Posts Tagged ‘Workforce’

The toxic workplace.  How many of us have seen them?  How many of us have worked within them?  You don’t have to be the environmental protection agency to condemn an organization’s culture a super-fund site.    How many times has your system been poisoned by lethal bosses who are emotionally violent?  While these questions are pointed, and my language is strong, I implore you to consider the damage that a bad boss, or a toxic work environment can do to your health.

With unemployment still rearing its ugly head, most people that have survived the massive cut backs are in many ways stuck.  Some have survivors guilt, particularly after seeing people they grew to love depart from the organization.  The pressure mounts as organizations have to do more with less.  And who does this hurt?  YOU!

If your organization doesn’t have a healthy culture, you might find yourself feeling torn to bits.  Sometimes the organization is broken at the systemic level.  Sometimes it’s toxic bosses that poison the well.  Regardless, if you are stuck in a workplace that’s eating you alive, and keeping you up at night all is not lost.  If you wake up in the morning dreading getting out of bed, you are not alone.  Here’s a few of my ideas to help you survive.

1) Create a short-term survival plan. Decide what, if anything you can do.  You might want to use a tool called mind mapping.  Mind mapping allows you to brainstorm on paper, and organize your thoughts. It’s an excellent planning tool.

2) Do a spot check inventory of yourself. Ask yourself honestly, am I contributing to the situation? How can I make it better. If there is something you can do to improve the surroundings around you, figure that out, and put your good ideas to work.  Sometimes it’s not about you.  Sometimes is the people around you, or perhaps you have what Chris Pentilla calls a “Boss Hole.” Bob Sutton wrote a good book on this topic, “Good Boss, Bad Boss.  If you are plagued with one of the many profiles of a toxic boss, read these articles for more insight.

3) Make an exit strategy.  Work with a coach, a friend, or even a family member to discuss your situation.  Design your signature path,  put the wheels in motion to get out.  Finding a new job doesn’t begin with a job board, or your resume.  It begins with you.  Dig deep down into your gut and decide once and for all what would make you really happy. Then craft your resume, create a job search strategy, and start networking.  I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to take the path of self-discovery first.  It will help you build a firm foundation upon which the rest of your career is built.

4) Desperation is a gift.  Our desperation can turn into inspiration.  It is a pivotal shift that can shape our new life. Use your sense of feeling stuck as a spring board up and out.

5) Blow the whistle.  Most organizations have dispute systems where bad behavior can be reported. Don’t get paralyzed by fear.  Go through the proper channels.  If you feel your physical, or legal rights are being violated, and you have the courage to report it, then do it.   That’s a personal decision that only you can make.  Only you can decide if you want to live with the consequences of doing so, but if in the final analysis you decide to launch a case, know that there will be plenty of people in the online community that will support you. The point is: you are never alone, so you don’t have to feel isolated.  There are so many people in our HireFriday community who may have experienced the same thing, and could support you regardless of what you decide.

The good news is this: most companies have dispute systems where offensive behavior can be reported.  If your organization has a union, it’s much easier to file a grievance than not.  However, if someone is violating your rights, or if you feel you are working in a hostile environment, get help.  Taking action is a very personal decision.  Only you can make that decision.

I’ll leave you with this final thought.  If you ever need someone to talk to, connect with someone on our HireFriday Leadership team. Whether you stay, or leave our HireFriday community is here to help.

Your job search pal,

HRMargo

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HireFriday: One Tribe-One Community Supporting & Helping One Another

That’s right, Monday, August 30th marks the first ever HireFriday show on Compassionate HR (my blogtalkradio show.) It brings me great pride to bring you the HireFriday Community members that make our space such a special place to be. In addition, The HireFriday All-Stars Show brings its with the best career development professionals in the business. People like Chandlee Bryan, author of The Twitter Job Search Guide will be one of our all-star panelists. I am hoping to convince Julie Walraven, Karen Siwak, Janice Worthington and other great resume writers to appear. Shally from Arbita will make an appearance. He’s the God Father of Candidate Sourcing. He is pointed to as the man who made internet research for candidate sourcing a valid, and respectable career.

I’ve invited the entire job search community to participate in tomorrow’s show. It will be fun to see who shows up. One never knows what will happen on blogtalkradio, and that’s part of the excitement. I’ve invited the best and brightest career coaches to call in our show. It will be a HireFriday job search free for all. We will stray from the Compassionate HR interview format in order to accommodate as many callers who want to speak

All the phone lines will be open, so anyone wants to call in to make a job search comment, ask a question about how to cope with unemployment, deal with limited resources, you are all welcome to pipe in–this show will provide useful ideas and tools for the taking. You will get so much free advice you’ll want to down load the episode free on I-Tunes so that you may listen to it again, and again. My hope is people will have a safe place to ask questions and discuss the ups and downs of the job search process. Unemployment is hard. HireFriday can help.

I kid around about being a fierce candidate advocate, and opened up the twitter profile for my alter-ego “GangstaHR.” She’s a kick-ass, take no prisoners, boots on the ground problem solver and candidate advocates. She vigorously debates people who pick on job seekers, and sometimes offends. Like me, my other persona has a heart of gold. GangstaHR gives me a chance to freely express my first amendment rights as an opinionated big-mouth who is fearless when it comes to defending job seekers, and their rights.

HRMargo, however is far more interested in providing useful information, job search strategy, and boot camp workshops to teach unemployed people how to find work using online resources. HireFriday and Compassionate HR are not just careers of mine, they are a way of life, and my way of serving my community. It’s my passion to be a candidate advocate. I care deeply about the plight of unemployed people. I will one day start a not for profit organization to serve guide women coming out of battered Women’s Shelters how to re-enter the workforce. I will serve disadvantaged populations, and teach them job readiness skills so that they too can re-join the workforce. While this is in the future, this is my ultimate vision.

In the meantime, I will offer job search strategy coaching, workshops, e-books, and useful tools to accelerate your re-mployment. Please tune in Monday evening. I secured a toll free number for job seekers 877-230-4601. Our listener call in line is 347-426-3215. You may also listen to the HireFriday All Stars show by pointing your browser to http://blogtalkradio.com/comphr. Thank you friends.

Your theme song today is by the Black Eyed Peas: One Tribe because The HireFriday Community I started back in February is truly one tribe y’all.

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