Professional Development Series

Every month, the Employee Development team at Maricopa County host a professional development workshop day for the MCLEAP interns. This month, we had a workshop about providing and receiving feedback. The workshop was very informational about how to communicate one's progress or how to tell them to correct a behavior or critique their work. We did role playing among the group and we all felt it was more difficult to give feedback then to receive it. The person giving the feedback sets the tone for the meeting and if done done well the one receiving the feedback will not become defensive. I think this workshop was also very good for the future about how to receive feedback. I am sensitive and I am a hard worker. Sometimes, I just want to hear, "Great job," from everyone, but I know that not will always happen. In the workplace, there is always one co-worker who critiques or whose standards are higher than the rest. Also, a co-worker may say something and meant it to be a compliment, but the message was not received in that way. As I write my report for the Employee Development team, I am always wondering if I'm meeting their standards or is the document well written. I meet with my supervisor to receive feedback and he does a very good job of telling me what needs to be included. As my time in this department of HR comes to a close, I hope I receive future feedback well and remember this is a learning experience. Next month, we will learn about emotional intelligence. The Professional Development series provided in the program is really great and we can apply the lessons learned the next day. The workshop reinforced the power of communication. I believe effective communication is difficult to do because of body language. Our trainer, Beth, told us that body language is much louder than the words coming out of one's mouth.. Body language must match the tone of your voice. This was a very interesting workshop and very helpful.