Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Skills Improvement

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for personal skills improvement.

Revisiting 4 Tips to an Awesome Job Shadow or Informational Interview

A couple of years ago, I worked with a student who participated in a job shadow offered through a program at her school. She was interested in the medical field. However, during the job shadow, she realized it was not for her. The eye-opening experience helped guide her to another path.

Summer is almost here, and now is a great time for recent grads and college students to consider a job shadow or internship! If opportunities for those are not available, an informational interview is another option. All of these are valuable components of career exploration. I would argue they are just as important as interest assessments.

Where do you begin? Talk to your high school counselor or a career advisor to brainstorm ideas. Then, revisit our blog “4 Tips to an Awesome Job Shadow or Informational Interview.”

May 24, 2018
What do you value most?

Values – integrity, authenticity, honesty, loyalty, service – and the list goes on. Values are what make each person unique. Individuals want to work in organizations that prioritizes values, and companies seek out individuals who add value to their organization.
A Career Decision Making Tree is one tool we use at Horizon Point in guiding individuals in career planning. We share this in our career development course with other professionals; it’s available in our workbooks also. The idea is to determine what you value most in a career, which are the roots of the tree (i.e. career must haves). Then, you can narrow down your list of careers. We often facilitate this after a formal interest inventory assessment.

Satisfaction in your career is closely connected to values. Doing work that you are passionate about and that you find value in often predicts job satisfaction.

Unsure of what you value in work? Use this free assessment at Career One Stop to find out: https://www.vawizard.org/wizard/assessment-combined.

May 15, 2018
Increase the Value of your Organization’s Biggest Asset
“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” – Sir Richard Branson

As another school year comes to a close, my boys have already started getting that end of year fever. To them the end of the school year means a break from learning. To me it means a summer filled with opportunities to teach them things they can’t experience in a classroom. With that comes the opportunity to encourage them to challenge themselves and set personal goals for what they want to accomplish during the summer (besides sleeping in).

Performance reviews are a great opportunity for leadership to sit down with employees and not only review their past performance, but to also help employee set personal learning goals for their future as well. While employees are an organization’s best asset, those assets are only worth what an organization puts into them. The more an organization encourages employees to seek out continuous learning opportunities and the more resources an organization provides for employees to do so, the more valuable the employees become to the organization.

There are countless ways for an organization to provide continuous learning opportunities. Regardless of the size of your organization, there are ways to help your employees grow in their careers. Some options include:
- Tuition Reimbursement Programs
- In-House Training Programs
- Webinars & Conferences
- Lunch and Learn Sessions
- Vendor Presentations (these are often provided for free)
- Mentor/Shadowing Programs
- Monthly Informative Newsletters
Providing training opportunities to employees not only helps them to increase their knowledge, it helps them feel more connected to the organization. Leaders can encourage employees in their efforts through continuous feedback and review of the goals set during the performance review process.

Are you increasing the value of your organization’s biggest asset through continuous learning?
May 10, 2018
Top 10 Quotes on Authentic Leadership

As we continue to explore authenticity, I think it’s important to focus on how to actually be an authentic leader. One of the best ways to learn is to pay close attention to the authentic leaders you know in real life and those who are doing the work publicly and sharing their experiences. We always look for research and subject matter experts to inform our work, so here are ten authentic leadership quotes we often reference:

10) “Authentic Leaders are not afraid to show emotion and vulnerability as they share in the challenges with their team. Developing a solid foundation of trust with open and honest communication is critical to authentic leadership.” – Farshad Asl, The “No Excuses” Mindset: A Life of Purpose, Passion, and Clarity

9) “Authentic leadership is the full expression of “me” for the benefit of “we”.” – Henna Inam, Wired for Authenticity: Seven Practices to Inspire, Adapt, & Lead

8) “Authentic leadership is revealed in the alignment of what you think, what you say, and what you do.” –Michael Holland, Founder & President, Bishop House

7) “Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet — thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing — consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust.” – Lance Secretan, The Secretan Center, Inc.

6) “Authenticity and knowing who you are is fundamental to being an effective and long-standing leader.” -Ann Fudge

5) “Without trust we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.” – Stephen Covey

4) “It is true that integrity alone won’t make you a leader, but without integrity you will never be one.” –Zig Ziglar

3) “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” – Andy Stanley

2) “A genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

1) “A true leader is one who is humble enough to admit their mistakes.” – John C. Maxwell

To read more about Authentic Leadership, visit my blog post Authenticity and Authentic Leadership.

May 3, 2018
8 Ways to Display a People First Mindset
We’ve been working on training to help people implement tactical ways to demonstrate a “People First” or relationship-driven mindset. It started out as something to meet a need for a retail client and has turned into a professional development topic for an entirely different industry.

In a world where every business is trying to figure out a way to distinguish themselves and create a competitive advantage, treating people like people is a good a place as any to start.

To do this, the critical piece is to identify and meet needs.

To create an environment where this can be done:
1. Make eye contact.
2. Smile. Making eye contact and smiling at someone invites them to engage with you. This is step one in opening the door to identify and meet a need.
3. Open-ended questions. Ask questions that don’t solicit a natural “yes” or “no” response. For example, not “Can I help you?” but “What can I help you with today?”
4. Let people take ownership. In the case of a retail business, one of the distinguishing advantages to buying in a brick and mortar store instead of online is that a person can see and touch the actual product. Let people take ownership of the product. Give it to them and let them hold it (but only if you know it meets their need, not to force it on them). In a situation where there isn’t a product to take ownership of, let people take ownership of their experience so they can guide and mold the experience to meet their need.
5. Learn and say/repeat name. We aren’t naturally very good at remembering people’s names because when we meet people for the first time and ask them their name, we are subconsciously thinking about the next thing we want to say, not focusing on remembering their name. Being conscious of listening to and recalling someone’s name can be a game changer because most people don’t do it. When you address a person during your second interaction with them by using their name, they remember it because it is often novel for that to occur. They are more likely, then, to engage with you to express their need(s).
6. Break the rules. There are policies everywhere you turn. When you break the rules to be able to meet a need, people remember it. As long as you aren’t putting more people at a disadvantage (see number seven below) by breaking the rule for one, break the rule if it meets someone’s need.
7. Stand your ground with respect. Sometimes putting people first means politely but forcefully correcting bad behavior. This could include “firing” some customers, employees, etc. When we cater to the vocal and negative minority, we aren’t putting people first. We’re being a coward.
8. And finally, DWYSYWD. Read more about that here.
How do you put people first?
May 1, 2018