Category: Professional Development

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters was organized 100 years ago, based on mentoring. In other words, the idea that “littles” would be powerfully influenced in positive ways by “bigs.”

New CEO Artis Stevens appears on The Today Show recently to share his bold vision for the “largest one-to-one mentoring organization in the country.”

View the story on The Today Show

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Mentoring Certificate Program
If you would like to learn how to become a more valuable mentor in the workplace, UW-Green Bay offers a structured mentor training program to enable business professionals to maximize the benefits of mentoring for both mentor and mentee with tips for effective communication, strong ethical standards and an action session to leave with a framework to structure their mentoring relationship. Now enrolling for the virtual sessions in September. Certificate can be completed in three weeks. Each session is four hours long – 2 hours of self-study content and 2 hours of online live discussion and activities.

Mentoring as a Super Power

Pat Mitchell is a groundbreaking media icon, global advocate for women’s rights and co-founder and curator of TEDWoman. She is also a passionate mentor. She believes mentoring “can close the gender gap in leadership in this country and around the world.”

In her book, Becoming a Dangerous Woman: Embracing Risk to Change the World, which is part memoir and part call to action, she connects mentoring with “being dangerous.”

“By ‘dangerous,’” says Mitchell, “I don’t mean being feared. I mean being fearless. Speaking up for truth. Showing up for one other and challenging the social construct that encourages women to complete, compare and criticize.”

As part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, she offers straightforward advice from her experience on how to show up for women and be a better mentor:

  • Being a mentor means matching your skills and interests.
  • Being a mentor takes time.
  • Being a mentor is about suggesting, not instructing.
  • Being a mentor is about asking smart questions, not having all the answers.
  • Not all mentorship ends with a sense of satisfaction.
  • You’re a mentor, not a mother.
  • Being a mentor can result in lifelong relationships that continue to nurture and empower.

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Mentoring Certificate Program
Help leading women and their sponsors show up for other women and other underrepresented communities. We offer a structured mentor training program to enable business leaders and HR professionals to maximize the benefits of mentoring for both mentor and mentee with tips for implementing, enhancing success in any field or level. Now enrolling for a virtual session in September. Certificate can be completed in three weeks. Each session is four hours long – 2 hours of self-study content and 2 hours of online live discussion and activities.

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The Institute for Women’s Leadership seeks to dismantle barriers for women and to fulfill a critical need in the region by promoting a more representative professional workforce and leadership with programs like “Women Rising” Stories from Experience” and “Rising Together: Caffeinated Conversations,” along with “Sharing Knowledge” workshops from qualified business members. For more information visit the website www.uwgb.edu/womens-leadership

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RESOURCES:
Ideas.Ted.com. “Help Them Succeed.” Pat Mitchell. March 6, 2020.  

Chasing Strengths

What Really Matters in Effective Leadership

The maxim may be true that you cannot lead others if you don’t understand yourself. However, leading only with a strengths-based focus can reveal character blind spots, which may cascade to organizational weaknesses.

For example, a creative, big-picture thinker who cannot translate their vision into a realistic operating plan with specifics about resources, responsibilities and timelines is hamstrung if they don’t seek out ways to develop the yang to their yin.

A natural collaborator who can bring people together and pool insights won’t be much use if they don’t know when or how to end discussion and decide next steps.

In some ways, chasing strengths is a cop-out. Leaders can be lulled into thinking that their strengths are enough. This may inhibit their development mindset. Also, weaknesses are weaknesses, and there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. If a leader can only operate in “command” mode, what are they not hearing or observing?

What’s needed is a a more balanced approach to leadership learning and development, especially in today’s complex, dynamic, ever-shifting world.

New research shows that the most effective leaders are the ones with the broadest repertoire of complementary skills and competencies. In other words, they are versatile.

Versatility is the capacity to read and respond to change with a wide range of correlative skills and behaviors.

How Does a Leader Develop Versatility?

