Anxiety chokes Knees buckle Fingers point Fear of what may happen.
Or
Strength grows Breath of courage To rescue others Selflessness.
Who are you?
People who have a lot to give but give nothing. People who have little to give but give it away. People who have a lot but live seeing themselves in need. People who have little but live feeling they have an abundance.
We fear what may happen, We fear what could happen, We fear what might happen, but none of those things are now, Remain in the Present
We imagine the worst, Our minds and bodies live as if what we dread is occurring, We are bond-servants to our trepidations, but none of these things are now, Remain in the Present
Many sow a terrible story, Many breath a foreboding atmosphere, Many drink the potion of unease, but your experience is only in this moment, Remain in the present.
Can you breath Can you tune out the noise Can you rest in the Divine’s company Can you lend your presence and peace to another Find what is Present.
As much as anything else, work is about learning. It is learning about what we are good at and what we enjoy. It is about striving to get better. Conversely, the learning we receive from a job can also involve finding what we do not like to do. We may discover we don’t care for the work, the clientele, the company, or the entire industry. Finding out we do not like a certain job is important information and can teach us a lot about ourselves. Being unhappy at one job may propel us down a new path we love that we might not have otherwise considered.
So what if you’ve found yourself unhappy in your job? Do not allow the discontent to overcome you. Rather, I suggest you consider one of the following two options. First, if you are not happy in your job but feel that the type of work is something you want to do and before you get so frustrated you become angry, go to your manager and have a heart-to-heart discussion. Tell them what you like about the work and what you struggle with. Ask your manager for suggestions about what you [the employee] could do differently. Tell them what you think they [the manager or company] could do differently. If you are working for a company that believes in employee development and you’ve demonstrated a willingness to work hard, then it is likely your manager will do what they can to help you. It is much better for a company to help an existing employee be successful than to start all over with a new hire. In addition to speaking with your manager also figure out which of your co-workers are really successful and enjoy their jobs. Have a conversation with them. Find out how they do their work tasks, how they organize their day, how they handle the difficulties of the job, what they do for self-care, and what keeps them motivated. Learning from a successful co-worker may be just the thing you need to turn things around and excel. If however, you are convinced you are ready to give up on your current job and don’t want to give it a second thought, then I suggest you consider option number two.
The second option is this…leave gracefully. By this I mean do the following. First read the company policy on terminations. It will inform you of the organization’s expectations for you to leave on good terms. Follow the policy. Second, before resigning look for another job. Conventional wisdom says, “It is easier to find a job while you have a job.” Third, while looking for your new or transition job do not slack at the job you are leaving. Work hard and well. Fourth, once you have secured another job then give the company you are leaving the amount of notice of your departure they ask for in the policy. Leave on good terms. Don’t intentionally burn a bridge. The employer you are leaving may well be called on to give you a formal or more likely informal reference. We all need as many good references as we can get.
Being unhappy at work happens to everyone at some point. For some it is a temporary mood or only a brief season. After all, even if we love our jobs, there are tasks involved with the job we do not like. If, however, you have a pervasive discontent with your job, reach out for help. If that does not work, don’t be afraid to plan your transition. Just do it gracefully.
2019, like every year, was full of opportunities for learning and growth. Here are five things I’ll share that I plan to keep in mind as I go into 2020.
There may be a person in your life who you perceive as your nemesis. It is possible that this person is placed in your life to force you to grow. There are times (and only God knows when) we are not able to grow and develop into the leader we are intended to be unless we have someone in front of us who we must overcome. These are times when skills are required that have laid dormant in us. Skills that have been latent, waiting for the proper environment to sprout. It may be skills like the ability to exercise humility, courage to speak your mind, or the capacity to take decisive action. Whatever it is, you needed that “nemesis” to bring this out in you. It may seem counter-intuitive but be thankful for them even if the growth experience was painful.
There may be a person whom you perceive as very fragile and incapable of getting their feet underneath them and flourishing. It is possible that with the right supports in place, with a tribe of emotionally healthy friends, the feeding of the mind, body and soul with life-giving practices and the shedding of toxic relationships, a person can come into their own. Their skills, abilities and gifts can surface and thrive. Never underestimate or under-appreciate what a history of childhood trauma can do to a person. Never underestimate or under-appreciate what can be recovered when a healthy and supportive network of caring people begin to nurture someone.
The current environment you see yourself and your organization surrounded by may seem very unfriendly. The likelihood is, however, that the people, positions, and politics making it unfriendly will change. Hang in there. You never know when the leader of another agency you work alongside will take another job, when a friend will become a major player in your local government, a colleague will get a top post in the state government, or the new group of lawmakers decide to make rules and laws that are much more supportive of your industry.
If you are in a leadership role, never forget that it is a privilege to be there. It carries with it immense responsibilities. Treat your job with gratitude and treat the relationship with the people you work with as sacred. If no one is following you, you are not leading. You are the chief servant. Put all of the other ideas you have about yourself aside.
