Work Hard / Play Hard

In a time of economic doubt and hardship, we have been blessed at Life Strategies to be busier than ever. In working for a company with diverse abilities and interests we have been able to adjust where necessary to expand our services and keep working.

We have more than 30+ projects on the go; core members of our team have a hand in almost every one. This keeps us quite occupied and working many hours of overtime; fortunately we are also able to play hard. Some of the things we do together, as a team, to reward ourselves for hard work include:

1. Lunches “out” – this also serves as a great way to catch up. Especially when our core team works remotely most of the time
2. Lunches “in” – a potluck is a great way to spice up a project update discussion
3. Pedicures – a day at the spa is just the way to reenergize your mind and relax from stresses
4. Day trips – we once spent a whole working day at the Titanic exhibit
5. “Ticky” contests – when we have a lot of projects on our plate we give ourselves a tick for each task (or chunks of smaller tasks). After a couple of weeks, the team member with the most “tickies” wins a prize – this works really well to move small stuff forward but also for the competitive members of our team
6. Charity events – each year we participate in several charity events (e.g., Bowl for Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Langley), which is a great way to get the whole team together to have some fun

Playing hard keeps us engaged. “An engaged employee is more likely to commit the time and energy to help an organization succeed – and also to recommend the organization to others, both potential employees and customers. Perhaps most importantly, engagement has been linked to productivity[1].” What also works with taking time out during busy times to reenergize, relax, and to have fun together as a team is that it gives us a break from the “daily grind.” We are able to go back to work and dive into projects with a renewed energy to them.

[1] http://www.hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=2742&issueid=774

Work-Life Balance

 

Work. Lots of stuff goes on at work -- interpersonal dynamics, personality clashes, team cohesiveness, corporate culture -- and then economic ups and downs. Findings ways to regroup, streamline, engage, and play up strengths available is something company management and leadership looks to do. Many companies right now are evaluating how best to keep solid employees; and to keep a company sustainable during stormy times (looking for that lighthouse!) -- a delicate mix of visionary, strong leadership with compassion and creativity.

Professional development can be helpful, even third party interventions to help facilitate new possibilities and re-structuring. Leadership development, coaching and mentorship, transition/change management, communication, stress management, conflict management, and financial management -- just a few aspects of a workplace that can be developed. Life Strategies offers workshops and seminars to help with these many facets of a corporate culture. http://www.lifestrategies.ca/training.cfm 

Professional development can be done via further specialization, such as through the Career Management Professional Program: http://www.lifestrategies.ca/training.cfm  Online learning can be a great contributor to work-life balance as an individual need not take time from work to engage in these courses; they can be done in the comfort of one's own home, at a convenient time -- less time traveling, less time taken from work. 

These same issues can be addressed individually -- for both work and home -- in order to best enjoy and function in both worlds. Life Strategies has some ideas here too: learning about work-life balance, career building, parenting styles, budgets and business plans, financial management, and entrepreneurial strategies. http://www.lifestrategies.ca/training.cfm

Life. As for personal balance (or that ongoing quest for...), people have different ideas of what balance means; but being aware of what that is to oneself will make the search for that balance a bit more reachable. https://lifestrategies.ca/secure/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=146   

As much as we need to learn to foster this balance within ourselves (for personal reasons, and professional), we can also encourage this in our co-workers and clients:    https://lifestrategies.ca/secure/store/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=42

Cultivating that balance

There are many aspects to work-life balance; finding ways to work better and more harmoniously and efficiently; finding ways to make time for personal interests, friends, and family; and even time just for you are all integral to a healthier way of being. Even with the multiple stressors going on -- again from work, family, personal pursuits, and so on -- with some sense of balance, skills, and awareness, can one also handle these better. 

Resilience

Something that's been on my mind this past week has been the notion of resilience. It is probably no surprise that this concept is rattling around in my head with headlines of job losses worldwide and close to home; with many giant industries falling like dominos.

Resilience is an important quality in times of difficulty; resilience draws on flexibility and creativity of an individual (and even a society); a capacity to sway in the winds of change, or even to re-invent oneself in some way.

