Insights & Guides

At Fort Hays State University’s Professional & Continuing Education (PCE), we bridge the gap between learning and real-world application. Whether you are an individual looking to sharpen your skill set or an organization working to build a stronger, more resilient team, our resources offer practical tools designed for today's changing workplace. Learn more about our vision by checking out the PCE Vision Book.

Explore the articles below to discover actionable strategies for leadership, professional growth, workforce development, and modern team dynamics.

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August 28, 2026

Employing Gen Z: Why Workplace Readiness Starts Before Day One

Here's a statistic that surprises a lot of managers: roughly half of today's college students enter school having never held a paid job. According to the Walton Family Foundation's “Voices of Gen Z” research series, roughly half of Gen Z students have never held a job or internship before finishing high school — a noticeably higher share than previous generations experienced at the same age.

That number matters more than it might seem at first glance. A part-time job in high school has traditionally been where a lot of “soft skills” get built almost by accident: showing up on time, taking direction from a supervisor, handling a difficult customer, working as part of a team, managing a schedule around other responsibilities. When that experience is missing, those skills don't disappear — they just have to be learned somewhere else, often for the first time on an actual job.

The Employment Picture Shifts in College

The good news is that the gap tends to close somewhat once students reach college. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 40% of full-time college students and 74% of part-time college students were employed as of 2020, the most recent year in their published data. So the trend isn't that Gen Z avoids work altogether — it's that their first real work experience is increasingly starting later, and often in a different context, than it did for previous generations.

That shift has real implications for employers. A new graduate who worked consistently throughout college has likely already built some baseline workplace habits. A graduate whose first job is the one they just accepted is starting from a very different place — not less capable, just less experienced in the unwritten rules of a workplace.

What This Means for Employers

This isn't a story about a generation lacking motivation or work ethic — the data doesn't support that narrative, and the employment numbers among college students remain substantial. It's a story about timing. When someone's first real exposure to a workplace happens later and under higher stakes (a full-time job instead of a part-time high school gig), the learning curve that used to happen gradually now happens all at once, often during an employee's first few months on the job.

For employers, that means onboarding and early training carry more weight than they used to. Skills that once could be assumed — how to communicate professionally, how to receive feedback, how to manage competing priorities — increasingly need to be taught explicitly rather than assumed as a given. Organizations that build this into their onboarding process tend to see new hires ramp up faster and with less frustration on both sides.

Setting New Employees Up to Succeed

The most effective response isn't lowering expectations — it's being intentional about how new employees are brought up to speed. A few things that make a real difference:

Don't assume baseline workplace habits. Spell out expectations around communication, punctuality, and professionalism explicitly, rather than assuming they're already understood.
Pair new hires with a mentor early. Having someone you can turn to and ask, “Is this normal?” can dramatically shorten the learning curve.
Build in real feedback loops, not just annual reviews. Frequent, low-stakes feedback helps new employees adjust quickly instead of repeating the same missteps for months.
Invest in foundational professional-skills training. Communication, workplace etiquette, and time management aren't things every new hire has had the chance to practice yet — and they're entirely trainable.

How PCE Can Help

Closing this kind of readiness gap doesn't have to mean building a program from scratch. FHSU Professional & Continuing Education can build custom onboarding and early-career training around the specific skills your new hires need most — whether that's professional communication, workplace etiquette, time management, or navigating feedback and difficult conversations early in a career.

Whether you're bringing on a handful of new grads or building a broader early-career development pipeline, PCE can help make that transition smoother — for the employee and for the team around them.

Contact us to talk through your onboarding and early-career training needs.

August 18, 2026

The 44% Problem: Most Managers Never Learned How to Manage

Most managers are flying blind. Not because they're bad at their jobs — because nobody ever taught them how to do this part of it.

Here's a number worth sitting with: less than half of managers worldwide have ever received formal training for the job they're doing. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, only 44% of managers globally have received any management training at all — which means the majority are leading teams, running one-on-ones, and making people decisions largely by trial and error.

That gap doesn't stay contained to the manager. It ripples through the entire team.

Picture a familiar scenario: a top sales rep gets promoted to sales manager because she consistently hit her numbers. Nobody questions the promotion — she earned it. But three months in, she's struggling. She doesn't know how to handle a direct report who's underperforming without feeling like she's failing them. She avoids giving feedback because she's never been taught how to deliver it constructively. Team meetings feel awkward because she's used to being one of the group, not leading it. None of this means she was a bad hire for the role. It means she was set up without the tools she needed to succeed in it — and that's a training problem, not a talent problem.