  • Broaden your perspective — Seek out roles that stretch your skills and experiences. Versatile leaders tend to have more diverse career paths and work experiences than others, as well as the learning agility to absorb lessons and incorporate them in their leadership tool kits.
  • Solicit ongoing feedback — It’s crucial to get input about the impact and effectiveness of your behavior. Versatile leaders not only respond well to change, they also change their behavior in response to constructive criticism.
  • Become a more well-rounded person — Be open to new opportunities and capabilities. Versatile leaders show a pattern of stepping beyond the familiar and comfortable.

As you move forward, developing as a leader and a person, this quote from the late Peter Drucker could be your touchstone.

What should I stop, start and continue doing to be more effective?
—Peter Drucker

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Our Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program includes a diverse course curriculum that not only includes a core course “Development Yourself and Others” but also covers other critical topics like “Coaching for Performance,” “Change Management,” “Supervision and Human Resource Functions,” “Interpersonal Communication,” “Helping Your Team Achieve Organizational Management,” along with a Capstone Course that integrates all the learning and knowledge. Now enrolling for the spring session, starting in February.

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RESOURCES:
Harvard Business Review, “The Best Leaders are Versatile Ones,” Robert B. Kaiser, March 2, 2020.

Talent Quarterly, “Your Leader’s Strengths May Be Your Company’s Weaknesses,” Rob Kaiser, M.S., September 17, 2019.

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EXTRA CREDIT:
Read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein or watch his TED Talk “Why Specializing Early Doesn’t Always Mean Career Success.”

Defining Leadership for Yourself

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of leadership encompasses: 1) the office or position of a leader; 2) capacity to lead; 3) the act or instance of leading; and 4) leaders.

Leadership is personal and organizational. It can be demand-driven, purpose-driven, people-driven or all three.

Leadership can be described differently by different people, depending on their vantage point.

The Wall Street Journal asserts that leaders should be able to adapt their style to the moment, responding to the particulars of a challenge. Effective leaders should be able to move between the following modes:

  • Visionary — Helping an organization determine a new direction by moving people toward a new set of shared dreams.
  • Coaching — When working one-on one to guide an individual’s professional development and to connect them to the broader organizational mission.
  • Affiliate — If morale or trust are issues, this style focuses on team-building by connecting people to each other.
  • Democratic — This style draws on people’s knowledge and skills, creating a group commitment to organizational goals.
  • Pacesetting — In this style, the leader sets the standard for performance.
  • Commanding — The classic model of “military”-style leadership, best suited for crisis or urgent situations. Probably the most often used, but the least often effective. Even the military has come to recognize its limited usefulness.

Tony Robbins, author, coach and nationally-renowned motivational speaker, insists all leaders should cultivate a style with an underpinning of servant leadership. That is, you using your leadership skills to serve a greater good. He believes you should first identify your purpose and then you explore the types of leadership style to determine which aligns best with your personality and situation.

His styles relate largely to the ones shared above. He even includes a “Style Quiz” to help you identify your particular style or combination of styles.

Harvard Business Review classifies leadership styles as “archetypes,” which simultaneously stamps the individual’s personality and situation onto a prototype as follows:

  • The strategist: leadership as a game of chess.
  • The change catalyst: leadership as a turnaround activity.
  • The transactor: leadership as deal-making
  • The builder: leadership as an entrepreneurial activity.
  • The innovator: leadership as creative idea generation.
  • The processor: leadership as an exercise in efficiency.
  • The coach: leadership as a form of people development.
  • The communicator: leadership as stage management.

What all these descriptions have in common is a certain level of self-awareness. The exercise of exploring personal leadership styles results in a greater understanding of an individual’s personality strengths and weaknesses, and how they might be best leveraged within an organization to have the desired result.

What matters ultimately is how you define leadership for yourself, and how that definition serves the organization and mission you find yourself charged with.

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The core course in our Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program is “Developing Yourself and Others,” which includes a CliftonStrengths 34 assessment. You will learn your unique strengths and how best to leverage as a leader for the fulfillment of your organization’s mission and your individual purpose. Now enrolling for the spring session, starting in February.

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RESOURCES:
Wall Street Journal, “How-To Guide: Developing a Leadership Style,” adapted from “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management” by Alan Murray, published by Harper Business.
Tony Robbins, “7 Types of Leadership Styles.”
Harvard Business Review, “The Eight Archetypes of Leadership,” Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, December 18, 2013.

