David and Karen,
Thank you for providing invaluable stress and resilience tools for our supervisors. We are working toward developing a culture statewide among supervisors— that they have support and resources to deal with the challenges they face. They won’t have to struggle alone with conflict. Your training has been an essential part of this support.
One of the participants from last week’s session spoke to me afterward. She had a conflict resolution with a staffer, accompanied by their union representative. She used the tools you shared, and reported that the outcome was significantly enhanced by what she had learned.
This year, we rolled out an initiative this year to provide all of our supervisors with a 360 degree review, not just the most senior managers. It is not always easy to be open to the kind of feedback it provides. We added your training beforehand, and we were very pleased with how well our people responded.
There are so many changes in the world, and life in general. We all need an opportunity to gain skills to deal with stress — to prepare our people for the battle of daily life. Your program also gives me language that helps me talk with our supervisors, reminding them to pull out the tools they have learned when things get hard.
I didn’t realize how well your training translated into people’s personal issues till afterward, when a number of participants expressed appreciation for that aspect, in particular. That was a good surprise. But in fact, we don’t work in a bubble. Our personal lives play out in our professional lives. As much as we would like to, we cannot so easily build a wall between the two. When overwhelmed anywhere we can feel overwhelmed everywhere.
Thank you so much for being a part of our leadership training initiative this year.
Sincerely,
Karen Wilson,
Supervisory Human Resources Officer
Bureau of Land Management of Oregon