The Cost of Untrained Leadership

Gallup's research found that managers who never receive training are roughly twice as likely to be actively disengaged as those who do. And disengagement doesn't stop at the manager's desk — it shapes how their whole team experiences work. Globally, Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the world economy $438 billion a year in lost productivity.

The upside is just as striking. Managers who receive coaching-focused training see performance improve by 20–28%, and their teams report up to 18% higher engagement as a result. Even relatively basic training — covering things like role clarity, communication, and how to manage conflict — has been shown to cut active disengagement roughly in half.

In other words: this isn't a soft, feel-good argument for leadership training. It's a measurable one.

Signs Your Managers Need Training

How do you know if this gap exists on your team? A few common signs:

Feedback only happens in the annual review, not in the moment
One-on-ones feel like status updates, not real conversations
The same conflicts keep resurfacing because no one addresses them directly
Delegation looks like either micromanaging or disappearing entirely
Team meetings go quiet when the manager asks for input

None of these mean someone is a bad manager. They mean someone is guessing — and guessing is exhausting, for them and for their team.

Why the Gap Exists in the First Place

Most new managers are promoted because they were excellent individual contributors — not because they'd already demonstrated they could lead a team. Being great at the job is a different skill set entirely from helping other people be great at theirs. Without training, new managers are often left to guess at the basics, like:

How to give feedback that actually lands
How to navigate conflict between team members
How to delegate without micromanaging
How to have hard conversations without avoiding them altogether

Left unaddressed, this doesn't just affect one manager's confidence. Research from LinkedIn's Workplace Learning Report backs this up from the employee side: the majority of organizations name retention as a top concern, and the number one lever they point to for improving it is providing learning and development opportunities. When managers aren't equipped to lead well, that gap shows up directly in whether their teams stick around.

Gallup's research points to the same conclusion from a different angle: manager quality is one of the single biggest factors in how engaged — and how likely to stay — a team is. Put simply, you can have great pay, great perks, and great mission, and still lose people because of how they're managed day to day.

The Real Cost of Waiting

The usual pushback here is time and budget: "We can't pull managers out of their day-to-day for this." But that framing gets the cost backwards. Replacing an employee typically costs somewhere between half and double their annual salary once you account for lost productivity, hiring, and onboarding. A disengaged team under an untrained manager is already paying that cost — it's just spread out and harder to see on a spreadsheet. Training isn't the expensive option. Turnover is.

Closing the Gap

Leadership isn't something people either have or don't — it's a trainable skill, the same as any other. And closing this gap doesn't require overhauling how your organization promotes people; it just requires being intentional about what happens after the promotion:

Start before the promotion. If someone's on a leadership track, begin building those skills before they're handed a team.
Focus on the fundamentals. Feedback, delegation, and conflict management deliver outsized impact for first-time managers — more than advanced leadership theory.
Make it ongoing. A single workshop helps, but pairing training with ongoing coaching drives lasting change.
Normalize not knowing yet. Most new-manager anxiety comes from feeling like they're supposed to already have the answers.

That's exactly the kind of training PCE was built to provide — practical tools managers can use immediately, not abstract theory that stays on a slide deck. And because our programs come through a university-backed continuing education unit, they carry the same rigor you'd expect from an academic institution, applied directly to real workplace challenges.

The Bottom Line

The data is clear: untrained managers are a measurable business risk, and trained ones are a measurable advantage. If your organization has people leading teams without ever having been taught how, that gap is worth closing — before it shows up in your turnover numbers.

Curious to hear from other leaders — were you trained before you got your first team, or did you learn it on the fly?

Contact us to talk through your team's leadership development needs and see how a custom training plan could help.

July 28, 2026

Meet PCE: Practical Training for Real Workplace Challenges

A high-performing employee gets promoted into management with zero leadership training. A team keeps missing deadlines, but no one's ever taught them how to prioritize competing projects. A customer-facing employee freezes during a tense conversation because de-escalation was never part of their onboarding. These moments happen every day in workplaces everywhere — not because people lack potential, but because they were never given the tools.

That's exactly the gap Fort Hays State University's Professional & Continuing Education (PCE) was built to close. The organizations that keep pace are almost always the ones treating employee growth as a core priority - not an afterthought.

PCE exists to connect what's happening in the classroom with what's happening in the field, offering everything from stackable credentials to fully custom training built around a specific business need. The goal is simple: put the right skills in front of the right people at the right moment, so industry demands become career and business advantages rather than roadblocks. Whether you're an individual looking to build new skills, shift career paths, or grow into a bigger role, or an organization trying to strengthen your workforce, PCE is built around one idea - practical, relevant learning that reflects what today's workplaces actually require.

