Complementary Leadership Training For Doctoral Students

Success in both academia and industry is dependent on more than just expertise in your chosen discipline.  Nowadays all employers expect to hire professionals who are not just technical experts, but are also managers with superior communication skills, able to work across cultures.  Skills such as decision making and marketing your project can be learned and trained.  It is for students who are aware of these challenges beyond their immediate discipline that we offer the following workshops.
 
The NRW Graduate School of Chemistry, the Ruhr Graduate School in Economics, RWI Essen, and the Paderborn Institute for Advanced Studies in Computer Science and Engineering (PACE), have pooled their resources again for 2011, to offer you a unique and diverse “soft” skill training program.  Each training has a limited number of places available with an equal number of slots for each Graduate School, so be sure to apply early to the address given below.  All participants receive a certificate for a successfully completed workshop.

Preliminary Complementary Skills Program 2012

Please check back here frequently for updates.

Location in Hamm: Hotel Mercure

No matter what field of work you are in, a significant part of it involves communication.  Even when you are not actively talking or writing, you are continually interacting with your environment and sending out non-verbal signals.  Communicating effectively is a skill like any other that can be learned and improved.  In this training the focus is on the communication skills that make academics successful in presenting.  The main topic of this training is presenting well, both in formal lecture-type situations and in informal meetings.  Participants will have the opportunity to review the basics of communication success, get feedback on their communication and presentation style, and learn strategies for improvement.  Topics include: non-verbal (body language) and verbal communication, understanding your audience, adapting your message to your audience, how to create a superior presentation, and how to deliver a presentation. Having to perform in a foreign language puts us all at a distinct disadvantage compared to native speakers. These situations lead to stress, uncertainty, and misunderstandings. This training will teach you specific tools and techniques to communicate well in English as a foreign language. What are the key do’s and don’ts of spoken English? What are typical language traps? How do you prepare yourself linguistically for English public speaking? This workshop will give you enough self-confidence and tools for further practice to master your next public talk in English.

Taking on a new position stands for change - switching from a well-known and familiar situation into the hitherto unknown. You can be pleased: so far you have asserted yourself successfully. However, previously proven behaviour does not necessarily grant your success in the new environment. In this course you will learn how to mark out your role as a manager and leader, avoiding pitfalls and handling expectations. Find out about a sensible approach to reposition yourself strategically within the new settings. The topics include: first and informal talks before taking office, formal dialogues after having started the new job, managing expectations, getting started purposefully and positioning yourself within the team and outside.

Completing a PhD is an extended project over the course of 3 or 4 years that can be more effectively managed using project management tools. The goal of this workshop is to introduce you to, and to practice, some of the most relevant tools from the Project Management Body of Knowledge that can be helpful in PhD-research. The workshop will cover the basics of project management, including planning, goal setting, identifying deliverables, time constraints and risk management, as well as ensuring monitoring and control of your project. We will also cover managing research projects. A key part of the training is to allow you to discuss any issues you have concerning managing your own research in a group of peers from different disciplines. Our trainer is Dr. Doris Warneke. Doris successfully completed her own PhD in business administration using project management tools. She is looking forward to sharing experiences with you.

The first impression counts. You learn how to prepare yourself well for your speech in public, how a good manner of speaking – particularly good articulation – leads to clear powers of expression and makes a sonorous impression, how you acoustically reach your audience/listener in a better way and save your strength at the same time.

Anti-stress programme for your daily routine and when you speak in public. You learn how you get back to your natural breathing and relax automatically, how posture and tension influence our voices, how you can actively release stress blockades and become more self-confident and relaxed
Voices can convey security and reliability. You learn to find your personal register, to have a powerful voice by using its resonance and not its strength, how to create an atmosphere full of trust with your voice and so convey security.

“Look into my eyes… “ Speaking while paying attention to your audience. You learn to be present by using the contact to your audience or partner, to adapt the volume you speak with to the room and your audience/partner.

Dealing consciously with body language to show your competence. You learn how your body language supports the convincing effect of your speech, how to overcome your insecurity while speaking and negotiating, how the congruence between your words, gestures and facial play can increase your credibility, what effect you have on others with the help of video/audio feedback.

The case study approach was developed by the Harvard Business School. Case studies describe issues that the management or directors of real existing companies were confronted with.  In case studies students assume the position of the management and try to solve the given issues.  The case study course developed by the University of Muenster, in cooperation with the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, is a one-day workshop.  The cases presented by the Institute of Business Administration at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy are based on issues directly derived from companies in the chemical industry.

In advance, students will receive a case containing information about the situation, and background information about the chemical company.  At the beginning of the workshop relevant management theories will be reviewed in a compact presentation.  Afterwards, participants will split into groups and prepare a solution for the case study issues.  Finally, the individual groups will present and discuss their solutions in a plenary session.  This workshop should help students improve their discussion and presentation abilities.  Furthermore, their capability to identify, analyze and solve management problems in the chemical industry, within a limited time frame, will be enhanced.

The only way to avoid conflict is to say nothing, do nothing, be nothing”… Because wherever people live and work together, (apparently) contradictory values, interests and ideas develop about how to proceed. This workshop is about learning to use conflict as an opportunity for change, and to use differences of opinion as a resource to improve the quality of relationships and results. To this end, a sensitivity to the cause and first signs of conflicts is useful, in order to avoid escalations and to develop the negotiation skills that result in win-win solutions. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own behavior in conflict situations and to try out new, more successful communications strategies.