the break room

Measuring ROI on (Spring) Training

2009-02-26T00:58:00Z

It's a great day in Arizona. Not just because of the idyllic weather, but because it is the first day of Spring Training -- my second favorite day of the year (right behind Thanksgiving.) If you've never been to Spring Training before, you really should come check it out. Picture perfectly-sized stadiums, warm sunshine, unusually accessible ball players, and fans brimming with an overwhelming sense of optimism that this could be their team's big year– it’s a beautiful thing.

But sitting in the stadium today, it wasn't long before my brain started crunching numbers. How much does this training cost them? There’s facility maintenance, players' salaries (don't go there!), staff… How do they justify the investment? And how can I duplicate that in organizations?

Looking closer at the players I realize there isn't a Babe Ruth in the bunch. None of them look like they are coming off four months of debauchery and excess. These guys are ready to play ball.

And then it hit me: Spring Training isn't actually about training at all anymore, it's about product testing. It's become a dedicated time to work through any kinks and to make adjustments before the product goes live.

Now the dollars make sense.

But since I need a justifiable excuse to write off my tickets as a business expense, I'm not willing to let it go at that. I'm sure there is more to learn here. Because at one point it was about the training. And with all of the recent news about entire training departments being eliminated, I think it's timely to explore any lessons in training and ROI that we can take from this.

The real world isn't a T-ball game; people care about the numbers.
They might not keep score in T-ball anymore, but think of all of the baseball statistics that are kept. Seriously, is there anything they don't track? Think about all of the reports that are circulated in organizations. Sometimes I wonder if there is a report that tracks the reports. In the real world, people love their numbers. Plus, numbers are the language of business.

If you want to be a part of the conversation, you need to speak the same language, which means you need to be talking about the same numbers the rest of the organization is talking about. These numbers usually fall into three broad categories:

Making the organization money
Saving the organization money
Protecting the organization's money

And by money I mean hard dollars, not intangible predictors of the potential of something that might someday translate into hard dollars. Real hard, cold, transferable cash.

If you can tie your training to one of these objectives, you'll have something valuable to discuss.

The most important numbers speak for themselves.
If you want to know what is important to any organization, look at the numbers they track and look at where the money is spent. Typically, the closer you are to directly impacting the bottom line, the more freely the cash flows, and the more frequently and thoroughly your results are tracked. This is where you want to play. It's true in the sports world and it's true in the corporate world.

You will know your training is making an impact when the senior executive team starts appearing in your doorway to show you the latest numbers. That's how closely they monitor them. No appointment required. And when training is linked to the most important numbers, that's exactly the response you can expect.

If on the other hand, you rely on data you compile for an annual ROI report to justify your training, you might as well eliminate the program because you are providing too little, too late.

Training is a team sport.
Ball players vigorously go after acquiring and honing the skills they need to succeed. No one tells them they have to do it. They understand the economics of the situation.

If you have to mandate participation in training you either:
a) Hired the wrong people
b) Offer the wrong training

Realistically, one department cannot be expected to provide training on all of the skills every individual needs to succeed. But at the rate things change, it is critical that individuals continually hone and expand their skills. If your organization wants to excel, they have to hire people with the internal motivation to seek out continued learning and development on their own. Human capital is a vital organizational investment. Are you getting a good return on your people? Are your players showing up ready to play ball?

On the other hand, the training that is provided should focus on the most vital aspects for success – those that can most directly impact measurable organizational objectives. If your training programs don't contribute to any of those, you are offering the wrong training.

The bottom line: is it worth it?
There are all kinds of ways to measure the value of a learning experience. One model would even allow me to calculate ROI on attending today’s Spring Training game. Take a look:

Total Value (estimated business impact of innovating new ROI model)         $1,000,000
Impact attributed to game attendance                                            30%
My level of confidence in the accuracy of my numbers                70%

Total Adjusted Value $210,000

Total Cost (parking, tickets, hot dog, beer, program, t-shirt) $75.00

Net impact ROI $209,925

Ok, it’s an exaggerated and silly example. But not any sillier than some that I have seen used to justify expenses. If you give people this kind of data, no business leader will ever take your results seriously. Measuring ROI to justify your existence or any one program is not the point of evaluation. The point of evaluation is to determine: is it a worthwhile investment of time, money, and energy for the organization? Sometimes all you have to do is ask “What do you think? Is it valuable?” And that’s enough.

As for today, I would have to respond (in my very best Simon Cowell accent) “Loved it!” And judging by my ROI, I think I might have to go to another game tomorrow. At this rate, I can hardly afford not to.

This is your responsibility

2009-02-20T23:28:00Z

The word responsibility is being tossed around a lot these days: Lawmakers arguing about fiduciary responsibility; consumers struggling with financial responsibility; corporate giants disregarding social responsibility; doctors demonstrating questionable ethical responsibility... Even President Obama joined in with his reminder of the civic responsibility that comes with the price of freedom.

Responsibility is such a heavy word. It starts out innocently enough – make your bed, close the door behind you, eat your vegetables… and then one day things progress to a point where we wake up and think "I just can’t handle one more responsibility!"

The problem comes when we accumulate every responsibility that we've ever been given over the course of our lives. We bundle them all together and valiantly carry them around like a giant badge of honor. Our responsibilities to our selves, our families, our employers, our communities… And then when something goes wrong our knee-jerk reaction is to quickly open our personal bundle and point out "That one’s not mine!" As if all of the responsibilities that ever were and ever will be were doled out on one given day, and we were just lucky enough to not get that one. And then the finger pointing starts…

So what if we start from scratch? What if I told you that from this point forward you only have one responsibility? How would that change your life?

Because the truth is that you do only have one real responsibility in this life. And that is simply to show up as the best authentic version of yourself – everywhere, every day.

Is it really simple? I venture to say that it can be. It starts with changing your perspective on responsibility, and culminates with your discovering how to show up as the best version of you.

Responsibility is not a burden
There is a price to pay for living a heavily burdened life. Just ask A-Rod. He felt the pressure of a heavy pay check and decided to juice up to perform better. It may cost him his spot in the Hall of Fame. How much better did drugs make him than if he had just striven to be the best authentic version of himself? We'll never know.

Companies felt the pressure of Wall Street and juiced up their books to make the results look better than they were. Those decisions cost us jobs and homes and retirements. What would our economy look like today if those companies would have striven for their best authentic long-term results rather than just inflated stock values? We’ll never know.

Every day people make choices as to how they let burdens impact their decisions. But this is not responsibility. It is just an illusion of responsibility. And by ignoring our only real responsibility – to be the best version of ourselves, we are short-changing our future.

Responsibility is a joy
A real responsibility is a joy, because it is something that allows you the opportunity to contribute your Greatest Total Value – something that allows you to shine. Let's explore what this looks like. I'm not sure the world needs another acronym, but I've created one to walk through this nonetheless. These questions can help you REACH the best version of you. Here it goes:

Real
Are you living authentically?
Do you mean what you say and say what you mean?
Do you stand true to your words and promises?
Do you steer clear of facades that make you appear to be something you are not?
Are you honest? Ethical? Compassionate?

Engaged
Do you bring passion and purpose to your daily life?
Are you focused and present in your interactions? (Yes, even on conference calls!)
Do you have a sense of direction? Do you know what you are working towards?
Are you energized by the work you do?
Do you start every day feeling happy or at peace?

Aligned
Are you living with integrity?
Does your work reflect your values?
Do you move one step closer towards accomplishing your life goals every day?
Are you surrounded by friends who reflect traits and qualities you admire?
Do you have a sense of harmony in the aspects of your work and life?

Contributing Value
Do you approach every situation by looking for what value you can bring to it, rather than what value you can get out of it?
Do you look for ways to make a difference?
Are you mindful about ways you can improve the lives of others?
Do you act on your ideas and inspirations?
Are you fully utilizing and developing your unique strengths?

Healthy
Do you do what you know you should do to maintain a healthy body and mind?
Do you live and work in a healthy environment?
Do you maintain healthy and supportive relationships?
Do you avoid toxic thoughts and people and conversations?
Are you able to be light-hearted and laugh at yourself?

Bonus points for those of you who recognized that this same acronym could be applied to an organization. You could very easily run your corporate culture through this same series of questions and get a quick snapshot of how close you are to achieving workplace excellence.

On that note: How great would it be if we could throw out the current variety of annual performance reviews and instead just rate how well employees accomplish their REACH? In the meantime, there is nothing to stop us from evaluating ourselves.

Let Your Life Speak
I have the Quaker saying "Let Your Life Speak" posted over my office door. It serves as a valuable reminder to me that I want my work to always be the best expression of my unique self. It's so easy to get dragged into the rat race. But it's just as easy to tune it out. It's really just a matter of giving yourself a signal that can help you shift your thinking. You'd be surprised by how quickly changing your thoughts can change your life.

