This is the time of the year that college students and soon-to-be graduates are actively ‘hitting the pavement’ looking for internships and jobs. As an employer, I am deeply troubled by what I see coming out of most colleges and university. Here are specific issues I have:
- Most collegiate curricula has not changed over the past 30 years, whereas the professional workplace has changed dramatically.
- Academia requires you to major… with no focus on industry. Yet the real world cares about the industry focus with your major being secondary.
- Students are being taught by academics, many of whom have never worked in an industry or workplace.
As students and parents of students who are paying the equivalent of a modest home for a college degree, I believe it is time to challenge academia. You are a customer. It is the job of the service provider, the colleges and universities, to prepare you or your child for the workplace. If the content (curriculum) is outdated and in many cases irrelevant, the modality of learning is outdated, the people providing the services are outdated, how can you possibly expect yourself or your child to be ready for the changing 21st Century? You would never accept this kind of service from any other place. Outside your home, spending on your child’s college tuition is the second largest investment you will make. Why not demand more? Why not demand for:
This morning, I heard some alarming and troubling statistics; 16% of the baby boomer generation says they are ready for retirement and 43% say they have less than $10K saved for retirement. The recession has delayed the retirement plans of the average baby boomer by about 9 years. Two thirds of all health care costs are incurred after the age of 60 and health care costs/insurance is the #1 source of financial concern to retirees, despite medicare and medicaid.
Don’t worry – I am not getting into the health care debate here. Instead, I am putting on my Talent Management hat and asking, What is the impact of this to the workforce and workplace? We already have a good sense of how the workplace is evolving to more virtual and transient models almost entirely enabled by some form of technology. Studies have shown higher levels of discomfort by baby boomers with technology than younger generations for obvious reasons… the younger generations grew up with technology (Digitial Natives) as opposed the Digital Immigrants that the baby boomers are. The baby boomers also come with significantly higher overhead than youger employees and couple that with the desire of baby boomers to not want to work full-time …. all leads to following plausible conclusions:
The past few weeks I’ve discussed taking the emotional temperature of both ourselves and of others. Knowing the state of our emotions, which essentially drive our ability to use our skills and competencies, is critical since our emotions constantly change. I’ve discussed regulating those emotions with our self and with others. This week, I’d like to introduce you to trigger stimulants.
Trigger stimulants are emotional triggers that can stimulate and alter the state of both your own as well as others’ emotional state. We already use them… but the object is to use them proactively, especially when we need to. This is part of self-regulation and empathy on the EQ scale, and it is also part of just good awareness. We can use trigger stimulants daily in our conversations, meetings, activities, etc.
As an example, what if your child was upset about something and as their parent, you took them to their favorite restaurant to dilute their emotional state? Would this help? We don’t know for sure, but it certainly is the right thing to do and chances are high that it will indeed help even if its short-lived. Being at the favorite restaurant is a trigger stimulant – you know it will evoke a positive response.
The past two weeks I’ve been talking about taking your emotional temperature and subsequently being able to regulate that emotional temperature so you can give yourself the highest chance of being at your best. Well, what about helping others be at their best, especially during challenging moments or times?
Many leadership and management schools of thought talk about this at length – helping others be at their best is, of course, a major leadership competency. Let me invite you to take an emotional perspective on this. Just as we discussed taking your emotional temperature, is it not possible to take someone else’s emotional temperature? Sure it is. Try it. At your next meeting, look at someone, anyone, in your presence. Based on their verbals and non-verbals, can you guesstimate their emotional temperature? Is it Low, Medium or High? Sure you can. You already do it.
For example, and for illustrative purposes I will exaggerate this, if the person in question is paying attention to you, asking questions, taking notes, and seems highly present and engaged, it’s safe to assume that their emotional temperature is in a very good state (Low) and that the meeting with them will likely be very productive. Conversely, if the person is not engaged, abrasive, not paying attention, or disengaged, then chances are that they will not be at their best. Having the ability to emotionally recognize the emotional state of others is what empathy is (similar to your own self-awareness).
Last week, I introduced the concept of taking one’s emotional temperature at a specific time each day to gauge where you are, what led you to this state, and how it may impact the rest of your day. So the next question is, now what? The next step is to change your emotional temperature.
Take this example, for instance. You have a meeting with your peers at 9AM this morning and there were some fireworks. You don’t feel good and the conflict is on your mind, but the rest of the day is packed with meetings and calls. How will you prevent your performance from being impacted by that 9AM meeting?
First, make no mistake; as smart as you are and as talented as you are, your body is already in an emotional hangover from that 9AM meeting. Yes, you can be functional and yes, you will put your game face on and try your best to ignore the impact of the 9AM meeting, but you will not be able to be at your best. Realizing this is key. At this point, it is OK to acknowledge you’re “emotionally hungover” to yourself.
