Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • CAREER SPOTLIGHT: DIAGNOSTIC MEDICAL SONOGRAPHY

    CAREER SPOTLIGHT: DIAGNOSTIC MEDICAL SONOGRAPHY

    Do you enjoy physics? Do you think medicine and dentistry are interesting? Are you an active listener who enjoys working with people?

    If any of these things describe you, then Diagnostic Medical Sonography may be the career field that would make you tick.

    What do you need to be a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer?

    Education:  Required: Associate’s Degree or Post-secondary Certificate

    If you are a high school student, make sure you are focused on taking sciences including physics and biology.

    Skills:

    Diagnostic Medical Sonographers know how to:

    • Think critically
    • Communicate with others
    • Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment

    Is the field growing?

    State and National Trends

    United States Employment Percent
    Change    		 Projected
    Annual Job Openings     1
    2012 2022
    Diagnostic Medical Sonographers 58,800 85,900 +46% 3,530
    Alabama Employment Percent
    Change    		 Projected
    Annual Job Openings     1
    2012 2022
    Diagnostic Medical Sonographers 1,130 1,630 +45% 70

    Source: O*NET

    What’s the Holland Code* for a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer?

    Interest code: ISR- Investigative, Social and Realistic

    • Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
    • Social — Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
    • Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others

    Source: http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-2032.00

    If you are interested in learning more about Diagnostic Medical Sonography, check out:

    US NEWS

    BLS

    Explore Health Careers

    Would you want to be a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer? Why or why not?

    *Holland Codes are a way to classify a person based on their skills and interests as well as jobs based on the nature of the work.  If you have an interest in knowing what your Holland Code is in order to match yourself to careers to pursue, you can read more about our assessment process.

  • Don’t Network, Develop Your Social Capital

    Don’t Network, Develop Your Social Capital

    I find that the trouble most people have with “networking” boils down to two things:

    1. It scares the-you-know what out of them.

      Someone recently came to me seeking advice on how to advance his career. This happens a lot, but his response was interesting.  I told him to start networking. He responded that under no uncertain circumstances was he going to do that because it just wasn’t his personality.  He went on to say that if he had to be someone he is not to get ahead, then he shouldn’t do it. He wasn’t going to try to kiss you-know-what to get ahead.  I think manipulative, political behavior and networking were somehow synonyms to him; it seemed like it was some moral issue for him the way he presented it.  In other words all that he was saying was, networking scares the-you-know what out of me, so I’m not going to do it.

    2. The second reason stems from the first and is also seen in this example.  It’s quite frankly that people see networking as something it is not.  It is not about kissing up to someone, being entirely self-centered, or coming across as a used car salesman.

     

    So let’s get rid of the word networking.

    Now I tell people to develop their social capital.   What is social capital you say?  Google it and this is what you get:

    “Social capital refers to the collective value of all “social networks” [who people know] and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other [“norms of reciprocity”].”

    So social capital is whom you know and whom they know, and the inclination of those who know each to do things for each other.

    It’s not a one-sided thing; it’s a win-win thing, and unlike “human capital” that we talk a lot about and is related to what one person brings to the table, it is not what you know as an individual, but whom you know and what they know (or whom they know) that makes the difference. John Donne told us this quite a while ago before social media was even around, “No Man is an Island.”

    From a job search and hiring perspective, it indicates that what some people refer to as the “good ole boy network” is still much needed to get a job and advance- let’s hope with a lot more diversity to it these days- but it also, and maybe more importantly, relates to how good you can be at your job. You can’t know it all.

    Social capital gives us all a competitive advantage. How are you building your social capital to create win-wins?

  • Hitting the Gym Can Benefit Your Career!

    Hitting the Gym Can Benefit Your Career!

    I was in the gym the other day, trying to mind my own business while doing sit-ups (well attempting to do them), when I overheard a conversation between a personal trainer and the trainee. It went something like this:

    Trainee:  “Has your husband found a job yet?”…as she pulls on some ropes doing some exercise that made no sense.

    Trainer:  “No, he’s still looking.”

    Trainee: “What is it that he does?”  She stops her workout.

    The trainer said something about some obscure field of physics that made no sense to me.   (There is a theme developing here….)

    Trainee: “Really? We have a need for people with those skills and training where I work.”   (Who knew anyone needed someone in this field??)  “Can you get him to send me his resume?”

    Trainer:  “Sure! That would be great.”

    This eavesdropping led me to some insights on networking and  job searches that I think are pretty valuable. Everywhere you go, there is someone who might have a job or know about a job you are looking for. If you aren’t looking for a job, everywhere you go there are people that one day may connect you to an awesome opportunity. In addition, everywhere your spouse, kids, parents, best friend, etc. goes, there is someone there who might know about a job or an awesome opportunity.

