand your reach.

Zoom access:

https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09
Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID: 751 701 428

Collaborative Facilitation - 5 Spots left!
Dates: Every Tuesday from April 20-May 11
Four 2-hour sessions (virtual)
Instructor: Kim Rodrigues; Co-facilitators: Kim Ingram and Javier Miramontes

Application survey.

Limited to 24 participants. Your application will be reviewed, and you will be notified about your participation.

This course is designed for people who have already learned basic meeting facilitation. It is open to all UC ANR academic and staff employees, including statewide program volunteers.

Collaborations and group processes are complex, dynamic and unpredictable. Successful processes are based on shared understanding and learning, and work towards common goals. However, we know that this doesn't always happen. Then what?

Collaborative facilitation and group process tools support success, allowing everyone to feel heard and to contribute. Whether you have a lead facilitator role or are a group participant, join us in learning appropriate and applicable facilitation tools to use before, during and after your meetings.

This course will cover the following topics:

Session I - review and include building teams to “compete” for the correct responses to challenges with meetings.
Session II - prevention and intervention tools.
Session III - dealing with difficult people, including ourselves.
Session IV - tools to manage conflicts combining all the tools you have learned and experienced.

Outlook: Efficient Email Management (LinkedIn Learning)
Click to link to course.

Many of us spend hours every day plowing through our email, reading, replying or forwarding, searching, storing. If we could improve our email management, even if only incrementally, and if the improvements we made could become habits, we would save hours every single week. In this course, Gini von Courter will use her Outlook Inbox to demonstrate features and techniques that will help you more efficiently view, organize and even automate your Outlook email. Please join this exploration of the Outlook tools you can use to tame your wild inbox.

Request your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting help@ucanr.edu.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SKILLS
- For managers and direct reports

There's only one right way to ask for feedback: ‘How can I do better?'

Negative feedback is inconsistent with our self-image and so we reject it.

By Marshall Goldsmith

“Soliciting feedback” is just what the words imply. It is when we solicit opinions from people about what we are doing wrong. As simple as it sounds, it is not always so simple. Most people have two problems dealing with negative feedback. This may not sound like many, but they are big problems. The first is we don't want to hear it and the second is we don't want to give it.

The reason we don't want to hear it is because negative feedback is inconsistent with our self-image and so we reject it. Did you know that of all the classes I've taught 95% of members believe they are in the top half of their group? While this is statistically impossible, it is psychologically real. Proving to successful people that they are “wrong” works just about as well as making them change. Click here to read more.

Giving and Receiving Feedback (LinkedIn Learning)
Click to link to course.

Say someone on your team misses a deadline. Do you address it right away or do you wait to see if it becomes a pattern? If you do address it, how do you go about giving that feedback? Feedback is a critical aspect of managing a team. The more often you provide it, the better. It's important to provide both positive and constructive feedback to the people on the teams you manage, individually and collectively. It's best to keep these conversations simple and frequent. One way I find to be extremely useful in providing feedback is SBI. It stands for situation, behavior, impact. Let's watch Hilary provide feedback to Jeff using this model. Click to link to course.

CAREER RESILIENCE

Network your way to a more satisfying job
Click to read more.

Monday, March 8, 2021
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Part of the Career Resilience Webinar Series.
In this workshop (via Zoom) you will explore the best strategies for building a professional network including simple techniques for networking, whether you are a social butterfly, or you tend to be more reserved. Topics will cover how to identify contacts, what techniques to use for making connections, and how to create valuable two-way professional relationships.

Ace Your Virtual Interview
Click to read more.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Part of the Career Resilience Webinar Series.

This workshop (via Zoom) will help you understand best practices for successful phone and video interview formats. We will explore tips and techniques for what to do before, during, and after a virtual interview, to ensure you make the best impression possible. Armed with the latest information on this growing approach to interviews, you will have the confidence to ace a virtual interview like a pro.

Why it Feels so Good to Read about this Princeton Professor's Failures (WaPo)
By Ana Swanson, Reporter
Click here to read more.

Most of us have had some momentary feelings of inferiority when looking over the résumé of a friend or job applicant. When you look at someone else's shining educational and professional accomplishments, it's easy to feel that the person in question is far more impressive than yourself.

