Volume 2, 2009

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Featured Topic: After The Pink Slip

Inside This Issue

After the Pink Slip

The economy in the United States is a challenge for companies and their employees all across this great nation and abroad. The news headlines are filled with companies who are downsizing, filing bankruptcy, or just closing their doors. This means more Americans are receiving notice of reduced hours and lost jobs. Even those that are not getting the pink slip are faced with doing more with less. (The pink slip, by the way, reportedly is linked to Ford Motor Company in the last century when employees received evaluations on white paper when they were doing well and on pink ones when they were being terminated.)

What comes after the pink slip? If you are one who has never received one, you may think panic and chaos. Those are emotions that can come crashing down upon the individual. Immediate thoughts are how to pay bills and what this means to your way of life.

There is a grieving process that follows a natural flow: Denial; Anger; Acceptance; Rebuilding. The denial phase is relatively short lived unless money is not an issue. Some people stay in the anger mode far too long and become bitter. Others accept this is the fate life has offered them and never reach their potential. Others move through the process and begin rebuilding their lives and careers.

The rebuilding phase may require you to learn new skills or develop hidden talents. What is that saying? Necessity is the motherhood of invention. This is a good time to re-invent yourself. Here are some tips on how you might accomplish that.

Develop an entrepreneurial spirit. Adopt the philosophy, “if it is to be, it is up to me.” Take ownership in who you are and who you can become.

Find a niche that you can fill, just like an entrepreneur. Examine the multiple combinations of your experiences and skills and determine how those can be arranged so that you offer something that sets you apart.

Start by taking an empty piece of paper and jot down skills and experiences in no apparent order. Fill the page and keep coming back to it. Next, begin to sort these into possible qualifications for jobs.

Read the newspapers and research key words on the Internet. This can help you to discover what is needed in today’s job market.

Take some classes to expand your education. With numerous online courses, this is easier than ever before.

Consider taking multiple part-time positions rather than one full-time job. While the benefits may not be there, the flexibility may make up for it.

Start shedding things you really don’t need. Simplify your life. Check your closets and garage and sell them on e-Bay or Craig’s List. A cleaner space clears the mind and it can also help to pay some bills.

Visualize in your mind what you want to become. Before you act or make choices, ask yourself if this decision is getting you closer to your dream.

TLC is not immune to these trying times. When you sell an intangible, many companies believe they can do without it. They can until their people become overly stressed, building resentment, and making mistakes.

One thing is certain. Things will change. That is the reason we must also change to adapt to the evolution of our changing world. If you get, or have to give, the pink slip, take a deep breath and get ready for change. Facing your fear is a sure sign the fear will not survive and you will.

What Our Clients Are Saying

You are saving me so much time with management interaction issues that never arise. You know how to do routine supervision of management right and I consider you a valuable part of our staff.

Stanley Adamson, Sidney, Nebraska

Pursuing Your Passion

Vincent Ivan Phipps

In these trying economic times, are you juggling for a job, kidding yourself about a career, or are you pursuing your passion?

Now, more than ever, focus your energies on what you enjoy! If you enjoy cooking, speaking, or even painting, pursue it! Find a way to make what you enjoy, part of your daily life. If happiness can be defined as continually doing what you enjoy, are you happy?

As a Communication Coach, I am often asked to speak to young adults about their careers. Whether one-on-one, or in a classroom full of eager minds, I ask them, “What question are you sick of hearing other people ask you?” Without hesitation, they respond, “What do you want to do for a living?”

I ask them a different question. “What do you enjoy doing that you can’t live without?” The answers range from: my dogs, my music, my clothes, one person even said they had to check the weather page everyday! Without knowing it, each person had a passion. The dog lover became a veterinarian. The clothes lover became a designer. The music lover became a writer for commercial jingles. The weather page lover did not become a meteorologist. She now produces a show about people who chase hurricanes! What did all of these people have in common? They pursued their passions!

So what about you? What are you pursuing? What is your passion? Or better yet, what excuse will you use to keep yourself from pursuing your passion? Are you too old or too young? Are you too busy, or too inexperienced? Do you have too much going on already or do you want to save more money first? Do these reasons sound familiar? They should, because they are excuses.

Excuses are another way of saying fears. Whatever your age, you will only get older, so start. Whatever knowledge you lack, you can find it, so start. Your passion is waiting on you! Our lives require resources. These resources require means, which need income. Unless you work 24 hours a day, whatever you are doing, find some time to allocate for your passion.

