Breaking Into The World Of Work

Breaking Into The World Of Work

A Fletcher-Manaker Training Manual For

Young professional Fletchers, Manakers and MorgansBy :- Basil Fletcher,

Lot 276-7 east,

Greater Portmore,

St. Catherine,

Jamaica W.I.

Forward

This manual of short comments, is intended first and foremost for young professional members of the Fletchers, Manakers and Morgans families and for usage by their parents as a tool in laying the basis for the regular in-depth discussions with their children about the world of work with the aim of better preparing them to meet challenges, to make use of the opportunities and to strive as professionals in their chosen fields.

This manual came about as a result of an observed need to consciously prepare individuals to deal with employment, to address the varied expectations of young adults and to assist parents in better preparing their children to go out into that world.

In compiling this manual, consideration was also given to the fact, that thanks to the very testing economic challenges facing many, there are many of our young family members who are currently unemployed even as there are parents who are unemployed. This manual also seeks to point to a path which unemployed parents may assist their children in preparing themselves for the world of work, while at the same time it seeks to assist the unemployed young Fletcher, Manaker or Morgan to meet the challenges posed by unemployment while preparing themselves to join the their colleagues at work.

It is my belief that this manual be used along with the City of Sodom training manual and the Land Of India training manual. By using the three manuals together in a conscious and planned way, the young professional will be able to cope with an overcome most of the challenges he or she will encounter in the wider community and world, and will not only be better able to further develop his or her skills as a young professional but also to better plan his or her path to a stable and sustainable future.

To my daughter Jodi, to her friends Lisa, Tamara and others, I would also like to say, that I hope that this manual are in keeping with your needs, even as I do hope that these compilations will address the parental and instructional needs of the children and relatives of Ellen Manaker Cohen. In trying address your needs, I do hope that I have succeeded in putting together a document which meets the need of the wider Fletchers, Manakers and Morgans families.Basil Fletcher

Comments and Views1. The challenge is not to do the impossible, but to do the best one can do with the resources available, respecting the existing constraints, while going after ones goals and giving an helping hand to another in need, along the way. This is the first and perhaps the most important step to a guilt free life.2. He or she who is afraid to fail, afraid of offending others and afraid of making mistakes,. Will never be good in his or her chosen area of specialization.

3. They who are afraid of making mistakes, panic in the face of challenges. They who are afraid of losses are paralyzed and lose self control in the face of set backs.

4. Each practicing professional, regardless of his or her field of specialization, walks through the Land of India and the City of Sodom constantly if not daily. Watch where you walk and know where you are going.

5. The doctor who has never made a mistake while on the job, does not practice medicine.

6. The objective of continuous professional education is not only to increase knowledge but also to reduce the possibilities of making errors in judgment.

7. all fields of knowledge are connected, the best specialist reads widely and the worse mechanic hates reading.

8. A developed sense of listening and observation are the primary tools of all medical doctors, lawyers and social scientists.

9. While it is possible to stop a professional from practicing, it is far more difficult to remove the profession from the person. In this regard a persons relationship with a profession at a certain level of development becomes even more enduring than marriage or parental relationships, thus positive values are of critical importance, if not there is nothing the professional will not do to gain new information, knowledge and mastery of a given phenomena.10. The fist and most important task of a student in any given area of study and in particular students studying the sciences is that of following instructions. Failing this, all professional ambitions will become unrealizable dreams.

11. The best professionals with whom to work are those who have achieved a balance between professional and family lives. Healthy positive human relationships help the professional to maintain a sense of humanity and positive values.

12. The scientist who claims that he or she would not kill or cause injury is either a senior liar or an infant who understands not the nature of the goddess he or she serves. The serpent is the symbol of wisdom, healing and all sins.

13. The scientist who would seek or who desire absolute power, hates all nature and has a desire, expressed or unexpressed, to recreate the world to suit his or her lusts, cravings, desires and or curiosities.

14. A foolish bus conductor might refuse to collect $5.00 paid in $1.00 coins. A wise doctor will not refuse to clip nails or to dress and bandage the ulcers of the diabetics, who are paying clients. What is not enough to pay the wages of the receptionist might be just enough to pay the utility bills.

15. It is not wise to strive for fame, but rather to strive for excellence in ones chosen field of specialization.

16. a young doctor going out on his or her own, should employ an elderly and experienced nurse.

