By Caitlin Strauss

We all have them - moments in our careers (and lives for that matter) that sneak up on us. Moments that you remember as special, as a learning point or a pause for reflection. Recently, I had one of those (and a special thanks to my colleague, Mariah for making it happen).

We had the opportunity to speak to Professor Sandra Chrystal’s Business Communications class in the Marshall School of Business at USC. The class was comprised of 20 bright undergrads all passionate about learning more about how today’s enterprises are communicating with their employees. Having time to speak to this class was a moment I’ll remember for a long time, and here’s why:

1) It reminded me how incredible today’s technology is. Cheryl, Mariah and I all skyped in from different locations - we could see the class, they could see us, and the interaction was incredible. Five years ago the barriers and cost to pull off an hour-long, guest-speaker lecture would have meant hotel rooms, plane tickets, and meals. But instead, it just took a little prep time and an hour in front of the computer. Amazing. Video conferencing is no longer a novelty, it’s extending the boundaries of how we can connect with one another. That connection - and the ability to both see and hear someone on the other end - is a powerful thing. It might be uncomfortable at first to let someone you’ve never met “into your virtual office”, but the reward is a more meaningful and informative experience.

2) It reminded me of how much I actually know. When we get into the mix of day-to-day work activities, we completely forget about how much we’re learning. In the five years since college I’ve been on a whirlwind of writing, producing events, scoping cross-functional projects, meeting with executives, and seeing different industries. You pull on that experience every day, but rarely do you take the time to reflect on it.

3) It reminded me we are doing work that’s pushing boundaries. We work with clients who are doing amazing things. It’s challenging to move the needle and change a corporate culture or think of new and innovative ways to engage and motivate your audience, but it’s also highly motivating. One student asked how we’re seeing new social media platforms (such as Jive and Chatter) being used in the enterprise. We described a handful of strategies, but what struck me was that a 20-year old was even asking this question. These types of technology are becoming the expectation of those entering the workforce - and we’ve got to push hard to ensure companies are transforming their cultures and practices to stay ahead of these trends and create an environment that appeals to the new generation of innovators.

Moments like these don’t happen every day. But when they do, it’s important to take them in and weave them back into the thread of what you do every day. It’s how you grow, it’s how you stay current, and it pushes you to the next level.

By Jessica House Steward

We’ve all heard two heads are better than one, right? Collaboration and brainstorming are key to culling the best ideas to the forefront, right? Well, yes and no.

A recent NY Times article by Susan Cain, “The Rise of the New Groupthink,” shares research that strongly suggests we humans are more productive and innovative when we work by ourselves. Look, for instance, at great introverted creatives such as Picasso, Chopin, Gandhi, and in more recent times, Steve Wozniak. They were all brilliant minds that produced great results and worked best in isolation. But at some point, their great ideas and masterpieces needed to be transferred to other people and to the world. And for those of us in the workforce, how do we make the most of what we know as the ‘brainstorm session’ with the knowledge that we might have the best ideas when we work by ourselves?

Today we are bombarded with the idea that we need to work more collaboratively. Yet, reflecting on recent brainstorming sessions I’ve been in, it seems the same colleagues contribute most of the ideas. At first glance, it may look like the quieter people in the group just don’t have any ideas, or worse, are disengaged, but they just prefer a less social arena to actually “brainstorm.” It’s probably not surprising that introverts find their best ideas when given a chance to retreat, but even for extroverts, brainstorming meetings may not yield the best results. Think about the last time you had a really good idea? Was it in the middle of a meeting, in front of clients, or while you were in the shower, or on your morning commute? According to Cain, people in groups tend to mimic others’ responses and forego sharing their own opinions.

So what do we do? We cannot work in a vacuum and we all know collaboration is becoming more critical as organizations become more matrixed and operate in a constant state of change. Cain suggests organizations set up offices to allow for casual interactions with colleagues, but also provide private, personal space for employees to retreat and do their best work.

Here are a few other tips for getting the most of your brainstorming sessions:

• Send out the meeting information (purpose, goals, agenda etc.) at least a day or two in advance of the meeting. This way, team members can start getting creative on their own. Be sure to ask them to come to the meeting with their       top 2-3 ideas.
   
• Have a facilitator present at the meeting to ensure all voices are heard and to track all ideas on a flip chart.
   
• Lay some ground rules:

o   All ideas are good. We need to be truly open to them before we dismiss them.

o   Everyone shares their ideas. This goes back to giving the team the information a few days before the meeting. Give people time to be creative on their own. 

o   Expand on ideas. This means the team collectively thinks through how each idea could be turned into reality. It’s important to see the possibilities, rather than to immediately criticize.

o    Let it simmer. Before jumping into the picking the best 2-3, give the team a few days to react. Ask for the team to share their top choices with the facilitator, either by email, or at another follow-up meeting.