Passion is more than a hobby. Your passion is what you do when you don’t want to do anything else. Your passion is what you want to do whenever you are doing something else. Your passion is what you like doing even when you don’t get paid for it! Use these tips to pursue your passion:

Think about what you enjoy instead of what you are trained to do.

Focus on what makes you happy even though you might not get attention for it.

Ask yourself what you would like to do for a living if you lived in the perfect world.

Remember, we live in a country where ideas are fueled by those willing to dream! Albert Einstein said that creativity is more important than knowledge. Be creative, and pursue your passion! You are worth it!

Happy Birthday

TLC wishes a Happy Birthday to clients celebrating in February:

Featured Service: Interviewing Skills

Therese Padgett

This issue of The Exchange is written, for the most part, from the perspective of those receiving the pink slip. How do I process the changes brought about from the loss of my job, and how do I move forward in pursuing my dreams? TLC hopes that we have offered suggestions and inspiration, even hope, in helping you to answer these questions.

The dreaded “pink slip” no longer comes in the form of a colored piece of paper telling you that your job has been terminated. Instead, your manager or supervisor tells you in person.

What if you are that manager or supervisor?

Did your heart just jump up into your throat, choking your words? Once you get your voice back, are you still at a loss as to the best way to tell someone that his or her job is terminated? TLC can help.

Good interviewing skills are needed in a variety of situations, not just in terminating an emplyee. In better economic times, you may need to know how to select the best candidate to fill a particular position. Perhaps you are the candidate needing to make sure a position is the right one for you. Maybe you are part of the press corps, where asking the right questions at the right times is imperative. It is possible that you are the one having to answer those hard questions and need to represent your organization (or yourself) in the most influential and positive way. TLC can help.

Yes! TLC can help you or your team to develop good interviewing techniques. Call us today to discuss your particular needs for training. We will customize our individual coaching or classroom training to help you become the professional you need to be – in good times and the bad. We can be reached by phone 423-622-TALK (8255); or 1-888-BECAUSE (because you always communicate); or by emailing us at TLC@talklisten.com.

Delivering the pink slip is never easy. Doing it in the best possible way may be the kindest thing you ever do for another person.

CEO Corner

Beverly J. Inman-Ebel

Chief Executive’s Opinion

I have owned this business for almost three decades. I have witnessed ups and downs, excitement and frustration, laughter and tears. Throughout it all, I have had hope. Hope for tomorrow. Call me an optimist. I still have great hope.

About four of my clients were experiencing a reduction in force right before the end of 2008. Some were giving notice to people right before the holidays and others wanted to wait until after Christmas. There is no joy in telling people their job has been eliminated. If you are the one receiving the news, you may not stop to consider how dreaded it is to give.

Both giver and receiver have consequences. The first has to carry on and have fewer people do more work while the second is suddenly separated from the activities and people that consumed nearly half of their waking hours.

On January 5th, 2009 I had quiet meetings with TLC staff to announce changes in hours and benefits. Ironically, that day was the 28th anniversary of our company. One of the people you, as our clients, will miss the most is Don Wheeler. His hours are reduced, so late in the afternoons you will call and not hear his cheerful and caring voice. Don knew it was hard for me to tell him. His first words were to tell me so and give me a hug. My financial advisor told me in December not to fall in love with my inventory or my employees. I told him it was too late for that advice.

We plan our topics for the Exchange nearly a year in advance. I tell my clients to guard their thoughts because there is power in those words that we may never speak. Makes me wish we had picked another topic way back when. Yet, the topic is timely. Unemployment is rising. We have a new President who has his hands full. Our homes are not worth what they were a few years ago. Most of us have lost money in the stock market. Yet, I still have hope.

I believe that we will not only make it, I am convinced that we will come through this stronger and smarter. As a business owner and a citizen of this great country, I have a responsibility to contribute to this economy and make wise choices. We all have an awesome responsibility. I guess you could say that I believe in us. After all, we are the US in USA. Believe with me. Take action. Let’s live our dreams.

TLC establishes long-term relationships with our clients. If we have helped you or if you believe our approach to change would work for someone you know, please request a proposal or phone 1-888-232-2873. We work with individuals and groups on the following subject areas: attitude, listening, body language, voice, leadership, compliments and corrections, behavioral style, teamwork, effective meetings, public speaking, accent reduction and much more!.

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