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.

  • Targeting Passive Candidates

    Targeting Passive Candidates

    Recruiters everywhere are struggling to fill open positions these days. According to an August 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of job openings is 4.6%, while the rate of unemployment is 3.6%. Basically, there are more open jobs right now than there are people to fill them.

    Organizations are having to rethink their recruiting strategies in order to attract qualified candidates. Part of this revised strategy includes targeting passive candidates, or people who aren’t actively looking for a new job. So how do you attract candidates when they aren’t even job hunting?

    • Offer employee referral bonuses. Current employees are often your best resource for great talent. They’re going to refer people that they feel are qualified, team players, and hard workers. Afterall, they may have to work with them. If your organization already has an employee referral program, make sure you advertise it to your employees. Send out a reminder to all staff that the program is in place, send out regular updates on what positions are open, and recognize the employee when you make a hire as a result of their referral.
    • Use Linkedin to promote your company and to connect with potential candidates. Make sure your company page on Linkedin is up-to-date and speaks to your company culture. Then start looking for people to connect with that you feel could be an asset to your organization. Reach out to them and let them know that you were impressed with their profile and have some potential openings that you think they may be a good fit for. You may not get a response, but then again you might. And even if they aren’t interested, they may know someone who would be.
    • Attend networking events. Networking is a great way to both get your organization’s name out there as well as to connect with people who may be in the same industry and looking for a new opportunity. Events may include tradeshows, conferences, and local meetups. A few great resources to find events in your area include Eventbrite and com.
    • Sponsor local events. In addition to attending networking events, a great way to get your name out there and garner interest from potential candidates is to sponsor local events. This gives passive candidates an opportunity to see who your organization is and what you do. And it may just peak their interest in your organization. Bring recruiting materials with you that you can hand out and take the opportunity to strike up a conversation with attendees who stop by your sponsor table.

    According to Linkedin.com, 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent. What is your organization doing to get their attention?

  • The Power of Pause

    The Power of Pause

    “Patience is the primary virtue needed in order to reach your destiny.” Tony Evans, Detours

    We use the DiSC model in leadership training.  As you can see below, the first question asked of people when they are trying to determine their DiSC style or the style of another without the assessment is, “Are you cautious and reflective or are you fast-paced and outspoken?”  I’m so fast-paced and outspoken, you don’t even need to ask the next question (questioning and skeptical or accepting and warm?). I am a Di or an iD all day long.

    So, it’s obvious that patience is not one of my virtues.   In fact, it is quite contrary to the way I am wired.

    I’m used to driving forward to meet goals without ever pausing to think about is this goal really what I want or need anymore.  This has led to some positive results, but also an increasing inability to enjoy the process of getting there, not to mention stopping to examine if there are better goals to be pursuing.

    This year, I’ve been learning the power of the pause. Through trying to force some things to happen in order to launch a new business we had set out to do this year, I have learned that oftentimes pausing to re-valuate the timing of and need for things is critical.

    If you, like me, have trouble with pausing and patience, here are some things that have helped me self-reflect on whether or not a pause is needed:

    1. Are the right people, circumstances and resources available to drive forward? In my experience trying to launch this business, one of these things fell off, then another, then another. Yet, I was still trying to push forward because I had the goal written down on paper.  When I realized that everything I thought I had at my disposal when I set that goal was no longer there, it was time to pause.
    2. Are you enjoying the pursuit? And enjoying it enough to push through resistance? If you don’t know whether you are coming or going and/or can’t stop and reflect on a few things each day you enjoyed doing as a part of the pursuit, it is probably not right.  Also, if the first “no” and/or questions and skepticism come your way and you cave, it is probably time to pause and question is it worth it?
    3. Are other things put in front of you that need your attention more? A large volume of current client work, a son who needs a lot support and time from my husband and I right now, and my husband being promoted into a role he loves but that is more demanding of his time, I have realized are all more important priorities (sometimes not as fun, but always more important) and have led to the need for pause in this area of pursuit that I thought would be a large part of my focus for the year.

     

    I love this thought by Tony Evans from Detours:

    “Training for greater things always takes place in lesser things.  … always-always-always be faithful where you are..,Far too often, we are chasing our destiny so much that we forget to maximize the location where we are right now.”

    My pause has been such a blessing.  And the pause, I believe, is now making way for this pursuit to, at the right time, become a more fruitful reality.

    How are you pausing to maximize where you are right now?

  • Building Culture When There’s No Building: Remote Workforces

    Building Culture When There’s No Building: Remote Workforces

    Even with today’s technology, many people have a hard time wrapping their minds around the concept of a virtual company. When someone asks me where Horizon Point’s office is located and I respond that we are a virtual organization, I often get some puzzled looks.

    Their first question is usually “If you don’t have an office, where do you work?” And that’s often followed up with something along the lines of “Don’t you miss interacting with other people?”

    Truthfully, I’m always interacting with people, including co-workers, clients, fellow HR professionals, and other members of the community. I just don’t do any of that from a central location. Depending on the day my office is at home, at a client site, in my car, or even at Panera Bread.

    Virtual organizations have unique challenges when it comes to creating a sense of company culture. How do you get your employees around the water cooler when the water cooler doesn’t exist and even if it did, your employees aren’t there to congregate?