What the High-Value Companies Know

The Importance of Professional Development

Comparably launched in March 2016 as a compensation data and culture platform with the mission of “making workplaces transparent and rewarding for both employees and employers.”

Comparably ranks companies on their culture, based on a variety of factors, as contributed by real employees.

A key factor for culture is professional development. Says Comparably CEO Jason Nazar, “Professional development serves a vital role in companies, improving employees’ productivity and attitudes.”

Nazar also noted that professional development is important for gender and racial equity within the workplace. “One of the most important things we can do to level the playing field is to focus on professional development.”

The list of brands that rank high for professional development is a who’s who of high-value companies:

Best Large Companies for Professional Development (500+ employees)
Top 25, in alphabetical order

1. Aflac, Columbus, Ga.
2. Amazon, Seattle.
3. Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C.
4. Costco, Issaquah, Wash.
5. Ernst & Young, New York City.
6. Facebook, Menlo Park, Calif.
7. Fanatics, Jacksonville, Fla.
8. Fuze, Boston.
9. Google, Mountain View, Calif.
10. HubSpot, Cambridge, Mass.
11. Indeed.com, Austin, Texas.
12. Insight Global, Atlanta.
13. International Flavors & Fragrances, New York.
14. Intuit, Mountain View, Calif.
15. LogMeIn, Boston.
16. Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.
17. Nevro, Redwood, Calif.
18. PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y.
19. Starbucks, Seattle.
20. T-Mobile, Bellevue, Wash.
21. The Home Depot, Atlanta.
22. The Walt Disney Company, Burbank, Calif.
23. Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas.
24. Workfront, Lehi, Utah.
25. Zillow, Seattle, Wash.

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UW-Green Bay excels at training and curriculum development and offers exceptional training agility through the Division of Continuing Education and Community Engagement. With every training, we use an approach that respects the time and learning styles of adult learners, allowing them to pick and choose activities and modules that work for them while still delivering the learning they want and need. Consult our dynamic certificate programs to explore the ways we can help you advance your position in your existing company or undertake new challenges somewhere else.

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RESOURCES:
USA Today, “Facebook, Starbucks, Ernst & Young are among top U.S. companies for professional development,” June 7, 2018, Ben Tobin.

Dismantling Bias

CAREER & BUSINESS

The first hurdle we face as a society in dismantling bias is our own natures. Bias is baked into our brains. We literally can’t function if we don’t categorize the information we’re constantly exposed to: familiar, strange, interesting, boring. It is necessary for us to make inferences and assumptions. Otherwise, we’d be insensible with indecision.

Therefore, eradicating bias shouldn’t be the goal, and any plans to do so are inherently doomed to fail. So, what can we do? As individuals? As larger institutions?

As individuals, acknowledging and understanding bias is the first step toward lessening its influence. Experiences contribute to bias, and you have some control over the experiences you seek out. Here are ways you can harness the power of experience to start to disassemble bias:

  1. Put yourself in situations with people who are different than you. One of the most consistent findings in social psychology is that the more you are around people who are different from you, the more open-minded and tolerant you become. Especially if you can find common interests and values. We can hold problematic biases around race, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity and political preference, so don’t shy away from events, conversations or destinations that might put you in the way of people you may be unfamiliar with.
  1. Practice empathy. Try to understand people’s motives, attitudes and actions based on a wider perspective. Expand your knowledge with reading by diverse authors. Think about how you would feel if you were in their situations or had their lived experience.
  1. Get real. In order to deal with your biases, you have to know what they are, and the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been used for decades to explore the gap between what you think and do. Or the difference between your “implicit bias” and “explicit bias.” Take a test to learn your particular association in multiple categories.
  1. Act as-if bias-free. Although you might not be able to control how you think, you can control how you act. Set aside the easy assessment or categorization of other people and behave bias-free, or how you might imagine bias-free.

Collectively, these strategies for tailoring your experience will help reduce the impact of biased behavior.

However, work on an individual level is only part of the needed change to dismantle bias. We also need to realize that bias is also a structural and organizational problem that will require additional work to change. And it can’t be just about the employees or individuals working for the organization.

