Come one, come all, to the 32nd installment of the Carnival of Human Resources! No bearded women, shady games, or sideshows here… just a collection of 29 of the greatest HR related blog posts you'll find anywhere online.
Without further ado, here is your Carnival of Human Resources:
Doug Fine of the Electricity Blog discusses how leadership's high regard for itself is not normal when one considers the bell curve.
Jon Ingham of the Strategic Human Capital Management (HCM) Blog continues his campaign to make work more people shaped.
Prem Rao of People at Work and Play enlightens us with the 7 Virtues of Punctuality.
Andrew Dlugan of the Six Minutes Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog alerts us of 10 ways that our presentation skills help to generate career promotions.
Jon Hyman of the Ohio Employer's Law Blog uses the firing of a Food Network host to illustrate the effects of resume fraud and provides suggestions as to how employers can guard against hiring a candidate with bogus credentials and what to do if you find out about it after the fact.
Michael A Moore of the Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog addresses performance issues that can arise when employees experience personal financial troubles during tough economic times.
Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace takes a strategic look at HR systems, where organizational development fits in, and asks if people are our most important asset, where are the resources?
Ann Bares of Compensation Force has a great post on providing real and meaningful recognition to your team members, summing it up nicely with the following quote: Never give a plaque to an employee who has no wall!
John Agno of The Leadership Blog discusses the long anticipated "Retirement Brain Drain" and asks if your organization will continue to thrive when Baby Boomers retire and take their knowledge with them.
COHR founder, Evil HR Lady ponders if we can better manage HR by embracing our own laziness.
Dan McCarthy of the Great Leadership Blog provides 10 ways to derail a high-potential employee.
Peggy Andrews of the Career Encouragement Blog provides some great tips for employees to strengthen and grow their careers during tepid economic times by gaining a better understanding of how HR professionals approach layoffs.
Nina Simosko has a great post up on her self-titled blog reminding us that learning is a lifelong process, not an event.
Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk raises the provocative issue if plastic surgery will be the next must-have career tool.
Rowan Manahan of Fortify Your Oasis shares his thoughts on the growing trend of online job fairs and comments on some of the stumbling blocks he finds with their use.
Alice Snell of the Taleo Talent Management Blog explains how executives from the board room to the lunch room are making talent management a business priority and why now is the time for HR to get top down support, make the investment, and realize the returns.
Art Petty of the aptly named Art Petty on Management Blog suggests that organizations that learn to work in "Strategy Bursts" are able to learn, adapt, and refine their strategic activities faster than more plodding competitors, but that this new style requires learning and internalizing a new approach to strategy management and execution.
Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand Blog asks when "is a conversation not a conversation?" and offers some suggestions for creating meaningful conversations in your life.
Donna Bear of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) discusses the top issues facing HR today and how HR can succeed, based primarily on research results from a recently conducted survey of Fortune 500 companies.
Susan Heathfield, About.com's Guide to Human Resources knows from experience that integrating new employees can be a real challenge, especially when an organization is growing quickly. As such she provides some suggestions for successfully onboarding new employees and providing them with the coaching and mentoring they need to succeed.
Dr. Bill Klemm of Sharp Brains has an interesting post summarizing recent research on neuron creation and survival in adult brains. Very relevant to anyone who understands "human resources" mostly means "brain resources"
Wally Bock of the Three Star Leadership Blog asks if senior HR executives should take hope from the history of the CIO position.
Lisa of HR Thoughts has some great thoughts and insights on how to effectively handle a showdown with an office mate, manager, or supervisor.
Ask a Manager provides answers to a common question from applicants – "I'm qualified for that job, why did you reject me?"
Michelle Malay Carter at Mission Minded Management explains how organizations can create an innovation culture by differentiating innovation expectations for each level of the organization.
The HR Wench responds to a question from a reader about a sticky situation arising from a consensual relationship between a manager and his subordinate.
HR Capitalist Kris Dunn addresses an interesting HR issue - employee that are "strapped" and have guns in their vehicles.
Ryan Johnson of World at Work ponders an unintentional sequel to a book that he read last summer.
And finally a post from yours truly with the Maximize Possibility Blog about cutting through the BS and bringing about a renaissance of candor in the workplace… especially when it comes to performance management and evaluations.
Thanks to all who submitted their great posts for this the 32nd installment of the Carnival of Human Resources!
The next Carnival will be hosted by the Career Encouragement Blog on May 14th.
I see it fairly often... It usually sounds like the following excerpt of a call I received recently
"Hello, Chris. I have a problem that is driving me crazy! Remember "Bob," the "high potential" we hired that was a great fit for the outside sales position?"
"Yes… How is Bob doing?" I ask.
My client, notably frustrated, responds, "Not very well."
"Really… I am sorry to hear that. Can you please share with me what is going on?"
"Bob is not selling like he should be by now. Our other newly hired outside sales team members are selling more than he is. In fact, they are selling A LOT MORE. We See Bob's potential and expected a lot more from him by this point," shares my client.
I then suggest… "Let's run through some possible causes of the performance challenges." I begin going through my Rainmaker Performance Maximization Checklist.
- Does the team member have the experience necessary to do the job well?
- What "weaknesses" (identified from the employee hiring profile) may be getting in the way?
- What "strengths" (identified from the employee hiring profile) may be so strong that they are becoming weaknesses?
- Does the team member know what is necessary to do the job well?
- Is the team member being measured and held accountable for completion of the job tasks with candor?
- Is the team member receiving systematic praise and "growth opportunity" instruction?
- Are there current or potential conflicts between other team members?
- Are there current or potential conflicts between the team member and their manager?
- Are there Cultural Norms that are conflicting (or may conflict) with the new team member's values?
- Are there other "outside" environmental criteria that should be considered?
Once a high potential team member has been identified, hired, and on the real talent management efforts have only just begun. There are many things that can diminish or destroy the performance of this high potential team member. The 10 items listed in the above Performance Maximization Checklist are a great place start when a HiPo isn't living up to expectations.