    1. Clearly define your company’s mission and core values. Make sure employees know the organization’s mission and core values, speak to them often, and ensure your employees actions are guided by them. Recognize employees when they exemplify your organization’s mission or core values.
    2. Take opportunities to bring your team together, whether in-person or virtually. If your employees are all local, hold regular meetings with the entire team to talk about what’s going on in the company or plan social events to bring them all together. If they are spread out, hold virtual meetings regularly. Give them opportunities to get to know each other and build a sense of teamwork. Come together at conferences, workshops, or other work-related events.
    3. Recognize employees for a job well done. Remote employees still need feedback and recognition. Give them a call to congratulate them or thank them, send them a card in the mail, or even send out regular recognition emails to your staff.
    4. Be there when they need you. Virtual employees can’t just come knocking on your office door when they need help, but you can ensure that you’re there when they need you. Be prompt in responding to their calls or emails. Take the initiative to check in with them regularly. Don’t ever make them feel like you’re too busy to give them your time and attention.
    5. Encourage them to lean on each other. Another way to help build teamwork is to encourage your team to support each other. If an employee comes to you with an issue and you know another member of your team has expertise in that area, connect the two and encourage them to work together to resolve the issue.

    Communication is key to building company culture, whether your employees are all under one roof or spread far and wide.

    For more on remote workforces, read our blog It Doesn’t Matter How and Where Work Gets Done. The Death of Office Space, Office Hours and the Employee-Employer Relationship.

  • REPOST! Don’t Want to Wake Up With Regrets? Create a Mission Statement

    REPOST! Don’t Want to Wake Up With Regrets? Create a Mission Statement

    This post was originally published on August 30, 2013 and has been updated.

    Mission statements are critical to directing success.  Companies have them, why don’t individuals?  Having one can help you focus and reach what you want to accomplish in life by answering the who, what, why and how of you.  Its not a mission statement unless it is written down. Whether or not you are trying to make career or college decisions in your life, everyone needs to have a personal mission statement.

    The exercises focused on identifying finding your talents, passions and values, for career purposes are a good starting place to help you discover your mission.  Just as the best place for shining your light for your career is at the intersection of these three things, so is your personal mission.   If you haven’t taken the time identify your talents, passions and values, I would encourage you to identify your top three in each area by looking at the resources here on the blog that have focused on talents, passions and values throughout 2018 and looking toward 2019. When you define your mission, you should be able to live out your talents, passions, and values through it.

    Don’t want to wake up with regrets?

    We use a workshop called The Power of 3 to walk people through creating personal mission statements, goals and success strategies for themselves in order to help them insure they are living life to the fullest. They help people not wake up one day with a whole list of regrets.  Mission statements also help people say no to things that aren’t inline with their mission (more on this here).

    You can download the worksheet to this workshop here: Power of 3 Worksheet.

    Here are some other tools for creating a mission statement for yourself:

    What is your personal mission?

  • 2 Keys to Being a Successful Leader Instead of a Doer

    2 Keys to Being a Successful Leader Instead of a Doer

    A production line worker is promoted to line supervisor, yet he is still running the line like the rest of his team.

    A department Vice President is still solving day-to-day issues and is drowning in a to-do list that has nothing to do with leading the people in her department.

    At every level of the leadership hierarchy, I see it often.  Leaders not leading.  Yes, they are busy doing, but they devote little to no time leading people.   And if they just led more, it would actually shorten their to-do list!

    They were stars at their functional roles, so what do they keep doing even when promoted?  The functions that they do well.

    If you are making the transition to a leader of people,  or if you are a part of HR trying to help facilitate successful transitions for people to be good at leading people, here are some things that can help equip you/your team to make the transition successfully:

    1. Engage in/Provide leadership coaching and training. Pave the way to do this before making the transition to leader if possible. This will help equip you with mindsets and insights to practice before being placed in the role. When seeking someone to help you improve your performance, what should you look for? Here are 4 key things to look for in a coach.

    Books: If you are taking the self-directed approach to this, start by picking up some great leadership books.

    Classes: Enroll in a leadership classes that focuses on successful leadership principles and practices.  These come from all types of providers and in all types of formats, costs, and time commitments.   For a large organization, your company’s LMS should have a variety of resources and potentially structured, pre-arranged classes.  For smaller organizations, reach out to peer organizations in your community and see what they would recommend.

    Coaching: Reach out to a leadership coach internally or externally to arrange regularly scheduled coaching through your transition.   For more on vetting a coach, check out this post.

    Mentoring: Seek out someone who is already established as a strong leader of people to meet with regularly. Your natural tendency may be to gravitate towards a mentor that is good at what you are- functional responsibilities. Resist the urge and find a mentor that truly is the best at leading people. We would suggest meeting at least twice a month to begin with and then less frequently as you transition successfully. Read more about mentoring here.

    2. Practice Leadership Habits:  There are certain things that almost, if not all leaders do, and that is spend a substantial portion of their time equipping others to be successful. Your calendar should reflect that you are a leader by how you spend your time.  Habits should include:

    Regular one-on-ones with each person that reports to you:  These should be scheduled meetings that take place at intervals you feel are most appropriate.  I’ve seen some work effectively as infrequently as quarterly and some occurring weekly in order to be effective.  The frequency most often depends on how much development and guidance the person needs from you.  If you are leading effectively, the amount needed should decrease over time. These meetings should be booked in advanced and only cancelled/rescheduled in an emergency.

    Availability to everyone that reports to you:  Meeting the needs of your people should be your first priority (as long as you aren’t equipping them to allow you to be their crutch).   You should pick up the phone when they call or return their call as soon as possible.  You should also be responsive to emails and/or text messages. Going MIA to your reports breeds a feeling of not feeling valued. Be available.

    Be a career agent.

    And finally, read this post about how to move your goods to greats in order to be a leader