Our individual lives both shape and reflect the giant hologram that is our reality. It's no accident that there is a prevalence of over-extended homeowners when we live in a country that celebrates Donald Trump's business practices with a television series while one of his companies files for its 3rd (yes, third!) bankruptcy. (Seriously: When is someone going to fire him for a change?)

Imagine what our world could look like if we all lived our lives making a daily effort to show up as the best version of ourselves – if we all lived by the mantra "Let your life speak" and chose our activities and relationships and thoughts accordingly.

Change doesn't happen overnight, but it can happen. And with a commitment from each of us to make small changes in our own lives that allow us to be the best version of ourselves each day, we will slowly begin to shape a future that reflects a better life for all of us.

How much better can we be? If we don't try, we’ll never know.

NOTE: If you want to bring responsible leadership concepts to your organization, we are teaching them in detail as part of REALeadership training. Check out some of the other key concepts of this timely and vital training here

Breeding Awesomeness in Mediocrity in Corporate America

2009-02-05T20:30:00Z

Comedy is at its best when it is able to take a small societal quirk, put it under a microscope, and reflect a magnified version back to us in a way that points out the ridiculousness of it all. Tragedy comes when we realize that the ridiculousness is so wide spread, we shouldn't be laughing.

CBS's often hilarious series "how i met your mother" managed to bring us one of those comic tragedies this week with the episode "The Possimbible" in which the characters explore the ins and outs of resumes, identity, and giving Corporate America what it wants.

There's always a debate as to whether television reflects or shapes reality. This episode should put that argument to rest. There is no way the writers could have known that by the time this episode aired, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be unemployed and struggling with exactly the same issue as the episode’s premise: figuring out how to best stand out in the crowd.

I encourage you to watch the episode in its entirety to make sure you catch all its brilliance. But for those of you frustrated by the recruiting and hiring processes of big business, I've summed up Barney's particularly profound insights here. To get the full affect, check out Barney's video resume at the end of this post. I've watched it at least 10 times and I laugh every time.

How to succeed and stand out in a sea of applicants

Create the appearance of being a bold risk-taker, but don't ever actually do anything
Invent and use your own words to show creativity and vision
Refuse to interview for a position
Scoff at any first job offer
Use a video resume
Image is everything. Look sharp and say a lot without saying anything.
Be awesome

For me, the comedy of this episode is in its demonstration of the yet-to-be-tapped potential for video resumes, and in the examples of how people play games with their written resumes. The tragedy is in its showcasing the pervasiveness of manipulative "personal brand positioning" as a means of being recognized. It truly has become an art form to create a resume that has the "right" buzzwords so a computer program finds you and spits you out onto a stack with 20 or so lucky others. Forget the value of your accomplishments; if you don't know the current lingo you will continue to fly solo.

If you are a recruiter, this should give you pause. Particularly, I imagine, as you are most likely currently caught up in a tsunami of resumes. The key to sourcing the right talent can no longer be relegated to a software program. It requires the entirely human ability of recognizing authenticity. Every resume has a voice; are you able to find it?

And what does this mean for hiring managers? How about the ability to identify the real criteria for what is required to bring value to both the organization and the role? I once listened to a COO announce to a gathering of over 200 of his company's managers that his sole criterion for selecting the right person for a critical EVP role was "Someone I'd like to sit down and have a beer with." I am not making that up. I cringed. He was 100% serious. What message is that sending? There are a lot of people I'd like to sit down and have a beer with, Neil Patrick Harris (aka Barney Stinson) for starters, but that doesn't mean I am going to put him in charge of any aspect of my business. (Sorry Neil; the first one's on me!)

This episode points out what anyone who has applied for a job over the past three years knows: companies seem to be confusing the value of having the right skills and attitudes with the value of saying the right words. Persona and first impressions beat out ability and desire.

The current state of business is shouting at us that the process for identifying employees who will be valuable contributors needs to change. The facade of success needs to be dismantled. We need to get back to identifying and rewarding behaviors that aren't self-serving – that lead to long-term success…to looking at actions, not words.

Otherwise we are doing nothing more than continuing to breed the traits that brought us to this point in the first place – traits that at best will produce nothing better than (as Barney might say...wait for it….) awesomocrity.

Jonesin for a New Generation of Leadership

2009-01-29T19:18:00Z

You don't have to look hard to notice that our Country is experiencing a crisis of leadership. Pick up any newspaper and you'll find dozens of articles recounting the latest leadership shenanigans marked by self-interest masquerading as capitalism. Blagojevich, Madoff, Thain... And then there are the companies that continue to blunder their way through, only to make matters worse. Microsoft posts a $14.7 billion profit, lays off 5000 workers, and then wants props for maintaining its employee giving program this year--oblivious to the hypocrisy of this. Citibank receives billions of dollars of government bailout money and yet somehow it slips someone's mind that they should probably cancel the purchase order for the new corporate jet. The headlines are littered with examples that prove some of the formerly elite Fortune 100 leaders still just don't get it, and in some cases are actually making things worse.

The good news is that shakedowns of this magnitude ultimately will lead to a more evolved generation of leaders - leaders who more accurately reflect the values and goals of their stakeholders. Because as appalled as we are at the apparent disconnect this current batch of leaders has with reality, they are still a notch up from the martini swilling, ass-slapping philanderers of the 1960's. (Think Mad Men.) So there is hope.

The real question then becomes,"Are you prepared to usher in this new, more evolved, generation?"

Meet Generation Jones
If you were born between 1954 and 1965, as apparently 53 million of us were, you have to check out "Stuck in the Middle" by Jonathan Pontell published this week in USA Today. Reading the description of Generation Jones provides as much nostalgia as listening to a Lionel Ritchie CD on an original Sony Walkman. But most importantly, I feel like my values finally have a voice. Here are a few of my favorite highlights from the article.

We fill the space between Woodstock and Lollapalooza, between "Turn on, tune in, drop out" and "Just Say No," and between Dylan going electric and Nirvana going unplugged.

So who are we? We are practical idealists, forged in the fires of social upheaval while too young to play a part.

While the Boomers were out changing the world, Jonesers were still in elementary school - wide-eyed, not tie-dyed. That intense
love-peace-change-the-world zeitgeist stirred our impressionable hearts. We yearned to express our own voice.

Our practical idealism was created by witnessing the often-unrealistic idealism of the 1960s..Our non-ideological pragmatism allows us to resolve intra-Boomer skirmishes and to bridge that volatile Boomer-GenXer divide. We can lead.

Generation Jones is clearing its throat. Its voice will be heard.. A generation aching to act has awoken. We are finally scratching the itch of The Jones.

This, America, is your next generation of leaders.

While Pontell's focus has been on the impact of the Jonesers on politics, the impact is beginning to be felt in the corporate arena as well.

A new leadership model

In her blog post Understanding the New Leadership Model, Linda Stewart describes the results of the "Epoch Financial Services Leadership Study" that indicates a significant trend towards social motivation in leadership. So while the traditional characteristics of successful leaders still come into play - their drive for personal success and focus on improving the bottom line - they are also able to balance these with traits with a strong dose of humanitarian sensitivity.

The REALeadership Alliance research supports these findings. Their model teaches business leaders how to generate sustainable profit and growth by focusing first on strategies that create good. It's the first blueprint of its kind, and provides a critical skill set for this next generation of responsible leadership and innovation.

So what does this mean for you?

Not one of us is untouched by this current failure of leadership, even if you are one of the lucky ones working for a company run by an enlightened leadership team. It is up to you to determine where you want to be when the chaos dies down and the dust settles. Here are my suggestions if you want to participate in ushering in the new era of leadership.

Add values (not just value) every day
We should continue to add value with our expertise, but should no longer ignore our values in the process. And by values I don't mean the divisive and judgmental, partisan, political agenda-driven opinions about "shoulds" and "should nots." I mean the core values we are all born with: compassion, integrity, courage, and the desire to make a difference.

A study of corporate integrity showed that 76 percent of employees reported being aware of a violation of the law or of company standards by a colleague or manager in the past 12 months. This is tragic. We will never breed change if we continue to stand idly by while the tainted few ruin it for the rest of us.

If I think back to the leader who inspired me the most, it has to be Charles W (Chuck) McCoy, who led the bank I launched my career at in Louisiana. He was innovative and inspirational, kind and generous, and deeply involved in creating a better community. At his very core he cared about shared progress and it showed in every decision he made. He demonstrated exactly the kind of authentic leadership we need today. That's not something you need to read a book to learn how to do; these are inherent traits we are all born with. You just need to make it a priority to start doing it. Figure out what you stand for, and then stand for it. It's that simple.

Update your leadership skills
There are definitely some new skill sets required to lead in this next generation. For example, using both/and thinking versus critical thinking skills, and applying the new models for sustainable innovation to name two.

