“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

Mark Twain

In Towers Perrin’s 2007-2008 Global Workforce Study, 29% of the U.S. workforce was engaged, while just 6% were disengaged. By December, 2008, several months into the rapidly deepening recession, another study showed that engagement slipped to 22% and disengagement rose to 11%.

OK, everyone uses the term “engagement” and some organizations have established themselves as “the” experts around the concept with well known surveys that are widely used.

So, what does this term really mean and how can it be measured?

As a “folk term” engagement has been used to describe a diverse set of measures getting at the following concepts—all have been used to define the concept and as a base to develop famous (and not so famous) surveys for research and practice:

Psychological States (e.g., energy, involvement, commitment, satisfaction, job burnout, perceived stress, perceived justice, empowerment)

Personality (e.g., positive affect, negative affect, conscientiousness, resilience/hardiness, optimism, core self-evaluations, proactive personality)

Behaviors/Performance (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior, initiative, high performance, collaboration/team work, dishonesty/theft/loss)

The Envisia Learning approach has been consistent with the other well known vendors of identifying and measuring conditions under which people work (e.g., leadership practices, perceived resources/justice, social connection etc.) that impact retention, perceptions of stress and productivity¹.

In fact, we have shown, like prior research, that talent today don’t leave organizations—they leave toxic leaders and poor leadership practices.  Talent working for the interpersonally challenged reported significantly more perceived stress, greater dissatisfaction and increased intentionality to actually leave the organization.  One could say these employees were “disengaged” and as my colleague and career expert Michele Rosa likes to say, “Eager to stay but ready to leave.”

What We Are Measuring

Here is what we have been using for many years—it’s called the Leadership Effectiveness Index and it appears to have reasonable reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of .91) and predictive validity.

Leadership Effectiveness Index Questions

(1=Strongly Agree, 2=Agree, 3= Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4=Disagree, 5=Strongly Disagree

1. My manager/supervisor demonstrates competence in his or her job.
2. My manager/supervisor treats everyone fairly (i.e., plays no favorites).
3. My manager/supervisor creates a motivating and supportive work climate.
4. My manager/supervisor represents my needs, ideas and suggestions to his/her manager.
5. My manager/supervisor takes an interest in my professional growth and
development.
6. My manager/supervisor involves me in decision making, problem solving and planning processes.
7. My manager/supervisor creates a high performance and collaborative work team.
8. I have the opportunity to interact with Management above my immediate supervisor.

The “engagement” literature is becoming a bit like the stress literature—confusing definitions, eclectic measurement tools and diverse methods to assess one or more components of this construct.  Finally, is “engagement” a state that impacts other things or the outcome?

So, feel free to use our “engagement” metric—the Leadership Effectiveness Index but be careful about defining exactly what it is measuring….or, maybe you just don’t care…..Be well….

Technorati Tags: ken nowack, envisia learning, executive development, disengagement, climate surveys, leadership effectiveness, management development, supervisory training, organizational development, leadership training, OD

1. Nowack, K. (2006). Emotional intelligence: Leaders Make a Difference. HR Trends, 17, 40-42 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Career Transition Kit

Competencies: self-development, managing talent

Who benefits: employees losing their jobs, the unemployed

Consultant Usage: good aids in organization outplacement training or coaching

What’s it about? Today’s posting will be on the short side…that will greatly please my bosses!  I am trying to stay employed.  Aren’t we all?  As I write this the unemployment rate is at its highest in decades.  So getting your next job seems to be a good topic for today.

I received my initial training in outplacement and working with the future unemployed back in the early 80s at the old Getty Oil Company.  I was part of a team that had to help 5,000 people find new jobs over an 8-month period.  (At the end of the assignment I was told the actual number was 5,001…but that is another story.)

It was in this assignment that I became aware of products produced by PRITCHETT.  I don’t know the folks at that company.  Much of my opinion about the company was formed through the excellent telephone customer service I received.  (Wish my cable and telephone companies would provide the same level of service!!!)

What they do best is produce short, pity booklets.  Their material is very simple, which could turn off some readers.  They use lots of white space.  A 64-page booklet from them might well be a 16-page booklet from another company.  So it is a legitimate concern to ask if their prices are equal to the value received.