At the core of that work is a straightforward mission: provide accessible, high-quality learning experiences that support real growth, for individuals and organizations alike, in a world that keeps changing. Here's how that mission plays out.

What We Offer

Custom Training Solutions

Every organization runs into different challenges, which is exactly why cookie-cutter training rarely works. Through our Training & Consulting Services (TCS) branch, we work directly with businesses to build training designed around your specific goals, not a generic template applied to every client the same way. Sample topics include leadership development, project management, public speaking, conflict resolution, grant writing, critical conversations, time management, emotional intelligence, customer service, Microsoft Office skills, CliftonStrengths, and supervising employees, though these are just a starting point for what we can build together.

Online Programs

For learners juggling packed schedules, our online courses offer real flexibility. Build new skills on your own timeline, wherever you're located, backed by expert instruction and content designed to hold your attention. Current self-paced offerings include Supervising Essentials, Digital Readiness for Emerging Professionals, Foundations in Telemental Health, and CliftonStrengths: Essentials and Engaged - all designed to start anytime, so you can begin the moment you're ready. These programs are built to work for people at any stage of their career and any level of experience, whether you're brand new to a topic or sharpening skills you've used for years.

Grow Your People. Grow Your Business.

Putting resources behind employee growth is one of the most reliable ways to strengthen an organization from the inside out. PCE works alongside businesses to develop programs that build stronger teams, sharpen leadership skills, and support growth that lasts well beyond a single training session. Everything we build is meant to be used immediately; skills employees can put into practice the same week, not concepts that stay theoretical.

That kind of investment tends to pay off in three specific ways:

Boost Results - Give your team the tools they need to work smarter and produce stronger outcomes.
Retain Talent - Employees who see real investment in their growth tend to stick around longer and stay more engaged.
Stay Competitive - A workforce that can adapt quickly keeps your organization ahead of industry shifts instead of scrambling to catch up. Partnering with TCS tends to leave organizations with a more adaptable, more engaged team - one that's ready to handle change rather than get caught off guard by it. Businesses that consistently prioritize development often see the ripple effects across the board: stronger retention, better teamwork, happier customers, and steadier financial performance.

Flexible Training That Fits Your Business

Training only works if it actually fits into how your organization runs day to day. That's why flexibility is built into everything we offer: programs delivered online or on-site, ranging from a single one-hour workshop to a multi-day bootcamp. Individual and team-based trainings can also be combined into microcredentials and certificates, giving employees a clear, structured path for continued growth over time.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I know what kind of training my team actually needs?

Start by looking at where friction shows up most - missed deadlines, high turnover on a specific team, or repeated feedback from managers about the same gaps. A quick skills assessment or a conversation with a PCE team member can help pinpoint priorities before committing to a program.

We don't have a lot of time to dedicate to training. What are our options?

Development doesn't have to mean multi-day seminars! Short, focused workshops (even an hour long) can deliver real value without pulling employees away from their work for long stretches, and online formats make it even easier to fit into a busy schedule.

Is professional development only for new employees or those early in their careers?

Not at all. Development matters at every career stage: from onboarding new hires to preparing experienced employees for leadership roles. In fact, some of the highest-impact training happens with tenured employees who are ready to grow into bigger responsibilities.

How do we measure whether training is actually working?

Look beyond attendance. Track whether employees are applying new skills on the job, whether performance or engagement metrics shift over time, and whether turnover in trained teams improves compared to untrained ones.

How It Works

Getting started is simple:

Consultation — We start with a conversation about your team's specific challenges, goals, and schedule constraints.
Custom Plan — Based on that conversation, we build a training plan — whether that's a single workshop, a multi-part series, or a stackable credential pathway.
Delivery — Your team gets practical, real-world training, delivered online, on-site, or a mix of both, on a timeline that works for you.

From there, it's just a matter of watching the results show up — in performance, in retention, and in how your team handles change.

The Bottom Line

Whether you're an individual ready to learn something new or an organization looking to strengthen your whole team, PCE is built to meet you where you are with flexible formats, practical content, and programs designed around real results.

Let us help you build a training plan that actually moves the needle for your organization.

Contact us to talk through your team's challenges and see how a custom approach could work for you.

July 14, 2026

Top 10 Reasons Professional Development Matters

Professional development often gets treated as a line item — something to budget for if there's time and money left over. But for both employees and organizations, it's one of the highest-impact investments a company can make. When training is left as an afterthought, the effects show up quietly at first: slower adaptation to change, employees who feel stuck in their roles, and a widening gap between what the business needs and what the team is equipped to deliver. Over time, those quiet effects compound into real business risk.

