I Can't Imagine Not Helping People Succeed at Work

“People ask us how we can do what we do. We can’t imagine not doing what we do.”

The Social Incites logo attempts to illustrate the concept of growing personally and interpersonally. Like a tree, I believe there are four elements of healthy, well-balanced human day-to-day living: nourishing, growing, connecting, and contributing.

Work is one way to accomplish all four areas at one time. Whether your “work” is schoolwork, housework, or paid or volunteer work in the community, many of your needs (for information, inspiration, exercise, supportive relationships, income, etc.) are being met while you grow mentally, emotionally, socially, financially, etc. Typically while you’re working, you’re also connecting with other people, and contributing your gifts of time, effort, ability, ideas, friendship, etc. And that means you’re also benefiting other people, helping them to experience nourishing, growing, connecting, and contributing.

My work focuses on helping people to be successful in their work, whether they are students, parents, teachers, administrators, employers, employees, doctors, etc.

While all aspects of work are important and valuable, paid employment is particularly beneficial as it helps to provide the income necessary to access a wide variety of life choices (where I will live, what I will do in my free time—and how I will get there, how I will deal with unexpected emergencies, how I will spend my retirement years, etc.)You may be familiar with the common saying, “Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” Through job development (helping an individual to become employed) and job coaching (helping an employee learn to identify and meet an employer’s expectations so that he/she can maintain the employment long-term), my husband and I are able to help people achieve a greater level of independence as they step toward and achieve their life goals.

Lastly, we often use our work to define ourselves. When someone asks, “Who are you?” our response is often related to what we do with our time, whether we are parents, professionals, volunteers, students, or are maybe “retired” from our previous occupations. Being successful at our work helps to build self-confidence and a greater awareness of what we have to offer others, or to give back to those around us.

For these reasons, I can’t imagine not helping people to be successful in their work, whatever that may be. How about you? How do you help people to be successful in their work? In our recent survey, one third of you also indicated that you are interested in learning about successful employment.  I hope you’ll share your thoughts on Facebook, as comments below, or email us!