Volunteerism and Career-Building

While you are looking for a job, or while you are working full-time, stay off the couch and do something for others. Volunteering improves your career.  Here are the stats: According to CareerBuilder, 63% of hiring managers said that volunteer work is relevant experience when it comes to evaluating a candidate. And according to aContinue reading “Volunteerism and Career-Building”

Disengaged in the Middle

Managers have an on-going challenge to see that their staff are working to their optimum – doing interesting, challenging and things that engage many of their skills. The recent Gallup Journal  article shows  that the “Frustrating Forties” is a time when we’ve past learning the ropes and often aren’t getting much professional development. Not surprisingly,Continue reading “Disengaged in the Middle”

Managing Across Commonalities

“They weren’t necessarily as different as the media had been portraying.” Kristin Murray, HR director, Presbyterian Support New Zealand, is researching the generations for a PhD thesis entitled, Diversity Management. Her surveys, based on a card-sort methodology, turned up a striking degree of similarities across the generations. For example Veterans (1922-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), GensContinue reading “Managing Across Commonalities”

Regaining Trust

It’s one of the squishy intangibles that makes all the difference in our work lives. If you cannot trust your manager – if you cannot trust your team – then no one is happy. Trust must be earned and that takes time, consistency and follow-through. There are some specific things leaders can do to helpContinue reading “Regaining Trust”

Does it Matter? Is It Interesting? Do I like doing it?

Daniel Pink’s 18 min video on TED.com is a great example of how extrinsic motivators (such as financial incentives) have a narrow band of effectiveness and often work in reverse.  By tapping into the intrinsic motivations of autonomy, mastery and purpose we can change not only how we do business, but how we work towardContinue reading “Does it Matter? Is It Interesting? Do I like doing it?”