What Makes The Difference

As you might suspect, the variances from location to location are mostly related to the people that work at each site. The behaviors of the leadership teams and the engagement of the employee bases are where the real differences are manifested.

This simple observation makes it easy to propose the theory that if we want to have a thriving organization, we better spend some time making sure we have thriving people. I am sure this is not the first time you have heard this theory, but what are the characteristics of a thriving person?

The Thriving Person

Most people I know, expect that the organization will create an environment where they can grow and thrive. Sadly, no matter what the organization does, it is never enough. That is because we are all individuals and we each need different conditions in order to flourish. As a result, it is difficult for any organization to create a “one-size-fits-all” program for personal development. The thriving person understands this and becomes accountable for their own plan.

Organizations that recognize this concept create cultures that foster the development of thriving individuals. This means that they value initiative taking, proactiveness, decisiveness and the encourage their people to take risks, even when some of those risks result in failures or setbacks.

Still, creating a healthy environment does not move the responsibility from the individual. He or she, must be willing to set meaningful goals, make decisions, walk with purpose, and demonstrate a willingness to move initiatives forward in the face of obstacles that threaten success. Most organizations value these behaviors, even when their cultures do not foster their development.

Permission To Grow

Do you get what I am saying? You are responsible for creating the thriving you. Nobody else can, and nobody else will. Do you understand that if you don’t like your current circumstances, you are free to change them?

I imagine that you do understand this concept, so I am inviting you to examine where you are. Consider your current circumstances:

What are you doing that is good? How can you do that better? What will it take for you to become your best?

Who can help you become your best? When will you ask then to help?

This is a great time of year to review your personal progress. The more time you spend undestanding your own needs, the more likely you are to be seen as a valued employee. Just consider the things you can do right now that will help you thrive and become your best. Then get busy. I love forward to seeing you thrive.

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn
760-559-3548

A significant cause of this growth is the overall increase in spending on heath and education related services relative to the overall economy. But another important cause is the aging nature of many of the workers – at all levels – in both fields. Education and health are ranked in the top tier among all industries that anticipate recruiting and retention pressure as their workforce begins to retire in greater than average numbers.

In these industries, which require postsecondary education for many employees, ensuring an adequate supply of appropriately educated workers now is critical to avoiding severe shortages in the future. In fact, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing worries that 500,000 positions per year could go unfilled.

Certainly, if the current economic condition persists for too long, workers who had planned to retire may stay on and new job growth will be lower, but relative to other fields these two industries will continue to require greater flexibility and skill from responsible human resource personnel.

For these and other reasons we are looking forward to Lisa Orrell’s webinar on How to Successfully Recruit, Manage, and Retain Our Next Generation of Young Professionals. Understanding the cultural differences that set the “Millennials” apart from other generations will be important for attracting the best talent, mitigating clash between the incoming and outgoing (Boomer) groups, and allowing their diversity, independence and optimism to shape an organization’s success. This will be doubly true in those fields that now have – and will soon lose – older workers in great numbers.

1. The unspoken reason why people always leave organizations
2. Who is responsible for retention and what they need to do differently
3. The business costs of losing talent, and how to measure them
4. What you can do to ensure you hire right in the beginning
5. How you keep your best people even during a talent raid
6. What engagement really means and how to use it as the focus for the way you run your business
7. How to distinguish between your stars, keepers, dead wood and virus
8. What Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Gen Y-ers need differently and what they all need in common

David is the author of Inside the Box: Leading with Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success, The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing and Keeping Top Performers, and a columnist for Workplace News. Dr. Cohen is considered a thought leader in the design of integrated human resources processes consistent with the corporate vision, values, behaviors and business plan of each client.

You can listen to David’s presentation by pressing play below or you may download it here for use with your favorite media player. Be sure to download the session slides in pdf format to follow along too.