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2004 Minnesota Careers Conference
Denise Bissonnette opened the 2004 Minnesota Careers Conference with a conversation entitled Cultivating True Livelihood: Work in the 21st Century. Using poetry, personal stories, and passion, Denise led her audience on a journey outside the traditional mindset of career development. Challenging much of what we "know" about career counseling and job seeking, she offered reframing techniques intertwined with humor and passion to better fit the workplace realities facing our clients. Beginning with the somewhat startling statistic that less than 20 percent of those polled in a recent survey said they "like" what they do, she suggested we need to change the ways we work with clients. Denise encouraged her audience to let go of questions like "what have you done?" and "what can you do?" Instead, she suggested that we begin interactions with leading statements like "ever since I was a small child I have been able to..." or "my ultimate passion is... ." Using this type of technique will challenge our clients (and us) to think differently about the meaning of work in our lives. The goal, as defined by Denise, needs to focus on finding work that meets the dual purpose of fulfilling personal passion and needs doing in the world. In addition, we might be more intentional in assisting our clients to recognize that not every "job" will meet the ultimate purpose, but every "job" can serve as a stepping stone on the journey. Overall, we can learn to learn more about ourselves by paying more attention and by giving our best to every job we do. If you want to learn more from Denise's work, visit her web site at www.diversityworld.com. - Dave Baker
When MCDA members Dean DeGroot and Amy Lindgren were just starting out in the world of self-employment, they didn't have all the answers — and they made their fair share of mistakes. Amy, for example, began her self-employed life by launching a house painting business. There was only one problem: she was afraid of heights, an important detail she discovered only after she climbed atop the roof of the first house she was to work on. "Not a good time to find this out," she says. Dean, meanwhile, notes that when he launched his career counseling and consulting business, he thought selling was "a used car guy in a plaid jacket" — until he went to a sales training seminar and learned differently. Amy and Dean were gracious enough to share these and other missteps — along with plenty of success stories and solid advice — on May 6 during their Professional Development Institute Business Startup from Two Perspectives: Starting Your Own Counseling/Consulting Business and Coaching Entrepreneurial Clients. As the title of the session implies, Amy and Dean covered the notion of self-employment from two distinct angles. Amy focused primarily on helping us as career counselors to more effectively assist our clients who express interest in self-employment. Too often, Amy notes, "we have a way of abandoning our clients when they say they want to go into business for themselves" because we tend to pass them along to other professionals for guidance. Sometimes, Amy says, those other resources — from organizations like the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) — assume the client is much further along in his/her thinking than is really the case, and they thus take the client down the complex path of business planning and financial forecasting that is as likely to overwhelm the person as to help him/her. Amy taught us strategies and exercises we can use with such clients so that we can advise them ourselves before they jump feet first into the nitty-gritty of starting a small business. Dean, on the other hand, discussed the nuts and bolts of self-employment for those of us who want to pursue — or are already pursuing — self-employment as a career path. He outlined 10 "successful practices" (e.g., establish a niche, network effectively, learn to partner with others) that all self-employed career counselors should adopt to give themselves the best possible chance of succeeding. He also spoke extensively on the all-important activities of marketing and product/service development so that the 15 or so of us in attendance at the PDI would better understand how to identify what we have to offer the marketplace as well as how we can then make the marketplace aware of those offerings. I would be remiss if I didn't mention one other innovative tool Amy and Dean modeled in their presentation: a sheet in their handouts called "15 Good Ideas," where we could write down insights that came to us throughout the day as Amy and Dean presented. I ended up maxing out my sheet — and I plan to borrow this great presentation tactic in future seminars of my own. Thanks to both Amy and Dean for an outstanding PDI. Here's hoping they'll take it on the road to other conferences so that our colleagues in other cities can learn from their expertise — and be inspired by their enthusiasm and candor as well. -
Peter Vogt Interactive Training Techniques Designed to Bring About Change Beginning her PDI on Terrific Training Techniques with the quote "Training that brings about no change is about as good as a parachute that opens on the first bounce, Judy Kaplan Baron challenged participants to improve their interactive group facilitation skills. Hailing from San Diego, Judy is a Master Career Counselor, a Registered Professional Career Counselor, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and Management Trainer, a professional speaker, and a writer. She provided a stimulating program that kept the group engaged from start to finish, replete with innovative ideas for conducting interactive sessions. In particular, her "Mind Reading" activity (with which she began the session) managed to keep the suspense building until the end of the day, when her "secret technique" was revealed to us at last. Judy stressed that one of the keys to a great presentation is to get people involved right from the start, since inclusion activities enhance one's overall willingness to participate. To demonstrate this concept, Judy selected two icebreakers: "Finding Yourself" and "Personal Facts." For "Finding Yourself," Judy collected everyone's name tags and randomly redistributed them. We were asked to mingle around the room and continue to introduce ourselves to others (while determining at least one thing in common with each person) until we located the individual wearing our name tag. The next activity was "Personal Facts." Each person was asked to write four statements about themselves — three of them true and the other false. In smaller groups, each person in turn read his/her statements aloud while the other participants cast their respective votes regarding which one they assumed was false. It was a fun way to learn some interesting new things about old friends and new acquaintances. The activities Judy introduced fell into five broad categories:
Approximately two activities were selected from each category for the group to experience during the program. Judy provided numerous practical tips on how to facilitate and "debrief" the activities while simultaneously facilitating hands-on learning. The following quote, which Judy shared toward the end of the day, seemed to best capture the essence of her program: "If you tell me, I may listen. If you show me, I may understand. If you involve me, I will learn." Thanks to Judy's expertise, it proved to be quite a dynamic experiential workshop that was rich with new learning. - Carmen Croonquist
"Our questions in life are everything. The questions we ask will shape our destiny as clearly as the skeleton shapes the body." These words of Martin Luther King Jr. opened Denise Bissonnette's PDI, The Art of Creating Opportunity: Top Twelve Employment Tools. Denise's early work in teaching English to political refugees from around the world showed her that the best way for immigrants to learn the language and culture of their new country was to establish themselves in the American workplace. They difficulty they had in gaining employment led her to a career as a job developer. Her success in helping those traditionally not part of the workforce to gain a place for themselves prompted her to develop a seminar that compiles the best of her techniques. We were treated to this new seminar. Denise used many stories from her own life and career to illustrate her ideas. Interspersing poetry, quotes, parables, and philosophy, she took us through the basics of the employment proposal. The question to ask is not "what are the skills my client has and who's hiring people with those skills?" but rather "who needs these skills but doesn't know it?" The approach to job placement should be one of offering the skills, rather than asking for the job. Ideas were presented using real-life examples and small-group activities. Some of the topics included:
Denise's energy and enthusiasm were evident throughout the day. She offers not only an inspiring message but also a practical and proactive approach to job development. She challenges the job developer to look beyond traditional methods when helping clients achieve their goals. - Martha Krohn Berowski
On Thursday evening, May 6, after a stimulating day of Professional Development Institutes, MCDA members gathered in the scenic Great Hall of Metropolitan State University to socialize, enjoy some light refreshments, and celebrate the achievements of colleagues. The evening, with opening and closing comments offered by Carmen Croonquist, was an enjoyable opportunity to recognize the contributions of various members of MCDA. Be sure to extend your appreciate and congratulations to your colleagues next time you're together. Award recipients included:
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Minnesota
Career Development Association (MCDA)
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