Remember… even the most brilliant diamond can be destroyed by a careless diamond cutter.
Now go maximize possibility!
Other blog posts you might enjoy reading:
This post is a continuation of a previous post that asked: Are Your Top Performers Really Top Performers?
In the aforementioned post I mentioned a future client that wanted to hire more "Jans" and fewer "Freds" as Jan was the organization's top performer in her particular position and Fred, well, we've all dealt with Freds before… Enough said about Fred.
My conversation with this potential client ended up with her acceptance of our offer to identify their top performers. She permitted us to profile six of her team members - three were high performers, three were low performers – and we agreed to show her who the best performers were based on how well they fit the position given what we we know is needed for success in this particular position (inside sales.)
I could sense her skepticism. Could there possibly be a process that consistently identifies high and low performers?
Comparing the behavioral styles motivating values, and personal skills of these six team members to a rough benchmark of what a high performer should look like revealed some interesting insights. The top performer, Jan, was the closest to the ideal candidate for the position, but was by no means a perfect fit. Of the remaining five team members any attempt on my behalf to identify the remaining two top performers would have been completely arbitrary.
The reason? None of the remaining five team members possessed the key traits of a successful inside sales representative. These five individuals lacked a strong customer focus, had low self management skills, didn't desire frequent interaction with others, and weren't likely to adhere to established systems of handling inbound customer inquiries.
Explaining this to our future client I could hear an unspoken "Aha! Got you!" when she asked how this could be… after all two of the remaining five team members were, in her opinion, performing at a high level.
These two "top performers" I politely told her were successful in spite of themselves.
I went on to explain that poorly fit team members can, for some time, perform at a high level for reasons such as follows:
- Preferential treatment from supervisors. E.g. favoritism, inappropriate/intimate relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate, or nepotism.
- Externally motivating environmental factors such as a single mother or sole provider who simply must perform at a high level to provide for his or her family, a spouse with a propensity for frivolous spending, or an individual who feels he or she has something to "prove" to someone else such as a parent who is highly regarded in one's field – say a renowned lawyer or engineer.
- Placement in a tightly managed and systemic culture that is heavily reliant upon score-carding and other metrics to ensure performance expectations are met.
- Previous or total industry experience. An individual with 20 years of industry experience will be able to leverage this knowledge for improved performance in spite of the fact that they are in a position they really aren't fit for.
- Years of service with current employer. In the case of this future client I was able to determine that one of the "top performers" was likely performing well because he had inherited a number of "choice" accounts when a former team member left the organization.
- Social networks and connections – an outside salesperson may be very effective at selling to family and friends by tapping into an existing social network. This can obscure the fact that this individual isn't prospecting as diligently as he or she should be which is critical when one's social network "dries up" and his or her skills as a salesperson will determine performance levels.
- Access to training. All things else being equal, a team member who has had greater access to training opportunities will likely perform at a higher level than someone who has not has such opportunities. Again preferential treatment from supervisors can play a role here…
- Additional environmental factors such as the power of an organization's brand. Let's face it, people buy a luxury car such as a Porsche because it is a Porsche, not necessarily because the salesperson is great at his or her job.
All that said you might be tempted to say, "Who cares, performance is performance!" To some extent, especially in the short term, this is true.
However, thinking more strategically, what happens when the exogenous circumstances surrounding one's success are removed? Say the supervisor one is "cushy" with moves to a different department, a single parent marries a spouse with a great paying job, one's social network is tapped out, or the Porsche dealership is bought out and replaced by a Ford dealership?
External environmental factors such as the ones listed above are rarely if ever static and cannot be counted on to provide for continued levels of high performance.
Bottom line… It is far easier to identify and hire candidates who are well fit for the job than to rely upon exogenous circumstances to cajole these individuals to perform at a high level. Individuals who perform at high levels despite of themselves are less engaged, motivated for the wrong reasons, provide less than exceptional customer service, and ultimately rob an organization of possibility over the long run.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
With so many blogs floating around the blogosphere on the topics of talent management, leadership, and human resources it's hard to know what's worth reading. We thought we'd save you some time and point you to the best of the best from last week.
Click the link below for our five favorite blog posts for the week of April 21st through April 27th, 2008:
Ask a Manager: "But I'm qualified for that job - why did you reject me?" - Here's a post for anyone who has asked themselves why they weren't hired for a job they felt they were well qualified for as well as any HR pros who have had to deal with candidates demanding to know why they weren't hired.
Hragitator: Trailing Spouses in Expatriate Assignments get no Respect - More and more companies are going global and sending their star performers overseas to head up new operations. While this is a great way for an organization to penetrate new and exciting markets it can be especially difficult for the spouses of the individuals who take on overseas assignments. This post offers some helpful suggestions on how caring organizations can help ensure its team members' spouses make a healthy transition into a new environment and culture.
Great Leadership, Dan McCarthy: What Millennial Want: How to Attract and Retain Generation Y Workers - In this post Dan McCarthy debunks some common myths about millennial workers based on data from a recent poll by Robert Half International and Yahoo! Hotjobs. Myths debunked, Dan spells out the ever important implications for leadership.
Sanders Says, Tim Sanders : Praise is Better Compensation than Money - The captivating Tim Sanders has an interesting post about praise and compensation as well as a link to an interesting study on the topic out of Japan.
HR Thoughts, Lisa: It's Showdown Time - Some great thoughts and insights on how to effectively handle a showdown with an office mate or manager.
A recent conversation with a future client has really gotten me thinking about who an organization's "top performers" really are.
The conversation went something like this:
"We need a strategy to get more people like 'Jan' on our bus and we need to make sure we don't hire any more 'Freds'"
Jan is the "top performer" in her position and this potential client wanted more team members just like her on their bus.
While Jan is the current "top performer" in the organization for her position, what if she is only performing at 80% of what the position is truly capable of delivering? Don't get me wrong, Jan looks great when you stack her up next to Fred. However, I can't help but wonder… what if Jan isn't the perfect fit for the position. What if someone else could do better?