If your organization's leadership training still includes scenarios played out on VHS tapes, it's probably time to push for an update.

Revise your succession planning criteria
Look at the criteria you are using to define your high-potential leaders. It's no longer just about tenure on the job and task-specific knowledge and skills. You want people who can get things done through authentic relationships and by cultivating a culture that fosters creativity and innovation, a meaningful sense of purpose and vision, and that does this ethically and collaboratively.

Keep the faith
It takes a lot of courage to change the status quo. But if you are like me, and Jonesin' for a change, there is no time like the present. Our voices are 53 million strong and growing. All I can say is "Come on my fellow Jonesers, let's do this thing!"

Heads up HR: CSR is knocking

2009-01-22T15:39:00Z

Denmark made international news recently when their parliament passed a law requiring all 1100 of Denmark’s largest organizations to publish their CSR practices, or their socially responsible investment policies by 2010. What’s more is that they want all the gory details: the strategies used, the programs implemented, and any results achieved. Although it is voluntary for now, most companies are stepping up and beginning their reporting this year. This is good news for us conscious consumers wanting consistent criteria to help us better determine which brands should earn our hard earned dollars (or krones); it’s bad news for anyone inside those organizations who was surprised by this law and is unprepared to comply.

This law is certainly not the first of its kind, and it certainly won’t be the last. And like it or not, it’s only a matter of time before similar legislation shows up in the United States.

In the meantime, what is our role as HR practitioners as it relates to CSR? We could certainly take the wait and see approach – treat it as a compliance issue and deal with it when it does show up. But is that really the best way for HR to add value to this issue?

CSR is the single greatest opportunity we have for initiating positive organizational change.

So my question to you, my fellow HR practitioners is: Opportunity is knocking. Are you prepared to answer?

First things first: Know what it is

I was catching up with a business associate of mine the other day, excitedly talking about the CSR leadership training I've been piloting with Will Marre and the REALeadership Alliance. “Yes,” he responds “That is a hot topic around here with all these call centers we have.” Wait… Huh?

So for the record, when I talk about CSR I am speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility, not customer service representative.

CSR has been defined and dissected a hundred different ways, but my favorite is still from Tim Sanders who says in Saving the World at Work that a “good (socially responsible) company is one whose mission is to improve the lives of everyone in its footprint: employees, suppliers, customers, supporting communities, and the planet.”

Typically, these efforts are measured using a triple bottom line approach that looks at traditional profits, but also at your people (Human Capital) and planet (environmental impact) results. Our European counterparts have been working towards this for quite a while now. Of course, when your entire country is smaller than the State of Texas, I imagine you are a little more sensitive to how you use and replenish your resources. But we've gotten the memo (disproportionate energy consumption, questionable business ethics, disparity in pay…) and we can no longer plead ignorance and disregard our people and planet practices. I’m not exaggerating when I say the future of our World depends on it. So those are the bare bones of CSR.

Next on the agenda: Know where you fit in

Research continually shows that the number one item that consumers look at to judge the CSR of a brand is how that company treats its employees. Numero Uno. Top of the lists. And this isn't data coming from HR-sponsored surveys. This is from PR companies looking how to best help their clients manage their brand reputation, and from companies that track trends in consumer behavior. Need I say more about the criticality of HR’s involvement?

All too often, people in the people business dismiss CSR as being “strictly environmental issues” or “just the latest PR stunt”, or think “What do I have to do with supply chain management?” And my Training & Development peers are just as guilty of this apathetic dismissal.

For example, responsible leadership incorporates a whole new skill set, which provides a great opportunity to revamp leadership curriculum content. And yet any article I've read to date on training and CSR has been limited to discussions about how to hold greener meetings, or how e-learning produces a lower carbon footprint than traditional classroom training. These are certainly not the serious types of conversations we should be having when faced with the potential organizational transformation of this magnitude. Now if I'm wrong, please redirect me. I would be ecstatic to post comments that indicate otherwise.

The truth is that there is hardly any issue we touch that wouldn't in some way be improved by a comprehensive CSR strategy.

Are you dealing with productivity, voluntary turnover, or employee engagement issues? Think about how the sense of participating in purpose-driven and meaningful work would improve these areas.
Are you spending time figuring out how to best communicate another reduction in benefits, freeze on hiring and pay increases, or elimination of recognition and incentive programs? Think about how companies with cultures of innovation and sustainability have proven to be more profitable. Think about the surveys that show that people will forgo a bit of compensation to work for a company that is making a difference.
Are you struggling with employee relations compliance issues that highlight the need for a renewed focus on ethics? Think about how the new leadership and business model supported by CSR recreates a culture where better choices are made.
Are you dealing with increased health care costs? Think about how happy employees = healthier employees = lower health care costs.

If you have pined for that elusive “seat at the table” or are trying to forge a “strategic business partnership” this is your opportunity to take a top of mind business issue and add value in a whole new way. I promise you that if you can drive efforts to transform your culture to one of sustainable innovation, one where employees are engaged around a common mission that separates your organization from the competition, you won’t ever have to worry about your seat at the table again.

And what if your sphere of influence isn't big enough to transform a culture? Then look for things you can do to transform a team, another person, yourself. Learn about what other companies are doing; get familiar with the subject matter and how it affects organizations. Just make sure that you stay aware of what is going on around you so that when the opportunity to participate on a larger scale presents itself, you are ready to raise your hand.

Open your mind to the possibilities

It really is just a matter of time before organizations will be expected to report on their CSR efforts. But it's your call as to whether you want to join in shaping the efforts at your organization now…or wait and add it to your “to do” list of compliance reports and policy updates you maintain. It’s such a huge opportunity; I hope you open the door.

Note: I will be presenting “The Leadership Role of HR in CSR” at the SHRM annual conference again this June. Come by for a listen: get some strategic management credits and more details about the role you can play.

It’s 2009. Can you say “Resilience?”

2009-01-12T23:36:00Z

Last October, my computer crashed and I lost everything – my contacts, my leadership development courseware, my records and all of my work in progress. I don’t need to tell you that it was devastating, I’m sure you can imagine. Losing everything I had worked hard to build and create over the years – the basis for my business and the source of my livelihood – felt a lot like losing a limb, or some other similarly significant extension of myself.

I was not alone in dealing with this feeling. In the last quarter of 2008 barely a day went by that I didn’t hear about someone’s significant loss. One friend got laid off from her job, filed for divorce, and had to put her mother in a nursing home all in the same week. Another friend dealt with the death of both his mother and his mother-in-law in a 2 week period. An old friend I just saw for the first time in years at a high school reunion was tragically killed in a car accident just last week. And while I don’t personally know anyone who invested with Madoff, everyone I know is dealing with their own modified version of financial loss every time they think about whether or not they’ll ever be able to quit their day job. I mean seriously, even Oprah was depressed. That’s never a good sign.

One minute it’s there. The next second it’s gone. That pretty much sums up the latter part of 2008 for me.

Please, won’t you be my neighbor?

The dismal nature of it all has had me longing for the comfort of a trusted old friend – like Mister Rogers perhaps. I imagine if he were with us today he would come in the front door, take off his coat and wingtips, put on his cardigan and slippers and say to us all “The word for the day is resilience. Can you say resilience?”

Resilience is by definition the ability to quickly recover from setbacks, and heaven knows there were plenty of those last year. But a new year is always a good time to take stock of where we are, how we got there, and how we can keep on track. In 2009, I think it’s time we figure out how to get our bounce back. Because if we don’t change anything after this past year, how will we keep it from happening again?

So from a little bit of research and a lot of living through personal experiences, here are my recommendations,

Get Your Bounce Back

Acknowledge.
There is no way to calibrate the significance of someone’s sense of loss. We seem to believe we have to think of things in terms of how it compares to others. We tell ourselves “It could be worse.” “At least I have my (fill in the blank.)”

Somewhere along the way we bought into the idea that when something bad happens we are supposed to put on our big boy pants and just deal with it. You know what? It really doesn’t matter how one person’s sense of loss compares with another’s. Don’t judge what you are feeling, just let it flow.

Let me make it easier. If something happens that leaves you feeling like you got kicked in the stomach, or like the wind got sucked out of your chest, or like you are dizzy from someone spinning you in circles and you don’t know which direction is up, acknowledge it. Feel the ebb and flow – every last piece of it. And then take a deep breath and let it go. You’re entitled to that. No wallowing, no pity-parties, but a healthy and honest acknowledgment of what you are experiencing.

How are you feeling?

Regroup.
When I’m going through a difficult situation and needing a different perspective, I often find myself rearranging my furniture. I’m not recommending this for everyone; I’m sure it drives my husband crazy. But there is something about recreating my environment that helps me see situations in a new and fresh light.

I truly believe there is something to be learned in every one of life’s trials.

Start by considering what thoughts you have had that you’ve ignored, or perhaps what your gut has been telling you that you haven’t bothered to listen to. Sometimes tragic circumstances bring a louder version of a reminder that has been haunting us for a while.

What direction are you heading?

Diversify.
Investment advisers are always telling us that it’s a good idea to put our savings in a variety of funds to mitigate our financial risk. I think the same recommendation holds true to how we invest our time and energy: we should invest it in a variety of activities and people to maximize the value of our life experience and minimize the risk of feeling an exaggerated sense of loss when one "fund" is depleted.

Trust me, as a (still) recovering co-dependent, I can tell you it’s not a good idea to pin all of your hopes and dreams and identity on one other human being…or job…or any other single person or thing outside of yourself for that matter.

We wrap our identities in external labels and roles and in the process end up limiting our potential. And then, when something inevitably happens that strips these labels or roles from us we are left exposed and vulnerable asking “Now what?”

It’s always easier to get through tough times when you have a solid foundation of friends and/or family to remind you of your greatness. It’s always easier when we define ourselves by a multitude of roles, talents, interests and skills. It only makes sense that having more and deeper roots will help us keep our balance – regardless of how many times the rug is pulled out from under us.

Building that foundation requires your time and energy and authenticity in good times and in bad. Life offers a rich and rewarding experience if you let it. Make it multi-dimensional.

How do you define yourself?

Hope.
The single greatest factor contributing to our ability to bounce back is the faith and hope that things will get better.

Hope is what our founding fathers had when they wrote our constitution. It’s what my great grandfather had when he rode across the country to his Oregon homestead. It’s what parents have for their children when they send them off to school. It’s what my brother has each time he sends out his resume. It’s what Obama offered us in his campaign. It’s why we get out of bed in the morning.

Hope is not denying reality, but owning reality and believing that it can change for the better. Hope is founded in our dreams and passions and in taking responsibility for the changes we are personally being called to make. If we learned anything from Obama’s campaign it should be that if you are pursuing your dreams, significant change is possible. We are being invited to believe.

Just because your dream isn’t as bold as Obama’s doesn’t make it any less vital to the fabric of our success – as a Nation or as a human race. We need them all.

What do you need to say “Yes, we can!” to?

It’s time to bounce
The good news is that even though my laptop is still on the fritz, I’ve recovered most of my content, and I now have a backup system in place. I did permanently lose all my email and contacts, so if you haven’t heard from me in a while, I probably don’t know how to get in touch with you. Drop me a note; I’ll bounce you back.

Until then, cheers to you for a rich, rewarding, safe and hope-filled 2009.

A Boss's Day Wish List

2008-10-16T18:20:00Z

Since I am self-employed, I don’t have a boss to acknowledge today. So instead, I am going to give a “shout-out” (since that is apparently an acceptable thing for a professional person to do these days) to bosses everywhere with some thoughts and sincere wishes for all of you – particularly as you navigate through your days and try to stay the course in this crazy economy. Please feel free to comment and add your own wishes to this list!

My wishes for bosses on this boss’s day and actually – every day are as follows…

…As it relates to your employees I wish that

• You don’t have to fire anyone for not doing their job, or lay anyone off because of budget cuts
• They show up for work, are engaged in their jobs and don’t gossip, fight, lie, steal or complain
• They support decisions once they are made and embrace their responsibilities
• They respect you because of how you lead, not just because of your position

…As it relates to your work I wish that

• You are able leave your job at the office
• Your work leverages your natural strengths and keeps you motivated and enthused
• You feel appreciated and can see how your work and your contributions matter
• You use your position to make a positive difference in your organization, in the lives of your employees, and in your community

…As it relates to your work environment I wish that

• You aren’t expected to travel for any unnecessary or pointless meetings
• No one ever uses insensitive phrases like “It is what it is…” to deliver bad news
• You have a short commute to the office and a comfortable desk chair
• From where you work, you can enjoy seeing the sky and trees throughout the day

…As it relates to your Company I wish that

• You work for a company you are proud to be a part of
• The focus is on long-term sustainable growth strategies, not quarterly ROE
• Your corporate culture embraces differences and encourages innovation
• You are given the time and budget to develop yourself and your employees

…As it relates to your self I wish that

• You have energy at the end of the day for yourself, your family, and your friends
• You take your allotted vacation and find time to refuel and reflect
• You are constantly challenged and supported to be the best version of yourself
• You are filled with gratitude for where life has led you and the people you are surrounded by

Enjoy your day!

Is your learning strategy focusing too much energy on the wrong learners?

2008-10-07T16:28:00Z

The weather channel had a severe weather alert for Phoenix this past weekend that read something like this: A cold front will bring cool breezes with rain possible in the higher elevations. For us desert dwellers that means the end of triple digit temperatures and the beginning of 8 or so months of pure heaven. If you live in the metro area and you didn’t spend at least 60% of your weekend outdoors, then to quote Steven Colbert “A Wag of the finger at you!”

I kicked off my Sunday with a much needed hike in the McDowellSonoran Preserve. I was looking to trick myself into a good cardio workout by disguising it as a commune with nature. What I ended up with instead was a lesson in on-the-job training and a reminder for all of us in charge of work place learning: Very often the most effective learning takes place in the field.

Watching On-the-Job Training (OJT) in Action
A couple 100 yards into the trail I came across two 15-ish-year old boys on mountain bikes chatting in the middle of a (dry) river bed. A few seconds of eavesdropping tells me that one of the boys is having his first ever off-roading experience and that the other boy is there to show him the ropes. “I don’t want to fall off!” is what I hear the new mountain biker say as the boys head forward on their trail. “Don’t worry!” says the other boy. “Just do what we talked about and I promise you’ll be fine. Follow me.”

“I don’t want to fall off.” How telling is that? How many of us experience a similar, although perhaps unvoiced reaction when faced with using a new skill while navigating an unfamiliar situation?

And what a telling reminder it also is about the importance of establishing trust in and respect for our leadership – enough trust and respect that we be willing to follow them into previously uncharted territory..

Further down the trail I encounter the boys again. This time, the trail leads to the bottom of a 10 foot hill that I assume they just biked down. The new mountain biker looks exhilarated and they are both still on their bikes, so that’s good. More eavesdropping. “So what you want to do next time is keep your arms straight as you are going down.” The rope-shower says to the other. “Don’t peddle once you hit the slope. Just sit back.” The training continues.

I am impressed. I want to hire this kid. He is a natural teacher and leader.

Watching this interaction I had one thought: Traditional corporate training could sure suck the air out of the tires of this off-road experience.

I started thinking about what the standard approach would be if a corporate learning function were tasked with teaching mountain biking. Would the participants have that same exhilarated look on their faces, or would they be busy texting and wondering if class would be done early?

That’s when it hits me. If this is what engaged learning looks like, perhaps we have been focusing our training efforts on the wrong audience. Could it be that if we really want to impact the corporate learner’s experience, we need to stop focusing so much time and energy on the end-user/learner, and start spending a little more time teaching the learners’ leaders how to deliver engaging OJT?

Maybe it’s time we blaze a new trail
Conducting needs assessments, gap analyses, SME interviews, and mind mapping to create more end-user job aids, role plays, e-learning, and workshops – it’s the reality of our adult education profession. And that’s just the good stuff we spend time on. Yes, in highly effective cultures with a clear employee development strategy which includes shared accountability for growth, these elements can be enough. But in a majority of businesses, adding all of that all together will just give you a simulated experience at best. A waste of money at worst.

Think about it. It’s very doubtful that applying the traditional approach of what we have come to think of as corporate training would leave either the trainer or the trainee engaged yet alone exhilarated. And without question, the traditional approach would most likely incorporate very little accountability on the part of the managers of the new mountain bikers. Which is really what is needed when it comes to executing the ultimate road test: on-the-job productivity, growth, engagement and success.

So what am I saying?
That all corporate training is ineffective? No, not at all. I’m just saying that perhaps by spending more of our time helping managers become better teachers, we could ultimately end up with a better ROI all the way around. If we recognize that impactful learning takes place in the field and on the job, and that not everyone is a natural teacher, shouldn’t we do everything we can to develop a management team with a skill set that supports effective OJT?

Want more reasons? Compound the importance of effective OJT with research on why employees change jobs: poor relationships with their bosses, feeling they aren’t getting enough development, and an overall lack of faith in their leadership. These are all reasons that could be overcome by getting managers more involved in employee development. So why not equip managers with the tools, the time, and the skills to develop their employees and build the manager-employee relationship in the process?

Effective Learning Changes Lives
Watching those two boys on the trail reminded me of all the reasons I love learning – that experience changed the new mountain biker forever; it opened up a whole new world for him. Isn’t that the goal of education? Not just to download facts and figures and company protocol, but to give a person a skill set that allows them to venture out on new trails and go even further?

