Continuous Improvement

UC Core Competencies - Achieving Results

  • Strives for high-quality performance in self and the organization. Takes initiative in an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes to deliver optimum results. Is resourceful, seeks alternatives and broad input; measures outcomes.

    • Increasing efficiency

    • Eliminating waste

    • Improving performance

    • Using tools to improve quality of products and services

    • Driving improvement

    • Innovation

    • Wellness

    • Taking initiative

    • Resourcefulness

    • Measuring outcomes

Google Drive Makeover: Organizing Files and Folders

Discover ways to use and organize your files and folders online inside Google Drive. Beginning with a basic overview of how Google drive works, productivity expert and professional organizer Suzanna Kaye moves on to an exploration of unique features and shares her simple search-based filing system that makes working with Google Drive fast and easy. Suzanna also covers common mistakes to avoid, troubleshooting, and how to share files with others.

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Employee Guide: How to Be a Productive Learner

What is the difference between just learning and productive learning? The key to productive learning exists in the practice of certain behaviors such as prioritization of relevant opportunities, seeking peer knowledge and expertise, and reflection on work experiences.

Use...

What's Your Shadowside On a Team?

Increasing employees’ self-awareness of their personal ‘shadow’ on the team helps create a tone on the team that is more open and conducive to team skill sharing. You should use...

Set Yourself Up for Your Next Job

The “Skill Self-Estimate” is a tool for comparing your current skills with the skills required for a particular position or type of position. You often won’t have absolutely all of the information you would like about a job to compare to your skills. As you work with this exercise, notice the questions you have, and think about ways that you might get more information if you need it. Check it out here.

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team

Five years ago, Google — one of the most public proselytizers of how studying workers can transform productivity — became focused on building the perfect team. In the last decade, the tech giant has spent untold millions of dollars measuring nearly every aspect of its employees’ lives. Google’s People Operations department has scrutinized everything from how frequently particular people eat together (the most productive employees tend to build larger networks by rotating dining companions) to which traits the best managers share (unsurprisingly, good communication and avoiding...

Efficient Time Management

Did you know that if you save just one hour per week, you could gain a whole week of uninterrupted time each year? That's the power of time management. This course will help you reclaim those hours by managing your time more efficiently and increasing your professional and personal productivity. Author Chris Croft explores how to establish a productive environment by establishing systemic approaches for repeating tasks, reducing inefficiency, organizing your work area, and using an effective system to reduce filing. He also discusses how to best create and manage to-do lists, organize the...

Successful Goal Setting

Even your loftiest goals are possible if you approach them strategically. In this course, join Aimee Bateman as she shares her top tips on setting—and achieving—goals, explaining how to take small steps that can help you make your bigger plans a reality. Discover how to scope out and define your career goals, removing anything that isn't quite right for you. Learn how to refine your objectives by identifying barriers and determining the steps you need to take to work towards your goal. To wrap up, Aimee shares strategies that can help you stay on track. Learning Objectives: Name the first...

Managing Yourself: Extreme Productivity

Bob Pozen does a lot. He’s been a top executive at two mutual fund giants, Fidelity and MFS Investment Management. He’s also been an attorney, a government official, a law school professor, a business school professor, and a prolific author. And he has often been several of those things at once. Yet Pozen never comes across as overwhelmed, frazzled, or even all that busy. We know this because he’s a frequent contributor to HBR and hbr.org—with a reputation around our offices for writing faster than we can edit. Our experiences with him led us to wonder if he might have something...

Makeover Your Negative Mindset

Alison Ledgerwood, professor of psychology at UC Davis, conducted a study that revealed how difficult it is to switch from a negative perception to a positive one. The way that situations are presented deeply affects our perceptions- we naturally tend to fixate on negative aspects. This may be due to evolutionary reasons, sometimes we need to remember negative information to find a solution. Other times, it is beneficial to be aware of our negative fixations and practice mindful thinking in order to reframe our negative perceptions.

Learn how to make...

Top Ten Effective Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is often considered to be a confrontational and combative practice. However, skillful negotiation has proven to be a productive conflict resolution strategy in professional settings. Effective negotiation utilizes a combination of interpersonal and communication skills in order to reach a desired result that is reasonable to all parties involved. Problem analysis, preparation, and active listening are skills that can be applied to enhance the negotiation process.

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