Professional Development at GE Healthcare

Across the GE businesses, IMLPs maintain a number of committees.  Much like clubs and organizations in college, IMLP committees have Chairs that lead and facilitate meetings and monitor the organization of initiatives within their scope.  Members of committees participate in several ways, and usua(c) Getty Imageslly own the individual projects.  Recently with our Professional Development Committee at GE Healthcare, we’ve started hosting hot topic discussions within our meetings.  We’ve opened the floor to everyone to share what their successes and challenges are with rotations, what’s on their mind for rotation selection and off-program opportunities, and trainings that we’re currently involved in.  We’ve discussed how to run an effective meeting: setting a specific agenda, seeking participants and volunteers, delegating tasks, and following up.  We’ve also shared viewpoints regarding intrinsic motivation, encouraging and inspiring fellow teammates, and maintaining that energy throughout assignments.  Discussing this with peers experiencing the same thing in their careers has been beneficial and helpful for everyone involved.  We continue to learn throughout our rotations from Program Managers, Assignment Leaders, mentors, and fellow IMLPs.  Having these interactions reminds me that with IMLP, it’s more than a job; it’s a community.

GExtreme Makeover – MPS Edition

I, along with two other IMLPs, had the distinct pleasure of working on the GExtreme Makeover of a Milwaukee Public School classroom earlier last month.

As a part of the GE Healthcare iCare initiative, GEHC IT and Process Excellence recently partnered with CompuCom to donate 45 computers to the Samuel Morse – John Marshall School for the Gifted and Talented, a Milwaukee Public School. On Wednesday, January 26th, students, employees and local media attended an unveiling event to see the new media lab for the first time since the project began in November 2010.

GE Healthcare IT Program Manager and IMLP alumnus Romel Tolbert said, “Before the donation, I visited the class and a number of students seemed to be huddled around a few machines.  Immediately, I knew there was a need to do something more.”

Read more about this incredible story at the GE Careers Blog.

Want to learn more about this donation? Watch the video below:



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We’re Not the Only Ones Blogging These Days…

Enjoy reading up on the blog to see what IMLPs are up to and the cool things that GE’s doing these days?  Well, we’re not the only ones in GE trying to get the word out about what we do and how we operate.  Interested to see some of the cutting edge technology coming out of our GE research center?  Check out their blog at http://www.grcblog.com/.  Or how about out getting a peek at new breakthroughs at GE Healthcare Europe?  Check out http://gehealthcare.typepad.com/ge_healthcare_blog/.   Rather look at GE from a more holistic, high-level view?  Check out GE’s newest, largest, and furthest reaching blog at http://www.gereports.com/.

We’ve got blogs popping up everywhere and the trend continues to grow.  I’m starting to see both external and interior-facing blogs being used for everything from external information dissemination and recruiting efforts to internal lean workouts and geographically dispersed team coordination. 

In fact, GE’s even incorporated a personal blog into every employee’s internal GE profile, allowing you to post tidbits of information about things you’ve been working on or need assistance on and have your colleagues read it and reply back.  For example, I subscribe to GE’s CIO’s personal blog.  He posts every once and a while about new things that he’s looking into, his vision on select topics, etc. and these have been extraordinarily insightful to me, allowing me to see his plans for the future and new opportunities that exist on the horizon.

How’s that for imagination at work?

Running around at GE!

One of the striking differences between GE employees and the rest of Corporate America is how active we can be at the office and during our spare time.

According to this article, taking fewer than 5000 steps is typical for someone who lives a sedentary lifestyle.  As you can see in this picture, even though a lot of my time is spent on the phone, it's evident that accruing nearly 7000 plus steps by mid-day indicates I spend an equal amount of time walking around and talking to those local to me.

While running around can be fun, we have a bunch of IMLPs that feel they need to run around after the work week ends. Hit the jump for some pictures of their running endeavors!

Linden Hillenbrand (1st rotation Corporate) and Cameron Hall (1st rotation Healthcare) joined GE FORCE (GE Families Out Racing For a Cure Everyday) for a 5k in the Susan G. Komen Milwaukee Race for the Cure. With the combined efforts of over 100 other recruits the GE team raised over $20,000 in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Apparently after realizing that 5K was not enough, Linden Hillenbrand was joined by fellow 3rd rotation Corporate IMLP Dave Renz for a half-marathon in Hartford, CT on October 11th.

A Day In the Life: Community Service Day 2008

For one day, employees across GE Healthcare put training, bootcamp, rotational, engineering and other challenges aside to take on more basic challenges within their community.  That's not to say that employees don't give of themselves in a plethora of other ways, it is just that on Community Service Day at each of the offices it becomes a larger, more powerful group effort.  The team for GE Healthcare's Research Park facility where I work had over 3000 volunteers that worked in 28 local public schools repainting, landscaping and cleaning.

Beyond the press release though, this type of an event is a great opportunity not only for the community but for the IMLPs and the rest of the business.  It give us all a chance to get out of the office and concentrate on working with eachother and getting to know eachother all while helping the community.



Why is it a key part of the IMLP experience?  We have an IMLP group that works within the larger community in the same way we do at work.  We can assist eachother and rely on eachother as memebers of a peer group that come in together, train together and form strong bonds that are not as easy to make when you are hired in as "The New Guy" to another firm or a non-rotational program position.

How big of a role does service play in your job or dream job?