My experience says yes.  People who know their jobs are jeopardy, or know of an upcoming termination date, or are in fact already unemployed are living in a highly emotional world and are somewhat oblivious to data and facts that are normal in more routine times.  What they are seeking is reassurance AND a kick-in-the-butt.  They need and want short, simple advice and direction.

In my opinion PRITCHETT delivers that very well.  One of their newer products is the Career Transition Kit.  The kit contains 4 short booklets, including one cleverly entitled “You2”, a longer how-to-get-your-next-job booklet, a job search quiz (very well done) and a DVD.

It looks like they are marketing mainly to organizations that would in turn distribute the material to the affected employees.  But the kit is certainly available to individuals willing to invest $99 in their future (for some reason they list the kit price as $99 on one page and $125 on another page…suggest you ask why and with a little push I am guessing they will give you the lower price no matter why the two prices).

If you or a friend or even your organization is stuck in a rut, check out this kit.

Catch you later. 

Technorati Tags: unemployed, career, career search, career management, job search, job search tools, job hunting, job interviewing, networking, downsizing, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain

A fairly recent State of the Industry Report by  the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) estimates that companies in the US spent nearly $130 billion on employee learning and development in 2007. That figure includes direct costs such as salaries for learning professionals, administration, outsourcing activities and other non-salary delivery costs. The estimate is based on the average U.S. organization’s per-employee training expenditure of $1,083.00 multiplied by the number of full-time workers in the U.S., which ASTD puts at 119.7 million.

Jeffrey C. Pfeffer, Ph.D., professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University has been quoted as saying “If we practiced medicine like we practice management–based on hunch, intuition and ideology–we would have much more malpractice and a lot of mortality and morbidity.”  The same seems particularly true of leadership development programs where actual learning, transfer back to the work environment and enhanced performance is more myth than reality.

In fact, Marshall Goldsmith reviewed how well 86,000 leadership training participants actually learned from the experience. He found that the people who went home, talked about the learning and worked deliberately to implement new behaviors learned best. But those who just went back home and did no follow-up showed no improvement at all.

A recent illuminating study by Taylor and colleagues who conducted a new meta-analysis of 107 studies on the effects of management training on training transfer–that is ratings of leaders’ on the job behavior viewed by their bosses, direct reports and colleagues¹.

In all analyses they conducted, self-ratings were terribly inflated relative to others who provided ratings.  When training was focused on general management skills, the effect size for each of the rater groups was: Self (.72), Boss (.53), Peers (.33) and direct reports (.11).  For training focused on just goal setting and performance appraisal skills: Self (1.55), Boss (no studies), Peers (no studies) and direct reports (.33).

In a special analysis of 14 studies that had ratings from the participant, his/her manager, direct reports and peers found the following effect sizes (small effect size is about .2, moderate about .5 and large about .8 or higher) for training focusing on enhancing interpersonal skills:

Self Ratings .50
Boss Ratings .33
Peer Ratings .34
Direct Report Ratings .04

As they authors point out, “Our most surprising–and disconcerting– finding was the relatively small average effect sizes for the transfer of interpersonal skills training, the predominant management training topic, derived from subordinates’ ratings.”

They were being liberal to suggest that the effect size they found (.04) could even be considered “relatively small.”  What this finding really suggests is that direct reports really didn’t see any meaningful changes in leadership behavior in one of the most common reasons for providing leadership training.  Direct reports seemed to observe some changes when the focus of training was based on goal setting and performance appraisal but not hardly any when it was focused on “general management.”

Ok, at least we can say that the use of self-ratings in evaluation of leadership training transfer may be a bit optimistic.  If you want to argue that training is resulting in new behviors one the job you would have to really convince me that direct reports don’t really have a great perspective about leadership practices of their bosses.  As they say, “people today don’t leave organizations they leave bad bosses.”

Are there ways of increasing the potency of training?

Well, at least consider some of these suggestions below:

Practice Under Pressure Makes Perfect
Essentially, training is intended to help people develop new habits and enhance effectiveness in specific skills.  In order to do so, repetition is important.  Also, it is important to allow time to develop and integrate the new habit in one’s daily routine.  A week long leadership program is unlikely to lead to the formation of new habits.  Initiating behavior change is hard and sustaining it over time is even more challenging.  Encourage leaders to practice new behaviors back on the job–under the pressure situations they face every day.

