Wisdom Cafe Wednesday

Archives of past Wisdom Cafe Wednesday newsletters.

Communities of Practice: The Missing Piece

Communities of practice are rising in popularity at organizations that seek to focus its members on a specific outcome while also having the added benefits of facilitating personal growth and fostering community. Encouraging communities of practice within the workplace directly addresses issues like organizational silos, duplication of work, and discouragement due to lack of support.

Ready to incorporate communities of practice in your workplace? Remember these key elements:

Create a safe environment where members are comfortable asking questions and exploring ideas Support...

10 Verbal Communication Skills Worth Mastering

Personal branding expert Dan Schawbel predicted that in a competitive work environment where everyone works at the same level with similar talents, interpersonal communication skills will become the key differentiator. Impressions matter greatly in key moments of communication, so it is important to ensure that you are spending time developing and mastering your interpersonal communication skills.

Read here to learn which 10 communications skills are worth...

The Impact of Interruptions

In order to achieve high performance it is important that we are able to work with focus. We have all had the experience of working on a task and starting to gain some momentum. Our brain is fully engaged, we begin to get immersed, and we sense an underlying feeling of excitement as we begin to make progress. And then…

Fred stops by to say “Hi, nice to see you at your desk.” or

Mary says… “Quick question…” or

John says… “I’m just going to sneak past you to leave a quick note for Nancy.”

In this one moment, this point of...

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...

How Social Learning is Transforming Professional Development

According to Wenger-Trayner, “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Communities of practice are a key component of effective professional development because learning is a social activity.

There are three components of CoPs:

1. THE DOMAIN: Any CoP is defined by a common interest and focus. It is not just a group of people who like the same thing or have the same tastes—there is a shared...

What Is Problem Solving?

Problem solving is a daily practice inside and outside of the workplace. Understanding the process of solving a problem allows you to work towards a solution quickly and effectively.

There are 4 basic steps in solving a problem:

1. Defining the problem

2. Generating alternatives

3. Evaluating and selecting alternatives

4. Implementing solutions

Learn more about each of these steps here.

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...

How to Make Your Point and Be Heard When You Speak Up

It’s quite frustrating to be not heard when you speak up, and unfortunately, it’s more common than you might think.

Speaking up in a group setting is one of the biggest challenges many people face. You have some valuable information and opinions to share, but no one listens to you. It can be hard enough to find something worthwhile to contribute, and when your contribution isn’t even noticed, it can be demoralizing.

It doesn’t happen just in groups. Did you ever have a quick conversation with your boss in the hall and walk away thinking you missed out on the opportunity to...

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...