But any accomplished résumé – or CV, as non-Americans and some in the professional class like to call them – hides secrets. If you could read between the lines of the many successes that are recorded in a résumé, you would probably see far more failures: schools people didn't get into; scholarship essays that were toiled over and rejected; job applications that now seem harebrained.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Tanya Ferrera from Pixabay

Everyone can learn something new. 

ANR Learning & Development
Find webinar announcements and recordings here.
Office: 530.750.1239
learninganddevelopment@ucanr.edu

Image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

Three opportunities are being offered to improve our diversity, equity and inclusion skills – an understanding unconscious bias workshop, intercultural competence program and a 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge.

Vice President Glenda Humiston encourages participating in activities such as these to support the ANR Strategic Plan 2020-2025 goal to develop a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

Understanding Unconscious Bias: Awareness, knowledge and competency development

Bias, in its most simplistic definition, is having a preference for one thing over another. Also, biases come into play in our impressions and judgment of people, especially those whose identities and experiences are different from our own.

Mikael Villalobos, associate chief diversity officer in the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UC Davis, and Eric Sanchez, diversity and inclusion educator at UC Davis, will lead the workshop.

Objectives:

• We will explore how we make snap judgments about people by understanding how socialization informs our biases.
• Participants will be introduced to theory and language in understanding implicit and explicit bias.
• Using personal reflection, experiential exercises and case studies, participants will gain greater awareness when they engage in bias and gain essential knowledge and skills (tools) in how they recognize and mitigate biases in both personal and professional domains.

Who should attend:

• Employees who work with clientele, volunteers or provide support to others in ANR.
• Priority will be given to people who have not had previous access to this learning topic.
• There will be a waiting list for those who are interested, but regularly engage with bias-related topics.

Each of the two-hour workshops will be tailored to job roles, but you are welcome to sign up for the session that fits your schedule. Each session will be limited to 35 participants.

Academic coordinators, UCCE advisors, UCCE specialists, community educators, UCCE field workers, REC and staff research associates and other employees who deliver programs to clientele

• Thursday, March 3, 10 a.m.-noon
• Wednesday, April 7, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
• Tuesday, June 1, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
• Monday, June 7, 10 a.m.-noon

Volunteer coordinators, managers and other employees who work with volunteers  

• Thursday, March 4, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
• Monday, May 10, 10 a.m.-noon

Administrative and support staff who provide support to others in ANR  

• Monday, March 15, 10 a.m.-noon
• Thursday, May 20, 10 a.m.-noon

To register for Understanding Unconscious Bias, visit https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=32980.

Take the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge

UC ANR employees are invited to participate in the Food Solutions New England 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge. The challenge timeframe is April 5-25, 2021, so sign up before March 29.

The challenge:

• will raise your awareness, change your understanding, and potentially shift the way you behave,
• goes beyond individual or interpersonal racism by helping to demystify structural and institutional racism and white supremacist patterns that are sometimes invisible to people, and
• inspires you to act, on your own or with others in your organization, business or group, to dismantle these systems.

Why you should participate:

• The 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge led by Food Solutions New England is designed to increase personal awareness and address cultural competency, implicit bias, and other relevant topics that are critical to deliver programs and to address needs of the people California.

How this works and your commitment:

• Each morning of the Challenge, you'll receive an email "prompt" from Food Solutions New England with a short reading, video or audio file. You are encouraged to spend 10 to 15 minutes each day with the material in the prompt.
• You are encouraged to participate in weekly discussion groups for this challenge. You can be placed in a group based on your registration responses or form your own group.  These conversations require vulnerability and a safe environment. Guidelines will be available to help your group preserve both.

To participate, please complete both online forms as outlined below before 8 a.m. Monday, March 29.

1. Register here to participate to receive email prompts from Food Solutions New England.
2. Complete this form to share with ANR that you will participate and to receive assistance with discussion group placement.

Increase your intercultural competence

UC ANR's Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrators team invites you to participate in a professional development opportunity to increase your intercultural competence and demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and growth as professionals. 

An ANR-wide cohort of 10 to 12 individuals will participate in an intercultural competence professional development activity that uses the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). 

