Blog

March 1, 2017

Greg Thomas

The New Career Market

When I was a kid many years ago… I had a paper route that someone gave me. I had a part-time job that someone gave me. Neighbours asked me to mow their lawns and shovel their driveways. Today… Paper routes are declining, the roles being taken on by adults with cars. The job market is crowded, many people are fighting for part-time jobs in the hope they become full-time. Companies specializing in lawn and snow maintenance. Everything is being done better thanI could ever do it. For my kids… They will need to learn to create their own jobs, find niches and

February 28, 2017

Greg Thomas

Maintaining Connectivity to Your Team

There is a slew of tools to ensure you’re constantly in contact with your team – SLACK, Skype, Hangouts – to name a few.  Sometimes we use these as scheduled interactions and mass announcement platforms with more one way then both way communications. But the moments that generate the genuine gratitude from your teams are the random interactions – the text message to grab a bite, the call to see what’s up and how it’s going, the email to see if you need help with anything you are working on. It’s not the medium that we need to get better

February 27, 2017

Greg Thomas

Focus on the Moments, Not the Game

It’s easy to look at a game, a job, a task, an anything and get down on yourself for having messed up and lost. So easy in fact that we don’t need anyone’s help to see what went wrong. But as a Leader, you need to pivot, you need to step back, this game is over, this project is done and now it’s time to focus on the next one.  Even if it’s not over, you need to dig deep and focus on your team – what moments they shone in, where they did well and where they need to improve.

February 24, 2017

Greg Thomas

Ease Up on the Self-Critique

When we are so focussed on a problem, looking in, staring at, trying to solve it, trying to make it better, adding, deleting, writing, erasing, training, stopping, we sometimes forget to stop being so critical of ourselves and take a step back to look at what we’ve really accomplished. We shouldn’t be driven by external factors, but sometimes they are a great way to slap us upside the head and remind us. “You are doing good work, you are getting there, don’t stop now.” So next time you feel frustrated, step away, look at things from a distance and take

February 23, 2017

Greg Thomas

Not my Job, What about your Career?

When we say that something is not our job what we are really saying is that this has no place in my career. Perhaps it’s not our skill set, maybe it’s not something we are used to doing, maybe it’s something we feel is less than what we normally do. Dangerous assumptions all around. Because maybe, just maybe it might not be our job, but it might be the offroad adventure that our career yearning for.