Day: August 16, 2023

Social media often gets a bad reputation for being a place filled with unnecessary or unhealthy communication. However, social media can also provide opportunities for connections across great distances and allow for the exchange of ideas from people of all walks of life and cultures. Today I want to share just a few ideas for what you can do to make new connections or find more content to build your professional social media skills up!

1. 1. #Hashtags – Searching for a certain phrase using a hashtag, such as #communicationskills or #servantleadership, is a great way to find content and people who are interested in those topics! In some cases, you can even follow certain hashtags to have content brought directly to your social media page, which makes the content more personalized but allows you to see a more diverse group of people’s posts.
   2. Association of… – By searching for “Association of…” followed by the topic you are interested in you could be introduced to a number of groups and organizations that are doing amazing things in your area of interest, but may not be in your region or even county! This could be a great way to get new ideas or new perspectives, and it works for all sorts of phrases such as “Organization of…”, “Club for…”, etc.
   3. Don’t be afraid to comment – Once you find a page, group, or organization that you are interested in, don’t be afraid to comment on their posts! This shows others in the community that you are interested, which can lead to additional connections. It also can boost the number of posts that you see on your page about the topics you enjoy.

Social media provides an exceptional way to connect with new people, new ideas, and new places in professional development. Take some time to look at how you are interacting with your social media pages and learn how you can expand your learning environment!

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UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Education and Community Engagement Division is continuously looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge of professional development for its clients. Be sure to check out the CECE website below, and reach out if you have ideas for new content you want to see! https://www.uwgb.edu/continuing-education/

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Writing/Research Credit: Christopher Ledvina, UW-Green Bay Business Development Specialist

As much as I hate to say it, summer is going to come to a close soon. For many people that means a return to school, less time with the family and more time in the office, but it doesn’t have to include a lack of planning! Goal setting shouldn’t be a yearly process meant for New Year’s resolutions, or annual strategic planning sessions. Having a good process for goal setting can be used anytime, whether you are revisiting once a year, month, or whenever makes sense. Here are a few strategies you can use to start creating goals that you can count on:

1. 1. SMART Goals have received a ton of attention, and for good reason! The process of creating a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART) leads to a great foundation of information for you to create action steps from. There are tons of websites and free resources dedicated to creating SMART goals as well, including this great article on MindTools.com
   2. A similar process to SMART goals is the PACT method. The acronym stands for Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable and is great for long-term personal goals. For more information about the PACT method, check out this article from the National Society of Leadership and Success.
   3. A final alternative goal setting method is the “5 W’s” technique. This process requires you to start with a simple idea of your goal, then asking yourself a series of questions based on the five W questions: Who, What, Where, When and Why. Answering questions based on these ideas can do wonders to solidify how you will approach your goals in the future. This article from LinkedIn does a great job of explaining questions you can ask yourself to get started!

There isn’t one goal setting process that’s better than another, it all depends on your goals and what makes the most sense for you. However, taking the time to set your goals, and planning for reflection and revision, goes a long way towards accomplishing them!

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UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Education and Community Engagement Division (CECE) is always looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge of professional development for our clients. Be sure to check out the CECE website below, and reach out if you have ideas for new content you want to see! https://www.uwgb.edu/continuing-education/

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Ways to Effectively Set and Achieve Your Goals

Writing/Research Credit: Christopher Ledvina, UW-Green Bay Business Development Specialist