As professionals gifted with the desire and ability to teach, I think we should focus more energy on sharing the teaching skill set when we can. Heaven knows, there is enough work to be done. And we get to change more lives in the process.

When it comes to the economy, is our hindsight still 20/20?

2008-10-01T20:59:00Z

I don’t typically discuss politics with my family. It’s not that I don’t enjoy healthy disagreements; it’s just that a few years back when every political discussion inevitably led to the latest Rush Limbaugh view being quoted as both factual and reasonable that I decided to walk away. I mean really, if you are going to have an opinion, at least have it be your own. Then we’ll talk. So I’ve learned to stick to lighter subjects. “What do you think of the Pope?” comes to mind.

But when my niece posted the video “Burning Down the House: What Caused Our Economic Crises?” to her Facebook page last night, I decided it might be time to bring a healthy discussion back to the table. I realized that by not speaking up about some fundamental truths, I was actually contributing to the problem. By not sharing our history, we could lose the benefit of hindsight and wind up making the same mistakes again.

Let me first tell you about my niece.
She is smart and educated (they are different, you know) – she’s graduating with a Master’s Degree in less than 1/3 of the time it took me to get my undergraduate degree. She works extremely hard. Not to mention that she is beautiful and generous and kind and great fun. If I had children, I would be patting myself on the back every single day if they turned out that fantastic. She is Gen Y. She represents our future.

Now let me recap this video.
In the interest of transparency, feel free to search "You Tube" to view any of the 8 versions of the above-mentioned video and form your own opinion. Here is mine. It uses illogical reasoning and conveniently pastes items together to create an impression of cause and effect. It highlights text from reliable media to push its agenda and convey an air of truth. But in actuality it is just one more video with traditional blame-placing political rhetoric – this time it just happens to take the form of a made-for-“You Tube” PowerPoint. To me it represents our past.

So here’s my problem.
How will we ever help future generations learn from our past mistakes if we are all so busy distorting what should be 20/20 hindsight? How will we ever be a part of creating a new and better future generation if we keep perpetuating the destructive practices of our past. Our finger pointing is sabotaging our future.

In my niece’s defense, she is not necessarily agreeing with the content of this video, but merely looking to start a conversation as part of a search for her own truth. But if we continue to color our history with positioning, opinion, and blame, with distorted cause and effect, will she ever be able to find that truth? We are only setting ourselves up for more of the same.

Getting back to business.
In my business life I can best equate the scenario to the benefits of creating a learning organization. Research shows that corporations that view mistakes as an inevitable bump in the road to progress are ultimately more innovative and flexible. And when you are savvy enough to set up a system that objectively captures the processes – including the mistakes – so that everyone in your organization can learn from them, you never have to worry about wasted energy and making the same mistake twice. Taking fear and blame out of the equation helps these corporate cultures thrive. Shouldn’t we want the same for our government?

Some history and lessons learned
Granted, my history is not quite as exciting as the Tudors. But it is no less valuable. I spent a great deal of my career in the financial industry – a good portion of that time managing training departments for sub-prime lenders. I managed foreclosed real estate for a national bank in the aftereffects of the Savings & Loan crises in the late 80s and early 90s. There was a lot of blame placing going on then too. Tax reform, deregulation, inflation…sound familiar? What did I learn from our mistakes?

Sub-prime loans are not by definition a losing proposition, some sub-prime portfolios actually perform the same or better than conventional portfolios. Unsound underwriting practices will always come back to haunt you.
The Community Reinvestment Act does not force banks to put bad loans on the books. At its foundation, it ultimately just prevents red-lining. Which unfortunately would be a reality if it weren’t for the Act. Yes, really.
People who need sub-prime loans are not deadbeats, losers and degenerates. Predatory lenders are deadbeats, losers and degenerates. Not all sub-prime lenders are predatory lenders. Some actually provide a very valuable service. I could tell you stories about people the companies I worked for have helped that would bring tears to you eyes. Sometimes life just throws you some hard knocks (layoffs, divorce, illness to name just a few that none of us are immune to) and it's life-reviving to have a way back and a chance for a normal life.
Placing blame and practicing partisan politics is not going to get us out of our current mess. We have to stop the rhetoric and participate in a real conversation if we are ever going to stop repeating the past.

Use your voice. Share your history.
I have to voice this because I want more for my niece. I want more for this next generation. I want them to learn from our mistakes and not make them again. I want them to know that the fundamental democratic truths our Nation is founded on are sound, and that complacency – not big oil, not lobbyists, not CEO pay, not terrorism – is the enemy of democracy. I want to set the right example. I want to demonstrate what it looks like to craft sustainable, responsible, ethical solutions that keep this Nation great. I want them to have more than hope; I want them to know it can be done.

And when they go in search of their truth, I want them to be able to find it. So please, join the conversation, share your history, and help me keep it 20/20.

Practice Your Acceptance Speech

2008-09-08T23:02:00Z

Like many of you, I’ve been watching the convention coverage over the past few weeks. Yes, I am 100% interested in getting a first-hand impression of the candidates and their takes on the (numerous, critical, future-impacting) issues. But for me it is also about my ongoing love affair with language and words and how when strung together like notes in a song, words can move listeners from passive observers to engaged allies. It is fun to see an audience be seamlessly transported from an overwhelming sense of pride, to one of hope, and then perhaps on to courage or some other equally powerful feeling.

I usually react with a bit of envy thinking “Ugh! Why can’t I do that?” But during this election coverage I had a different (much healthier, thank you very much) thought. This time I thought “Why don’t we take some pointers from these speech writers and talk to each other like this more often? If words can create such positive emotions, why not just make it a best practice to use our acceptance speeches on each other every day?”

The need for acceptance is a common theme throughout our lives.
From teenage drinking to gang membership to business ethics – people constantly weigh decisions that tempt them to turn away from better judgment for the hope of achieving a greater sense of belonging. What you buy, where you live, what your “internal editor” allows you to say out loud…these seemingly everyday decisions typically can be tied to a need for some form of acceptance. And at work, research on the reasons employees leave companies often cites the lack of recognition for contributions, poor relationships with bosses, and losing faith in leadership – all issues attributable to acceptance.

If political candidates can use simple words to boost the enthusiasm of voters across the country – to inspire and encourage people they have zero direct contact with, shouldn’t we be able to do the same with those people we encounter on a daily basis? Shouldn’t we be able to use acceptance speech concepts to build relationships, to encourage engagement, and perhaps rally our own employees around a cause?

I think we can, or at the very least, that it’s worth a try. So I’ve boiled what makes a good acceptance speech into 7 simple concepts we can practice in our daily lives.

1. Commit to a cause

Winners often speak about a cause that inspired them to embark on the journey that ultimately led to their successes. We hear a lot of talk these days about how Gen Y wants to work for companies who are making a difference. And the positive correlation between a company’s authentic CSR efforts and their financial results are real and tangible.

Standing for something bigger than you has universal appeal. You’ll find that other people will willingly rally around your pursuit of a cause – as long as the cause is heartfelt, sincere and selfless. So, for example, think of parents who work for a better future for their children through supporting education. Think of those entrepreneurs who start companies to build products that make our lives better. Think of those retirees who go back to work to make a difference, not a paycheck.

If your passionate pursuit is limited to that new Gucci handbag or Sony flat screen, it’s just not going to cut it, no matter how fabulous they are. If, on the other hand, you dedicate your work to someone or something outside of yourself that inspires and drives you it will fuel your enthusiasm and turn an ordinary job into an extraordinary opportunity.

2. Give credit to the people who inspire you and acknowledge those who helped you along the way

We all encounter people in our lives who show up at just the right time to propel us to be a better version of ourselves. They accept us for who we are and encourage us to act on our ideas. And it is highly likely that we have provided that same inspiration for someone else.

What differentiates one person from another is how they treat those people who help them along the way. Sincere gratitude and appreciation can move us to tears. Think of John Nash’s (Hollywood created) Nobel Prize acceptance speech in “A Beautiful Mind.”

There are basically two types of people: those who give credit and those who use you as a stepping stone.

• Who would you rather work with?
• Who would you rather be friends with?
• Who would you more likely willingly follow?

3. Show your enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is contagious. It’s like a jump start for living life to the fullest. And yet somehow our assumed Puritan ancestry runs deep and causes us to censor ourselves for fear of looking silly or getting the dreaded eye roll. Are you uncomfortable with displays of enthusiasm? How did you react when Roberto Benigni clambered across the audience to receive his Oscar for “La Vita é bella” in 1997?

If you need a kick start on how to release your enthusiasm, head to your nearest Zumba class. Trust me, you’ll see what I mean. Life is beautiful.

4. Be humble and gracious

No one likes a cocky winner. I have enjoyed watching Raphael Nadal play tennis over the past two years. Admittedly, for the first year it was mostly because I thought he would be fun to sculpt. But after his humble Wimbledon Championship speech I became that much more of a fan.

