Find The Right Fit And You Win

Of all the people you know, who’s the one person who knows you best? You. Oh sure you might be inclined to say it’s your partner and yes, I’ll admit my wife knows me exceedingly well given our 37 plus years of marriage. Yet, there are many times in a day when I’m in the company of me, myself and I. At work, in the garden, reading a book, playing the guitar or hey, writing this piece, it’s only me and my thoughts are mine alone.

So you know yourself; your likes and dislikes, the things that inspire, confuse, excite, demoralize, stress and stimulate you. Some people know some of these things about you no doubt, but the only one who knows all of these things about you is you.

I’ve said many times that a terrific thing to undertake is to do an inventory of your strengths, areas to improve, skills, values, morals, motivations, fears, personal characteristics and qualities. If you feel you just, ‘intrinsically know’ all these things, I won’t argue the point. However, if you can’t verbalize your workplace values, define success and measure where you are in relation to it, name 20 of your top skills and provide if asked, demonstrated proof of those skills, you might want to consider getting around to formally documenting these things. But that’s not my point I wish to share here.

What I do want to talk about is not just figuring out what role(s) you want in this life you’re living, but with whom do you want to share your gifts? So if you know you want to be an Electrician, that’s wonderful! However, how much thought do you put into the organization you want to be employed by? If you’re simply going online and applying to a job because the job title matches what you want, that’s not the best way to maximize the odds of being happy in the job should you land there. And despite all the great advice from many Job Coaches and Employment Counsellor’s, many still research the job but not the employer.

That’s kind of like saying, “I want to be married” without putting a great deal of thought into the person you’re going to be with. Come to think of it, I may have inadvertantlly and unintentionally just stumbled on to why we have such high divorce rates. Could be too many people who want to get married rush into things without taking the time to, ‘research’ and get to know their potential life partner. Of course, there are people who figure marriage is a two to three year commitment and then move on just like some people do with jobs.

3 things are needed to be ultimately happy career-wise; a job you love, having the skills and expertise to do it well and thirdly, the pay that makes the job one you can afford to work at as it fulfills your financial needs. That first one though – a job you love – isn’t only the role but includes the organization with whom you partner.

Some people make the mistake of believing they have the right job, then finding out that it’s not what they thought it was all about, they change careers and choose something new. Sadly, I’ve often found that the peson knew themselves well enough to pick the right job or career, but they make the mistake of believing that one bad experience with one employer was representative of all other simililar job titles with other employers.

You may find for example that one company instructs all their Electricians to get in and get out asap when on a job in order to maximize the number of jobs they bill for in a day. This might leave you the front-line employee and Electrician running from job to job feeling very little satisfaction. On the other hand, another company might want their employees to complete work while encouraging their Electricians to interact with customers and explain what they are doing, how to avoid future overloads and promote electrical safety in the home or workplace. Both strategies could make the company the same funds. One billing for 8 jobs but less time with each customer and the other billing for 5 jobs but for more time with each.

As the Electrician, you might find yourself with a preference for one environment or what we call workplace culture. It’s not that the job or career was wrong, it’s possibly the job or career was a good fit but the employer wasn’t. Two different ways of operating and two different types of people will fit. One is task-focused employee and the other a mixture of task and desire to educate using their people skills.

Okay so what about you? Are you in the right job but perhaps working in the wrong environment? Considering the length of years you have left to work, you’ve got to calculate the cost of remaining a round peg in a square hole, or finding a round hole that fits what you’re after. Again, get the job you’re great at, that pays well, and that you love, and you win! You’re happiness hangs in the balance.

Heading Back And Moving Forward

When the Covid-19 pandemic first starting gaining traction and gaining world-wide awareness, I recall resolving to abstain from blogging about it. First and foremost, I felt it was so prominent in the news, that this coupled with social media adding to the information already out there could potentially create fatigue in readers saturated with too much on the receiving end.

Now however, as many organizations recall or prepare to transition their staff back to workplaces, I feel the climate might be right for a read. While many have talked about a return to what once was deemed, ‘normal’, I personally rather feel that our, “getting back to work” might look very different. I’m just not sure in all cases if what becomes our new, ‘normal’ will be recognizable as what we’ve experienced and how we’ve gone about work in the past. 

It is clear that some businesses were forced to adapt how they moved their services and products into the hands of their customers. For many, this meant creating webpages, learning how to conduct transactions online, discovering anew how to market themselves and yes, go find their customers who in the past were the ones finding them. For many, I gather this was not such a bad thing whatsoever. In fact, some business owners have said they knew the need was there to explore online marketing or sales, and the pandemic gave them the push needed to adapt rather than fold.