Make it More Than an Event
Cooking together or rafting down a river makes for a fun interaction.  Few of these experiences teach leadership skills that are of practical value to the organization.  Link the leadership development intervention to an ongoing process involving the participant’s manager and a mechanism to ensure that developmental plans are tracked and monitored following leadership training.

Consider Different Learning Styles
In my research I have seen hundreds of people read books and learn nothing.  Not everyone learns the same way.  Consider blended learning approaches to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity reflect, learn and apply information and skills.

Avoid Case Study Overload
Leadership development that is predominantly using a case study approach may stimulate problem solving and analysis but it certainly won’t teach leadership skills.  Leadership development is about enhancing specific skills and behaviors—you can do case studies all day and not be more competent in what leaders actually are required to do all day.

Evaluate Your Program
It’s great that the leadership participants liked the facilitator and material.  More important is whether anyone notices actual behavior change after the leader leaves the training.  If you have to use “happy face” evaluations, at least use a “post-then” approach to enhance the validity of your subjective evaluations.  Never heard of “post-then” evaluations?  That’s one of the reasons evaluations of leadership development programs are weak or never go beyond “level 1” approaches.

Hold Participant’s Manager Accountable to be a Coach 
If the participant’s manager isn’t involved in the leadership initiative then you have a weak program.  Managers of program participants minimally need to share the purpose and goals of the program, clarify expectations and hold the participant accountable to put to together a learning development plan to apply and practice one or more skills taught in the program. 

Seek Mentoring and Coaching for Program Participants
Peer coaching and/or mentoring can be incredibly valuable to amplify and accelerate learning from leadership development efforts.  Assigning a peer coach from the program or organizational mentor for each participant can be useful to continue skill practice and discussion outside of the leadership program.

Provide Organizational Problems as Projects
Experience is the best teacher.  Provide actual organizational problems for leaders to solve in small or large groups as part of your leadership development effort.  The transfer of learning is stronger than abstract concepts or case studies so commonly used in most leadership training programs.

Help Executives See Themselves Accurately
We have published research supporting the concept that most leaders have inflated views of their strengths.  Incorporate multi-rater or 360 degree feedback assessments in your leadership development efforts to help leaders compare self-perceptions to those of other key internal and external stakeholders.  Emphasize the strengths of leaders and encourage behavioral action plans following feedback.

Focus on Health
Daniel Goleman suggests that 50% to 70% of the culture of a team or organization is directly attributed to the leader’s behavior.  Our own research suggests that leaders play the strongest role in creating a psychologically healthy climate². But, it all starts with leaders who have a balance in life and manage emotions and stress in a positive manner.  Driven “Type A” leaders get a lot done but they either breakdown themselves or drive others out of the organization.  Effective leadership development training programs should also be integrated with executive health and wellness.

As Harry Truman said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”….Be well…

Technorati Tags: ken nowack, envisia learning, executive development, management development, supervisory training, organizational development, leadership training, OD

1. Taylor, P., Russ-Eft, D. & Taylor, H. (2009).  Transfer of management training from alternative perspectives.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 104-121 [↩]
2. Nowack, K. (2006). Emotional intelligence: Leaders Make a Difference. HR Trends, 17, 40-42 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Project Management Training and Books

Competency: project management

Who benefits: anyone in a project management assignment or projected assignment

Consultant Usage: may be useful as self-development

What’s it about? I know that a lot of you readers are involved in project or matrix management.  So this week I have put together a list of training courses with my own level of recommendations, several books, and a couple of websites.  Click links for further information.

The American Management Association (AMA) offers a wide range of courses at various levels of difficulty.  Certification is available as well as individual courses.  They have classes all over the USA and occasionally in Canada.  (I generally recommend AMA classes to less experienced professionals and supervisors.)

The well-respected Management Concepts offers 18 different project management courses and four specialty IT project management courses.  While a majority of their courses are in the Washington, DC area, they do have some courses in 7 other cities across the US.  They are especially useful and versed in government agency methods and requirements.  (I recommend these courses to professionals, supervisors and mid level managers.)

