HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (book)

Competencies: self-development, influence skills, oral communication, building relationships, interpersonal effectiveness

Who benefits: potentially anyone motivated to improve their effectiveness in interacting with others

Consultant Usage: background material for professional coaches and trainers

What’s it about? Let me begin with a disclaimer.  I have not finished reading this book.  I credit my local book club for this sage advice: “If you lose interest in a book, put it down and read something of more interest or value to you.”  I am not going to finish reading this book. 

Why then write this entry?  Well, there is, at least for me, a valuable lesson here.  And a caveat. 

First, the lesson.  The authors of this book have had two very successful books: Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations.  I have enjoyed and recommended those books to others. 

My “truth” is that this new book feels old.  It is as if the authors said to themselves, hey, we got a good thing going here, let’s churn out another book.

I would like to stress that I don’t consider this an isolated case.  In our and related fields it seems to me that there is a tendency to take a great idea and stay with it past its prime.  Think of the movies you have really loved.  If there was a follow up, was it as good and fresh as the original.  Usually not… Think “Pirates…”, “Rocky…”  “Indy…”  “Star Wars”.

If fact, if any of you readers agree or disagree with this statement …about authors, speakers and consultants, not the movies, I would love to receive your comment(s). 

Now, having said that, let me add the caveat.   If you are a personal or executive coach or a trainer in any area related to communications, negotiation, influence skills, performance management, there is a lot of good background information here, especially if you are relatively new to the field. 

Before closing, I would like to share a light-hearted moment.  Early in this book I thought I might like to recommend it to Dr. Kroger, who in turn could recommend it to Mr. Monk.  It has lists, i.e. “six sources of influence.”  Adrian likes lists.

And trainers know lists make good training aids. 

Technorati Tags: self-development, influence skills, oral communication, building relationships, interpersonal effectiveness, negotiations skills, conflict management skills, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul’s estate.”

Henry David Thoreau

Our own research suggests that 40% to 60% of all employees express a moderately high level of stress on the job.  Our work and non-work lives are very permeable with most of us taking work stress home and home stress to our job¹.

How many of you in committed relationships have really two partners: 1) Your significant other and 2) Their computer or mobile phone?  Today, it is increasingly difficult to “get away” whether at home, during our weekends or even on a holiday.

All of this adds up to increased risk for a variety of adverse psychological and physical health outcomes. It is generally accepted that “recovery activities” (psychological detachment, relaxation, and challenging off-the-job experiences providing opportunities for learning and success) might help energy, mood and performance the following day.

A recent study by Sonnentag and colleagues at the University of Konstanz focusing on 166 public administration employees tested what techniques are actually associated with job-stress recovery².  Their results from daily survey data analyzed over the course of one week revealed the following:

• Inability to detach psychologically from work (refraining from working on job tasks or cognitively thinking about issues, problems or challenges) was associated with significantly higher fatigue and negative affect (anxiety, anger, distress) the next day
• Active relaxation activities during the evening was only significantly associated with morning serenity (a state of feeling calm, relaxed and at ease)
• Involvement with challenging off-job experiences providing opportunities for learning and success during the evening was significantly associated with positive activation the next morning (a state of high positive feelings and high arousal such as feeling active, strong, and confident)
• Getting adequate quality and quantity of sleep the night before demonstrated significant associations with morning serenity and positive affect and less fatigue

As Sonnentag points out, these results might sound like a lot of effort to tell us what we already know.  But taken together, they really suggest that most of us need to do a better job of separating behaviorally and cognitively the concept of “leaving the office.”

Her study thought does point out that if you want to avoid fatigue and negative affect you  need to separate mentally from work but if your goal is to achieve greater relaxation and positive affect in the morning it’s best to engage in activities at night that you find interesting, challenging and exciting.  And sleep quality/quantity was the strongest predictor of all outcomes so getting our zzzz’s at night really makes sense.

Wise companies should take a look at this study if they truly value the employees they hire and want to keep maximally productive.  Organizations today are asking more from all of us with less resources being made available–a quick formula for not being able to switch off from work.

Guess I will take a break and get back to work in my home office to clean up a few things left over from my work day….Be well….

