SDP Winter Workshop 2025

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Join us as we engage in some fun networking games and activities. In addition to having some fun, these activities are designed to further build upon the connections we’ve made with one another, bringing us closer to appreciating the commonalities we share, and celebrating the unique skills and personalities we each have. Based on your ranking from our survey, we’ll endeavor to place you in one of your top selected activities. This activity is: Charty Party

Have you played Apples to Apples? Do you like explaining graphs to others? If you said yes to either—or both—of these, Charty Party is the game for you.
This game will balance pedantry and laughs with some friendly competition as we all strive to apply the funniest or most accurate labels to graphs, and then vote on them! This game will be played in teams, and the winning team will receive bragging rights and a (virtual) trophy.
The session will start with an explanation of the rules and a practice round, so come whether this is your first time or you’re an old pro.

You'll want to have access to the following resources during the session (all will be explained):

• http://bit.ly/SDPchartyY
• http://bit.ly/SDPchartyAnchor

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

Dive into an exciting virtual escape room experience that will test your creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills! Collaborate with fellow participants as you explore intriguing virtual environments, unravel complex puzzles, and uncover hidden mysteries—all from the comfort of your own space. This engaging and interactive session is designed for participants of all skill levels, encouraging you to think critically and work together to beat the clock. Join us for a thrilling adventure—are you ready to escape? 

Web links and other materials to be posted!

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Join us as we engage in some fun networking games and activities. These activities are designed to further build upon the connections we’ve made with one another, bringing us closer to appreciating the commonalities we share, and celebrating the unique skills and personalities we each have.

This activity is: MURDLE, a logic puzzle collaborative game.

Channel your inner Angela Lansbury and bring your best reasoning skills to help solve the MURDLE of the day. We will warm up with a whole group effort by solving a mini practice puzzle. Then, each detective squad will breakout to dissect the puzzle of the day to identify clues and eliminate red herrings. We only have 60 minutes, can we solve the mystery?

Want to check it out ahead of time? Explore the MURDLE webpage to get familiar with the format and explore the features. A new puzzle is uploaded each day, and increases in difficulty throughout the week. Refrain from peaking at the puzzle ahead of time the day of our session!

Select this session for a fun, non-competitive puzzle solving experience with your fellow logic and deduction lovers.

** Session open to both C15 and C16 fellows **

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted

PREWORK: https://forms.gle/4CmDgUvecHxg4q5d8 (submit by Friday 2/7) 

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

This quote from Henry Ford summarizes well the challenges and payoff to working on or leading an exceptional team, even though a lot has changed about the way we work since the assembly line days. In this session, you’ll learn about several frameworks for cultivating a high-performing team and practice applying them to your own team management, through both positional and personal power. The session will focus on developing a clear "diagnosis" that will position you to better understand and address challenges your team is currently facing and will help you think through next steps to determine possible "treatments". This session is appropriate for anyone who wants to take a more active role in leading their team, regardless of role: team members, soon-to-be managers, or new and existing team managers.

SESSION MATERIALS:

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted

PREWORK: None

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

This session is designed to help support and empower fellows who are committed to reducing identity-based aggression in the workplace. Microaggressions, which constitute subtle, everyday acts of discrimination, and macroaggressions, involving overt and explicit acts of prejudice, are both forms of identity-based violence that harm us all. By participating in this session, you will learn from a senior leader about the role we each play in building a workplace with high levels of fluency and awareness in how to navigate identity-based obstacles across lines of difference.

You will also learn:

1. Practical techniques for deciding how to respond to tensions caused by identity-based lines of difference. 
2. The important role of being an ally in spaces where you are in the majority and 
3. How to use these moments to push beyond the impediment or obstacles they pose, towards the collective learning and growth of your colleagues in the workplace.

This session is for:

• Fellows who may be experiencing obstacles in their agency that are based on their identity.
• Fellows who are allies and champion inclusive workspaces for the overall enhancement of the work environment.
• Leaders interested in creating equitable environments and growing their teams’ fluency in navigating lines of difference.

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted

** This session is open to both C15 and C16 fellows **

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted

PREWORK: **No submission required**

Approximately 30 minutes
The pre-work presents an opportunity to reflect on the transitions taking place or upcoming within your organization. This pre-work is best done over time, with a period of at least two days between journaling your reflections (to promote passive processing between and during reflection time).

If spacing your pre-work out in this way is not possible, given other demands of your time, here are the three prompts you will consider during this workshop. Each prompt should take no more than 10-15 minutes to reflect on. Your reflections are your own, you will NOT turn your reflections in to SDP. Instead, bring your reflections with you to the session at Winter Workshop.

1. Take 10 minutes in a quiet spot to sit down with your notebook and pen. Write down the organizational transition challenge you are facing. Write down what the transition means for you. Write down how you feel about that transition.
2.  Take 10 minutes with your notebook. Re-read the sentences you wrote about the transition challenge you are facing. Re-write the challenge in 1-3 sentences so you may explain it in about 1 minute to a trusted friend. Re-read your feelings about the transition. Has anything changed since you wrote your challenge and your feelings two (or so) days ago? Have you learned anything new about what this transition could mean for you?

If you finish before 10 minutes has passed, add any additional thoughts you have related to this organizational transition.

3. Finally, please take 10 minutes to read the attached article- Six Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Working together and in organizations gives us the knowledge, resources and motivation to accomplish the ambitious data work we undertake. It’s also true that working with others or in organizations can be the source of many of our biggest barriers (personal or otherwise) to achieving our goals.

The session for fellows in their first year is designed to help you weather the changes and challenges that may arise in your respective organizations, irrespective of the forms they take. We will offer you our advice for staying anchored in the midst of challenges, will collectively action plan around some common challenges fellows face, and we will workshop some of your own challenges with your peers.

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted (Leadership Stories will not be recorded)

PREWORK: ** Submission Required**

Advising Feedback: Please take a few minutes to reflect on the support that SDP is providing you in the development of your capstone and your progress in your fellowship. We ask that you review and complete the attached survey of your experience with your Faculty or Technical Expert Advisor, as well as your experience with SDP staff, and submit your response to this brief survey by January 31, 2025. Thank you in advance for sharing your valuable feedback.  

SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Round out the workshop with another round of Leadership Stories and exploration into lessons learned throughout the capstone process and fellowship. Additional topics may include sustainability planning for your agency and work. More to come! 

SESSION MATERIALS:

SESSION RECORDING: To Be Posted (Leadership Stories will not be recorded)

PREWORK: None

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

Round out the workshop with another round of Leadership Stories and exploration into "what's next" after the capstone proposal submission process. Fellows will explore past projects and have dedicated work time in small groups. More to come!

SESSION MATERIALS: