“Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” 

Aaron Levenstein

Another addition of leadership and talent management “facts” from all over the world. Some intuitive and some not….what do you think?

1. A recent 2009 survey by Accenture on work life balance found an interesting surprise–68% of the men in the survey said they wanted more availability with their families compared to only 46% of women.  More men also said they would prefer to take the opportunity to work from home (91% for men and 75% for women).  The top two priorities for both men and women about work were salary (79%) and having work/life balance (64%).

2. 22% of Fortune 500 companies offered executive physicals to their CEOs in 2008 (Towers Perrin).  Executive physicals cost from slightly under $1,000 to well over $5,000 and can include luxury spas and hotels to CT scans of the heart or entire body.

3. It has been estimated that 90% of all Fortune 500 firms use some form of 360 feedback assessments for training, coaching, performance evaluation or succession planning. A recent survey from the 3D Group indicated that 22% of organizations are using “off the shelf” 360 feedback or multi-rater feedback assessments for developmental needs.

4. A 2009 Manpower talent shortage survey of nearly 39,000 employers across 33 countries found those with the most difficult time filling jobs were in Romania (62%), Taiwan (56%), Peru (56%), Japan (55%), Australia (40%), Costa Rica (48%), and Poland (48%).  Countries finding it least difficult to find talent included Ireland (5%), Spain (8%), UK (11%), China (15%), Czech Republic (17%) and India (20%). 

5. A 2009 study by the Kauffman Foundation from over 5,000 companies found women-owned businesses launched new startups with about 70% of the capital compared to ones owned by men.  Women-owned firms generated less revenue and profits, had fewer employees and were more likely to be home based compared to male-owned firms. 

6.  In a new report called “The Forgotten Middle Worker” by the Workforce Alliance, middle-skill occupations which require more than a high school education but less than a 4-year college degree make up about 50% of all employment in the nation.  Although most middle-skill workers make up the majority of all state’s workforce, most education and training are reserved for those younger than 25 years of age.

7. Social Networking I: In a recent 2009 survey in the use of social networking by Deloitte, only 17% of the executives surveyed said their companies have programs in place to monitor social networking site usage by workers to minimize any risks.  However, 74% of all employees surveyed reported that these sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) can be a risk since they can easily damage the company’s reputation.  61% of employees reported that even if their company monitored their posts it would not change their behavior online.

8. A survey in 2009 by Watson Wyatt found that “engagement” (loyalty) of top performing talent has dropped 25% over the last 12-months due to increased lack of job security, cuts in benefits and a slow down in promotions. 

9.  A Monster.com survey in May 2009 found that 79% of all job holders said they had increased their search for new jobs since the recession began last year.  Along these lines, Spherion Staffing Solutions asked 2,500 workers and 300 employers in October 2009 to name the top “drivers of retention” and compared those to their 2005 and 2007 surveys.  They found that the top drivers emphasized benefits and compensation with just 27% reporting that they were “very satisfied” with their pay and only 37% with their benefits.

10. Social Networking II:  An April2009 survey by Opinion Research Corporation (n=500 executives) indicated that 31% of CEOs are on Facebook and 14% have a Twitter profile.  This survey also found that 11% have a corporate-sponsored Facebook group, 23% use social networking for recruiting, 29% use it as a tool to build brand awareness and 23% use it as part of their internal communications to employees.

Back to research some new talent development facts….Be well….

Technorati Tags: talent management, succession planning, leadership development, succession planning, micromanage, performance review, performance appraisal, overweight, obesity, wellness, coaching, executive coaching, executive development, surveys, kenneth nowack, Envisia, Envisia Learning, leadership development, ken nowack, Nowack

“I shut my eyes in order to see.”

Paul Gauguin

Ajax is now a little over 6 months old on his journey to become a guide dog for the blind.  We are working hard every day with him to focus on basic commands and to socialize him to the world around him.  A tough command at his age is “stay.”  This command is an important one for him to learn and a challenging one at this time as he wants to “wander” and continue when we take him out for a walk.  “Staying” is something he will need to master in order for him to be a successful guide dog for the blind.

Top talent in organizations today also have to be encouraged to “stay” as it’s a major loss when these “A Players” depart voluntarily.  Recently, Salary.com Inc. released results from its fourth annual 2008/2009 Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey.  Some of their major findings are pretty interesting:

• 35% of all employees are at dissatisfied with their jobs.
• Approximately 65% of employees admitted to passively or actively looking for a new job (employers believe the figure is 37%)
• Employers overestimate the degree of extremely satisfied employees nearly 2 to 1.

It’s pretty typical that when talent informs us they are moving on to another position we conduct an “exit” interview to try to understand their motives and receive feedback about what they liked or disliked about the organization.  My good colleague and friend, Dr. Bev Kaye (author of the best selling book “Love em or Lose em”) has coined the term “Stay Interview” to focus on those in the organization that you can’t afford to leave.

The “Stay Interview” is an approach to use only with your “A players” to uncover their “signature strengths” and motives that will, when properly matched with job assignments and opportunities, facilitate their engagement and commitment to the organization.

USING THE STAY INTERVIEW TO FACILITATE ENGAGEMENT OF YOUR TALENT

The first thing you really need to do is determine who your “keepers” really are.  Think about those high performing talent that have future potential to grow and contribute to the organization’s success.  If they chose to leave tomorrow, the “hole” they leave behind would be a deep one to fill or replace their talent and skills.

Once they are identified, just follow the steps below to help these high performers become even better over time:

Here are some other “stay” interview type of questions to identify what keeps your talent engaged and committed to the organization as well. Examples might include:

“What about your job is energizing?” 
“What is draining?”
“If you won the lottery and resigned what, if anything would you miss about your job or the company?”
“What was one thing about a prior job you loved? 
“What can I do to keep you?”
“What might entice you to leave?” 

So, what are you waiting for?  Schedule an appointment and conduct a “stay interview” with your top talent.  You might just find that these individuals appreciate the interest and time and think twice about looking elsewhere, particularly when the economy turns around.

At least for Ajax, we hope his “stay” with us is only short enough to enable him to be a gift for someone who will see the world through his eyes…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

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Competencies: eating/nutrition, cognitive hardiness, economics

Who benefits: any individual

Consultant Usage: health coaches, nutritionists

What’s it about? This book is about food, eating, nutrition, the economies of food, food and family life, and the social effects of personal change.  I stopped reading it about half way through.  I couldn’t stomach anymore.

Barbara Kingsolver is one angry woman.  With reason.  But I get ahead of myself.

This is a tale of two books.  On the surface it is a book about a family of four moving from Arizona to return to their roots – literally.  It is about a year of learning and eating only local foods.  It is about the joy and the pain of learning and growing. Living off the land.  It is a book about the nutritional value of foods along with some great ideas and recipes for those who enjoy cooking. 

But that is only half the book.  The other half is an exposé and condemnation of agribusiness, the mechanization of the food industry, and the critical loss of genetic diversity.  It is about myths that have been created to support big business. 

She makes a great case for the economics of supporting local foods and food growers and avoiding foods that have been transported great distances.  According to her figures, the average food item on your plate has traveled 1,500 miles to get to your stomach.  And that means about 13% of all the oil products consumed in the US are used in getting food to you and I. 

In “The Case of the Murdered Flavor” she makes a plea for us to eat ugly foods.  We like the pretty foods, but they have had their flavors removed and have traveled great distances to tempt us, yet providing blandness.  Real tomatoes aren’t perfectly round nor perfectly red…just flavorful.

One plea she makes is for more support for the more than 3,500 local farmers markets that have, dare I say, cropped up in the past 40 years. 

This is an important book about food and an eye-opener about the food industry.  So why did I stop reading mid way through?  Well, if I were more into being a cook of high quality, I probably would have finished it.  But I am not and to my thinking the book is too long by half.  This book told me everything, I mean everything, I could ever want to know about asparagus…and a whole lot more.  And for me, the book has a subtle whiny underlying tone that eventually grated on my nerves.  Stop already, I get it.