Keeping all this in mind, you can generate a lot more possibilities for you, your team and your organization! And if your schedule is too packed with meetings, start scheduling in your own personal “brainstorming” sessions on your calendar. You might surprise yourself with how creative you really are!

By Maggi Aitkens

My brother and I have always been close. One of the many things I love about him is that he has a plethora of great ideas, something to which I always attributed his great success in business.

During a recent family visit, the idea of “ideas” became our topic of conversation. My brother kept repeating the word “hiccup” and said “anyone can have a great business idea, but you won’t move it forward without hiccup.”  I learned he was referring to “HCCP”—an acronym for a methodology he invented for moving business ideas forward. 

Here are the basic nuts and bolts of HCCP:

Do your Homework: Make sure your ideas are fully baked before presenting them—what are the facts and figures that support it, what impact will it have on the organization and how will it help the company achieve its goals? Have all the answers ready because no supervisor will move your idea forward without being armed with this information.

Expect to be Challenged: New ideas scare people, mostly because change is difficult.  And, no matter how much you think you know or how great you think your idea is, there may be angles that you can’t see.  As people challenge your idea, listen, and be ready to put their fears to rest in a non-threatening way, using what you learned doing your Homework.

Be Prepared to Compromise: There is no perfect idea. There is not “one way” to do things.  Don’t be so attached to your idea that you aren’t able to see what others might lend to it—particularly given their differing perspectives within the company. Making compromises also builds buy-in and ownership among those whose support you vitally need. Remember, you won’t succeed without it.

Don’t take it Personally:  If your idea isn’t adopted, let it be and fully support whatever is decided.  It’s not about you; it’s about supporting the organization. In some cases, the timing may not be right.  Wait for another window of opportunity to present itself and be ready to re-present your idea then.  If it’s a good idea, you’ll inevitably have many other such opportunities--when the time is right.  

HCCP is a strategy I’ve employed with great success. And as simple as it might sound, it’s not always the easiest to execute, particularly—at least for me—the concept that new ideas tend to scare people and how to overcome this adversity to change when challenged.

By Erin Wilgus

I was recently introduced to the poem The Dash by Linda Ellis and it got me thinking about how I’m living my “dash.”  The premise of the poem is that at some point we are all represented by a date range — a date of birth and the date we died — but what's most important is the dash in between.

It represents how we lived our lives--not what we owned or amassed, but the lives we created and the friendships we nourished. 

I’ve found that living my dash at home is easy. I’m being more conscious about slowing down, paying attention, making sure that each day has plenty of time for laughter, connection, smiles, curiosity and thoughtful conversation.  

How do you make the most of your dash at work? For me it’s about connecting with individuals.  It’s about finding ways to help others shine and be successful; showing more appreciation; foregoing email to have a conversation in person or over the phone; stepping out of my comfort zone to take on a new assignment and build new connections.

My challenge to you (should you choose to accept it): Take a minute today to think about how you’re living your dash, both at home and in your career.

Visit Linda Ellis’ website to learn more about her work and The Dash Poem.

• 85% of hiring and HR managers are more understanding of employment gaps than they were pre-recession. (Harvard Business Review)
   
• Are you nurturing or inhibiting the inner work lives of your employees? (McKinsey)
   
• Social responsibility matters: 92% of millennials think a company’s success should be measured by more than profit, and more than 50% say businesses will have a greater impact than any other segment on solving the world’s biggest challenges. (Deloitte)
   
• The six things that strategic leaders do well are: anticipate, think critically, interpret, align, decide and learn, according to Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Founder and Chairman of Decision Strategies Intl. (Inc.)
   
• What are you willing to trade for more flexibility to work remotely? (Mashable)
   
• In 2010, 58% of all undergraduate degrees in the US were awarded to women. As a result, women accounted for 53% of the total college educated population in the US. However, only 50% of the college educated workers were women. (McKinsey)
   
•  A recent U.S. Census Bureau report found that 32% of fathers with working wives routinely care for their children under age 15, up from 26% in 2002. (Wall Street Journal)

By Cheryl Fields Tyler

In the past few months, I celebrated a milestone birthday.  One of the wonders of this phase of life is that with the years comes an accumulation of blessings—the most precious in the form of people and shared memories.

But, as we “grow up,” we also face new challenges.  Health challenges, the trials of caring for aging parents, a child that is struggling to make it from teens to adulthood, a career that feels like it’s “topped out”, a dream job that is frustratingly out of reach.  And of course, even these pale in comparison to the profound challenges facing so many in our world, simply because of the time and situation of their birth. 

It’s not new wisdom, but the phrase that has been in my mind of late is “don’t postpone joy.”  Make a sweet memory with your loved ones, connect with a long-time friend, enjoy a delicious meal, take a walk at sunset, tell someone what you deeply appreciate about them, listen to the birds sing, watch a child at play. 

