Written by Kristen Kusek, Former Communications Director for USF CMS
The CMS served as home base for a two-day workshop for women called “Building Leadership Skills for Success in the Scientific Workforce.” It was sponsored by NOAA and the Earth Science Women’s Network and took place May 12th and 13th. The workshop is the brainchild of NOAA Program Manager Emily Smith, who says her passion for women, especially in the STEM fields, prompted her to start the workshop. She approached Gary Mitchum to see if the CMS would host the workshop in St. Pete.
In return for hosting the workshop, led by longtime leadership consultant Chris Olex, the CMS randomly chose two participants from our own community who expressed interest in attending: Makenzie Kerr, lab manager and outreach coordinator, and graduate student Macarena Martin Mayor were the lucky winners. We sat down with them to hear how it went.
Makenzie Kerr
Makenzie Kerr
Q. Share with us your topline impressions of the training.
A: It was awesome! It would be really cool to do it with the whole college.
The workshop brought amazing women in many fields of science, from many organizations, and many stages of life, to one room to empower us, share experiences, and train us to be better leaders. We learned about our leadership styles, emotional intelligence, and mentorship. By splitting us into groups of similar leaders, we got to get to know ourselves while meeting others. It was like looking in a mirror at times.
Q. What was one of the biggest takeaways?
A. The takeaway in day one was: You need to know who you are to lead and understand how you relate to others. Brains and skills may help you get a job, but interpersonal skills will help you build relationships and grow your career.
One of the big takeaways of day two: Everyone needs to feel appreciated. Figure out the best way to show appreciation for everyone in your life. Examples: encouraging words, going above and beyond for them, thank you’s, celebrations, making time to listen, and more.
Q. What did you enjoy the most?
A. It was so engaging! Chris (the workshop leader) kept us on our feet, literally. We didn't stay still for more than a half hour at a time. She would share a few slides, then we would talk in groups or move around the room for an activity, then share together as a room. Everyone had an opportunity to speak and share stories or advise to help everyone grow. It was truly spectacular to feel the energy everyone put into the conversations.
Macarena Martin Mayor
Macarena Martin Mayor
Q. Share with us your topline impressions of the training.
A. The training was AMAZING. We did not only learn about ourselves but also how we can connect better with others.
I am still processing things that were discussed and that I learned. I would say that it was very empowering and definitely showed us the skills that are seen and appreciated in a leader. We were taught a lot about emotional intelligence, mentorship, inspirational figures, about our own personalities and how to relate to others with different personalities. She also talked very highly of Dr. Brené Brown, who since then I have been reading about and she has some awesome things to say as well!
Overall this training left me motivated and ready to go into work and give it my all! Also we connected to lots of very cool people! All the women in there were amazing!
Q. What did you enjoy the most?
A. I felt like I learned SO much! Chris Olex is just an amazing public speaker and she was really good at keeping the conversation flowing. We all shared stories, feelings, and advice. But my favorite part was to see how we are the ones pushing the change in our society with our leadership and mentorship. The group of us that were there were all so different, but so awesome! I got some really good connections from this workshop!
Also, I really loved when we discussed not taking certain things that personally. Some people have good intentions even if it is not reflected in their actions. Sometimes people hurt us, and the truth is we are “collateral damage”. Their intention was not to hurt us, but we got hurt on the way of their good intention for themselves.
Q. What was one of the biggest takeaways?
A. FROM DAY 1: Emotional Intelligence/Relationships are valued more by colleagues than brain and skills whenever they describe a good leader. I also really loved the DISC assessment. I cannot stress enough how much I learned from it.
FROM DAY 2: “Valued people, value people.” Chris had this quote on the screen, and it really stuck with me. We focused a lot on how to meet others’ emotional needs so that our relationships with them are not exhausting, but positive and productive. We are all different, but at the end of the day we all want to feel respected and valued. I also really appreciated her talk about “difficult relationships in our lives”, and how sometimes we’ve got to be the “bigger person” and meet someone’s emotional needs so that they can meet ours. I also liked how she said that some relationships are not fixable, and that is okay, but it is good to sit down and analyze our interactions because as Chris said, “We cannot control others impacts or actions, but we can control our behavior, intention and impact to theirs.”