If you are in the mood for a top-of-the-line PMP certification program, go to where Einstein went: Cal Tech.  The Pasadena, CA Industrial Relations Center offers a 5-course, 10 Saturday project management certification program.  (I highly recommend this series to seasoned professionals and mid-level managers and above.)

If you want to exceed “top-of-the-line” and go over-the-top, you can consider Stanford University’s Advanced Project Management individual programs or certification process.  (Recommended for executives or as part of a succession plan for a senior manager.) 

A similar executive level program on the East Coast would be MIT’s Executive Certificate in Technology, Operations, and Value Chain Management.   And if learning is your goal (rather than certification), don’t forget there are a wide variety of project management courses available for free at MIT’s OpenCourseWare.  (I recommend these self-study programs for college graduates in technical fields.  These courses are not for the faint-of-heart!)

If you are primarily interested in the people dynamics of project management, then I can strongly recommend my friends at Personal Strengths who offer a 1-day  Project Management  course in Carlsbad, CA and their business associates at ESI International who offer a three-day course Project Leadership, Management and Communications frequently throughout the US.  (I recommend this course to project managers who seek to improve their people skills or manage conflicts within their project team[s].)

The Project Management Institute offers a self-study, study anywhere certification program with a live coach.  The Institute offers healthcare project management certification, IT project management certification as well as a global project management certification.  I picked this organization as representative of 100’s of commercial websites devoted to PM.  I know this site may be of interest to readers in the healthcare fields and I like the personal (albeit long-distance) coach.

And finally, if you are the type that prefers an old-fashion book, while there are several thousand available I can vouch for credibility of the authors of these books: Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Project Management (2nd Edition) – new edition, just published; Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling – great reference book; Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth and Innovation;  and The Essentials of Project Management: Business Literacy for HR Professionals.

I bet some of you readers have other –better? – suggestions.  Please use the comment section to make your recommendation(s).  Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: project management, matrix management, healthcare project management, IT project management, project management certification, online project management, project management self study, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“You can observe a lot just by watching.”
Yogi Berra

Our new guide dogy puppy Ajax is now 9-weeks old and continues to provide valuable insights about leading (and being led).

Ajax seems to be in three modes right now:

1. Mischievous-Kinetic:  He makes rapid decisions, moves rapidly without considering consequences, runs into obstacles in front of him (literally), acts irrationally, lacks focus and attention, takes initiative without regard to any negative outcomes, and drains those around him.

2. Curious-Mellow: He explores new learning opportunities, sits and studies the climate and environment around him to take in new experiences, sights, sounds and nature, looks for opportunities to connect and bond with others, shows empathy, warmth and affection towards others, expresses a playful and positive approach to work and life and generates contagious positive emotions in others.

3. Blissfully Asleep: He seems oblivious to his surroundings whether it is sight, sound or touch, unresponsive to others, ignores and rejects ideas, suggestions, commands and directives of others, rolls his eyes rapidly and strikes others as if he is in his own dream reality (REM sleep).

Ajax is already becoming a bit predictable about his encounters with new and strange opportunities to grow and learn–whether it is with other people, noises, sights, sounds and smells (dogs apparently have a 200% more sensitive nose than any human).  We can begin to see how he reacts and behaves with some consistency in only a week when he is in his three modes.

Ajax has already exposed one of the great myths about leaders: Leaders thrive on pressure, challenge and stress.  In fact, the best of the best focus on renewing their energy in the following areas:

1. Physical
2. Emotional
3. Cognitive
4. Spiritual

Lesson 2:  Effective Leaders Truly Manage Energy and Not Time

The most effective leaders understand that they don’t have enough time but, they have all the time that there is.

Effective leaders make sure to renew their energy and not run it down so they can be at the top of their game each day.  Here are some behaviors that appear to differentiate the most effective leaders who manage their energy:

• Develop Secondary Passions
• Manage Energy and Not Time
• Use Short-Term Goals to Accomplish Long Term Success
• Seek Ongoing and Candid Feedback
• Deliberate Practice Over 10 Years Makes You Better
• Use “Ultradian Sprints” of no longer than 90 minutes to Minimize Interruptions
• Compete with the Very Best to Get Better
• Utilize a Balanced Success Scorecard with specific goals for ehancing relationships, happiness, achievements at work/life and their legacy/life meaning

Well, Ajax is just waking up from one of his renewal naps so you probably can guess what I need to do now!

