Professional Development Essential to Maricopa

At this year’s EOD/MCLI Recognition Luncheon, Chancellor Glasper told the audience, “Professional development is important to the future of Maricopa.  It is important in terms of innovation.  The world is changing and if we do not change, it will change around us.”

Edward Hubbard links professional development and diversity, “Diversity Provides A Business Advantage: Organizations that want to thrive in today’s global marketplace know that they have to focus well beyond adding technology, efficient production processes, and innovative products (Poole, 1997). In fact, it can be argued that none of these approaches will add significantly measureable improvements unless all employees have an environment that allows them to do their absolute personal best work. Forward thinking organizations know that their competitive strength lies in focus in on their employees and their clients.”

And Kouzes and Posner identify enabling others to act by “increasing self-determination and developing competence” as one of their five practices of leadership. They emphasize that “strengthening others requires up-front investments in initiatives that develop people’s competencies and foster their confidence.”

The Diversity Advisory Council recognizes the importance of well-trained staff to effectively manage a diverse workshop and strongly encourages Maricopa employees to attend these workshops to create a more inclusive, respectful, innovative and productive organization.

Employee and Organizational Learning offering a series of workshops within Navigate Maricopa, MOSAIC, and SafeSpace, as well as a workshop on Hiring the Best for Maricopa.

Navigate Maricopa is a professional development series provided to build expertise in the competencies of supervision. This series help employees understand the value of diverse employees working together to improve the success of our education and work environment as well as providing practical tools to create that environment. EOLT is offering a one week cohort training series from May 12 – 16 from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM. All seats are filled. Names are being taken for a waiting list.

MOSAIC and SafeSpace provide an opportunity for employees to be active participants in understanding the value of creating a respectful, inclusive equitable environment for all students, staff, and the community.  You can complete the entire MOSAIC series this summer at Phoenix College on July 16, 23 and 30 from 8:00 – 5:00.

Hiring the Best! For Maricopa, overviews the MCCCD selection process.  The course focuses on best practices that will bring the best employees to Maricopa.  Hiring the Best allows employees to understand the biases that may influence a hiring decision and their responsibility to ensure a fair and equitable process.

Each workshop helps employees understand the importance of a diverse, inclusive environment by taking them through activities and facilitated discussions that provide them with awareness, knowledge, skills and application strategies.

Click here for more information or to register for EOLT workshops.

Content contributed by Jacque Starks