During a conversation last week with Dave, an exec who recently landed a new job, I was reflecting on a previous blog post that referenced a Fortune magazine article on the reasons that corporations fail to retain their top talent. First on the list was ‘big company bureaucracy’.
I asked Dave what he liked most about his new company. He replied instantly… freedom to act’. He then gave me an example of what he meant. A few weeks ago, Dave was talking in the hallway with his boss. He mentioned an idea about a process improvement and his boss liked the idea. A couple of hours later, one of Dave’s colleagues told him that his idea had been approved. Dave was amazed. At his old employer, a large global bureaucracy, he said the idea would have taken months to get approved, if at all, with countless meetings, Powerpoint presentation drafts and debate.
Dave loves the ‘freedom to act’ and doesn’t miss his old company one bit. I wonder if they miss him? I will bet they do.
What about you – do you have freedom to act or do you work at a place that is mired in red tape, politics and bureaucracy?
Kevin Sheridan, one of my good friends and the CEO of HR Solutions, has written a new book entitled “Building a Magnetic Culture”. In this book Kevin shares the great insights he has learned about employee engagement from his firms’ extensive engagement and exit survey work with hundreds of organizations. I have listed Kevin’s book in my ‘Great Reads’ section. Click on this link – http://www.hrsolutionsinc.com/building-a-magnetic-culture.cfm - or on the book image for more info on the book and HR Solutions. Great job Kevin!
Interesting snippet from an article on social network research in yesterday’s NY Times:
“People whom you know but don’t communicate with often — weak ties in sociology terms — are the best sources of tips about job openings. They travel in slightly different social worlds than close friends, so they see opportunities you and your best friends do not”.
So, get out there and start talking to people you don’t normally talk to!
The title to this post might be deceiving … it not another C’mon Moment installment. Instead it is a short, rather funny story from my corporate past that causes me to reflect about where I work each time I think about it.
In the early days of my career, I worked for a crusty ex-marine and Senior HR Director named Bill. Over time Bill has become one of my closest friends. But when I first starting working for him he scared the hell out of me. He still sported the Semper Fi crew cut, chewed a cigar and grunted more than he spoke. He had been employed at the company for over 20 years when I joined his staff as a young ‘up and comer’. After being on the job for just a couple of weeks, I ambled over to his office to ask Bill a newbie question. When I arrived I noticed he had someone in his office and I couldn’t help but listen to the conversation.
Culture wins, every time. How many exquisite corporate strategies have you seen that have been unsuccessful because they failed to build a cultural foundation for success? And at the center of that cultural foundation are connected employees and great leadership. THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
Read some of the stories I have provided throughout my blog that share real life examples of great leadership along with some not so great leadership stories (you can find these posts in the Category drop down boxes – Leadership, Your Favorite Boss and C’Mon Man Moments – on the right side of the blog) - it will be easy to figure out which ones have successfully executed their strategy.
I was just browsing through a special Chicago Tribune magazine that focused on Chicago’s top 2011 workplaces (http://bit.ly/vM8Qj6) and the individual article headlines really say all you need to know:
“Keep up the good work – recognition, respect viewed as vital to workplace satisfaction”
“ Engagement is the key – retailer puts money behind keeping employees motivated“
” A passionate pack that combines a fast pace with supportive leaders“
My favorite quote was freom the Co-President of the top company on the list, Abt Electronics. “With a more than 1,000 employees, that’s a big family. But a policy of trust and respect has the served the company well. In 75 years it has never had a layoff!
This quote highlights the common denominator for all of these top workplace companies … they are all successful.
Great culture and financial success … conincidence?? I think not.
Do you work in a great place? If so, please comment on why it’s so great.
The year was 1998 and I was in my HR leadeship position with Amoco Corporation. I was invited to attend a presentation by McKinsey Consulting on ‘The War For Talent’. Fast forward 13 years to an article in the December 2011 edition of Forbes entitled “Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail to Keep Their Top Talent” (http://onforb.es/sCzkZO) . Basically the Forbes article was a rehash of the of the McKinsey presentatin I attended. Thirteen years later and the song remains the same. Why can’t organizations figure this stuff out?
