It’s Not Work If You Love It

The most amazing things happen when we build a career on what we do well.  If you doubt that, skip to the end of this post and view the video now.

Here’s what you’ll get if you build a career on what you love:

• Monday mornings are exciting.  You can’t wait to see what kind of results you create in this fresh new week.
• You can be very choosy about your employer.  Great employers seek those with passion & dedication.  Leave the workplaces that aim to squash individual thinking & limit authority to the mediocre workers.
• Doing what you love breeds confidence.  Confidence augments our contribution by helping us focus on others and on the bigger picture.

In the video below, you’ll meet a musician who is not only following his passion, but has found a way to bring a 16th century instrument into the 21st century.  Give the video 60 seconds and I guarantee you will be amazed and pleased.

How Can I Win In This Job?

If you’re hiring right now, applicants should be able to expect a clear and succinct answer to that question.

Many recruiting plans go off the rails late in the process when the hiring company suddenly realizes they haven’t invested sufficiently in front-end planning to ensure they’re looking for the right skills.

Try asking that question the next time you’re in a planning session.  “How will the successful candidate win in this job?”

Crystal clear position objectives are measurable.  They’re black and white.  Detailing them before you advertise will simplify the recruitment process, ease onboarding, and increase retention and morale.

Job Burnout: Exposing The Real Culprit

The biggest misunderstanding about job burnout is that it is caused by working too many hours.  This myth is harmful in two ways:

♦  People who work “normal” hours but are tracking toward burnout may not receive appropriate support if the number of hours worked is the measuring stick for worker health.

♦  It casts a stigma on those who enjoy their careers and make the decision to invest more heavily.

The real culprit behind job burnout is frustration.  Read the story of Anne and Leslie:

It was 5:30 on a sunny Friday afternoon.  Anne was sitting at her desk feeling let down and trampled.  Her colleague, Leslie, had casually announced on her way out that a key client was counting on a delivery Monday morning and none of the arrangements had been made.   That was an hour ago and Anne had not yet figured out how to meet the client’s expectation.

Anne didn’t know what to do.  A lengthy conversation revealed deep frustration over not being supported by her colleague.  This was a bigger problem than we could tackle in the moment so we came up with a quick plan for the immediate client need and made arrangements for the three of us to meet early the next week to solve the bigger problem.

In this scenario, an employee is experiencing frustration and the kind of stress that is physically and emotionally limiting.  Left unchecked, motivation is stifled, productivity goes down, worker satisfaction heads south, and the potential for physical symptoms becomes a real possibility.  Not everyone will experience burnout.  If you’re worried about your own situation, take this test.  Further down on the same page are some coping steps and frustration reduction exercises.

Another good resource is the stress reduction tips on this page.  The author presents a very thorough approach to recognizing and effectively dealing with stress.  Makes sense.  Stress is not going away.  The better we are at measuring its presence, the more proactively we can manage it.

Western Provinces Set To Drive GDP Growth in Canada

Canada’s modest GDP growth forecast will outperform that of the U.S.  We should expect to see a continued influx of U.S. companies as growth-oriented organizations look for new markets in stable economies.  I’ve heard from several U.S.-based staffing providers who see Canada as their next target for international expansion.  Are you prepared for increased competition?

	GDP Forecast 2012 % Change	Drivers
Canada overall	2.5	Modest growth expected. Challenges: government stimulus spending is winding down; record household debt levels, high food and gas prices and a cooling housing market.
Alberta	3.3	Heavy oil output ramping up.  Demand for technical, scientific and legal professionals will remain strong as the province’s economy continues to grow and diversify. “Alberta Innovates” initiative is providing funding to a wide variety of knowledge-intensive industries, including health, energy and the environment.
Saskatchewan	3.3	Oil well drilling & natural gas production increases.  Agriculture hit by poor spring conditions but fueled by strong growth in agriculture bio-tech sector.
British Columbia	3.1	Mining & mining support services (engineering, legal), natural gas export to Asian markets, software, film industry.
Manitoba	2.7	Utilities (construction & energy export), service sector expected to outperform (finance, insurance, real estate)
Newfoundland & Labrador	2.5	Mining & related construction, offshore oil, housing market fuelled by strong employment numbers and rising income
Quebec	2.5	Aerospace manufacturing, mining, technology
Ontario	2.2	Service sector growth (finance, retail, wholesale trade).  Manufacturing will benefit from tax reforms.  Auto manufacturing expected to jump following the Japan crisis.
Prince Edward Island	2.1	Food manufacturing, wind power research & manufacturing, pharma and medical manufacturing increase.
New Brunswick	2.0	Potash expected to double. Non-durable goods production increases. Challenge: NB is most vulnerable to U.S. exports (over 85% of exports are U.S. bound) and high Canadian dollar placing more pressure on outsourced call centre sector. Local talent not keeping up with technology sector demands.
Nova Scotia	1.9	Manufacturing stabilized & poised for growth in international export sectors. Finance, real estate & insurance remain strong – partially attributed to “jobsHere” initiative.

Source: Scotiabank Group Global Economic Research, July 2011

The Future of Work 2.0

Work – as we know it – is changing.  Your career success will be impacted by how well you keep up with the changes and how willing you are to make adjustments.

Tom Malone, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, talks about hyperspecialization in this Harvard video.  He makes interesting observations on the impact to workers and talks about managers learning a different kind of delegation.