I did take away the need to be a better shopper and look for local solutions.  I found the information on the slow food movement to be of personal value.  And this could be a book of great value to someone struggling with weight/diet issues.

In summary, reading this book will give you much food for thought, leave you feeling stuffed rather than hungry for more, and frankly some of it is hard to digest.

Catch you later.    

Technorati Tags: food, diets, nutrition, health, food health, agribusiness, farmers market, farmers markets, slow food, slow food movement, slow food international, sustainable agriculture, sustainable farming, food policy, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

As consulting has expanded and morphed into so many different types of services being delivered under the same banner, it begins to dilute any meaning in the banner. What is consulting? To some it’s providing expertise or facilitating some process. For others it’s providing extra workers to staff a project or taking over a certain organizational function. Still for others, it could be training the employees in a compliance matter or helping an individual change dysfunctional behaviors. Today, it’s almost any “help” that can be bought. While each of these services can be quite helpful to an organization and can generally be “bought” in the marketplace, should that make them all consulting?

Perhaps we could reserve consulting for a class of services that add something new, change or improve functioning or re-create some aspect of an organization. And consider the other ways of helping as contracted services, part of professional services or other helping roles? Consulting would then have a generic focus on change or improvement by doing it for them or developing their capacity to do it. Something is getting fixed, changed, removed or created. Consulting has an end game of improving performance against some mission, not just continuing what exists.

Larger firms often diversify in order to even out economic cycles or develop more stable sources of revenue. These moves are for the purpose of improving their business returns. In fact in could be said that these are moving away from strict consulting services because of their economic dynamics. So when firms add outsourcing, venture capital, and other alternative revenue streams for their own business purposes, let’s not confuse those with another form of consulting.

If we could bound consulting in this way, it helps to see the client-consultant relationship as an important factor in how value gets added. Consultants have rarely had any authority and long relied on influence as their primary medium. Our effectiveness is often dependent on how well we can affect what clients think and do. This becomes particularly critical when something needs to be created, changed or fixed, requiring people in the organization to operate differently. If we are to influence, we have to develop a relationship with the client that allows for change, including such characteristics as credibility, trust, openness and goal alignment.

Making sense of what occurs in human systems or how they change or the most effective way to lead them or which design is most productive is fraught with difficulty. Yet, nothing is more important in today’s world for creating healthy organizations and healthy people. Because we lack a lot of convincing evidence, based on solid multi-case, empirical data, we often rely on qualitative, limited case explanations to guide behavior and decisions.

When attempting to understand what works or why something works in practice (in the field of human systems) we are challenged in numerous ways. Existing research is difficult to come by. Most field research is plagued with practical and methodological issues. Thus in many human performance and change endeavors we often have scant valid evidence to turn to and regularly hear people use anecdotal and belief-based statements to support their work.

The nature of human systems and field-based practice leads to many challenges for practitioners, such as:

• When something good happens, which factor influenced, caused, supported, intervened or will sustain it?
• When something doesn’t work so well, is it the idea (action, program, plan), the execution or other factors intervening?
• With so many variables operating in the organization (or community, group, etc.), how can one measure enough to “control” for other (than your chosen actions) explanations of results?
• How can one control for “time” as a variable? When is the right time to measure for change or results?
• If we are measuring at relatively long intervals, how has “maturity” affected respondents? Do they respond with the same mental framework (their yardstick) as they used before?

We have a lot more correlation information (eg two things happen together and vary in tandem) than causal information (eg, one variable cause the other to vary). When we can cumulate information that approximates similar actions with similar results in similar conditions, we come closer to valid information and can speak with higher confidence. That still doesn’t give us good theory with replicable causal relationships.

And so the journey continues, academic studies with inherent flaws (but always getting better) and practitioners (both managers and consultants) either doing the same thing repeatedly or experimenting with minimal guidance. Some of this gets published, but many experiences are not. Our learning could be enhanced with more integration across both successes and failures and some common ways of classifying situations and collecting data. Maybe someday…..

“Vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer”

Author Unknown

Most of the executives I coach are pretty stretched individuals. Now and then I get a few who tell me they really “thrive” on stress and don’t really need a vacation or a break from work. These are the same executives who tell me they function well on little sleep.  These are the same “Type A” executives who tend to “give stress” to others.

It seems we are all be asked to work more with less resources in this globally competitive world of ours. Getting away ain’t what it used to be.

Current research shows about 90 percent of U.S. employers offer vacation. Typically in the US employees receive about nine days of paid vacation and six paid holidays, a total of 15 days off per year. Approximately 28 million Americans don’t get any paid vacation or paid holidays. Entrepreneurs and small business owners have heard of the concept of vacations or have watched others experience this personally.

As they say, you really can’t take it with you….unless you travel like I do and see business and family travelers try to stuff oversized bags into airline compartments not made to handle them–much to the annoyance of all of us. Being stretched at work also seems to spill over to stress at home, at least from some new research that is accumulating.

Results of a new study from the University of Maryland confirm what working parents already know — the expanded work week is undermining family life. In a study of over 500 employees in a Fortune 500 company, researchers concluded that long hours at work significantly increase work-family conflict and that this conflict is associated with increases stress and depression (regardless of how flexible an employee’s schedule was or how much help they had at home for child care).

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, some major career paradigm shifts continue to influence the value struggle between employers’ needs and employees’ wants. Job security has been replaced by employability security, organizational loyalty has been replaced by job/task loyalty, and linear career paths have been replaced by alternative career paths. It is no coincidence that when reviewing characteristics of the “Best Companies” in America, we find a shift to those that are indeed “family friendly.”

Vacation Factoids:

• In a 2002 poll by Reston, Virginia based TrueCareers, more than 70% of workers do not think there is a healthy balance between work and their personal lives. More than 50% of the 1,626 respondents reported they are exploring new career opportunities because of the inability to manage both work and family stressors.
• In a comparative survey by Atlanta-based staffing firm Randstad North America, in the year 2000, 54% rated family the most important priority compared to almost 70% in 2002.
• For working professional women it is not unusual stop out of work (“off ramping) to care for children, parents or other family demands. In fact, in a recent study by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce published in Harvard Business Review on differences in “off ramping” found that 44% women reported leaving the “fast lane” for “family time” compared with only 12% of men.
• According to a Family and Work Institute study conducted in 2000, over 16% of employees bring work home at least once a week—up from 6% in 1977.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American man today works 100 more hours a year than he did in the 1970s with women working 200 more hours (Cornell University economist Robert Frank) The average woman works 200 more hours.
• The typical American sleeps one to two hours less a night than his or her parents did (two hours or more less sleep than you need significantly effects memory, decision making, mood and psychomotor skills.
• Men are still more likely than women in US companies to work more than 40 hours per week. However, men are more likely than women to not take allotted vacation time. On average, Americans leave at least four days unclaimed annually.
• What makes these work/family issues more striking is that working hours in other countries are flat or even declining. For example, France recently enacted a 35-hour work week and mandatory vacations for all employees. The standard work week in Belgium and Norway is Monday through Friday, 37.5 hours, and cannot exceed 40 hours. The French also are provided 30 days of vacation time, unlimited sick days and full child care.
• According to the International Labor Organization, as of 2000, Americans are working more hours than the Japanese (1,966 hours per year compared to 1,889) and to every European country surveyed.

Keep in mind that in the old days, vacation was often considered a luxury, but in today’s world it seems like it has become a necessity….Hope you have a relaxful end of the year vacation if you can fit it in….Be well….

Technorati Tags: vacation, holidays, work hours, work/life balance, stress, burnout, work hours, sleep, fatigue, Ken Nowack, Envisia, Envisia Learning, Kenneth Nowack

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Competencies: self development, time management, decision making

Who benefits: individuals with an open mind and a slightly philosophical bent

Consultant Usage: limited use for coaches and time management trainers

What’s it about? A few weeks ago I did a posting about time management.  I am wise enough to know I don’t always use my time wisely.  Being mostly retired I have a very short daily to-do list.  Yet I still have an occasional nagging feeling that I waste more time than I should.

