For a better experience, click the Compatibility Mode icon above to turn off Compatibility Mode, which is only for viewing older websites.

Professional Buzz

Professional Buzz

Professional Buzz is a blog warehousing relevant information, tips and tools for students and professionals looking for career development and advice. Topics range from leadership and management skills to interpersonal communication and innovation in the workplace. The blog is written and curated by Associate Dean of the Graduate College, Anne Converse Willkomm – drawing on her academic and professional experience to provide insight into the latest professional trends, challenges and skills needed to thrive in today’s everchanging workplace.

Categories

Professional Development & Career TipsLeadership & Management SkillsInterpersonal CommunicationInnovation in the Workplace
Image of a woman with target superimposed over her - she has her hand in her hands with a hand pointing at her in each corner to depict bullying

6 Strategies to Deal with Bullying in the Workplace

Bullying is hardly a new phenomenon, but did you know that bullying is fairly common in the workplace? According to The Workplace Bullying Institute, 19% of workers are bullied on an annual basis and 61% of those bullies are bosses. Given these statistics, I thought I would be important to examine this topic further.

Read Full Post
image of shattered glass

All Aboard: More Women CEOs and Fewer All-Men IPOs

Why do women only represent 36 percent of the top positions in the nonprofit industry when 75 percent of its employees are women? 

Read Full Post
hands typing on a laptop

Five Tips for Editing Your Own Writing

Gain tips like reading aloud and using smart tools for proofreading and editing your own writing.

Read Full Post
Looks like a child's drawing of a stick-type figure drawing with multi-colored squiggly lines drawn all around the person.

Don't Do These 3 Things When you are Experiencing Chaos at Work

We are often in a state of flux and chaos can be present without warning. Chaos can last short bursts of time or it can hang around with no apparent departure date. Regardless of the type or the duration. While the best thing you can do is your job, there are three things you should definitely NOT do!

Read Full Post
illustration of what look like Polaroid pictures with the letters I M P O R T A N T spelled out and tacked to a wall.

What's Important to You?

'Tis the season when many people begin to think about their resolutions and the upcoming new year and all of the opportunities it may hold. Personally, I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions because according to Inc. 80% of people end up ditching their resolutions. So, instead of developing likely-to-fail resolutions, how about focusing on what is important to you.

Read Full Post
Image of 4 diverse people forming a circle around the camera, as in huddled - all wearing a light blue t-shirt that says "Volunteer" on the front.

Tis the Season to Volunteer

Nonprofits need volunteers throughout the year, not just during the four-to-six-weeks during the holidays. I support volunteerism whenever people can fit it into their schedules, but I encourage you to think about in January, March, and July, not just during this time of year. Nonprofits across Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and across this country make a difference for many who would otherwise might not have access to a library book, healthcare, legal advice, clothing, a bed, or food. And these nonprofits need people like you and me to help them achieve their mission.

Read Full Post
Image of an array of American Flags sticking in the ground.

3 Ways to Honor Our Veterans

And I know there is no perfect way and each veteran may wish to be honored differently, and for some it may even mean not being honored. So, as opposed to honoring these women and men the way I think they should be honored, I decided to ask a few Veterans about Veteran's Day and how they would like to be honored.

Read Full Post
Image of a group of co-workers reaching across a table with computers in a fist pump, as in being supportive of one another.

The Value of Supporting Your Fellow Colleagues

I am lucky to work in an environment where we all value supporting one another. In fact, collaboration is the first value on our list of core values for our college. We do it knowingly and unknowingly, in formal meetings, and in the hallway, and we are all the better for it, and as a result, our students are also better for it.

Read Full Post
images of 3 heads, 2 black, 1 red with the words conflict management written below

How to handle conflict in the workplace

It is likely you have encountered conflict at work at some point during your career. It is more likely you recently encountered conflict. In fact, according to CPP, Inc. - a management consulting arm under The Myers-Brigg Company – through their research, reports 85% of employees experience some kind of workplace conflict and 29% experience this conflict on a “constant” basis. They also report this amounts to 2.8 hours every week being lost to conflict or $359 billion in hours paid. In other words, conflict is highly disruptive.

Read Full Post
Dark teal colored background with two talking heads facing each other one has question marks floating up and out of their brain, the other light bulbs

Critical Thinking versus Problem Solving

Many people lump critical thinking and problem solving together into one basket, and while there are similarities, there are also distinct differences. Critical thinking utilizes analysis, reflection, evaluation, interpretation, and inference to synthesize information that is obtained through reading, observing, communicating, or experience to answer a question. Problem-solving uses many of the same skills, but it takes the process a step further to identify obstacles, and then strategically map out a set of solutions.

Read Full Post
A round circle with the image of two hands shaking (as in colleagues) surrounded by the word respect in different sizes with the color of the letters ranging from red, brown, to orange and gold.

How to Show Respect in the Workplace

I'm big on reflection because, when honest, we get a glimpse into ourselves and how we act, respond, engage, interact, etc. Thinking and reflecting on how you show respect, and disrespect, to your colleagues can be a valuable exercise. Think about your close colleagues, but also think about those colleagues with whom you only occasionally interact with, as well as above and below you on the corporate ladder.

Read Full Post
Image of a board meeting with many employees around the table, looking disinterested

3 Reasons to Avoid Meetings

How many meetings do you attend in a given week? You might be surprised, or not, to learn the average person spends five hours and three minutes per week in meetings and another four hours and 15 minutes preparing for those meetings. This translates to 11 million meetings every day in the United States. Now, some of these meetings are likely useful and productive, but not all of them. In fact, $37 billion is wasted on unnecessary meetings every year. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX said, “Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time.”

Read Full Post