Stayed tuned for more leadership lessons with Ajax….Be well….

Technorati Tags: guide dogs, seeing eye dogs, Guide Dogs of America, leadership, executive coaching, performance, layoff, social support, mastery, expertise, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack, envisia, deliberate practice

“Being politically savvy is a good hedge against unemployment.”  B. Bradley

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success

Competencies: building strategic relationships, interpersonal effectiveness, political skills, influence skills

Who benefits: people who struggle with “office politics” or need to develop political skills at work

Consultant Usage: coaching, career development, management and communication training

What’s it about? A while back I received a request from a reader who wanted to know if there was any good information available on being politically savvy in the workplace.  “Good information” is, as always, in the eye of the beholder, but I have come across several books and couple of websites for those of you interested in the topic.

First, this editorial comment: After 35-40 years in the HRD field (more like 40+ if you count my slow slide into retirement), I am frankly sick and tired of hearing people complain about office politics.  The word “politics” is a neutral term used to describe a process of accomplishing an objective.  It has become such an over used word that it has lost most of its meaning. 

“Office politics” is an excuse use by many to describe their own frustrations and unstated inability to work effectively in the system.  Some lack political skills.  Some lack political fortitude.  Some lack political insight.  And some suffer from an outsized ego that prevents them from noticing that the system does not revolve around them.  Whatever the reason, the problem is internal, not external.

With that in mind, here are some sources for more information.  Survival of the Savvy (link in Title above) is written by a couple of executive coaches who are writing primarily for those who are “under-political”.  Lots of self-help material.

Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes offers style assessments, quotes, case studies and other tools to leaders at all levels in the organization to help them operate ethically behind-the-scenes. 

Joel Deluca, the author of Political Savvy, also has his own website which offers his book, CDs, seminars, coach/trainers and other resources.

University of Southern California professor Kathleen Reardon is a no-nonsense, cut to the chase author with lots of advice in It’s All Politics: Winning in a World Where Hard Work and Talent Aren’t Enough.  She also is the first (that I know of) to suggest PI (Political Intelligence) be added to ranks of IQ and EI.

The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back: Overcoming the Behavior Patterns That Keep You From Getting Ahead is a book with a long enough title that it is an effective summary of the whole book.  Written by two Harvard professors, the 12 habits described may also be viewed as descriptors of poor political skills.  Their advice: “Break bad habits before they break you.” 

And finally, Leveraging Your Political Savvy is a training course with details provided at the website. 

My bosses like me to keep my postings short…so being a politically savvy kind of a guy I will stop now.  Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: politics, office politics, politically savvy, political intelligence, political skills, positive political skills, political behavior at work, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”
Arthur Schopenhauer

My wife and I are back “seeing” things differently again as we begin the journey with our new 8-week beautiful black lab guide dog puppy we are raising for the blind.

Well, I’ve continued to learned a lot about “seeing” through some volunteer work my wife and I have been involved in for over 14 years–it’s with a wonderful organization here in Los Angeles called Guide Dogs of America. We have had the wonderful privilege of raising several guide dogs for the blind and have learned quite a bit about ourselves, others and life through our efforts.

We have also learned a lot of lessons about leadership (both leading and being led).

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the program you typically receive and get to name the puppies at about 8 weeks old and they live with you until they are mature (kinda like kids) which for most dogs is about 18 months. They then begin their structured training to serve their mission of literally being the “eyes” for someone who is sight impaired. When they are working they always were their “bibs” identifying as “guide dog in training.” Truthfully, our job is only to socialize the puppy and try not to make it harder for the professional trainers who will work with these dogs (so, no stupid pet tricks!).

Our community has been a wonderful supporter of the program over many years—in fact many merchants and restaurant owners in Santa Monica where I work and live  knew the names of our dogs but never ours! Good thing we have strong self-esteem. It has been wonderful to take our dogs everywhere, be recognized and have total strangers want to interact with us.  Our first two were beautiful yellow labs and they were definitely just as big a draw as eharmony.com or match.com.