But, don’t defer joy at work, either.  Send a co-worker a note of thanks.  Work with your team to tackle a tough problem and share the singular satisfaction of solving it.  Take the initiative to build effective collaboration with a colleague.  Help make the next meeting you’re in productive and fun.  Notice someone in a service role doing a great job and offer a compliment.  Mentor a young person.  Hold open the door.  Pay for the latte of the guy behind you in line.  Bring in a treat to share with your colleagues.  Provide a helping hand to someone in need.  Organize a donation to a charity that makes a difference in the world. 

In other words, gain joy by giving it.  

We can’t always defer challenge—difficulties seem to find us, ready or not.  But, joy—that’s something we can do something about.  It may not seem like much, but it’s the every day things we do to create joy for others and ourselves that ultimately produces overall “joy quotient” of a day, a week, a month—or a life. 

Don’t postpone joy—create it. Today.

Some quick and compelling information we find interesting...

• In 2011, social network usage within the workplace accounted for 25% of total bandwidth consumption, a 300% increase in active social networking over 2010. (marketwatch.com)
• Change management initiatives that take into consideration organizational health - adapting to the present and shaping the future - as well as performance are 4.5 times more likely to succeed than those that focus on performance alone. (McKinsey)
• According to the Innovator's DNA Assessment, the five skills of disruptive innovators are: questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and associational thinking.  (Harvard Business Review)
• In the first half of 2011, 30% of US workers were engaged in their work and workplace, up slightly from the end of 2010. Nearly 20% were actively disengaged. (Gallup)
• According to a 2010 survey, more than 25% of high-potential employees said they planned on changing jobs within the next year. Among these employees, 64 percent don't feel their current employment experiences are impacting their development. (SHRM)
• There will be more than 3 million green jobs in America in 2012, with wages for these jobs 13% higher than for the average American job. (mashable.com) 
• Virtually all workers spend time working as part of a team, and more than 70% work in open-plan offices. (New York Times)

By Caitlin Strauss

The very idea of the “workplace” is being redefined. Many companies are adopting policies of flexible work hours, work from home options, and the ability to bring your own device to work. Working in this way allows employees the flexibility to work how and when they choose and - most importantly - where they choose.

This type of flexibility is embedded into our culture at Blue Beyond Consulting. The flexibility of being able to essentially work from anywhere has led me to some interesting places in the past few years. From the mountains of Lake Tahoe to my hometown on the South Carolina coast, the idea that my office can be anywhere is a true gift. 

But - with this gift comes great responsibility. It’s about staying connected, staying productive, and keeping up with the “water cooler” talk even though you aren’t physically present. Here are three tips I’ve found useful for staying connected while on the go:

• Really get to know your smartphone. Your smartphone likely has features you didn't know existed - particularly features designed to help you on the go. The hands-free capability and the new landscape calendar views for the iPhone have changed my life while away from my computer or on a commute.
• Keep boundaries. You have to find ways to separate work from home - particularly if you are in a home office the majority of the time. I've found setting ‘office hours’ for myself is critical. Even when I’m working from home, I try to save the laundry and dinner planning for after hours. Breaks here and there are critical, but don’t plan on doing household chores during the workday - and the opposite is true when the evening comes.
• Utilize cloud-based services. Tools like Box.net or Google Docs are cloud-based services that enable you to access your documents across devices. I’m constantly toggling between my laptop, smartphone and iPad so it's critical for me to be able to access my files from anywhere. 

By Judy Dutton

As we enter this holiday season, and bring authenticity and connection with others into our offices, I want to focus on the responsibility we have as leaders to develop others. 

I recently attended the HRPS Fall Forum in Washington DC to further my own development,  do a little business development and  return to work with an inspiration for this blog post. 

I returned with the valuable reminder that as a leader, I only have one job. And so do you.

As leaders, our job is to create other leaders.

Bob Rosen, CEO, Healthy Companies International made this point in his morning keynote, and it was repeated over and over by other speakers throughout the next two days. I was struck by how fundamental this is, and how frequently the concept of creating other leaders is overlooked as we busy ourselves with metrics, goals and deadlines.  We forget sometimes that people are at the core of all we do. And if we really want to develop the business, we need to develop our people.  

It’s interesting to me how many clients say they need to improve how managers develop their staff. Where do we start?

Start with a conversation. Ask the people who report to you where they want to be in five years.  Really listen. Give them the gift of your time and understanding.

Once you’ve started that conversation, dig a little deeper by asking:

• What gives you meaning?
• How much time and energy do you give to this purpose?
• How does your work foster your search for meaning?

Share your great love and a passion for what you do and nurture that in those around you.  This holiday season, when you’re thinking about the most valuable gifts you can give to others, give the gift of leadership. After all, it’s the most important job you have. 