As a member of the cohort, you will:

•  Take the Intercultural Development Inventory, 
•  Receive individualized coaching by an IDI Qualified Administrator, who will review your confidential results and help guide you to increase your intercultural competence, including your personalized intercultural competence plan. 
•  This process is confidential

In addition, to support your intercultural competence professional development, you will have the opportunity to participate in several structured learning opportunities with other UC ANR professionals and video trainings. In these interactive and participatory sessions, you will engage in open dialogue and deep reflection on issues related to your work.

The commitment begins March 2021 and extends through August 2021, with an IDI Conference in February 2022. The $150 registration is paid for by ANR Learning & Development. Priority will be given to people who have no or little experience with the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. 

By participating in this intercultural competence program, you will: 

• Increase understanding of how the development of our individual and collective intercultural competence is connected to the UC ANR mission and core values
• Increase understanding of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to strengthen your intercultural competence; understand how people perceive cultural similarities and differences and learn strategies to begin to bridge these differences.
• Understand how people perceive cultural similarities and differences and learn strategies to begin to bridge these differences.

If you would like to participate in this professional development opportunity, please fill out the IDI Interest Survey by March 12, 2021.

For more information, contact the Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrators Team:        

Dorina Espinosa, dmespinoza@ucanr.edu

Maria de la Fuente, medelafuente@ucanr.edu

Russell Hill, rdhill@ucanr.edu

Car Mun Kok, cmkok@ucanr.edu

Keith Nathaniel, kcnathaniel@ucanr.edu

Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, lschmittmcquitty@ucanr.edu

Liliana Vega, live@ucanr.edu

The UC Office of the President invites comments on a proposed Presidential Policy on Classification of Gifts and Sponsored Awards. 

The University has seen a significant increase in external support in the recent decade – especially from private foundations (including family foundations) and corporations. Though key concepts remain the same, the proposed policy provides greater clarity for properly classifying private support in contemporary circumstances. It also includes definitions, FAQs and a checklist with weighted criteria.

The proposed policy is posted here: https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/Administration/Business_Operations/Controller/Administrative_Policies_-_Business_Contracts/Policy_and_administrative_handbooks/ANR_Administrative_Handbook/Recent_Updates/

If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu, no later than May 26, 2021. Please indicate “Classification of Gifts and Sponsored Awards” in the subject line.

The Annual Staff Performance Evaluation process will begin on March 2, 2021.  The annual performance evaluation is an opportunity for staff and supervisors to recognize accomplishments, identify opportunities to build skills, and align individual efforts to high-level unit and division goals. After an interruption in 2020, the annual cycle is resuming for the review period that runs from April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021.

On March 2, all staff employees and their supervisors will receive an email notification that evaluation documents are available in UC Path ePerformance. The email will contain a link to take you directly to the electronic form. You may also locate the form by accessing your Dashboard in UC Path, and selecting Performance Work Center. The UCPath log in page is found at http://ucpath.universityofcalifornia.edu/.

In March, ANR Human Resources will host webinars for staff and supervisors to review the process and describe available support tools. The webinars will be recorded and available on the HR website for those unable to attend in person. 

Employee role: March 15, Mon., 2 p.m.-3 p.m. 
Zoom link: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/91426260492?pwd=bmdpc1luejlmQVd1OHlzcEppdVlGQT09

ID: 914 2626 0492; Password: 788112

iPhone one-tap:  US: +16699006833,,91426260492#  or +12532158782,,91426260492# 

Telephone: 669 900 6833; International numbers available: https://ucanr.zoom.us/u/abVT80noAd

Supervisor role: March 17, Wed., 3 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

Zoom link: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/92243428611?pwd=QUoyQThEdzZSK3dOOHpDS0VQZVRHZz09

ID: 922 4342 8611; Password: 767271

iPhone one-tap:  US: +16699006833,,92243428611#  or +13462487799,,92243428611# 

Telephone: 669 900 6799; International numbers available: https://ucanr.zoom.us/u/axqa8gHi

If you are a supervisor, you only need to participate in a supervisor session.

More information about the annual process, including timelines, guidelines and Performance Appraisal Tools are available on the ANR Human Resources website http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management.

Note: ANR staff based at the Office of the President will follow the UCOP-HR performance process with separate trainings, timelines and forms.

If you have questions regarding the appraisal process, please email humanresouces@ucanr.edu.