Employees who were fortunate to keep their jobs during the worst days of the pandemic had in many respects, the greatest adjustments to make. For those who worked in the community in face-to-face contact with the public, their customers or clients and guests, this meant using personal protective equipment. Where that used to conjure up images of someone in a nuclear power plant or working in a lab, it meant ordinary folks were donning masks, face shields, using hand sanitizer frequently, refraining from getting within 6 feet of others, and sneezing into crooked elbows and all the while refraining from touching their faces. Did you notice just how often we reflexively touch our faces?

For the employees who suddenly found themselves working from home, there too was adjustments. There were Zoom, Teams, Skype and Ring Central Meetings to learn about. There were webinars and online team meetings to attend, renovations to be made so space became private and business appropriate. There were children passing in and out of camera views, tails of cats suddenly walking by online and dogs heard barking off screen who needed to be taken out and let back in. A knock on the door became a true event of curiosity and excitement; after all, we were in the belly of a pandemic and people just weren’t supposed to be out and about.

Some business thrived though. Courier vehicles delivering packages started making more than the odd appearance – dare I say daily as I observed. Amazon and Wayfair simply buzzed with activity and many chose to avoid going in supermarkets altogether and simply ordered their food in advance and waited in their vehicles for personal shoppers to bring out their purchases. That $3 or $5 fee for the service might have initially seemed an extravagance, but compare that to the many dollars saved when not buying impulse items. Personal Shoppers and Covid Checkers outside businesses were jobs that came about only because of the pandemic.

And now, we contemplate or have already begun the business of returning to work. How are you feeling about that transition? I remember John, Paul, George and Ringo first singing all those years ago, “Get back! Get back! Get back to where you once belonged.”  Odd how we might feel trepidation or anxiety the first few times we get back. The problem is that some people will immediately revert to handshakes and hugs while others will be cautious and adhere to social distancing. What do you do when someone shouts your name and walks over briskly with their arms open wide? What do you do if you’re the one looking for a hug and a previous hugger suddenly holds up a hand and says, “Whoa! What are you thinking?” 

And this is where Management teams have to assert themselves and both educate their workers as well as set the standards themselves. If and when people ignore the health standards and requirements, just like any other health and safety offence, a conversation and/or discipline has to follow. 

Maybe that’s the understanding we all have to have; right now, shaking hands, hugging, choosing not to wear your mask properly – these are similar to not wearing your steel-toed boots or tying off your safety harness. The only difference being you get in a nail in your own foot or you fall and kill yourself. When you don’t wear your mask or don’t respect distancing, you potentially harm not only yourself, you potentially harm co-workers, their families and anyone they come into contact with. 

People’s feelings are to be respected and are valid, no question. When one’s beliefs don’t align with others, in this instance you turn to science and experts; not the kind you find in a random online search, but subject matter professionals. 

When back in the workplace, my hope for us all is that we feel safe, secure and respected; whatever our new normal becomes.

When Did You Give Up On Your Dream?

Hang on a second. If you think I’m going to admonish you for giving up on something which at one point at least, you really wanted, well, that’s not going to happen. Why would I do that? There’s no gain in it for me and as for the reasons why you gave up on something, well that’s entirely your business. Your reasons are your reasons and the life you’re leading is entirely yours to live as you choose. I for one, hope it’s going well.

But it’s likely that you did give up on some – and here’s the word we have to substitute to fit your circumstances – thing, where, or body. Okay to spell it out, it’s likely that you did give up on something, somewhere or somebody. It’s just straight mathematical probability. After all, you’ve been on this earth how long? And considering that length of time, it’s probable that you believed in something you held dear, somewhere you promised yourself you’d like to get to for a visit or to live. And it’s likely that during all this time you’ve been on this planet, you believed in somebody; someone you may have eventually come to doubt, somebody you no longer believe in. That somebody might even just be you.

Oh we’ve all got reasons you know; responsibilities came along, we had to grow up, we had to settle down, people told us to be practical. We might have failed a few times in whatever we were aspiring for, or saw the frailty of human spirit in those we’d once held high.

When you had that dream of roaming around the country with that free spirt of yours it was a different time. Man, you were young back then and had a lot fewer things to hold you down when you think of it. You had the whole world in your hands – well – that’s what people told you. “You can do anything my boy!” “Why young lady, just dream and make it happen!” Ironically much of this kind of advice came from people who felt similarly at one point in their own lives but never quite lived up to their own dreams and visions. But you, well, back then they looked at you through envious eyes and tried to merge their acquired wisdom with your youthfulness and hoped it would set a fire to your ambitions, whatever they may be.

