Category: Improving Yourself

Too many people today spend their waking hours doing work they hate, or at least barely tolerate. What a waste of human potential. At a time when we need more people to contribute solutions to our pressing problems, to bring energy to help businesses succeed, to find new paths for a better world, we can no longer afford to work in ways that are numbing, draining, or demoralizing. We can’t afford it at a human personal level and we can’t afford it at a global economic level.

While many companies say their employees are their greatest assets, few executives are working tireless to create work environments that renew and replenish their workforce.

Creating Companies with Heart

Organizations are social institutions. We create them, we can change them. Here are a few websites that are helping organizations shift how they see themselves. Self-awareness and self-reflection are the first steps to self-improvement.

Glassdoor.com is a website to help you rate your workplace. The Employee’s Choice award goes to those companies whose employees give high approval for their company. Some forward-thinking executives are using this website to gauge their employee satisfaction and engagement.

The Good Company Index provides ratings of Fortune 100 companies based on various social responsibility categories and human capital criteria. This index can also be used to support your efforts to have a workplace that cares about its people. The research of McBassi and Co. has shown that companies high on their index outperform S&P 500 companies.

The Great Place to Work website offers ratings and ideas on best practices for employee engagement. For over 25 years this organization has helped set benchmarks for firms from a human capital perspective.

Engagement is at the heart of any successful firm, quite literally. Companies that spark the creativity and hearts of their staff succeed over the long haul.

Creating Meaningful Work

Finding and creating meaningful work, work that speaks to your heart and soul, work that allows you to share your gifts, passion and purpose, are the ones worth creating. Focus on what you can do differently so that your talents don’t go untapped, parked at the front door of your office.

No employer wants to see good talent go to waste. Talk with your boss or co-workers about ways you can enliven your workplace. For more ideas for working with passion and purpose, read my book, Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service, now out in the 10^th anniversary edition.

• Click this link to order Linda’s 10^th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Bright Blessings as you bring your gifts, passion, and purpose to work in meaningful ways.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Dr. Linda J. Ferguson is an author, speaker, consultant and seminar leader. Visit her website- www.lindajferguson.com for more information about her transformative work. Linda has a Facebook Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson “Like” this page if you want to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work.

As we approach the Valentine’s holiday it’s a good time to reflect on those things we love. Take some time in the next week to remember not only your loved ones, but all those things in your life that you love to do. Plan some activity to re-energize. Do something you love.

Do What you Love

Music is one love of mine, it helps me re-connect with my soul. There’s nothing like an uplifting song to help me get through a tough time or renew my faith in humanity. As you reflect on the things you love, that fill your heart with joy and nourish your soul, consider how much of a priority you give to doing them.

• What will help you create more time to do those things you love?

Follow Your Passion and Purpose

Many of you have probably heard of Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who amazed and surprised everyone in 2009 on Britain’s Got Talent, including Simon Cowell. She’s now gone on to make her living from singing, a dream she always had.

• What is holding you back from really stepping forward to reach your dreams?

If you haven’t seen that original performance, click here . Like most of the other 85 million of us who saw this video, your heart will soar as you watch Susan share her passion and live her dream. Last year Susan sold more records than Lady Gaga. Now, even as she’s outsold Paul McCartney and Elton John, she says she is just an ordinary person with a job to do.

I like getting and sharing good video clips of inspiring people. I saw this interview recently of Susan Boyle by Pierce Morgan. He asks her about fame, doing what she loves, and pursuing her dreams. What strikes me about her interview is that she says she puts her love of the job first, over any interest in how well she’s selling records or doing financially. Her fame hasn’t gone to her head, she embraces her job as a singer now, and she still sings for the love of it.

Watch these video clips to help inspire you to follow your dreams, do what you love, and share your gifts with the world.

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day doing what you love and sharing your love with others.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda has a new Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson “Like” this page if you want to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work. See also her website- www.lindajferguson.com for information on her coaching work, keynote presentations, and books

Click this link to order Linda’s 10^th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Imagine that you’ve been offered two different positions and you have to decide which one you want.

Or perhaps you’re already in a good job, but something that seems to be a better opportunity comes up in another company.

This was the situation with a financial services professional client. She could stay in her present position, relocate to another business unit or take an overseas assignment with an international business.

Having options is great: What a wonderful confidence booster! However, there’s also a lot of pressure trying to decide which option is best.

To make the right choice, you have to decide what factors are most important to you and then you have to choose the option that best addresses these factors. Decision making operates on two levels: the rational with our head and the emotional with our gut. Both are important in making the right career move.

Rational Analysis: The Job:
A good decision is an informed decision. Therefore you start out by gathering good information about the qualities of your options.. On a scale from 1 (poor – lots of red flags) to 10 (great – lots of winning flags) how would you rate each position on the following:

1. The job description
What are the key objectives? What competencies are required? How is success determined and rewarded? Does this agree with your expectations?