Here are a few commonalities between the Forbes article and the McKinsey presentation:
Failure to find projects that ignite the passion of their talent
Poor annual performance reviews
No discussions around careers
Allowing whims to change strategic priorities
Lack of accountability
The missing ‘vision’ thing
These are more symptoms of lousy leadership, especially at the top of the house. And this extends beyond large companies. It’s pervasive across Corprate Amercia. As the job market heats up, the demographics continue their shifts and the global business world continues on it’s frantic pace, the companies that don’t figure this out are going to be in trouble. And they don’t have another 13 years to act.
During my corporate HR leadership days I spent countless hours in meetings dissecting leadership performance, aligning leadership competencies, discussing high potentials, overseeing replacement and succession planning processes… on and on it went. Unfortunately, at every stop in my career, we never seemed to make much progress in building a stable of great leaders.
One day, during a staff meeting with my HR team, we came up with a leadership assessment model that really seemed to make sense. Rather than focus on all of the technicalities of leadership we decided that there were only two simple factors that really mattered in determining who were or had the potential to be great leaders.
1. Is the leader high or low maintenance?
2. Does the leader ‘get it’ or not?
So we adjourned the meeting, headed to a local tavern, and decided to put our hypothesis to the test.
The results, aided by a significant amount of libations, were stunning. The leaders that the organization struggled with were clearly ‘High Maintenance, Don’t Get It’ types. The opposite was true for people who were widely accepted by the organization as great leaders.
Unfortunately that’s where it ended.
Why? Because my boss, the President of the company, didn’t fare well in our new assessment model.
Before the holidays I met with a HR VP who works at a mid-size, privately owned company. We were discussing the cultural and leadership challenges the company was facing. He had suggested to the CEO that there were signifcant issues emerging around employee retention and engagement. Leadership comptency was in large part to blame. He suggested that an employee survey would be a good place to start analyzing the problems. The CEO balked because his leaders were fine and there wasn’t a retention issue. He said he didn’t need to ”worry about ‘this engagement thing”.
How did this CEO find himself in sucn a senior leadership role? Well, first he works for a privately owned, family run firm (STRIKE ONE). Second, the firm has never invested much in leadership development (STRIKE TWO). Third, in his previous role the CEO was a ‘deal guy, a M&A expert’ and he got results (STRIKE THREE) so that means he is a natural leader, right?
Leaders like this get results. For a while. But over time the company won’t achieve their performance potential becuase the employees never fully commit themselves to this type of leader. Never.
A few years ago a buddy of mine was interviewing for the top HR job in a fairly large company. One of the interviewers asked him, “If you could be a plant, what kind of plant would you be?”
Ah… the indignities one must endure during the job search process.
Check out more real life examples of ridiculous interview questions on this blog post from Glassdoor.com (http://bit.ly/AboCRk) . Then ask yourself if you would really want to work for a company that thought this was good interviewing .
Are you a dynamic, motivated, creative and innovative professional with extensive experience and an organizational track record of problem solving who gets results through effective communication skills? If so, you have just used the 10 most overused buzzwords in Linked In profiles. Remember, friends, you need to differentiate yourself in the marketplace or else you will sound like everybody else!
Michigan State University’s College Employment Research Institute (CERI) just released their annual ‘Recruiting Trends Report’, which is a survey of over 5,000 companies regarding college recruiting trends for the upcoming year. Over 5,000 companies respond to the survey which is in its 25th year. To download the survey, go to http://www.ceri.msu.edu/ . I encourage you to check it out – very intersting reading.
In an earlier post I shared the three keys to career success in the new world of work. One of these keys is the importance of learning and keeping your skills and competencies contemporary. I just read an interestin online article by Jessica Stillman on the site ‘Gigamon’ that described the Ten Key Skills For The Future of Work. Here they are (to get the definition of each skill, click on ttp://bit.ly/tkfC7e for the full article):
No, his name wasn’t really Fred Jones … that’s the name of the character who loses his job in a great Ben Folds song that sheds a light on the coldness of the downsizing culture that is so much a part of corporate life these days. The person’s name doesn’t matter. What happened to him, and what’s happening to all of us, does.