It is easy to get caught up in your day-to-day realities. It is easy to see the small space in the universe that you occupy as all there is. When this happens we fail to see the possibilities and potentialities around us. The world is full of amazing and interesting people doing amazing and interesting things. It is full of beautiful and breathtaking places. It is so important to step away from your work. To take time off. To see people and places you’ve never seen before. It does not necessarily require you to travel far. Go to art galleries. Go to a museum. Go to the zoo. See the Great Lakes. Go to a national park. See the ocean. Travel to another state or country if you can. These things help you realize that there is much more to life than your job or the circumstances you find yourself in.
I hope you find this list helpful. I’ve experienced all of it this year. Blessings to you and have a wonderful and meaningful 2020.
“For where you have…selfish-ambition there you find [organizational] disorder…” *
Ambition is a very important quality for a leader or manager to have. You probably would not be in the role you are in as a leader if you did not have ambition, passion, or drive about something. Ambition can lead a person toward excellence and success. The real question about ambition is who or what is the ambition for? Additionally, what kind of wake does the actions generated by one’s ambition leave behind? A leader ambitious for the mission of their organization, who channels all of their problem solving, partnership building, and decision making for the furtherance of the organization’s purpose has a chance to build a healthy, longstanding, and fruitful organization. Conversely, a leader focused on building something only for themselves, over the long haul, is much less likely to develop an organization that functions at its best.
It is natural to have selfish interests. As humans one of our basic instincts is to look out for ourselves. To do the opposite, looking out for the interests of others, takes work. It takes an awareness of our motives and a willingness to move toward putting our self-centered thinking aside and acting in a manner that is other-centered. As I was reading this morning, a phrase from an ancient letter written to leaders jumped out at me. It stated, “For where you have…selfish-ambition there you find [organizational] disorder…” *
Leaders, ask yourself these questions: Is your ambition aimed at, Your agency’s mission; Your agency’s well being; Your agency’s culture’s health and strength; Your employee’s learning and growth; Your agency’s fiscal strength and well being; Your customer’s, client’s, or patient’s best care, treatment, and results?
If as leaders, we want to help the organization or agency we are part of to thrive we must be aware of what is motivating our decisions. Often this is not easy to figure out. It takes contemplation and feedback from others. We need to develop a practice of self-reflection, allowing others to speak into our life, and vulnerability. If we do this day-by-day we can begin to recognize when our selfish-ambition gets in the way of leadership that lifts up our coworkers, partners, clients, customers, or patients.
* The Apostle James’ letter “…to the Twelve Tribes Scattered Among the Nations” Chapter 3 verse 16.
We just finished interviewing two highly qualified, wise, and hard working people. They had amazing work histories that complemented the job they had applied for and had great references. After meeting with the candidates our interview team said the same thing: “Great people. They have great qualities. They are just not the right fit.”
What is “fit”? It’s includes a person’s training. It includes their credentials. It includes their experience. But it is also more than the things that go on a resume. Fit includes aspects of personality. It includes relationship skills. It includes a person’s preferred style of conflict resolution, problem solving, and communication. It includes the capacity to work independently and as a member of a team. It encompasses a person’s short term and long term career goals. It involves expectations of work hours or schedule. The list of what makes up “fit” could go on and on.
How is an organization supposed to uncover these aspects of an interviewee? The reality is that you can’t really know what type of an employee someone will be until they work with you. You can, however, take steps in the hiring process to increase the odds of finding out whether or not the interviewee would be a good match. The leadership team at the agency I work for has come up with a process that helps us narrow down new hires to people who have a better chance of being a good fit in our organization. The process includes,
Identify the characteristics of an employee who would be a “good fit.” Assess the team members you have who are successful and try to define the personality traits, soft skills, relationship style, cognitive abilities, and other attributes that help them do well.
Involve team members in the interview. This does three things. First it empowers the team members and sends the message that their opinion is very important to the organization. Second, it taps into their expertise. The current team is often the best people to determine if someone will fit. Finally it gives the team ownership in the hire and can motivate them to foster the success of the new employee.
Use real life scenarios as part of the interview. Scenarios help to get a sense of the interviewee’s problem solving, triaging, and organizing skills. It also gives you a sense of whether or not their experience translates into practical wisdom for the job.
Run the name past any team members who used to work with the potential hire. Your team members are invested in having good co-workers and will usually be very honest about their past experience with someone who is a potential hire.
Never hire the person with “the least bad interview.” By this I mean, you are in a situation where you don’t feel really good about any of the interviewees but because you feel pressure to fill a spot so you choose the person who was the least bad at the interview.
Never allow the administration to make a decision to hire someone while not having the full by-in of the primary supervisor. The direct supervisor is the team member who is going to have to live most closely with the new hire. For the supervisor’s morale and to give the new hire the best chance of success make sure the direct supervisor is okay with the hire.
Ask the interviewee for references that were former supervisors or team members. Try to get a minimum of three. The more work history the reference has with the potential hire the better chance you have of getting robust answers to reference questions.
Do an informal online audit of the potential hire. Google their name. Check on social media to see if they have any posts that reveal their work habits.
If you still are not sure about someone have a second interview and include more team members.
I hope this short list gives you some ideas to help improve your method of finding team members who are a good fit. It takes longer to get through the hiring process this way but in the long run builds a strong team and in-turn a stronger organization.