And dream you did. For some it was a job as an Astronomer, traveling the world for others or a big house with a wrought iron black fence and electronic entry gate. Maybe it was believing in your own children, your parents as ideal role models, a political candidate you honestly believed was going to revolutionize the free market. You believed! But; and it’s a huge but, you evolved and grew up and as you grew, you felt entlightenment and wisdom to put away your previous dreams and replace them with new ones. The new ones weren’t like the old ones though. These new dreams were more sensible, obtainable, rational and achieveable. By reducing the magnitude of what they were and the difficulty in making them come true, your own sense of accomplishment came naturally.

Yet every so often, something you hear, see, feel, touch or taste reminds you of those past things you gave up on. Just a gentle prod mind you; not enough of a push to get you all riled up and making a major life change to recapture that urge to make your dreams of past days come true. No, just a delicate brush of remembrance so you know what’s past.

We do evolve and grow. As we interact with more people, see new things and experience the world in new ways for the first time it is only natural to move on and make different choices. When we look back, it’s not with regret all the time. No, sometimes we just realize that in those moments of decision, we made choices which we deemed the best, given the knowledge we had in those moments.

When we first dreamed of what we wanted to be in life, we were in our infancy, playing Fireman, Doctor and Teacher. No child of two ever happily played at being Arborist or Meterologist. Those play figures just don’t exist and those occupations have yet to even come into such a childs’ consciousness. To give up on those career aspirations of Fireman, Doctor and Teacher is normal as they become replaced with others. No guilt felt in replacing those dreams by the majority.

Dreams can be sources of inspiration, give us hope and motivate us to movement. The one thing I hope you never come to give up on of course is yourself.

I encourage you to live not in the present bemoaning the choices and unrealized dreams of the past, but rather live in the present moving towards your future dreams. If you’ve got some dreams, well good for you! Go for them. If people say you should get your head out of the clouds and come down to earth, giving up on your dreams, it’s really up to you whether you follow that advice or your heart.

Some thing, some place, some one or yourself. Don’t give up on them lightly. But of course if you do, you’ve got your reasons.

 

Orientation, Training and Continous Development

If you’ve worked at more than one organization over your lifetime, think back on what it was like in the first few days and weeks as you transitioned into those workplaces. It’s probable that you’ve had very different experiences.

Some organizations actually put very little thought and effort into training their new employees. They may introduce you to the other workers and set you up with one person to job shadow while you learn on the job. The belief some employers have is that you learn best by doing, so you’re right in the thick of it from day one and those that learn fastest stick around while those who don’t, don’t.

And to be fair, it’s not always that they don’t put thought and effort into their training. It’s sometimes the case that the business is small, there is no Human Resources department, there’s just the owner, one or two others and so you’re thrown right into the deep end with the hope you learn to swim. You watch them as they work and they explain things as they go. They expect you to model what you see and if you’re the kind of person that likes to jump right in and learns best by doing, you appreciate the opportunity.

Contrast this with the experience of joining a large corporation where there exists not only a Human Resources department, but also corporate trainers and managers who have the time to sit down with you removed from the front line, where you go over policies and procedures. In these kinds of organizations, your orientation and training looks completely different, lasting not just days or weeks but stretching into months.

The biggest single difference from the vantage point of you as an employee, is the expectation from the employer on when you are to be 100% productive. While a small, two or three person operation expects you to be up to speed and doing the job fully on your own in days, a large governmental organization invests considerable time training it’s employees and they’ll be slowily integrated into the job sites over time.

From your point of view as a potential new employee, you might find that asking about company orientation and training is a good thing. So too is the question about just how long they give you before expecting you to be working independently and giving them a full return on their investment. Knowing an employers expectations of you and your own learning capabilities, you’ll be able to best assess just how steep or gradual the learning curve is going to be in your new role.

It’s one thing to know you’ve got a few months to learn the scope of a job and quite another to be told you’ve got the morning to job shadow someone and then you’re expected to work alongside them in an equal capacity. From my own experience, I remember once working for an employer where 60 of us went through orientation and training together and it lasted six month’s. During that time, we all learned together in a classroom setting with various trainers and guest facilitators. We had a few days of job shadowing woven into those six months, but we were largely in isolation, going through thick manuals sheet by sheet.

By way of contrast, I recall a job working in retail where I had two shifts with the owner of the business and then I was told I’d be working on my own. Whether this was a testament of my ability to learn quickly or they had other priorities I’ve no idea, but there I was on shift number 3, alone and responsible for their entire business as the only employee on site.