17. A proud and foolish doctor is afraid of telling a senior nurse on the ward that he or she is baffled and knows not what else to do. Pride kills more than many serious ailments.

18. Children, the elderly and the aged, put food on the tables of a General Practioner (GP); the rich, the young and the beautiful pays the receptionist, covers the utilities and perhaps puts some gas into the car.

19. A lawyer without the potential for conflicts and actual conflicts would starve. A good lawyer looks down at no potential client, from deviancy, actual or potential, he or she eats bread.

20. there are children who will explore the stars, there are others who will find solutions to problems which will save countless lives and there are those who will become good carpenters, plumbers and gardeners. A good teacher values them all.

21. No male teacher can be led astray by a female student unless he has surrendered to his own lusts and desires. Blame not the student for the guilt and lusts of the teacher.

22. Should I by chance have taught a person who has become a professional criminal, I would hope that he or her becomes the best criminal there is, sending back the police to school. A student, who excels in his or her specialty, warms the heart of his or her teachers.23. There are students from perfect homes and there are students from broken homes, then there are students with balanced personalities and there are troubled students, all in need of good caring students.24. A married co-worker, male or female, can promise the world, however in the end, they give only heartaches and problems.

25. All teachers at some point in time, will have a favourite student, a good teacher teaches his or her classes as if teaching that favourite student.

26. A male teacher may at some point in time find a female student who pulls at his very heart, A foolish teacher denies the emotions and seeks to punish the student, a good teacher accepts the emotion and the fact that he is human and seeks to manage his emotions and relations, not by avoiding the student but by helping her to become the very best she can be.

27. A wise teacher puts aside time for teaching his own child or children, nieces and nephews. One does not lift the world at the expense of his or her own. This applies also to medical personell.

28. A doctor should never be too busy to take care of him or herself and to attend to the medical needs of his or her own household.29. The student who believed that she loved me, her hands I took and with her I walked as with my own blood and family member. To her I give my blessings, for her I send up my prayers.

30. Professional confidence is the product of years of training, practice, persistent study and regular exposure to new challenges in ones field specialization.31. A good doctor, teacher or lawyer will experience at times on the job, moments of anxiety, nervousness and anxiety when confronted by new challenges and or unusual situations. How long these feelings last depend on ones level of preparation and previous experiences in overcoming challenges and his or her willingness to fight.32. A good parent speaks in the presence of their children of their on the job experience and challenges so that they (the children) might be better prepared for the world of work.

33. The male teacher who sees any of his students as potential bed mates has placed aside his duties and responsibilities as a teacher and has chosen to put to trample under his feet the societial and parential trust and confidence invested in him, ignoring the fact that in any given society this trust and confidence is invested in but a selected few individuals. The same hold for gyneacologists.

34. If and where it is possible a child should be familiar with his or her parents working environmen, even if the parents are farmers using hoes, forks and machetes and the child wants to be a medical doctor. Attitudes to work are developed at an early age.

35. Long hours of study will not get the young doctor or lawyer in training mad, however the lack of sleep can.

36. The best friends of the student teacher, lawyer or doctor are a balanced diet, regular sleep and planned regular exercises.

37. A good parent must be able to tell the young 22 years old student doctor or lawyer that it is time to stop and eat or to take a nap.38. If an unemployed individual is not actively involved in regular scheduled voluntary activities, it will be very difficult for the child or children of that person to grow up with a positive attitude to work. For an educated person to wake up each morning and sweep the streets in ones community without pay , makes that person an idiot in the eyes of many, however it creates the conditions required for the rearing of doctors, lawyers, nurses and teachers in ones household, a household in which work and service are highly valued.39. A Church without leaves to rake and a garden to tend, produces unwanted and marginalized members among the elderly and the unemployed. The Church which though cannot create paying jobs, creates productive voluntary activities, helps three genarations.

40. There are women, led by the need for attention, conquest and or personal ambitions who all Fletchers, Manakers and Morgans serving as religious leaders should deal with equal care as in carrying a stove with burning pine wood flames.

41. The young Morgan, Manaker or Fletcher serving as pastor or rabbi should never pretend nor lead others to believe that he or she has the answers to all the problems of the world.