So the $100,000 question is do you really want to hire more Jans??? My short answer is probably not; at least not without knowing that she represents the best talent for the job.
Hiring additional team members who "look like Jan" is a hiring strategy that I think many organization unknowingly place themselves in. After all... It makes sense. This danger is even further exacerbated when "progressive" organizations turn to things such as behavioral profiling and personality assessments in a well intentioned attempt to discover what makes Jan "tick," and then use this insight to hire more people like Jan.
Is having more Jans and less Freds an improvement? Absolutely. However, if Jan doesn't represent the pinnacle of performance for the position an organization pursuing this strategy will invariably and unwittingly rob itself of possibility.
Sure… performance will improve, praise will be bestowed upon those who championed the strategy, and the organization will pat itself on its back for all the great things it has accomplished.
That, my friends, is where the real tragedy lies… an organization that is completely content with performing below its potential and not having a clue that it is doing so.
So, the question must be asked… are your top performers really top performers???
Is their performance really what you want to replicate, or could there be more to the performance puzzle than meets the eye???
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
I've been reading a lot about and by Jack Welch lately, especially Winning and Jack: Straight From The Gut .
What impresses me most about Jack Welch was the way in which he demanded from and displayed astonishing candor (sometimes brutal) of those working for GE. Welch was direct, candid, and didn't pull any punches… and he expected the same from those who reported to him.
I dare say this has become a novel quality that has become almost actively avoided in today's business culture. Those who do have the integrity to be forthright and say what they really think are labeled as assholes or the office bullies that don't want to get along with other.
Welch has really gotten me thinking lately about how this lack of candor in business is impacting the bottom line. I think it hurts a lot more than any of us realize.
A quick story…
I had a hockey coach back in high school who was constantly riding me – Coach Olson. As a sophomore I had a great debut in my first junior varsity game. After the game Coach Olson approached me and said I played "a hell of game" and that he wanted me to start practicing with the varsity team the next day. I was thrilled. I felt like I had finally arrived.
That following afternoon I was in for a rude awakening. Rather than the continued praise and admiration I was expecting, I was rode by Coach Olson more than any coach had every gotten on me my entire life. After that practice Coach Olson told me he'd like me to practice with the JV team in addition to practicing with the varsity squad. He said I would really benefit from the additional ice time. The remainder of the season I practiced before school at 6:00 am with the JV team and after school with the varsity team and never once played in a varsity game that first season.
The truth was that I wasn't ready to step up to the varsity level yet.
At the time it seemed that Coach Olson rode my tail every minute of every practice, but fast forwarding to my senior year when I played in every game and was a key part of the lineup I realized why he coached the way he did and was thankful for it.
Had Coach Olson told me I was great and wonderful and all the things I wanted to hear, rather than what I needed to hear, I wouldn't have become the player that I was three years after that first varsity practice. I would have been mediocre and never would have realized the potential that he saw in me – potential I didn't even realize I had.
No other coach had had the guts to tell it to me like it really was. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all negative feedback from Coach Olson… when I made a great play or had a good shift he would let me know verbally or with something as simple as a fist bump or pat on the back as I returned to the bench. However, when I made a mistake or failed to live up to my potential he pointed it out and told me what I should have done.
Coach Olson didn't hold back and that is what I have come to respect about him the most.
This I think is what is missing most sorely from many organizational cultures. Without accountability all else is moot. Most managers are so worried about being nice and providing enough positive feedback that they completely forget what they were hired as managers to do in the first place – manage the performance of others!
A favorite blogger of mine -The Evil HR Lady – had a post just the other day in response to a question from a reader regarding performance appraisals. The reader's supervisor had recently charged her with the task of making her organization's performance appraisal system "fun"
FUN PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS???!!!
YOU'VE GOT TO BE $@%&Z!# KIDDING ME!
Here's the harsh truth – performance appraisals aren't supposed to be fun. Pointing out where someone needs to improve their performance isn't going to be fun. However, this is what makes being a manager what it is. That's why managers, especially good ones, get paid more than those they manage – it isn't easy work and it takes a special kind of person to do it well.
The problem is that most organizations don't have the right people managing the performance of others. Call it the Peter Principle, call it whatever you like, but these managers aren't able to cut through the BS and tell it like it is. Rather they tell their people that everything is great and to keep on keeping on like they always have.
They worry about hurting the feelings of others. They worry that what they say may be held against them on their 360s. They worry that they'll walk into a room and everyone will suddenly stop talking.
Is this really what the organization and its shareholders need? Absolutely not! Yes, you've got to tell your people when they are doing a good job. But pulling your punches and not giving them honest and objective feedback on where they are struggling and how they can improve only serves as an injustice to the employee and the organization as a whole.
I'll be the first to say that honest and candid feedback can be difficult to swallow at times. However, when we know that a manager, supervisor, co-worker, spouse, or coach is telling it like it really is, it makes the positive feedback we receive all that more meaningful and gratifying.
If Coach Olson had failed to brutally honest with me I never would have realized what I was really capable of and improved as much as I did over the course of those three years. The same holds true in business. If we fail to tell our people how they are really doing and what they can do to improve it is impossible for them to ever realize their full potential.
This my friends is where the real value in continual feedback and performance appraisals lies.
Are you telling your team members what you really feel or are you pulling your punches???
It's time we start helping other to realize their own inner greatness instead of shielding them from it!
Now go maximize possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
Years ago in college I was introduced to an organizational metaphor developed by Dr. Gareth Morgan suggesting that organizations can act as and become psychic prisons.
If you haven't heard the term psychic prison before, your first reaction is probably a negative one that invokes images of worker drones toiling away mindlessly in a dimly lit factory for as far as the eye can see. I guess I can't blame you as that was the first thing I thought of when I was exposed to the idea that an organization can be a pyschic prison.
