Category: Community Involvement

Many owners and managers underestimate the importance of this activity, they do so at their peril. Community involvement is a fundamental key to success.

Yes … you will use algebra after graduation – 10 things you should know before graduating

Paul Wagenaar

Twice each year I present a workshop on “How to Keep a Job” for high school cooperative education students. The one piece of advice that was shared with me before my first one was “Don’t be boring.” I keep getting asked back so I must have succeeded.

Each time I speak to students I feel invigorated by their attention and their questions. Last week I spoke to approximately 150 students and their questions inspired today’s post. I wrote this with them in mind, my own three children, and what I had wished I had learned when I was their age.

Please read this, share this, and add your own comments.

It is not too optimistic or too negative, I have tried to balance both so each reader can take some tools away they can use.

The knocking on your door suddenly wakes you up; you glance at the clock; it’s 2:13 am. You knew this might happen but hoped it wouldn’t. As you open the door, you see more cruisers in the street, lights flashing, and officers knocking on your neighbor’s doors. Your heart is beating rapidly. It’s the police; they quickly say the fire has turned towards town as the wind changed directions. You can see the glow on the dark horizon and smell the smoke. … the officer says you and your family have one hour to evacuate.

Paul Wagenaar

Wildfires, floods, tornados, hurricanes:   Are you prepared? In the past twelve months in Canada, we have experienced extreme wildfires in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northern Territories, and Quebec. Nova Scotia and Ontario have experienced record-breaking […]

No one is where they were supposed to be.

Paul Wagenaar

Are we just the sum of our good and bad decisions? Labels and simple equations do not begin to adequately describe us and how we became who we are. In a world that increasingly uses simple rhetoric to explain how to solve our problems; we need to understand the complex interplay of variables that shape all of us.
If we can understand and appreciate, then we can begin to tailor individual courses of action.

One of the hardest things we do …

Paul Wagenaar

Finding a job or reinventing yourself after leaving a job can be one of the most difficult situations we face in life. Help is available in virtually every region. There is also a focus, a series of steps, something similar to Abraham Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs, that can help achieve your goals.

This post is a little longer than normal, but it is worth the extra few minutes. Please use it, share it, and please add your suggestions to help people who are struggling.

You should be MRD

Paul Wagenaar

If you are not MRD, finding a new job or career is much more difficult. Being MRD as well as doing the other twenty tips in this post will give you a competitive edge and help you to stand out.

More than doing just one thing …

Paul Wagenaar

I began as a good manager but a poor leader. I benefited from good mentors and people who believed in my potential and through hard work, and many missteps, I have become a better manager and a good leader. In a small way, I hope this post repays their faith and helps you.

Success does not result from a single action, success is the cumulative result of hundreds of small intricate actions and decisions; but most importantly success comes from treating your people well.

Paul Wagenaar

We all want to make a difference, from the most senior to the most junior, the need has never been greater. Use this as a starting point for your own contribution, add/subtract as you wish, but please start now.

Things to consider …

Paul Wagenaar

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.

Paul Wagenaar

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.

ADJUSTING, FITTING IN, and CONTRIBUTING

Paul Wagenaar

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.