Horizon Point Consulting

Category: General

Horizon Point writes about dozens of leadership, career, workplace, and workforce topics. Sometimes we write whatever we want. Read this category for general blogs from the HPC team.

  • Trash and Treasures on Election Day

    Trash and Treasures on Election Day

    Over fall break, I had the chance to walk to the park with my five year old. On the first day, he decided he was going to search for “treasures” on our walk.  He found flowers and rocks and leaves and sticks that he thought were “beautiful”.  I couldn’t help but notice things I wasn’t noticing but he did. With every stop and examination he made, he did in fact find lots of beautiful things.  

    On our walk the next day, he decided it was time to pick up the trash. He noticed some along the roadway when he was scouting out his treasures. He then decided we would use the Target bags we carried to collect trash instead of treasures. We filled up all three of the bags we had before we made it to the park.  

    We couldn’t pick up all the treasures along the way, nor could we pick up all the trash. But we did notice both. We attended to both, sometimes at the same time, realizing what we could relish in as well as what was less than ideal. We could use our awareness of them and our hands to make a small difference.

    As we walked back from the park with the trash we had collected in the dumpster and our hands now empty, he grabbed for mine. Our shadows cast out in front of us.  

    “Look mommy!” he said, “Our hands make a heart.” 

    Not realizing what he was referring to, I looked at him kind of puzzled. 

    “Our shadow,” he said, “Look! A heart.” 

    And he was right. There was a heart. 

    I’m fortunate to live in a country and raise my children in one where we have the freedom to walk to the park. I know in America we may not all live in an area where we feel safe enough to walk to the park or have one within walking distance, but we all have the freedom to impact these less than ideal circumstances. When we see both trash and treasure along the way, connections and hearts form in the freedom to just be. 

    It isn’t like that in all countries, and if there’s anything I think is worth fighting for in this one, freedom is it.  

    If I’m honest, I’ve been disillusioned by all the “trash” out there that seems to revolve around the Presidential and other elections. Maybe you have been too. We all seem to have strong opinions about who should be our next president regardless of which side we lean towards. 

    Maybe, like me, you’ve thought about simply not voting this year. 

    But like the walk to the park with my son, we’ve got to take the treasure with the trash. They are both everywhere along the way. Ignoring one really makes you ignore them both. 

    So on this election day in 2024, I would encourage you to take the trash with the treasure of your freedom to vote and exercise that freedom. 

    My vote will be focused on the candidate I think will be the most focused on maintaining freedom (and you could spin this statement to either side you want to) so that my husband and I – and everyone else in the land of the free and the home of the brave – can continue to raise up the next generation in a place where they can see both trash and treasures along the way. Where they can use the freedom the generations before them fought for to shine a light through both the trash and the treasures. 

  • AI Isn’t Replacing Jobs, Rather, It’s Writing Them

    AI Isn’t Replacing Jobs, Rather, It’s Writing Them

    This week we continue our exploration of AI. I must admit, I’ve been hesitant to give AI a chance. Given the ethical and legal concerns with its use and my own personal worries about whether it can perform for my needs, I saw no reason to engage with it. These past few weeks however, I’ve been testing its applications within the work place for HR-related tasks.

    Recently, I’ve been working on a compensation project that involved pulling market data, and reviewing job descriptions. I felt it would be a good opportunity to test AI and its research and writing capabilities. In recent months, ChatGPT, a Large Language Model AI developed by OpenAI, has undergone several updates providing it with new capabilities outside of just writing. One such new feature includes doing internet research, but how accurate is it?

    To test this, I enlisted my tech-savvy kids to ask ChatGPT for market data at the 25th Percentile in Huntsville, AL for a Market Assistant. Below I’ve attached screenshots of their results.

    When asking the same question, they both get slightly different answers. And when double checking their results, it seems that ChatGPT provided inaccurate information. Visiting the link it provided, it tells us that the range for the position as a whole is actually $46,530 to $58,286. See here for yourself: https://www.salary.com/research/salary/listing/administrative-assistant-salary/huntsville-al

    Comparing the ChatGPT results to CompAnalyst (Salary.com’s paid wage database) I found that the average salary for an Administrative Assistant for the 25th percentile in Huntsville is about $35,000, which aligns with the result one of my kids got, however, it doesn’t align with the source provided, so we’re unsure where this information is coming from. The results my other son got, $39,502 aligns with the median rate provided on CompAnalyst, which was $39,900. 