Technorati Tags: insomnia, sleep, fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, fatigue countermeasures, recovery experiences, relaxation, psychological detachment, anxiety, positive affect, fatigue, negative affect, stress, health, job burnout, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, Envisia Learning

1. Nowack, K. (2006). Optimising Employee Resilience: Coaching to Help Individuals Modify Lifestyle. Stress News, International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 18, 9-12 [↩]
2. Sonntag, S., Binnewies, & Moja, E. (2008).  Did you have a nice evening? A day-level study on recovery experiences, sleep and affect.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 674-684 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: The PITA Principle

Competencies: self-development, conflict management, oral communications, stress tolerance, self-control

Who benefits: the whole damn workplace

Consultant Usage: anonymous gift to those who need it

What’s it about? I am recommending this book and I have not read it nor has it yet been published (August, 2008).  The only question remaining in my mind is how many copies to buy. 

Where was this book when I was working inside organizations? 

Could managers just give this book to employees in lieu of performance evaluations?

Could employees give this book to managers in lieu of 360 Feedback?

Is this finally the answer to Rodney King’s plea “Can’t we all get along?” 

This book is for anyone who has ever had to work with a flaky, grumpy, lazy, defensive or cynical co-worker.

This book is for anyone who is a flaky, grumpy, lazy, defensive or cynical co-worker.

This book is especially for those who deflect/deny feedback, push unwanted work onto others, gossip and/or backstab.

In short, it is for all you Pain-In-The-Ass (PITA) people out there.

In a pre-publication interview one of the authors summarized the book by saying “Everyone works with, or has worked with, a negative, mean-spirited, or uncooperative co-worker, but there’s also the soggy, needy, whiney ones….

We all have a little of that in ourselves, and it’s important to recognize when we’re in situations or with certain people who bring that out of us….

(N)o one is ‘Pita Proof,’ and some of your subtle tendencies might be wearing thin on someone else.”  The book does, after all, come with a self-evaluation!

The book does hold out hope.  It suggests that with a little self-awareness and some self-development we can move from being a PITA to being a PITA…

From a Pain-In-The-er–Butt to Professionals-Increasing-Their-Awareness.

Never too early to do your holiday shopping!!!   

Technorati Tags: self-development, conflict management, oral communications, stress tolerance, self-control, PITA, workplace, workplace conflict, 360 degree feedback, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley

“Predictions are very difficult, especially when they are about the future”
 
Yogi Berra

Last month I conducted a leadership workshop for about 200 leaders of at a large University medical center.  At just about every break the most popular question to me was, “how can you predict who is likely to become a great leader?”

I’m sure the question was “code” for leaders in every culture struggling to unlock the “what’s in it for me” key to talent engagement.  And no, “wishing” for people to become engaged will NOT translate into a spontaneous sea of followership. 

Maybe not all of us “have the right stuff” to be leaders.  It’s a lot more popular to subscribe to “leaders are made” versus “leaders are born” but perhaps both positions are right.

Avery and colleagues, based on twin studies, estimate that about 33% of the variance in holding leadership roles is due to genetic factors¹. Findings from numerous studies of personality show that genetic effects account for approximately 50% of the variance in five factor domains².  Maybe we all have some “leadership set-points” that provide a ceiling or upper limit to our leadership capabilities.

If leaders truly understood the pre-wiring of the interests, values and motives of talent and tried to use this information to lead them more effectively they would be able to unlock some of the mystery surrounding effective leadership. 

The four career path preferences summarized below are theory based and measured in one of our assessments called the Career Profile Inventory.  Understanding the primary interests, values and motives underlying each can help all of us better understand what our “signature passions” might be.  These “paths” also provide some insight about how best to reward and recognize talent to enhance engagement and retention.

Understanding the Four Career Path Preferences
 
MANAGERIAL — This career path preference is best characterized by those interested in continually moving vertically up the organizational ladder into traditional supervisory and managerial positions with increasing spans of control, responsibility, power, and authority.

Typical career anchors and motives of these individuals include power, influence, leadership, control, task accomplishment, status, managerial competence, and directing others. Appropriate organizational rewards for these individuals might include: upward mobility, promotion, special perks, titles, and organizational symbols of success (e.g., profit sharing incentive plans, company car, stock options, financial planning, expense account, club memberships, etc.).

SPECIALIST/INDEPENDENT CONTRIBUTOR — This career path preference is best characterized by those interested in remaining in one career field or profession for much of their working life. Along the way, these specialists are able to highly refine their technical knowledge, skills and abilities. These individuals are less interested in moving up as they are in becoming the expert and having autonomy to do things their way.

Typical career anchors and motives of these individuals include technical and functional competence, expertise, skill mastery, service to others, independence, affiliation and security. Appropriate organizational rewards for these individuals might include: job enrichment, continuing education, membership in professional associations, recognition, motivational programs, organizational benefits, sabbaticals, tenure and job security.

ENTREPRENEURIAL – This career path preference is best characterized by those interested in rapid job, career, and occupational changes over short periods of time. These individuals enjoy working on diverse projects, tasks, assignments, and business ventures with measurable and visible outcomes.

Typical career anchors and motives of these individuals include: entrepreneurship, achievement, autonomy, variety, risk, challenge, change, freedom from organizational constraints, flexibility, creativity and diversity. Appropriate organizational rewards for these individuals might include flexible schedules, short-term projects, independent contracts, consulting assignments, start-up operations, job sharing, and bonuses.

GENERALIST – This career path preference is best characterized by those who gradually change jobs and career over time but utilize the foundation of previously acquired skills, knowledge and abilities. These generalists generally move either laterally or upwards increasing their breadth of knowledge and experience along the way. Individuals who follow this career path tend to prefer new challenges and assignments that will enable them to grow and develop professionally. This career path preference is particularly well suited for project and program management assignments within organizations.

Typical career anchors and motives of these individuals include professional growth and personal development, learning, coaching, developing others, and innovation. Appropriate organizational rewards for these individuals might include cross training, job rotation, project management, tuition and educational reimbursement and coaching and mentorship assignments.

Of course we find combinations of these drivers.  For example those of you high in both “specialist” and “entrepreneurial” anchors are likely to be attracted to external consulting.  Others with a combination of “managerial” and “generalist” love “fix it” assignments and short term challenges before moving on to another leadership opportunity.
So, stop teasing that specialist/independent contributor about leadership roles–they really just want to practice their craft and be left alone.  Oh, and stop trying to lead them too!  You will only frustrate yourself and drive your key talent away….Be well….

Technorati Tags: career paths, specialists, project managers, interests, entrepreneurial behavior, coaching, leadership, talent management, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Avery, R.D., Zhang, Z. Avolio, B. & Kreuger, R.F. (2007).  Developmental and gentic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 693-706 [↩]
2. Bouchard, T.J. & Loehlin, J.C. (2001).  Genes, evolution and personality.  Behavior Genetics, 21, 243-273 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Leadership’s Online Labs

Competencies: leadership, decision-making, risk-taking, communication, team building, strategic thinking, performance management

Who benefits: futurists at any level

Consultant Usage: self-development for consultants and trainers

What’s it about? Dear Reader, I really don’t know where to begin describing this fascinating May article from Harvard Business Review.  I only started reading it because I thought it might offer some insight on the evolution of “T-Groups” (which I grew up on) or other forms of management simulation exercises.

Two paragraphs into the article and I thought I was reading a science fiction article that the writers slipped past the editors.  I am reading all about multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft that attract millions of players worldwide.  What the #&%* is this article doing in HBR? 

Yet, in keeping with the uniqueness of the article, let me put my ending here in the middle.  We know that big changes – dare I say it – paradigm shifts come from the edges of what we know.  Fields of thought overlap and something new and significant emerges.  Just maybe that is what this article is all about.

The title of the article suggests it is about leadership.  It is that and a whole lot more.  Since getting things out of order is the order of the day, let me summarize the end of the article before commenting on the content.  IBM surveyed 135 of its employees who “confessed” to being habitual gamers.  In short, 50% said they were better leaders because of their gaming experience and 75% said they learned something about enhancing productivity by creating a better work environment.

Well, I have now covered the ending to this week’s entry and the ending of the article, so obviously it is time to go to the beginning:

The article assumes that much work in the future will be done online and globally.  How will work get done and who leads?  The article reflects on the “gamers” experience. 

Leadership is fluid.  Leadership rotates based on experience and relevancy.  A project may have different leaders during different stages and any individual may be a leader more than once during the duration of the project.

Teams are fluid and self-organized.  Collaboration is a must and non-collaborators may find themselves off the team very quickly.

Great attention is paid to the online environment.  There is an availability of information unlike anything in today’s “real world”. 

Decisions are made much quicker.

Risk-taking is rewarded and mistakes are considered learning experiences.
 
Individual rewards are distributed and performance management occurs in the here and now.

Now here is where it really gets wild…
 
Successful online leaders may have a very different set of characteristics than the traditional assumptions about leadership characteristics.  Introverts or those lacking in (real world) self-confidence may actually excel online.

Then there is creating the dynamic environment needed for success.  Gamers will tell you that every player needs access to all available information.  If you think about it, that makes Open-Book management look like kindergarten.  We have no idea where that would take us.

We do know that access to all information is an HR nightmare and we can expect human resources to fight this to nth degree. 

