Office Buzz, Buzz: All Talk and No Substance

During this recession period of bailouts, downsizing, pay freezes, and similar signs of doom and gloom, it’s important to circle back in the workplace and really reach out to leverage engagement among employees, and value-add whenever possible in creating cutting-edge, customer-centric solutions. It is what it is.

Does the previous paragraph sound familiar in that there are a lot of hot-topic terms and expressions used but not much is actually being communicated or clarified? All the italicized words turn out to be some of the most overused terms in the world of business jargon.

In an Accountemps telephone survey of 150 senior leaders from 1,000 of the world’s largest companies, executives were asked, “What is the most annoying or overused phrase or buzzword in the workplace today?"

Some examples included:

• Viral: As in, "Our video has gone viral."

• Game changer: As in, "Transitioning from products to solutions was a game changer for our company."

• Disconnect: As in, "There is a disconnect between what the consumer wants and what the product provides."

A similar survey that was conducted in 2004 had many repeated expressions and words from 2009 including “think outside the box”, “on the same page,” and “at the end of the day”, and also words such as “synergy” and “customer-centric.”

“When business or industry terms become overused, people stop paying attention to them," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps. “The best communicators use clear and straightforward language that directly illustrates their points.”

At a time when organizations are doing more with less, perhaps budget cuts need to include office buzzwords.

New Dynamics in Mentoring Women

Not long ago the thought of men being ideal mentors for women would have sounded absurd. How could a man possibly understand a woman’s experience in the workplace?

Not only has the workplace changed, but the debate has changed along with it. If the end goal is to promote more women into positions of power, who better to teach them than the men who are already there? Most women agree that women seeking to become executives should find a male mentor.

When building an internal mentoring program, common ingredients for success do exist. There needs to be an active facilitator who pairs a mentor with a protégé. Throughout the process the woman interested in being mentored must take the initiative. Observers agree that absent a real determination from a woman seeking to learn from colleagues, an informal program whereby the organization sets the table and then steps out of the picture is unlikely to work.

The most effective mentoring relationships should last for one year. Partners should meet monthly. If time constraints do not permit such frequency, they should meet for an extended period of three hours per quarter. No topic should be considered irrelevant.

There are plenty of issues to discuss such as how to prepare presentations, speak the language of the board or build rapport with male executives. Maybe a female protégé needs to work on strategic thinking or develop greater financial acumen. Whatever they choose to focus on, the protégé should select an area that is crucial for them to reach the next level.

What distinguishes men from women in terms of mentoring is men’s willingness to seek and be guided by a mentor. Too often, according to workplace analysts, women fear asking for advice on professional matters out of fear that they will be perceived as incompetent or under qualified. On the flipside women are still reluctant mentors to other women.

Why are women at the executive level often unwilling to take on a guiding role? Reasons vary from a shortage of women in power to the limited time and heightened spotlight that the few at the top operate under. Possibly they suffer from the same affliction as doctors who express little sympathy for the brutal hours required of residents. If they had to struggle through days of 12-hour shifts without sleep, then why shouldn’t the next generation suffer the same?

Structured mentoring programs are effective. What makes or breaks it is the willingness of the protégé to keep the process going. It is not up to the mentor to set a schedule or select topics to discuss. The protégé has to take charge of the process.

Downturn Spurs Proactive Ingenuity

One could argue that the recession has inspired many people to reinvent their careers and seek new possibilities. The Foundation for Job Creation is one of the phoenixes that has risen from the ashes of the current economy.

Founded by inventor and entrepreneur Mark Nejmeh, attorney Francis X. Taney Jr., and businessman James Flattery, the purpose of the non-profit corporation is to “support ideas, innovations, and concepts through development and into prototype.”

Says Nejmeh, “We can no longer ignore ideas that are born in unexpected places…This new Foundation must mine the brilliance of the ‘can do, will do’ modern American scientists, creative minds, and entrepreneurs in garages, basements, and elsewhere.”

The industries of focus for the Foundation are entertainment, biotechnology, renewable energy, and any type of high- or low-tech industry. All development projects must create jobs and profit, as well as be strong candidates for export outside the U.S.

The foundation is open for various forms of membership, ranging from volunteer status (at no cost) to lifetime membership at $25,000. General annual membership amounts to $175 with significant discounts for those who are retired, serving in the military, students, or educators. A key benefit of being a member includes the right to vote on development of technology and the allocation of funds.

Some of the organization’s plans include creating three to five think tank-like facilities across the U.S. as well as one laboratory and prototyping facility, all open for member use by mid-2010. Anyone is allowed to apply for assistance with intellectual property protection, engineering software, business plan software, website development, branding, engineering services for assisting in concept and prototype design, and professional business mentoring and prototype production at these service centers.