By Jessica House Steward

If the R&R and lazy days of summer have made you less than enthusiastic about work, and you feel your level of productivity slowing to a halt, it’s the perfect time to take advantage of all the “back to school” energy out there and turn your procrastinating into proactive, fulfilling, stuff-you-can-be-proud-of, work.

Here are Jody Gilbert’s Five Tips for Controlling Procrastination:

1. Figure out why you’re procrastinating – maybe you don’t have clear instructions, or you don’t have all the resources or even skills to complete your project. Figuring out exactly why you’re procrastinating can help you put a plan in place. If you’re just stalling on a task you don’t want to do, Jody Gilbert suggests bribing yourself with a reward!
 

2. Decide what has to get done first – Small or big tasks? Which come first? It depends on the situation. If you can knock out your small tasks to make way for your more involved projects, great. But don’t pick tasks that will pull you in various directions. And certainly, if you have a big project which involves various levels of dependencies, tackle that first. You want to think about making the biggest impact.
 

3. Break the work into manageable pieces – Take that daunting task and break it up into smaller tasks. If you cannot break up the task, set a time goal for yourself (e.g. work 1.5 hours, then take a break, or work on a different task) and subdivide the work that way.
 

4. Don’t get paralyzed by the need to be perfect – This is the step I always get stuck on; maybe you do too. I can critique my work to the point of doing just about, nothing. But it’s true when I dial down the voice of judgment and take the first pass at something, I usually surprise myself and start enjoying the iterative, refining process, rather than only fretting over the final product. 
 

5. Make a deal with yourself: Five minutes and out – But perhaps your biggest challenge is just getting started. If that’s the case, Jody Gilbert suggests dipping your toe in the water. Just tell yourself you’ll work five minutes on it, and then you’ll stop. Chances are, once you get started, your task will probably not seem that bad.
 

To read Jody Gilbert’s complete article on procrastination go to: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-tips/five-tips-for-controlling-procrastination/962?tag=nl.e101

By Cheryl Fields Tyler

At the HRPS conference in Tucson, Tammy Erickson was one of the featured speakers.  I was fortunate to work for and with Tammy earlier in my career and I have always found her insights provocative and wise.  Her topic was innovation and she outlined several elements of a comprehensive approach to building a predictably innovative organization--as opposed to an organization that expects innovation to sort of magically appear from a brilliant mind or state-of-the-art lab.

There's one idea in particular from her talk that I've been reflecting on a lot.  Not surprisingly, a key cornerstone of innovative organizations is active, vital and energized employee engagement.  Tammy argued that the combination of the global recession, the different sensibilities of the post-boomer workforce, and the legacy concerns of the aging boomer workforce is changing the "rules of engagement" for our workforce, particularly in North America and Europe.  We have now entered an era where when it comes to engaging, motivating, and energizing our people, "meaning is the new money."

But working to infuse an organization with meaning is a tricky thing.  It has to be authentic, it has to be embodied and embraced by the top leadership, and it has to be credible.  Meaning--that sense that our work together serves a higher purpose and greater good--isn't something you can manufacture, or achieve through a campaign, slogans, vision statements or motivational speakers.  It comes from the moral fiber of the leadership, it comes from the humanity of the culture, and it comes from productivity and achievement of true collaboration.  And meaning isn't always about "changing the world"--in some organizations it's more about the the thrill of training hard and winning (Nike), the ethos of servant leadership (WL Gore), or the joy of recreation and play (REI). 

The idea that "meaning" is a powerful motivator isn't new--but I do think the view that meaning can do more than dollars to enliven, align, and galvanize our organizations is really compelling.  More and more of our work with clients is essentially helping them identify and distill their "purpose and story" and find the ways to meaningfully engage their employees in this common cause.  Fair compensation will always be a tablestake factor--but when the purpose is compelling, people will go above and beyond. 

To read more on Tammy's insights and findings, visit her website.

By Kim Walsh

In these times of uncertainty and rapid change, rumors whispered around the water cooler often carry more weight than even the best-written employee newsletters or executive speeches.

As Whitney Johnson explains in her blog post “Three Answers Every Employee Needs,” if you’re not communicating regularly to your employees about these three important questions, you may be missing a critical lever in your employee engagement toolbox: 

1.  Do I have a job?

Employees want more than a job description.  They need to feel that they belong, that what they do matters and that they have future potential. 

2.  Who do I report to?

With matrixed organizations, special assignments and cross-functional teams, it’s easy to get confused in today’s corporate environment.  Give employees role and reporting clarity, as well as clear metrics that will increase their productivity and reduce distractions.

3.  How will I get paid?

It isn’t just about the size of the paycheck. It’s the intangibles such as career development, mentorship, work-life balance, a seat at the table or the attention of superiors that really make the difference.

As Johnson notes, “whether surviving a merger or simply another day at the office, answering these three questions goes to the heart of retention and morale. If you can't answer them, it's time to roll up your sleeves.”