    To capitalize on this:

    1. Go places. The gym is a good place to start.
    2. Talk to people in those places about life and work. See where your conversation leads you that might result in some mutual gains.
    3. Get your spouse, kids, parents, best friend, etc. to go places. The gym may be a good place to start for them too.
    4. Make all of these people close to you aware of what you want out of your career.
    5. Get them talking about opportunities and mutual gain.

    We make networking harder than it really needs to be.  It isn’t some speed dating game, it is simply:

    1. Going places.
    2. Talking
    3. Identifying mutual gain.
    4. Acting on those areas of opportunities.

    Now go get a workout in- our better yet, send your spouse to the gym. It might lead to some great results….in more ways than one.

  • GREAT REALITIES OF MANAGEMENT: It’s Not Your Fault, But It’s Your Problem…

    GREAT REALITIES OF MANAGEMENT: It’s Not Your Fault, But It’s Your Problem…

    By Kris Dunn

    It’s one of the unwritten rules of management. It’s also one of the hardest things for new managers to wrap their heads around.

    “It’s not your fault, but it’s your problem.”

    Let’s deconstruct that a bit.  New managers were often very high performing individual contributors (ICs). The great thing about being an IC is that you only have to worry about one person – and that person is you.

    But your performance as an IC convinced us that you’d make a good manager of people. For the most part that’s true.

    One point that sneaks up on new managers is taking feedback on what needs to happen related to their team as failure on the part of themselves (the new manager).

    Here’s what I mean – If you’re managing other managers of people and some of those are first time managers, you’re going to spend more time talking about what’s going on within those teams than you will with a more experienced manager of people. You have to be the coach for the new manager.

    As you’re coaching that new manager of people, it’s important to separate their individual identity as a high performer from the brand new – and at times, scary – role as a manager of people.

    Example – someone on their team is struggling in a certain area, and the new manager delays a bit. Your job is to push as the director, but careful! Your feedback might be perceived as failure on the part of the new manager.

    I’ve always found the best way to handle that with new managers is to use the title of this post –“It’s not your fault, but it’s your problem.”  

    What I’m trying to convey with that is simple – “Look, you’re going to manage people who struggle in your life as a manager.  Just because they’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re a bad manager. It’s what happens next that is key – are you gong to address it, coach for improvement, etc. Or are you looking the other way?”

    The only way you lose is if you don’t get in there and address it. Bias for action is the key for new managers.  Left to their own devices, most will wait too long to address whatever performance issue is in question.

    “It’s not your fault, but it’s your problem.” by Kris Dunn first appeared on November 30, 2015 at HR Capitalist

  • Measuring Leadership in the Classroom

    Measuring Leadership in the Classroom

    By guest blogger: Scott Mayo

     

    Schools love to measure things. With accountability being the buzzword in educational circles, measurement has become an even greater priority. However, we often fall trap to measuring things that are easy to measure, not because they are the most important things. Leadership is one of those important things – we all want it – that has been notoriously hard to quantify. How do I know that I have a teacher who is a leader?

    Kris Dunn, HR professional and blogger, has suggested we consider the ideas of Leadership Gravity and Leadership Birth Rate to judge leadership results. Leadership Gravity describes the phenomenon of a manager whose department consistently generates the most internal transfer in requests. Simply put, leaders attract people who want to be part of what they are doing. Likewise, Leadership Birth Rate looks at the number of people influenced by that manager who go on to become leaders themselves in the future.

    How would those concepts play out in a school setting? Are those appropriate categories of thought for measuring leadership among teachers? Leadership Gravity wouldn’t be the same thing as saying which teachers are the most popular or have the most students requesting their elective.  But leadership in education isn’t a popularity contest. However, if students did flock to a teacher while also providing feedback of  “challenging” and “rigorous,” it might be a sign of classroom-based Leadership Gravity.

    Likewise, if students come into contact with a leader in the classroom in such a way as to make a lasting impact (e.g. major choice in college, career path), that could illustrate the concept of Leadership Birth Rate in an educational setting. In schools, some feedback on progress comes at every test and every report card. However, much of what schools do doesn’t come to fruition until years down the road.

    The long-term impact on leadership development in the students may be one of those harder-to-measure things. It is easy enough to track who steps up for student leadership roles (e.g. class and club officers) during the students’ tenures at the school. To neglect to take a longer view, though, might miss the impact faculty are having as they attract students to their disciplines and guide their life choices into adulthood.

    Maybe we need to take a more longitudinal approach to measuring leadership in education by measuring student success at various intervals post graduation. Longitudinal studies have been done to show the value of Pre-K . Could it be done to show the value of various other facets of education including teacher leadership?

    What can educators and private business learn from each other to develop more leaders in the classroom and in business?