I still love a line from that old business movie “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life” based on Alan Lakein’s book of the same title.  The line was/is “What is the best use of your time right now?”

With the above paragraphs as a preamble I stumbled across a marvelous book the other day.  It was a serendipitous moment of delight.  I intended to skim the book, but I could not put it down.  Several hours later I had gained some excellent insight into how I consistently get bogged down in agonizing over decisions not worth my time. 

This book proposes we have too many choices in our lives.  We have assumed that having more choices is good and that more choices in life lead to greater satisfaction.  Not so argues the author.  If fact more choices lead us to time wasting, decision paralysis, anxiety, and stress.

I love how he sets up the book, although I think he over does it a little.  He begins with some common, everyday examples.  He goes to a grocery store and counts the choices we have for various everyday items.  How many breakfast cereals we can choose from.  How many shampoos we can select from.  He observes how people stand in an aisle and agonize over which cereal to buy, which shampoo to purchase.

He tells a story on himself about going into a store to buy a pair of jeans and after determining his size, he must chose from about 15 different styles.  But all I wanted was a pair of regular old jean, he says (I paraphrase).

Reminds me of sitting down to watch television.  Endless choices and probably very few worth watching.  But how much wasted time do I spend considering my choices?

The book has far more depth than the opening stories.  In the end it all about our psychological and emotional well being.  And after convincing us (well, me anyway) that being overwhelmed with choice can have a negative effect on our health, he offers 11 suggestions to help us make more manageable the choices in our life, how to simplify our life.  

I don’t know if I have done the book enough credit.  I loved it.  I recommend it with a big smile on my face.  I urge you to read it…but the paradox is, of course, the choice is yours.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: paradox, choice, decision-making, stress, simplicity, emotional well being, psychological well being, less is more, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Your Next Job

Competency: self-development

Who benefits: individuals searching for new job opportunities, coaches

Consultant Usage: coaches, internal outplacement consultants

What’s it about? “May you live in interesting times.”  This ancient proverb is meant as a curse.  We may now be living in interesting times.  Just read the business pages…or most days the front page…of your newspaper or Blog equivalent. 

Some of you readers are going to be job seekers in the near future.  Maybe changing jobs wasn’t in your plans, but the economy suggests a large shake out.  Today’s posting is Job Search 101 for the inexperienced job seeker.  If you are already well acquainted with the topic, skip the rest of this posting and come back next week.  

If you are just starting to think about a job change, time to also think about a career change.  The standard in field is What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009: A Practical Manual for Job-hunters and Career-Changers (2008).  The book has been around as long as I have been doing work related to job seeking and career changes.  It is updated each year.  Many career development professionals refer to it as the bible of career development.  Can’t go wrong starting with this book.

Another popular best-seller in this genre is Knock ‘em Dead, 2008: The Ultimate Job Search Guide (2007).  The author has been around 20 years offering career advice to help you along.

The author and founder of Monster.com offers up Monster Careers: How to Land the Job of Your Life (2004) . He is particularly resourceful in offering up what he calls the “new basics of the job search”.  He also suggests a model for the serious job searcher that he calls the F.A.M.E. attitude.  I liked the model; but if you want to know what it stands for, you have to look it up!

Speaking of the Internet, while I want to go on record as saying it is easy to get seduced by thinking that the Internet can be your one-stop shopping center, there are certainly opportunities aplenty.  So if the Internet is your thing, keep my caveat in mind, but take a look at Guide to Internet Job Searching 2008-2009  (2008).

I am going to close with three books I know little about, but they win big time points for great titles.  The first of three comes with great reviews by users and professionals and is filled with personal stories, which appeals to me: Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters: 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job (2005).

Then there are my real title winners: Life’s a Bitch and Then You Change Careers: 9 Steps to Get Out of Your Funk and On to Your Future (2006) and Career Coward’s Guide to Changing Careers: Sensible Strategies for Overcoming Job Search Fears (2007).

Well, if you are in need, this should get you started.  I wish you success.

Catch you next week. 

Technorati Tags: job search, career, career development, resumes, job interviews, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley