Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Personal Development

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for stories and best practices for personal wellness and wellbeing, skills improvement, and  more.

  • Now’s the Time to Upskill

    Now’s the Time to Upskill

    I attended a great workforce summit in my community this week. The keynote was with the Department of Commerce for our state and provided updates on the direction and focus of their department ending with a promise to rise to the challenge and encouraged attendees to do so also.

    Throughout the afternoon, I listened to educators and industry panelists who had a common goal of growing a strong, engaged workforce. As I reflected on the presentations provided and conversations I had throughout the day, I thought about how important lifelong learning is and how NOW is the time to upskill as several people re-enter the workforce.

    There are numerous avenues to upskill. Here are a few of my favorites:

    Community Colleges – locally we have some amazing community colleges that offer a plethora of courses and work closely with industry to provide training. Check out what community colleges have to offer in your area!

    Online Video Courses – you need only an internet connection to benefit from thousands of courses online. Udemy is one of my favorite providers of online courses. I’ve personally taken a few of their courses; I was able to do this on my own time, at my own pace &  it was super cost-efficient!

    Credentialing – depending on your career field, credentials are often available. Credentials are a great way to verify your skillset. Look for credentialing opportunities through organizations like the Center for Credentialing and Education. They often offer materials to prepare for credentialing also.

    Whatever your next move, upskilling is a great way to get there!

  • The Volunteer Venn

    The Volunteer Venn

    Q: How many volunteers does it take to plan and host a statewide HR conference? 

    A: Whatever number you’re thinking, add 10 more! 

     

    Volunteers are absolutely critical to the success of all organizations, not-for-profit or otherwise, but they are often overlooked and undervalued. Knowing this to be true, why do we volunteer? 

    I am absolutely certain that I owe much of my professional (and personal) success to volunteerism. I have been equally – if not more – challenged, encouraged, and developed in volunteer roles in comparison with paid roles. Some of my most significant growth moments were from volunteer projects. I literally would not be working in my current paid role without a volunteer connection. Every member of our professional team has served in volunteer leadership roles for community-based organizations and professional/trade associations, and each of us has gained invaluable interpersonal skills, project management experience, and so much more, specifically through volunteerism. 

    I just had the great pleasure of planning a conference with a committee of six for a statewide volunteer-led organization. We start with six for planning purposes, but on the day of, six becomes forty. Every year, almost the entire event is staffed by volunteers who give up work or personal time to stuff conference bags, hand out boxed lunches, direct people to restrooms, or whatever other tasks pop up. Mixed in with operational responsibilities, we talk and laugh and commiserate about life and work and dogs and sports. We refresh. We make connections. We learn. 

    So, the answer to the question about why we volunteer when we’re often overlooked and undervalued is really a three-part answer. I like a good visual, so here’s my homemade Volunteer Venn: 

    Through volunteer roles, we explore ourselves and grow as individual people, we experience the good and the human connection separate from paychecks and performance evaluations, and we also create and facilitate career opportunities for ourselves and others. We are better leaders at work, better family members, and better friends when we’ve learned to give of our time and resources freely and without strings. 

    Volunteers are a community. Some of my best relationships, personal and professional, were cultivated through volunteering, and I will forever be thankful for them. 

    What positive, life-changing volunteer experiences have you had? How can you start today? 

     

  • 4 Ways to Cultivate Openness to Experience to Enhance Innovation and Leadership

    4 Ways to Cultivate Openness to Experience to Enhance Innovation and Leadership

    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain

    I have recently returned from a nine-day trip to Turkey.  It’s been almost five years since I’ve traveled internationally, so I was excited that a trip that I thought would most likely not happen this year due to the COVID pandemic in fact did.  

    I was able to travel with my dad through Educational Opportunities, which is a company he has been a host with for a few years.  The trip gave us the opportunity to be a part of a group that explored the country and learned about the history behind prominent places in the early Christian church. 

