5 Ways To Ace Your Social Work Job Interview - SocialWorker.com by Valerie Arendt, MSW, MPP Congratulations! Your amazing résumé and cover letter worked. You got the interview! Now the pressure is on for you to stand out from your fellow candidates and show the employer you are the right fit for the job. Organizational culture is important, and the individuals interviewing you want to work with someone they get along with, trust professionally, and plan on spending many hours a week with. First impressions are critical. 1. Everyone knows they should research the company and position they are getting ready to interview for. Research questions to answer: What does the organization do? 2. I can’t stress enough how important it is to prepare for each and every interview. a. b. 60-Second Presentation Statement. c. Problem that existed Actions you took to address the problem Results you achieved solving the problem Have a variety of PAR stories ready. d. Be prepared for behavioral interview questions. You can answer all of these questions using a PAR story!
Top tips for newly qualified social workers | Community Care Photo: AnthonyJess/Adobe Stock By Lindsay Giddings You’ve done it. Placements are finished, assignments are handed in and now you’re a fully qualified and registered social worker. Hurrah! Before you go and dive into the office cake (we’ll come back to that), here are some top tips that should stand you in good stead as you go out into the big wide world of social work practice… Write your notes now, not later You’ve just got to the office. Before you do any of those things, the first thing you need to do is write up that visit from last night. Firstly, you will have achieved something – yippee! The people you spent time with last night, be it a child, family, adult or whoever, they let you into their space and they spent time with you. Don’t make false promises This one might take some time to master. This also applies to the more everyday aspects of your job too. Don’t take work home over the weekend Be nice to yourself Practice good self-care. Take a lunch break Have a sense of humour
Listening takes more effort than we might think. Here's how to do it well By Gary Nunn Updated about an hour agoThu 6 Dec 2018, 10:25pm When I contacted people whose job it is to listen — psychotherapists, counsellors, journalists — one thing came up repeatedly. It was a quote from the late author Stephen Covey: "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. Think about when you listen to somebody. If you fall into the former category, fear not! It's a skill that'll be invaluable in the small talk season of the Christmas party. Listening vs hearing The difference between listening and hearing is simple. "Many don't practise effective listening — they're always seeking to respond before they've really heard or processed. It can be tempting to think of listening as a passive task, when the opposite is true, she says: "Good listening is active; it requires effort." That effort to pause is crucial to the work of psychotherapists like Tahnee Schulz, chief operating officer of online mental health platform Lysn: "It increases stress tolerance.
Making time management the organization’s priority When a critical strategic initiative at a major multinational stalled recently, company leaders targeted a talented, up-and-coming executive to take over the project. There was just one problem: she was already working 18-hour days, five days a week. When the leaders put this to the CEO, he matter-of-factly remarked that by his count she still had “30 more hours Monday to Friday, plus 48 more on the weekend.” Extreme as this case may seem, the perennial time-scarcity problem that underlies it has become more acute in recent years. The impact of always-on communications, the growing complexity of global organizations, and the pressures imposed by profound economic uncertainty have all added to a feeling among executives that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get things done. Fortunately, this also means that the problem can be tackled systematically. Approaches like these aren’t just valuable in their own right. Time: The ‘infinite’ resource Open interactive popup 1. 2. 3. 4.