The good news is that the fix doesn't require a massive overhaul — it requires making development a consistent, intentional part of how an organization operates, not an occasional perk. Here's why it deserves a permanent seat at the table.

It keeps top talent from walking out the door. Employees who don't see a path to grow tend to look for that path elsewhere. Development opportunities are one of the strongest retention levers an organization has — and often more influential than a pay bump alone. When employees feel like there's nowhere left to grow internally, they start looking externally, even at companies offering similar pay and benefits.
It closes skill gaps before they become business problems. Industries shift fast. Ongoing training helps teams keep pace with new tools, technologies, and best practices instead of falling behind. Waiting until a skill gap becomes visible in missed deadlines or lost business is far more costly than addressing it proactively through regular training.
It builds stronger leaders from within. Promoting from within is far easier — and far less risky — when employees have already been building leadership and management skills on the job. Internal candidates already understand the culture, the team, and the business, which shortens the learning curve dramatically compared to an external hire.
It boosts engagement. Employees who are learning something new tend to be more invested in their work. Stagnation breeds disengagement; growth breeds momentum. Even small, regular opportunities to build new skills can reset an employee's sense of purpose and reconnect them to their role.
It strengthens essential skills that technical training often skips. Communication, feedback, coaching, and collaboration don't come standard with a job title. These are learned skills — and ones employees consistently say they want more of. Technical expertise gets someone hired, but essential skills are usually what determine whether they're promoted.
It improves the quality of decision-making across the organization. Trained employees bring sharper judgment, better problem-solving, and more confidence to the decisions they make every day. That confidence reduces costly hesitation and helps decisions get made at the right level, instead of everything escalating up the chain.
It signals that the organization actually values its people. Development opportunities tell employees they're seen as a long-term investment, not just a role to be filled. That signal builds real loyalty. Employees notice when a company puts real resources behind their growth — and they tend to reciprocate with commitment.
It reduces the cost of turnover. Replacing an employee is expensive — recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity add up quickly. Investing in current employees is almost always cheaper than replacing them, and it avoids the ripple effect that turnover has on the rest of the team's morale and workload.
It helps organizations adapt to change. Whether it's new technology, new regulations, or a shifting market, a well-trained workforce adjusts faster and with less disruption. Organizations that build a habit of ongoing learning treat change as routine rather than a crisis every time it arrives.
It creates a culture people want to be part of. Organizations known for investing in their people tend to attract better talent in the first place — development becomes a recruiting advantage, not just a retention one. Candidates increasingly ask about growth opportunities during the hiring process, and a strong answer can be the deciding factor.

The Bottom Line

Professional development isn't just about checking a training box. It's a direct investment in retention, performance, leadership, and culture — the things that determine whether an organization thrives or just gets by.

The organizations that get this right tend to share a few things in common. They treat development as an ongoing rhythm rather than a once-a-year event. They give employees a say in what they want to learn, instead of assigning generic training across the board. And they connect development directly to real opportunities — a promotion, a new project, an expanded role — so employees can see the tangible payoff of investing their time.

The organizations that get it wrong tend to notice too late. They see the resignation letters, the disengaged team meetings, the leadership gaps that surface right when a key employee leaves. By the time those signs are visible, the cost of inaction has already been paid — in lost talent, lost institutional knowledge, and lost momentum that's far harder to rebuild than to have prevented in the first place.

The difference between the two isn't budget size or company size. It's intention. A single well-designed workshop, delivered consistently, can move the needle more than a scattered, one-off training initiative ever will.

Where PCE Comes In

Building that kind of intention doesn't require a massive overhaul — it just requires the right partner. Fort Hays State University Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) helps organizations turn development into an ongoing rhythm instead of an afterthought.

We partner with organizations to deliver practical, industry-driven training that closes skill gaps, builds leaders from within, and gives employees a real, visible path to grow — the same factors that separate the companies that retain top talent from the ones reading exit interviews too late. Our programs are flexible by design, because no two teams need the same thing: from a single well-designed workshop to multi-day training, delivered online or on-site, and stackable into microcredentials and certificates for employees who want an ongoing path forward.

Development doesn't have to be a scattered, one-off initiative. Give it a permanent seat at the table.

Visit Custom Training to start building a training plan that fits your organization.