42. It is not wise for a young Manaker, Fletcher or Morgan serving as a pastor or rabbi to seek to have a standard of living higher than a high school principal or lower than a high school teacher. Above or below this band are zones of challenges, wants, temptations and social isolation. 43. A good Fletcher, Manaker or Morgan parent will instruct his or her unemployed college graduate son or daughter, to divide his or her time between structured job hunting and structured regular voluntary work., be it at the local health center, primary school, library or sweeping the community streets. The young graduate must be encouraged and facilated in leading a structured life, to retain a developed sense of focus, purpose, mission and develop the ability to deal with the challenges of unemployment without developing feelings of depression, anger, uselessness and isolation.

44. It is better for the unemployed college graduate to go to bed at night knowing that he or she is of value to him/herself and to the community, than to go bed feeling sorry for him/herself, feeling angry with the world, developing feelings of envy and depressed. Let the society educate its children, Fletchers, Manakers and Morgans educate their own children.

45. The young professional needs to understand that working in a large organization does not mean working with new personality types but rather working with individuals wearing new masks and playing new roles, fighting for fewer and much harder to obtain prizes and much more back stabbing than ever before.46. The young professional must learn to pay equal respect to all, do his or her work to the best of his or her ability, meet his or her deadlines and bow to none.

47. Sitting on a wall, hanging out with friends or watching day in and day out television, create no value; the same time could be spent planting trees in and around the community and creating gardens, adding value to ones resume and showing to prospective employers how the unemployed Fletcher, Manaker or Morgan has dealt with the challenges of unemployment and his or her contribution to the community.

48. Many are the careers and lives destroyed by on the job romances and dating. Is a fling with him or her worth my job, my independence or the sacrifices made to get me where I am today? This is the type of questions the young Fletcher, Morgan or Manaker must ask him or herself when faced with this type of challenge.

49. There is no shame in telling a manager that a given task is beyond your compitence and experience.

50. To take on a task over which one has no control or influence over the critical inputs is the same as accepting the responsibilities for the failures and the successes of others outside ones span of control.

51. The sacrifices of ones life for country or family brings honour, to sacrifice ones life to prove bravery is to be condemned in the grave for gross stupidity.

52. In a large organization, there are those who will not pull their weight and seek to hide behind others and seek to reap rewards unearned; workers, supervisors and managers. Do your work to the best of your ability, for that you are paid, allow the Human Resource Department to do its work.

53. To spend time complaining about the staffing policies of your organization, to lose sleep out of anger at others whose work output is not an input in your work and possibly even to risk your job out of concern about the direction of the organization is stupidness, do you job for which you are paid.54. A wise young professional claims his or her work and rewards him or herself for work well done. To wait for the recognition of others is to allow others to decide if and when you will feel good about yourself.

55. Discuss your new ideas with your co-workers and friends and then and only then submit them for consideration to management. This process allows for the improvement of the idea/proposal, lays the basis for buy-ins and allows you to claim your work. There are dishonest co-workers, supervisors and managers who will try to claim even your ideas and repackage them as theirs. Claim your work.

56. Laziness, dishonesty and incompitence, do not recognize age, race, religion, gender , sexuality or position within the organization. Do not be fooled by appearances or manner of speech, judge the individual on the basis of his or her attitude to work and the quality of work done.

57. Be on the look out for those who would want you to leave your post to help them to do their work and or to complete their tasks for a pat on the head or a nice smile. Do your work, your cannot put forward helping out Mr. X or Ms. Y as excuses for failing to complete your work for that you are responsible.58. No single individual can conquer Rome, regardless of how strong or talented the individual is. Parents should encourage and facilitate their children in the formation of purpose driven goal oriented teams both within and outside the family.

59. A young professional should be able to distinguish between a team member and a friend or any family member. Tasks and goals determine who is and who is not a member of a given team.

60. Not all opportunities or expectations at a given point in time will yield fruit or give the expected results. This reality each young professional must be able to deal with; without becoming angry, feeling disappointed or frustrated.

61. The employer or employee, who seeks to play with the emotions of the young professional, seeks to gain power over the young professional. Why should a person seek to try to get you happy, sad, angry or frustrated if not for his or her own purposes? Why is music piped into supermarkets and shopping centers if not to get you to spend more money than you intended? Equally so is it in the world of work.

