What is your story really about?
Guest blogger Esther Choy is the President and Founder of Leadership Story Lab. Esther will be presenting the Lunch & Learn session “Leadership Storytelling: Leading and Connecting” on April 17th. Please visit Campus Connect to register for the event.
When it comes to watching commercials, my defense goes up 1000%. How can I not? These days, everyone is trying to sell something to everyone – everywhere. But this time I watch a very different commercial, and I cry every time.
Take a look before you read on…
The concept behind this ad is brilliant for so many reasons. The most outstanding and thoughtful part is what it’s missing. As a seat belt commercial, it has no car. As an ad whose theme centers around road safety, there is no road. Finally, as a campaign to warn people of the dire consequences of not wearing seat belts, it has no blood or gruesome bodily injuries. Any one of these features would have been a fair and expected element in the ad. Dropping all of them actually hasn’t reduced message. If anything, it accentuates the point.
What is the point, then?
Facebook Fire Safety Tips: Keeping A Cool Head in Heated Debates
Guest Blogger Dave Awl is an author, speaker, and social media consultant. Want more of Dave’s words of wisdom about how to make the most of your social network? Visit Campus Connect to register for the inaugural Lunch & Learn Lecture of the 2012-2013 academic year. Dave will be speaking on Advanced Facebookology: Putting Your Social Network to Work for You on Thursday, September 20 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
For those of us who use social media professionally, one of our biggest ongoing challenges is making sure that we keep our online image professional — that the face we display on Facebook is a friendly, professional face. After all, no matter how strict you are with your privacy settings, chances are good that if you’ve been on Facebook for a while you’re connected to colleagues from work, and maybe even your boss or important clients.
And the flip side of that is, if you’ve chosen to hide your Facebook profile or Twitter account from work colleagues, you may be missing out on important professional networking opportunities, since so many important business opportunities spring up in social environments. (This was true long before social media came along, as anyone who’s ever watched a business deal take place on a golf course can attest. Heck, according to the New Yorker, even Presidents Obama and Clinton used a golf outing to strengthen their professional relationship.)
Speaking of presidents … well, that brings me to my main point. As we head into the election season, there are going to be lots of political conversations springing up on Facebook and Twitter — just as they do around the water cooler, at dinner parties, and in all kinds of other social settings during this phase of the political cycle.
Those discussions sometimes get heated, and the closer we get to election day, the hotter the rhetorical temperature is likely to get.
And this is where the slope gets slippery. On the one hand, you have every right to participate in those conversations — and in fact, depending on what you do, the ability to discuss topical issues intelligently may be an important part of your professional identity. But on the other hand, you don’t want to run the risk of losing your cool in front of your colleagues or clients, or you could wind up diminishing yourself in their eyes. (After all, not many companies conduct extensive searches to fill the position of Office Crankypants.)
I won’t necessarily say that I’ve been guilty of slipping on this particular banana peel myself in years gone by. (But then again, I don’t have to, because certain friends of mine would be more than willing to mention it if you ask them.)
So learn from my mistakes. Here are some tips to avoid letting Facebook flame wars make an ash out of you:
The DePaul Learning Showcase
On June 13th various learning providers from across the university will participate in an open house to highlight the learning opportunities that exist on campus to meet organizational and individual needs. From 4 to 6 p.m., DePaul employees are invited to stop by the DePaul Center Concourse for networking, refreshments, and the chance to experience the employee learning that exists on campus.
Representatives from DePaul departments will have stations at The DePaul Learning Showcase where faculty and staff can ask about their associated initiatives and programs. This effort is designed to expand employees’ awareness and participation in professional development and training—everything from best records management practices to values-centered leadership.
Human Resources’ Workplace Learning and Performance is sponsoring the event, along with the Department of Records Management, DePaul Women’s Network, DePaul’s Stay Healthy and Earn Healthy Vin-cent$ Program, Information Services: Media Production & Training, Learning @ DePaul Collaboration, Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, Office of Institutional Compliance, Office of Mission and Values, Continuing and Professional Education, Center to Advance the Education of Adults, and Vincent on Leadership: The Hay Project.
To register for the DePaul Learning Showcase, click here!
Reclaiming Play (at Work)
Pamela Meyer, Ph.D., Guest Blogger
(Want to hear more about the productive benefits of play? Join Pamela and Workplace Learning and Performance for “Reclaiming the Power of Play (At Work)” on Thursday, April 19 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in room 8002 of the DePaul Center, 1 E Jackson Blvd.)
If you are like most of us, you likely got the idea along the way that work and play are incompatible. Work is serious, focused, and productive; play is silly, unfocused, and unproductive. This belief was socialized into us from a very early age by parents and caregivers, who shooed us away when we attempted to recruit a playmate with “Not now, honey, can’t you see I’m working?”