    As excited as I was to get to take part in this opportunity, I was somewhat dreading it as well.  With three kids, two of which are in the throws of spring activities and one who is at the age where all you do is chase him, it makes leaving the country a logistical nightmare for my husband without help. In addition, having one work project that had gone haywire and two more that needed to be wrapped up, led me to be apprehensive about leaving for an extended period of time.  I was exhausted preparing to be gone by the time I got on the plane to exit the country. 

    Nevertheless, travel is and most likely always will be an opportunity for me to grow and learn.  I need to set aside time to do it. The trip reiterated for me the importance of building the muscles of openness to experience and what benefits it can bring to our people interactions, work performance, and leadership skills. 

    Psychology Today describes openness to experience in this way and articulates some of its benefits: 

    In the field of psychology, openness to experience refers to our measurable individual interest in art and beauty, our attention to our sensations and feelings, our intellectual curiosity, our preference for variety, and our active imagination. Put simply, it is the drive to explore novel aspects of human experience and the willingness to consider perspectives different than your own.

    Openness is also an essential trait of successful innovators and creatives throughout history. With an appreciation of diverse perspectives and a willingness to try new things, you can better navigate daily challenges and discover novel solutions. Studies even show that openness to experience positively correlates with increased job performance and more creativity.

    Openness to experience is also positively correlated to leadership.

    Travel is one of the best ways to cultivate “novel aspects of human experience and the willingness to consider perspectives different than your own.”  But you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to strengthen your openness to experience muscles.  Here are four steps to thinking about travel as a way to grow your openness experience and thus your ability to innovate, think creatively, and lead:

    1. Travel the place you call home.  No matter how small the place you call home is, you most likely have not seen it all.  There are streets I’ve never driven down in the town I live in.  I drive the same routes seeing the same things every day, as most of us do.  Take a day to go a different way to work, or school or the store, paying close attention to the novel surroundings.  Pick a place that is close to home where you’ve never eaten, never shopped, or never explored and go there instead of where you always frequent.  What new thoughts do these new places bring to mind? 

    2. Travel through a good book.  Opening your mind may just mean opening a new book as often as you can.  Choose books about places you’ve never been, people who are different than you are, and on topics, you’ve never explored.  What can the book teach you about something you’ve never experienced and where does it prompt you to explore further?

    3. Travel through new relationships.  One of the most fulfilling things about our trip to Turkey was our local guide, “Art”.   Art’s knowledge of Turkish history, as well as current events, was unbelievable.  Raised in a conservative Muslim home where she often felt controlled and stifled, she was the first person in her family to receive a college education.  She spoke openly about her opinions about politics, religion, and the history that has impacted the country she calls home.  She referred to us all as “family” and was an open and active listener when it came to both the group’s questions and opinions that may or may not have mirrored her own.  Despite so many differences in my experiences and hers, I found so many parallels as well, and I will continue to reflect on her impact. 

     

    Art in action in Ephesus.

    New relationships could be with people that live in your neighborhood, or it could be with someone halfway around the world. Our relationships with the literal neighbors we have that are in different stages of life than we are have been invaluable.  Just as valuable has been the relationships I’ve cultivated with “neighbors” around the world; I had the privilege of attending graduate school with a diverse group of people. One individual was a Fulbright Scholar from Oman.  She now lives back in Oman and has three children.  My two oldest children are now pen pals with her oldest two.  The dialogue between children living a world away, with a different faith background, and in a very different culture has prompted wonderful questions from my children that I know will grow their openness to experience whether they ever get the chance to visit the Middle East in their lifetime or not. 

    What “neighbor” across the street or around the world can you correspond with regularly?  What can you gain from their insights and experiences?

    4. Travel to a faraway place.  What place(s) in the world would you suspect are the most different from your day-to-day world?  If time and resources allow, I’d encourage you to go there.  Whereas Turkey was more westernized than I had envisioned, there were so many unique aspects of the country that exposed me to new landscapes, people, food, architecture, and ways of operating.  The call to prayer five times a day regardless of whether we were in Istanbul, a city of 18 million people, or in a rural town where most people are farmers was an opportunity to reflect on a cultural norm in a country that is 99+% Muslim all while exploring the foundational places of the early Christian church.  It provided a very unique way to reflect on religion and faith and the way in which both have shaped history and current events. 