There are many things to do to help foster resilience:

a) Make connections with others - families, friends, networking, communities...feeling part of something makes for feeling supported and less alone.

b) Try to not view a crisis as everlasting and insurmountable - things eventually change; in crisis can sometimes emerge new possibilities. The Serenity Prayer, for example, offers some helpful advice towards discerning the difference between that which one can control/change and that which one can't, and the ability to something about the former.

c) Set goals and sub-goals - this provides a focus and action; a sense of ability/accomplishment, no matter how small.

d) Reflection - During challenging times, one can learn alot about themselves. Sometimes it is through self-reflection, sometimes through tests/assessments, sometimes through talking with others. Keeping an open mind will help with creative problem solving, and improve resilience.

e) Self-care - Staying positive, do something you enjoy each day, eat well, exercise, try something new each day ... all of these are good ways to bolster resilience and get through challenging times...

This is a website from the Mayo Clinic that has some helpful information about resilience and health: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/resilience/MH00078

Resumes and letters

I am coming across alot of ads and news articles suggesting that it is a good time to update that ol' resume. Maybe this is in part inspired by the new year, perhaps also in reaction to the economic downturn. Updating resumes often is always a good idea -- maybe you've taken a course that upgrades your skills; maybe a workshop; maybe completed some volunteering or contract work.... it is all worthwhile keeping track of on a general, all-purpose resume. From that resume, you can tease out the important stuff (that can fit on 2 pages!) that relates directly to a job being applied for (if that is what it comes to).

General resume

This is a great place to store all of  your accomplishments -- education, work history, volunteering, awards, workshops/conferences, publications, trades, skills development. Over time, it is hard to recall these things, so keeping them all in one place, in chronological order (grouped in to headings), becomes incredibly handy -- and an interesting walk down vocational memory lane when you need to pull out items relevant to a job being applied for. You, or a client, may recall skills and talents long disappeared years back, once again handy. Update this often to capture everything you've done. Make sure to write up the skills used and accomplishments in an active voice that speaks to facts and achievements -- self-promote in a factual way.

Over time, this general resume will become really long... pages and pages. When sculpting your specific resume for a particular job, you will have to use fine judgement and editing skills to pull out the right information that tells the right story about how you are fit for the job, and how your background has led you to that application. This becomes the process of creating job, company, and/or industry specific resumes.

New Year, New Goals

With a new year come new goals and fresh starts.

Goals & Fresh Starts

Part of being involved in career development involves helping people clarify their goals, and find ways to realize them, if possible. Some people are facing changes brought on by the global economic downturn -- they might have to search for more work, or do a complete career change depending on the market and their training. Revisiting with a client their goals, interests, and skills can help provide direction and possibilities. Perhaps some long lost interest or aspect of self will be cultivated.

Interests

Reviewing interests with a client will provide a narrowing of fields to explore. It may also prove illuminating for a client to take time to answer questions (e.g. from A level or B level interest surveys and assessment tools) which then gives them feed back about themselves and potential careers that could be fulfilling, least of all relevant to moving forward. It is also a great way to screen for definite non-interests. The key, as that graffiti found on a wall in ancient Greece once stated, is to "know one's self"... and also to know one's options (considering all realistic possibilities at first) ... and then make a decision with awareness. This process is greatly empowering! 

Skills & Education

Interests are wonderful -- but what if those interests exceed available skills? Part of re-assessing skills and career possibilities can include the consideration of new training and/or education. It can also serve to exclude possibilities, and again, this process is done with awareness and realism (which should help to reduce unrealistic dreams, disappointments, and regrets). It can also make things much more possible than before. Perhaps specific training is all that is needed to pursue an ideal job; perhaps financing options come to light to make that training happen. In times of recession, many people choose to or are faced to re-train. Doing this well and with choice and awareness (as much as possible) can prove to be quite empowering. 

