Things to consider …

Good organizations want to find good people and good people are seeking jobs with good organizations. In today’s “Tools Everyone Can Use,” there are tips for both sides to use that work that you can start using right now that will make a difference.

Just how easily it can happen.

Sometimes it is too easy to blame the victims rather than to work on solutions to the cause. Not a week goes by where a municipality is not trying to dismantle an encampment of people experiencing homelessness. Our media is full of outraged politicians and community members demanding action be taken, often punitive action.

One of the missing elements in these diatribes is “How” people come to experience homelessness. Few of those demanding punitive action realize just how precarious they and we are.

Could it happen to you, to me, to your friends, and even your grandparents, it could and it could happen faster than you can think.

PEOPLE

One of the questions I am asked the most is about handling staff issues or “problem people” in an organization. Being a leader is full of challenges, but perhaps the hardest one is “How to effectively deal with someone who is causing problems.”

Few issues are “black and white” and often taking actions can create follow on problems. Today’s post is a short guide to helping you overcome these issues and is one more set of “Tools Everyone Can Use.”

ADJUSTING, FITTING IN, and CONTRIBUTING

oining a new organization can be both exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Everyone wants to adjust, fit in, and begin making a contribution as soon as possible. Many people, myself included, can struggle with finding that sense of belonging. Everyone knows what they want to do, just finding the “how” to make that happen is what is difficult.

Building Connectivity and Engagement

Recently I attended a local job fair. Individually all of the participants, job seekers/employers/and organizers, did a good job … but some things were missing.

I came away from the job fair the same way I always do, frustrated and disappointed, as I suspect did many other people. I decided to offer some suggestions or “Tools Everyone Could Use” whether a job-seeker, employer, or organizer … see what you think.

What to keep, what to lose.

Your resume is an advertisement. A very specific tool to show a prospective employer you should be invited for an interview.

It is not your biography of everything you have done in your life. Too many resumes fail for this reason, my own included.

Take a few minutes, see what you should unpack, repack, and create a resume that shows your skills, your experiences, and why you are the best person to be hired.

What to do when you or someone you care about loses their job …

Employers call it different things, “Termination with cause, Termination without cause, Permanent Layoff, Downsizing, Relocation displacement, and many other terms;” what it is called doesn’t matter the effect is the same, you no longer have a job.

The impact can be both sudden and devastating. From my own personal experience how it affects you will change your life. What I have written today are some “lessons learned” from my own experience and from people I trust that can help. They can help you if you are experiencing losing your job, and/or they can help someone you know who needs help.

On the outside looking in – helping to find the way to where you belong.

There are times we all struggle. Some are able to “bounce back” more easily than others. For some, the harder they try the more mired they become. I have a friend who is one of the latter, I know how that feels because at times I have struggled myself. This post was inspired by how my friend is using the lessons of my own struggle to build themselves out of their struggle.

Subtleties of working with people … Take a short quiz.

I hope as an entrepreneur, manager, supervisor, or someone who aspires to take on any of those roles, you will ask yourself “Would you work for you?”

To be truly effective as a leader, you must consider the effects of your decisions, systems and processes, and their impacts on your people. My challenge today is to take a few minutes and consider the questions in this post. It is possible to be a manager but not a leader, considering this quiz may help you to become better at both.