Rather than being fodder for a proletariat labor revolution, the purpose of the psychic prison metaphor is to illustrate how an organization can become trapped in a favored way of thinking which restricts creativity, prohibits change, and limits its ability to progress into the future.
Organizations which have become trapped in a psychic prison often share a common set of traits. The following are five signs that your organization may be trapped in a psychic prison:
- Group think is pervasive – Conflict in the workplace has gotten a really bad rap in recent years and the avoidance of workplace conflict has had some pretty negative consequences. The truth is that productive conflict in the workplace is critical to the success of any business and helps prevents bad ideas from being implemented without serious discussion and consideration. Examples of groupthink are plentiful both in business as well as other disciplines. Anybody remember New Coke, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, or the Challenger shuttle disaster???
- "We've Never Done it like that Before" – if these seven deadly words frequently find their way into the corporate board room, there is a good chance your organization could be trapped in a psychic prison. If this is the case any attempts to create meaningful change are typically devoured with incredible voracity.
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The "You're Gooder" Syndrome –
This ties closely to groupthink and the first sign, but differs in an important way. Rather than consensus based on the avoidance of conflict, ideas are implemented as a result of a
culture of brown nosers that lacks candor, honesty, and the courage to say what one really thinks. It sounds something like this:
"Your idea is good"
"No, yours is good"
"No, yours is gooder"
Bad grammar aside, I think you get my point. The truth is that both ideas were probably flawed, but nobody had the internal fortitude to say so.
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An inbred culture – It's great to promote from within as a means to motivate and reward stellar performance. However, when promotions are given based on loyalty and years of service rather than a record of exceptional performance big problems arise. This results in a leadership team rank with incompetence that only serves to breed more incompetence. Click here for five signs that your culture could be inbred.
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Arbitrary is the word of the day… everyday – Key directives and policies are determined by top management with unrelenting randomness and absence of reason. This is often a clear sign that the leadership of an organization has become disconnected and lost touch with what is really happening within the organization. For better or worse, the orders of top management are usually carried out. If an organization is trapped in a psychic prison, this is almost always to the detriment of the company. Like it or not, the culture of an organization is usually determined by those who lead it.
Have you ever worked for an organization trapped in a psychic prison? How did it manifest itself?
Now go maximize possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
Hello, Jack...
This is a memo of gratitude.
First of all... Thank you, Jack, for showing us what true performance can achieve. You have proven that setting the vision, working with the best talent possible, holding people accountable for high performance, and staying focused can create long-term performance results.
Second of all... Thank you for having the guts to say what you think. On April 11, 2008, GE announced earnings that were more than a little out of line with expectations set on March 13, 2008 by GE Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt.
On April 16, 2008, you were quoted on CNBC comments on GE start about 5:00 minutes in) criticizing the expectations set by Mr. Immelt that were not in line with reality a month later. I agree... Credibility is critical. Candor is essential.
GE missed the promise that was made. The GE Model works. People make mistakes. It will not happen again.
The comments you made on CNBC were not one of those mistakes, Jack. You need not apologize for your comments about Jeff Immelt's performance. Yes. The economy is a challenge. Forecasts can be difficult. We get that. Mr. Immelt is smarter than that. It will not happen again.
Jack... We need more accountability for actions instead of the massive "butt-kissing" that happens today in the media, in Corporate America, and in the typical organization.
And thank you, Jack, for being human. Thank you for your apology - but it was not necessary.
Thank you, Jack, for demanding accountability.
There is too little accountability in the business world today.
Lastly... Should you want to come by and criticize my business model, be my guest. Want to do it on CNBC - all the better! You always have my ear.
Keep being you, Jack.
And now, my memo to business leaders, managers, and anyone interested in making a difference in the place called "work".
The "buck stops with you". You either perform or you do not. You make the numbers or you do not. That is the law of Rainmaking.
I think sometimes we are so focused on being "nice" to others and being "respectful" in our day-to-day lives that we miss the opportunity to add value by saying what we really think.
There is an appalling lack of candor and honesty that has become pervasive in the culture of far too many teams and organizations.
I'm calling it the "You Are Gooder" syndrome. It goes something like this...
"You are good..."
"No, you are good..."
"Well, you are gooder..."
"No... You are gooder..."
I am being a bit fascetious, of course. But it is so true. People are afraid to hold others accountable to get the job done - to perform - for fear of upsetting someone's feelings.
It is time to get real about performance and expect it as part of the organizational culture.
What say you?
Does your organizational culture reward the "truth" - candor? Or do people "dance" around the real issues hoping the problems will go away?
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
With so many blogs floating around the blogosphere on the topics of talent management, leadership, and human resources it's hard to know what's worth reading. We thought we'd save you some time and point you to the best of the best from last week.
Management Skills Blog, Tom Foster: When is Enough, Enough? - Tom Foster relays an interesting question from a reader of his blog about performance management and how long to tolerate poor performance. Tom let's his readers weight in on the issue first in the comments and then offers his take in a subsequent blog.
Mission Minded Management, Michelle Maley Carter: Can We Really Be Anything We Want to Be? - As children we were all told that we can be anything we want to be when we grow up. President, doctor, lawyer, astronaut - the sky was the limit - literally. Michelle Malay Carter takes an interesting look at the effect this has had on us in our careers and the workplace. Be sure to check out her follow up article as well.
HR Tests: Rocket Hire Releases 5th Annual Survey Results - The folks of at the HR Tests blog were kind enough summarized some key information from Rocket Hire's 5th annual survey on the use of screening and assessment tools. Some interesting trends worth checking out, as well as links to the full survey results.
Steve Roesler, All Things Workplace - Talent, Systems, Change, and Truthful Self-Perception - a great post on the role of truth and candor in the workplace.
Evil HR Lady: Fun Appriasals? A reader writes to the Evil HR Lady after having been charged with the task of making her organization's appraisal system "fun." Here's a little secret: performance appraisals aren't fun, and avoiding the necessary candor that such appraisals require is a big reason so many organizations have performance issues to begin with. Be sure to check out the reader comments as they providing some interesting insight.
