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Building for the Future 
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Welcome to the Tero International Monthly eZine
Des Moines, Iowa, December 4, 2008 - Brian Duffy, an award winning editorial cartoonist, is among dozens of Des Moines Register employees laid off Wednesday. Gannett, which owns the Register and 84 other papers, announced in August it would cut its workforce by 10 percent by the end of the year.
Each job at the Register is important, but to Iowans, Duffy was really an institution. A former editor and columnist at the Des Moines Register called it the end of an era. Duffy's front page editorial cartoon was a hallmark of the paper for decades.
Publisher Laura Hollingsworth says the cuts are a result of the, "Worsening economic situations." Hollingsworth says the Register is cutting 41 jobs, while another 15 will not be filled. Four employees volunteered for a severance package, and an additional 14 workers at the Register"s weeklies division in Altoona and Indianola will be cut. That brings the total to 74 positions. Watching a noteworthy editorial cartoonist leave the institution that made him an institution, is hard. So is the sight of a business partner and friend cleaning up their workspace and being escorted out of the office. These observations register in the eye first, but they land in the heart.
And what if we are the one let go, arriving home to share the news and the worry with family and friends? How do we sustain?
This months eZine is dedicated to the many who have had to regroup, rethink and reframe themselves in these difficult times. It is also dedicated to helping all of us examine the messages we choose to process with regard to dire conditions outside of us.
The article this month tells an inspirational story of an eighty year old marathon runner who did not let popular thought dictate her future. The sidebar illustrates how every event affects change and more often than not positively! Our Development activity provides tips to maintain a professional image through hard times and tips to recession proof your wardrobe. In the Q and A we tackle the difficult questions around dealing with downsizing personally and professionally. Finally, visit the Inspiration section to take in time tested thoughts on the best tool you have to sustain in difficult times.
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz did not know she held the power, after facing adversity, to return home. If only she knew, she could have dismissed the frightful aspects of Oz, used that power and do what she needed to do for herself. We hope this edition acts as Dorothy's shoes. May it help us choose what we listen to in these challenging times and use the power we have to do what we need to do to sustain.
Ask Tero
This section contains questions asked of the training professionals at Tero. Do you have a question for Tero? Let us know! If there is a topic or question you would like to see addressed in a future eZine, please make suggestions so we can give you the resources you need. Thank you for the continued responses we receive each month.
Question: A colleague I am close to was recently let go. I want to let her know I am thinking of her, but I do not know how to communicate it. I still have my job.
Tero says: How do we reach out to someone to wish them well when we have a job and they do not? First, wait a day or two to call your colleague. Initially emotions may run high, and someone downsized needs to have the gift of time to return to a more rational and less emotional perspective. When you do reach out, be prepared to listen as much as you prepare to talk. Keeping the focus positive by stating that you will miss them, and you are wishing them all the best is appropriate. Stay away from involving them or getting involved in talking negatively about the company. In a few months your friend will be resettled and you will still be in your role. If you are careful and considerate, you can preserve the dignity of both.
Question: I am scared. There are lay offs happening in my organization and I do not know what I can do to prepare in case it happens to me. Should I be taking steps as a precaution?
Tero says: It is almost as important to think about what not to do. Don't get involved in speculation. Standing around and discussing the inevitable does nothing for you or your organization. Do not listen to what others think might happen. Most of all focus on the present. Continue to do your job to the best of your ability every day despite what is happening around you. Although you may think it best to start looking, stay focused on the present. If you do want to "prepare" do it by taking a personal inventory. Begin to mentally evaluate. What are the strengths you have demonstrated in your current position? What competencies have you developed? Create a mental chart of people you have networked with. If you do need a position, your network can be your net worth in helping you find opportunities. The personal inventory will be helpful to you whether you are downsized or not. By staying driven to remain a fully focused competent employee in a time of stress, you are practicing the sought after skill of personal leadership.
Feature Article - The Unintentional Journey
Imagine yourself when you're in your 80s. Maybe you're already there or past. Winning the 80-90 age category in the New York Marathon might not come to mind as a goal for you. But, for one woman, it's a tradition.
It was this year that the Wall Street Journal published an article on 81-year old Joy Johnson. She would be defending her title in the New York Marathon 80-90 Female category against a past and fast New York City Marathon participant, Bertha McGruder, who'd aged into Johnson's category this year.
Professional Development Activity - Recession-Proofing Your Work Wardrobe
Recession-Proofing Your Work Wardrobe
A tighter job market often challenges people to commit to having a professional image at the office, knowing that a polished appearance can equate to a competitive edge. A tighter budget, however, may mean that funds simply aren't available for a new work wardrobe.
Instead of making expensive clothing purchases, you can recession-proof your wardrobe with a few simple strategies.
Resources
Many people find that the best investment they can make when clothing funds are tight is to schedule a wardrobe coaching session. Tero can work with you to develop your Dynamic Dozen, and review your wardrobe to determine what to tailor, donate, and put on your shopping list. You will gain a much better understanding of the principles of fit and fabric, and your closet will transition from being full and frustrating to being functional and fabulous.
To learn more about Tero's Image and Influence workshop and private image coaching, click here. To register for your one-on-one image coaching session or to ask a question click here.
What's New at Tero
Tero International Featured in Des Moines Business Record
World Cafe hosted at Tero for SHRM Members
Image and Influence: Polishing Your Professional Look
IMPACT - How To Speak Your Way To Success
Time Management Through Goal Setting
Selecting Top Performers: Recruiting and Interviewing
Beyond Compromise: A Better Way To Negotiate
World Class: Managing Diverse Business Communications
Click here to register for a public workshop Online Resources
Are you a graduate of a Tero workshop? Your feedback is important to us.
Click here to fill out an evaluation of how your Tero acquired knowledge has impacted your everyday work and life. This opportunity is available in each eZine or you can visit the Tero website at www.tero.com to give us your feedback.
Inspiration - Things to Think About
In coping with challenging times it is easy to blame the times. Doing this creates a rationale of powerlessness within ourselves that can make enduring and sustaining through these times more difficult.
Yet heroes through history have shown us what the following authors have captured. There is a great yet accessible power within the human spirit. One is better off tapping into ones own strength and inner resources to formulate an opinion of how to proceed and sustain than to listen outward.
Someone who does not draw strength from himself and who is incapable of finding the meaning of his life within himself will seek the map to his own orientation somewhere outside himself - in some ideology, organization, or society, and then, however active he may appear to be, he is merely waiting, depending. He waits to see what others will do, or what roles they will assign to him, and he depends on them - and if they don't do anything or if they botch things, he succumbs to disillusion, despair, and ultimately, resignation.
We must always base our commitment in the center of our own being, or else no commitment will be ultimately authentic. Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men.
Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe - till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is . . .
The Tero International Monthly eZine is written for the graduates and friends of Tero training programs. It is published by Tero International, Inc., 1840 NW 118th Street, Suite 107, Des Moines, Iowa 50325. Copyright 2008, Tero International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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