The real life Fred (that’s what I will call him) got caught up in a corporate downsizing last week. 56 years old with a wife and two college aged kids. When he was told about his job loss, Fred didn’t get angry. He got scared. He sat in disbelief in the sterile conference room and then he started to cry. He didn’t know what to do, how to tell his family or how to face himself. He was afraid of the future while trying his best to hang on to the past. He asked the HR people over and over again if there was anything that could be done. There wasn’t. And, then it was time for Fred to leave.
In situations like this, many want the company to be the villain. But it wasn’t … this was just business. Fred was not losing his job to cost reductions but to a different strategic direction. Fred had good skills that were now simply the wrong skills. While you could argue with the timing of the change (the holiday season), the company did what they could to help Fred by providing a nice separation package that included outplacement.
Fred was complicit in his personal drama. He hadn’t been paying attention to the shifts in the company direction. He buried his head in the sand and ignored the new rules of corporate life and career management. He found himself being reactive rather than proactive to change. And he got caught.
I am not sure the moral of this story is; I do know that this is a corporate drama that plays itself out over and over again across the country and the globe. And, it just doesn’t feel good.
A student group did an excellent video to ’Fred Jones Part 2, I encourage you to check it out.
Just in time for the holidays Aneil Mishra’s book, Trust is Everything (you can find out more about this book in the Great Reads section), is now available as a an e-book on several platforms, including on the Apple iPad, and the Barnes & Noble Nook, A Kindle version will available shortly. Also note that a sequel, Becoming a Trustworthy Leader, will be published by Routledge Press early next year.
I highley recommend Aneil’s book. It’s an easy and great read!
During my last corporate HR leadership role I noticed that my enthusiasm for my job was starting to wane. The combination of never ending restructurings, resources constraints, endless budget meetings and a lack of strategic human resources discussions were sapping my focus. To re-energize, I decided to commit myself to building better leaders in my company. I thought that this was the best way for me to make an impact, both for the organization and the individual. I didn’t know it at the time but this was probably the genesis to my viewpoint on organizations, leadership, careers and work that is shared throughout this blog.
I believe that great HR practicioners should play a vital role in connecting individuals to their company.
I chose leadership as my vehicle for making a difference. This blog post from HR Toolbox (http://bit.ly/rJEk85) proposes that Human Resources professionals can impact both their company and it’s employees by dedicating themselves to helping individuals connect their passions to their work. The blogger asks “What can HR do to touch this part of employees’ heart and do something about it within the organisation so that employees live ‘full life’ and thereby get better satisfaction?”
During my daily travels I interact with many, many HR leaders around Chicago and beyond. I learn alot from these interactions and, and mixed with my own personal observations and insights as a HR professional and leader, I will be sharing this info in a 3 Connections Blog Category entitled “HR insights”. (FYI, the 3 connections categories are in a drop down box on the right side of my blog)
So, you are going to start your job search for a new HR leadership role, eh? Here’s a tip that might help you clarify your offer.
I have had the fortune of working with many great Human Resources leaders. Now some of you are thinking that this statement is an oxymoron – but I will not have any of that negative HR talk on this blog….
I have noticed three characteristics of these successful HR leaders.
First, they know the business – the strategy, the marketplace, the competition, the products, etc. But, more importantly, they are intellectually curious about how the business works and what people do to make it successful.
Second, they are tremendous at building trusting relationships.
Third, they not only have a broad HR skill set, they have one area of HR passion that distinguishes them. It could be anything – diversity, leadership, development, talent acquisition,labor relations, etc. It ibecame something that they were known for; part of their workplace identity.
So, when someone asks you to tell them about yourself, try incorporating these three things in your answer.
