Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Work

Beyond Work is our line of resources for people and community leaders looking for something new and innovative outside, be it a new job, career change, or personal development outside of work.

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!
April 6, 2021
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.
March 16, 2021
Is It Time For A Workcation?
Research and personal experience tell us that American employees often underutilize or “save up” PTO, sometimes leading to disengagement and burnout. Could the workcation trend be an option for employees who don’t need time off but need a little inspiration and a change of scenery?

“Workcation” is the combination of work and vacation, where an employee works remotely from a destination other than home or an office for a short period of time. With the significant expansion of the remote/flexible workforce, are more people taking workcations? How do workcations impact organizations? These questions inspired a research project by Daniela Hodges, which you can read about on The Fit Blog. Here’s an excerpt:

I saw mixed reviews from the 135 respondents. Let’s take a look at one respondent’s reason they would not take a workcation: PTO. This respondent was concerned about frivolously using PTO and admitted that they safeguard it for emergencies and then it usually expires before it gets used. This struck me because the point of a workcation is not to use any PTO.

You can read the full post here. This research has sparked an ongoing conversation about workcations amongst our team. We all work remotely, and we’ve each taken workcations over the years without having a name for what we were doing. In the last six months, I’ve worked from the beach twice. Two big facts about my workcation experiences:
1. I am equally – if not more – productive when I’m on a workcation. The change of scenery helps my brain and body feel newly energized.
2. I feel a special appreciation for my job, my team, and our organizational purpose when I take a workcation.
Workcations are not just for full-time, remote employees. Any employee that is remote-capable, whether or not they typically work in an office, can take a workcation. Even working from the local community park or your favorite coffee shop can provide some new perspective and re-energize employees. So, where are you going for your next workcation?
February 16, 2021
Benefits of Remote Work for Employees
Ahh, remote work! Work as we know it will never be the same. At Horizon Point, remote work has always been part of our daily grind, so we definitely know the benefits.

Check out these Key Remote Work Statistics (as they relate to employees) from Small Biz Genius.
- 40% of people feel the greatest benefit of remote work is the flexible schedule.
- 76% of workers would be more willing to stay with their current employer if they could work flexible hours.
- People who work remotely at least once a month are 24% more likely to be happy and productive.
Read the entire list & article: The Ultimate List of Remote Work Statistics – 2021 Edition.

My personal stats: I’m 99% more likely to get everything complete on my work to-do list if I have the flexibility to work from home or from wherever. I do occasionally miss former work besties, but we can always catch up over lunch!

Here are a few of my favorite benefits of remote work:
1. I’m present for my family. I love that I can help my kids with virtual assignments if they are schooling from home.
2. I can throw in a load of laundry or prep for dinner in between Zoom calls.
3. I can wear comfy clothes while I plug away at whatever project is a priority for the week.
Has your employer transitioned staff to remote work? Do you love it or hate it? Stay tuned for more insight on remote work from The Point Blog!
February 9, 2021
Four Simple Steps to Improve Your Business Writing
I often work with clients who aim to improve communication within their organizations. Many of them naturally focus their concerns on the verbal communication issues within their company but fail to evaluate the impact that their written communication may have.

Here are four simple steps to help improve your written communication:
1. Consider your audience. When preparing to draft written communication, whether it’s an email, marketing materials, or a business report, consider your audience. How you address a customer may be very different from how you would address an employee. How you present information on your company’s fourth-quarter earnings and goals for the next quarter will be very different when addressing top leadership versus addressing an all-staff meeting.
2. Plan out what you want and need to say. What is the purpose of your written communication? Think about what you need to say before you actually start writing. What are your key points and how can you best address those points? If you’re writing a report or preparing a presentation, create an outline of key points and the order in which you want to address them.
3. Write and review. Write with purpose and don’t rush through it. And review what you’ve written as you go, and often. Does what you’ve written get the right point across and does it flow well? As I’m writing this now, I’ve already gone back and re-read it four times from the start. After I wrote #1 and #2, I re-read them two or three times and made adjustments.
4. Have someone proofread it. While I’m not suggesting you have someone proof every email you send, if you’re drafting longer documents such as reports or proposals, or materials that will go out to the public such as marketing materials or articles, have a second set of eyes look it over. They may just find some minor typos or grammar adjustments, or they may provide feedback on how to improve certain sections or points. When I finish writing this article, one of my colleagues will proof it before we post it.
Evaluation is also key to improving your written communication skills. As you implement the four steps above to help improve your written communication, consider ways to measure your success. This may include having employees fill out a brief survey after a staff meeting, evaluating sales after a new marketing campaign, or tracking the number of proposals submitted and how many contracts were won or the feedback that was returned.

What is one way that you can evaluate the success of your written communication?
February 2, 2021