For more insight on this topic, read Whitney Johnson’s full post at Harvard Business Review.

By Erin Wilgus

I recently had the opportunity to meet author Rebecca Costa and hear her talk about her book “The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking our way out of Extinction”.

Rebecca is an evolutionary biologist who asserts there is an uneven rate of change between evolution and progress. In other words, we can’t go any further or faster than evolution will allow, and we typically don’t realize it.  It’s why we have laws about texting and driving – there’s something in us that doesn’t acknowledge we simply aren’t built to be able to “multitask” safely in that way – we haven’t evolved that second set of eyes and extra appendage allowing us to do it safely.

Rebecca’s talk was fantastic. I wish I could include a full transcript here, but instead I’ll share some highlights that really stuck with me: 

• The Bonobo monkey is our closest biological relative – with only 1.7% difference between our DNA and theirs.  It’s amazing what we’ve been able to do with that 1.7% difference! 
• We live in a complex world that we are somehow able to make more complicated by the minute.  With progress comes complexity and more complex problems. Rebecca asserts that highly complex problems become overwhelming and lead to gridlock.  Once there is gridlock in problem solving, those societies that ultimately collapsed substituted facts with beliefs and created irrational public policy. 
• When there is complexity, there are many more wrong solutions than right ones and no one single solution is likely to solve a complex problem.

What’s her advice?

• Adopt high-failure rate models - Expect some level of failure 
• Accept that we have limitations – there are some things that we as human beings simply cannot do 
• Expect a high amount of waste in time, money and/or resources

My initial reaction to hearing this advice was - expect high amount of waste?!  Don’t like the sound of that.  But it makes total sense in context.  Look at her two examples: The Gulf oil spill and Chilean miners. 

In response to the Gulf oil spill, the team devised Plan A, put the plan in action, it didn’t work, and 30 days later we still had oil flowing. Then they tried Plan B, tested it, and it didn’t work either, and so on. Thankfully, Plan C worked and it didn’t go all the way to Plan Q!   Their approached was to put all of their eggs in one basket by trying one solution at a time.  

In contrast, when a group of miners in Chile became trapped in a collapsed mine - the rescue team developed 20 plans and launched them all simultaneously.  One was successful and all of the miners were rescued.  One could say that they ‘wasted’ time and money on the 19 that didn’t work, but the rescued miners and their families might disagree.

These examples highlight the need to bring in fresh thinking and new perspectives.  If we can only imagine one solution to a highly complex problem, we are limiting our chances of success. Solutions need to be multi-pronged and/or you need to be willing and able to devise multiple solutions (many non-related) and expect a high failure rate. 

I’m just diving in to Rebecca’s book now and am looking forward to having even more “ah ha” moments. For more of Rebecca’s insights, visit her webpage at: www.RebeccaCosta.com

By Mariah Cherniss

At the recent 2011 HR People and Strategy (HRPS) conference, I attended a presentation by David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, which helped put some hard science behind what we observe as change professionals on a daily basis.

Through a host of research, Rock and his colleagues have determined that the same innate responses that drive our will for survival, namely “fight or flight”, also drive human social behavior. Humans are constantly – consciously or subconsciously – assessing whether to approach or avoid different stimuli in order to maximize reward and minimize threat. According to Rock’s research, our assessments are made around five primary factors within our human experience. Rock and his colleagues have coined this the SCARF model:

Status: Relative importance to others.

Certainty: Our ability to predict the future.

Autonomy: A sense of control over events – the ability to choose.

Relatedness: A sense of safety with others, friend versus foe.

Fairness: Perception of just exchanges between people.

Navigating effectively through organizational change depends on an awareness of each of these five factors and an understanding of how specific behaviors and events within organizations may trigger approach or avoidance responses. In particular, identifying the approaches and actions leaders and change agents need to adopt in order to:

• Create a positive response to reinforce status
  
• Provide greater certainty
• Allow options and choices
• Create safe environments to build relatedness and trust
• Improve transparency to drive perceptions of fairness.

As a change and communications professional, I personally found Rock’s paper “SCARF: a brain-based model for collaboration with and influencing others” very helpful in providing a scientific perspective to consider when designing, planning and implementing effective change programs.

Some quick and compelling information we find interesting...

