Dear colleagues,
I am a new member of AOM and of the Management, Spirituality and Religion Interest Group. I am a Learning Advisor in the Human Resources Department for Catholic Relief Services, an international relief and development agency owned by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. It is my job to create a comprehensive learning program for CRS staff around the world on workplace values and our mission, and Catholic social teaching. We call this the "Values Program" at CRS. I've been creating on-line courses on such topics as "Catholic Social Teaching and the CRS Guiding Principles", "Introduction to the Catholic Church", "Writings from World Religions", "CRS Mission and History", "Applying Values on the Job", and facilitating a workshop called the "Justice & Solidarity Reflection". All of these courses and workshops are required for new staff.
I also organize three to four lectures a year and bring in external speakers on topics of interest to our staff as they pertain to Catholic social teaching. Past lecture topics include: how to apply Caritas in Veritate (the latest papal encyclical) to our work, the meaning of work in the workplace from a Catholic standpoint, common ground between Catholicism and Islam, etc.
I am going into a new phase of instructional design where I will be creating courses and workshops, and possibly retreats for managers and leaders at CRS. I am looking to connect with, share my experience, and learn from academicians and other practitioners who study organizations that implement staff development programs for their workplaces on spirituality and religion. Integrating Catholic social thought and values into our programs and internal management practices is very important to us, and I'm eager to learn what is being done in other organizations along this vein. It need not be specific to Catholicism, but I'd be interested in learning if there are other organizations out there developing or implementing similar programs aligned to Christianity, or other religions, or a more general description of spirituality.
I hope I've been clear. Unfortunately I won't be going to the AOM conference or MSR retreat this year, but look forward to networking virtually just the same.
Thanks and best regards,
Barbara Pando-Behnke
Learning Advisor - HR/Workforce Development
Catholic Relief Services
228 W. Lexington Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-3413
Phone: 410-951-7403
http://www.crs.org
Skype: barbara.pando.behnke