Apr 19 2012

Can’t Find Qualified Workers? Try This

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Can’t Find Qualified Workers? Try This

I’ve been noticing something very interesting happening lately. At a time when unemployment is higher than it’s been in over 20 years, companies are complaining that they can’t seem to hire workers. They’re looking for specific skills and abilities and workers with those skills just don’t seem to exist. Some people suggest we should have a government program to retrain workers and give them skills that would make them more attractive to potential employers. I’m not a big fan of government programs, especially as they relate to business. I think there’s another way to approach this issue.

First consider what it’s costing you not to have someone in that position. Face it; we hire people with the express purpose of them giving back to the company. We hire people so they can further the company’s mission. That means that all the time that position is vacant, you’re losing money. Because there’s nobody there doing the job that will make money; that will improve your bottom line. On top of that, you have another expense. That’s the expense of recruiting, trying to find someone to fill that position. When you add it up and consider the amount of time that position is vacant, you’ll find you’re losing a lot of money.

Now compare that cost to the cost of actually training somebody to have the skills and abilities you’re looking for. I understand you can’t always train somebody to have the years of experience, but while you’re waiting for those years of experience, those costs are adding up. Wouldn’t it be better to find someone who has similar skills, but more importantly is enthusiastic, will be a good worker, will benefit your company, and then train them in the skills and abilities you’re looking for? Compare those two costs and I think you’ll see that training someone for the new position is actually a cheaper way to go. Besides, when you train your own people, you know they learn things you want them to learn the way you want them to do it.

You can wait for a government program, and it might happen, but in the time you’re waiting, think about how much money you will have lost.

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Apr 04 2012

Vision

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Vision

August 28, 1963 was a warm and pleasant day in Washington DC as Martin Luther King mounted the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he looked out on the Washington Mall and several hundred thousand people. And then he uttered those famous words, “I have a dream.” “I have a dream that my four little children will live in a nation where they are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” King had expressed a vision. He’d expressed a vision so well that it actually is credited with being a major force behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

What’s your vision? What’s your big dream? What would you like to see happen if nothing stood in your way? When you think about that, it becomes your vision. Once you’ve determined that vision, sit down with a few people; friends and people you really trust, and tell them what your vision is. If they don’t look at you like you’re just a little bit crazy, then maybe you need to work on it a little more. When people think you’re just a little crazy, it means you have a great, audacious vision, and that’s what people will follow.

Your vision doesn’t have to be a short term thing. In fact, it should reach way out into the future. What would you like to see a year, 5 years, 10 years from now? When King said “I have a dream, that on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves, and the sons of former slave owners will sit down together at the table of brotherhood,” he knew that wasn’t going to happen right then. He knew it wasn’t going to happen in the next few years. Unfortunately, King did not live long enough to see the first black mayor in Atlanta, or the nation’s first black governor in Virginia. But I believe he did foresee those things, because they were part of his vision.

Every leader should have a vision. People follow a leader with a vision, if for no other reason than to see where you’re going. So, have you thought about it? What is your vision and how are you going to express that to your followers?

 

 

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Mar 22 2012

Performance Reports Are Coming!

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Performance Reports Are Coming

Is it that time of year again for you? Performance reports! Everybody loves performance reports, whether you’re giving them or receiving them…ok, nobody really likes performance reports. They’re kind of a pain. The trouble is we make them more difficult than they need to be. I’ve certainly made the mistake, and I’m sure a lot of you have too, of waiting until the last minute, then sitting down to try and remember some things that happened over the last few months. A year ago? There’s no way you’re going to remember that. The end result is, you complete the requirement, but the performance report doesn’t have a lot of value: it doesn’t really accomplish anything.
I found the easiest way to do performance reports is to start early. Keep track of what your workers are doing. Keep little notes. I don’t mean just “So and so was late for work,” or “They didn’t finish the project on time” You may want to remember those things; but what’s as important if not more important are the times they did an excellent job or finished a little early. When they were able to complete a project when they were really under the gun; when they developed something new they can do or accomplish. When you have all this written down, the performance report, is easy because all the information is already there, you just have to write it out. But the other benefit is that the performance report now becomes something worthwhile, something valuable. You can sit down with your workers and actually discuss things intelligently. You’re able to point out the great things they’ve done and help them develop to be even better.
Performance reports don’t have to be terrible things. They can be a fairly easy, and certainly valuable, addition to your day.

Think about this. Don’t you wish your boss did it that way?

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Mar 14 2012

What Leadership Development Does

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What Leadership Development Does

I was reading an article recently that talked about how leadership development was about selecting the next senior leader. And while that sort of thing is important in leadership development, there’s another part that is just as important, and that’s making sure that the junior managers and supervisors receive good leadership training in the fundamentals of leading people. I was watching an interview on meettheboss.tv, which by the way, is a good place to pick up some tips on leadership. The interview was with Liane Hornsey who is a vice president at Google. She said something that amazed me. She said that she had been a manager for 15 years before she really understood how to manage. Think about how much sooner she would have been so much more successful if she had had a basic leadership development program that taught her the fundamentals of leading people. Your leadership development program is more than just picking your next senior leader, but just as importantly making sure that those new leaders, those managers and supervisors, understand the fundamentals of leading people. And that’s what makes them successful and makes you successful.

So what are you doing to make your leaders succeed?

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Mar 07 2012

Change? Why?

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Change? Why?

I like to watch the question forums on LinkedIn. They give me an idea what’s going on in the business world and I learn some things from the various questions and answers I see there. The other day I saw one that really caught my eye. Someone wanted to know what they should rename their training department. Of course the first question that came to my mind was why?

As leaders it’s important to always ask ourselves why we want change to happen. There’s nothing wrong with change, change can be a good thing. But we need to make sure change is happening because of something important and not just because we want to change. I remember some years ago going through the whole reengineering process. It was based on actually some pretty good ideas about how to make the work place more efficient. But it became almost a contest to see who could change what the fastest. I saw org charts changing, and people titles and the names of departments and division; it became change, change, change. We very quickly lost sight of why we were doing all this change in the first place and as a result the change did nothing more than confuse things.

You want to rename your training department? Go ahead and do that. But ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is the department taking on new responsibilities maybe shedding old responsibilities, or maybe it’s going to start operating in a completely different way. If that’s the case, and changing the name will help everyone understand that then its fine, change it. But if you’re just changing the name to keep up with the Jones’, then you’re probably wasting your time. And by the way, your workers will see that and they wonder why you want to waste time on something like changing the name of the training department. But, on the plus side, it will give them something to laugh at you about.

 
 
 
 
 

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Feb 15 2012

The Good Leader/Bad Leader List

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The Good Leader/Bad Leader List

One of the exercises I advise new leaders to try is the “Good Leader/Bad Leader” List. It’s simple. Just draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. Title the left side, “What I’ve Seen Leaders Do That I Liked.” Title the right side, “What I’ve Seen Leaders Do That I Didn’t Like.”

The exercise is pretty self-explanatory from there, but it’s deceptively simple. Of course, you’ll write some examples in each category. Keep the paper handy and when new examples crop up, add them to one side or the other of your list.

Review the list occasionally. You will probably begin to see similarities between the issues you face now as a leader and those that you observed in the past. You may also find that what you recorded as good or bad leadership may not now fit quite as well in one or the other category. That’s because you didn’t know everything those leaders knew. When I was new to the working world, I found there were things I liked that my bosses did and things I thought were really quite stupid, and I failed to comprehend why they didn’t take my advice on matters I felt they were approaching incorrectly.

As I began taking on leadership roles myself, something became clear to me that was clouded in that brash, youthful exuberance. Leaders have to deal with circumstances that their followers don’t see. I discovered that some of the things I had observed my bosses do that seemed wrong actually came from a requirement or influence of which I was unaware. When I realized the rest of the story, their actions didn’t seem quite as wrong.

On the other hand, some of the things I had originally thought were good turned out to be a leader’s most expedient action in order to avoid more difficult, and perhaps unpopular, decisions.

And that is where the “Good Leader/Bad Leader” model comes in. The value in the exercise is two-fold. First, it’s good to think about what you see as good and bad leadership techniques. When faced with a particular dilemma I’ve always found it helpful to reflect on what my own leaders did in similar situations.

The second is to serve as a reminder that leadership is not always easy and as leaders we will never make everyone happy. That’s a perhaps uncomfortable, but absolutely critical realization. As leaders we have to make decisions and take action based on the good of the organization, and sometimes that isn’t the easiest or most popular answer.

Go ahead, try the exercise and remember what Carl Jung said,

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

 
 
 
 
 

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Feb 08 2012

The Fortune Best Companies to Work For List – Why are They the Best?