Organizations need to examine and explicate long-standing practices and procedures to determine how they might be stigmatizing or disadvantaging people of color, people of the LGBTQ+ community or any other group about which we hold a bias.

This is not easy, but it is necessary work, if we as a society hope to dismantle bias and fulfill the promise of America as “a land of the free and the brave.”

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Intercultural communications can affect your relationships with employees, clients, corporate partners and other stakeholders when conducting business internationally. Join Dr. David N. Coury, PhD, in our September Expert Spotlight to learn how you can prevent misunderstandings and broaden your awareness of cultural differences.

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We have partnered with Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr., of American & Moore, LLC, to create a youth program Peace, Equity and Social Justice for middle school and high school students, along with their parents, encouraging #RealTalk.

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RESOURCES:
Fast Company, “How to Become a Less Biased Version of Yourself,” February 12, 2019, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.
Insider, “Can Meditation Reduce Implicit Bias?” July 1, 2020, Sara Shah.
Scientific American, “The Problem with Implicit Bias Training,” August 28, 2020, Tiffany L. Green.

Mindfulness Contributes to Mental Fitness

Business & Career

When the nature of work changes it’s important for companies and organizations to reassess what is working and what might need strengthening.

For many workers, the makeup of work changed dramatically with COVID-19 and will likely continue with or without coronavirus. In the current reality, 46% of organizations have implemented work-from-home policies with 68% of them planning more flexible work arrangements even after they fully reopen.

Working from home offers many benefits for employees, but it is different, presenting distinct challenges. For example, many remote workers report a blurring of the line between work and personal time as an added mental weight, which can cause stress, anxiety and contribute to feelings of isolation or depression.

Mindfulness can be an effective countermove to this uncomfortable sense of mind muddling. “Mindfulness helps us acknowledge that we are not our thoughts and emotions,” says Alan Chu, Chair of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology at UW-Green Bay. “This perspective helps us be self-compassionate and not overthink stress and anxiety in order to prevent downward spiral.”

In rigorous studies, mindfulness has revealed true benefits:

  • Stronger focus
  • Staying calmer under stress
  • Better memory
  • Increased generosity

All four of these benefits are valuable in today’s needed-it-yesterday work culture. When you begin a mindfulness practice, you find out in a hurry how much your mind tends to wander. But by learning how to bring your mind back to breath you build your powers of concentration, clarity and calmness.

A researcher shared this example from a professional setting. When a high-level executive initiated a morning mindfulness session for their leadership team, they found the team got along better, sharing ideas and information more openly and less defensively, which resulted in better decision making for the company.

These kinds of results have inspired companies to offer mindfulness sessions, along with wellness and financial health sessions, as part of their benefits packages. Google and General Mills have been offering mindfulness sessions to their employees for over a decade. On Intel’s employee self-evaluations their program has clearly delivered positive signs of improved mental fitness, and Aetna reduced medical claims, saving millions of dollars.

Although it’s advisable to consult with a mindfulness teacher, mindfulness sessions are relatively easy to implement,  UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds (www.centerhealthyminds.org) has a section for workplace well-being under their “Join the Movement” navigation with helpful case studies and articles, along with workplace-appropriate guided practices. Even mindfulness sessions as short as 5 or 10 minutes can make a dramatic difference with regular practice.

You could allow your employees time or space for mindfulness practice, or perhaps at your next meeting – in-person or virtual – you could begin with a short breathing exercise and kickoff the business at hand with the bright peal of meditation bells or tingsha. The result might just be a more profitable discussion.

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Professor Chu will be UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Professional Education’s Expert Spotlight on October 8 and will talk about “Keeping Remote Workers Mentally Fit.” Learn more and register for his valuable presentation. Dr. Chu also blogs on mindfulness and other topics.

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RESOURCES:
Inside UW-Green Bay News, July 15, 2020, “Professor Chu gives input on improving employee well-being during a pandemic.”
Virtual Vocations, July 14, 2020, “Relaxing When You Work from Home: A Guide to Mental Health.”
Forbes (Finance Council), July 2, 2019, “Mindfulness Programs are the Next Big Thing in Business Leadership.”
Harvard Business Review, September 28, 2017, “Here’s What Mindfulness Is (and Isn’t) Good for.”