• 87% of CEOs expect higher sales in the coming months, and over half expect to increase hiring and capital expenditures (Business Roundtable)
  
  
• Many more employers than expected plan to phase out employer-paid health insurance when the new health reform law is implemented, opening up the potential for a radical shift in how employers consider employee benefits and total compensation (McKinsey)
  
  
• Disengaged workers - those who are emotionally disconnected from their employer, work and colleagues - are worse off than unemployed workers on multiple "wellbeing" indicators. Engaged works report not only greater job satisfaction, but vastly higher levels of overall wellbeing, with over 70% of engaged workers describing themselves as "thriving," the highest level on the wellbeing index (Gallup)
   
• Organizations with a recognized employer brand report better success in hiring the right people (55%),  greater number of qualified candidates (49%), a reputation as an employer of choice (45%) and an increased number of employee referrals of qualified candidates (30%)
  (Society for Human Resources Management)   

• Among full-time, part-time and/or self-employed adults, 40% believe it is "likely" they could find a new job matched to their expierience and compensation levels within six months if they lost their current job (Glassdoor.com)
   
• The total estimated cost of a social media marketing campaign is $210,600 (Focus.com)
   
• 45% of employees work only 15 minutes or less without getting interrupted, and 53% waste at least one hour a day due to all types of distractions (FastCompany)
  

By Erin Wilgus

Have you ever participated in a meeting and spent half of the meeting trying to decipher what it was about? One way to minimize the chance of someone sitting through your meetings scratching their heads or walking away confused is to set and share clear meeting objectives.

Even if you don't have time to create an official agenda, determining what you want to accomplish by the end of the meeting will help you create a plot line for the conversation and focus your thoughts and energy.

Clearly outlining the goals for your meeting will also help set expectations -  your meeting participants can focus and participate fully if they understand the end goal and what you need from them.  You don't need to create anything fancy or even send it out ahead of time (though that is often helpful).  

At minimum, when you start the meeting, outline the objectives and see if anyone has questions or additions.   If you do have time to create an agenda, having clear objectives makes that exponentially easier. 

Basically, each objective is an agenda item, you just have to decide how much time to allow for that item.  It’s a fairly simple step toward making your meetings more focused and meaningful. 

By Kathryn Grant

We all know that an appreciation of cultural diversity can be useful to executives operating across multi-cultural boundaries, but what else is important? What distinguishes ‘global leaders’ from ‘domestic leaders’?

No company today can escape the impact of globalization and convergence of our global marketplace. All corporations (both domestic and global) face increasingly diverse cross-cultural employees, customers, suppliers and competitors, and need executives with global mindsets and leadership capabilities.

We all know that an appreciation of cultural diversity can be useful to executives operating across multi-cultural boundaries, but what else is important? What distinguishes global leaders from domestic leaders?

To succeed, global leaders need to be able to think globally. According to the book Global Leadership – The Next Generation, by Marshall Goldsmith, Cathy L. Greenberg, Alastair Robertson, Maya Hu-Chan, “thinking globally” means leaders who:

• Recognize and understand the impact of globalization (economic, cultural, legal and political ramifications) on their business
• Understand the global landscape and can adapt to the changes required for  their business environment 
• See themselves as, and act as, global citizens of the world with an expanded field of vision and values
• Probably have lived in, or at least spent substantial time in, different regions of the world  
• Have a worldwide perspective and make decisions that incorporate global considerations 
• Help others understand the impact of globalization.

Global leadership development is a major challenge even large multinationals find difficult. Companies that do it best are committed to improving the expatriate learning experience. Formal education and training programs can also be helpful, but international work experience and assignments are viewed by many as the most effective source for developing global leaders. 

For more information on thinking globally, what to do and how to do it, see the resource section of Global Leadership – The Next Generation p17-26) 

By Caitlin Strauss

Think just because you’ve limited your Facebook profile to just your list of friends you have a handle on your information? Think again. 

Given that many of us are Facebook friends with coworkers and others in our professional networks, it’s increasingly important to know what information we are sharing and with whom.

There is much talk about Facebook’s policy of opting out of what you share vs. opting in. The majority of a user’s data is public by default – unless you opt out and change your settings. That said, if you’ve ever visited your profile’s Privacy page you know there’s no large red button that says, “Keep my profile and everything in it private.” Instead, you find a sea of settings, buttons to click, and questions about which networks to include or leave out.

While the ability to customize your settings may have been helpful in the early years of Facebook, now with a user base of over 400 million and multiple channels for sharing your photos, messages, and personal information, the demand for a simple way to keep your information private is a matter of increasing importance.  

So, how do you keep it all straight? Try these steps:

1. Know what’s searchable on the internet. Use this online tool to do a quick search and find out what information about you is public (hint: it’s a fast and easy way to check your current settings).

2. If you don’t like what you see, change your settings. Everyone has different levels of comfort with what information – be informed on what others see when they view your Facebook profile.  Facebook offers a short video on how to quickly manage your profile.

3. Set up friend groups. This is an easy way to let certain friends view your photos and other personal information, while blocking others.

By Erin Wilgus

As managers, we’re told how important it is to give our employees “honest and timely feedback”.  Usually, we’re not given much more guidance.  Managers are left to fill in the blanks, like - how ‘honest’ do you really need to be? 