62. I once had a supervisor who seemed bent on making my life a living hell. With him I did not quarell or fight. I went to his office each morning, coffee break, lunch break and before I left for home; wishing him nothing but the very best, bigging him up and asking him about what would he wish to speak to me. After about a month, he told me that he would speak with me at departmental meetings which were never kept.63. I once had a supervisor who tried to kill me with tasks and requests-to him I gave two years worth of work in four months to read and to sign off on. He resigned claiming to be overworked, unappreciated and underpaid. With him I did not argue, not even on the day he left the job. A young Fletcher, Manaker or Manaker professional should learn to fight without quarelling or argueing.

64. One works in an organization to earn an income and to realize ones potential, not because of love or any other such emotion. 65. When one leaves an organization, all that he or she leaves behind are memories and a file. Do not enter arguments or into conflicts over the property of the organization. The distribution and or protection of company property is ulitimately that of the management, you own neither the desk, pc or any other items there. If management wishes you to perform your work these will be provided and your access to them ensured.

66. Beware of individual managers who wish to demonstrate that they have power or what they can do. I have seen with my own eyes where a prinicipal in the name of maintaining descipline and teaching students to respect deadlines, prevent three of the schools best students from sitting their school leaving exams because they brought in their documents a bit later than her deadline, these are students who had problems from time to time finding lunch money, it is far harder to put together examination fees. For these students I took blows, for which I have no regrets, I did my job.

67. There are individuals who will do nearly anything to move forward in an organization. I have seen with my own eyes, where a gay baiting incident was organized with the participation of a homosexual, not to penalize those who are gay or potentially gay, but rather to penalize those who would have rushed to their defence. I fell victim to such a trap, the error laid in the fact that I was not doing that which I was paid to do, and took on to myself HR staffing and disciplinary responsibilities.68. Do your best to avoid leaving person items, diary and confidencial notes anywhere on the property of the organization, the organization has the right not only to search its property and to examine any item found on its property.

69. Do not assume that everyone with whom you work wants you to do your work or to move forward in the organization. Sabotage is a constant feature of many organizations, there are ambitious employees who will seek to sabotage their managers or supervisors with the aim of occupying their positions, then there are those who will seek to sabotage your work to prevent you from moving ahead of them and there are those who will seek to sabotage your work to make it appear as if they are the only capable in the department.

70. There are many instances in which individuals who are insecure, under qualified or incapable who will sabotage the work of others so that they do not stand out.

71. A group of persons not bounded by the desire and commitment to attain a common objective or serving a common purpose or cause, cannot be called a team, regardless of the closeness of the bonds of emotions or kinship.

72. The more diverse are the views, back grounds and experiences and the more varied are the skillsof the respective team members, the more likely it is that the team will attain its objectives and with the least errors.

73. The best teams have a balance between those who take a general all embracing view and those who are more narrowly specialized.74. The pessimist kills by negligence, the optimistby mal-practice, combined they save many lives.

75. Not all men or women will become stars, yet all are able to become specialist leaders in what they do.No one is cursed by fate to be a follower on the road of life. The eagle is the king of the skies during the day, the owl rules the skies at night.76. A team of ants can bring down a caterpillar or worm, both many times larger and stronger than any given individual ant. A team of ants can put a dog in a state of misery. A functional and balanced team at the work place can perform great wonders.

77. Even with the best efforts, failure can be the outcome. A Fletcher, Manaker or Morgan, who is a member of any given team which has experienced a set back, must get back on his or her feet, analyze in an objective and dispassionate manner the reasons for the defeat and start again. Even an infant learning to walk, falls and may cry, but soon it is back on its feet trying to walk again.

78. Trust and confidence between members of a team is a delicate flower which takes time to develop and is watered by transparancy and openingness in all their doings.79. There should never be a team within a team, the very suspision of the existence of such an entity breeds distrust.

80. A Manaker, Morgan or Fletchers parent should not seek to become a member of their young adult childrens teams, but rather seek to observe, facilitate and encourage to the best of his or her ability and to give advice when called upon to.

81. The Fletchers and Morgans of old dedicated their lives to attaining the highest level of possible mastery of their skills as warriors and skilled workmen. The same level of dedication is required of each and every living Fletcher, Manaker or Morgan of today.

End