Here’s why.  For teams to be truly fluid and global, information on all members of the organization needs to be available on an instant access basis.  It makes the resume out of date, but it offers up personal information on individuals that today we consider confidential.  It offers all global online teams not Human Resources but human resources.  It offers a radical transparency of information.  

In this new online world, information will be tagged.  That means good ideas will be credited to the originator (no boss taking credit for someone else’s work), bad ideas/decisions will also be identifiable.  Changes the whole meaning of performance evaluation.
 
These are just a few of the thoughts I had about the article.  If anything I have written resonates with you, please go to the article and make your own judgments.

For us old fogies, the temptation is to write this article off as too much Sci-Fi.  But to the millennials (late teens to early 30s), this article probably makes perfect sense and the business applications aren’t that far in the distance.

PS: To the Good Folks who host this Blog.  You all best read this article too.  This article may be the first indication of a need for 360 feedback – 2.0.  The good news is that you can be the first on the block.  Research the new competencies needed.  Find news ways to measure competencies.  The bad news…you risk becoming obsolete (and don’t protest too much my friends, every successful company that became obsolete didn’t see it coming in time!). 

Technorati Tags: leadership, leadership skills, leadership training, decision making, team building, risk taking, transparent information, hypertransparency, managing teams, employee information, human resource data, motivation, rewards, rewarding performance, compensation, collaboration, self-organized teams, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“All you need is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.

Mark Twain

The world of work today is fundamentally different than in our parent’s era.  Free agency and portfolio careers are common place.  I refer to these changes as the “Changing Career Paradigms” and challenge you to diagnose where your organization lies on each of these fundamental career paradigm shifts¹.

Effectively managing talent today requires understanding of these paradigm shifts as well as the career concepts described below:

OLD PARADIGMS — NEW PARADIGMS

Job Security — Employability Security
Longitudinal Career Paths — Alternate Career Paths
Job/Person Fit — Person/Organization Fit
Organizational Loyalty — Job/Task Loyalty
Career Success — Work/Life Balance
Academic Degree — Continuous Relearning
Position/Title — Competencies/Development
Full-Time Employment — Contract Employment
Retirement — Career Sabbaticals
Single Jobs/Careers — Multiple Jobs/Careers
Change in Jobs Based on Fear — Change in Job Based on Growth
Promotion Tenure Based — Promotion Performance Based

The career alignment and values are different today than in our parents era but wanting to excel and doing great work hasn’t much changed over time.  So just how “engaged” are talent today? Here are some recent studies in global engagement from diverse sources:

• A global workforce study conducted in 2005 by Towers Perrin that only 14% of the workforce were highly engaged at work, with a quarter being disengaged altogether
• In a recent Gallup Management Journal, 59% of employees in the United States reported “not being engaged” and 14% were “actively disengaged” which Gallup describes as “undermining what their engaged coworkers accomplish”
• A 2007 American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and Dale Carnegie and Associates survey of employee engagement suggested that 23% of talent were disengaged or minimally engaged with work
• An ISR 2007 research study on five of the largest Asia-Pacific economies (Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) revealed Malaysia has the largest proportion (47%) of employees that define themselves as either disillusioned or actively disengaged followed by Singapore (40%) and all other countries above 30%
• ISR also found that 88% of “at-risk” staff in China indicated they would leave their current positions while 92% of Australians and 95% of Singapore’s talent at risk planned to leave
• In a 2006 Gallup survey, 80% of British workers reported that they lack commitment to their jobs with 25% being disengaged compared to only 12% in France

The changing career paradigm shifts coupled with low talent engagement and declining tenure certainly suggests a less interested talent pool.  An increased life expectancy + increased life span + aging population equals a reduced talent pool.

Well, it’s clear that different surveys with different definitions of “engagement” seem to suggest that creating a psychologically healthy climate for talent to feel energized is pretty important.  In fact, recent studies suggest that when talent shift from being “disengaged” to “highly engaged” performance can improve more than 20%.

The top “engagement drivers” seem to really come down to what leaders do each day and the connection between the work talent do and their belief about how much it matters to the organization.

Got engaged talent?…..Be well…..

Technorati Tags: career management, talent management, interests, loyalty, retirement, competencies, career paths, succession planning, engagement, retention, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Nowack, K. M. (2007).  Strategic Talent Management Through Career Paths.  Talent Management, 3 (4), p.16 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Harvard Business Review Executive Summaries

Competencies: self-development, communication

Who benefits: new supervisors, managers, trainers, consultants and those seeking promotion to management or a career change

Consultant Usage: all business consultants and many trainers need to be familiar with this publication because many of their clients are reading these pages

What’s it about? If you are new to the Harvard Business Review (known in the field as HBR), then let me suggest why you should embrace this publication. Most everyone experienced in management knows about HBR.  Executive and senior managers subscribe to it, many read it, and those who don’t usually have it lying around it public view.