2. The culture
Does the department/organization have a distinct ‘way of doing things”? What kinds of behavior does it admire and reward (dog-eat-dog or we’re all one big team)? How well do you think you’ll fit in?

3. The incumbent’s success
Who has been/is successful in the role? What characteristics do they possess? What skills beyond the job description do they use? ? Do you have what it takes?

4. The available resources
Does the role/department appear to have adequate resources? Do you have a budget and will it grow? How much training and development will be available to you? Do you need additional resources?

5. The career path
Where have people in this role typically moved? What is the average tenure in the position? How does this fit job, using the same scale. Finally, multiply these values together to give the score for that row of the table.

So far, you’ve looked at each job’s qualities in an objective manner. However, it’s also important to consider how your decision feels. You need to get in touch with your inner self and think about how well the career options fit with your overall sense of self and personal fulfillment. Part 2 focuses on the analysis of satisfaction criteria.

Career Success Tip:

This type of analysis is not just for career options outside your current company. Some internal moves may take you to business units that operate quite differently from the rest of the organization. It’s important to understand your criteria in these areas regardless of whether your move is inside or outside the company.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

The wonderful thing about going for your dreams is not just realizing the dream, but realizing who you’ve become because of your dream! – Janae Bower

If I knew then what I know now, I really wonder if I would have chosen this path to live my dreams. Today is the 10-year anniversary of my personal and spiritual growth business, Finding IT. I have a picture of me on the exact day that I left corporate America with my box full of hope and my heart full of dreams. I wrote on the box “Outta here Metris. Feb. 5, 2002 at 3:05pm.” I’m holding a ribbon that says “Spirit award” in one hand and my other hand is in a thumbs up position. I look so young (and was young 30 years old). I see the passion in my smile and the naiveté in my eyes.

I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was put into a situation in which I had to choose to fight for my dream. I didn’t have to physcically leave my job in corporate America, but I knew in my heart and soul that I needed to spiritually leave. On Valentine’s Day, I sent cards to my network and this is what I had to say.

It’s Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2002

And I want to celebrate this day with you!

For years I’ve been busy preparing to follow my heart

And today living my dream full-time is what I’ll start.

A training and consulting company – InnerConnections my name

Focusing on spirit in the workplace will be my “claim to fame.”

So thank you for helping me feel so blessed, fulfilled and whole

Because in some special way you’ve helped me achieve this goal.

After many years of trying to focus on bringing spirit in the workplace and struggling, I changed my focus to living out my spirituality in my work, in whatever work I was doing. That is when I changed my business name to Finding IT and refocused my energies. I gave up what “IT” had to look like and instead let whatever IT was meant to be come to me.

I was recently inspired to enter a national video contest to share your expertise through Brendon Burchard’s Experts Academy. This was a perfect opportunity for me to share how I’ve lived out my own spirituality through my life’s work with this business.

www.janaebower.com/celebration

Making this video was overwhelming (yes somewhat in the production of it), but mostly in what the video represented to me. When you see the video and see me talking about one of my books that I wrote this past 10 years, what you see is the finished product. What you don’t see is all the heart and soul of the behind-the-scenes unfinished product and unfinished person that it really took to get to that finished product. What you don’t see is the faith that’s it taken me to endure this past 10 years through all the obstacles and heartaches. What you don’t see is the countless hours of pure heart and soul that’s gone into the business.

What I hope you do see is the incredible gratitude I feel for how pursuing my life’s work has been one of the most incredible blessings of my life. I’ve grown so much spiritually by having to live out my faith in whatever work I was being called to do.

Like the quote above, by realizing the dream I’ve realized who I’ve become as a person. My hope is that you will too realize who you are as you go for the big dreams in your life.

Join me in celebrating the journey of our BIG dreams. www.janaebower.com/celebration.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.

This post will conclude a series on Twelve Lessons I Learned or Re Learned this Year. These final two are lessons that I am reminded of often. Within these two, I find challenge and reward.

Lesson Eleven

Your Lessons Can’t Be Forced On Others. My teenager reminds me of this daily. She has always been strong willed and independent. (I am not sure where she gets it really). She is determined to learn everything on her own and she is determined to do things her way. And from her, I was reminded that I need to let her. I have to trust that I gave her enough tools while she was growing up to make better choices and to learn from the few bad ones she makes a along the way.

When you consider how adults learn, we all know that it is not by listening to others anyway. However, I so often get the same response from managers when I ask how this employee or that employee should have known to make a better choice, “They should have known because I told them right when they started not to do it that way.” However, did we tell them why it was important? Or did we share the result of doing it that way? Did we give them the tools to make the right decision? Or did we just tell them to do it that way because we said so?

