May brings thoughts of next steps: a graduating class (including a Gassen boy!), a new season of hope for the future, and looking back at how far we’ve come as a community of practice over the past 10 years with our chances, changes, and choices. Let’s get unstuck together!
:: Image of the Week
:: Kindness in Leadership
Making a Wicked Learning Environment More Kind
The “wicked learning environment” term comes from psychologist Robin Hogarth, who used it to describe situations in which people don’t necessarily learn from experience, in part because feedback is delayed or inaccurate. In contrast, “kind learning environments” have built-in feedback that is clear and immediate, which helps people improve over time. Think: practicing free throws. You shoot; you miss; you adjust. In wicked learning environments, feedback may even be missing altogether.
Read this article from author David Epstein on creating more kind environments that promote feedback and pivot as a result of that feedback.
:: Mental Health and Self-Care
Happiness Break: Who Takes Care of You? With Dacher Keltner
When we feel cared for, our cortisol levels drop, we feel safe, and we handle stress better. Dacher leads a meditation to help us focus on the people who make us feel supported. Join Dacher Keltner on a short meditation to help us appreciate our circle of care.
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” — Mark Twain
The Five Resets: A Harvard Physician’s Insights on Stress and Balance
On this episode of The Work-Life Equation, Priya and Paul of Bright Horizons are joined by Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard physician, nationally recognized stress expert, and author of the book “Rewire Your Brain for Less Stress and More Joy.” Dr. Nerurkar shares invaluable insights from her years of expertise working with patients on managing stress and burnout. She debunks the myth of multitasking, explaining how our brains are wired for “monotasking” and provides actionable strategies like time blocking to boost productivity. She also offers empowering advice for working mothers navigating the impossible demands placed on them. Whether you’re looking to rewire your relationship with stress or simply live with more joy, this candid conversation with the insightful Dr. Nerurkar provides a roadmap for lasting change.
https://www.brighthorizons.com/resources/podcast/dr-aditi-nerurkar
:: Self-Leadership Development
This Is How To Get Unstuck: 5 Secrets From Research
There are moments in life that make you say, “And just how did I end up here?”
You feel neck-deep in a quagmire of “stuck.” Not only has your desired future not arrived, it might not even seem possible anymore. You wish deus ex machina was really a thing. And feeling stuck isn’t even the scariest part. What’s scary is getting used to it.
Whether it’s career, relationships, or big picture life goals, we all get to a point where we no longer feel we’re on our way to our dreams. You’re not alone. You might think it’s a midlife crisis, but it’s even more common than that – research shows we actually start to ponder these issues consistently at the end of every decade of life.
https://bakadesuyo.com/2023/05/how-to-get-unstuck/
:: Self-Leadership Development
Playing Up: The Safety and Comfort Matrix
When we’re in groups where the thinking is sharper, the conversations move faster, and lazy arguments fall flat, we’re forced to level up. We prepare more thoroughly, listen more carefully, and realize we can’t get away with half-baked ideas or untested assumptions. That pressure and higher standard make us better.
If you always feel like the most capable person in the room, it might be time to find a new room. Seek out situations that stretch you.
Read Author Robert Glazer’s take on the Safety and Comfort Matrix, and the rooms you should be in.
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” — Jim Ryun
Chances. Changes. Choices.
In many ways, a life or a career is the aggregation and summation of choices made, chances given and taken, and changes navigated. Rishad Tobaccowala explains in this installment of his weekly newsletter, “The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past.” A good exercise in self-reflection is to think about the biggest changes, chances and choices we have had to deal with or had to make and what we have learned from those.
:: Gratitude and Recognition
Meet the 2025 Academic Staff Excellence Award winners
Each year, the University of Wisconsin–Madison recognizes outstanding academic staff members who have excelled in leadership, public service, research, and teaching.
“As the largest employee group on campus, our academic staff members are critical to all that we do,” says Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin. “They are gifted teachers, world-class researchers, impactful mentors, and innovative administrators. We rely on them to bring the Wisconsin Idea to life — in the classroom and throughout the state and the world.”
The following 10 employees are recipients of 2025 Academic Staff Excellence Awards.
https://news.wisc.edu/meet-the-2025-academic-staff-excellence-award-winners/
:: Job Searching & Interviewing
Unlock Growth with the Most Important Skills and Competencies
Want to shift to skills-based hiring, but not sure where to start? You’re not alone. Most talent leaders now recognize the importance of hiring for skills in many roles but are hesitant to make the shift. In Korn Ferry’s Talent Trends 2025 survey, nearly 40% acknowledge the value of skills-based hiring—yet only 17% feel ready to implement it.