Generally speaking, I’ve personally found that it takes a full year to learn a job completely. What I mean by this is that there is often certain tasks and responsibilities that come up during some parts of a year that you can’t experience until they come about. Doing inventory for example in a large department store might be scheduled three or four times a year, and some organizations operate very differently around tax season or year-end than they do during other periods in the business cycle. Yes, you may find it’s only after a full year on the job that you come to understand the full scope of the job you’ve landed.

Unfortunately for some or you reading this, you may have found that while a business owner excelled at doing their thing, they didn’t have had the well-developed skills as a trainer and mentor.  This shouldn’t be surprising really, given that just because a person is great at one thing doesn’t mean they are an expert in all things. As a consequence, you may have been left to largely figure things out on your own when you’d expected to be shown how to best do the job, complete with guidance and support.

Not all businesses have extensive new employee training, nor do all invest in continually developing their workforce. However, there are many employees who believe in ongoing training and many more who don’t, so it goes both ways. Good advice is to ask about initial orientation and training as well as continous learning and development to ensure a good fit with your own needs.

 

Job Searching? Factor In The Commute

One of the key things to consider when you’re on the hunt for your next position is the distance, time, method and cost of both getting to work and home again. Why more people don’t think about this I don’t know, but getting to and from work is a given as long as you’re employed, so it should be a key consideration. And yet, every so often, I encounter people who interview for a job, receive a an offer of employment and only then turn it down because, “it’s too far”.

The first thing you’re wise to do is remind yourself of your transportation options. If you’re in a metropolitan or urban area, you probably have an option of taking public transit. This can mean subways, buses or trains. If on the other hand you live in a rural area or a small community, none of these may be an option for you. And of course, if you live in an area where there is public transit but you’ve broadened your search to other municipalities or towns, the transportation link you rely on now might not range to another community, leaving you to either pay two separate fares or have to make alternative arrangements. There are taxis to consider as well, but the cost of hiring one on a regular basis isn’t a viable option for most.

Should you own a vehicle, you’re not bound by schedules and routes public transit limits you to, nor does rural or city living limit your ability to get around, but now you have to factor into your decision the cost and availability of parking, gas and ongoing maintenance.

For those who don’t drive, don’t own a vehicle and/or for whom there is no public transit option, your geographical area in which you can work might shrink considerably. You could be limited to walking distance or find yourself reliant on others to drive you to and from work. While the generosity of others might be something to get you going, you may find yourself wanting to eventually change your situation so you become self-reliant, such as obtaining your licence and buying a car.

Let’s assume for a moment that you have a licence and a vehicle. Given you have the means to get wherever you need to be, ask yourself if you’re in favour of a long or short commute. A short commute definitely saves money on gas, reduces your maintenance costs, and the less you travel, the less likely you run the risk of having an accident, encountering delays and you can leave for work later and get home quicker too. However, some people like longer commutes. Driving for an hour for example to get to work gives a person time to catch up on news, listen to music or a podcast, or just unwind a little before walking in the door at work or home.

Time however isn’t the only factor when you map out a potential route to work and back. Considering the nature of that drive is important to your mental health and well-being. There’s a huge difference between 45 minutes spent in bumper-to-bumper traffic on snarled streets with stoplights every block, versus a 45 minute commute on paved country roads where traffic moves at the posted limits all the way. While two people might have an identical commute in terms of distance or time, they may have a completely different experience. The inner city driver may have to be constantly looking in every direction for aggressive drivers, changing lanes to make progress and watch for inattentive pedestrians, while the country driver watches for the progress being made on some farm building they pass or hopes to spot the odd deer or fox.

Costs of commuting is also a factor to consider. If you can ride your bike, walk or jog to work, you’ll appreciate the cost savings of working locally. For slightly longer commutes than you’d like to walk, you might consider an electric bike or scooter which still gives you independence but of course you need to determine what you’ll do during inclement weather or wintery conditions.

If you’re really fortunate, you might find that the boss is willing to swing by and pick you up along with a few other employees at some central location and drive you to rotating job sites. This happens sometimes with construction or road crews. This is very much like a carpool, and carpools are an option for many. While you spend less to get to and from work, you’re no longer in charge of whether you travel in silence (unlikely) or constant conversation (probably). If you like your solitude, this won’t be a happy time for you twice a day.

Of course, if the next job you go after is your dream job, you might consider relocating altogether so you cut the commute down. This is a viable option if the pay is good and the length of employment is long enough to make the move sensible.

Having had one-way commutes of 2 hours for 6 years, 1 hour for 18 years and now having a 4 minute commute, I’ve had both extremes. I like both for different reasons and would never rule a job out simply based on the commute. But that’s me.

What’s your own view?

Career Or Job?

