Whether you’re working from home or back in the office (or balancing a hybrid of the two), enjoying what you do and how you do it is crucial to not just the longevity of your career, but the richness of it. Putting your head down and clocking in and out every day may be a strategy used by some, but, … Read More
Leader, Know Thyself
Often when we look back at our life experiences, we can see signs of our strengths emerging early on. I vividly remember getting into an intense conversation with a good friend one day in high school. He felt passionately about the issue and so did I, but our debate remained respectful. At the end of the conversation, he looked at … Read More
How to Prevent Name Discrimination When Hiring
Name discrimination is a problem in the job market. Issues range from the obvious like a name frequently being misspelled or mispronounced, to stereotyping based on someone’s name. This is why it’s important to respect people’s names by acknowledging and adapting to name changes and mitigating against name discrimination and privilege in recruitment and hiring. Do You Know the … Read More
5 Considerations When Setting New Year’s Resolutions
A New Year is an opportunity to bring better balance to our work life. Camp one is the “New Year’s resolution camp”. It is full of spoken hope, a public sharing of aspirations for the year ahead, and promises and written goals that will serve as guiding principles for all that we should have been done better last year. Camp … Read More
10 Tips for Nurturing Happiness
Happiness depends upon ourselves. Aristotle As we head into special times of the year such as holiday or vacation, we often anticipate finding happiness. But, I wonder if we can ever really find happiness? What is the real stuff made of? Not the illusion that disappears along with the last joyful moment of our holiday. I’m not so sure that … Read More
4 Reasons Leaders Should Take Time Off
As leaders, many of us like the idea of taking time off, but we often hesitate to take a break when we move into leadership or supervisory roles. This is unfortunate, since not only have we earned that time off – it’s likely required for our well-being. Leaders often have the misassumption that they are indispensable to their team or … Read More
Why Vulnerability Makes a Better Leader
Early in my leadership role at ACHIEVE, I had an experience that shaped my understanding of what it means to be a good leader. A new staff person made a mistake that cost our organization a few hundred dollars. Understandably, she was embarrassed and anxious about it. When she told my colleague (her boss) what had happened, my colleague’s response … Read More
6 Strategies for Embracing the Intergenerational Workplace
As one person’s career moves closer to retirement, another person’s career launches. This past year I’ve found myself pondering my role in the workplace as a 62-year-old baby boomer heading towards retirement far too quickly. Whether that is in three or 10 years, it is inevitable. Because I’m surrounded by much younger colleagues – many in their energetic 20s or … Read More
5 Steps to Building a Great Team
Over the past few years, I have come to appreciate the value of connected and healthy teams in the workplace. This became especially clear to me when we successfully planned and ran our first major conference. Conferences require vision, data management, marketing, speaker coordination, coaching, customer service, and so much more. It takes a whole team of talented people who … Read More
5 Steps for Coping with Change
Like the impending shift of the seasons, change is inevitable. Recently as I was walking beside my house, I noticed a gold leaf slowly descend from its tree to the ground. Then another. Then another. Such change. I was sad and reflective because this meant winter was coming. Major changes like the start of a new season are also present … Read More
