Meet Jolie Wills, speaker for our program on Workforce Resilience on April 6.

Jolie is the co-founder and director of Hummingly.

Jolie, your website explains that Hummingly was inspired by your experience working in post-disaster environments. What led you to that work?

I’m a cognitive scientist, so I’ve always been interested in how cumulative stress and pressure impact our performance – as humans it’s a side effect of how we’re biologically set up and our organizations consist of a bunch of humans. What I didn’t anticipate is the twist that my professional and personal life had in store for me when the Christchurch earthquakes happened – Christchurch being my home city. After decades being immersed in disasters and interviewing crisis leaders all over the world, we knew what was needed to prepare teams to perform well, especially under pressure. This expertise wasn’t getting into the hands of teams who needed or wanted it, so we packaged it up. 

Are there any misconceptions about resilience that you frequently encounter?

There are plenty. Which to pick? One is that resilience is solely the personal responsibility of the employee. We know that factors at the organizational and team levels impact the wellbeing and resilience of our people. Hummingly has a triple responsibility model for wellbeing and resilience with actions needed at the individual, team, and organizational levels. This is fitting because if we get it wrong, the risks are significant and the ramifications will be felt at all three levels – not just with the individual. The exciting piece is that when we get it right, growth, wellbeing, and performance benefits are felt right through the organization.

Are you willing to share a fun fact about yourself?

I’m not sure if it’s a fun fact but definitely an unusual one. I was the only girl at an all-boys school for a couple of years. With the skew in education at the time, that’s what it took to pursue my love of math and science. It’s a time I identify as resilience-building, that’s for sure!

Click here to register for the Workforce Resilience in Times of Adversity program on April 6 at Blake Street Tavern.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Below are some of the chapter events we currently have scheduled. You can register for all of them through our events calendar.

Workforce Resilience in Times of Adversity

Wednesday, April 6 | 5:00-6:30 PM 

Blake Street Tavern

Learning and development professionals play a vital role in supporting an organization to be "up for the challenge" in challenging times. Explore simple methods for connection, sparking wellbeing conversations and supporting performance under pressure. And have some fun connecting with others along the way. 

This session will contain a mix of science, stories, practical activities, and connection. 

Book Club: Write Better Multiple Choice Questions to Assess Learning

Two virtual meetings:
Thursday, April 14 and Thursday, April 28 | 4:30-5:30 PM

This book describes how to write well-written learning objectives that explain what we should assess, and write multiple-choice questions that assess the knowledge and skills in the learning objectives.

It offers many examples, exercises, and job aids to make adoption of these tactics easier. The book is written for anyone who needs to write effective multiple-choice questions to assess important skills.

Panel Discussion: Party of One or Small Team ID

Thursday, April 21 | 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Virtual

This panel discussion will focus on how Instructional Designers can create influence, build a sense of community, and promote yourself when you are a party of one ID or part of a very small team. You will develop methods to create influence, and community during this discussion. 

Interested in volunteering with the ATD Rocky Mountain Chapter?

Volunteering with the chapter is an effective and fun way to deepen relationships with other chapter members and contribute to your professional community.

Contact Katie if you're interested.

Your ATDRMC membership includes access to events offered by our partner chapters!

We are partnering with the Pikes Peak and Northern Rockies chapters to offer you access to even more events as part of your ATDRMC membership! 

Go to the Special Offers page (accessible to members only) for the discount code that gives you free access to these additional events.

Not a member yet, but want to take advantage of this? Join here.