Alba I. Nuñez

Senior HR Strategists/Program Manager, Employee Services/Strategic Workforce Planning, U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Panel Information

Tuesday, July 26

1:30 PM EST

Individual Development Plan (IDP)- A Custom-Tailored Career

Life gives us many choices; for example, you purchase shoes to fit and buy clothes that make you look and feel good. Better yet, custom-tailored. There is nothing like it! In each, you choose the size, color, comfort, and the benefits it will bring you at the time of purchase and future. The question becomes whether you do the same for your career development or do you just accept whatever is available, let’s say, on the rack? Guess What? You simply do not have to accept just anything for your career development. You can do as you buy clothes and tailor your career to fit your needs so that you will look and feel good now and in the future. By using the Individual Development Plan, you can become the “Tailor” to your career development. An excerpt from the President’s Management Agenda states, “We will take new steps to attract, hire, involve, develop, support, and empower talent who can help us meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.” A realistic, well-researched, clearly written Individual Development Plan is a valuable tool for you and your organization. Whether your agency or organization has mandatory IDPs or not, you still need to chart your own course. This workshop will give you the knowledge, resources, and strategy to develop an IDP that will yield a successful and illustrious career.

Wednesday, July 27

3:15 PM EST

Diversity and Inclusion: More Than Just Numbers

In a diverse Nation as ours, the subject of differences between the generations, races, genders, and cultures is not new. While the American workplace culture is patterned after that of Northern Europeans, the workplace itself is becoming more diverse every year. There are many more persons with diverse backgrounds whose culture, values, and behaviors may not fit that of the traditional American workplace. Unless understood, embraced, and managed well, these differences may result in a conflictive and unproductive workplace. Using research results, humor, and the presenter’s own personal and professional experience, this workshop explores what happens when people from different cultural backgrounds work together in a workplace that has its own very distinct culture. It will identify potential areas of conflict—and ways to minimize it—as well as areas of opportunity as they work together towards a common goal. The workshop will help participants better understand the values and expectations in the American workplace culture versus those of the cultures represented by diverse ethnic and racial minorities. After identifying common areas as well as areas of conflict, and their consequences, the workshop presents ways of bridging the gap and making for a more productive and embracing workplace.