A message from Wake Forest’s Professional Development Center team
Now that we are in the final month of 2024, it’s only natural that many of us look back on what this year has been. Here is some advice to maximize the learning from these experiences.
First, don’t just think about things in your head; journal and write your thoughts down. There’s evidence that journaling helps our ability to process learning from events, aids in our personal growth and development, and enhances our critical thinking and ability to solve problems. Journaling may even lead to certain health benefits and reduce stress.
What should you write and journal about from 2024?
Lessons Learned. You will grow and develop as a person if you look back on the events that occurred in your past and pull out what you learned. The Center for Creative Leadership – with over 40 years of research on leaders – has found that the best leaders are the ones who can pull out the lessons of experience from job assignments, their colleagues and hardships. Learn how to better reflect on your experiences and glean some knowledge from the life lessons of others in this on-demand course: Nine Career Lessons You’ll Wish You Learned Sooner.
Failures. Research by psychologist Carol Dweck shows that in many domains of life, those of us with a growth mindset are more successful than those of us with a fixed mindset. Growth mindset people believe intelligence can be developed, embrace challenges and believe it is okay to fail as long as we can learn from our mistakes and failures. Those of us with fixed mindsets believe intelligence is static, that we must be perfect, and that failure is not an option. Fortunately, all of us can learn to have a growth mindset (you are not born with one mindset or the other, you can change). If you want to learn more, check out this course on Workday Learning, review these everyday tips, or take eight minutes to learn some nano tips to foster a growth mindset.
Thankfulness. As we noted last month, there are so many positive aspects of gratitude. Keeping a gratitude journal not just at the end of the year, but throughout the year can be beneficial for us. On Workday Learning, you can find some tips and prompts to practice gratitude year-round.
As the PDC team looks back on 2024, we are proud of our accomplishments in facilitating the learning and development of our faculty and staff including:
Reinstating monthly New Staff Orientation in person for the first time in four years;
Launching in-person and live online classes and workshops covering goal-setting, giving and receiving feedback, values, leading teams and networking;
Developing a New Leader Institute for new leaders across campus;
Partnering with several departments including Leadership and Character, Wellbeing, and the Chaplain’s office to provide professional development opportunities;
Welcoming our first cohort of the Inclusive Leadership Development Program in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion; and
Providing targeted, customized leadership and team development experiences for teams, units and divisions campuswide.
We look forward to being a part of your learning and development in 2025 and beyond.
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