The first fundraiser for the Foundation, Lift America Up, is slated for November 2009, and is a national bench press contest that is open to all individuals as well as schools, gyms, and military bases. A $5000 prize will go to the gym, school, or military base that cumulatively lifts the most weight among all the registered participants. Individual prizes of $1500 are also available.

Learning in Tough Economic Times

This economic recession has brought many challenges in the corporate world. From the market fluctuations to reductions in staff, all companies and all employees are feeling the effects of this downturn in the economy.

ASTD recently partnered with i4cp to produce a research report on how the learning function can partner with organizational leaders to help organizations increase employee productivity. Thirty-eight percent of survey participants reported that this recession is much more challenging than past downturns, and 70 percent of learning executives are looking for ways to become more efficient at delivering learning.

Explore the specific methods that organizations are using to cope with deep financial uncertainty and read about the best practices that learning organizations are using to survive this economic recession.

Measuring What Really Matters

Training is an investment. If your organization is investing money in workplace training, then training and development should be treated like any other investment—goals need to be aligned with business strategies, and accountability needs to be measured.

The recession has magnified the need for accountability. Learning professionals need to show how learning affects corporate performance by speaking the language of business when communicating the value of learning to executives, and by identifying ways in which the learning function supports the organization’s goals.

It is critical that professionals know what to measure, how to measure it, and how to present the results to the rest of the business. This includes understanding the business, the needs of employees, and how the training strategy links to business results.

To help learning maintain credibility, learning executives must think about results, measures, metrics, and analytics when designing and delivering workplace training programs. It is time to start delivering the data that executives demand, because if you fail to prove value, learning programs may be perceived as a waste of time and money.

Read Jack and Patty Phillips' article in this month's T+D.

The Power of Talent Management
When I scanned Google News for workplace training and development, two of the top five articles focused on "safeguarding and developing talent" and "engaging and retaining Millennials." Managing talent has never been more important.

During these tough economic times, people are your most valuable asset. The difference between competing businesses comes down to people, their performance, and their service to customers. Cost savings may be front and center on the minds of business executives, but cutting corners on employee development may be fatal to a company's future success.

Resume Versus Interview

Even if you found a potential employee with the perfect resume, it’s still too early to relax. The job interview could quickly damage her image in your eyes, especially if your expectations were already high from what you read on paper.

Seventy-two percent of senior executives reported that it is common for job candidates with strong resumes not to pass muster in the interview, according to a survey by Robert Half International, a staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance.

"In making crucial hiring decisions, nothing replaces in-person interaction to ensure the candidate has the requisite technical qualifications and the soft skills that will likely make him or her a good fit with the organization,” says Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International.

Robert Half International offers several tips for employers to avoid running into this common hiring pitfall including networking, creating finely tuned job ads with strategic placement, narrowing the initial candidate pool with a phone interview, bringing in workers on a temporary basis, or using specialized recruiters.

SMS Your Way to Success!

Those Twitter skills may do more than broaden your professional network; they could land you your next job.

Teimlo, a British mobile phone content provider, has a position open for a new marketer, but here’s the catch. The company is only accepting job applications via text message—160 characters or fewer. All applicants who make the shortlist will be texted back.

The announcement on their website reads, “If you are qualified, sassy, good with words, dynamite at events, Adobe compatible, have working knowledge of mobile and social media, and are a determined multi-tasker and networker we want to hear from you.”

Those who make the cut will be invited to send in their CVs and eventually, may be lucky enough to land a face-to-face interview.

Though only Britain-based candidates are allowed to apply, the gimmick does offer a glimpse of a future where everybody has a tagline for his own unique personal brand.

What would yours be?

Workplace Readiness

Just as the Obama administration pledged to provide $12 billion to community colleges this week and focused a light on the training and skills workers will need for the jobs of tomorrow, a new report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills. For the most part, employer-sponsored readiness training is not successfully correcting these deficiencies, according to the report, The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, produced by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

“In any economy, having a knowledgeable, skilled workforce is critical for organizations to grow and be successful,” said Tony Bingham, ASTD President and CEO. “As the skills gap widens among new entrants to the workforce, it's clear that all stakeholders –employers, education, and the public workforce system – must collaborate to effectively prepare workers to be successful on the job.”

This topic is crucial if laid off individuals are going to find new jobs, spark the economic recovery, and compete in a challenging global business climate.

Bonding Together Through Hardship

Work relationships, sometimes fraught with tension in times of stress, seem to be holding up well despite the recession.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents reported they have a “very good” or “good” relationship with their supervisors, according to a recent survey released by Accountemps, a staffing service for finance professionals. That number jumps to 95 percent when respondents were asked of their relationships with other co-workers.

