Professional Development Articles

1). Forget the Eagle, Peacock, Owl or Dove ... are you a Canary? By : Clayton Shold
You may be familiar with the Eagle, Peacock, Dove and Owl from the program that identifies your behavioral social style. This isn't about any of those birds. It’s about being a Canary - or not! From the early 1900's to the mid 1980's, coal miners around the world used canaries deep in the mines to alert them to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide gas.
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2). Strategy For Success By : Regi Adams
In the quest towards achieving success and accomplishment in our lives, a systematic plan of action is needed. Without a plan even the greatest of efforts will be ineffective, eventually degenerating into frustration and wasted time. A guided plan allows one to utilize his/her talents and competencies to the fullest, by focusing them in a coordinated and strategic manner upon a specific outcome.
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3). Why Most Leadership Development Efforts Fail By : Kevin
George was seen as an up-and-coming leader in the organization. People the worked for him liked and respected him. And those in Senior Leadership saw his potential, so he was slated to attend the company’s leadership development workshop. George was ecstatic! He loved the organization and wanted to move up and contribute as much as he could. He saw this opportunity as a positive step in that progression.
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4). Organizational Leadership: 3 Principles For Higher Leadership Effectiveness By : Wally Adamchik
As a Marine Aviator, business owner, and consultant, I have dedicated many years to honing my leadership and development skills – both organizational and personal. In my experiences I discovered three simple principles that, when properly applied, will make your leadership journey incredibly rewarding. • Number One – it is all about you • Number Two – it is all about them • Number Three – it is all about the organization I confirmed these proven principles in interviews with over one-hundred successful leaders.
Article Related to: leadership, leadership effectiveness, professional development, personal development, self-awareness. decision making

5). Make a Connection – Seven Secrets to Great Handshakes By : Kevin
It’s something most of us do often. We shake hands. We shake hands with long-time friends, with old acquaintances and with brand-new people. Shaking hands here and shaking hands there. I took a class in college where they taught us how to shake hands. I remember thinking at the time – more than 20 years ago - that everyone should know how shakes hands effectively.
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6). A Creative Journey – Using a Magazine to Heighten Creativity and Learning By : Kevin
Read essays, articles, or books on creativity and you will more than once you will read that you can heighten your creativity and create new ideas by reading magazines that you wouldn’t typically read. The suggestion is to go to your local newsstand and pick up magazines you wouldn’t ever read and read them for ideas, connections and trends. This is an often repeated example of using outside stimulus as a way to jumpstart our creativity.
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7). Personal and Professional Development By : Kevin Christopher
Personal and professional development is an area in which everyone needs to improve. The most successful people continually strive to improve themselves. Personal and professional development carries over in each aspect of your life. There are personal skills that you may learn that will help you in professional situations. Likewise, there are professional skills that will help you in personal situations.
Article Related to: personal development, professional development

8). Consensus - What it is and When to Achieve it By : Kevin
Tom was working hard to change the culture in his organization. He wanted to create greater collaboration, teamwork and empowerment. He envisioned an organization where people loved coming to work each day. He knew that when these things were a part of working life that productivity would sky rocket, and greater business results would flow naturally from this new culture.
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9). A New Way to Look at Your Career By : Kevin
You can pick up any business or news magazine at any time and read articles about the rapid pace of change, the increasing speed at which everything moves, the globalization of industry and commerce, and how technology is changing our world. Of course all of these things are true. Further reading will lead us to articles about the “new world of work” and how our working lives are changing; that we are changing jobs more frequently, are expected to multi-task, taking less time off and being completely connected all of the time.
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10). Continuing Professional Development By : Elizabeth Morgan
According to the dictionary, “Continuing professional development is the means by which members of professional associations maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge and skills and develop the personal qualities required in their professional lives.” Continuing professional development ensures that professionals keep developing their knowledge and skills, as well as improve their competence.
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11). To Team or Not To Team By : Kevin
Everyone thinks teams are a good thing. Leaders like to form teams. People, for the most part believe in the value and purpose of teams . . . All of us are smarter than each of us. 1 + 1 = 3 . . . are just two common phrases that reinforce and prove how pervasive our belief in teams is. And that belief is justified. Sometimes. There are many times in our civic or church groups, and in our businesses and professional associations that we need teams of people to work on an issue or a project.
Article Related to: professional development, team building, leadership, forming teams, building teams, team development, interdependence

12). How to Get the Most out of Your Next Conference By : Steve Kaye
Success in your career depends upon how well you manage your professional development. A prime source of this development comes from being a member of a professional association that relates to your career. As a member, you can attend conferences where you advance your skills and meet people who can help you. Some people, however, treat conferences as a paid vacation.
Article Related to: conference, personal success, career success, effective learning, networking, professional development

13). Ten Things to Do Before Year End By : Kevin
We attach significance to the turning of the calendar, and when the calendar turns to a new year, it means more than learning to change a digit when we write a check – we’ve started a new chapter. It is instructive for us to think about how we can get the most from the end of chapter 2005. Here are my ten recommendations for you: Reconnect with an old friend or colleague.
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14). Personal and Professional Development – What’s the Difference? By : Kevin
When people ask me about my business, I tell them I’m in the learning business – that we help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through learning. This is a fine statement and it does describe the breadth of what we do, but it often leads to the follow-up question like . . . “Do you do personal development stuff or just business skills training?” My answer is yes.
Article Related to: leadership, professional development, personal development, learning, success

15). Turning Your Ideas into Action By : Kevin
The team faced a significant challenge on the project. After a very successful brainstorming session they felt they had several ideas that would address and alleviate the problems they faced. They were truly energized by some of the ideas they generated. But soon, the glow wore off, because these ideas, in order to help, needed to be implemented, and the project was already behind schedule.
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16). Creating Something New – Getting Past the Fear of Failure By : Kevin
Many people wish they were more creative. They yearn for the big idea (or even the small one) and think that if they just had that one idea they’d be on their way to greater success.Certainly, we can all do things to be more creative, but having ideas isn’t the biggest, or even first, source of our challenges. Think about it. You’ve learned something in a workshop, gone back to work and not implemented it.
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17). Nine Ways to Get Your Productivity Up! By : Kevin
We’ll all been there. Ballplayers call it a slump. Some call it a lull or a funk. These are the times when you don’t seem to have as much energy or passion for your work. You can’t seem to get as excited (or excited at all) about the tasks in front of you. You are less productive, and you don’t feel as good about your work either. Beyond that, the quality of your work you are getting done may be slipping as well.
Article Related to: rhythm, goals, action, persistence, personal development, professional development, learning

18). Creating Greater Success Through Reflection By : Kevin
If I could give you a tool or resource that would change your life in positive ways, change your results, create more happiness in your life and help you get better at anything you desired . . . And if I could promise you that this tool would cost you nothing, require only yourself and could be used at any time . . . Would you be interested? I’ll bet you would.
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19). Are you effective or ineffective in your life? By : Robin Harris
Copyright 2006 Robin Harris, DesignerLife Multi-tasking and saying “yes” to too many things can dilute your effectiveness. People who are generalists, by design, can manage the broad sweeping details of several related or unrelated projects. But those who are more inclined to be specialists are naturally designed to go deep not wide. The generalist will go stir crazy trying to play the role of the specialist and the specialist will lose access to their own competencies and strengths when trying to play the role of the generalist.
Article Related to: self-improvement, self-growth, personal development, life coaching, career coaching, spiritual coaching, professional development, natural talents, career

20). You are Too Busy to Move That Fast – Why Go Slower May Get You Far Greater Results By : Kevin
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “go slow to go fast.” I sometimes say it to Clients and participants in training. I remind myself of this truth occasionally too. Why? Because too often we are in such a rush to get the next task done that we end up spending more time doing it – or getting poorer results - than was possible. In our zeal to finish, we start too soon and too quickly.
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21). Finding Mentors in Your Memory By : Kevin
Most of us, at one time or another have looked to someone more experienced or expert than us to help us navigate through a difficult challenge or situation. Whether formal or informal, we’ve had these sorts of relationships throughout our lives. Sometimes these relationships have happened serendipitously – we start a new job and meet someone to that helps us be more successful with the job or in the company.
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22). How Leaders Can Achieve More by Doing Less By : Kevin
Every leader I’ve ever talked with has been busy. Some are more stressed by their workload than others, but the reality of work today is that we all (leaders included) have plenty to do. Which should make the title of this article of great interest, I mean, who wouldn’t be interested in better results by doing less? What are the better results that you’ll see? If you follow my advice, you’ll soon notice: • Greater engagement.
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23). Write to Remember – Seven Keys to Better Note taking By : Kevin
People seem to be as divided on note taking as on any hot-button political issue. One group will give you all the reasons why they don’t take notes: I’d rather focus on listening. I don’t know what to write. Note taking never worked for me in school. While the note taking enthusiasts will counter with: Taking notes keeps me focused. I can always refer to my notes – I don’t have to rely on my memory.
Article Related to: professional development, personal development, notes, notetaking, learning, training, action planning

24). After the Uncomfortable Pause - Seven Questions to Immediately Spur Greater Creativity By : Kevin
I’m betting you’ve had the same experience I have in most organizational brainstorming sessions. You are in a room with beige (or otherwise boring) walls and a conference table. Sometime during the meeting, there is a problem or challenge identified. Someone standing near a flipchart or whiteboard picks up a pen and the brainstorming begins. After a momentary silence, a few ideas are suggested – at first they come almost faster than the person can write them down.
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25). Effective Ways To Develop The Professional Self In Mental And Physical Ease And Supremacy By : Garry Connolly
Self-development includes the developing of the personal and professional self. There are several tips to follow when developing the professional self. By following these suggestions, an individual will become more successful in the workplace.
Article Related to: empowerment, personal development, professional development, self help, women empowerment