Cassandra Glubzinski

Not all bosses or managers will trust you. Trust is earned; it is not freely given. It has been said before that the best way to earn a promotion is to do your current job really well. This means meeting and exceeding expectations, creating new and innovative strategies to improve efficiency, and showing you can do your job better than your boss/manager expects. And most importantly, track it all. If you made it happen, you need to document it. Is this easy? Not usually. Is it worth it? You bet. Will your boos/manager notice? Maybe. Regardless, you end your day knowing you did it. You made positive changes. You crushed goals like a rockstar. And you know each of these accomplishments makes you a better fit for your next role.

It’s important to have mentors or SMEs in different subjects in your network. If you haven’t seen a certain circumstance or situation in your experience, one of them may have and be willing to offer advice or guidance. The great thing about having a robust network is having access to SMEs in a myriad of subject matters. Reach out. Ask questions. Seek advice. Create a strategy. Check it all along the way. And at the end, set up a follow up to discuss the entire process retrospectively.

Here’s the thing—community outreach is very much about marketing. It’s about positioning. When a member of the community needs your service, you want them to think of you first. When considering how best to conduct community outreach and stay ahead of the curve, it’s best to take time to understand your target audience and make sure your outreach strategy is truly catered for them. In community outreach, it’s important to also partner with other organizations that offer similar or adjacent products and services to your demographic. For example, if your goal is to offer parenting classes to new mothers, consider partnering with the local pregnancy support center, some daycare centers, or even the local food bank.

Fostering openness should ALWAYS be a part of program coordination. If you aren’t doing that until you’re trying to provide constructive feedback, you’re doing it way too late. I’ve seen folks seem hesitant to accept constructive feedback, and it turns out it’s because they have an even better idea for a process or procedure. Implementing it saves us all time and makes everything more efficient. I’ve seen other folks seem hesitant because we have implemented a platform or process with which they are not familiar. There is almost always a root cause behind the hesitancy. Be. A. Person. Hardly anyone wants to humbly admit a struggle to a manager, but to a colleague/coworker or even a friend, they know that’s a safe space to do so.

Define your competitors, but don't copy them. You want to see what areas they do well, but they have already created a position in the jobseeker's mind. You aren't trying to reinvent the wheel; you are, however, trying to create a talent pipeline that is less job hunters and more career seekers. It's important to study what your competitors are doing and define clear ways you are setting yourself apart from them in ways the jobseekers desires. Better pay, benefits, flexibility, PTO, et cetera can all contribute to this.

Kanban is such a gem! I also absolutely love using Power Automate and do regular updates with Power BI for visualizations. The visuals act as additional motivators, and the automated messages help ensure I don’t miss something on accident. Bottom line: if you have a tight timeline, you need to plan accordingly and you absolutely must allow for at least a smidge of wiggle room in your program plan.