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The Fortune Best Companies to Work For List – Why are They the Best?

Once again Fortune magazine has published its list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Google replaced SAS Institute in the number 1 slot. There are some pretty impressive stats; companies who have never laid off employees, those with some pretty impressive compensation and incentive packages, and quite a few that are currently hiring. Amongst all that, there are two points that jump out; at least they did for me.

First, where something besides compensation and incentives was mentioned it was that employees are treated as an important part of the team. They feel their input is valued and they have plenty of opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. These companies understand how to help employees realize their own motivation and they are better for that understanding.
The second point concerns me though. In the short write-ups about the companies on the list, the overwhelming subject matter is incentives. Do people really work for Starbucks to get free coffee? Would you be happy at Perkins Coie because they throw frequent parties? Are you ready to drop your current job to work for Autodesk because they let you bring your dog to work? Probably not.

How does Fortune arrive at the determination that these are the best companies to work for? They partner with the Great Place to Work Institute (www.greatplacetowork) which, according to their website, has produced an extensive survey that touches on a wide variety of subjects and issues that affect the workplace. Compensation and incentives are part of that survey but there is much more; I’m impressed with the emphasis on trust. That leads me to believe the results are most likely legitimate and reflect what I would consider the real reasons employees like their companies.

So why does Fortune tout the money, while paying less attention to more important issues? Well they are a magazine and they need readers and subscribers to stay in business. And that brings me to the big question. Since Fredrick Herzberg first published what is known as his Motivation-Hygiene Theory, it is been proven time and again that pay, benefits, working conditions, etc are not motivators. Is that changing? Are such things starting to actually become motivators? The underlying survey would indicate not, but the need to use such factors to capture readership makes me wonder.

Thanks to Fortune and the Great Place to Work Institute for this annual report. For anyone who is serious about leading people and creating great companies like this, please study the websites (the article can be found at www.fortune.com/bestcompanies) and the companies themselves to learn more than the short bit in the magazine.

 
 
 
 
 

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Feb 02 2012

Leadership Lessons from Watching Politics

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Leadership Lessons from Watching Politics

I’ve been watching the presidential primary race with some interest. I’m interested in politics and I strongly believe as citizens, we should strive to know something about the people who want our trust; and our vote.

There’s something about political campaigns, and politicians in general, that I find interesting. We think of politicians as leaders, but watching their behavior it’s clear that most really aren’t. That may seem a little harsh, so let me explain. Most of the politicians I’ve seen look different than they did a few years ago. I mean that in general terms. Politicians tend to swivel with the wind; kind of like a weathervane. There some few exceptions. John Adams could not be swayed from his belief in government’s duties, and it cost him dearly. Lincoln believed in the sanctity of the Union above all else and would not compromise on that point. Coolidge believed in the ability of the market to grow the nation’s economy. Reagan would not budge from a position of national strength. Unfortunately though, politicians too often express a firm belief in the opinion that’s popular at that time, or for that audience. While the political stage is a very different environment, I do see some lessons for leaders in all this.

1. It’s hard to consistently say things you don’t really believe. At some point you’ll slip and say what you really think, or you’ll get caught up in conflicting statements as you try to please everyone.

2. Values are not situational and core values don’t often change. Leaders who don’t clearly define their own core values, and stick to them, set themselves up for an internal conflict that can destroy them.

3. You can’t sell snake oil for any length of time. When people find it doesn’t really work, they’ll come for you and it won’t be pleasant. People are allowed to make mistakes, but when you start out with something that you know is flawed, you’re headed down the road to ruin.

4. You can’t please everyone. Those who try end up pleasing no one. A peer of mine used to tell his boss one thing, his workers something else, and when the senior leadership was around, his story would change again. It wasn’t long before he lost everyone’s trust and became marginalized and irrelevant.

5. You don’t know everything. My favorite leaders were those who admitted to what they didn’t know. That doesn’t mean they remained ignorant, just that they didn’t try to act on issues until they had filled in their knowledge gaps. Remember that ignorance is merely not knowing, and it can be fixed. There is no shame in ignorance. On the other hand, stupidity is acting on ignorance, and as the saying goes, you can’t fix stupid.

I use the political analogy because it’s very public, and because leaders have to deal with politics in the workplace. The best way to do that is to know who you are, and what you believe. Then stick to it.

 
 
 
 
 

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Jan 25 2012

Who Are the Real Leaders?