Values

Identifying values and priorities will help in many respects -- it will help sort through the interests, skills, and options in a meaningful way. It will also help position the job or training within an individual's life context (family, finances, ability to move, social connections, etc.). Identifying values can also help an individual choose appropriate compromises in order to better meet the goals of their larger life scenario. If staying in a particular town is priority 1, then job choice is reduced substantially. If moving is a possibility, then broader options can be considered. 

Awareness

A key in all of this is awareness -- of self, of situation, of possibilities, of realistic options, of dreams. With awareness come choices - sometimes not ideal ones, but better than blind guessing and frustrated non-awareness. Being able to take a moment to step back and get a better, more objective view of things can help an individual immensely when they are faced with unknowns and fearful uncertainty of job loss. This is part of sustainability and the reinvention sometimes required therein. 

The Quest for Balance

The Quest for Balance in personal and professional lives
Personal Balance
The idea of balance is sometimes an elusive one. Everyone strives for it. Much has been written on it.... but working for it and attaining it is another level of commitment and awareness -- but oh so worth it!

In my own efforts to navigate the ocean of work/life balance, I find that this is a constantly fluid negotiation -- sometimes smooth sailing and sometimes choppy waves. Over the years, I've been challenged with the task of balancing various roles and responsibilities: work, study, single parenting, hobbies, and time with and attention to friends and family. Historically, I've been pretty good with finding this balance, and other times not so successful.

However, one of the most challenging and out of balance times in my life was probably when my plate was overflowing at one time with part time work, distance ed study, parenting, divorce proceedings, and very few resources. (I'm sure many other people have had variations on this theme, and more!). For me, care for my son took top priority, and the other important items were prioritized to support us and further take us to that next level of accomplishment and life quality (oh the beauty of distance education!). By being aware of what I was trying to accomplish and the reasons why, prioritizing and attending to those goals went along way towards finding better balance. As always, something eventually shifts and changes, and new balance is found.

Some of the big lessons I learned through that period was to budget carefully, clarify goals, implement action plans, be mindful of priorities, and find time to give to myself, even if it is a small thing like a cup of favorite tea. I also discovered the magic of journaling, and being grateful everyday for those things - small and big, subtle and obvious, and re-visiting my goals and accomplishments regularly.

I'm sure everyone has had similar experiences with all the pushes and pulls, challenges and surprises in day to day events and relationships, both at work and at home. If others have found challenges and ways to help move maintain that elusive work/life balance, please feel free to add a comment to this blog entry! Sharing tid bits that work for you just might help someone else who happens to read it. You never know!



Life Strategies is also well aware of this ongoing search for Work/Life Balance, and offers a CMPP course for people interested in learning more about it, and further implementing it in their own lives.

More information on personal Work/Life balance can be found here: http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=2-1841&lang=1


Organizational Balance
Workplace environments are similarly needing to attend to work/life balance for collective and individual employee health, which often results in increased productivity and fewer sick days. Assessing the particular needs of an organization is a start.

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/lp/spila/wlb/01home.shtml provides some comprehensive guidelines and steps on how to approach this task, as can http://www.lifestrategies.ca/organizations.cfm

Picture Book of Goals: Happenstance

When creating a picture book of goals, it is infused with very personal goals and emotions. Sometimes, we have precise ideas about what it is that we want, which will reduce the number of possibilities that could be considered as resolutions, or solutions, to the desired goal. By putting images and words on a visualization board, or picture book of goals, the goal is acknowledged, perhaps sub-goals and baby steps are put into place towards the goal, but the rest may be left up to opportunity and chance. Happenstance is a great way to understand those elements that we simply don't have control over as we strive forward.

Krumbholtz's Planned Happenstance Theory, which accepts serendipity as an important factor in career planning, fits very well with picture books of goals/visualization boards. He believed that people, to varying extents, can contribute towards making their own luck. "Lucky" people have certain qualities: goal oriented, planful, curious, actively searching for opportunities, persistent, flexible, optimistic, and prepared to take risk.

As Roberta wrote in Thriving in a New Millennium: Some people transfer serendipity into opportunity. How do they do this?

In part, they have, or develop, the above listed qualities. They also engage in lifelong learning, personal and financial planning, goal setting, work/life balance. I will explore these more in later blogs.