We need to provide the tools to trust employees to make the right choice. And when they make the wrong one, we need to coach them through the process.

Lesson Twelve

HR is Still the Best Job on the Planet. Despite all the bad press we get, HR can have the biggest impact on the organization. When it is good, you can see all the positive impact and when it’s not so good, you can see that too. Figuring out how to do it well is part of the challenge and with all the change that comes within organizations, the challenge is constant. And despite the challenge, HR can be the most rewarding job in the company when you find what works for your organization and see real impact to the bottom line. Many organizations still don’t expect HR to impact the bottom line in a positive way and often when it happens, credit is given to operations or other leaders. That remains part of the challenge and I say it’s ok if someone else gets credit. If we are doing this for right reasons, that doesn’t matter anyway.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

This week marks the time when we reach the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It marks a time when the days start to appear longer, the light emerges from the darkness. In the Celtic tradition this is celebrated as the cross-quarter holiday of Imbolc. Other holidays are St. Brigit’s Day, Groundhog Day and Candlemass. This is a time of germination before the new growth.

What is Emerging?

Sit still, find quiet time to hear what is rustling beneath the awareness of your mind. Discern the new growth below the surface. What is germinating, building energy to emerge in your work and your world? Notice what shifts or new opportunities emerge for you in the coming weeks. Keep a journal of thoughts, ideas, dreams, interesting conversations for the next 30 days. Then review it to see if there are patterns or themes to guide you into the spring.

I’ve had numerous conversations lately about what this year is about- the dawn of a new era, a new beginning, a new phase of human existence. I don’t believe 2012 is a year of catastrophe. Rather I see it as a time when many are experiencing personal and global wake-up calls. We are being nudged, if not jolted, into awakening. We are being asked, guided, forced, inspired to live differently.

Personal and Global Awakening

I believe we are shifting into a new era, a time of greater connectivity across the planet. It’s also a time that requires greater connectivity within yourself. No more escaping, running, hiding from pain, doubts, fears that hold you back. It is a time to step more fully into the truth, power, and beauty of who you are. It is a time to tap into your gifts, clear away the clutter of your mind, your work, your life, your relationships to live more authentically, more intentionally. This helps not only you but everyone around you.

You have a chance to shift gears, to expand your horizons. In doing so, you join the dance with others to transform the planet- emotionally, energetically, physically, mentally.

Be Still and connect with your Inner Wisdom, your Source of inspiration and renewal.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda has a new Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson “Like” this page if you want to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work. See also her website- www.lindajferguson.com for information on her individual and group coaching, workshops, and keynote presentations.

Click this link to order Linda’s 10^th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.

Starting a new role can be both exciting and stressful.

It’s moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar; from knowing the main players to determining who they are; from feeling very positive about your abilities to feeling somewhat insecure. But that’s true of every new situation.

So what do you do to regain your confidence and competence?

1. Clarify expectations immediately.
Make sure you understand from your first day why you were hired and what re your goals are for the first 6–12 months. This can help with your direction in the weeks to come. Also spend plenty of time getting to know your new boss, your new teammates and your new culture. This is the time to make friends not enemies.

2. Don’t be the Lone Ranger.
It’s not weak to ask for help. If you don’t know how or where to find the information you need, you’ll waste your time if you search for it yourself. Ask your boss or colleagues for help when you need it.

3. Realize you will be stressed at times – don’t let it bring you down.
Many people feel overwhelmed when they start with a new company. Everything is dramatically different, which can leave you feeling at times not in control and not your usual competent self. That’s normal in the beginning. However it’s important you manage the stress before it manages you.

4. Avoid making comparisons between your new and old company.
Your new team doesn’t want to hear “At my old job, we used to…” Focus on what is important now and what you need to do now, not what or how you did something in the past.

5. Have a smile on your face and goodness in your heart.
If someone on your new team does not respond well to you, don’t take it personally – at least in the beginning. Remember, you might be in a role that someone else used to have, and that person might have been a friend of this team member. It will take time to establish trust and confidence in you so put your energy in being effective and productive in your role.

Career Success Tip:

Although your boss may not expect you to create full value for the company during your first few months, be sure to have a few successes. That will help you establish credibility with her and her boss. You want them to feel they made the right decision. Also see Five Career Challenges You May Face.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Before we had all of our gadgets, even television and radio, we had to amuse ourselves with books; we learned by tutors unless there was an established school, but for the rich, we turned to mostly tutors, learned men of the day. Different subjects for different sexes, too. There were subjects considered too manly for ladies. I’m not talking about the 20th or 21st century, but earlier when wit was the way we entertained ourselves in society; it was how we conducted business, and, of course, it was how we demonstrated our ability to lead others with our sophistication. People were admired and respected for their ability to use their wit and charm.

