December 13/95

Staff Career Development

Staff Career Development Committee Update
- Kathy Chute and Val Lautenschlager

Fall '95 event

On November 8 the Staff Career Development Committee
convened a one-hour "talk-show" style forum on the new
College Strategic Plan, 1996-1998.

The forum was hosted by Janet Kee, equipped with a
"roving" mike, posing questions to the panel: Greg Lee,
representing administration; Carol McQuarrie, OTEU
representative on Education Council; Laraine Hamilton,
staff representative to the College Board.

The "audience" consisted primarily of approximately 50
staff members, but was also attended by several College
administrators and a representative from the Student Union.

Questions were directed to the panel and the resulting
responses provided the audience with a much clearer
understanding and a greater awareness of College
planning. As a direct result of the event and the concerns
expressed by staff, certain revisions have been made to the
Strategic Plan.

Committee Changes

At the November 16 OTEU meeting, elections were held
for four vacancies on the Staff Career Development
Committee. Elin Brnjac, Kathy Chute and Val
Lautenschlager have been re-elected and the committee is
pleased to welcome Liz Morton, Extension Programs and
Services, as anew member. Liz takes over for Jane
Hamilton, who served on the committee for one year and is
currently on maternity leave.

The Chair's position has been posted for a two-year term
effective January 1/96 to December 31/97. This position
has 175 hours of release time annually and is open to all

full-time and part-time OTEU employees of the College.
For more information, contact any committee member.

Message from the Chair - David DeMuynck

At the end of this calendar year, my term as chair will
come to aclose. The Staff Career Development
Committee has made significant strides over the past year,
and I would like to thank the committee members for their
support and commitment.

Indeed, it has been a very successful year. The committee
continued to build on the theme of change - preparing for it
and adapting to it. Our workshops were designed to
prepare staff for the challenges of the day and the new
directions for the College as a whole.

Early in the year, we took steps to address a growing
concern involving conflict management. We held two
well-attended workshops in response to a need expressed
through our consultation process with staff. We’re now
seeing the College as a whole acting on the same priority,
with the announcement this fall of Janet Kee’s new role as
conflict resolution advisor.

For the second consecutive year, we focused on changing
computer technology and its impact on the workplace,
anticipating the kind of significant changes we now find all
around us - Internet, Microsoft Office, and so on. We also
made a number of suggestions to Personnel and Computer
Services over the course of the year on the introduction of
new software and training.

Long before the introduction of the new organizational
structure and the first draft of a new strategic plan for the
College, the committee was busy planning a spring
workshop on the challenges of change. In November we
held a highly informative event on the College’s strategic
planning process and the plan’s impact on staff. Again, we
responded to clearly established needs that were not being
addressed in any other manner.

On top of it all, we organized and coordinated a program-
packed, two-day Staff Career Development conference at
Lonsdale Quay in February.

I would like to thank the members of College
administration who expressed support and interest in Staff
Career Development Committee activities. Over the
course of the past year, we have encouraged administrators
to participate in our events along with the staff from their
areas. It is an ideal way to encourage further discussion of
key issues and interests in individual departments and work
areas.

I look forward to my continued involvement with the
committee in an advisory capacity as past chair. The
committee has a number of plans in the works and the
coming year promises to be a very exciting one.

@nformer

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