    Next, I decided to see how well ChatGPT wrote job descriptions. So, I asked ChatGPT to write a job description for an entry level GIS Analyst. The results were actually pretty decent. The job description had a well written summary of the role, accurately outlined key responsibilities, and specific qualifications including the requirement to know specific GIS software including ArcGIS and QGIS. ChatGPT also included the benefits offered by the employer and outlined the application process. My favorite part though is that ChatGPT even included an EEO statement. What it lacked was information on the physical requirements of the job and the work environment, so I decided to test it out on a job that requires more physical ability – a police officer. But once again, ChatGPT didn’t include any information on the physical requirements or work environment of the role. 

    These were just two simple tests of ChatGPT and how it could benefit HR professionals. Having given it a try, I do believe that AI can be beneficial to HR and help create a starting point for many HR tasks. However, the key takeaway for me is that AI is a starting point, it’s a tool to help aide you but you still have to do work – research the data you obtain through AI, review that document you have AI create for you for accuracy, compliance, and best practices, and remember that you are still responsible for the liability that using AI can create. 

  • ANNOUNCEMENT: Launching two NEW Career Development Trainings!

    ANNOUNCEMENT: Launching two NEW Career Development Trainings!

    Horizon Point has been working on two NEW Career Development Practitioner Training Offerings available Fall 2024. One will be a School Career Development Advisor (SCDA) Training. The other, an Alabama Workforce Challenges & Solutions course.

    School Career Development Advisor (SCDA) Training

    Horizon Point’s SCDA Training is designed for providers who work in many settings and help prepare students for meaningful work and managing their careers. These providers work with other staff to coordinate the design, implementation, and monitoring of school and community-based efforts to improve the chances of students entering the job market with skills, knowledge, and credentials to be competitive.

    The objectives for the SCDA Training are organized into two primary competency areas (1) knowledge of skills related to student advising and (2) knowledge of skills related to working with business and industry. SCDA Training can be offered independently, for those with school experience, or it can be offered in collaboration with Facilitating Career Development (FCD) Training for those who want more information on providing quality career development services. SCDA Training is a total of 48 hours of instruction.

    Register here: https://horizonpointconsulting.com/what-we-do/career-development/scda-training/

    Alabama Workforce Challenges and Solutions

    We are experiencing unique workforce challenges in Alabama, and solutions seem out of reach. As educators, employers, and community leaders, we can move the needle forward and create workplaces that put People First. Our Workforce Challenges and Solutions training focuses on practical methods to get more people working by understanding the challenges and implementing solutions.

    In this workshop participants will:

    • Examine the Labor Participation Rate and relevant labor market trends 
    • Discuss research and data around why labor participation rates are in decline
    • Explore strategies to remove barriers and pull people into meaningful work

    Register here: https://horizonpointconsulting.com/shop/workforce-solutions-alabama/
    *Enter code HPCPOINTBLOG24 for a 10% discount!

    As you can see, this has been an exciting time for Career Development at Horizon Point. We hope that you take advantage of all that we have to offer this Fall!

  • AI and HR- A Series

    AI and HR- A Series

    How would your grandmother state your organizational values? Well, ChatGTP might give you some insights. 

    As I sat down with a client to help them form their values statements after the values mapping session I facilitated, we decided there were a few words that just weren’t right. They were close, but we needed a better word or two, so we stuck what we had into ChatGTP. After various takes on the language, including how your southern grandmother would say it-with of course, several “bless your hearts” thrown in from ChatGTP and some laughter from us- we landed on descriptors that resonated with the behaviors we were trying to articulate through shared language. 

    There is a lot of talk about what AI- Artificial Intelligence-is going to do to this world, or has already done.  Jillian highlighted how it was a focus at the Annual ATD conference in her recent blog post.  As she said, we are all relatively new to it and not very good at it, but think it deserves some attention.  