How Humble Leadership Really Works Top-down leadership is outdated and counterproductive. By focusing too much on control and end goals, and not enough on their people, leaders are making it more difficult to achieve their own desired outcomes. The key, then, is to help people feel... When you’re a leader — no matter how long you’ve been in your role or how hard the journey was to get there — you are merely overhead unless you’re bringing out the best in your employees. Unfortunately, many leaders lose sight of this. Power, as my colleague Ena Inesi has studied, can cause leaders to become overly obsessed with outcomes and control, and, therefore, treat their employees as means to an end. Take for example a UK food delivery service that I’ve studied. This type of top-down leadership is outdated, and, more importantly, counterproductive. The key, then, is to help people feel purposeful, motivated, and energized so they can bring their best selves to work. Here’s how to do it. The new approach? Be humble
Only One in 10 People Possess the Talent to Manage | Gallup Story Highlights Talent is the natural capacity for excellenceManagers with high talent are better brand ambassadorsManagers with high talent are more likely to focus on strengths One of the most important decisions companies make is simply whom they name manager, Gallup has found. And great managers are scarce because the talent required to be one is rare. Defining Talent Gallup's latest report, State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders, provides an in-depth look at what characterizes great managers and examines the crucial links between talent, engagement and vital business outcomes such as profitability and productivity. Gallup defines talent as the natural capacity for excellence. Gallup has studied the behavior of high performers in every imaginable role, from elite military personnel and teachers to bank tellers and truck drivers. Gallup describes manager talent using five "talent dimensions": MotivatorAssertivenessAccountabilityRelationshipsDecision-Making
Hedgehog Concept by Jim Collins: a Powerful Strategy Tool | ToolsHero This article describes the concept of the Hedgehog Concept by Jim Collins in a practical way. After reading you will understand the definition and basics of this powerful strategy tool. What is the Hedgehog Concept? The Hedgehog Concept by the American business consultant Jim Collins shows how a company or person can be successful in business. It’s about the power of simplicity, increasing the chance of success. In his 2001 book ‘Good to Great‘, Collins describes the similarities between large organisations like multinational corporations and the Hedgehog Concept. Classic story The Hedgehog Concept is based on an ancient Greek parable about the hedgehog and the fox. Circles According to Collins, the Hedgehog Concept consists of understanding three circles that each start with a question. Circle 1: What are you deeply passionate about? This is about understanding and finding out everyone’s passion within the organisation. Circle 2: What can you be the best in the world at? Overlap
Good to Great: The Hedgehog Concept In continuing with the current theme of Good to Great, I would now like to explore the idea that Jim Collin's put forth which he dubbed the Hedgehog Concept. What Is The Hedgehog Concept? The Hedgehog Concept comes for the old Greek parable about a hedgehog and a fox which states the following: The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing In the story, the fox tries all the possible tricks he knows in order to try catch the hedgehog. If you project this into a modern context, the fox could be seen as a company that pursues many goals at the same time. However, if a company were to act like a hedgehog it would operate at a slow and steady pace that simplifies the world into a single vision, which they focus on. Recently, I was looking at the the changes that Satya Nadella had been making, since he took over Microsoft. The Three Circles The Hedgehog Concept is comprised of three main concepts which are as follows: What can you be the best in the world at? Parting Words
How to paraphrase effortlessly so you can gain clarity from every conversation! Paraphrasing - A key communication skill What is it about learning how to paraphrase that can really make the difference to the outcome of a conversation?Is paraphrasing the key to gaining clarity from EVERY conversation you have?Will learning how to paraphrase really make the difference for YOU when it comes to knowing what to say when you communicate in your business with prospects, customers and business partners? So let's explore this concept of paraphrasing a little further. Have you ever wondered why it is that some people just seem to have "the gift of the gab"? Not only do they often seem to be the person that people are drawn to in a social and business settings, but they seem to have this uncanny knack of being able to open up the communication process in such a way that they have the most introverted people wanting to talk to them! What exactly is it they are doing? Have you ever analyzed their communication style and techniques? 'MUST HAVE' Communication Skills In other words………
Empathy in Leadership: Coaching Leaders to Manage Their Stories When leaders struggle with staff morale or direct reports failing to thrive, a lack of empathy is the lead domino. These leaders forget that, as humans, we tend to make decisions based on our stories about other people. These stories impact our every interaction with others because we can’t hide the emotions behind them. Our stories also determine our broader management tactics, which can be as wildly off the mark as our stories themselves. Negative stories about others that we hold as leaders come from what Heath and Heath call the “Fundamental Attribution Error” (Switch, 2010). The simple idea: it is “our inclination to attribute people’s behavior to the way they are rather than the situation they are in” (180). The antidote is what I have come to call the noble story. This line of coaching begins when I hear my leaders start to explain their report’s behavior with their negative stories. “How does that story serve you, and how is it getting in your way?” Recommended reading: