Quantum2 Highlights - July 2004

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You are receiving Quantum2 Highlights, a newsletter of the Dialog leadership development program for information professionals. Unsubscribe information can be found at the bottom of this message.

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Dear Quantum2 Member,

Summer is in full swing and many of you are planning or already in the midst of vacation/holiday. Therefore, our newsletter is brief this month, but still worth the time to review.

In this issue of Quantum2 Highlights:

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QUANTUM2 WEB SESSIONS
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As part of our new schedule through December, the following WebEx sessions will be offered. The World Clock at http://worldtimeserver.com will convert the hours to match your local time.

To register for these WebEx sessions, and for more information, please visit http://quantum.dialog.com/training/workshops/.


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UPCOMING Quantum2 Sessions
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Dialog will be holding a Quantum2 day at the following location:

Presentations at these locations will be:

Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.


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QUANTUM2 TOPIC OF THE MONTH
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Assessing Your Business and Strategic Competencies

As you know, the Quantum2 program revolves around 10 business and strategic competencies that we see as key in developing a leadership role in your organization. Do you ever think it would be helpful to have an easy way to assess your strengths and weaknesses in these areas? Would you like a way to decide how to build on your current skills and "fill in the gaps" to help you become a leader?

We now have such a resource on our Quantum2 Web site (http://quantum.dialog.com). There is a short (6-8 minutes) movie that suggests the basic skills, knowledge, attitudes and understandings for each competency, and how to go about analyzing the gaps. You also can find a workbook based on this series that you can download and complete to design an action plan for improvement.

We suggest you choose a single competency, view the movie and then spend the time assessing your capabilities before moving on to a second competency. Once you have completed your assessment, move on to your action plan. As many of the competencies complement one another, you should be able to leverage necessary activities to improve more than one skill at a time.

One additional note: participants in this session have discovered that these competencies overlap and are synergistic with the competencies they have acquired as information professionals, so the task of moving toward leadership is not an overwhelming one.


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GETTING TO KNOW...YOUR QUANTUM2 COACH
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This month, our featured Quantum2 Coach is Peggy Taylor located in Texas, USA.

How long have you worked for Dialog? I will start my eighth year in August.

How did you come to join Dialog? I had a friend working for MAID (Profound) and insisted that I interview for the job of trainer/tech. In other words, my job was to install software on the client's computer and then teach them to use it.

What are your key responsibilities? My key responsibilities as a training consultant are teaching people how to use all of the many interfaces of the products offered by Dialog

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job? Finding a solution to a client's problem or continuing to learn; it is difficult to choose.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work? Staying on top of all of the changes involved in the various products that we represent.

How do you balance work and personal life? I am not sure that I do. However, I do enjoy my grandchildren, working in my yard and entertaining friends in my home. I would like to travel more.

What did you want to be, growing up? An artist first, then a nurse. I guess that only left computers.

What three words would you use to describe yourself today? Tenacious, caring and extremely lucky.

What are your plans for the future? An active retirement.

Peggy is our most recent recruit in our growing team of coaches and we are sure you will enjoy interacting with her in upcoming sessions.


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As always, your suggestions for workshop topics are always welcome and encouraged. If you know a friend or colleague who would benefit from Quantum2, please encourage them to sign up today at http://quantum.dialog.com.