Wisdom Cafe Wednesday

Archives of past Wisdom Cafe Wednesday newsletters.

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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Why Communities of Practice Are Important

Educational theorist Etienne Wenger proposed and established the concept of collaborative learning through reflection, inquiry, and practice in his 1998 book, Communities of Practice. Since then, communities of practice have become an acclaimed professional learning method due to its long-term and short-term benefits for both the individuals involved and the organization as a whole. As members of communities of practice develop enhanced skills such as networking and confidence, organizations will also gain value in retention of talent and innovation, among other benefits.

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Writing Skills: Getting Your Written Message Across Clearly

Written information in the form of e-mails, documents, messages, and letters are communicated in the workplace multiple times in a regular workday. It is necessary that these written forms of communication are understandable so that the information within does not get lost in translation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to ensure that your written messages for others are written in a clear way that lessens confusion and misunderstandings as much as possible.

Read here for tips on how to...

Working with People Who Aren't Self-Aware

A strong sense of self-awareness, having a clear idea of who we are and how we are seen by others, is a valuable trait to possess and practice in both the workplace and in everyday life. However, according to research by the Harvard Business Review, most people overestimate how self-aware they really are. Working towards improving our self-awareness is beneficial to us and those around us. Despite this, it is not a guarantee that others will follow suit. Unaware coworkers can cause interpersonal conflict and frustrate others in the workplace. Chances are, everyone will come across an...

Work Effectively While Being Remote/Telecommuting

Working from home or outside of the office has its unique advantages and challenges. Learn some ways to be most effective through this learning path!

Why Leadership Development Has to Happen on the Job

As the workplace environment faces constant shifts, it is necessary for leaders to be able to develop contextual skills. Being a contextual leader involves facilitating adaption to change by helping their team understand the nature of new challenges and opportunities. Much of this involves the understanding that leadership development happens on the job.

Read here for more.

What is Social Learning (And How to Adopt it)

Social learning defines learning as a cognitive process that occurs in a social context through examples and direct experiences, favoring a real-life approach. In contrast to formal learning systems such as classroom or web-based traning, social learning tools present knowledge in relevant social contexts. Social learning promotes knowledge retention, encourages learning in working environments, and allows learners to pull knowledge from experts within the organizations. The 70:20:10 model, a strategy based on social learning, suggests that 70% of learning happens through on-the-job...

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.

What Is Informal Learning?

Learning does not always need to happen in a formal classroom setting. Informal learning theory is organic, unstructured, and learner-driven. Many organizations have benefitted from implementing informal learning activities. While formal training strategies are beneficial, implementation of informal learning provides learners with new opportunities to expand their reference and knowledge points. In addition, because informal learning is so learner-driven, it is a self-directed and less stressful process.

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The Biggest Interview Pitfalls According to a Hiring Manager

Mastering the interview process is a valuable skill even as a working professional. Many career opportunities will open themselves up to a confident interviewee, making it a worthwhile endeavor to make sure that you don't fall victim to some common interview pitfalls that would compromise your chances.

Read more here.