When people are humble and gracious in their moments of greatness, everyone else just cheers that much harder for their success.

5. Use inclusive language

Whether it be the Presidential nomination, the Nobel Prize or a Salesman of the Year Award, when great achievements are recognized the acceptance speech gives the rest of us a chance to participate in the moment.

Using words like “we” and “our” when referring to efforts will keep people engaged in the process; using them when referring to results and rewards will keep people motivated. Anytime you can take away that nagging little voice in people’s minds that asks “Me too?” you build acceptance.

6. Use stories to help people relate and understand

Remember back to your childhood when you would repeatedly ask adults “Why?” What was the usual response? If your experience was anything like mine you were met with a bunch of “Because I said so’s.”

It wasn’t a good answer then, and it isn’t a good answer now. We are curious by nature and want to understand how all the pieces fit together. We are also highly visual. Using stories will help people experience where you are trying to take them.

To kick it up a notch, use stories that help keep people focused on a vision for the future. Dr. Martin Luther King was brilliant at this, and his words still inspire us today to continue to be better at acceptance.

7. Keep it short

The average attention span is shrinking. It doesn’t matter how interesting you are, unless your conversation is produced, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino it’s a good idea to keep your comments brief. On that note (as if it isn’t too late already) I will heed my own advice! Enough said. Let the acceptance begin.

Break the Instant Gratification Addiction

2008-08-12T01:35:00Z

We are a nation in need of an instant gratification detox. I’ve had my suspicions. I guess between live feeds from the Big Brother house, news streaming the growing number of drug-test failing Olympic athletes, and our obsession with anything having to do with the latest “I-gadget” the addiction was inevitable. But it was actually the recent Brett Favre debacle that finally proved the validity of my hunch.

Quick recap: Brett retires, waffles, confirms retirement, waffles again. The team moves on and focuses on launching a new era of Packer ball. Brett announces his un-retirement and is disgruntled this revelation isn’t met with the appropriate jubilance and reverence. Packers stick by their new man for the QB role and trade Brett. Packers fans lash out.

As a business owner, I completely understand the Packers’ decision. It’s a shrewd strategy to find ways to build your bench strength, optimize your assets and give your organization a fresh vision for the future. It can be tough to bite the bullet and make a break from something that has always worked – especially when you recognize that there could be a few bumps along the way that observers will be happy to call you on the carpet for. But you do it because over the long haul, you know that is what will keep you great.

So why the long faces cheese heads?
Apparently Packers fans would rather commit to another rollercoaster season with Favre at the helm and not worry about what happens next. Because after all, a potential short-term shot at repeating greatness today is always better than working and waiting for potential greatness in the long-term, right?

All I can say is I feel for Aaron Rodgers– or any new CEO, COO or individual for that matter – who is brought in to lead some aspect of an organization and then given just one season to show they can make an impact.

I realize that in this information age everything we need to satisfy our whims, cravings and urges is available 24/7. But greatness just doesn’t work that way people.

Just how pervasive is our addiction?
Well, let’s play a little game of word association. What situations come to mind when you hear the following?

• Oil and gas
• Mortgages and Housing
• Airline industry
• John Edwards
• Childhood obesity rates
• Immigration

Now, you tell me: How many of these situations could have been avoided by exercising some long-sightedness?

Meanwhile, our bridges are falling down.
As our addiction to instant gratification grows, our infrastructure is slowly eroding. Our roads, our school systems and our medical facilities are all showing the bruises of neglect from being moved to the back burner in order to make room in our budgets and on our agendas for more immediate (aka: popular) needs.

In our boardrooms forward-thinking CEOs looking to invest for the future of their company are put on the defensive by private equity firms looking to grow their portfolios quickly. And how many more quarters will we have to read Wall Street analysts’ reports questioning Google’s investments in expensive programs like employee training and benefits?

We are raising a generation of instant gratification addicts.
One of the main complaints I hear from Boomers about Gen Y (Boomers’ off-spring, mind you) is that Gen Y employees don’t want to do the time to move up the corporate ladder – that they are impatient. Ya’ think? Let’s take a closer look at their world.

In my day I was impressed with Jiffy Pop, Nestle Quick, Pop-tarts and microwave ovens. But just imagine never having to:

• Wait for a Polaroid to develop
• Listen to the radio for hours to just hear your favorite new song
• Go to the library to look something up in an encyclopedia
• Dial a phone and get a busy signal
• Physically go to an event to see it
• Wonder where your friends are and what they are doing

I ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos the other day and they were at my door so fast I would swear the “submit order” button was attached to my doorbell. So yes, I can see how the instant gratification addiction can happen.

The problem is that at this rate we are ultimately building a nation of citizens to live self-centeredly and moment-to-moment, which will only magnify the current trends. Is that really the future we want to create? A future in which we hear the word “community” and picture an instantly constructed master-planned development complete with picket fences and front porches but no real neighbors, instead of a network of relationships grown and nurtured over time?

I challenge us to a better legacy.
Think for a moment about your most fond memories, your greatest achievements. Write them down on a sheet of paper. Now, how many of the items on your list were the result of instant gratification versus the result of real time and effort put towards reaching a goal?

You see, while instant gratification can seemingly satisfy our wants and needs, it doesn’t satisfy our souls. There is something to be said for enjoying the fruits of your labor, for savoring the process. Instant gratification takes the fun out of life. It’s like sex without foreplay. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still enjoy it, just probably not as much as you could.

It’s time we stop cheating ourselves, our organizations, our country and our future. And the best way to start the process is not by pointing fingers and placing blame, but to start to make changes ourselves. What can you do? Start small and see what happens. Some ideas?

• Take time to authentically connect with people
• Teach patience by example
• Make sure your solutions address the long-term as well as the short-term
• Don’t just manage perceptions, tackle the problem head on
• Volunteer in your community
• Participate in your organization’s CSR efforts
• Disconnect from your technology when you are with friends and family
• Participate in your community government

The trick is to balance out your activities so that at the end of the day you can sleep knowing you have invested some of your time and skills in creating a better future, rather than just responding to a future someone else has created for you. Someday your grandchildren may not know who Brett Favre is, but they will know who you are.

So what’s the quick answer?
In short: Rome wasn’t built it a day. Some good things take time, and that’s not always a bad thing.

Make a case to maximize employee volunteer efforts

2008-07-02T23:14:00Z

Employee volunteer programs (aka employee volunteerism, corporate citizenship) have been getting a lot of attention lately. Changing consumer expectations, increased attention to corporate social responsibility, and the demands of a new generation of workers have left many employers looking for ways to satisfy this new contract. Employee volunteer programs are proving to be a popular solution because properly executed they provide good fodder for P.R, can be part of a larger CSR strategy, and have been positively linked to employee engagement and customer loyalty.

At last week’s SHRM conference in Chicago, I presented a session on “The Leadership Role of HR in Corporate Social Responsibility.” There was a lot of buzz on the topic of employee volunteering and after the session a participant asked how to make the most of employee volunteer efforts at her company. I gave her my best answer, which was a good enough answer -- but being unable to ignore my perfectionist tendencies, I’ve been wishing ever since then that I had a way to contact her to give her a more complete answer. So what follows is a synopsis of the question, what I said, and what more I could have said. (Given the time, a comfortable chair, and perhaps a hot cup of coffee...)

Should employee volunteer programs be considered part of an overall CSR strategy?
Comprehensive CSR strategies center on three business drivers: people, planet, and profits. For each business driver you can incorporate initiatives that have to do with your organization’s relationship with the workplace, the marketplace, the community, or the environment.

Employee volunteer programs fit in the people component, and can include:

• Workplace efforts like volunteering to support a company fund-raiser or workplace-sponsored event
• Marketplace efforts like providing customer or vendor education
• Community efforts like those we would consider traditional volunteer efforts that support a community cause
• Environment efforts like planting trees or picking up litter

You might find that several efforts could fit multiple categories and that’s okay. It’s just a good starting point to take inventory of what volunteer programs you are supporting and where they fit. That will help you prioritize your initiatives and will help you in your future decision process when you are asked to support additional initiatives.

Should employees be allowed to volunteer for whatever efforts they choose?
There is no question that providing your employees the opportunity to volunteer for a worthy cause is a worthwhile investment. Plus you will logically get better participation if it happens to be a cause the employee feels passionate about. But as with any employee benefit program, or any investment of resources for that matter, it’s important to know what you’re getting for your money. And the only way to do that is to put some structure and measures around it.

If your company is already supporting employee volunteer efforts with paid time off, that is fantastic. It means your leadership already understands that volunteering benefits the employee, the effort, the community, and the company.

That being said, I certainly wouldn’t recommend providing paid time off for employees to volunteer for just anything.

