Look Before You Leap Survey Now Available

Life Strategies Ltd. is excited to announce that we’ve partnered with the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) for the Look Before You Leap: Supporting Career Practitioners to Support Clients Considering Self-Employment project.

Self-employment is a growing trend in a variety of sectors; it’s also increasingly an option for career practitioners / career counsellors. Yet, most career practitioners have little understanding of self-employment or work as an independent contractor. The Look Before You Leap project will develop and pilot a 2 week (20 hour) facilitated e-learning course which focuses on self employment and a book, Look Before You Leap: Self-Employment Survival Strategies, which will be useful for those considering self-employment. A dedicated “Look Before You Leap” website with annotated links to relevant resources for the self-employed and a Blog that will share relevant self-employment tips and strategies will also be developed.

We Need Your Input
To inform the development of these tools, we are seeking insights and experiences from the self-employed through a brief survey available from January 5th until January 12th. To access the survey go to www.advancedsurvey.com, enter in survey # 72694 within the “Take A Survey” box, and press “Go.”

Please forward this message to any of your contacts who may be interested in this project and/or can complete the survey.

Take the Time to Appreciate

As the holiday season is here, it’s important to take time to reflect on the people in our lives – family, friends, and co-workers – and truly appreciate the things they do for us; whether they are big or small. The positive impact others can have is undeniable, and far too often we neglect to say thanks or express our gratitude.

Appreciation is an important component of building positive relationships. It is not only the third component in our Let’s CHAT! coaching model, introduced in previous posts, but it’s also a key factor of employee engagement. Including appreciation into these models helps remind employers and employees to take the time to be grateful for the contributions and commitments of others, rather than focussing solely on the negative or areas that could use improvement.

Take a moment to reflect on who in your office (or life) has helped you. Who’s an un-sung hero in your workplace that could use some appreciation?

See http://humanresources.about.com/cs/rewardrecognition/a/appreciation.htm for some ways to say thanks this season and throughout the year.

Hope – The Centre of Career Flow / The Message of Christmas

In preparing to write about “hope,” I googled the term. Perhaps not surprisingly, the first “hit” was Wikipedia – it’s worth a quick read. (As an aside, the second “hit” was a beautiful mountain community about an hour away from our head offices – Hope, BC :-)).

In the Wikipedia definition of hope, reference is made to belief in positive outcomes, spiritual grace, agency, and pathways. Very recent research has found hope to be an even better predictor of academic performance than intelligence, personality, or previous academic achievement. My own research demonstrated “optimism” (sometimes defined as having both hope and confidence) to be the best predictor of both career success and job satisfaction. Spencer Niles and Norm Amundson, my co-authors of Career Flow , placed hope at the centre of the model underpinning Career Flow. In other research, hope has also been linked to physical, emotional, and relational healing.

Clearly, hope is important across life arenas, so how can we strengthen it? Diverse professionals (e.g., teachers, nurses, pastors, counsellors) recognize that treating people holistically is important (i.e., instilling hope takes the whole person into account). Hope is also connected to the notion of “worth” – Amundson and others refer to this as “mattering.” Hopeful people know they matter – and this has been affirmed by others in their lives.

Hanukkah was celebrated earlier this month and Christmas is coming at the end of this week. Both spiritual celebrations are linked to hope. Rabbi Moshe Goldman, chaplain at Laurier University, says, “There are all kinds of social pressures that Hanukkah teaches us about. It teaches us about hope, not giving up, not settling.” The Christmas message, too, is centered on hope – the hope of a baby born in poverty but destined to save the world.

What gives you hope – the hope that is central to your career, your health, your faith, and your relationships? For some people, it’s taking time to look back before looking forward – reflecting on accomplishments. For others, it’s setting the past aside and looking ahead to a brighter future – actively working toward goals and dreams. Aristotle said, “Hope is a waking dream” – to bring your dreams to life, consider developing a vision board of words and/or pictures to keep you focussed.

John F. Kennedy cautioned, “We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.” Try to make time this holiday season to reflect on your dreams, the fears that are holding you back, and a strategy to keep hope alive in 2011.

