Business Badger Badges
Build leadership skills. Enhance your résumé.
Why earn a Business Badger Badge?
Business Badger Badges is a cocurricular leadership program at the Wisconsin School of Business. This customizable program includes workshops, conferences, case competitions, and more. You earn digital badges to display on your LinkedIn profile or résumé to demonstrate expertise in an area of leadership.
Communicate your interpersonal, collaborative, and critical thinking skills to employers.
Gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Connect with students in group activities and grow leadership skills fit for the business world.
Work Toward Your UW–Madison Leadership Certificate
What is the Leadership Certificate?
The Leadership Certificate is a campus-wide credential for students who want to excel in leadership roles both inside and outside the classroom. You are encouraged to “double dip” by incorporating your Business Badger Badge experiences into the Leadership Certificate requirements.
Connect the badges to the certificate
Badge workshops and experiences can count towards the 100 hours of involvement required to earn the Leadership Certificate.
Badge reflection components are modeled after the competency essay requirement of the Leadership Certificate.
Badges
Personal Leadership Styles
This badge helps you explore your leadership, strengths, and interpersonal styles while enhancing your ability to recognize and adapt to different styles of others. It builds off the introduction to leadership theories from the Personal and Professional Foundations of Business (PPFB) course. Badge progress and reflection submissions will all be tracked in the Suitable app. Register your account now. Watch this video about the Personal Leadership Styles badge.
Learning outcomes
- Gain a high level of self-awareness regarding your leadership abilities
- Learn to coach and develop others
- Articulate a personal leadership style statement
- Attend 3 workshops from the Self-Awareness category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Interpersonal Communication category
Participate in the spring Leadership Conference sponsored by the ALC.
- Attend a Leadership Coaching session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and prepare for your reflection components.
Use the suitable app to reach out and schedule this after you have completed the workshops & leadership conference connected to this badge.
- Submit a 2-page reflection paper that articulates your strengths and areas of growth within the Self-Awareness and Interpersonal Communication competencies as defined by the UW–Madison Leadership Framework.
- Submit a 2-3 sentence personal leadership style statement
Group Dynamics
Today’s collaborative work environments need people who can manage teams and be good team members. Gain a deeper understanding of group dynamics and focus on competencies related to collaboration and supporting the learning and development of others. Learn to work well within a team structure, negotiate and manage conflict within a group, and build tools to develop and motivate others. Watch this video about the Group Dynamics badge.
Learning outcomes
- Learn skills to optimize group work
- Understand that conflict can serve to expose new solutions to complex problems + be able to address and manage conflict appropriately
- Develop tools in motivation, coaching, and providing feedback
- Attend 3 workshops from the Bridge-Building and Collaboration category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Learning and Development of Others category
- Participate in a Case Competition
- Submit a 1-page paper discussing the stages of Tuckman’s model of Group Dynamics that you observed within your case competition group.
Note: The ALC hosts two case competitions a year, but any business-themed case competition will count towards this badge. Simply show proof of your participation to a member of the Student Life team.
- Attend a Leadership Coaching session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and prepare for your reflection components.
Use the suitable app to reach out and schedule this after you have completed the workshops & leadership conference connected to this badge.
- Submit a 2-page reflection paper that articulates your strengths and areas of growth within the Bridge-Building and Collaboration and Learning and Development of Others competencies as defined by the UW–Madison Leadership Framework.
- Submit a 4-5 sentence statement articulating your understanding of group dynamics, the type of team member you are, and methods to motivate others.
Inclusive Leadership
Gain an understanding of social justice concepts and the role that diversity and identity play in the enhancement of teams and businesses. Learn to acknowledge various backgrounds/identities and help create inclusive and welcoming environments. The goal of the badge is to empower you to find a way to self-direct your on-going DEI education by selecting your own experience to complete with some helpful guidance from our team. Watch the video about the Inclusive Leadership badge.
Learning outcomes
- Build a strong understanding of the social identities you hold and how they impact your viewpoints and experiences
- Develop the capacity to understand various group cultures and acknowledge the impact of negative stereotypes
- Help others recognize the value of diversity within a group
- Contribute to an inclusive environment by working to remove cultural barriers and assumptions
- Attend 3 workshops from the Context and Culture category
- Attend 3 workshops from the Inclusive Engagement category
- Attend, participate in, and/or create a meaningful experience** that explores an aspect of diversity.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) encompasses a broad variety of topics, concepts, and identities. These are not skills that one can simply obtain, but rather a lifelong journey of self-growth and knowledge building over time. Everyone is at a different place in that journey, and has different goals in mind.
Through the workshops associated with this badge, we have provided a strong foundation of concepts related to DEI; the rest of the journey is up to you to direct. Therefore, the experience connected with this badge cannot be a “one size fits all” option.
Instead, we are empowering you to find a way to self-direct your on-going DEI education by selecting your own experience to complete with some helpful guidance from our team. While you only need to complete one experience and present it to earn this badge, we hope you continue this journey of self-education about DEI beyond your time as a Business Badger.