Why not? Well, for starters there are literally thousands of volunteer opportunities that your employees could participate in – efforts that cover a vast landscape of choices such as fundraising for political campaigns, working crowd control at a local St. Patrick’s Day parade, picking up litter on the side of the highways, serving on non-profit boards of directors, or providing community education in a local shelter. If there is an issue someone feels strongly about, there’s a good chance they can find a way to support it.

Why is that a problem? Well, let’s say that you are a commercial development company. Would you be okay with paying your employee’s salary while they participate in a protest against developing a part of town where you are contracted to build? What if an employee wants to take off to sell trinkets at a crafts fare that is raising money for their church, which happens to be a sect of the “only people with brown hair and green eyes who were born under the sign of the Neptune moon crossing are worthy” church.

The point is if you have no parameters around employee volunteering, you are going to end up in hot water the first time you tell someone that roping out tailgating spots for the Jimmy Buffet concert doesn’t count as a worthy cause.

Not having parameters means you have to accept everything, or put your organization at risk when managers begin to make judgment calls on what should or should not count.

How should we determine which volunteer efforts to support?
When your employees are volunteering in the community on company time they are the face of your company. So it’s important to consider what you want your company to represent.

Most organizations will look for causes that are consistent with their mission, vision, or values statements and make sense with the product or service they deliver. So for example, Sun Microsystems’ statement “Innovation and action guide our efforts to eliminate the digital divide” serves as their cornerstone in guide employee volunteer initiatives.

What if I don’t have any mission, values, or vision statements to guide our efforts?
Then look for something that supports your product. For example, if you are a publishing company, you could look for environmental opportunities to plant trees or develop sustainable inks, community opportunities on teaching English as a second language or supporting literacy programs. Look for a tie in to whatever you are selling or producing.

Another option is to put together an employee work group to look at options in the community and determine which ones they feel the company should focus their efforts on. This is a great way to gain some momentum and improve employee participation.

The Points of Light Institute has some worthwhile resources, including their “Principles of Excellence” guidelines for developing and sustaining volunteer programs. They also have very good benchmarking resources.

How do I convince my leadership team that we need some parameters?
One word: data. If your leadership team is hesitant to change the status quo, take a step back and gather data. Track the number of employee volunteer hours, the causes supported, and the types of work projects that were done. Put a dollar value on it. Compare your results to those of similar companies in your industry or community.

Numbers are the language of business and it’s been my experience that it’s tough to sell anything you can’t quantify. So start there.

If that isn’t enough, kick it up a notch with some qualitative data. Pull together some informal employee focus groups and find out which issues are top-of-mind for them. Listen to the pool of job candidates you are recruiting. Is there an overriding theme or question? Look at the results of your employee opinion or job satisfaction surveys. Is there any qualitative data there?

If your stakeholders ask the question “What do you stand for?” what are you going to tell them? And how are you going to show it?

Any volunteer efforts should ultimately contribute to and support an organization’s business goals. Typically you will get a bigger bang for your buck with focused efforts than with scattered ones.

Effective employee volunteer programs are a win-win-win for the employee, the community, and the organization. Good parameters will help you maintain maximum ROI so you can keep your programs alive and growing for years to come. (Hey! Let’s call that “volunteerism sustainability.”) I’d say it’s a worthy cause to strive for and another great way for Human Resource professionals to make a lasting, positive impact on the workplace. I look forward to your success stories.

Can You Hear Me Now?

2008-06-12T22:17:00Z

Madonna released a new CD in April called “Hard Candy” on which she collaborates with other artists and puts out more great music to vacuum to. That’s not a bad thing. Maybe if my 43 year-old body looked as good as her 50 year-old one I’d still be groovin’ in the clubs, but I am just as happy having a good techno beat to dust to. Like her or not, you have to admit she knows how to create attention-grabbing headlines and keep things interesting.

Recently, in a USA Today interview promoting her album, (read “Madonna chews on work, love, ‘Hard Candy’” here) Madonna responded to the question “As someone on the cutting edge of trends, do you think the best music gets heard?”

“Not necessarily…Everything is about instant gratification and shorter shelf life. Someone who’s offering subtleties won’t make an impact. We live in a world full of distractions.”

I couldn’t agree with her more, and yet the response – coming from her – troubled me a bit. Because isn’t she in part responsible for raising the noise level by contributing to it with her attention-grabbing antics? The ones that started way back in the 80s with the fishnet stockings and rosary bead ensembles, continuing with her controversial “Like a Virgin” tour performance, numerous erotic music videos, “Sex” book, and the 2003 MTV kiss with Britney Spears. Really, I could go on and on. There are quite literally hundreds of examples.

But she has a point.

The question “Can you hear me now?” in our technology-driven information age has a whole new meaning. Outside of being a brilliant marketing campaign for Verizon Wireless, it is coming to be a symbol of our inability to authentically communicate and connect with each other. Because being heard is about capturing someone’s attention long enough to get them to actually listen. To be heard. In this world “full of distractions” it is getting to be an art in its own right.

How far do we have to go to make an impact?

We have more venues than ever to make our point, and yet the solutions we are applying are as effective as the child tugging on his mother’s sleeve. “Mom. Mom. Mom….Mom…Mom..!” After a day of that is it any wonder we are all are ready to just check out?

Business owners struggle with finding new ways to make an impact every day. So their PR and marketing departments put together e-marketing campaigns and newsletters to barrage our inboxes and keep their products top of mind. They set up corporate blogs and MySpace pages, hold on-line contests and post YouTube videos all in an effort to engage their target market and stand out in the noise. But ultimately their efforts mostly just end up contributing to the noise.

Last week, I was speaking at a conference and noticed some people in my session busily trying to copy down notes from my slides. Wanting them to not feel unnecessary stress about missing anything I told them I would send them the presentation if they would give me their email address. You should have seen the panic flash in their eyes. “I don’t SPAM.” I had to say.

Mom…Mom…Mom… It’s our email indicator, cell phone ring, text message alert, appointment reminder…. And those are just the electronic components. The ones that we could essentially turn off if we chose to.

So in a world where capturing someone’s attention is a significant accomplishment, whispering doesn’t cut it anymore. But at what point can we stop escalating the noise? Because it’s getting harder and harder to hear.

CU L8R!
For us as individuals, the lack of meaningful interpersonal connections is not a healthy trend. To be heard is in my mind one of those basic human needs – right up there with safety, shelter, plumbing and chocolate. (My apologies to Maslow for adapting his hierarchy.)

To have someone stop and really listen, to look you in the eyes and acknowledge and validate your presence? Well, it is as vital to our life as breathing. And as much fun as it is that we are able to connect electronically whenever and wherever we choose, texting is still no substitute for a face-to-face conversation.

Consider these recent headlines. Is “Can you hear me now?” the real message being delivered?

• Tempe man with road rage shoots self
• Teen brings gun to high school
• City ambulance workers seek to form union
• Shareholder lawsuit claims Yahoo derailed Microsoft bid

I’m sure I could find countless other examples of something reaching an extreme point because we heard but neglected to listen to the early warning signs. (Oil crises, obesity trends, depression, insomnia and divorce rates to name a few) It doesn’t have to get to that point.

We are all so busy looking to be heard, there is no one left to listen.
Authentic communication is a two-way street and sometimes the best way to be heard is to start by listening.

The Chinese character for the verb “to listen” is made up of four parts: ear, eyes, heart, and undivided attention. I think following that approach can help us reduce the distractions and avoid the extremes it takes now to get our attention. Like every good habit you’ll get better with practice. Make an effort to take some time each day to really listen to (in priority order)

• Your inner self
• Your inner circle – family and close friends
• Your work relationships – employees, peers, customers and vendors
• Your community leaders

Not with the intention of correcting, or fixing, or helping. Not with a mind set towards judging or blaming. Just listen – with your ears, your eyes, and your heart.

This focused listening is in a sense a way to reset the volume level on the noise in your life. It will help you tune in to what is important and what matters. It will help you notice the subtleties before they reach extremes. It will help you know the right thing to do.

Give someone the gift of your undivided attention every day. It’s the only way to make sure that the best music in your life…gets heard.

Do the right thing

2008-04-11T22:46:00Z

Reading through the paper this morning it struck me that today more than ever we seem to have trouble doing the right thing – the right thing for our global community, our organizations, and ourselves. Is it because the choices have become more complex or because our decisions have become more visible? In sorting through the pros and cons of some hot issues from the headlines, you tell me – what’s the right thing to do?

The right thing for our Global Community: Olympic sponsorship

I completely get that Steven Spielberg opted out of participating in the production of the opening ceremonies for this year’s Olympics. I imagine him sitting in a room listening to people toss around their ideas for the best way to highlight and celebrate Chinese culture and thinking to himself: “Wait a minute. How can I participate in celebrating the culture of a country whose politics diametrically oppose my foundational beliefs? What was I thinking? I am so out of here!”