I received the feedback below from a participant in one of my workshops.
“I liked Dr. Justice’s advice to take a personal emotional reading once a day. Instead of once a day, I have tried to apply this concept multiple times a day so that I won’t hinder positive conversations\meetings that I participate in. I also find the advice good for ascertaining the emotional barometer of people I interact with so that I will know how to respond and/or proceed in a conversation.”
I realized that taking an emotional temperature is not something I have discussed in this blog, though I regularly recommend it as a simple action item in speeches and coaching sessions.
Through the course of our day, and especially if the day involves interaction with other folks, our emotional temperature changes. Some people and some meetings or calls make us “feel good” while others cause some level of anxiety. Most of us go through these events for days and weeks without appreciating these experiences for the impact they have on us — both while they are occuring and then for the rest of the day.
Last week I spoke at two conferences across the US. I got to meet many folks in the human capital space – both from the industry as well as consultants, coaches, and trainers. I spoke about Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and why now–during this decade–and in the context of all the changes I wrote about last year (recession, globalization, tech, and generations), EQ is the right competency to focus on. One of the more frequently asked questions I get is whether we can actually increase our EQ.
The answer is an unequivocal YES. Unlike your IQ or personality traits that get defined early and then remain relatively stable throughout your life, we can not only grow our EQ, but we can actually accelerate that growth. Is it possible to be 30 years old and have the emotional maturity of a 40 year old? Of course it is. We all know people like that. You yourself may have been accused of being “mature for your age” at one point or another. Can this accelerated growth be orchestrated? Yes and in fact, it is already happening.
I spoke at 2 events last week and was struck by how much dialogue/questions arose once I introduced the concept of emotional hangovers. What is an emotional hangover? Think of a traditional hangover after a night of drinking – the next day, we feel a headache, we are dehydrated, and we are tired. It is not a stretch to assume that our ability to perform at our best during this hangover period is compromised.
Now juxtapose this with an emotional hangover. Some negative experience has occurred in the broad spectrum of negative experiences — from a negative experience such as your pen not working this morning (a relatively minor event) to something more traumatic as the death of a loved one. Clearly, some negative experiences have more impact than others, but ALL change the composition of our chemical/physiological construct. The emotional condition you feel after this negative experience is what I am calling an emotional hangover. Similar to a traditional hangover, our ability to perform our best is compromised during an emotional hangover. The challenge with the latter is that the symptoms are not as dramatic, and not as noticeable, as with a traditional hangover. In an emotional hangover, symptoms include lack of focus, anxiety, tension in the body, and the like. Some negative experiences are so powerful (i.e., emotional abuse as a child) that the emotional hangover can last a lifetime (i.e., Post Traumatic Stress Disorders).
Years ago, I went to my boss and shared with him a serious problem we were having with our business. It was the kind of problem that comes with growth and success. I was literally stunned by his initial reaction. My boss said to me, “This is the kind of problem we want to have… I call it a High Class Problem.” He then proceeded to tell me that one of the best ways to be highly engaged and excited about your work is to solve high class problems.
High class problems are problems that occur because you solved most of the initial problems. High class problems are the problems of success. As we start 2010, both a new year and a new decade, I want you to think about what kinds of high class problems might exist in your business. Over the past three weeks, I have posted all kinds of videos to demonstrate the capacity of our curiosity, courage, and efforts. We are truly capable of performing miracles ourselves (as opposed to waiting for them to occur through some random act of circumstance). Solving high class problems will not only help your business, but also get you motivated. Granted, they will lead to more high class problems and that’s what all high performers want.
This morning on the way to work, I heard a financial analyst describe the how the European Currency — the Euro — came to be. Granted, the explanation was overly simplified but the Europeans actually were inspired by the United States. They noted how a company in the State of Texas could do business with another in the State of California, for example, using the same currency, without having to worry about travel visas or political policies of either state. They marveled at how this model within the fifty US states drove, in part, the great collaboration and business success we experience.
A few months ago, we discussed 4 macro level trends anticipated in the next decade from a human capital perspective and last week, I discussed a micro trend. Continuing the dialogue, this week is about organizational design models. There continues to be a surging of unique trends towards how organizations are designed. The traditional hierarchical models of a pyramid (boss at top, workers at bottom) or even matrix models traditionally found in service businesses are disappearing.
These older models existed because (1) expertise and knowledge typically existed higher in the model, (2) there had to be someone held accountable, and (3) the folks below needed to be led. These models worked fairly well …until recently. The newer models seem to be much less concerned about accountability and more focused on performance. Inherent in the traditional models were bureaucracies and personal politics that significantly compromised performance, individually and collectively.
This past weekend I spoke at an event. Fellow people of color were in the audience. That got me thinking… many of us were at some point or another victimized by others because of the color of our skin. Some of us in the room were the first people to endure such prejudice decades ago. What prejudicial actions other people chose or choose to do to us, whether you’re a person of color, a minority, or just a human being with some different outward characteristic, is what I call victimization — and we truly have no control over it. Not any more than having control over the weather.