Important: Use the suitable app to submit an experience approval request before completing this to make sure your chosen experience will count.
**Examples of experiences that could count as the meaningful experience for the Inclusive Leadership Badge:
- Diversity Forum, or other campus training related to DEI
- Online cocurricular course related to DEI
- Academic course (3-credit min.) related to DEI, separate from your ethnic studies requirement
- This must be approved through experience approval request in order to count as this experience
- Research and collection of diversity & inclusion resources; create publicity campaign about these
- Create workshop or presentation about DEI topic(s)
- Get involved with a community organization that focuses on support for specific identities
- Proposal about how to incorporate DEI topics into one of your business courses (include curriculum components)
- Write a research paper about DEI topic(s) ~10 pages; at least 10 sources
- Other options you suggest!
- Give a 20-minute presentation to Leadership & Engagement staff that includes:
- What identity/aspect of diversity did you explore, and why did you choose that?
- Details about what you did for your learning experience
- What did you learn from this experience?
- How will you use what you learned to help create inclusive environments in your job/org/community?
- How do you plan on continuing your learning in relation to other aspects of identity/diversity?
- Engage in a 10-minute Q&A/reflection session with Leadership & Engagement staff immediately following the presentation to discuss all your experiences with this badge and prepare for your final reflection paper.
Use the suitable app to reach out and schedule this when you are ready.
Submit a 2-page reflection paper that articulates your strengths and areas of growth within the Context and Culture competency, and demonstrate how you embody the value of Inclusive Engagement.
Leading for Change
In an ever-evolving business environment, recognizing and harnessing the benefits of change is essential to effective leadership. Content for this badge will equip students with the knowledge and skills to analyze situations on personal and organizational levels to identify opportunities for positive change and develop strategies for implementation. A strong emphasis is placed on identifying and engaging stakeholders in the change process. Watch the video about the Leading for Change badge.
Learning outcomes
- Students will be able to identify, align, and pursue goals that are mutually beneficial for various stakeholders involved in a change process
- Students will be able to identify opportunities for positive change and articulate a compelling vision that inspires groups to engage in the change process
- Students will be comfortable developing a clear course of action to implement ideas and proposals for positive change
- Attend 3 ALC workshops from the Ideas into Action category
- Attend 3 ALC workshops from the Connection and Community category
- Participate in our Change Forum and complete a Change Action Plan
A Change Action Plan is a plan you will create for a tangible project. Completion of the project itself is not necessary for this badge, but the Change Forum will walk you through the planning steps so you can use this process in other areas.
- Attend a Leadership Coaching session with a Leadership & Engagement staff member to discuss your experiences and prepare for your reflection components.
Use the suitable app to reach out and schedule this after you have completed the workshops and leadership conference connected to this badge.
- Submit a 2-page reflection paper that articulates your strengths and areas of growth within the Ideas into Action competency and describe how you embody the value of Connection and Community as defined by the UW–Madison Leadership Framework.
Leadership at Lambeau
Participate in a three-day immersive leadership retreat at Lambeau Field and earn a special Business Badger Badge. Learn leadership skills that high-functioning organizations need to succeed. The retreat mirrors a similar curriculum taught to professional sports organizations. Hear from various leaders within the Packers organization, participate in small group discussions, and go behind the scenes at Lambeau Field. Watch this video about the Leadership at Lambeau signature experience.
Learning outcomes
- Gain self-awareness about your strengths in various transferable leadership skills
- Learn problem-solving and conflict-management skills for working in groups/teams
- Develop the skills to build your own team, articulate a vision, and inspire others
The content is focused on general leadership development skills and not specific to the sports industry.
Fulfill one of the following requirements to participate:
- The completion of at least one Business Badger Badge
- Significant progress towards badge completion, completion/significant progress towards the UW–Madison Leadership Certificate
- Experience as an officer (executive board member) in a student organization
Spring 2024 Dates: May 13-15, 2024
Keep an eye on your email for information about the application process once it opens. Please reach out to leadershipandengagement@wsb.wsic.edu with any questions.
Getting Started
Attend a workshop or event
The Accenture Leadership Center offers workshops and other events throughout the academic year that meet requirements for badges. When you sign in to workshops or other experiences connected to a badge, your progress toward a badge is automatically tracked. So check out our events and sign up for one today.
View your progress in Suitable
Your progress towards achieving a badge is tracked in Suitable. There is no timeline to complete a badge and there is no consequence for not completing a badge. You will also use Suitable to upload your reflection paper and final statement. Once a badge’s requirements are completed, you can download your badge from Suitable and add it to your LinkedIn page or résumé.
Questions?
- Contact the Accenture Leadership Center (ALC) with questions: alc@wsb.wisc.edu or leadershipengagement@wsb.wisc.edu
- The ALC and other student organization offices are located in the Leadership and Involvement Student Lounge: Room 1250, Grainger Hall.