I also get that protestors are using the Olympic torch relay to bring attention to human rights issues in China. These groups have been trying to get our attention for a long time; these aren’t new issues. So good for them for optimizing a captive audience and making their point – peacefully.

What I don’t get is the question around whether or not Olympic sponsors should pull their support or risk permanent damage to their brands. In this morning’s USA Today an article on Olympic sponsorship gave sponsors five different “professional” opinions as to the right decision.

How did supporting the Olympics suddenly become synonymous with supporting the host country? The Olympics have always represented an opportunity for harmonic international competition and should be about the athletes and excellence. Instead of pulling their support, I would suggest sponsors use this opportunity to entrench their Corporate Social Responsibility values and use their time and dollars to raise awareness of human rights and what can be accomplished by working together – as evidenced historically by the Olympic Games.

And if consumers really want to make a statement, wouldn’t they be better off boycotting Chinese products as opposed to US Olympic sponsors?

What is the right thing for these companies to do? What is the right thing for consumers to do? I don’t know…you tell me.

The right thing for Organizations: CEO Pay

The headline for this blurb on Exxon CEO’s compensation for 2007 should have come with a warning: Reading this on the same day you fill up your gas tank could cause high blood pressure and uncontrollable cursing.

Now my degree is from a college of Arts and Sciences, not business, so pardon my ignorance, but can someone please explain to me how Exxon can bring in “the largest profit ever for a U.S company” while our gas prices continue to steadily creep towards the $4 a gallon mark? Can someone please explain to me how it is ok for an oil company CEO to receive $21.7 million in income while a good chunk of the economy is reeling from the impacts of the increased price of mobility, including 3 airlines closing down and another filing bankruptcy? How does this guy sleep at night knowing that these higher costs are being passed on to the end consumer in the form of baggage handling fees, fuel surcharges, and 100 other imaginative ways businesses have found to recoup money needed to just stay afloat.

And where is Gerald Grinsteinwhen you need him?

I would have hoped that more CEOs would have gotten the message. But what do you think? Should CEOs sacrifice their lucrative pay packages just because the rest of us are suffering? What is the right thing? I don’t know…you tell me.

The right thing for an Individual: Green living

A little closer to home, there are always those opportunities we all have to make a small dent in a big problem. I try to make a difference in small ways – I ride my bicycle to the store, I use my canvas grocery bags, I’ve replace a multitude of bulbs in my house with fluorescents and I use “certified green” cleaning products on the rare occasion that I actually clean my house. I’m not bragging; I am sure those are the easy and simple things we all do.

Two summers ago, however, I noticed that our AC system wasn’t working very well – which in Arizona is not something you want to mess around with. What a great opportunity to do something more significant! I did some research and found this amazing company Solcool that builds HVAC systems to run on a single solar panel. The thought of using the sun to cool my house thrilled me, so I tried to buy one. “Not possible.” I was told. Turns out there was such a demand the company couldn’t keep up production. “Wait another year.” I was told. So I dialed my thermostat to 87 degrees last Summer and waited. November rolled around and I again tried to purchase one. This time I was told by the supplier that I could only get it as part of a package deal that included 20 solar panels and putting my house on the grid. Fine, I said. Sign me up. I never heard anything back.

Next week the temperatures in Phoenix are expected to be in the low 90s. The prospect of spending another Summer in an 87 degree house was too much for me and I caved. I bought 2 of the highest efficiency HVAC systems on the market and had them installed this week.

I justified it to myself in a number of creative ways. What it boils down to though is that sometimes you want to do the right thing, but it is just too difficult. So the question is what is your breaking point? At what point does it become too much work to do the right thing?

Should I have tried harder? I don’t know… you tell me.

Choices and Consequences

Cleaning out boxes in my garage this past weekend I had a chance to root through some of my history. It’s interesting to review evidence of the choices you made in your life that landed you where you are today. Even though I love where I am today, I can promise you that I didn’t always do the right thing. I claim it’s what makes me interesting, tolerant, and flexible, but I am sure my parents would have a different spin.

You see, that’s the trouble with doing the right thing – there is no formula for consciousness where you can simply plug in data and have it spit out the correct answer.

At some point we all are faced with making a decision that requires us to balance our intellect, our pocketbooks, and our hearts. Come to think of it though, if more of us actually took that balanced approach I imagine that more of us would have no choice but to do the right thing – whatever that right thing turns out to be for our particular unique situation at a given moment in time.

I guess my question is this: Have our lives really progressed to point where it is really that hard to do the right thing? Is it that we don't have the time, the energy, the desire? Or is it the belief that one person doing the right thing can't make a difference? I don’t know… you tell me.

Peaks and Valleys

2008-03-27T21:03:00Z

I’ve been on the road this week, stretching a one-day business meeting in San Francisco into a grown-up version of Spring Break, starting with a long overdue visit to Napa Valley.

Driving into Napa there is a turn-off point where Highways 12 and 29 converge, and the road veers ever so slightly that if your eyes were closed, you wouldn’t even notice your body shifting in response. So it’s always a welcome surprise to suddenly see the Valley laid out in front of you, like peering into one of those sugar Easter eggs we got as kids – where you look into the icing-laced opening and discover a whole different and beautiful world. I always wanted to crawl inside those eggs when I was little, and every time I turn that curve to Napa, I feel like I am doing just that.

This visit it hit me that I have a thing for valleys. I started recounting my favorite places to visit: Napa Valley in California, Mission Valley in Montana, Loire Valley in France… Heck, I have even made my home in the Valley of the Sun! Valleys are always the places that seem to bring me the strongest sense of connection and renewal and peace.

So why is it then, that when we speak of our lives in terms of peaks and valleys, valleys get such a bad rap?

Yes, I’ll give you that just like we refer to the low times in our lives, geographically speaking valleys are depressions in the earth. But technically, there is so much more to it than that, because they are also abundant and rich sources of life.

So I think it is high time we changed our perspective. How? Start with gratitude.

Now don’t worry, I don’t mean this in the guilt-inspiring Catholic “be thankful for what you have because plenty others have it worse” kind of way. Like when I was distraught that I didn’t make the cheerleading squad my sophomore year of high school and my mom consoled me with a comforting “Well, you should be thankful you have your arms and legs!” Thanks mom. I didn’t realize that was the trade-off.

What I do mean is that changing one’s perspective through gratitude starts with an objective appreciation for whatever has transpired to bring you to where you are today – something more along the lines of Garth Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers.” Let me give you another example.

Valleys provide transitions in the cycle of life
When I was younger, I used to mourn the end of every friendship and relationship. I would think about the gaping void that would be left in my life by that person’s absence, and I would reflect on how things could have perhaps been different and whether or not I could have or should have done more to hang on. I never could decide if it was better to be the one leaving, or the one being left, because either way life went on with that noticeable void.

One day when I was wallowing in one of these voids, a friend mentioned to me that “People are in our lives for a reason, a season, or a life-time.” And from that moment on, I have been able to look at these transitions in a different light. So rather than mourning the loss of future possibilities, I appreciate the reasons, celebrate the seasons, and cherish the life-times. It is a much happier way to live, observing the transitions of people in and out of your life rather than trying to keep them all close like a massing of collectibles gathering dust on a shelf.

In the same sense, the valleys in our lives serve a unique transitional purpose. Everything in nature shows us that cycles are a requisite part of living: the ebb and flow of the ocean tides, the four Seasons, darkness and light… the pause for renewal is part of a continuum that has sustained life for centuries. I don’t want to bore you with too many analogies, but while I’m here I would be remiss to not also point out the benefits of valleys: the protection from extreme weather, the abundant life provided by the rivers and streams that cut through them…you get the picture.

Valleys provide the environment for growth
Somewhere along the way we have bought into the concept that progress is solely equivalent to climbing and conquering the next big peak, to continually moving upward and onward. And by holding on to that limited definition of progress, we are cheating ourselves out of valuable transition times. Sometimes our greatest growth comes out of silence. Sometimes our most moving moments are experienced in stillness. And if you don’t allow yourself to stop and appreciate those moments, you are cheating yourself out of a vital element of life.

What it ultimately comes down to for me is that I am a big believer in the idea that on our life paths we are given opportunities to course-correct, to redefine our purpose and passions, and to reignite our enthusiasm for just being. And it has been my experience that it’s precisely in those times we find ourselves placed in the protective environment of one of life’s valleys.

So the next time you are between peaks, take some time to notice the people, situations, and things surrounding you that you can be grateful for during your transition, and build on those. Rather than kicking yourself for ending up in a valley, throw down a few seeds and kick around some dirt instead. You might be surprised at the growth that comes out of it.

And if by some chance you find yourself in Napa Valley, well…pick me up a bottle of Pinot while you’re there.