In 1500 words or less, each post will give you something you can use TODAY to build yourself, your people and your organization whether your organization is a "for-profit" or a "not-for-profit."
The culture of your company is perhaps your most important competitive advantage. For the most successful companies they build their culture as often as they breathe.
Hiring a student or welcoming a coop student into your workplace is an investment in our collective future. The practical skills and knowledge they gain builds on their academic abilities. Take the time to prepare and anticipate the work involved and collaboratively make them part of your team.
Train them and allow them to demonstrate to you they can make meaningful contributions when provided with opportunities.
I work assisting people who are experiencing barriers to employment overcome them and find jobs that either accomplish their goals or take them to the next step on their individual journeys.
My role as a coach and mentor constantly reminds me of the lessons shared with me during my career, this post is the next chapter on “lessons learned” from my November 24th post.
Have you ever considered how biased our hiring practices are toward people who do not experience barriers to employment. How difficult it is for people who are from outside the “colonial bubble” most of us never even notice?
When you start to see and think about those barriers you can see the intrinsic discrimination that happens every day.
I am writing this on a Saturday. I did two hours of work today and two hours last night. I have already worked many hours over my allotted workdays this week. It is unlikely I […]
When you or your organization goes looking for new people, what do you see? Do you see everyone who could meet or exceed your requirements? Do you include people from different backgrounds, ethnicity, cultures, people who experience barriers to employment. Hiring people is about seeing people without bias, misconceptions; it is about seeing the humanity behind the cover letter or resume.
I was involved in Human Resources for most of may career, I made mistakes; but with help I learned some lessons that might help you and your team.
I have been here. Painfully unaware that I was teetering on the precipice. I was lucky, I had good mentors, I had key people who took a chance and told me what I needed to do and gave me the space to change. It wasn’t always smooth but I listened, I learned, and I became better.
As managers and supervisors, we will all eventually find ourselves in this position; how we react determines if we can step back or if we will plunge into the abyss.
What follows is what I was taught, what I learned, and what I continue to use. I hope it helps you.
Organizations experience major and minor ailments just like people do. Many are the result of external pressures; however, some like “Meeting Narcolepsy” are internally generated. Left undiagnosed and/or untreated these ailments can limit growth, cause decline, and even cause the organization to “die.”
This past week I attended a meeting where some people were lamenting that their new hires didn’t have a good work ethic and they seemed not to know how to function. Their comments inspired this post because “work ethic” is a learned skill and knowing what and how “to work” is also something that organizations should teach rather than assume.
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.
Your people are your greatest resource.
Facilitating great meetings will encourage them, teach them, provide them with opportunities and the tools they need. You need to listen to them, inspire them, and train them. Running good meetings is a “learned” skill that few of us every master completely. Done well, your meetings will create the conditions for growth and efficiencies, regardless of the type of organization you are part of.
This is a place to begin.