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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
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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Social Skills are Essential Skills

Social skills are soft skills, which are also known as essential skills or human skills. They are important and necessary to make you the most effective co-worker, colleague, and leader possible. They are skills that can be learned and mastered, but it starts with you and your commitment to grow and develop over time.

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Black print - arrow hitting a barrier, moves around to hit another, and then goes in a different direction - meant to depict how one adapts to challenges, change, etc.

4 Ways to Boost Your Adaptability Skills

Charles Darwin’s words still very much ring true, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Adaptability is one of the top “human skills” otherwise known as soft or essential skills employers are seeking. Historically, little emphasis has been placed on these skills, but employers have realized that hard skills on their own are not enough. Employees need to be able to communicate, negotiate, interact with fellow colleagues, think critically and creatively, and they need to be able to adapt.

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Image of a woman with dark hair in a suite holding a pair of eye glasses with the white board to her right that states: "Be a leader, not a boss."

6 Ways to Become a Leader

Leadership roles are generally earned, which sometimes leaves young career professionals wondering how they can build leadership experience to earn such a role. It’s that old adage – if I’m required to have leadership experience for a leadership role, and I can’t get a leadership role without leadership experience, how do I get leadership experience? Well, there are six ways you can demonstrate leadership to earn a leadership role.

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3 Ways to Promote Your "Soft Skills"

Writing, problem-solving, adaptability, work ethic, time management, communication, leadership, are just a few of the many skills commonly referred to as “soft skills” and historically viewed as less important than more technical skills. These are now considered essential skills and last week, Marina D’souza – a Drexel BS in Environmental Engineering student ’20 and President of Drexel’s chapter of the Society of Civil Engineers asked me how to best promote these essential skills on LinkedIn or on one’s resume.

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