Whether the past, present, or future, there have always been challenges in our places of work. From changes in our organizations to outside influences like the economy and pandemics. Things can really stress us out - that's why it's so important to stay positive!

The basic premise of an inclusive workplace is that all employees feel like they matter. The way we look, think, and communicate varies for many different reasons. An inclusive workplace embraces those differences to move individuals and your organization to a growing and successful future. 

The Association of Talent Development (ATD), is an international organization that supports more than 12,000 training and talent development specialists around the world. Earlier this year, ATD held its annual conference and expo from May 15th – May 18th, in Orlando, Florida. I attended for 3 different purposes: 

• Attain my Certification in Leadership Development Programs 
• Educate myself as a Conference Attendee
• Contribute my time as a Conference Volunteer

Hosting and leading work meetings can sometimes be a difficult task - it helps to be prepared. KnowledgeWave is happy to present our "Managing Meetings" series. This Professional Development webinar/video series will walk you through a variety of different types of meetings, the purpose for hosting each type, and how to successfully manage each one.

In this series, we will teach you how to focus on your strengths and help you build confidence in your presentation skills.  We will also help you identify your weaknesses and build to improve those skills, provided they continue to build your confidence. 

It can be challenging to stand up for yourself in the workplace. Sometimes we fear what may happen to us if we do. This series of webinars will show you how to assert yourself, set boundaries, and how and when to say no and make it positive for everyone.

With the growth of remote working, be it due to COVID-19 or the growth of our organizations, now more than ever, we are all providing more presentations. Sometimes technical challenges can arise while giving these presentations, for example: Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, and other technologies sometimes don't work the way we want them to. Non-technical issues can also provide a challenge: How can you give a great presentation when you are not in the same room your audience, or maybe we have a fear of public speaking?

Entrepreneurism in the workplace is not about starting a business. It is about acting like an entrepreneur in your current job. This means you are an internal entrepreneur, or “intrapreneur".

Critical thinking means questioning the norm. Just because we have always done things a certain way, does not mean it is the most efficient or best way of doing those things. Critical thinking lets us look at processes as we work and think about better ways to do the job.

Collaboration in the Workplace is about coming together to achieve a common goal. Collaboration is about working together to be both innovative and productive without having to compromise yourself or others during the process.

Communication in the workplace is more than speaking. It is about the expression of ideas and feelings between you and the folks you work with and serve. Communication is the search to understand one another.

Networking in the Workplace is about what you can offer others, not just what you can personally gain from networking. It is about sharing thoughts and ideas with like-hearted people who share common interests with you.

Networking is about getting out of your comfort zone to see what is new in your profession, and how best you can serve organizations and people dedicated to your type of work. 

Adaptability means being flexible to your environment as your surroundings change. Adapting to your work environment is a much needed and notable skill. Work is in constant change and so is the world we live in. Services, products, and the people you serve change all the time. How your organization conducts business will also always be changing in order to keep up with the market that you serve.

Collaborating with our work content is a behavioral change, and is also a new way to work, with tools that are new to many users. The explosive growth of Microsoft Teams, has enabled business users to communicate from their work offices or work from home locations, giving us to the capability to communicate with our co-workers across locations and an array of devices. Some managers and team members have even set up the virtual water cooler chats, to help keep colleagues stay connected in a virtual “social” setting.