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."
I was inspired to write this because of a motorcycle at 6:30 on my one day to sleep in this week. After ranting for several minutes I decided to channel my energy into something positive. We all complain about what we don’t like … what if I wrote about all the things a good neighbour would and does do? This was the result, please feel free to add your comments and thoughts.
We notice the ramps, the braille on some washroom signs, we all sometimes use the power door options when we have large items to get through doors, but do we notice the places that aren’t accessible?
More than 20 years legislation became law that guaranteed accessibility standards for people who live with barriers and disabilities. The law promised action. It has been hit or miss, there have been some improvements, but not enough. We need to ask ourselves are we compliant or are we complicit? We also need to advocate and take action.
As a career advisor who works with people who live with barriers it is interesting reversing perspectives about social cues. Most people who live with barriers have to learn to adapt to social cues that are not intrinsic to them, what are you doing to recognize and accommodate their social cues?
This post is a brief introduction to social cues that could add understanding and appreciation to our daily interaction with people who experience barriers. The more we support diversity, equity, and inclusiveness; the more opportunities for growth we all have.
After a lifetime working in the “for-profit” sector, I unexpectedly took a left turn into the “non-profit” world on a 6-month contract five years ago.
I thought I knew what to expect, and I could not have been more wrong.
First, as a volunteer, then as a contract employee, my learning curve was steep, not only because we were at the height of the pandemic but because I was starting and learning a new job remotely. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to grow and the freedom to try new ideas, to collaborate, and many of my former life skills were directly transferrable to this new world.
Through my coworkers, and at more than 50 food organizations and 300+ volunteers, I learned more about the community that I worked and lived in just a few months than what I thought I had learned in more than thirty years in the “for-profit” world.
Finding a new job for anyone can be very difficult. We all face barriers to employment, living in a small or medium-sized community can add some surprising additional barriers. People in this situation, need our help, they need my help and they need your help. Lend me five minutes of your time for a brief introduction to learning about the barriers and what we can do to overcome them.
With the coming of spring (finally) many students are starting to look for summer jobs and many organizations are looking to hire. Hiring students benefits both the student and employer; the learning curve can be steep on both sides, but it is worth the effort today and tomorrow.
In Canada this weekend was for Thanksgiving and I thought reposting this story would be appropriate. The person in this post may be fictional; however, her story is one that is playing out daily in every community in Canada. People who are struggling need our understanding, our help to survive, and for us to provide a framework so they can have their lives back.
Each of us can help, we have a responsibility to make a difference.
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.
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.
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.