OMG, Did we really create ths monster?

Sit down with any group of senior managers and ask them what is their primary complaint with the youngest workers in their organization. I am willing to bet ( and I am not a betting person, I am lucky if I even play the state Lottery) that the primary complaint will be something of the nature that they do not understand that there are dues to be paid. But take a moment and think back in time and realize you created this monster.

I can go back to the late 60s and find the forerunner of the monster. Think about this-- it is 1965 and  it was my senior year in High School. I never mention it on a resume but I lettered in track. I never ran a single race. I was the team manager. It was the policy of the school that everyone who was part of the team received the letter. Jump forward to when my kids were getting started in sports on the community soccer team. The policy was that everyone who played got a trophy at the end of the season.

So here is the nature of the monster. Based on the beliefs of some educators and late baby boomer and Generation X parents it was wrong to not place everybody on an even keel. All for one, and one for all attitude became prevalent in our lifestyles. What organizations are now seeing is the offspring of this group enter the workplace. Their first demand is that we are entitled to get that promotion or raise just like every other employee. Do not tell me about paying the corporate dues. I have come to work, done what was asked of me, and now I want that trophy. I want that raise. I want that promotion. Not years from now but in real time in the current time span.  We created the monster and now we have to deal with them.

The solution to the dilemma is that we need to accept the reason why the new generation of workers have reasonable demands based on what they have been taught by their parents. We cant change that. However we can work on ways to utilize that energy for greater corporate stability and good. Find ways within your corporate culture to modify  the corporate career paths to encompass their feelings of needing to move on up now rather then after the dues are paid. Remember these employees never saw a piece of new technology that they did not like. They quickly pick up how to best utilize the resources. They are the ones that are going to be the leaders/managers/teachers of the organization sooner rather then later. Utilize those skills to enhance your internal processes for the betterment of the entire organization.

We thought we were being helpful. We thought that we were being supportive. We were striving to make our children better community members by showing them the benefits of total team work. Now we have to live with the outcomes and understand on our watch the world has changed. It is up to us and them to decide whether it is for the better world we were seeking.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

Open letter to the Chief Executive Officer

I need some help this morning. I need to understand what is in your head in today's economic climate. As I understand it your role as CEO is to protect the interests of the stakeholders and the bottom line of the organization. As a result you tell the market that you can not assist the unemployed because you need to protect the bottom line. I totally understand that.

What I do not understand is how you protect the interests of the stakeholders when by your very actions you and your peers have racked up a total of 64 billion dollars in fines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because you or someone in your organization has felt that under your direction it is totally acceptable to make some very dumb decisions.

How do you protect the stakeholder interests and your bottom line by charging against the organization bottom line a $3,000,000 fine for discrimination against your employees in your hiring process? This is on top of another fine of equal value for misclassifying your employees as 1099's instead of real employees. These are not isolated cases. Since August of 2011 I have received notices of 225 fines levied against your organizations for various forms of blatantly illegal actions on your part.

Where is your responsibility to protect your brand when as head of the organization you believe that discrimination is the way to protect the organization? Where is the responsibility to society to be a good citizen when you believe that discrimination is the correct path? Further what kind of message are you sending to your kids when they learn that their parent obviously believes that not every person in their organization is entitled to equal treatment under the law.

I have never been in your shoes but I am the offspring of a former peer of yours. So let me provide my take on the situation. You have the responsibility first to your organization to be watchful of the bottom line. You also have the responsibility to the greater community to be a good citizen. Take the time to really look at your organization and find out what they are really doing. Take the time to let the managers now that they also have these responsibilities even if it is just to protect the brand. Their purpose is to find the right candidate for the right position in the right place at the right time. Providing the model to the available human capital that your corporate ethics allow you to make some very dumb moves is not protecting the stakeholders or the return on investment. How many new employees who may very well assist you in being innovative in the marketplace could you hire for 64 billion dollars? I am not a math wiz but at an average salary of $50,000 plus benefits you could make a real dent in the unemployment numbers by directing fines for doing things that you know are wrong to hiring those wh can benefit your organization.

So before your management team members make another really dumb decision, ask them to stop and think about the interests of those they are supposed to be protecting before taking steps to protect the organization for the wrong reason.Show the world that in this tough economic tomes we are in that you understand your role as a world citizen. Show the world that you are in tune with the marketplace and that there is a need for providing a safe, equitable and professional environment within your organization.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

What is Your Focus?