Are you on the hunt for a career or a job? There’s a couple of assumptions here; a) there’s a difference and b) you know the difference.

A career involves employment in a specific field over a period of time, during which you apply the education you’ve achieved. A job on the other hand, is typically shorter-term in nature, undertaken with a goal of gaining experience or money. A job does not always make use of one’s education.

Hang on. Do you buy those two distinctions? Is it as simple as I’ve set it out? If someone walked into a store and applied for a Cashier position, we might say they have a job as a Cashier. It’s not likely we’d agree the person is a career Cashier. However, what if we were to check in with them 9 years later and they are still in the same role? Would we then say the person is working in Retail as a Cashier and has a career? So then does the length of time a person works in a job transform the job into a career?

I don’t know that it really much matters to be honest. Oh I suppose when you’re out at some swanky affair and people invariably ask what you do, it might have social advantages to have a career over a job; well to some at any rate. But both careers and jobs have similarities. Both provide income, both can be rewarding to the people in them, and both can lead to promotions and be of varying length. There is no guarantee that a career will last longer than a job.

That last comment about the length of time one invests in a role might have some in disagreement. Suppose you graduate from University with a degree and take a position with an organization. You were specifically hired in part due to your academic qualifications. I think it fair to say most folks would feel you’ve just launched your career. Said this way, you are at the beginning of your full-time work life and yet, many would also say you’ve landed a full-time job. Perhaps then they are interchangable.

But hold on. Suppose you quit high school in order to take a position with the local lumberyard doing yard clean up and helping customers load their purchases. Again, most folks will say you’ve got yourself a job, but how many would say you’ve just launched your career? Fewer I imagine than the example in the previous paragraph. And yet, if you advanced through the business from yard clean up to Foreman, then moved inside to Sales Representative working with Contractors based on your accumulated experience, then were promoted to head up the Construction and Renovation Sales division, would we then say you’ve carved out a career for yourself? Would people say your’e a career lumber guy or woman?

I’ll tell you this; there are a lot of people holding out for some career to provide them with direction when what they really need is a job. Likewise, there are people searching right now for jobs who would be well-advised to pour their energy into pursuing their careers.

You might think at this point I’m only messing with words and confusing you for the sake of my own amusement. In truth however, there are people – many people – who fret and worry feeling immense pressure to pick a career. Likewise there are people who feel incredible pressue to get a job.

What really distinguishes the two to my way of thinking is how a person perceives them based on their own value system. Let’s make that personal. If YOU hold a career as being more prestigeous and look at jobs as holding less worth, then YOU set yourself up to feel inadequate and underachieving unless YOU are in a career. Then throw in the happiness factor, the I-need-a-career-that-fulfills-me factor and you’ve set yourself up for a high-stress period while you search for a career that will fulfill you and bring you happiness.

But there’s work to be done out there people and the truth is we need people in jobs and careers in order to get it done. Working in the trades as a Plumber, Electrician, HVAC Technician, Carpenter etc. takes job-specific skills and some aquired knowledge to become an expert. Try telling the Electrician she or he holds a job but not a career and I think they’ll beg to differ. Again, it’s about perception.

You likely hold up certain professions as loftier and holding greater value over others. How do you view a Lawyer vs. a Roofer, a Mechanic vs. a Receptionsit, a Truck Driver vs. an Architect? I’ll tell you this; your view may change depending on your need for that individual. When your shingles blow off your roof, you want a career professional up there fixing it, not someone who ‘just’ holds a job.

Think about your own perception of jobs vs. careers and think also about how your values are passed on to those you influence most; your children. While it’s natural to have your own value system, it’s incumbant upon us all to equally respect the values of others, especially if they differ from our own. If we do this, a lot of people would feel less pressure to pick a career, less stigma when considering a job.

Can’t Find The Right Employees?

No one cares more about business success than those who own them. Whether it’s got your actual name attached to it or not, when you’re the one that’s building it up and working hard to deliver products and/or services, you’ve got more at stake than anyone else connected to it. And well you should.

Successful business owners will tell you that they pour more hours into their business than most people realize. Even when they aren’t at work, their thoughts turn to calls they have to make, purchases to be made, people they employ, bills to pay and many other things that go into being a business owner. It’s a 24/7 enterprise when your livelihood is invested in business ownership.

With the above in mind, it makes sense that you’re understandably concerned about hiring the right people to contribute to your business. And while the definition of what is, ‘right’ will vary from one to the next, there are some general characteristics you’re likely to want in the applicants that knock on your door asking to join your workforce. Likely you want people who are dependable, respectful of what you’re working toward and who will act as good ambassadors of your business when they interact with others.