January 7, 2026

Why SHRM Certification Is a Career Game-Changer in 2026

In today’s fast-evolving workplace, standing out as a human resources professional requires more than hands-on experience alone. Earning your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP credential is one of the most impactful steps you can take to accelerate your career — and here’s why:

Industry Recognition & Credibility SHRM certifications are behavioral competency-based credentials that demonstrate not just what you know, but how you apply your HR skills in real-world situations. According to HR leaders, 92% agree that SHRM certification is important for HR professionals’ future success — reflecting its relevance and authority in the field.

Stronger Influence Within Your Organization Certified professionals report enhanced credibility with colleagues and executive leaders, which translates into greater impact on strategy and organizational outcomes.

Higher Earning Potential Passing the SHRM exam is linked to 14–15% higher earnings when compared with non-certified HR peers — a tangible return on your investment in professional development.

Better Promotion Prospects Seventy-one percent of HR executives say certification increases the likelihood of promotion and is a preferred qualification in hiring decisions.

Prep with Confidence: FHSU’s SHRM Certification Prep+ Course Preparing for the SHRM exam is key to success. Fort Hays State University’s online SHRM Certification Prep+ course blends the official SHRM Certification Prep System with expert facilitation and flexible, self-paced online learning — ideal for working professionals.

What makes it compelling:

100% online and self-paced with instructor support
Designed to fit the schedule of busy HR professionals
Combines official SHRM prep materials with supplemental resources
Taught by a SHRM-certified practitioner ready to guide you through the process

If you’re ready to deepen your HR expertise, enhance your professional influence, and unlock new career opportunities — earning your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP credential in 2026 is a strategic move worth pursuing. Let FHSU Professional & Continuing Education help you get there!

October 23, 2025

The Silent Tension in Your Conference Room: Why Your Team Isn't Clicking

Last week, a frustrated manager told me her team meetings had become painful. The Boomer VP wanted detailed email updates. The Millennial project lead preferred Slack. Gen Z interns seemed disengaged unless everything was visual. And Gen X? They were just trying to get work done while everyone else argued about communication channels.

Sound familiar?

Here's the thing: The most diverse workplaces in history aren't struggling because people don't care. They're struggling because we've never learned how to bridge the gap between five generations working side by side.

For the first time ever, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and even some Traditionalists are sharing the same office space—physical or virtual. Each generation brings valuable strengths, but without understanding their unique perspectives, those differences create friction instead of innovation.

What's Really at Stake?

When generational gaps go unaddressed, the costs are real:

Projects stall because teams can't agree on how to communicate
Talented employees leave because they feel misunderstood
Innovation dies because different perspectives clash instead of collaborate
Customer service suffers when generational preferences aren't understood

But when leaders learn to harness generational diversity? That's when magic happens. Teams become more creative, resilient, and productive.

A Practical Path Forward

Understanding generational differences isn't about stereotyping—it's about recognizing that people shaped by different eras bring different strengths to the table. The workplace of 2025 demands leaders who can:

✓ Recognize what motivates each generation
✓ Adapt communication styles without losing efficiency
✓ Build bridges instead of reinforcing silos
✓ Transform generational diversity into competitive advantage

Your Opportunity: October 29

Fort Hays State University's Professional & Continuing Education is hosting Generations in the Workplace, an intensive 4-hour workshop designed specifically for managers, HR professionals, and team leaders who are ready to turn generational diversity from a challenge into a strength.

What You'll Gain:

Deep understanding of each generation's values and communication styles
Practical strategies you can implement immediately
Tools to reduce workplace conflict and boost engagement
Actionable frameworks for building stronger, more collaborative teams

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: FHSU Campus, Hays, KS
Investment: $175
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, October 28, 2025

This isn't theory-heavy academic content. It's an interactive, hands-on workshop that provides you with real tools for addressing real workplace challenges.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is essential for:

HR professionals navigating multigenerational workforces
Managers leading diverse teams
Business owners building inclusive cultures
Anyone frustrated by generational friction in their workplace

The Bottom Line

Your competitive advantage isn't just in what your team knows—it's in how well they work together. In 2025, the organizations that will thrive will be those that leverage generational diversity as a strategic asset.

The question isn't whether you can afford the time and investment for this workshop. It's whether you can afford not to.

Ready to transform your team dynamics?

Spaces are limited. Your October 29th could be the day your workplace finally clicks.

Questions about the workshop? Contact Fort Hays State University Professional & Continuing Education at 785-628-4384 or pce@fhsu.edu

How to Reach Us

Professional & Continuing Education
Fort Hays State University
Hammond Hall
600 Park Street
Hays, KS 67601
Phone: 785-628-4384
Email: pce@fhsu.edu

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