Certainly, you want them to get a direct message, but without demoralizing them.  And what does ‘timely’ mean? If you give feedback too soon, you haven’t given your employee time to reflect and think on their own; but wait too long, and the time has literally passed for your feedback to have any impact.   

By Jessica House Steward

Today, companies in all industries are suffering a growing Skills Gap – a gap between the current capabilities of a company’s workforce, and the capabilities needed to execute their business strategy. 

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) calls the skills gap “the most significant challenge facing U.S. businesses today.” In a recent white paper, Bridging the Skills Gap: New Factors Compound the Growing Skills Shortage (Feb 2010) ASTD states, “by 2015, 60 percent of new jobs will require skills held by 20 percent of the population.” The top skills gaps that organizations are facing are:

• Leadership and executive skills
• Basic workplace competencies, such as literacy and numeracy
• Professional or industry-specific skills
• Managerial and supervisory skills
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Technical, IT, and systems skills
• Sales skills
• Process and project management skills

Does your current workforce have the skills and capabilities needed to drive business results? Do your current employees have the right skills for the future needs of the business? Are you able to deploy the right people when emerging opportunities arise? ... If the answer to any of these questions is no, then perhaps your organization is facing a skills gap.

Here is an overview of an action plan to help you identify and close your own company’s skills gap:

1. Identify competencies (skills, knowledge and behaviors) needed now, and in the next 3 years, and align/map to your business strategies and performance metrics.

2. Assess where the skills gaps currently lie. Be sure to include potential gaps that may be created by a change in workforce demographics, retirements etc. Establish a baseline measurement of current employees’ skills.

3. Set goals and prioritize a path to filling the gaps. Create an internal communication plan to educate and involve managers and employees in programs that close the gaps.

4. Implement solutions. Engage senior leadership in prioritizing and supporting the plans. Create individual learning paths for employees that measure competencies before, during and after the training and development. Align all development goals to organizational strategies and performance metrics.  

5. Monitor and measure results and communicate the impact. Link results of skill development to organizational goals. Be sure to communicate progress and results to stakeholders. 

For case studies and more information on creating an action plan to bridge your organization’s skill gaps, download a copy of ASTD’s white paper: Bridging the Skills Gap

By Erin Wilgus

Thousands of companies conduct employee surveys each year.  My suspicion is that very few of them know why.   It sounds like a good thing to do.  A lot of competitors do it.  So it seems like my company should too. Right?  Maybe. 

But if you want your employee survey to actually deliver value and relevant insights, there are a few key questions you need to answer:

1.  Why are you doing it?  What are you trying to learn?  Is there a specific issue/problem you  are trying to solve?  Do you just want a pulse of how employees are thinking and feeling at this moment in time? The answer to these questions will help you to (1) decide whether to do the survey and (2) how to frame the communication to your employees.

2.   What are you going to ask?  Don’t ask overly generic questions just because they can be easily benchmarked.  The survey questions need to be relevant to your organization. 

3. What will you do with the survey results? If you are not prepared to act on your employees’ feedback – do not conduct a survey.  There are few things as frustrating to an employee as being asked to provide input and feeling like your input was completely ignored.  Failing to thoughtfully follow-up on the input you receive in the survey will cause what you intended as an “engagement” activity to backfire.

4. What resources (time, effort, money, personnel) are you going to dedicate to survey follow up?  If you’re going to do something with the information – which you absolutely need to do – you need to dedicate the resources to follow-up effectively and meaningfully. 

Some quick and compelling information we find interesting...

Web 2.0/Social Media/Networking

• Internal communicators are increasingly turning to Web 2.0 tools (employee and executive blogs, online video, and Twitter-style forums) to deliver key strategic messages, stimulate collaboration and knowledge sharing and boost productivity. (Melcrum)
• The business benefits of investment in social media (online video, webcasts,  intranet, etc.) include:
  
  - Improvement in levels of employee engagement
  - Better communication with remote workers
  - Improved employee feedback
  - Making business leaders more visible and accessible
  (Melcrum)
• Social networks are outpacing e-mail as the communication tool of choice for Internet users around the world as mobile devices gain ground over traditional computers. Chinese users are the most prolific bloggers, with 88% of the country’s wired population reporting having posted on an online forum or created their own web journal (that compares to 32% in the US) (TNS Global)

Employee Engagement

• Virtually every company sets goals for their employees but traditional methods (e.g. SMART goals) are just not working. Only 13% of employees believe that their current goals will help them maximize their full potential, and only 15% think their goals will help them achieve great things (Leadership IQ)
• Half of individual contributors feel their jobs are stagnant, and 1 out of 3 just do their jobs, nothing more. (Development Dimensions International)
• People experience significant gains in self-confidence after taking strengths-based tests. This increase in confidence, at an individual level, points to explain how strengths-based programs boost an organization's overall engagement and productivity. (Gallup)