When compared with the same survey distributed in 2005, the numbers were surprisingly consistent at 87 percent for “very good” or “good” relationship with supervisors and 91 percent for “very good” or “very good” relationships with co-workers.

“Workers who enjoy interacting with each other not only make the office more pleasant, but also produce better work,” says Max Messer, chairman of Accountemps.

Do you think the economic downturn is actually strengthening office relationships, or rather, are employees afraid to report the truth in these risky times?

In shades of gray, the truth may lie somewhere in between.

The Working Lives of Men

Yes, men are racing home to be with the kids in higher numbers than before.

Guess that whole work/life balance is starting to sink in. According to a recent survey by Accenture, 68 percent of men said it’s important for them to be available to their families when needed, compared with 49 percent of women.

The survey focused on attitudes about vacations and work/life priorities. Another surprise is that men are now more likely than women to take advantage of working from home. The breakdown was 91 percent of men versus 75 percent of women.

Once they go on vacation however, it’s back to work. Men are more likely to be tethered to email or calls from colleagues. The whole concept of separating work from vacation is still cloudy. Ninety-four percent of men said they work on vacation. Whether that means completing quarterly financial reports or simply browsing company emails, the survey did not make clear.

What has changed in the past generation as everyone with an iPhone or Blackberry knows, is that you no longer have to be in the office from sunup until sundown to get work done or schmooze a client. There’s only a slight gap between men (52 percent) and women (44 percent) who participate in conference calls while away from the office.

Really, both men and women need to get one thing straight when on vacation: go back to the beach.

Surviving a Corporate Meltdown

ASTD's monthly online publication, Learning Executives Briefing, talked with Ed Cohen,
head of Satyam’s learning organization, about the role his Satyam Learning World team played in first communicating the crisis, then helping the workforce to deal with its unexpected ramifications.

Corporate crises are all over the news, but the tale of Satyam Computer Services and its corrupt CEO sent shivers through the IT world. Read how the company’s learning organization dealt with the unenviable task of communicating with a workforce that had no real experience with job loss or the loss of respect and status. Read about it here.

Federal Reforms

I was shocked to see a recent article in FederalTimes.com that said that the federal government spent 1.9 percent of their payroll on training between 1997 and 2000. In contrast, the private sector spends averages about 4 percent of its payroll on employee training.

Most of that training money is on upgrading efficiency on job-related tasks, not soft skills pertaining to customer service relations or helping managers communicate with employees.

Apparently, the Obama administration finally recognized the injustice and is set to legislate action to set mandatory spending levels for employee training, retool the performance appraisal process, and create a performance-based pay system.

What percentage of your payroll is spent on employee training? What percentage of payroll should be spent on employee training?

An Eye Toward Better Performance at Scripps Health

Perhaps the bigger a company grows, the more conscientious it gets in terms of tracking the quality of its workers.

For example, one of the tools used for performance management at Scripps Health, a San Diego-based non-profit community health care system, is called "The Eye Chart."

Designed by an outside consulting firm, "The Eye Chart" is a large-scale visual tool that looks at factors such as leadership performance and cultural engagement across the entire company.

After compiling data from employee satisfaction surveys, the feedback is transformed into a bottom-up multi-rater leadership assessment. Departments that have healthy "mini-cultures of excellence" are represented in green and yellow quartiles while those that are struggling or failing are represented in orange and red quartiles.

The chart is intended to help managers find both the good and the bad aspects of their department, and to aid executives and operational leaders in making staff decisions.

What other types of performance management tools help companies find the pulse of their workplace cultures?

To find out more about performance management at Scripps Health, read "Prescription for a Turnaround" in the June issue of HR Magazine (SHRM members-only on the web). It details how matching talent with business needs and using rewards-tailored compensation for high achievement helped the company recover financially.

The Mother of Innovation

In a world starving for fresh ideas, innovation is being tossed around like pennies as the solution to corporate ills.

If only it were so simple. Employees and managers don’t fall out of bed one day, decide to be innovative and voila, a new idea enters the marketplace. Most innovative companies dedicate resources and significant staff time to scouting new ideas. Oftentimes such companies find a niche before the average consumer and the marketplace is ready for it.

Being innovative does not mean creating a new gadget that did not exist in the marketplace. It refers to addressing a customer need or improving an existing product or service.

Decades ago IBM hired an expensive marketing firm to research the potential of high speed copying machines, according to Scott Anthony in his book, The Silver Lining. There was no need for such technology, marketers said. Good thing IBM didn’t listen.

