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Learning Bites

Quick, bite-sized insights to build your skills and boost your career.

Missed a past edition? Visit the Learning Bites Archives 2025 and 2026 to explore previous topics, revisit professional development insights, and continue building your skills throughout the year.

Spotlight Skill:

Shining a light on the skills that help you learn, develop and grow!

July: Effective Communication with Your Supervisor

In this month’s UA spotlight skill, we are offering ways to making the most of your 1:1’s with your Supervisor. It’s easy to assume your supervisor knows what you’re juggling day to day—but with competing priorities, they rely on you to keep them informed. Sharing updates, challenges, and ideas helps your supervisor understand where you need support and where you can contribute most.

Core Behaviors to Practice

  • Build rapport intentionally. Show genuine interest in how your manager is doing. Strong relationships are built on mutual understanding and trust—and help you recognize when your manager or team may need support.
  • Demonstrate your value. Use your 1:1s to discuss ways to improve communication, strengthen team dynamics, and uncover opportunities for collaboration across teams.
  • Invest in your growth. Seek your manager’s perspective on skill development and career progression. Their insight can help you perform more effectively now and prepare for what’s next.
  • Ask for specific feedback. Targeted questions lead to more actionable insights, such as:
    • What are my top areas for improvement?
    • What could I be doing differently? Can you share examples?
    • Have you received any feedback about my work? What was it?

Quick Tips to Elevate Your 1:1’s

  • Prepare in advance. Bring a clear list of priorities, updates, and questions to demonstrate ownership and focus.
  • Keep it balanced. Address your needs while also discussing how you can support your manager and team goals.
  • Turn feedback into action. Create a plan with clear steps and timelines to implement what you’ve learned.
  • Follow through and follow up. Keep your manager informed on progress, challenges, and outcomes.

Call to Action:

Make your next 1:1 count—come prepared with at least three priorities or questions, and commit to one clear action you’ll take afterward to support your growth and your team’s success.

Check out these LinkedIn Learning courses for a deeper dive into maximizing 1:1’s:

Your monthly playlist where professional development hits the right notes.

July Edition: Emotional Intelligence – Relationship Management

Inspired by Jack Johnson’s Better Together

As we conclude our Emotional Intelligence series, July focuses on Relationship Management. Over the past few months, we explored self-awareness, reflection, and empathy. These skills help us better understand ourselves and others. The final step is putting them into action by building strong, positive relationships with the people we work with every day.

Relationship Management involves communicating clearly, navigating disagreements constructively, building trust, and working collaboratively toward shared goals. Strong relationships help teams function more effectively, solve problems together, and create a supportive workplace environment.

Jack Johnson’s song Better Together captures the essence of this idea. While individuals bring unique strengths and perspectives, we accomplish more when we work together and support one another.

Think About These Lyrics

“It’s always better when we’re together.”
→ Collaboration strengthens teams and leads to better outcomes.

“Only these moments together make up my life.”
→ Positive workplace relationships are built through everyday interactions and shared experiences.

“Things will look better when we’re together.”
→ Trust and teamwork help teams navigate challenges and find solutions more effectively.

Why Relationship Management Matters

Strong relationship management helps us:

  • Build trust and collaboration across teams
  • Communicate clearly and respectfully
  • Address misunderstandings in constructive ways
  • Support one another in achieving shared goals
  • Create a positive and productive workplace culture

Questions to Ask Yourself This Month

  • How do my communication habits affect the relationships I build at work?
  • What can I do to strengthen trust and collaboration with my colleagues?
  • How can I contribute to a supportive and respectful team environment?

Call to Action

This month, focus on strengthening workplace relationships by:

  • Practicing open and respectful communication.
  • Listening to understand different perspectives.
  • Supporting colleagues when challenges arise.
  • Recognizing and appreciating the contributions of others.

Strong teams are built on trust, communication, and collaboration. When we work together with understanding and respect, we create an environment where everyone can succeed.

Emotional Intelligence Series Wrap-Up

Over the past four months, we explored the core elements of Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness, Self-Reflection, Empathy, and Relationship Management. Each skill builds on the next, helping us better understand ourselves, connect with others, and create stronger, more collaborative workplaces. When we take time to reflect on our emotions, consider the perspectives of others, and communicate with intention, we strengthen not only our individual effectiveness but also the success of our teams.

Emotional Intelligence is not a one-time lesson, but a skill we continue to develop throughout our careers. By practicing these habits each day, we contribute to a workplace culture built on trust, respect, and collaboration.

Where fundamentals meet real‑world impact. Show up and skill up!

July Edition: Building a Conflict Playbook

When we encounter workplace conflict or tension, our “fight or flight” responses tend to be activated, and our better judgment may temporarily take a backseat.  Practicing constructive conflict resolution skills is a Core Concept common to all roles and experience levels, and following a set of shared norms can make it easier to be intentional in this area.

In her spring Inside Higher Ed opinion piece, Why Every Academic Team Needs a Conflict Playbook (publication date: 4/16/26), author Katherine M. Ruger discusses co-creating community norms as a sort of “Conflict Playbook” that helps teams “engage directly, constructively, and with curiosity about one another’s underlying interests.” 

Sample Community Norms:

  • Presume goodwill.  Start from the belief that colleagues share a common purpose, even when they disagree.  It’s an antidote to defensiveness.
  • Be curious, not critical.  Ask genuine questions before judging.  Curiosity gets us information; critique without context gets us resistance.
  • Listen to understand.  Don’t reload while others speak; reflect what you heard.
  • Address conflict directly and respectfully.  Talk with, not about.  Surface issues early and with care.
  • Own your impact.  Intention matters, but impact is what others live with.  Acknowledge it.
  • Engage with empathy.  People carry pressures we can’t see.  Extend patience.
  • Speak candidly and constructively.  Name what’s true and link it to the team’s success.
  • Value diverse voices.  Invite quieter or dissenting perspectives proactively.
  • Support shared accountability.  Follow through and hold one another to standards with kindness.
  • Celebrate and reflect.  Notice progress, express gratitude, and learn out loud.

Call to Action:  Do you and your team have a set of norms that serve as a conflict “playbook”?  Consider creating your own (or borrowing this one!) to guide conversations and team processes in the coming academic year.