Bonus Picks: A lot of good posts out there this past week, so here are two comical bonus picks to get your Monday morning off to a good start!
I've been tagged by Michelle Malay Carter to take part in an ongoing book meme.
Rules of the game: Turn to page 123 of a book you're reading and share sentences 6-8, and then tag a few other bloggers to carry the torch through the blogosphere.
Page 123 sentences 6-8 from what I'm reading:
"I've had a few in my life, but the most significant blindside event came when I was a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate at UCLA. Back then, in the late 1960s, the era of free love and Woodstock, I thought of myself as being just a little more insightful, more 'hip,' than the people around me. I believed that I was intensely involved in things like deeper human understanding, self-actualization, and uncovering profound meaning."
-What Got You Here Won't Get You There, Marshall Goldsmith
"It would be very fortunate, no doubt, but in this case a general was of no consequence to the youth. In a defeat there would be a roundabout vindiction of himself. He thought it would prove, in a manner, that he had fled early because of his superior powers of perception - a serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree."
- Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
My reading philosophy: I've always had a zest for reading fiction and the classics, so I do my best to keep up with this genre in between reading business and leadership books. I find this to be a great way to keep both the business and personal saws sharp over the years.
What's in the pipeline:
- Talent is Never Enough, John C. Maxwell
- Lord of the Flies, William Golding
- Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath
- Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
- Make the Impossible Possible, Bill Strickland
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
A few of my business favorites:
- QBQ!, John Miller
- Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
- Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
- Good to Great, Jim Collins
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
Tag you are it!
If you haven't heard, Martin Kihn recently released a new book (this one doesn't rip on management consultantsJ ) that has been getting a lot of media coverage. His newest book – A$$hole: How I got Rich and Happy by not Giving a Damn About Anyone and how you can, too - is his take on a six month experiment in which he purposely turned himself into an asshole.
The premise of Kihn's book is that he was fed up with being the world's doormat and watching the jerks in the world leave him in the dust. Kihn resolved to give up his nice guy persona and take on that of a well… true asshole. With hopes of winning a promotion over an office rival Kihn emulated the behavior of the typical office jerk and stopped smiling, began staring people down, interrupting others, dominating meeting, claiming others' ideas for his own, and displaying aggressive behavior in pursuit of his ambitions.
The result? Kihn reports that it worked, and he was offered the promotion he longed for.
Kihn's book is very much a satire on his experience of transforming himself into an asshole and even he admits that becoming a jerk doesn't typically pay off in the long term and can have a negative impact on one's personal relationships with others. However I still worry that his message may be misinterpreted by some and cause them to drastically change their behavior and act in a way that isn't true to who they really are. This can pose some real problems.
Here's why…
We all have a natural and an adaptive style of behavior. Our natural style is who we really are deep down inside and this rarely changes over time. It is displayed most often when we are in our comfort zone – such as at home with family or around close friends. We also have an adapted style of behavior. This is the "mask" we put on to suit different situations and environments based on how we feel we need to behave to succeed in that situation. Our adaptive style can change over time dependent upon the different situations we find ourselves in.
The further our adapted style of behavior in a particular situation is from our natural style, the more stress it causes us when we must adapt our behavior.
Martin Kihn's natural style of behavior is that of a genuinely nice guy. However, to succeed at work he felt it necessary to drastically adapt his behavior to that of a complete jerk to succeed in the "dog eat dog" corporate world. This persona was so far from his natural style of behavior that Kihn actually hired an acting coach to help him act the part.
To continue such a behavioral masquerade for an extended period of time can be incredibly taxing on an individual. Assholes are people who are so focused on their own goals, ambitions, and interests, that they completely disregard the thoughts and feelings of others – they lack empathy and just don't care about others. Most people do care however, and acting as if one doesn't is difficult to do for an extended period of time.
Could Kihn have kept up with this adapted persona for an extended period of time – say a year or two? I really doubt it and would argue that six months is about the maximum amount of time one is able to keep one's "behavioral mask" on without incurring an excessive amount of stress.
When a new employee joins an organization there is a period of time that is typically described as the "honeymoon" period when things between an employee and his boss and co-workers are great. This – by no small coincidence - lasts about six months.
The reason for this is that when we first enter a new job we consciously or unconsciously adapt our behavior to fit our new environment. If the required behavior of the job is in stark contrast to who we really are it will inevitably become a problem. After about six months it becomes difficult keep adapting our behavior to fit the job, the stress becomes too much, and we are forced to move our behavior more towards who we really are.
I see it all the time in all sorts of positions… The accountant who craves people interaction but is "locked up" alone in a cubicle all day; the social worker who doesn't really care about helping others, so she "fakes it"; or the salesman who portrayed himself as outgoing and willing to approach strangers in the interview when this wasn't really who he is.
What happens in these situations? Who we really are is so far from what the job requires that it causes incredible stress, performance suffers, and eventually we quit or are asked to leave.
This I feel is the lesson to be taken away from Martin Kihn's satire. It's alright to modify and adapt our behavior for short periods of time, however to continue such a masquerade for an extended period of time will ultimately result in disappointment. Read Kihn's book, laugh along with the rest of us at his portrayal of the office jerk, but don't be lured into thinking that transforming yourself into complete ass will be your ticket to the ivory tower.
In my humble opinion, I feel the best advice is to make a conscious effort to discover who you really are deep down inside and seek out ways to leverage your behavioral strengths and tendencies to achieve your goals. Doing otherwise will only create stress for yourself as well as those around you.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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The latest Carnival of Human Resources is live at Ann Bares' Compensation Force Blog. This latest COHR features 24 posts on a variety of interesting HR topics.
Click here to check it out!
The Maximize Possibility Blog has the esteemed pleasure of hosting the next installment of the Carnival of HR on April 30th, 2008.
Join the fun and send your compelling blog posts to news@therainmakergroupinc.com to be a part of the next carvnival!
