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.

What Employers Miss in Job Ads

Paul Wagenaar

Some people will read every word of this guide.

Some will skim it and take away only one idea.

Both are enough to make a difference.

I didn’t write this to create another checklist or another compliance document. I wrote it because I believe one simple truth:
Job advertisements are not administrative documents; they are human invitations.

Every word we choose tells someone whether they belong, whether they will be valued, and whether they can picture themselves succeeding before they ever walk through the door.

If this feels longer than most hiring advice, that’s intentional.

Hiring shapes organizations, careers, families, and futures. It deserves more than a template copied from ten years ago.

Take one idea. Take ten. Come back to the rest later.

Because sometimes changing a single sentence in a job advertisement changes the person who decides to apply, and that one decision can change the future of an entire team.

How the flow of ideas slowly freezes … and starts to feel normal.

Paul Wagenaar

Rigidity doesn’t usually announce itself.

It shows up as discipline. As process. As “the way we’ve always done it.”

But underneath, it’s often something else entirely: fear disguised as control.
And the longer we hold onto it, the more it quietly limits what we, and the organizations we are part of, are capable of becoming.

Shine a Light on the Darkness: Seeing Through Misinformation and Media Noise

Paul Wagenaar

Most of what we see isn’t designed to inform us, it’s designed to move us.

Not toward truth, but toward reaction.

The real skill isn’t knowing everything, it’s knowing when to pause, question, and look a little closer before deciding what’s real.

“Look at My Feet While I’m Talking to You”:

Paul Wagenaar

“Look at my feet while I’m talking to you.”
That sounds wrong. Disrespectful, even. It goes against what most of us have been taught about attention, engagement, and respect.
But what if it’s not wrong?
What if it’s not a correction of the person, but of the standard we’re using to judge them?
Most of the conflict we experience with people living with autism isn’t about effort.
It’s about misinterpretation.
We don’t just see behavior, we assign meaning to it.
And too often, we’re wrong.

Coaching Minor Sports: If They Come Back, You Got It Right

Paul Wagenaar

Children’s and youth sports start and finish all the time, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a season. What matters is not the scoreboard or the record, but the experiences they carry with them during the season, and especially when it ends.

Coaching minor sports is not about winning games. It’s about building confidence, creating belonging, and giving kids a reason to come back. If they come back, you got it right.

I Thought I Understood My Community. I Was Wrong.

Paul Wagenaar

Six years ago, I left the “for-profit” world for a short-term non-profit contract. I didn’t know what to expect, nor if I’d even be accepted or be useful.

What I found was a world full of steep learning curves, invisible heroes, and challenges I’d never imagined. In six years, I’ve learned more about my community, the struggles with poverty, addiction, housing, and systemic barriers, than decades in retail ever taught me.

I’ve seen incredible people pour heart and soul into work with no guarantees, no recognition, just a relentless drive to make a difference. Their dedication reshaped how I approach leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving.

Next month, I step into a new volunteer role as the Chairperson of our United Way, inspired to encourage others to act: support charities, lift wages, donate time, and focus on long-term impact. Real change isn’t about us, it’s about the people and communities we live in.

BUILDING FUTURES: Hiring Summer Students

Paul Wagenaar

Every summer, organizations hire students to fill short-term roles. Few stop to consider that they are shaping long-term futures.

For many students, a summer job is their first real encounter with responsibility, accountability, and workplace culture. It is where reputations begin. It is where habits are formed. It is where confidence is either strengthened or quietly eroded.

For employers, hiring students is not simply a staffing decision. It is a leadership decision. It is a choice about whether to treat young people as temporary labour, or as emerging professionals.

When approached intentionally, summer employment becomes more than seasonal work. It becomes mentorship, community investment, and the foundation of someone’s career.

“A Reasonable Expectation of Humanity”

Paul Wagenaar

We move through and interact with dozens of organizations and people every day, healthcare, government, work, housing, commerce, and community spaces. Most interactions are brief, yet over time they quietly shape our sense of dignity, trust, and belonging.

This post explores a simple idea: a reasonable expectation of humanity in those interactions. Not perfection or special treatment, but clarity, respect for time, basic human regard, competence with humility, fairness, and accountability when things go wrong.

As you read, notice where these standards are present in your own interactions, and where they quietly fall away. And if you work inside an organization that holds power over others, consider how humanity is supported by design, not just individual effort.

As with most of my posts, this is a little longer than most, thank you for taking the time to read.

Atypical – Just Another Word for Discrimination?

Paul Wagenaar

Point of view … perspective … life experience … and what we learn each day. The more I learn about other people, their challenges, and their resilience, the more I am determined to help illuminate what many of us do not see. Please take a few minutes to read this post and to share it; the people in all our communities who live with disabilities and barriers could really use our help.

Bipolar Disorder Does Not Erase a Person’s Potential … misunderstanding does

Paul Wagenaar

Did you know more than half a million Canadians live with bi-polar disorder? About 3 out of 100 people in your lives experience this medical condition but few of us really know much about what they experience. Most of what we know likely falls into myths, misconceptions, and stigma unfortunately.

This blog is a very short introduction into what we should all know, whether we are employers, co-workers, friends, family, or community members. By learning more we can help them open more doors to employment and understanding. We can help them overcome the barriers society and our lack of knowledge has created.

We owe them that.