Core Laboratory
David Fuller |
About six years ago, David Fuller, chemistry technologist
in the Core
Labs, saw a need for employees in his department to have more
opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills. So he helped
create the Core Lab’s Committee for Employee Satisfaction, which
lets employees give feedback and suggestions about work-related
issues, and provides them with learning and career development opportunities.
With Fuller as chairperson, the committee keeps abreast of outside
lectures, seminars and other educational opportunities that could
be beneficial to staff, and picks up the cost of these events when
possible. In addition, directors and guest speakers periodically
give educational presentations to staff.
“We also try to get the staff interested in going back to school
to keep up to date on lab and safety procedures,” Fuller says. “We
don’t want our employees to just give out numbers. We want to think
about what the lab results mean.”
Information Services Department
With the fast pace of changes in information technology, Chief Knowledge
Officer Danny Shaw knows the importance of continuing
education for his staff. So a significant portion of his budget
funds continuing education, ranging from courses in new software
to week-long industry conferences.
Shaw says that he and the department’s managers try to anticipate
what skills will be crucial one or two years down the road so the
staff can begin building expertise. “It’s in the hospital’s best
interest that our people stay on top of technology,” he says.
Intellectual Property Office
An internship program originally created by Don Lombardi
and Brenda Manning, PhD, to help fill positions
where fully-qualified candidates were difficult to find has become
an integral part of the Intellectual
Property Office.
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Denise Wright
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Under the program, applicants with one expertise—such as science
or business—receive on-the-job training in other aspects of the
technology transfer field (which brings ideas, techniques and technologies
developed at Children’s to market). A significant part of the program
is an evaluation that allows interns and employees a chance to see
if they are meeting or exceeding standards. “It’s not designed to
reward or punish them,” says Lombardi, “but to see what experiences
they are missing and then give them those opportunities.”
The IPO extends that positive approach to all its employees. For
example, Administrative Assistant Denise Wright
wanted to expand her skills, so she was offered an opportunity to
help file patents. Now Wright is considering going back to school
for a degree in legal administration science, something she never
would have considered without that experience. “I came to my supervisors
about an opportunity,” she says, “and they backed me up.” —BD
Related article:
Dialogue: Susan Hancox on career
development
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