Almost everyday you can pick up a copy of the newspaper or turn on the TV News and hear about an organization which has announced that it is cutting jobs to lower costs. In this current economic climate I can totally understand wanting to reduce costs. However I ask you what is your goal - to sustain the organization for the long haul or to satisfy the stockholders for a quick response to economic "dire" warnings?

Lets consider the two perspectives in place in many organizations. The first one is based in the concept that our human capital are nothing more than an expense item. When the organization is blowing results out of the water, we tend to hire based on the demand. s a result when we find that the economic conditions are headed in the opposite direction the first reaction by many management  members is to see how you can cut costs. This includes cutting staff. In order to meet the demands of the board of directors and other stakeholders the strategic direction is cut costs at any cost to the organization Never mind that as you cut overhead we forget that the workload does not get less. In its place you have added to the stress level within the organization. Typically we find eventually that work does not get don eon time alienating the organizational customers. While we may have helped meet the demands of the stakeholders we have not helped the future of the organization

Consider the other side of the coin if you will. In this scenario we find a total different view of management. They recognize that our greatest asset is the innovation and thought processes of our human capital. Management fully understands while the short term solution seems to be the logical route, in actuality we have failed to recognize what the knowledge drain will mean to the corporation.

Consider this: There was a company about five years ago who decided that the sure fire method to cut costs was to offer early buy out to anyone with 20+ years with the company. Almost all the employees took the corporation up on their offer and they were out of business in 6 months.

So lets turn this into a strategic discussion - You are in an industry where sales are dropping due to the economy and its trials and tribulations. So what do you do? The fir thing I would tell you that unless you are planning to close your doors, N0 ONE SHOULD BE LAID OFF. Let me repeat that, no one should be laid off. There are other ways to reduce costs and keep the organization flowing. Review the organizational widgets ( We all have them whether we make something or not) and locate the ways we are spending money out the door due to wasteful activities. If you are thinking, we don't do that here, go ask your clients how well you are meeting their needs. Jay Arthur in his book Free, Perfect and Now suggests that for every $100 of corporate spend, you are wasting between 25-40 in wastes. On a continuous basis review how you are doing business to cut these wastes from the operation.

Talk with your human capital assets and let them know a true picture of how the organization is functioning. Talk with them about ways to everyone pitch in to save the organization for the long term. Talk to them about TEMPORARY job sharing. Talk to them about shortening the work week.Each and everyone of these strategies is designed to save the organization monies and not hurt the future of the company. Understand that if you have a problem meeting customer needs, cutting staff is not going to meet the customer needs. If you are not meeting the customer needs there is something. wrong with the internal processes.

So here is your dilemma -  we recognize the value of the intellectual properties of our leased, non-owned corporate assets, but we are getting extreme pressure from stakeholders to maximize their return on investment.You need to demonstrate to the stakeholders that the maximum return on investment is not on financial returns for next week or next month. Maximum return on investment is based on what the organization looks like five or ten years down the road. We do not maximize the ROI on the back of our keys to innovation.

Take the time to review how you picture the organization in the future. Make the necessary changes to enhance the level of employee engagement within the organization. Think ahead as to what your product or service is going to look like in response to the voice of the customer and start preparing your human capital to be ready for when the time comes. Promise them that unless you are planning to go bankrupt or close your doors, we are going to plan on maintaining all staffing levels. We are going to the very best we can to establish our rightful place within the business community. We are not going to promise the rose garden if we can't deliver it.

So here is your path in front of you - one fork is to follow the path to short term responses to the demands of the organization. The other fork is to look at how to sustain the brand and the reputation for the long haul. One fork looks at the here and now the other looks at the future. A future which can be bright, vibrant and fully supportive of the path the organization has chosen. You make the decision.

By the way let me know are you stuck in the short term quagmire or are you following the yellow brick road to the future, where your bottom line increases because of the steps taken by the entire organization- rank and file and management together in consultation to improve the end result of the organizational voice of the customer requests.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

What is Your Focus?

Almost everyday you can pick up a copy of the newspaper or turn on the TV News and hear about an organization which has announced that it is cutting jobs to lower costs. In this current economic climate I can totally understand wanting to reduce costs. However I ask you what is your goal - to sustain the organization for the long haul or to satisfy the stockholders for a quick response to economic "dire" warnings?