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Who’s the Real Leaders?

I just finished reading an article in which the author laments that “everyone” as he says, is called a leader, or is considered to be on one or another leadership track; something which, outside of the military just isn’t true. This author thinks we’re better off referring to most leaders as managers. I take exception to the belief that only the most senior people should be considered leaders. Leadership is more complex than that. It’s an expensive mistake to assume that there is no need to consider supervisors and managers as leaders.

People are a resource and as such they need to be managed. But, unlike the warehouse forklift, they also respond to leadership. The shop supervisor or office manager, who are the lower tier of the leadership model, provide that leadership every day. The problem is, it isn’t always good leadership. In fact supervisors and managers who don’t understand the fundamentals of good leadership are almost always going to provide bad leadership. This level primarily has management responsibilities, and most likely also has technical tasks to perform as well. At this lowest level, leaders don’t deal with the broader issues but provide the actual leadership that can make or break an organization. They have the most day-to-day, face-to-face contact with your workers.

At the highest end of the leadership model are the senior leaders and executives. This level is often considered where real leadership resides. But it’s a very different type of leadership than the supervisor or manager. Their leadership comes from the way they set the organization’s direction and form its leadership culture, but they seldom actually deal with workers one-on-one. In fact, this level is often more concerned with management issues and their leadership comes from how they deal with those high-level issues.

In between these two levels are the much maligned middle managers who often have the responsibility of bridging the gap. They usually deal with at least some personal leadership but also are beginning to have some involvement with the higher-level management issues. What really puts them in their own category is that they also lead leaders. Just like their workers, leaders can be managed, but real success will only come when leaders lead leaders.

All leaders, to some extent, are managers. Most managers practice at least some form of leadership. Failing to understand this basic fact will cost your organization a lot of money.

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Jan 18 2012

Misunderstood Millennials – Some Real Statistics

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Misunderstood Millennials – Some Real Statistics

I continue to be amazed at the ever increasing number of studies, books, articles, and comments on the issue of the various generations. In my earlier years, I don’t remember nearly as much discussion about different generations; only general agreement that my parent’s generation didn’t understand my generation. Today, there’s a seemingly unending supply of information out there; and some of it is even true.

Unfortunately, some of it isn’t. That’s often because of a natural tendency to assume that our own experiences are the same as everyone else’s. It’s also common to interpret isolated events as having more meaning than they really do.

A good example is an incident that took place late in 2011. A group of protestors, dubbed Occupy Wall Street, turned violent and damaged some stores and businesses in New York City. What struck me is the news report I heard that stated this event, which involved about 1,000 people, represented the anger of the “younger generation.” Really? Let’s think about that a minute. The population of New York City is about 8 million. One thousand people isn’t even a busy street at rush hour. If this really did represent the “younger generation,” which in and of itself is a stretch, then it was .0012% of that generation’s 81 million people. To say such a sample size really represented anything is what my statistics professor would have called, incorrect.

Better to consider real statistics collected in a properly scientific process. The Pew Research Center has done just such a study which provides a very good look at the Millennials compared to previous generations. The study reveals 75% of Millennials have a social network profile but only 11% use Twitter. Eighteen percent of Millennials surveyed reported that new technology makes life more complicated, which may be a surprise to some. Of those that did have social network profiles, 25% went to those sites less than weekly. There is also a significant difference between older and younger Millennials.

There are some surprises when Millennials are compared to other generations. For instance, 65% of Millennials get news from the television compared to 61% of Xers and 76% of Boomers. Further, 24% of Millennials get news from newspapers, which is even with Xers and only 10% below Boomers.

Another statistic some might find surprising is Millennial views on social issues. All generations agreed overwhelmingly that older people (older people is not defined) have better moral values, work ethic, and respect for others. In just one example of societal viewpoints, 59% of Millennials thought women choosing to be single mothers was bad for society; higher than Xers and only 6 points lower than Boomers.You might also be interested to know that Millennials reported the lowest number of those who recycle from home or buy green products.

What’s it all mean? Quite simply, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. But there’s another factor that shows up in some parts of the Pew study. Millennials are doing something that all generations before them have done. They’re changing. In places where the report shows trend data, that change is often exactly in line with previous generations.

Take a look at the report.

My interview with Ty Kiisel and Raechal Logan at TalkingWork was just posted. It’s at TalkingWork.com. My part starts at 39:38.
 

 

 

 

 

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