If you want to transform and grow your unit, department or business, then the most important area to focus on is hiring for critical skills. What makes a skill “critical,” and how is it different from other fundamental skills your organization needs? “Critical skills are those most closely linked to strategic business challenges, they’re the skills your organization needs to help it transform and stay ahead in the future, rather than just perform day-to-day operations,” explains Karin Visser of the Korn Ferry Institute (KFI).
“When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” – Howard Schultz
:: CSN’s Book of the Week Recommendation
Anatomy of a Breakthrough by Adam Alter
Almost everyone feels stuck in some way. Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling with writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, the resulting emotion is usually a mix of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anger, and numbness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the “deeply researched and compelling” (Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism) roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction.
Adam Alter has spent the past two decades studying how people become stuck and how they free themselves to thrive. Here, he reveals the formula he and other researchers have uncovered. The solution rests on a process that he calls a friction audit—a systematic procedure that uncovers why a person or organization is stuck, and then suggests a path to progress. The friction audit states that people and organizations get unstuck when they overcome three sources of friction: HEART (unhelpful emotions); HEAD (unhelpful patterns of thought); and HABIT (unhelpful behaviors).
Despite the ubiquity of friction, there are many great “unstickers” hidden in plain sight among us and Alter shines a light on some exceptional stories to share their valuable lessons with us. He tells us about the sub-elite swimmer who unstuck himself twice to win two Olympic gold medals, the actor who faced countless rejections before gaining worldwide fame, the renowned painter who became paralyzed and had to relearn to paint with a brush strapped to his wrist, and Alter’s own story of getting unstuck from a college degree that made him deeply unhappy.
Artfully weaving together scientific studies, anecdotes, and interviews, Alter teaches us that getting stuck is a feature rather than a glitch on the road to thriving, but with the right tweaks and corrections, we can reach even our loftiest targets.
:: Upcoming Events
2025 Second- and Third-Shift Employee Recognition Event
UW-Madison will recognize second- and third-shift employees at a late-night appreciation event on Wednesday, May 14, from 10:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. in the Lake Mendota Room at Dejope Residence Hall. This event will recognize the contributions of these essential employees who work behind the scenes to ensure operations run smoothly for those who study, conduct research, and work on campus during the day.
If you supervise off-shift staff, please encourage them to participate in this event to show your appreciation for their hard work and dedication to the university and its mission.
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Time: 10:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.
Location: Dejope Residence Hall Lake Mendota Room
More details at: https://finadmin.wisc.edu/2025/04/22/2025-second-and-third-shift-employee-recognition-event/
“Savor the little victories as much as you criticize the little mistakes.” – James Clear
Enhance Your Supervision and Management at UW-Madison
The Enhance Your Supervision and Management (EYSM) series offers timely topics to enhance supervisors’ impact. It equips leaders with the skills, knowledge, and strategies to confidently lead and inspire their teams beyond the Principles of Supervision and Management (PSM) program.
These courses are highly interactive, including small breakout rooms. Participants will work together to explore techniques, share best practices, and foster a collaborative environment to thrive as leaders.
EYSM topics will evolve with each offering of the series. You are welcome to attend one, some, or all of the courses in the series. It is not a sequential curriculum or associated with a certificate. EYSM is limited to participants who are people managers and will be held virtually on Zoom. To show interest in registering for a class topic, complete that respective Google form.
Spring 2025:
EYSM: Coaching Employees for Retention May 7, 9 a.m. to noon
EYSM: Documenting Performance May 14, 9 to 10:30 a.m.
EYSM: Navigating Difficult Conversations May 21, 9 to 11 a.m.
EYSM: Resilient Leadership May 28, 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Coaching Circles
We all need connections, support, and colleagues we can count on to help us work through our challenges. Coaching circles are a tool for that. Coaching circles are not intended to give advice, they are places of deep listening and understanding. They provide you with an opportunity to create strong connections while practicing your listening and empathy skills.
Coaching circles join 5-6 people from different areas across campus and meet virtually once per month to share current challenges. The pods are self-directed with one person serving as the anchor to help guide things along the way. Unlock a diverse community’s collective wisdom, support, and inspiration while driving your professional development to new heights.
Upcoming Coaching Circles Intro sessions on Zoom:
- Wednesday, May 7 from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
- Thursday, June 26 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
- Thursday, July 24 from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
https://hr.wisc.edu/professional-development/programs/coaching-circles/