The Women in the Sciences Leadership Workshop series has been ongoing since 2018 and has now directly reached 300 women across the country and internationally. The “Building Leadership Skills for Success in the Scientific Workforce” workshop was founded by GOMO Program Manager Emily Smith and is sponsored by NOAA and the Earth Science Women’s Network. This series was born from a need for women in the sciences to have professional leadership and management training, especially at a time when women are still a minority in scientific leadership roles. Science is rarely done in isolation; in almost any position, leadership and management skills are an important contributor to success. Yet, these skills are seldom discussed as part of an academic education, and hardly, if ever, show up in professional trainings for scientists. This workshop is designed to provide techniques and foster skills in leadership and management for women in various scientific roles.
The 2022 cohort of 28 women met at the University of South Florida (USF) from May 12-13 to learn about their DISC profiles and how individual strengths could be used for better management. Workshop sessions also focused on emotional intelligence and how to give and receive feedback. All of the participants plan on taking back this information to their institutions (academia, nonprofits and federal agencies). USF published an interview with two participants to get their (all positive!) feedback on the workshop. The workshop leaders have now held four in-person workshops and two virtual ones during the pandemic, and plan to host the workshop in different geographic locations to reach more people across the country.