Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

Passion + Productivity = Give Back

“Rarely are there ever great achievements without great expectations.”

A mid-sized manufacturing firm in a small Alabama community demonstrates the give back mindset through their passion and productivity. This focus has transformed an almost bankrupt company into a thriving and profitable business. Not only that, their passion and productivity prompts them to give back to the community in which they live and work.

The company’s mission statement reads, “We are passionate about resolutions that positively impact our customers.” With this mission, the President of the Company states, “We have products and solutions that can help make customers more productive, save money and keep people safe. Why would we not want everyone to know this? We can help enrich the lives of others by what we do. Because we believe this, we can approach our work with not just hard work by an element of intense emotion. This type of enthusiasm is contagious. The longer people work in this environment the more infected they become.”

Their work does not stop with “intense emotions”. It extends to a focus on productivity as well. “Productivity is a measurable activity. Every week we get together as a team and review a couple dozen key indicators to be certain that we are meeting our internal and external standards. The bottom line of how this is demonstrated is letting our yes be yes and our no be no. Our vision is to be the trusted source for tough mining and industrial rubber solutions. We will bend over backwards, increase productivity, to make certain we keep our promises to one another and to our customers,” states the company President.

The focus on passion and productivity extends beyond the walls of the organization and into the community.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

The company seeks to spur more passion and productivity in the community by partnering with organizations, churches and schools that impact individuals.

Through the Partners in Education Program in their community, the company works with high school students to help them maximize their potential by providing college scholarships, hosting a parent night and providing one-on-one career coaching to students at the school. The combination of these programs helps the school with resources that are not readily available otherwise. The company hopes that these efforts will help students form a plan, create goals and reach their potential in order to become productive citizens.

July 24, 2014
Leaders are Noticers

“The real heroes anyway aren’t the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention.” John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

According to my editorial calendar, I’m supposed to be writing about job shadowing today, but I’ve noticed something. In the past week I’ve had conversations with three people about their work. One just quit. One is DONE with her work and is planning her quit, and one just realized she wants to quit, but hasn’t started the plotting of her exodus yet. (By the time I see her again next week though, I imagine she will have it all mapped out.)

Why are these three DONE with they’ve been doing? Through these conversations, I’ve decided that the two reasons people quit a job (they are actually quitting a boss, not a job) is because:

They don’t feel like they have the opportunity to make a contribution and/or

They don’t feel like the contribution they are making is valued.

Long and short, what they are doing isn’t being noticed. And the one who needs to be noticing, their boss, just isn’t. More often than not, the boss is too busy “doing things” instead of noticing people and the contribution they are making or have the potential to make.

As the boss, don’t let it take cancer (read the book) or a resignation letter to make you wake up and notice. Want to be a leader or a “hero” as the quote states, then start noticing people- who they are, what they value, how they want to contribute- and give them the avenue to make a contribution that is valued. If you do, you become a hero in their eyes and you get to keep them as valuable talent. If you don’t, they will demand to be noticed with a resignation letter. And if it takes the resignation to get you to stand up and take notice, as the guy who just quit boss did by offering him at $15,000 raise, stock options and a VP title to stay, you’re already too late. Your employee is already done, mentally moved on to a place where they think someone may stand up and take notice of their talents without having to demand it.

But I must end here; my three month old is demanding to be noticed by her cries. No one said the noticing was easy, as I delay picking her up to write these last few sentences, continuing to pretend to unnotice. No one said leadership (or parenting) was easy either. There is so much to be noticed. But if you can be half a percent better at noticing than the rest of the population half a percent more of the time, you’ll be able to do what everyone is trying to do but hasn’t quite figured out yet how to do it- retain the best talent.

July 22, 2014
Career Change for Doctors

Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up (or better yet, ask his or her parents what they want him or her to be), and I’ll put money on the fact that the kid will tell you they want to be A) A doctor B) A lawyer or C) An Indian Chief. Well, maybe not an Indian Chief, but what person or parent of a child has not at one time aspired to be a physician?

With the hope of helping people while at the same time making a lot of money, it’s no wonder being a doctor is a draw. But with changes in healthcare recently and the realization that maybe there are other ways to help people and/or make money, some physicians may just want to bait and switch on their career.

If you’re one of these restless doctors, it’s important to consider what drew you to the field of medicine in the first place and consider careers that have characteristics you still desire. Here are a couple of career change options:

Medical Missionary

Were you primarily drawn to the field because you had a deep desire to heal? If so, medical missions may be an option for you. A desire to travel, get out of your comfort zone and interact with people of different cultures and circumstances is a work value you would be looking to fulfill that you may not be finding in your current work as a physician. In addition, without the access technology in many areas where medical missionaries are needed, you would need to be driven by the desire to solve complex problems with limited resources.