With so many blogs floating around the blogosphere on the topics of talent management, leadership, and human resources it's hard to know what's worth reading. We thought we'd save you some time and point you to the best of the best from last week.
HR Capitalist, Kris Dunn: Lower Turnover Doesn't Equal Employee Engagement - HR Capitalist Kris Dunn has a nice post on his blog about economic downturns, reduced turnover, and employee engagement. Kris raises the issue that with the economy sliding many unengaged employees are more likely to hunker down in a job they don't like and wait for the economy to turn around before looking for a new job. Bottom line retention does not equal turnover
All Things Workplace, Steve Roesler: What Talents Create the Heart of Your Business? - Steve put out a great post last week challenging us to carefully examine and identify the base level talents that are needed for our organizations to succeed.
Management Craft, Lisa Haneberg: Grand Slam Home Run Goals - Are you swinging for the fences or just trying to get on base? That is the question Lisa at the Management Craft blog asks in her post from last week and provides suggestions for clarifying how to hit a grand slam when working towards organizational goals and objectives.
Great Leadership, Dan McCarthy: Five Easy Ways to Break Down Feedback Barriers - Feedback... your employees crave it, they need it. However this is often one of the most difficult issues for managers to tackle. Dan provides five quick tips for breaking down the barriers to providing meaningful feedback.
Slow Leadership, John Fletcher: Today’s obsession with quantifiable objectives is more about office politics than performance - Guest blogger John Fletcher joins up with the Slow Leadership Blog for an interesting look at the craze of quantifiable objectives and the impact they can have on an organization's performance.
Bonus Pick: With a lot of good posts out there this past week I thought I toss a bonus pick your way. Check out Seth Godin's blog titled Who's Answering the Phones?
I don't usually blog about sports and their connections to the business world… I'll leave that to Kris Dunn over at the HR Capitalist Blog – he's a true master at it. However today I think I am going to make an exception.
I am a huge college hockey fan and a lifelong fan of my state's only D-I college hockey program – The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The UND hockey program has a rich tradition of success that is rivaled by few in the league.
For the fourth consecutive year the Fighting Sioux found their way to the Frozen Four – the college hockey equivalent of basketball's Final Four - and for the third consecutive year found itself facing fellow perennial powerhouse Boston College in the opening round.
A quick summary of the game:
The Sioux quickly found themselves trailing by three goals with its senior goaltender – the leader in the NCAA in goals allowed per game and save percentage – having an uncharacteristically bad showing and failing to stop shots that had been routine saves for him all season. With 45 minutes remaining in the game things were far from lost for UND, but something needed to be done – and fast.
At the restaurant full of Sioux fans where I was watching the game cries immediately began to be heard for the goaltender to be replaced with his backup. It was clear to see that he was not on top of his game and hard to imagine that his performance would suddenly improve.
However our cries fell upon deaf ears (TV screens) and the floundering goaltender remained on the ice. The straw that broke the camel's back came with 15 seconds remaining in the first period as Boston College scored another seemingly weak goal leaving UND down 0-4 after one period.
Things never turned around for the Sioux and for the third consecutive year UND gave up six goals (6-6-6 mark of the beast???) en route to a 6-1 devastating loss.
I had the urge to write this blog last night at about midnight, but as my emotions were still running high I decided to follow my advice from a previous post and wait until today to avoid an unwanted amygdala hijacking where I might spout out something I regret (and the search engines immortalize.)
So what does all this have to do with business and the world of performance management? In my opinion… everything.
Yesterday's hockey game serves as a great illustration of the effects a poorly performing team member can have on an organization. Poor performers drag an organization down and hinder its ability to meet its goals and objectives. In the process these individuals destroy morale and bring down the performance of others.
After quickly allowing three weak goals the loss of team morale for the Sioux was palpable. However the poor performers were allowed to remain in the game and it was clear that UND had little confidence in its ability to win the game. The final two periods were a mere formality.
I firmly believe that confidence in one's own abilities and his or her organization's ability to accomplish its goals is paramount to success. When hope is lost and morale has vanished the chances of success are slim at best. This is the price an organization pays for keeping poor performers on the bus – they bring a group of otherwise talented individuals down with them.
Is it fair to blame failure on one individual? Certainly not - in sports as well as business victories and losses are experienced as a team. Several Sioux players had poor outings and that certainly contributed to their misfortune. However one of the poor performers happened to be in arguably the most important position on the team – the goaltender. Without solid performance in this position the likelihood of success is greatly diminished.
On an organizational team there are similar positions – project manager, team leader, etc. While everyone on the team has an important role, certain positions are crucial to the realization of success. Poor performance in these positions equates to poor performance for the team and cannot be tolerated. For the sake of the team and the organization these individuals must be removed at the moment it becomes apparent they cannot perform up to expectations. UND failed to do so and it suffered the consequences.
In the nightcap of the Frozen Four semifinals Notre Dame took on a heavily favored Michigan squad. Michigan found itself in a similar situation to the Sioux – down 0-3 in the first period. During intermission Michigan head coach Red Berenson pulled his starting goalie (also one of the top tenders in the league) and replaced him with his backup who had only played in five games all season. Michigan came back to tie the game 4-4 to send it into overtime.
Notre Dame managed to pull off a major upset by winning 5-4 in overtime, so my example doesn't quite have the poetic justice I would have hoped for, but I think my point is clear. Removing the poorly performing team member gave Michigan the opportunity to come back and have a real shot at winning whereas keeping the incumbent goaltender in the game wouldn't have.
Are you tolerating poor performers on your team?
Why are you allowing them to keep your organization from reaching its full potential?
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.p Bring Chris in today!
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Randy passed early this morning (July 25, 2008). Our thoughts and prayers go out to Randy's family.
Thank you for your powerful example of living life to the fullest, Randy. Rest in peace...
This blog originally was posted on April 10, 2008.
I recently had the privilege of watching Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". I've seen his lecture online over the last several months. I have found his lecture calling me over the last several weeks.