As a newbie there are three important reasons to subscribe or at least read it on line.  First, if you subscribe, you too can leave it lying around your office space and appear to be really, really smart.  Second, whether you subscribe or read it on line, you will learn the language of business and the business issues of now and the future.  We often talk about communication in the abstract.  HBR is business communication in the concrete.  Read it and discuss topics of interest with those who can make career decisions about you.

The third reason to read HBR monthly is your personal education.  My guess is that if you read each issue cover-to-cover for one year, you will pick up the equivalent of a mini-MBA.   Over the course of a year HBR will have several specialty issues like Leadership, Strategy, or Marketing.  Then they have the general issues like this one (May) that covers a variety of topics. 

One feature I really like is the ability to read the whole magazine each month at Harvard Business Online.  I bookmark the location and each month I open it and go to Executive Summaries.   The summaries let me decide which articles to read.  And if I am in the current month’s issue, I can read any article for free. 

For instance, in this May issue there is an article call Leadership’s Online Labs.  It intrigues me enough that I want to review it here next week. 

However, if Sales is your thing you might want to read: How to Sell Services More Profitably. 

Or if you have an interest in R & D you might want to try: Rebuilding the R&D Engine in Big Phama.

Want to learn more about Strategy?  Then how about Strategy as a Wicked Problem?  
 
And for those of you interested in Quality, there is: From the Editor: Continuous Improvement (HBR’s own attempt at C.I.). 

And that’s just some of the full-length articles.  There are at least a dozen more short articles, reviews or a case study to experience.  So click on one of the links and test it out.  Remember the Mikey commercial?  “Try it, you’ll like it!”

Technorati Tags: Harvard Business Review, HBR, business communication, self-development, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Thomas Jefferson

Prior research has demonstrated that employees’ positive mood is associated with job performance. Two recent longitudinal studies used data collected from 306 (Study 1) and 263 (Study 2) insurance sales agents in Taiwan. The results showed that employee positive moods were significantly associated with increased performance indirectly through both interpersonal (helping other coworkers and coworker helping and support) and motivational (self-efficacy and task persistence) processes¹.  What better way to increase positive mood then by giving employees more control over their work schedule and time?

Flexible work schedules and telecommuting would seem to be perfect for this outcome.  In fact, an estimated 45 million Americans telecommuted in 2006, up from 41 million in 2003, according to the magazine WorldatWork.  Telecommuting is often defined as an alternative work arrangement in which employees perform tasks elsewhere that are normally done in a primary or central workplace, for at least some portion of their work schedule, using electronic media to interact with others inside and outside the organization.

In fact, a recent meta-analysis of telecommuting involving 12, 833 employees suggested that it results in higher morale and job satisfaction and lower employee stress and turnover².  it seems that employers who are open to structuring jobs so that talent have flexible work hours is directly related to retention and engagement.

In a single study on flexible work hours with 570 call center employees, those who had the most control over their work hours reported significantly less stress and non-work conflicts.  In this study, work hours were negatively related to job satisfaction but control over time moderated this relationship so that as work hours increased, those with the mot control reported significantly less work-family balance dissatisfaction These employees did report poorer relationships most likely due to less communication and direct interaction³.

Ok, can you think of any downsides to flexible scheduling and telecommuting? Contrary to the popular notion that being in the same setting is absolutely essential for sound working relationships, the researchers found that telecommuters’ relationship with their colleagues and boss did not suffer from telecommuting except for those who worked away from their offices for three or more days a week.  

It seems pretty clear that allowing talent to figure out when to get the work done is a pretty good retention and productivity strategy overall.

Back to my scheduled nap…Be well….

Technorati Tags: envisia learning, telecommuting, work life balance, engagement, control, flexible hours, job satisfacti0on, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Tsai, W. et al. (2007). Test of a model linking employee positive moods and task performance. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2007 November Vol 92(6) 1570-1583 [↩]
2. Gajendran, R. & Harrison, D. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2007 November Vol 92(6) 1524-1541 [↩]
3. Valcour, M. (2007).  Work-based resources as moderators of the relationship between work hours and satisfaction with work-family balance.Journal of Applied Psychology. 2007 Nov Vol 92(6) 1512-1523 [↩]