The challenge is how to attract the best of the best and bring them onboard. For some business owners the standard practice is to put an ad on a job board and wait for the resumes to start rolling in. While this might generate applicants, an employer may find they aren’t attracting the right people, and those they hire don’t work out. It’s easy to see that there’s an issue with hiring, but the difficulty may lie in correctly identifying the problem with their hiring processes.

Let’s start with small business owners; maybe you’re one of them. You created this business presumably because you enjoy the work of producing the products you sell or the services you deliver. You’re pretty good at doing the work. As you get better known and word of mouth spreads, you realize you could use a hand. You’re not looking to hire just anyone, but rather someone you can work with who understands and respects what it is you’re in the process of building at this vulnerable point as you establish and grow your business.

Expansion is great, but hold on. You’re expertise is in whatever it is you do. You’re not trained to attract and select talent. It’s not a failing of yours, it’s just not where you’ve spent time developing your skillset. Face it, doing your thing is your thing; employee onboarding, training and employee retention isn’t your area of expertise. So you have a choice in doing it yourself or enlisting the services of a professional organization to help you with your staffing needs.

Many employers do in fact, do things themselves. After all, it’s the entrepreneurial spirit that inspired you to start your business in the first place. As you succeeded in launching it, you figure you have the skills to hire too. It makes sense and I get where you’d feel this way. But consider that the hiring process is going to require your attention and take you away from doing the work you enjoy and are good at.

To attract workers, you just need to put an ad up. To attract the right workers, you need to first identify the personal qualities, education, certifications, experience level, personal presentation, job-specific and transferable skills, availability, and personal suitability you’re looking for. You have to not just know your business, but rather, know the right things to advertise for to attract the right talent and then know the right questions to ask to get the information from the people you select to interview in order to make the right decisions. And even when it comes down to two people, you may not have the skill to select the right candidate. This is no reflection on your ability to successfully operate your business, but rather an acknowledgement that no one is the expert in all areas. Employee onboarding, training and employee retention might not play to your strengths.

Okay, so to the alternative. Working with an organization to attract your talent might be a good idea. But make no mistake. If all you do is have them post your ad, you’re likely to find you have the same issues. It’s important to take some time and communicate with an employment organization just what your business is. Share some of your achievements, what it is you do and what you produce. Tell them what you’re looking for of course, but draw on the professional you work with to help you articulate and label what you’re after.

If you want a person who works well with others, you want someone who collaborates, respects the talents of their coworkers and communicates clearly so wasted time is minimized and production increases which impacts on profitability. You see? Maybe this is what you meant, but your job ad just said, “Teamwork”.

If you haven’t done so, consider working with an employment organization and in true partnership. This business is your baby and you want to grow it with people who ‘get it’. Partnering with professionals brings two experts together – you and them to source and select your new hires.

Investing In The Relationship

The best relationships are the ones in which both partners not only make initial investments in each other, but do so on an ongoing basis. The initial investments come easily to most people; going out of your way to show through your actions that this person means a lot to you. In the early stages of a relationship, there’s a lot to discover about this other person you’re drawn to. You’re on the lookout for the things that please your partner, you put effort into the relationship and you do little things that pay off with a smile brought to their face.

Strong relationships stand the test of time when partners continue to invest in each other. It’s important to realize that as the relationship evolves, so too do the two individuals which make up this partnership. Sometimes couples come to realize that their individual priorities have changed, along with their interests and needs. While each individual person may very well be a good person at heart, this evolution of the individuals involved can divide a relationship to the point where each person moves on in separate directions apart from on another. There’s no issue of blame, no wronged partner; just a parting of the ways, each with a healthy view of the other.

The relationship which exists between employers and employees works much the same. In the beginning, an applicant does their best to get to know a potential employer by doing their research. Then the applicant makes an approach, does their best to capture the employer’s attention and present themselves as a good match. The employer is also doing their best to present themselves as a good partner; dangling benefits, wages, work environment, culture and future growth to woo the applicant.

Once the two come together in an agreement, both employer and employee begin in the honeymoon phase where each invest in the partnership; the employee grateful for the opportunity is on their best behaviour. Employers are doing their best to welcome the new hire into the fold, making introductions all round, providing training opportunities and protecting the new hire from a full workload in the first early days. Both employee and employer check in with each other to see how the relationship is progressing and both want this partnership to be productive and lasting.

Now there’s no specific timeframe for the transition to the post-honeymoon period. A sign of the transition however, is when the newness has rubbed off, the routine of daily tasks is known, the employee has settled in and the employer stops checking in to see how the newbie is doing as a regular thing. Protecting the new hire from a full workload is over and expectations of full performance begin. This doesn’t mean the relationship has soured, it just means the 2nd phase has begun.