Lesson 1:  Leaders are Pretty Ineffective Without Sleep

We picked up Ajax on Friday and I’m sure he has gotten more sleep than we have.  It’s not atypical for a new puppy to adjust to its new surroundings, owners and routines. 

Most leaders believe they can ignore exhaustion and the hall mark of successful executives is to thrive on stress and pressure.  Actually, just the opposite–the best of the best manage energy and not time and thrive on renewal of their emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual energy each day.

The general effect of sleep deprivation is pretty widely known.  If you get less than just 2 hours of sleep than you need you are likely to have pretty significant decline of memory, decision making, and psychomotor performance.  Miss an entire night of sleep and your overall performance is pretty much a bad as somebody legally drunk in the State of California.

And, as if decision making and psychomotor performance isn’t enough, new research by Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues found that those who get 7 hours or less sleep a night are almost 3 times more likely to get sick than those getting 8 hours or more sleep at night (they determined this by placing cold viruses in study participant’s noses).

How much sleep do you typically get?

It seems that American leaders spend about 8.5 hours a day sleeping which is slightly less than the French (9.0 hours) and quite a bit less than the Korean or Japanese leaders (7.8 hours per day).

I’m pretty sure I had about 5 hours total sleep and most if pretty disturbed the last few nights…guess I better check this Blog for typos.

All of our volunteer guide dog puppy raising work with Ernie, Elmo, and now Ajax have truly helped me to see myself and others in a brand new light….Stayed tuned for more leadership lessons with Ajax….Be well….

Technorati Tags: guide dogs, seeing eye dogs, Guide Dogs of America, leadership, executive, coaching, performance, sleep, sleep deprivation, leadership decision making, expertise, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack, envisia, deliberate practice

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Edgar Schein

Competencies: leadership skills, team building, talent management, organizational consulting skills, career-consulting skills, process consulting skills, group facilitation skills

Who benefits: leaders, team leaders, organizational consultants, career development consultants/counselors, mentors, executive coaches, group process consultants

Consultant Usage: any professional consultant working on people, culture, career, team issues should be knowledgeable about the profound body of work by this MIT academic

What’s it about? This week I would like to honor one of my favorite people and a great intellect whose body of work goes back at least 50 years. 

The man is Edgar Schein.  His importance, at least to my personal growth, can be summed up in a story.  Many years ago I was taking a two-day class with him.  On the way to class on the first morning I slipped and fell, seriously injuring my right leg.  I hobble off to class anyway, put my foot up on a stool and took a volume of notes as he lectured for four hours.  We had a 2-hour noon break.  A nurse in the class offered to run me over to the hospital.  We went.  I had a broken leg and soon a large white cast.  With the aid of crutches I made it back for the restart of class.

As he continued his lecture he stopped in front of me and asked, “Did you have that cast on earlier today?”  “No,” I said, “I broke my leg on the way to class this morning.”  “Why did you come then”, he inquired?  

“Because I didn’t want to miss your lecture,” was my reply.

And I think that sums up the importance of Edgar Schein and the importance of what he can impart.

The man has covered so many areas it is impossible to cover them in a short column.  So let me quickly suggest you check out one or more of the three books and one seminar I am posting, depending where your interests lie and where your are in your career. 

His newest book (February, 2009) is Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. He begins with asking the question “What is Help?”  My first reaction was what a silly question.  But as I thought about it, I couldn’t answer it.  He says that all good help must begin with an understanding and degree of trust between the helper and the person or persons being helped.  Anything less is to risk being unhelpful despite intentions.  Help should not be taken for granted.  He moves on to analyze the dynamics of a helping relationship and discusses the responsibility of both parties.

In later chapters he defines different helping roles and he suggests the use of “humble inquiry” as the key to building and maintaining helping relationships.

For those seeking specific information, Chapter 7 is “Teamwork as Perpetual Reciprocal Helping” and Chapter 8 is “Helping Leaders and Organizational Clients”.  Fortunately, given these hard economic times, there is no Chapter 11 (okay, just wanted to see if anyone was still reading).