If you take a career assessment and see that your highest area is social, this may be the direction you want to consider if you want a change.

Organizations to check out that hire medical missionaries:

MedicalMissions

Samaritans Purse

OM

Healthcare Administrator or Consultant

In contrast, if you take a career assessment and see that your highest area is enterprising, healthcare administration may be the best change of direction for you to consider. Healthcare Administrators oversee the business operations of hospitals, medical practices and/or nursing homes. Driven by a desire to create efficiencies, lead and manage people and work to make the entity they are working for profitable, people who are successful in healthcare administration and consulting see the big picture of healthcare and are able to weld the clinical side of healthcare with the business imperative to remain profitable in order to continue to treat and heal patients. Having a clinical background as a physician can be very beneficial for those in administration and consulting.

Professional Organizations in Healthcare Management:

American Academy of Medical Administrators

American College of Healthcare Executives

Healthcare Administrators Association(primarily geared towards Third Party Administrators-TPA)

Regardless of whether or not you are a doctor or not, if you itching to make a career change, you need to examine:

What is missing from what I do now that I want to be able to do on a regular basis? What skills do I need to use on a regular basis to bring satisfaction?

What is it that I do now that I want to continue to be able to do? What skills that I want to continue to use are transferable to other fields?

What type of environment do I want to work in?

What careers match with the skills and abilities I want to use and foster an environment that are inline with my work values?

A career assessment may help you short through these questions. We can help you with an in-depth assessment that examines your personality and desired skills and abilities to use or you can take a free one here.

July 16, 2014
6 Places to Go to Tap into Job Shadowing Opportunities

In a conversation with a university professor today, I was struck by his comment that his high achieving students know what general field they want to go into (finance, engineering, nursing) but they actually have no clue what different career options are available in the fields of study they have chosen and they don’t have a clue what working in these fields would involve on a day-to-day basis.

If this is the case, most of us, even the high achievers out there are making careers decisions based on hope and prayer, on what just sounds good, not actually on what we know to be good.

Practical learning is the best way to remedy this situation, but most people don’t get practical experience until they get a job in the field. Once you’ve got a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed, it’s hard to change your mind and switch fields, especially when you’ve invested heavily in your education towards the field.

As a way to encourage learning about career fields before actually embarking on them, we encourage students to job shadow, Co-Op and or intern. It’s like getting your feet wet before you dive in and realize you don’t like the pool you’re in.

To get an opportunity for practical experience, tap into:

Family and friends

Your College Career Center or High School Guidance Office

Teachers and Professors

Community and church groups you are involved in

Your Community’s Chamber of Commerce or Business Organization

Junior Achievement

Bottom line, it doesn’t hurt to ask someone if you can learn more about what they do or to see if there is a program already set up in your area or at your school to coordinate a practical experience for you. Most people are willing to share their expertise and experience to help others make wise decisions and there are a lot of good organizations out there trying to foster this interaction.

Once you get an opportunity set up to learn more about a job, our job shadowing questionnaire can help you know what questions to ask to make sure you are getting the info you need to make wise choices about your career.

July 10, 2014
Career Spotlight: Mechanical Engineer
Have you always been curious about how machines work? Do you take things a part and put them back together? Do you like to design things? Do you enjoy figuring out why things are broken and fixing them?

If any of these describe you, then Mechanical Engineering may be the career field that would make you tick.

What do you need to be a Mechanical Engineer?

Education: At least a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering

If you are a high school student, make sure you are focused on taking higher-level math and science classes. Be sure to take Calculus and Physics if available at your school. A drafting class would also be a plus.

Skills: As referenced on Columbia University’s website, “Perhaps the one skill that is the mechanical engineer’s exclusive domain is the ability to analyze and design objects and systems with motion.”

Mechanical Engineers know how to:
- Solve complex problems
- Create and interpret designs of things as small as a bolt to as a large a complex manufacturing process
- Research and test the performance of objects, equipment and systems
- Diagnosis and troubleshoot equipment and machinery
Is the field growing?

Nationally, the field is growing 3-7% annually.

What is the pay like?

The average annual salary in the United States is $82,000.

What’s the Holland Code* for a Mechanical Engineer?

Interest code: IRC- Investigative, Realistic and Conventional

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.

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.

Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Source: http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2141.00

If you are interested in learning more about Mechanical Engineering, check out:

O*Net

BLS

US News

Would you want to be a Mechanical Engineer? 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.
July 1, 2014