Lets consider the two perspectives in place in many organizations. The first one is based in the concept that our human capital are nothing more than an expense item. When the organization is blowing results out of the water, we tend to hire based on the demand. s a result when we find that the economic conditions are headed in the opposite direction the first reaction by many management  members is to see how you can cut costs. This includes cutting staff. In order to meet the demands of the board of directors and other stakeholders the strategic direction is cut costs at any cost to the organization Never mind that as you cut overhead we forget that the workload does not get less. In its place you have added to the stress level within the organization. Typically we find eventually that work does not get don eon time alienating the organizational customers. While we may have helped meet the demands of the stakeholders we have not helped the future of the organization

Consider the other side of the coin if you will. In this scenario we find a total different view of management. They recognize that our greatest asset is the innovation and thought processes of our human capital. Management fully understands while the short term solution seems to be the logical route, in actuality we have failed to recognize what the knowledge drain will mean to the corporation.

Consider this: There was a company about five years ago who decided that the sure fire method to cut costs was to offer early buy out to anyone with 20+ years with the company. Almost all the employees took the corporation up on their offer and they were out of business in 6 months.

So lets turn this into a strategic discussion - You are in an industry where sales are dropping due to the economy and its trials and tribulations. So what do you do? The fir thing I would tell you that unless you are planning to close your doors, N0 ONE SHOULD BE LAID OFF. Let me repeat that, no one should be laid off. There are other ways to reduce costs and keep the organization flowing. Review the organizational widgets ( We all have them whether we make something or not) and locate the ways we are spending money out the door due to wasteful activities. If you are thinking, we don't do that here, go ask your clients how well you are meeting their needs. Jay Arthur in his book Free, Perfect and Now suggests that for every $100 of corporate spend, you are wasting between 25-40 in wastes. On a continuous basis review how you are doing business to cut these wastes from the operation.

Talk with your human capital assets and let them know a true picture of how the organization is functioning. Talk with them about ways to everyone pitch in to save the organization for the long term. Talk to them about TEMPORARY job sharing. Talk to them about shortening the work week.Each and everyone of these strategies is designed to save the organization monies and not hurt the future of the company. Understand that if you have a problem meeting customer needs, cutting staff is not going to meet the customer needs. If you are not meeting the customer needs there is something. wrong with the internal processes.

So here is your dilemma -  we recognize the value of the intellectual properties of our leased, non-owned corporate assets, but we are getting extreme pressure from stakeholders to maximize their return on investment.You need to demonstrate to the stakeholders that the maximum return on investment is not on financial returns for next week or next month. Maximum return on investment is based on what the organization looks like five or ten years down the road. We do not maximize the ROI on the back of our keys to innovation.

Take the time to review how you picture the organization in the future. Make the necessary changes to enhance the level of employee engagement within the organization. Think ahead as to what your product or service is going to look like in response to the voice of the customer and start preparing your human capital to be ready for when the time comes. Promise them that unless you are planning to go bankrupt or close your doors, we are going to plan on maintaining all staffing levels. We are going to the very best we can to establish our rightful place within the business community. We are not going to promise the rose garden if we can't deliver it.

So here is your path in front of you - one fork is to follow the path to short term responses to the demands of the organization. The other fork is to look at how to sustain the brand and the reputation for the long haul. One fork looks at the here and now the other looks at the future. A future which can be bright, vibrant and fully supportive of the path the organization has chosen. You make the decision.

By the way let me know are you stuck in the short term quagmire or are you following the yellow brick road to the future, where your bottom line increases because of the steps taken by the entire organization- rank and file and management together in consultation to improve the end result of the organizational voice of the customer requests.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

What is wrong with this picture?

CNN Money is reporting that US Manufacturing organizations are having so much trouble finding the essentiaal talent that they are going abroad to find the right person for the right job at the right time. At the same time local newspapers ran a syndicated column reporting that US employers see nothing wrong with refusing to interview the long term employed.

We reportedly have an unemployment issue in this country, organizations can't find qualified talent for their openings and yet we forget some of the tenants of why businesses were started in the first place. I am in the middle of reading the book "The Chocolate Wars" which discusses the creation and mission statement of the Cadbury Choloate Company. They operated under the premise of the Quaker Business Model which saw the mission of business entities to care for their employees. we do not do that anymore.

The Quaker Business Model was grounded in the following principles:

•  The real goal for an employer is to seek for others the best life of which they are capable
• Worked together towards a common goal which were in the community's best interest.e
• Pioneers in employee welfare and labor relations
• Employees encouraged to get further education at company expense
• Established medical and dental departments and pension funds

The result was that they had engaged, productive employees. We were not seeing this employee undercurrent of distrust and stress that we see in many of today's organizations. I hear many of my colelagues express that we need to change Washington to a more business orientation. But what about business once again recognizing that your employees are the life blood of your organization. They are the ones that pursue your brand to your customers. Take some time and think about what an orgnization of decicated engaged employees could mean to your operations?

 

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed