Professional learning, anytime, anywhere
This year, more than ever, our community has been asked to be more more flexible and agile in the way we work and how we approach our home life. Throughout this time the Professional Learning Hub remains committed to learning. Our original, bite-sized pieces of professional learning are designed to provide you with a range of content to inspire and fuel your career.
POSITIVE ON PURPOSE: A PODCAST SERIES
As part of our ever-growing catalogue of bite-sized pieces of professional learning, The Professional Learning Hub is proud to present Positive on Purpose, a podcast series by Dr Mia O'Brien.
It might be a tough call to stay positive at the moment, but did you know that positive psychology is a scientifically researched phenomena? Throughout this series Dr Mia O’Brien provides a timely reminder that positivity is a practical tool for work and life.
The world in your lunchbox
Are you stuck at home, or in a mostly empty office, and dreaming of exotic destinations? Despite borders being closed and flights grounded there's still a way. With travel shop windows available from your screen, and the destinations at your fingertips virtually endless, Georgette Leah Burns, in a provocative exploration of the new normal, suggests your next journey is limited only by your imagination.
FutureNormal: moving online
Are you working more and more online nowadays? You're not alone. In this article we continue our conversation with Prof. Nick Barter (Academic Director of Griffith Online) and Prof. Chris Fleming (Director of Griffith Institute for Tourism) about this shift. Their responses suggest Covid-19 could have some positive impacts on the world of work. Moving forward, perhaps our workplaces will be more collaborative, more flexible and less carbon reliant?
Things we can learn from kids and science
Has work lost its sense of wonder? Are you afraid to show surprise, or learn new things, or answer “I don’t know” to a question? STEM presenter, Clare Van Dorssen, reminds us that it’s okay to be curious and surprised by new knowledge, and that perhaps to find more meaning in our workaday lives we need to embrace the long-lost child within.
The best gift you can give yourself
How are you feeling today? Think about that for a moment. A deceptively simple question, yet often fiendishly tricky to answer. In today's challenging times a little self-care can go a long way in supporting our well-being. Providing practical tools to analyse our state of mind this article gives substance to the saying, ‘self-care is giving the world the best of you instead of what’s left of you’. By Jacinta Hawgood, A/Prof Michelle Hood and Prof Andrea Bialocerkowski.
How to Make a Supportive Work Culture
Do you lead a team at work? Have you considered each of your team members' emotional wellbeing? Regardless of the size of your team, the ability to get the job done often comes down to team culture. Assoc Prof Lauren Ball from the Menzies Health Institute provides five insights on creating a supportive work culture.
Leadership is not Exclusive to the Big Boss
Who are the leaders in your organisation? The answer is complex. Everyone knows who the big boss is, but in large organisations leaders can be found in many places. Professor Peter Grootenboer outlines the importance of middle leadership, and suggests we should acknowledge and support these leaders – not to prepare them to be, or be like the ‘big boss’, but to equip them to lead in the ‘hot site’ of an organisation.
Bookmarks and Fragments
Do you read for work or pleasure, or both? In a world of social distancing and isolation it seemed we were all about to finally tackle that pile of unread books beside the bed. But did it happen? As we slowly emerge from our bunkers, novelist and Griffith Review editor, Ashley Hay, seeks to understand what it means to escape into new, literary worlds when our own day to day lives are so strange.
Positive on Purpose: no magical thinking required
It might be a tough call to stay positive at the moment, but did you know that positive psychology (as opposed to the positivity glibly deployed in memes) is a scientifically researched phenomena? Dr Mia O’Brien provides a timely reminder that positivity is a practical tool for work and life.
5 reasons to avoid accessing your super early
Times are tough, and the federal government has kicked in with a range of unprecedented stimulus and support packages. One of the more controversial packages is granting early access to our superannuation. Dr Tracey West gives us five reasons to think twice before dipping into our retirement savings.
FutureNormal - Living in a Virtual First World
From work, to learning, to kids’ birthday parties and Friday afternoon drinks, the Covid-19 crisis has meant we’ve all had to move rapidly towards the virtual world in our day to day lives. Professor Nick Barter and Professor Chris Fleming suggest the new normal is here to stay, and that's not a bad thing.
Creativity in the time of Covid-19
In a world where the term ‘creative’ can be applied to almost any endeavour, what do we really mean when we label ourselves and our work ‘creative’? Also, if everything is creative, perhaps nothing is. Professor Julian Meyrick walks us through the complex concept of ‘creativity’, unpacking its usage and history and where it might be taking us in the new, Covid world.
A short guide to (not) working from home
These are strange times indeed. If you're lucky you're grappling with the stresses of working from home. We at the Professional Learning Hub are in the same boat. Here's our very quick guide to (not) working from home.
Introducing the Impact Economy
The promise of the ‘impact economy’ brings together a number of ideas, strategies and practices that are gaining traction and becoming mainstream. In this article, Alex Hannant and Prof Ingrid Burkett from Griffith's Yunus Centre, outline an overarching view of the ‘impact economy’ - the what, why and how.
Is it time to declutter your digital closet?
How many social media accounts do you have? How many do you use? Which ones make you happy? And which ones don't? Dr Timo Dietrich and Mr Yannick van Hierden from Social Marketing @ Griffith offer a few simple but effective tips to help you declutter your digital closet.
Understanding How People Learn in the Workplace
Workplaces are always looking for more efficient ways for workers to be productive. So how do employees continue to learn in a work environment? A/Prof Sarojni Choy discusses the different ways people learn in these settings and the importance for employees to optimise the opportunities for learning to meet the changing nature of work.
5 tips for Managing your Super
Your superannuation is not something you think about everyday, however your quality of life post-retirement is shaped by the decisions you make today. Dr Tracey West shares her insight and provides strategies to help you maximise the potential of your superannuation.
Case studies
uap
How does an organisation redesign itself to meet the challenges of the 21st century? We partnered with UAP, a global organisation, to develop a bespoke professional learning program to become FutureNormal.