Pamela talks about putting more play into work in this recent First Business interview.
The Case for Imagination in the Workplace
Getting strange reactions when you encourage creativity in the workplace? Director of Workplace Learning and Performance, Mary McGuinness,noodles on the importance of imagination on the job…
Lately I have caught myself saying things like “let me noodle on that,” or encouraging my work team to doodle or draw pictures in meetings and work conversations. Many times my comments and advice are met with quizzical looks and a deafening silence.
As children we were naturally encouraged to think creatively—to imagine possibilities, dream of what could be, make castles out of sand, party hats out of newspapers. As adults, working adults, we are rewarded for productivity, finding-the-right answers, profitability and performance. How have we come to believe that these two ideas cannot co-exist in the workplace?
My question led me to the work of Teresa M. Amabile, Professor of Business Administration and Sr. Associate Dean for Research at Harvard Business School. With credentials like that, I thought, she might know a thing or two about the practicality of thinking creatively.
Most people “associate creativity with the arts and to think of it as the expression of highly original ideas,” says Amabile, author of the article, “How to Kill Creativity: Keep Doing What You’re Doing (HBR, 1998).” As such, many neglect to remember that creativity is a skill that must be cultivated if it is to yield results. “To be creative,” Amabile contends, “an idea must also be appropriate—useful and actionable.” With repeated attention and practice imagining can lead to better solutions, programs and services.
According to Amabile, imagining is an essential skill of creative thinking. Creative thinkers pull problems apart, re-order ideas, experiment, merge ideas, and build on them. They bring the issue to life using graphics, metaphors, and stories. They also recognize the need to incubate or noodle on a problem and come back to it with fresh perspective and renewed energy.
Creative thinkers recognize that expertise is the stuff of creativity—the raw material. It’s the knowledge (technical, conceptual, practical, theoretical) that individuals possess. Creative thinkers consider expertise to extend beyond professional skills and abilities and recognize life lessons and experiences as important knowledge.
Finally, creative thinkers are intrinsically motivated to get something done. “People will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself—and not by external pressures,” says Amabile.
So next time a colleague looks at you cross-eyed when you insist that they bring their imagination and life experience to the table, or when you suggest some time to incubate an idea before making a decision, remember the wise words of one of the most recognized thinkers of our time, Albert Einstein,
“The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.”
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Get in touch with your imagination by joining Workplace Learning and Performance for the March and April Lunch & Learns:
March 13 – Picasso’s Challenge: Unleash and Nurture Your Real Creative Genius
Jeffrey Fisher, lecturer, College of Computing and Digital Media
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Room 314B, Lincoln Park Student Center
April 19 – Reclaiming the Power of Play (at Work)
Pamela Meyer, associate director of the Center to Advance Education for Adults (CAEA), School for New Learning
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – DePaul Center, Room 8002, Loop
Employees can register through Campus Connect. Participants can register by visiting Campus Connect and choosing “For Employees,” then “Employee Self Service,” “Learning and Development,” and “Request Training Enrollment.” All Lunch & Learn courses begin with LL (for example, LL007A).
(Don’t) Burn, Baby, Burn
Turning into a stress inferno? Workplace Learning and Performance’s LMS Administrator and one-man equivalent to The Onion Brandon Ciarlo can help… or at least make you laugh about it.
Do you find yourself meeting the day with a labored sigh, sense of apathy, and lack of motivation to start the workday? Are you more likely to eat lunch under your desk rather than on it? Do you dive into the nearest closet to avoid conversing with co-workers? These may be some signs that you are burning out. Being overloaded at work is not a foreign concept to anyone, but constantly working long hours, taking additional tasks while overloaded, and stressing over projects without a break can have a lot of unhealthy consequences. You may find your job performance and health (physical and mental) will suffer.
All hope is not lost. Workplace Learning and Performance is here to help with its next Lunch and Learn lecture, Recognizing and Avoiding Burnout. To register, please visit Campus Connect and search for course number LL006A. Until then, click the link below for some tips to prevent you from defenestrating any office resources, human or otherwise, out of frustration.
Saving and Investing: The Case of the Missing Money
At this time of year, you’re surrounded by a plethora of articles encouraging you to turn over a new financial leaf. Pay down your debt, save up an emergency cushion, and stack up some smart investments that will enable you to retire somewhere slightly more comfortable than an old refrigerator box. However, the money to pay down/save/invest has to come from somewhere, and if you’re like most people, you’re probably not just sitting on a big leftover stack of cash once you’ve taken care of your basic living expenses and scratching your head over what to do with it. No, before you can get to New Year’s Resolution 1: Do Smart Things With Money, you most likely have to tackle New Year’s Resolution 0: Find Money.
