Draft of the announcement to be sent out in early March

As the April 30th evaluations are approaching, it's time to start thinking about your personal development goals for the 2007-2008 year. Excellent communication skills are essential for your future success at Vanderbilt. Talk with your supervisor and others who might help you to identify your strengths and to discover your weaknesses. The Communication Skills Committee and other related committees may also help with these efforts. How do you communcate with your co-workers and colleagues in your current position? Can you ask them for feedback on the quality of your communications, both oral and written? Are there any other positions you wish to work towards that will require additional communications skills? Identify one or two areas where you would like to see improvement.

Make a plan on how to improve in those areas. Plans should include activities that encompass both work and non-work-related activities. If, for instance, you identify improved oral communication as a goal, you could plas to make a specific number of oral presentations of your analysis reports. These presentations may take place in the context of reports to collaborators or in a group meeting of department colleagues (a Communications Skills or Writing/Speaking Clinic meeting or an informal group that you have gathered). If improved written communications are your goal, you could make plans to write a specific number of analysis reports or papers that you send to specified persons for critique (supervisors or others). You could also make plans to attend workshops on writing offered by the department or the University or engage in a self-study program.

Your plan should include a way for your supervisor to track your effort, such as a monthly update on your progress. Communication is rated in the credo section of the evaluation and your effort to improve is a major part of that rating. Be prepared to adapt and to ask for advice from those who have helped you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Your initial plan may not meet your needs or you may progress beyond your current plan and require more ambitious goals. Your time is valuable. Concentrate your efforts on those activities that will most directly benefit you. It is your responsibility to plan your activities, to solicit feedback on your progress, and to make judgements about whether these activities are meeting yoour goals. If you make a consistent effort using efficacious strategies for improvement, then your excellent communication skills will be self-evident.