Great companies have great leaders who treat people great, even as they are leaving. And then you have the not so great…
An individual worked for two companies in the same industry, leaving both organizations voluntarily. On her final day with Company A the CEO stopped by her office to wish her well and thank her for her contributions. On her final day with Company B her boss asked her to finish a project which took her well into the evening on her last day of work. She left with no fanfare, good bye or even a thanks.
The CEO of Company A was described by a friend of mine as the best person she has ever worked for; in fact, she said she would run through a wall for him. As for Company B, well I am guessing that they have a culture that doesn’t inspire greatness. Or engagement.
The signs of the impending holidays are upon us. From Thanksgiving turkey and Black Friday sales to never ending Lexus commercials, there are all kinds of signs that the end of the year is approaching. There are corporate signs as well, including the year end downsizing. It’s not unusual for an organization to do some December ”people adjustments” and, according to my companies outplacement practice, this year is no exception. While I understand the drivers for these decisions it always seems to be incongruent with an organizations espoused people values.
My favorite example of this happened a few years ago. A large Chicago based organization made a decision to eliminate many positions before year end. Company leadership decided to make the announcement on December 12 … exactly one day after the annual company holiday party. That made for one happy group of impacted employees. One day, holiday cheer. The next, holiday sneer.
The goal of this blog is to help us all better lead, work and manage our careers in this crazy corporate world in which we live. Archives of past posts are organized in eight categories to help you find something of interest. You can find these posts by clicking on the category drop down box below. You can also click on the Category Cloud. Or,simply scroll through the blog. Happy Reading! I hope you find something that will stimulate your interest.
For more information on 3 Connections blog host, Duncan Ferguson, please click below. To contact Duncan, click on 'Contact Duncan Ferguson' at the top of the blog.
I will occasionally post recommendations on great books related to the world of work, careers and leadership. Click on the picture for more info on the book.
Trust Is Everything
'Trust Is Everything', by my good friend Aneil Mishra and his wife Karen Mishra, confirms my belief that great leadership always begins with trust.
A must read for all leaders!
Building A Magnetic Culture by Kevin Sheridan
Learn how to build a great culture from Kevin Sheridan's years of experience doing employee engagement surveys for hundreds of organizations.
The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton
'The No Asshole Rule' actually studies the hidden costs of jerks in the workplace!
Managing Transtions by William Bridges
This must have book for all leaders explains the human side of organizational change and has significant implications for leadership and careers.
Do What You Are by Paul and Barbara Tiegers
This book helps understand the powerful connection between Myers Briggs preferences and career success
The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
Excellent advice and information for those who are 'on boarding' to a new job or role.
Drive by Daniel Pink
A tremendous read into what motivates us in our work. Another must read for all leaders who seek an engaged workforce.
Vital Friends by Tom Rath
Helps us understand our most important relationships for life, career and work.
Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Relationships are built or destroyed one conversation at a time. Another must read for all leaders (and spouses!)
Appreciative Leadership by Diana Whitney
Run and lead organizations by focusing on the positive. After you read this you will understand why most organizations fall well short of realizing their potential.
Get A Life, Not A Job by Paula Caliguiri
Simple and pragmatic advice on how to build a plan that will move you towards a great job and career.
Early Careerists
I have spent some time working and understanding the special needs of early careerists in the workplace. I will share resources in this space. Also, please check out my sister blog,My Early Career, dedicated to helping young people get their careers off to a great start:
http://myearlycareer.wordpress.com/
Michigan State’s College Employment Research Institute
MSU's College Employment Research Institute is focused on the transition between college and work. They produce an annual 'Recruiting Trends' report based on a survey of 5000 US employers which can be downloaded on their site. This is a very intersting website, a very interesting website dedicated to providing information and data on young adults and work.
Career Vision
Career Vision is a not for profit organization that is part of the Ball Foundation. Among their focus is helping high school and college students get focused on finding college and career direction. They do great work!
Degrees of Transition Website
Degrees of Transition
This is a link to my friend Lea McLeod's work with early careerists as they start their work and careers inside of corporations.