    As travel opens back up across the globe, how can you set aside time and resources to make a trip full of learning and reflection happen for you? 

    Novel experiences allow us to reflect on new norms and ways of being that could be relevant to our world and open us to broader possibilities. You don’t have to travel around the world to be open to and experience something new and for the journey to be fun. 

    What new place will you visit soon? 

  • The Proximity Principle – A Book Review

    The Proximity Principle – A Book Review

    The right people + The right places = Opportunities. – The Proximity Principle

    The Proximity Principle by Ken Coleman is a great book for job seekers or anyone not content in their current role. The theme of the book is getting “in proximity” to what you want – career-wise. Coleman shares his own personal experience with finding his dream job. Coleman notes: Everyone wants to do work that matters. The Proximity Principle is a guidebook to get you there!

    Amazon Overview:

    Right now, 70 percent of Americans aren’t passionate about their work and are desperately longing for meaning and purpose. They’re sick of “average” and know there’s something better out there, but they just don’t know how to reach it.

    Forget the traditional career advice you’ve heard! Networking, handing out business cards, and updating your online profile does nothing to set you apart from other candidates. Ken will show you how to be intentional and genuine about the connections you make with a fresh, unexpected take on resumes and the job interview process. You’ll discover the five people you should look for and the four best places to grow, learn, practice, and perform so you can step into the role you were created to fill.

    Here are a few of my favorite takeaways from the book:  

    • You must never stop learning, no matter how high you climb.
    • No one is sitting around thinking about how they can help you find your dream job.
    • To get in proximity to your dream job, you need to find professionals who are excelling at the work you’d love to do at the highest level.
    • You will experience the most growth when you surround yourself with talented people who challenge you to perform at a higher level.
    • Use the connections you already have to make new ones in the place you’d love to work.

    Be in proximity to what you want. Read The Proximity Principle to find out how!

  • 3 Ways to Boost Intercultural Competence

    3 Ways to Boost Intercultural Competence

    Here’s what we know (and have known for a long, long time): a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce drives exponential business growth, organizational development, and continuous improvement. Intercultural competence can serve as both a critical performance management dimension for employees and a meaningful competitive advantage for the organization. 

    What we don’t always know is how to act on this understanding. In 2021, our team has locked in on the mantra, “Be impatient for action and patient for outcomes”. Here are 3 actions we’ve taken that you can take today to boost your intercultural competence: 

    1. Understand yourself and your organization first. Consider these questions: 
      1. What is our preference for problem-solving, delegating, motivating, or managing time?
      2. How do we view relationships, laws, and leisure time?

    2. Learn from others whose preferences and perspectives are different from yours. Interact “… with people who are different from yourself, who do not share your interests, or who think differently than you do. …Find out more about them. … Concentrate on appreciating and showing respect for others…” (Cultural Competency Doesn’t Happen Overnight)

    3. Search for and acknowledge shared values and respect and acknowledge differences. A boost in intercultural sensitivity and competence can only happen with authentic engagement, learning, and understanding of commonalities and differences. 

    The Society for Human Resource Management provides an important distinction between intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence: 

    Intercultural sensitivity is about appreciating the deeper impact of cultural differences on how we interact with other people and the effect this has on one’s own perceptions of other people. Intercultural competence is a measure of one’s effectiveness in such interactions with other people.

    These concepts apply equally to individuals, teams, and entire organizations.

    The relevance of intercultural sensitivity to interactions with people from different parts of the world tends to be clear to many people. The relevance to working effectively with people down the hall from your office may be less clear.

    What actions are you taking today to boost intercultural sensitivity and competence for yourself and your organization? 

     

    Looking for more content related to intercultural sensitivity and competence? 

    Join Horizon Point and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Alabama at Huntsville on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, for a virtual workshop on Intercultural Competence: Creating a Culture of Awareness, Acceptance, and Respect. Learn more and register here.