    Whereas many people want to make AI out to be the next major moral dilemma or our times, the way everyone is going to “cheat” in school and on the job, or what is going to take all our jobs away, I think taking more of a practical approach to what AI is and can do for business, specifically HR deserves some focus. So we are going to spend some time learning and then sharing that learning with you in a series of blog posts. 

    Over the next few weeks, we will be writing about how we and others are using AI to impact HR practices that will hopefully provide insights into how you might use it at work as well. We will talk about the tools being used, give you some thoughts on how it might make you a better practitioner and leader, and provide insights on what we see may be coming next.  

    AI may not be right for your organization just yet, but it may help you get a good laugh in or channel the language of your inner grandmother when you are trying to find just the right words for your next job description, proposal, or values statements.  Or, you could try CanvaAI and let it illustrate your next blog post…. Which illustration do you like better? 

  • Summer is Here – Do You Need a Vacation or a Rhythm?

    Summer is Here – Do You Need a Vacation or a Rhythm?

    Summer is in full swing. The days are long, the kids are out of school, and the office may not be quite as bustling as it usually is whether it’s the physical office space or your email inbox because people are taking vacation. Have you heard of slow productivity?

    I myself just took a long vacation, kicking off the summer for two weeks at the beach, but working intermittently while there. It was a long spring, and for the first time our family was able to check out for more than the standard one week, once a year vacation and get away. 

    While there, I dove deeper into some of Cal Newport’s work around slow productivity. He postulates in his book Deep Work that there are four philosophies for deep work. The type of work you do, your natural disposition, and the season of life you are in all play into which one is best for you. 

    They are: 

    • The Monastic Approach- Eliminate all the shallow work you can to focus deeply on one thing
    • The Bimodal Approach- Create clearly defined stretches for deep work and then back to regular routine for stretches of time
    • The Rhythmic Approach- Daily deep work sessions that occur at consistent times each day
    • The Journalist Approach- Fit in deep work when and where you can. To note, this approach is not for the novice of deep work!

    Watch this cool video to get a good overview of these. 

    While I find something that is appealing in each one of these approaches, you, like me, may not be at a stage in life or working at a place or in a field where one or some of these are realistic. 

    Even though only one approach is called “rhythmic” all of them have some thought of a rhythm tied to them, and it takes some reflection on what rhythms work for you. And these may change overtime.  

    In looking at some of the research as well as my own experience, some thoughts on rhythms emerge to order to do deep work and do it well and consistently: 

    Daily Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Break every 50 min to an hour, get up and move around if you work with your mind, sit down and rest if you work with your hands
    • Utilize time blocking techniques to complete tasks that take deep thought; batch work shallow work into a time block to get it done efficiently
    • Honor the “trough” period of the day when your energy is lacking (most people’s is in the early afternoon) by scheduling shallow work or a break during this time
    • For more great thoughts on daily rhythms and the research behind it, read When. 

    Weekly Rhythms– To do your best work: 

    • Take one hour to plan at the beginning of each week (or at the end of the previous week) to map out your “big rocks” for the week and schedule time to get deep work done
    • I like to have one day a week that does not have any meetings or appointments scheduled to focus on deep work and catching up
    • Get a Full Focus Planner to help you with the weekly rhythm and big rock setting

    Monthly to Quarterly Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Reflect- What worked and what didn’t in the previous period? Celebrate what did. 
    • Refocus- Chart out goals for the upcoming period and block time for those that may require or need the bimodal approach for deep work if you are lucky enough to have the autonomy to deploy this approach.
    • Again, use the Full Focus Planner to help with this. It operates on a quarterly model so it naturally helps you structure your thinking around reflecting and focusing.

    Yearly Rhythms- To do your best work: 

    • Honor the seasons if your work has periods of intensity and down time and schedule accordingly; deploy the bimodal approach if you can.
    • Our approach at HPC is every three years a sabbatical occurs for deep rest and deep reflection.  This is a period of six to eight weeks of complete time off from work. 

    Overall, rhythms and slow productivity create the opportunity for reflection that helps foster deep and creative work. As the CEO of Airbnb Brian Chesky stated on Adam Grant’s podcast, if you don’t create rhythms, “you’re just on the treadmill and that gets boring and anxiety ridden fairly quickly.” 

    How do you create rhythms in your life to do work and do it well?