Learning doesn’t stop once you enter the workforce—at least not if you want to become successful. After all, no one begins their career knowing everything they will ever need to know. The work world is constantly changing, and technologies and methodologies in use now may be irrelevant or outdated in a very short time.

To move forward in your career and reach your goals, you need to make professional development a priority. Whether you take classes or workshops, participate in mentoring programs, or attend industry conferences, it’s critical to continue learning and improving.

Here’s why.

The field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is not regulated in Canada. There is no official body that governs the conduct of ADR professionals.

However, the ADR Institute of Ontario (ADRIO) plays a key role in setting educational and ethical standards for mediators and arbitrators throughout the province. Membership is voluntary, but comes with a number of benefits.

If you’re a manager or administrator in an area like health care, law enforcement, human resources, or education, your team members are likely interacting with mentally ill individuals every day—even if they don’t always realize it.

Unfortunately, many people don’t know the signs of mental illness and aren’t sure how to respond when they encounter someone struggling with it.

Mental health training in the workplace teaches employees to recognize and understand common mental health conditions. This can be valuable for anyone, but it’s especially important for community-serving employees who frequently deal with individuals with mental health challenges in the course of their work. That includes healthcare providers, teachers, police officers, librarians, and HR professionals.

Keep reading to learn more about the importance of mental health training in the workplace and how it can benefit your team.

Across the globe, several key factors have helped legitimize alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as an effective means of settling conflicts outside of court. 

The ever-rising expense of litigation is a main driver, along with hopelessly backlogged courts and the stress of drawn-out legal battles. 

As an industry, ADR is maturing and evolving at a rapid rate, particularly in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and parts of Asia.  

Mediators and arbitrators are becoming increasingly sophisticated and specialized, tackling more complex cases, and developing more nuanced ADR techniques. 

What’s the next stage of growth for alternative dispute resolution? Here's a look at three major trends that are changing and shaping the ADR industry right now. 

Many people aspire to become managers. They want the added challenge, authority, and salary that comes with moving from team member to team leader. They work hard, put in the time, and get that promotion.

Photo: Janet Guaca, online project management expert and educator

Even as pandemic restrictions ease, many organizations are sticking with remote or hybrid working arrangements. A recent Statistics Canada surveyfound that 25 per cent of Canadian adults still work from home at least part of the time.

We developed the Online Project Management certificate to help team leads and managers thrive in this reality. 

This week, we interviewed the instructor, Janet Guaca, a virtual project management expert with over 20 years of experience in the field.

She walks us through some key challenges project managers are facing right now, and how this course can help.

Are you eager to take on a new challenge in your human resources career? Ironically, HR professionals spend much of their time helping employees with their career development, but they often neglect to devote the same care and attention to their own advancement.

The good news is that there are concrete steps you can take to improve your HR skills, impress your boss, and get where you want to go.

Read on for eight practical tips on how to advance your HR career.

Years of underfunding, stigmatization, and lack of education have created mental health crises in many communities across the globe. Everywhere you look, you see the consequences of these trends.

And the problem is only getting bigger and more complex—especially in the wake of the pandemic.

If you're working in a front-line, community-serving role, you're probably experiencing the consequences of Canada’s mental health crisis up close and in very personal ways.

That’s why Kompass developed a new and improved version of its Community Mental Health and Addictions certificate. The enhancements were designed to make the course content even more relevant to today’s realities.

Read on to see what’s changed—and what hasn’t.

Over the last few years, we've seen a tremendous increase in corporate training programs in diversity and inclusion. Leaders are finally recognizing the critical importance of fostering a genuinely inclusive workplace culture.

The problem is, management often lacks the skillset and knowledge needed to recruit, nurture, and retain a diverse workforce.

Pamela Perez has built a career around helping companies navigate this challenging process. She has a proven track record in human resources, with a specialization in diversity and inclusion training, coaching, and consulting.

And now, Pamela has signed on to teach the new Diversity and Inclusion certificate at Kompass Professional Development.

We interviewed her this week to learn more about her background and what skills she'll be teaching in class. Read on for the highlights.

Over the past several years, mediation has become an increasingly popular method of resolving differences outside of court. Instead of passing judgment and imposing a decision, a mediator facilitates communication between the parties and helps them reach a resolution they can both accept.

Mediation can be used to settle a diverse range of disputes, including those related to family or business relationships, employment, tenancy, property damage, and more.

This post will explore the top five types of mediation, examine specific examples of common disputes in each type, and help you to discover the advantages mediation provides.