2018-2019 Annual Theme: Own It! Empowering Your Career & Your Life
Take charge of your future by exploiting your strengths with confidence and fine-tuning your skills to ask for what you want and need. Our theme this year brings you curated events and workshops in the Boston area to learn from, and network with, other leaders (especially women) in science and technology. These events will encourage you to discover your real-self and will help you crystallize future plans by focusing on how to strategically position and promote yourself with the right people at the right times.
Sep 20
Improving the Quality and Impact of our Conversations through Conversational Intelligence™
September 20, 2018, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
We have long thought of communication as a soft skill and given it little attention. Yet it, more than anything else, is the cause of problems and the source of solutions in our businesses and in our lives. Everything happens through conversations. Conversational Intelligence (C-IQ) provides frameworks and tools, based on neuroscience, that elevate the quality of our conversations and our results by creating the conditions for increased trust, creativity and collaboration. In this interactive session led by Cindy Loughran, participants will gain a basic understanding of Conversational Intelligence. They will become familiar with neuroscientific research on conversations and why it matters, identify two core human needs that impact the effectiveness of our conversations, and gain specific tools that increase the impact of conversations in order to build trust and encourage greater creativity and collaboration.
Location: Takeda, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Cost: $15 for members, $40 for non-members
Register
OCT 2
Successful Communication: How to Build Your Skill in Handling Challenging Conversations
October 2, 2018, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Do you notice a sense of discomfort or even dread when you know you have a difficult conversation that needs to happen? Do you leave these conversations feeling less than resolved or understood, or question whether anything will change as a result? In this workshop led by Sue Williamson, you will bring your own challenging conversation and work with it using a model, specific steps, and practice in effectively preparing for and engaging in your conversation. We will talk about the ladder of inference and the power of assumptions and then use a 5 step process to prepare for any challenging conversation. Come join us and build skill and confidence in your abilities to be successful communicators in often emotional scenarios.
Location: Biogen, 255 Binney Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
Cost: $15 for members, $40 for non-members
Register
OCT 3
How to Advocate for Yourself
October 3, 2018, 5:00 - 8:00 PM
We negotiate every day. At work we negotiate not just our jobs and salaries, but research priorities, budgets, staffing, deliverables and time tables. At home some of us negotiate child care pick up and drop off, who is making dinner and who stays home when the kids are sick. While men and women are equally skilled negotiators, women face some additional challenges. Not only were many of us not raised to advocate for our own interests, but we sometimes pay a social cost when we assert our needs and interests. We’ll dive into what we negotiate, our believes around advocating for ourselves, how to mitigate others’ negative perceptions when we assert our interests and two tools for increasing our effectiveness. You will leave with a better understanding of what is getting in your way and what to do about it.
Location: Sanofi, 49 New York Ave, Framingham, MA 01701
Cost: $10 for members, $25 for non-members
Register
OCT 11
Networking Night
October 11, 2018, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Bristol-Myers Squibb will soon be opening its new R&D site in Cambridge. They are inviting the WEST community to join them for a casual networking event to meet their leaders, learn more about the site, and learn about some of the skills and backgrounds they are looking for as they seek to build their Cambridge team.
Location: The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
Cost: Free
Register
OCT 23
Interrupting Bias
October 23, 2018, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Despite strides towards inclusion and equity in our society, messages abound about what it means to be of certain identities. We are socialized with these stereotypes all around us and these messages are so pervasive that despite our best intentions, we sometimes fall into biased behaviors and thinking, often unconsciously. In this workshop led by Chris Haigh, we will define bias, understand where it comes from, reflect on our own biases, and examine strategies for interrupting bias in ourselves and others. Come prepared to engage in self-reflection and in dialogue with your colleagues about an issue that truly affects us all.
Location: bluebird bio, 60 Binney Street, 10th Floor, Aviary Room, Cambridge, MA 02142
Cost: $15 for members, $40 for non-members
Register
To Learn more about any workshop leaders listed, please visit http://www.westorg.org/content-experts-and-workshop-leaders