Talent Management

• Between 2011 and 2029, baby boomers will reach the traditional retirement age of 65 at the rate of about one every eight seconds. In other words, you could have an employee retiring every 8 seconds – what’s your plan?. (Schwab.com)
• 58% of companies are currently taking steps to prevent turnover, with increased internal communication, talent management and succession planning as their top strategies. Pay rises? Not so much. (Bersin & Associates: Talent Management Factbook 2010)
• While many organizations acknowledge the importance of planning for successors for leadership and other vital positions, fewer than half of those surveyed (45%) said their organizations have a formal planning process in place. (ASTD: Improving Succession Plans)
• More than 75% of HR executives are concerned or very concerned about retaining high-performing mid-levels as the Great Recession ends and the war for talent resumes. (Development Dimensions International)

By Mariah Cherniss

In an increasingly fast-paced, global, and competitive business landscape, innovation has become a key driver of differentiation, agility and, ultimately, success. Today, companies are relentlessly pursuing innovation to give them a competitive edge. More and more leaders are calling on their employees and teams to be creative in finding solutions to complex problems, developing new products and services, maximizing resources and minimizing costs. With all of this growing pressure for innovative brilliance, how can companies effectively cultivate the creativity they need to stay one step ahead of the competition? 

Interestingly, the most innovative teams often appear to be at ‘play’ rather than at work. In recent years, Google has become an icon for innovation, lauded by many for its ability to maintain a small company feel and a culture that promotes creativity and fun on a daily basis. At last year’s HR People and Strategy (HRPS) Global Conference, I had the opportunity to hear Shannon Deegan, Director of People Operations, Central Staffing and Business Development, speak about Google’s culture of innovation.

Here are a few insights about how Google creates a climate for innovation:

• Provide opportunities for collaboration - One person’s great idea is only made stronger through the combined thinking and efforts of others. For example, Google has message boards where any employee (engineer, accountant, or childcare worker) can post their ideas and ask others to explore and build on the idea. Teams form around common areas of interest and the greatest ideas become realities.  
   
• Allocate time and resources for innovation - Innovative brilliance and success does not normally come from a pressurized work environment. Time and space must exist for employees to focus on new ideas and challenge the status quo. At Google, employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time exploring new ideas and working on creative projects. And the work environment is designed to inspire creativity – coves with colorful couches and white boards, spacious break areas with snacks and drinks provided, work spaces littered with lava lamps, large exercise balls, and other fun games and toys etc.  
   
• Recognize and reward the creative process, not just the results - In addition to celebrating great innovations that contribute significant value to the business, Google also recognizes and rewards the innovation process. In one example Deegan shared, a team worked on a new product that never ended up going to market. However, the team was given a special award because they took a risk, came up with the idea and collaborated effectively. This kind of positive reinforcement works as a catalyst for other employees to follow suit, which may ultimately lead to great products in the marketplace.

While the Google methods mentioned above may not fit the culture of every organization, the notion that innovation is more than just new ideas, but a capability that needs to be continually developed, is something every company can learn from. As Edward Reilly, CEO of the American Management Association (AMA) states in Creating a Culture of Innovation, HR Management October, 2010: “Innovation is so important to business profitability that it shouldn't be left to chance. As unexciting as it sounds, innovation at its heart is as orderly and well-planned as any other business process.”

By Jeanne Norsworthy

Do you have a desire to “do something good” on your vacation and experience new places and challenges in locales you might not otherwise visit? A new form of travel called voluntourism might be your answer.

Voluntourism combines the best elements of traditional travel - arts, culture, geography, heritage sites, the environment, and recreation etc. with the opportunity to actively contribute to the destination you are visiting – its people, places, and things (voluntourism.org). This concept affords people a sense of purpose and “giving back” while also enjoying the leisurely activities of a vacation.

Volunteer travel should be adventurous, educational and fun and, most importantly, benefit local communities. With so many tour operators on the market now, it is important to select an organization, and project, that truly benefits the local destination and people. PEPY Tours is one example of a responsible educational adventure and service-learning tour company that organizes trips across an entire country on road bikes - now that’s a sustainable and eco-friendly vacation! PEPY reinvests 100% of the money raised for its tours into supporting and running educational programs in developing countries. Another one of my favorites is Coral Key Conservation (CCK) – an award winning specialist in coral reef and tropical forest conservation. Volunteers help gather data needed to save the endangered coral reefs and tropical rainforests.

Naturally, an international trip of volunteering and adventure to a remote part of the World is not everyone’s cup of tea. For those of you who are outdoor enthusiasts but would rather stay closer to home, you can also do some voluntouring.  Working alongside other outdoor enthusiasts, you can give some of your time to help preserve and restore the hiking paths and foot trails that make visiting our national parks so amazing.

Intrigued? Take this Voluntourism Survey to gage your level of interest and determine what type of trip would be right for you.