The Gift of Help!

A willing helper does not wait until he is asked
~Danish Proverb

Last week we introduced the Let’s CHAT! model with a brief overview of the first step – Communicate. This week we’ll focus on step two – Help.

Within the Let’s CHAT! model there are two components to Help. The first is What help do you need? The second is What help can you offer? In our experience, individuals tend to focus on one or the other – making “Help” a one-way arrangement.

Think about what’s on your plate or “to-do” list right now. What help do you need? For some, the first step will be to ensure they are willing to seek assistance. Karen Rowinsky wrote an interesting piece on why people are reluctant for ask for help. She noted that some people fear appearing incapable while others believe that everyone else is busy too and, therefore, won’t really have time to help. Read more at: Everything you want to know about help

While thinking about what help you need, also reflect on what help you can offer. Who in your life might need some help – especially this time of year? Perhaps pay special attention to those who might need help but be reluctant to ask. Don’t wait for them to get up the nerve to ask. . . think back to Rowinsky’s article, asking for help can be difficult for many people. Think of offering help as the best you can give this year.

To learn more about Life Strategies’ e-course on the Let’s CHAT! model, see
http://lifestrategies.ca/services/courses/lets-chat.cfm

Communication is Key!

The single biggest problem in communication
Is the illusion that it has taken place.

~ George Bernard Shaw

Effective communication on your team, with co-workers and supervisors, as well as your clients, is imperative for successful working and coaching relationships. The Let’s CHAT! coaching model helps to not only facilitate open communication, but also to build empathy, foster appreciation, and prompt a commitment to action. The components of the model are: Communication, Help, Appreciate, and Take Action. Coaches using this model will engage in conversation beginning with Communication and working through to Take Action.

In this blog we’ll consider the first step of this model: Communication.

The focus of communication is to convey/receive a specific message to/from another individual (e.g., performance evaluation, team update). Communication will occur only when the message has been successfully transmitted by the sender and understood by the receiver. This may require a bit of back and forth between the sender and receiver – remember communication is a two-way street. Effective communication requires active engagement in conversation by both parties. Receivers should always be respectful, refrain from interrupting, and listen intently in order to truly hear the message which is trying to be communicated.

As information can be transmitted verbally (i.e., spoken words) and non-verbally, it’s important to be aware of body language cues (e.g., arms crossed may indicate frustration or not being open to new information). Ask probing questions to get to the underlying issue or to clarify points.

To learn more about Life Strategies’ e-course on the Let’s CHAT! model, see http://lifestrategies.ca/services/courses/lets-chat.cfm

Stress . . . What does that even mean?

It seems that in every conversation we’ve had lately, the phrase “I’m stressed” comes up. It may not be the primary point of the conversation . . . but it’s generally an underlying message. If you’re feeling stressed, especially as the holiday season approaches, it may be helpful to take a moment to sort out what that really means to you . . . and to assess whether or not the amount of stress you’re experiencing is manageable over the long term.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by stress, consider looking outside yourself for help. To get you started, here are 10 resources:

1. The Government of Canada provides good background information on stress at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/life-vie/stress-eng.php

2. Dr. Gabor Maté’s book, When the Body Says No, is a fascinating read

3. The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook (6th ed) has been useful to many

4. Our own book, That Elusive Work-Life Balance, is available through our online store (print / pdf)

5. Community recreation centres, gyms, or fitness programs can release stress through activity

6. Seek spiritual solace through a local church, temple, mosque, or synagogue

7. Get checked by your physician – rule out any medical reasons for how you feel

8. Work with a coach to make positive changes in various aspects of your life

9. Complete an assessment. Tools like the Occupational Stress Inventory can help pinpoint what’s working and what’s not.

10.See a counsellor. Most communities have free mental health services and your workplace may have an Employee and Family Assistance Program.

Life Strategies supports individuals in person or over the phone. Contact info@lifestrategies.ca to discuss appointment options for counselling, coaching, or completing the Occupational Stress Inventory or another assessment tool.

Productivity for Working Moms: Where to Start

Being a mother is unlike any other job out there. It is a continual juggling of running a household and attending to the needs of everyone in our care. Throwing a career into the mix is like throwing accelerant onto a fire, without careful tending something is bound to get out of control. Some moms can do it and make it look easy, yet others are struggling to get out of bed in the morning for fear of what the day will hold. What is Supermom's secret? Productivity. When you google "productivity + working moms" you will get overwhelming lists of productivity tips, but where do you start? How do you go from inefficient to a productive working mom with time to spare? Is it possible to find work-life balance? I am here to tell you, "Yes it is!"

I have been a working mom for over six years. The moment my first child was born I had a full-time job as a "Mother." I have worked outside of the home and from home, all on top of that full-time job of mothering. Being at work or at home comes down to a basic equation of the ratio between inputs to output. A good productivity ratio will contribute to the work-life balance that you crave. To keep this post manageable I will focus on productivity at home vs. productivity at work. I believe if you are productive at home with time and energy to spare, it will spill over to your productivity at work as well.

In the world of running a household, inputs are what you put into your work, namely the time, energy, and resources/money. Output is your results, that is to say, the value or quality of your work. On top of that ratio is the outcome: how you feel when the day is done.

Over the past few months I have been studying about psychological assessments. As I thought about how to increase productivity, I realized that all problem solving begins with identifying potential issues. I have created an informal, non-standardized assessment to help you become aware of your productivity issues.

Step 1: Make a List

Write down all the responsibilities and tasks that take up your time on a lined piece of paper. It may look something like:

• cooking
• cleaning
  
• laundry
• grocery shopping
• talking the kids to school
• volunteering in the community
• helping the kids with homework
• watching TV
• yard work
• walking the dog

Step 2: Rate your Outputs

Rate yourself on how well you are doing at staying on top of these areas by writing beside each item whether you are: doing very well, getting by, or not keeping up. Don't get hung up on my terms; just rate yourself however you are comfortable.

Step 3: Rate your Inputs

Specify next to each item how much time and money/resources you put into doing each of these tasks. Also indicate how much energy you put into it, either: lots of energy, some energy, or no energy.

Step 4: Rate your Outcomes

Think about how much you enjoy doing these tasks by writing beside each item whether you: love doing, tolerate, or detest with a passion. Also indicate how you feel once the task is done: exhausted, relieved or no sweat.

Step 5: Evaluate your List

You should be starting to see the problem areas that are sucking your time, your energy, your resources, and the joy out of your life. Considering all these things, choose the items on your list that are not that important to continue doing and which ones you can delegate. By delegate I mean enlist the support of your partner or kids, or outsource to someone who can do it for you.

Step 6: Take Action

I can already hear you saying, "I don't have the money for outsourcing." As a working mom you know better than anyone else the value of your time - your employer may put a price tag on it, but think of it in these terms: you can always earn more money, but you can never earn more time! Your time is precious. Many people in your life need and cherish your time.

Look at your list again and choose at least one item to research. How much would it cost to outsource things like: your laundry, weekly house cleaning, mowing the lawn, or walking the dog. There may be a high school student across the street that would love to earn some extra money, or a stay-at-home mom that is considering a laundry business to help out her family financially. If you don't know anyone personally who you could outsource to, ask your friends for recommendations. I have found great recommendations from Facebook, and sites such as Craigslist and Kijiji.

After you decide what must stay and what responsibilities can go, you can start coming up with solutions to deal with what is left; what only you can do. This is where everyone's top productivity tips come in. It may take some trial and error to figure out what will work best for you and your family, but identifying the areas where you are unproductive or inefficient is the place to start. Congratulations, you are now on the road to becoming Supermom!

Miranda is one of the newest members of the Life Strategies team. Aside from juggling her Mom and work responsibilities, she's a blogger that shares her practical experience on her personal blog. Miranda recently won the Shapeover Challenge and became a Reitmans Fashionista. Read more...