Things are different in the world of recruitment and retention of employees these days. Ask anyone in human resource management. It is getting harder to find competent, effective staff members. Not only is it getting difficult to find good employees, it is also getting increasingly challenging to keep qualified and experienced personnel. In fact, the more technical or skilled the job is, the harder it is to recruit and retain someone. With unemployment at or below 4% every industry is feeling the pinch. However, in the world of community behavioral health and social services the feeling is much more than a pinch. The reality is that there are not enough highly qualified and licensed staff in the market to satisfy the need. In today’s community behavioral health job market,
The qualified people currently interviewing at your agency are also interviewing at several other places and a race is on to offer good people a job. If you wait too long you miss out.
The salary of qualified staff is a constantly moving target. What is a very competitive wage today is on the low end of average after six months.
Credentialed staff are being actively recruited by your competition and could go at anytime.
The competition community behavioral health centers is up against is not only other community behavioral health centers but it also includes large hospital systems, government agencies, and insurance companies.
Community behavioral health centers are nonprofit organizations with slim margins. It is difficult to compete with the wages and benefits of the much larger more deep pocketed entities that make up their competition for highly qualified employees.
In order for community behavioral health centers to hire and keep highly qualified staff in this phenomenally competitive market they must embrace four truths.
The work culture has become an essential asset. A culture that is supportive, affirming, growth promoting, safe (physically and emotionally), flexible, and employee-centered is a necessity. These are all things that community behavioral health centers can provide.
Front-line managers often serve as mentors, coaches, and even surrogate parents or grandparents to younger staff members.
Wages and benefits must be competitive. Community behavioral health systems must find ways to offer wages and benefits that are at least in the ballpark of what others can offer.
A skill set grounded in Transformational Leadership theory for people in supervisory roles is essential for the retention of good employees.
So how do community behavioral health and social service centers respond to the current labor market? We cannot live in the past. If we do, our agencies will fall behind. The only choice is to adapt to the new world of recruitment and retention. This is not easy and requires painstaking self-reflection and adaptation at all levels. Leave no stone unturned. At the agency I work for recruitment and retention is a constant conversation amongst our leadership team. It is an ongoing process and we keep at it. Here is a list of actions we have used to guide us that may be helpful to your organization as well.
Realize that the environment which your agency or organization exists in has changed. Former assumptions about hiring and retaining employees will not work in these new circumstances. We are experiencing a new generation of workers, a new economy, new technologies, and new priorities in the workplace.
Clearly identify what your agency’s true mission is and focus all resources on who or what supports that and let go of anything else.
Frequently reevaluate your human resource assumptions. This is not something that can be done by your organization’s upper echelon by simply thinking about it. It requires asking employees questions about what they like and don’t like about the work environment and the wages and benefits.
Research what your competition is doing and adjust and adapt to it.
Identify the policies, procedures, and practices that are holding you back. Is your hiring protocol too cumbersome? Does your process of interviewing, checking references, and making an offer take too long?
Revise your budget. Revamp it so that it enhances getting and keeping the best employees because without them you won’t have a budget.
Be willing to change your management and supervisory structure to meet the needs of the current generation of employees. Do you need more individual supervision? More group supervision? Ask your team what they need or want and develop your supervisory structure around their feedback.
Look at creative ways to offer benefits such as health insurance. Find an insurance broker who understands the most cutting edge ways to offer incentives to your team. You may find you can cut costs while adding benefits for staff engaging in healthy living practices.
Community behavioral health and social service agencies have a lot to offer the current generation of workers. We can be competitive in our pursuit of good team members. To do so requires a major overhaul of how we think about recruiting and retaining the best of the workforce. Change is never easy but it is necessary; however as community behavioral health centers the work we do, often to serve the most vulnerable in our communities, is calling out to us to do what is required.
I have worked as the Executive Director of a community mental health, substance misuse, housing, and abuse recovery agency for the past fourteen years. Presently the organization I work for has just under 100 employees, multiple local partners, and a very significant and daunting mission. It is a demanding job with an agency that is making a difference in our community. For those of you in similar positions you know that being in charge comes with challenges. As the years have gone by I find myself filing away simple little principles for my behavior that help me do my job more effectively. They are things I tell myself when I feel like taking a shortcut. Some of them apply to how I represent our agency. Some apply to how I make decisions. Some apply to how I treat others. None of them are terribly earth shattering but if you tuck then away and use them as reminders they can help keep you on track.
It is better to be overdressed than underdressed.
It is better to over-communicate important information than under-communicate important information.
It is better to over-plan an intervention or change than under-plan an intervention or change.
It is better to over-prepare for a presentation than under-prepare for a presentation.
It is better to be early for an appointment or meeting than late to an appointment or meeting.
It is better to leave more-than-enough time to get a project done than not enough time to get a project done.
It is better to go overboard with thank-yous and appreciation than under acknowledge or not acknowledge people’s contributions and generosity.
It is better to listen for a long time without speaking than to not listen long enough.
It is better to get advice and perspectives from many people than fail to get enough advice.
It is better to err on the side of generosity than fail to extend grace, mercy, or resources to someone in need.