Employers show their continued investment in their employees by providing ongoing training, making sure staff have opportunities to develop professionally and acknowledge achievements employees make which enhance the end-user experience. They provide feedback on how they see the relationship, talk about where they as an entity are headed and why, hoping by this transparency, to avoid surprising their staff by moving in any direction that would catch their employees off guard and unawares. In short, the best relationships between employers and employees is where employers demonstrate great care for the staff they employ.

Employees too have a responsibility in this relationship. For the the partnership to continue to be a good one, employees need to pull in the same direction; work with each of their colleagues in order to be collaborative and productive. This can mean learning new procedures, taking on additional training with enthusiasm and continuing to develop as individuals so their skills remain competitive.

Frequently, as employees and employers evolve, the time comes when one of the two realizes that things just aren’t working as well as they once did or could, and a parting of the ways is in each partners best interests. It does not mean that either partner is necessarily to blame or at fault, but rather that they have grown and evolved in different ways, have different needs and their futures will continue to evolve down different paths. In parting, each actually does the other a favour. Only poor employees or poor employers belittle and demean the other – sometimes done from a place of hurt or feeling wronged. Smart employers and employees part on the best of terms which leaves reconciliation a possibility and intersecting in the future in different roles something to look forward to, such as moving to another organization in the same field.

When either partner ceases to invest in the relationship, things stagnate and what can set in is complacency. Employees stop stretching themselves and developing their skills, employers expect to stay competitive in their industry but fail to invest in ongoing training of their greatest assets – the people they employ.

If you apply yourself and do your best, you increase the odds of finding a great partner to build a relationship with. It takes effort, investment in each other and understanding that if you take care of your partner’s needs, you often find they take of yours.

Whatever your role where you work, may you be in a great partnership and get as much as you give.

 

 

Are Your Innovative Ideas Unappreciated?

Ah, so you’re the creative one. Someone with innovative ideas that you offer up to management in your organization with the goal of making the workplace a better place to be and transforming the experience of your customers and clients. You’re the person who continually looks for best practices elsewhere and to be completely honest, you have your own share of workable ideas that you put forth. You’ve got a reputation as an ideas person as a result because you just can’t shut off the innovative gene that seems to be at your core.

And yet, despite your best efforts, your ideas for innovation and improvement end up being nothing but that – ideas. It seems that the status quo is easiest for management to maintain; that change comes only when external pressures forces your organization to morph. Even then, change only occurs to the smallest degree possible in order to survive rather than thrive.

Despite your best efforts to make the case for embracing innovation and change, doing things the way they’ve always been done seems to be the motto where you work. After all, it’s how they got where they are today. “At ________ we do what we’ve always done, because we’re complacent and comfortable.”

So guess what? When you’ve done your best to bring others on board with innovation and creativity to no avail, the best thing you can do for yourself sometimes is move on. Walk away. Leave. Quit. Get out while the getting is good.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re in the middle of a pandemic or not, nor your age, nor your current seniority, pension contributions or current debt load. While all these things are important and not to be taken lightly, none of them are as important as your personal state of mind and good mental health. No, not one of them.

Ideas people are constantly looking at things with improvement in mind. It’s in their nature to see things and instinctively wonder how they might be better experienced, displayed, communicated, interacted with and as a consequence, improve the organization one improvement at a time. When a creative person is continually shut down and their ideas taken but rejected or worse yet, not even looked at, the message is all too clear; your desire for innovation just isn’t being acknowledged nor appreciated. The ‘fit’ just isn’t there.

So a few things happen as a result of having one’s ideas consistently shut down. A person can walk away and go somewhere else where their ideas and creativity are welcomed and appreciated. A person can continue to push as they’ve been doing and keep hoping for a different result. Or – and this is the worst – they can shut down their own ideas, smothering them before the spark inside them bursts into a flame of an idea and in so doing, deny what is in their nature to do.

Breaking free is often the best alternative. Now sometimes the answer is transferring from one department or division to another where you hope to land with a supervisor who embraces change. If your organization is large enough, that might be possible. However, it’s likely that at some point, your ideas will flow to the same source as in your former position and the further away someone sits from what you’re attempting to improve, the less inclined they will feel the motivation for change.

Leaving your job can be an incredibly powerful release of pressure and the freedom that comes with moving may stimulate your creativity and give you optimism and hope for growing your innovative ideas. It may be just what you need.

