Category: Tools Everyone Can Use

Stepping back from the edge …

Paul Wagenaar

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.

An Insider’s guide to being a good Career Advisor

Paul Wagenaar

There is a special group of people who are making a difference to help people help themselves. I would like to dedicate this post to them, what they have taught me, to the people they help, and to the employers who work with them.

What ailments are you causing or ignoring?

Paul Wagenaar

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.”

You may not have noticed … but it has already begun

Paul Wagenaar

As a merchant this was always the busiest time of the year. The Christmas and Holiday shopping season can be just as stressful for merchants as it can be for customers; however, for customers I can provide a guide to helping you navigate all of the sales and advertising to reduce your stress and help you obtain better value for your time and money.

An Insider’s guide to preparing for winter.

Paul Wagenaar

Today was a hot humid day in mid-September … not a day many people are thinking about winter. It doesn’t have to be today, but before the month is over, consider your plans for dealing with winter for your people.

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 […]

Teaching People How to Fish

Paul Wagenaar

s a volunteer, I have presented workshops and seminars to people of all ages on “how to find a job” and “how to keep a job,” for more than twenty years.

Eight months ago I was fortunate enough to be hired by an Employment Agency that specializes in assisting job seekers who experience barriers to employment. The time has been a revelation, the people I work for and with have taught me so much that I did not know about resilience, perseverance, and the resources that are available to help, often with no cost. I invite you to read and to share this very brief introduction to things many of us do not know about employment agencies.

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.

Useful tips to “Pick yourself back up.”

Paul Wagenaar

Do you have days where everything seems more difficult than it should be? Days where you feel overworked and underappreciated? I do.

What do you do? How do you find the strength to get up the next day when all you feel like is hitting snooze and going back to sleep? These are the things I do and they work for me, see what you think, try them, share them, and add to them.