An odd way to start a training blog, but it seemed apropos, considering the topic. Today is filled with opportunities to reach a lot of people quickly through such obvious sources as twitter and other social/professional media. Some bloggers are quite witty. Some trainers, speakers and writers make a living using their wit. Stand-up comics and actors, it would seem to be a logical extension of those marked abilities–if they were particularly well known.

We do it all the time. We have moved away from the formal in many ways of doing business or conducting training. Tutoring is coaching, and you could assume a good tutor must also be able to charm as well as educate. We know the value of engaging an audience and generally this is one of the ways, probably the most used way of ingratiating ourselves with a client.

I wonder if we are doing ourselves any favors by focusing on the wit, rather than substance. Better yet, should we grow the “wit” to extend into longer expressions and discussions. We do it some. Substitute wit and charm to engage our audience and it’s there. Some bloggers do it. Short blogs don’t have much opportunity for a lot or wit or information; while longer ones can become short essays or commentary. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. I hope I fit into the latter category, or else my blogs are just too long for no purpose.

As a teacher, I am concerned we are creating a society that will be able to engage in short bursts of wit as we are bound to use in Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn so important is it to get out message in. Or, is message volume and repetition more important than information focused on our target market? Are other people–just because they are in the same circle as us really customers. There’s nothing I hate more than an e-mail from a “friend” I’ve never met because we have this special connection that is nothing more than a sales pitch. Had this person asked for advice or suggested a connection, I might have listened instead of hitting the delete key. I expect I’ll hear from social marketers on this one, but I’d rather hear what they have to say before they try to sell me on the advantages of what they know, which I don’t, and waste my time and theirs. So, for me volume and repetition causes me to ignore or dislike intensely the product being offered–maybe even the entire range of product or services to include all other vendors.

So, what’s the answer. Maybe it is time for subtle. That’s what was so charming and engaging about wit: it was subtle. Maybe we do more of the living, more of the being who we say we are in so many characters (140 in Twitter), write things that do more than market. Sell yourself through your wit, sell your product or service in a more subtle way by being charming and helpful to others less successful, rather than a full market press. Could this be the new, unthinkable road to success in this world of sound bytes and flash cards like twitter?

You tell me. Your comments are appreciated and posted if subtle and appropriate. They don’t have to be witty. My website is also yours to peruse should you have any curiosity about other subjects I take on. My background as a professional actor, trainer, speaker, and performance critic give me an unusual perspective sometimes. My Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, available through most eBook retailers, especially Smashwords, I’m practically giving it away. Smashwords is one of the many sites where you can write and publish your wit easily and with minimal cost. Now available through Amazon: my novel, Harry’s Reality, is about what happens when the world stops talking to one another and allows the devices take over to make “acceptable and positive” connections.

Happy Training.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Last week I wrote about a program called Winter Feast for the Soul. It is a program to help you focus on your inner journey, connecting you to your soul, your true nature, your deep wisdom. If you care to participate, there are many meditations from various faith traditions on the Winter Feast for the Soul 2012 website. Consider joining a world-wide community of practice, a sangha of followers for inner harmony and global peace.

Here’s a nice video clip for the Winter Feast 2012.

Moving Inward

I like to use this time of colder, darker days to move inward, to connect more intentionally with the Source of my being. Something about cold winter months lends itself to silent reflection to center and focus. Moving inward allows for more contemplation about life’s bigger picture.

Set up some time to journal, light some candles, soak in a warm bath, anything that helps you be still and listen. When I lived in the woods and got snowed in, I loved walking around my house looking for deer tracks. At night I liked to walk up my drive seeing the stars shine brightly. In the morning I would look at the snow hanging on the trees with the morning light dancing off the limbs. I found joy sitting and listening to the birds or watching them gather berries near my window. Winter sometimes forced me inward, even when I didn’t want to be stuck home. Yet this time allowed me to slow down, to breathe deeper, to focus on the simple things that were showing up as beauty, joy, life.

I invite you to find some time during your day to turn off your iphone, ipod, ipad and laptop and just be with yourself. Do something intentionally to tap into your Source for guidance, inspiration, support, and clarity on your larger purpose- the reason you are here now, in this time, in your particular life.

As you sit with yourself listen for what calls you at this time. What rumblings are stirring your soul? Notice, pay attention, move inward, explore.

Join the Winter Feast for the Soul for the next 40 days. Take time (20-40 mins a day) to renew your spirit, your connection with greater beauty and inner harmony. Listen to the meditations or do some other inner work to re-connect with yourself. You’ll find renewal of spirit, mind and body.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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Linda has a new Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson “Like” this page if you want to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work. See also her website- www.lindajferguson.com for information on her coaching work, video clips and book samples

Click this link to order Linda’s 10^th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”.