Start looking to your network and asking your contacts about what it’s like to work where they do. Forget the typical, “Are you hiring?” question for now. Get to the culture, appetite for innovation and creativity issues. From your contacts, connect again with those people who, like you, are ideas people and change advocates. You can bet that these people are the ones to tap into for help and will best understand your situation. Listen to their stories where they faced what you’re facing now and how they managed the personal change of putting themselves in positions where their own creativity and innovation is welcomed and embraced. Then ask about opportunities and leverage your network.

The alternative in denying a big part of who you are at your core is to slowly die inside. Too big a stretch? Not at all. If you don’t nurture something that is at your core, it doesn’t get used and it slowly dies inside you. When that part of you dies, you can’t help but feel sad, perhaps become bitter. Your frustration with doing things as they’ve always been done increases, and you’ll loathe the day you hear yourself trying to save someone else with a bright idea the grief of your own experience as you shut them down. Yikes! At that point you realize you’ve been worn down and gave in to the dark side.

Put your fantastic gift of innovation and creativity to work and find a place to flourish. Celebrate embracing change by taking care of what matters most – YOU.

Advice When Starting A New Job

I’d like you to think back to some point in your past when you heard the words, “Congratulations! I’d like to offer you the job.” Whether it was 2 month’s ago, 2 years ago, or over a decade or two ago, you’re probably able to recapture some of the feelings that came with those words. Relief, joy, pride, happiness etc. Likely a combination of many things all jumbled together. With the success you’ve just achieved, you emerged from a stressful job search, and the satisfaction you feel at the moment feels good.

It was important back then – as it always is – to celebrate your success and share the news with people who were most invested in your search, because like you, they felt stress and worry along with you to a lesser but equally real degree.

Know however, that the stress of the job search has been replaced with the stress of now living up to those expectations of your new employer. Your goal in the short-term is to successfully pass your probation period. Actually, while it’s important to pass probation which could mean month’s from now, you’ll have shorter goals, which if achieved, will go a long way to taking care of performing well enough to pass probation.

So let’s look at some of your short-term objectives. For starters, there’s your very first day, so don’t look past it. You’ll want to choose clothes that fit in with others who perform the same work as you will. Presume that your co-workers are all past probation and may have relaxed some of their clothing choices and behaviour, so don’t pick the most casual employee to model either after. For all you know, someone you take as a role model could be a poor choice. If you’re really unsure, you could ask your supervisor for guidance with respect to who provides a good example to follow.

Something as simple as what to do for lunches might stress you out. Eat out or pack it? If you can’t find out in advance, pack a lunch but be financially ready to accept an invitation to join a few people on your team and eat out on day 1 if the offer comes. Your goal is establishing connections and relationships with the people you’ll be working with closely here in your new role. When people are at lunch, they are likely relaxed, more at ease and friendlier too. Take care you mind your manners, pass on ordering alcohol (you have to return to work remember), and engage in conversation so you all get to know each other.

Remembering names is a challenge for a lot of people in the first few days on a new job. The more people you get introduced to, the harder it becomes. Everyone understands this, so don’t put undo pressure on yourself to memorize them all. Look out for nametags on uniforms, name plaques on desks or cubicles, or on  employee ID/swipe cards if they are easily spotted. You’ll eventually get there, just take it slowly and learn one at a time.

One of the best things you can do when you first start is learn what you’re expected to know and by when. In other words, how are you going to be evaluated when it comes to making a decision on whether you stick around? You’ll likely have some orientation to undergo too. During this time you might have manuals to read, agreements and contracts to sign, additional people to meet such as in Human Resources and Finances. There could be off-site training to undergo with other new hires, someone assigned for you to job shadow, or a person you’re told is your ‘go to’ person when you have questions. Employers may do any or all of these things in an effort to give you every chance at being successful.

Of course many times, you simply learn on the job and one person does all the above. This is true in small organizations, and your goal above all else at these times is to find positive chemistry with the one, two or three people you’ll be spending 7 to 12 hours a day with for the foreseeable future. When employers talk about finding a good fit, what they are referring to are your soft skills; your people skills. You may know their product inside and out at hiring, but if you don’t gel with the existing workforce, you could be viewed as disruptive to the harmony the company is looking for and find yourself again unemployed. “It’s just not a good fit; I’m sorry it didn’t work out”, is what you might hear.

In the simplest of terms, keep your professional guard up and don’t suddenly become so comfortable and self-assured in your new job that you leave early, show up late, take long breaks, or cause friction with your co-workers. Because it’s assumed you’re on your best behaviour, they’ll assume things will get worse not better.

The painful stress of a job search has been replaced with the good stress that comes with fitting in with a new employer and possibly in a new role. It’s a good stress of course, but stress nonetheless. It’s normal, so be prepared for it.

And if you did indeed recently begin a new job, a sincere congratulations!