However, whether we chose to become victims is another matter altogether. Sure being victimized generates anger, resentment, feeling of insecurity and revenge … but these emotions are heavy baggage to carry around. They, in fact, harm us even more. Choosing to continue to harbor them is choosing to be a victim. In this case, the perpetrators continue to win, we give them even more power by impacting how we think, react, and engage with others. Forgive them (whatever form that takes) because they are the ones with malice and prejudice but more importantly … so that you can get on with the important business of living life to its fullest, enjoying the richness of love, creativity, and passion for life. You have one shot at life like the rest of us … if you’ve been victimized, chose not to be a victim. Start now.
I saw the following from Human Resources Executive Online:
“High performers have been disproportionately affected by organizations’ responses to the recession. The 2009–2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork found that employee engagement levels for all workers at the surveyed companies have dropped 9% since last year — but the number was nearly 25% for top performers. The number of people who said they would recommend that others accept jobs at their companies declined by nearly 20%.”
I wrote a blog on this at the beginning of the year predicting this very troubling data. We all talk about how “its our employees that make our company” or “our talent IS our #1 asset” — and yet study after study this year are showing that the #1 asset is becoming vulnerable. If the high potentials, the cream of the crop, our #1 asset, are feeling this way, what about the rest of the organization?
As we begin to wrap up 2009, this is a tremendous opportunity for employers, managers, and leaders to engage with their talent and rebuild, re-energize, and re-recruit their top talent, and others as well. I have always told my clients that the most difficult organizations to change are the successful ones who have had great years. Why? Because there simply is no burning platform to create that sense of urgency or rallying cry to march towards something better.
Well, most organizations today have a burning platform — and all that is needed is sound leadership to rally the troops around a better 2010. This window of opportunity will pass in about 2-3 months … and it may be too late then. So … as we start November and the holiday season in a few weeks, I urge you to take advantage of your burning platforms, and leverage them to shift the troubling statistics.
I was in Silicon Valley last week and met with several folks from the tech sector. There is quite a good bit of buzz around some of the new hardware and software coming out soon. What caught my attention was a new laptop scheduled for release next summer that apparently will be “constantly connected” to the Internet. This may sound odd at first, but you only have to think of your cell phone to understand what that means. Your phone after all is “constantly ON” – meaning anyone can reach it from anywhere in the world and talk to you live. With Blackberries and iPhones, we can now stay in touch with e-messages also but obviously, that is not the same thing as having a laptop constantly connected.
For most of us in the workplace, this is also not a big deal as wireless systems now essentially mean that once at work, or on campus of your work, you are also constantly connected. For you, the efficiencies of this are obvious. But now, what if you were connected constantly via your laptop no matter where you were? Imagine the accessibility of data and information in real time to make decisions. Granted, the jobs where this is most impactful already have acquired access via phone cards that can connect your laptop from anywhere to the internet…but this can be slow and precarious.
Now, I do not write blogs on IT and am not an IT nut, but I continue to ponder the impact these revolutionary advances have on human behavior, jobs, functions, roles, and business processes. And I ask constantly ask myself, are organizations who continue to embrace and integrate this into their world at an advantage over those who do not? What kind of organizational model and competencies are required to take advantage of this rapidly changing workplace? Professional development folks — those responsible for developing talent to optimize their potential and that of the organization — have to educate themselves in this area so the opportunities can be taken advantage of. I knew change was the only constant, but it appears not that constant change means constantly connected.
So how much fun do you have with your IDPs or ADPs (Individual or Annual Development Plans)? You know, the ones you have to fill out, schedule time with your boss, and then review. Most people report that these sessions are either very non-chalantly orchestrated or emotionally draining for both sides as development areas begin to be discussed and skeletons from months ago surface. Let me propose a solution – get rid of them.
While I like the idea of accountability and being able to set goals so that both sides can support each other during the course of the year, I argue this can be achieved more successfully by getting rid of IDPs and ADPs and constructing an Empowerment Plan (EP) instead.
These EPs are quite simple – the manager and employee get together to strategize and plan on specifically how to empower the employee based on an agreed-upon set of metrics or goals. If your goal is to sell X number of products for example, the Empowerment Plan is specifically designed to empower you to achieve that goal. And both sides commit to it.
If there are development issues, then these should be addressed during the course of the year – as close to when the issues occur to optimize learning. So, as we approach all the annual goal setting, reviews, and developmental work for2010 – let me suggest that you rethink and rename this to embrace the Empowerment Planning process. Consider the psychological difference alone in preparing for an IDP versus preparing for your empowerment plan. Try it in 2010 — and I suspect you will see a dramatic shift in performance.
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