Organizational Culture and Leadership is now in its third edition.  FYI, Edgar Schein is credited with first using the term “Corporate Culture”.  This book is a classic and if you are a  leader still growing and developing or whose organization is not functioning properly or changing with the times, you need this book.  It is not an easy read; but it is a note-worthy and important book.

Dr. Schein is an academic.  His writing will always reflect his research and the research of others.  His attention to details will not always appeal to the casual readers.  But this book is worth the effort.  A difficult read should not deter readers from this seminal work on leadership and culture.

If you are in career development, career counseling or a related field and you have not read Career Anchors or the more recent Career Anchors: Self Assessment (which I prefer), you are not current with your profession.  If you are just starting out in the field, it is a must read for professional growth.

Unfortunately my timing is terrible in recommending “Leading Change in Complex Organizations“ a seminar for high-level executives and organizational consultants.  The one-week class begins May 31 and won’t be offered for another year.  But it does cost a pretty penny, so maybe now is a good time to look at the course and make plans for next year.  And a word to the wise: Dr. Schein is not going to be teaching this or any class for too many more years.  Get to see him in person…even if you have to break a leg!

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: edgar schein, corporate culture, leadership, leadership skills, leadership and corporate culture, helping skills, helping others, helping and trust, process consulting, team facilitation, team building, leadership in organizations, career anchors, career development, career counseling, career self-assessment, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“You don’t get anything from sleep but a dream.”

Don King

People can maximize their brain capacity to learn by getting enough sleep.  But the amount could determine not just how well you live but how long you live.  How just how much sleep do you need to learn and be healthy?

OPTIMUM SLEEP TIME

A new study by epidemiologist Jane Ferrie tracked over 7,700 British  civil servants about their sleep habits over an 8 year period¹.  The study found a U-shaped association in sleep and subsequent all-cause mortality. Short sleepers (less than 6 hours) and long sleepers (nine hours or more) both had 110% increase risk of dying from heart disease.

The link between decreased hours of sleep and higher cardiovascular mortality risk seems to make some sense based on prior research. Short sleep duration is a risk factor for weight gain, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes, increased cortisol levels and abnormal growth hormone secretion (associated with hypertension and some cardiovascular diseases).

The link between death and long sleepers is mysterious.  Long sleep is typically a sign of depression which is chacterized as an activated stress state although behaviorally people appear lethargic, fatigued and low energy.

USING SLEEP TO MAXIMIZE LEARNING

A recent study by Howard Nusbaum at the University Chicago and colleagues suggests we consolidate learning when we are sleeping.  It appears that sleep is pretty important following the goal of learning new facts and for performance on newly acquired skills.

Using a test involving video game learning with 207 college students, Nusbaum and colleagues showed that people who had “forgotten” how to perform a complicated task after 12 hours of training were able to be restored after a night of sleep.  Their results showed that sleep definitely helps us retain knowledge you might forget duirng the day².

Sleep occurs in 90 minute cycles with the most important phase called rapid eye movement sleep (REM) coming nearly 60 minutes into this cycle.  Current research suggests that without REM sleep, the brain discards what we learned the previous day preceding sleep.

Snooz to Learn More Techniques:

1. Right before sleep, mentally rehearse or review the key points you want to retain and learn ecen if it is physical actions or skills like playing the guitar, shooting hoops or giving  motivating speech to others.

2. As soon as you wake up in the morning, review the main points again to reinforce the neural circuits that were “layed down” during REM sleep.

3. Get adequate sleep (enough sleep for you so that you don’t feel inappropriately sleepy the next day) before and after you have learned something of importance.

4. Practice sound sleep hygiene practices to ensure quality sleep at night (e.g., go to bed the same time each night–even on the weekends to avoid the typical “Sunday night insomnia”).

So, “sleep on this blog” and I guarantee you can share it with someone else tomorrow….Be well….

Technorati Tags: insomnia, sleep, fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, fatigue countermeasures, REM, NREM, circadian rhythms, stress, health, job burnout, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Ferrie, J. et. al (2008).  A Prospective Study of Change in Sleep Duration: Associations with Mortality in the Whitehall II Cohort. Sleep, 30 (12), 1659-1666 [↩]
2. Nusbaum, H. et al. (2008). Learning and Memory, 15, 815-819 [↩]