The conservative nature and absence of creativity inside the walls of most organizations are two prime reasons why innovation is stifled. When executives declare that it is an employee’s job to be innovative that fails to inspire anyone. 3M famously allowed employees to spend 20 percent of their time generating ideas. Spending human capital is just as crucial as greenbacks.

It is possible to be innovative even among laggards like General Motors which developed the On Star hotline service, a highly successful mobile service that customers are willing to pay for.
Where is the best place to start? Try talking to customers first because they are the ones who are most likely best able to express their needs and wants. Few businesses do this today, focused as they are on survival or maintaining unrealistic standards of growth just a few years ago.

The perceived high cost of failure is another barrier to innovation. Most executives blanch at the thought of investing money in an idea that might not yield high returns.

For innovators, failure is only temporary as 3M discovered when its early attempts to create a semi-permanent glue planted the seeds for Post-It notes. Innovation requires the kind of thinking that breaks established convention, the kind of person who says why can’t we do this? It means not being afraid to submit an idea that others shy away from out of fear that it is “stupid” or might draw ridicule.

Serious Gaming in the Workplace

Is serious gaming being taken seriously in your workplace?

What if I asked the same question a different way: Does your organization support simulations as part of your training regime?

Is the word "gaming" scaring off organizations? It shouldn't, because more and more companies are beginning to accept high-tech gaming software as a necessary part of blended learning.

Serious games can be powerful educational tools, allowing users to experiment, learn from their mistakes and safely experience risky or dangerous situations.

It is time to change the perception of "gaming" among CEOs and other corporate executives. It is a valuable learning tool that is taking too long to become a mainstream part of everyday learning.

The T+D Blog Has Moved!

The new T+D Blog is now officially launched.

I have the option of importing all this existing content into the new blog, but it will cause this blog to be unreadable.

Until people update their bookmarks and Webpage links, though, I want to leave this one up. So for now, the two versions will co-exist.

I've replicated my past few posts from this blog onto the new one to get it off and running.

Enjoy, and please feel free to let me know what you think.

Best you might've missed

I'm posting this week's best early because I'm taking tomorrow off to enjoy some rest and relaxation before our crazy conference season starts. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Traditional training/business

Book report: Resilience at Work: How to Succeed No Matter What Life Throws at You. A study showed that workers who showed resilience and succeeded in the face of change demonstrated "three basic attitudes...: commitment, control, and challenge."

Leading Ideas: Grow the People Around You. The Fast Company blog reports on Jack Welch's new book on leadership and some key points on how leaders can develop the people under them.

E-learning

"PBS drops its middleman role in college telecourses." The end of an era.

Emergent learning

"A Model Patient." A fascinating article from the New Yorker describes how doctors are being trained on sophisticated simulated patients.

A Learning Blogosphere: Parts I and II. How a professor and students used blogging at the University of Michigan.

Educational podcasts. Have you gotten into this new digital trend? Here's a list of podcasts for and about learning. (Thanks, e-learning Centre.)

Definition of emergent workers. The senior VP and chief human resources officer at Spherion defines them at the Future of Work Congress.

Mind research

"Unleashing Creativity." "Moments of brilliance arise from complex cognitive processes. Piece by piece, researchers are uncovering the secrets of creative thinking." (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

Technology

Keynote on the Semantic Web by Tim Berners-Lee. The inventor of the World Wide Web opened MIT's Emerging Technologies Conference last fall.

Redesign soon to be launched!

I can't wait to show it off. I've been working on the redesign of this blog and the new version is so much better!

I'm waiting for some technical help with the logo, but once that's done, I'll be able to unveil it.

In the meantime, here's a sneak preview of what the new Typepad (paid software) has allowed me to easily add:

--much prettier design without having to get deep into the html (my coding skills are very minimal)

--an about link--standard with Typepad, lets you get to know the blog's mission and a little bit about me

--my picture, for a personal touch

--an archive by topic category--as I post and the list gets full, it will allow this blog to be used as a knowledge base!

--list of recent posts--lets you see their topics at a glance rather than having to scroll

--a list (blogroll) of bloggers and Websites I read regularly and gather linking fodder from.

--better support for Firefox users.

Stay tuned for the new link!

Infomania affects IQ more than marijuana

Shocking news from a study by Hewlett Packard: Excessive use of technology such as email and text messages can cause a fall in IQ greater than that caused by smoking marijuana.

The study of more than 1000 adults was commisioned by HP and conducted at the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry.

The research showed that the average reduction of 10 IQ points as participants' work was interrupted by emails and text messages is more than double the four-point loss caused by smoking marijuana.

A third of all adults will respond to an email immediately or within 10 minutes, the study showed. But women are more effective at multitasking: Their drop in IQ was only five points, compared to 15 for men.

Read more here and here.