When that happens, it means something big.
I have work to do.
I need to get more of my life into alignment with my vision and purpose.
What work do you have left?
It's time to get started.
Start now by watching this powerful video.
To view a transcript of the video go to (http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/Randy/pauschlastlecturetranscript.pdf)
To go to Randy's website, go to www.randypausch.com
More blogs on this later...
Maximize Possibility by starting today... There isn't much time.
A quick lesson in biology...
On both sides of our brains, not far from the ears, lies a small almond shaped structure called the amygdala. This small structure in our brain plays a critical role in our behavioral reaction to emotional stimuli. The primary emotion associated with the amygdala is fear, but researchers also believe it plays a critical role in how we behave when our brains are flooded with emotions in high stress situations.
When the brain becomes overwhelmed with such stimuli its "traffic director" – the thalamus - sends the sensory signals directly to the amygdala as opposed to the cortex – the thinking and processing part of the brain – where the signals are typically processed. When this happens the amygdala takes over and controls the body's reactions based on the flood of emotional stimuli it is receiving instead of analyzing these signals and acting rationally.
Daniel Goleman - the preeminent though leader in the field of emotional intelligence – describes this situation as an "amygdala hijack."
This can be bad… especially at work. Rash and impulsive behavior as the result of a hijacked amygdala can tarnish one's reputation, destroy employee morale, reduce a leader's effectiveness, and cause unwanted employee turnover.
How can you tell if you've been the victim of an amygdala hijacking?
If you've ever looked back at your behavior and actions after a heated or intense situation with shame or regret there is a good chance that your brain was overwhelmed with emotions and your amygdala took control of your actions.
Classic examples:
- Immediately sending a scathing email without having all the facts of the situation.
- Becoming highly defensive and blaming others when faced with negative feedback.
- Blowing up on a subordinate who delivers bad news but has nothing to do with it.
Clearly these situations are bad for our professional as well as our personal lives as the person under the influence of a hijacked amygdala is rarely the person we want to be. Given the dangers and consequences associated with a hijacked amygdala it is important that we learn to respond appropriately when faced with a sudden flood of emotions.
A couple of things you can do:
-
Delay action – when the amygdala takes control of the brain its purpose is to bring about a rapid response to one's environment. While this was great for the evolution of mankind when the immediate identification and reaction to threats was necessary, it can become a real liability in today's more socially sophisticated society. The amygdala only takes charge for short periods of time – typically not more than 10 seconds. As such it is critical to make a conscious effort to delay an otherwise knee-jerk reaction. Consider doing the following:
- Wait an hour before writing that scathing email response. By this time your emotions will have cooled down considerably and you will be able to respond in a more tactful manner.
- Take your lunch break or get some fresh air to cool down before addressing an emotionally charged issue.
- Take a deep breath and count to 10. This may sound like advice best suited for a child, but our mothers were definitely on to something. A few deep breaths will give the thalamus time to get its bearings strait and start sending sensory signals back to the cortex where more rational decision making is made.
- Take negative feedback in stride – realize that less than flattering feedback received by a manager is designed to help you improve and become a more valuable contributor to your organization. It is rarely personal and becoming defensive will only escalate the situation.
- Recognize personality differences – we all behave and communicate differently and realizing this can greatly reduce the chances of an amygdala hijacking. You boss may not be the jerk you think she is – she may just be more blunt, direct, and bottom-line orientated than your personality style is comfortable with. Realizing that this is just the way she is will reduce the chances of your emotions taking unwanted control of your behavior.
- Avoid emotional conflict traps – I am not suggesting that you avoid conflict and confrontation - both can be very healthy and productive. I am suggesting you avoid situations where your past behavior suggests that you may lose control of the situation and your emotions could take over. Past behavior is often the best predictor of future behavior, so get to know yourself and how you respond in certain situations. For example if you know that confronting a production manager about a defected product immediately after a call from an irate customer will lead to an unproductive argument, wait an hour before doing so. Again, delay action when possible and let cooler heads prevail.
Being passionate and emotional about your work can be a tremendous blessing and a valuable part of your personal brand. It can also be a hindrance and a curse when your emotions take control of your actions and cause you to behave in a way that you later regret. Being aware of how you respond to emotionally charged situations is critical to limiting the risks and consequences associated with a hijacked amygdala.
What are you doing to keep your amygdala from hijacking your behavior?
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
With so many blogs floating around the blogosphere on the topics of talent management, leadership, and human resources it's hard to know what's worth reading. We thought we'd save you some time and point you to the best of the best from last week.
Without further ado here are our 'Fab-Five' blog posts for the week of March 31st through April 6th, 2008:
Mission Minded Management, Michelle Malay Carter: Is Training Anything More than Putting Lipstick on a Pig? - One of our favorites, Michelle Malay Carter has a provocative post up on Mission Minded Management Blog looking at the motives behind employee training and the root causes of the "training dysfunction" so many organizations face.
KnowHR Blog, Frank Roche: How to Pay a Superstar - If you haven't heard by now, New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez (A-ROD) earns more in a single season than the entire Florida Marlins' player payroll combined. Frank Roche takes an interesting look at how to pay superstars within your organization.
Ask a Manager: Three Tips for Managing Interns: - With the end of the school year approaching, many organizations are looking towards their summer internship programs. This post has three basic tips for managing interns that I dare say often get overlooked by organizations utilizing an internship program.
The Work Clinic: In the Wrong Job - Tara over at The Work Clinic Blog points us to some interesting information about the number of people who are in the wrong positions at work and how long they stay in such a position. Be sure to check out the link to the data reports Tara sources from for a complete list of statistics.
The Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk: Start-Up Skill: Find People who Compensate for your Weakness - Penelope put up an interesting blog this past week about the importance of complimenting skill sets and personality styles in business. She focuses her blog on the context of her recent start-up venture, however her advice truly applies to all organizations.
Reading the financial headlines, things are looking pretty bleak out there in the business world. Jobs are being cut, large investment banks on the brink of disaster are being bailed out, and home foreclosures are still rising. With each headline, more and more people are grabbing their mallets and beating on the "gloom and doom" recession drum.
Technical economists will tell you a recession is inevitable as the yield curve inverted midway into 2006 with 2-year bonds yielding more than 10-year bonds and staying that way into the beginning of 2007. This is seen by many as a leading indicator of a coming recession. Each time the yield curve has inverted since WWI a recession occurred in the following two to six quarters, so we would seem to be right on track.
Enough with the economics lecture… we'll leave it to the powers that be at the National Bureau of Economic Research and its Business Cycle Dating Committee to let us know if we're really in a recession and when it started and ended. By the way - it took them 20 months to make a declaration of the 2001 recession, so don't hold your breath…
So what does all this have to do with employee training and development? In a word: everything.
What typically happens during a recession or economic cool down is that business leaders read the headlines every day, follow the indicators, get nervous, and start cutting "unnecessary" spending wherever possible. The training and development budget is often the first to go and the last to come back.
Why is this?
Many leaders have a hard time justifying a hefty employee training and development budget because, well… it doesn't always provide the greatest return on investment when every dollar spent is critical to the bottom line. Let's face it - not everyone has had the greatest experiences with training and development as most of it simply doesn't stick and doesn't bring about the desired long term improvements in performance and business results.
Michelle Malay Carter over at the Mission Minded Management Blog put up a great post the other day comparing most training to nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig. You might check it out… it sums up the training conundrum pretty nicely.
So how exactly is one supposed to go about employee training and development in a time when every dollar must be spent wisely? The following are five tips to improve your training and development efforts in the face of the tough economic times:
- Remember that training is an investment – just as companies that keep up or increase advertising investments during a recession gain market share and reap the benefits when the economy turns around, so do companies that continue to invest in training and development. When the economy does heat back up, your organization will have an edge on the competition as your team members have continued to sharpen and develop their skills while others were not.
- Make sure the training is targeted and really needed – It's difficult to spend your training dollars wisely when you don't really understand what training your team members really need. Consider spending a few dollars to assess your team member's real strengths and weaknesses before sending them off for training. Bottom line - if they don't need the training, don't waste their time and your money on it.
- Establish measurable returns – With any investment, if you can't measure its returns, it probably isn't a good investment. Training is no exception. It might take some time and effort to establish the metrics and benchmarks necessary for measuring the training's effectiveness, but in the long run it will be worth it as you will know for certain if it was a good use of company resources or not. This also makes it much easier to defend your budget to a finance committee or CEO as there are measurable returns that its effectiveness can be judged on.
- Work with vendors that truly understand your needs – Let's face it, the training and development world gets a bad rap as most hired trainers have limited solutions that they do their best to convince you are just what you need to solve your problems. If you're working with an outside vendor or consultant who insists on telling you what your needs are rather than taking the time to truly understand them this should be a red flag that they are trying to "sell you" more than trying to help you. If they can't get to the core of your issues, they can't bring about positive change.
- Make sure the training is flexible and customized – Bottom line… "Boxed training" rarely if ever brings about lasting change. If you are going to put the money into training and development make sure it is flexible and able to be customized to your unique needs. If it isn't, odds are you will be disappointed with the results and will have misappropriated scarce company resources.
Defending your training and development budget can be a tough sell during an economic downturn. However, if you can show that the training is targeted towards your team members' needs and that the proper metrics and benchmarks have been identified to measure the training's effectiveness you will have a much easier time defending your request for resources and will see a much greater return on your investment.
Regardless of the direction the economic winds are blowing this is the right way to approach all employee training and development efforts and will demonstrate the due diligence you have taken when appropriating company resources.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
You've probably heard this cliche at some point or another. It's a cliche for a reason – it's true.
So if the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra, what exactly is that little extra?
Think about this… at 211° water is just hot. At 212° water boils and creates steam.
Steam is the power behind the locomotive engine and the power that brought American civilization across the western frontier forever changing America's destiny. In this case 1° is that little extra that makes all the difference.
Consider this:
- The Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 - auto races that take over three hours to complete are rarely won by more than a couple of seconds. The average over the last 10 years has been just 1.54 seconds.
- The difference between a gold and silver medal performance in timed events at the olympic games it rarely more than 1/10th of a second.
- The average margin of victory in the last 100 major golf tournaments (U.S. Open, The Masters, The Brittish Open, and the PGA Championship) is less then three strokes over the course of a four day tournament.
What is the difference? That little extra. The extra effort by the pit crew, the extra attitude and determination of a track sprinter, or the little extra concentration by a professional golfer.
Think about how this concept might apply to your performance at work…
What if you:
- Made one or two more sales calls each day?
- Tried a little harder to understand and get along with a boss or coworker?
- Asked a couple more probing questions to better understand your client's needs?
- Did a few more of the little things that show your customers how much you really care?
- Paid a little closer attention to details?
- Thanked your team for their hard work every day?
- Arrived to work a few minutes earlier and stayed a few minutes later each day?
Think about it… That's 400 more sales calls, 250 additional expressions of gratitude, 40 extra hours at work, and hundreds of additional opportunities to better understand your customers and coworkers each year.
That little extra suddenly makes a big difference… The difference between ordinary and extraordinary!
Take a moment and make a list of the "little extra" you can do each day at work.
Commit to honoring your list each and every day, and I promise you will see a difference.
You might be at 211° and not even know it… All you need to move from ordinary to extraordinary is that little extra!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Rowan Manahan over at the Fortify Your Oasis Blog has taken the reins for the 30th installment of the Carnival of Human Resources. A record 28 entries were submitted by some of the best bloggers in the biz on a diverse collection of important HR topics.
Check out the latest Carvinal of HR here!
Just a Reminder... The Rainmaker Group will be hosting the Carnival on April 30th, so stay tuned for a great collection of blog posts coming soon!
