Braintrust: A Collaboration on Communication

From: Human Resources

The future of work has uncovered needs and introduced opportunities for how our workforce will evolve and function tomorrow. This means we must explore and learn to understand the values and innovative ideas of our peers in the room to help us know what to do next. Talent Development is exploring this through Braintrust.

Interactive Braintrust sessions lead to sharing insights, aspirations, and resources, as well as inspiring innovative thinking, encouraging creativity, and building community. These sessions are for faculty and staff to provide their input around a specific topic, to explore ideas that inspire change, to engage in creative problem-solving, and contribute to professional development opportunities.

In each of the 3.5-hour sessions participants will provide insight and perspectives, through the use of Appreciative Inquiry, on their personal experiences and observations that identify strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results (SOAR) around various themes that impact our future of work. By using the SOAR model to explore experiences and insights, we all will share ideas and collect qualitative experiences that will be used in the following ways:

• To develop and improve programs and resources for all university employees.
• To identify key topics and opportunities for training program development as part of the Talent Development strategic plan.
• To create space and opportunity for continuing collaboration on ideas that evolve into resources, training, programs, research, etc.
• To identify learners who want to collaborate for the development of ideas and partnerships.

Our final topic for this semester is communication. 

Communication is a process of either imparting to or exchanging information between people. The ability to communicate is different for each person and the value of effective communication is subjective. The mixture of behaviors, intentions, and values is what typically creates effective or ineffective communication.  

In this Braintrust session, participants will engage in sharing reflective and constructive experiences that will help identify needed strategies and practices for communication priorities at Virginia Tech.

The Braintrust sessions on Communication will take place the week of Nov. 28. Register here for the session that fits your schedule.