The same authors who encourage you to get your financial house in order each January like to offer clever advice tidbits for trimming your daily living expenses, the star attraction of which is “Cut out the daily $4 latte!” If I never read about that legendary latte again, it will be too soon. These are belt-tightening times, and I feel pretty confident asserting that most of us are already well aware that the daily latte is not the best of investments. Is there really anyone out there locating and reading money management articles on the internet – thus displaying at least some degree of financial savvy – and yet blowing off the electric bill to support a $50 a week Starbucks habit?
No, at this moment in history, most of us have to dig a little deeper than the obvious frivolities when it comes to finding money for the future. In order to do that, it can be useful to start at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from the daily latte: What can you absolutely not live without? Shelter, food, and clothing, right? Let’s start there.
Holiday Hypnosis: Managing the Jingle Bell Blues
Brandon Ciarlo, Workplace Learning and Performance LMS Administrator
And so the holiday shuffle begins. With all the cooking, traveling, shopping, and family, there are plenty of sources of stress. The comfort that eggnog and cookies offer only goes so far. In an effort to alleviate some of this seasonal burden, Workplace Learning and Performance is offering a Lunch and Learn Lecture lead by Karen Hand, Master Hypnotist/Owner from the Chicago Hypnosis Center. The topic is Managing Holiday Stress. To register, please visit Campus Connect and search for course number LL004A.
This got me thinking about hypnosis as a stress reduction tool. After quickly surfing the information super highway, I came across this article about learning self-hypnosis that was pretty interesting. Below, I break down the steps.
Back to School!
September 1, 2011
Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. As a child, September brought a clean slate from which to start the academic year, new shoes, a fresh haircut, and a book bag filled with unsharpened pencils & spiral notebooks. Now, years, later, I still am energized when I am able to assist a freshman navigate the downtown campus and am delighted to welcome new faculty and staff to DePaul who may be at the beginning of their career in higher education. I believe this time of year speaks loudly of new beginnings, and untapped potential.
Over the summer WLP steps back. We pore over nearly 900 paper and pencil evaluations. We put on our data-head hats and analyze charts and graphs that tell us what’s gone well, what’s gone not-so-well and ask ourselves questions like, “What’s not happening that should be?” What are people asking for that doesn’t exist?” “Are we doing the best that we can with the talents and strengths that we possess?” “Do we have the right people at the table—experts, educators and employees to give us feedback and input?” “Are employees satisfied?” “Is learning taking place?” Then, we make some plans.
As we gear up for the start of academic year 2011-2012, we are feeling the excitement and energy as we introduce and develop new programs, bring back “foundational” courses and partner with University colleagues to raise the visibility and awareness of employee learning at DePaul.
Courses in career management and customer service are under development and will be launched as pilots in the coming year. Both topics are of high interest to DePaul employees and managers alike. In addition, Planning for the Performance Appraisal Process will be introduced as an online module this year.
DePaul Foundations: New Employee Orientation has exciting news. Part-time employees are now attending orientation and receiving a similar on-boarding experience as their full-time colleagues. The online component is receiving praise for its thoroughness in telling the story of DePaul’s mission, history, culture and employee benefits and has been viewed as a valuable resource for new employees, as well as for veteran employees who are interested to keep up-to-date on developments across the University.
Finally, I am pleased to announce Learning@DePaul Catalog of Course Offerings and Programming. Ten University departments have come together to produce an employee learning roadmap that will be launched on October 3, 2011. Now, course listings and descriptions are available and registration is done easily in Campus Connection.
Here’s wishing you a fantastic start to the new academic year! We hope you will check out what WLP is up to by visiting us at hr.depaul.edu. We look forward to seeing you in the classroom!
Mary McGuinness
Manager, Workplace Learning & Performance
Book Review: Still Procrastinating? The No-Regrets Guide to Getting It Done (Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D.)
Lose weight. Clean out the attic. Learn to speak Spanish.
It’s a new year, and as you draw up your list of resolutions, you may find that it bears a strong resemblance to last year’s (and maybe the year before’s) list of nagging to-dos. Most of our new year’s resolutions aren’t brand-new brainwaves; they’re things we’ve been meaning to get around to for a while, rearing their heads again now that it’s time to take stock.
Procrastination holds us back in more ways than stopping us from dropping a pants size or enhancing our resume. It creates stress (Another mad dash out the door in the morning!), hurts our professional credibility (Another missed deadline!), and damages our personal relationships (“You’re late again?!”). DePaul’s own Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., draws on over twenty years of research in the field of procrastination to produce what aims to be the definitive resource for procrastinators (and those who know them). Why do you procrastinate? What effect is your procrastination having, in the short term and the long term? And, most importantly, how can you stop?
Workplace Learning at DePaul 
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