Welcome
Welcome to the latest issue of Bringing Work to Life. In recent issues
(www.elsdon.com/newsletters.htm)
we explored the topics of:
o
Searching for success (January 2005)
o
Ethics and leadership (Year End 2004)
o
Linking workforce development to value creation (November December 2004)
o
How to decide if an organization will be a good fit for you (October
November 2004)
o
Confronting one of our fears as leaders - the fear of public speaking
(September October 2004)
o
Bringing meaning to our work lives (August September 2004)
o
Seven key aspects of the organizational and business drivers for
workforce development (July 2004)
This month we continue our exploration of personal leadership with
“Workforce Leadership.”
Workforce Leadership
An editorial in Training
magazine recently mentioned Corinne Maier, who works 20 hours a week
writing dry, economic reports for a utility in France. Ms. Maier wrote
a book called Bonjour Paress (Hello Laziness), and became a
counterculture heroine overnight. She advocated a strategy of active
disengagement, or calculated loafing, recommending that people who
dislike what they do should discreetly disengage. Ms. Maier offers tips
like carrying a stack of files to look busy. We, in the U.S., cannot
dismiss this as some eccentric European behavior. As the editorial
points out, a recent Gallup study shows that 70% of U.S. employees are
disengaged at a cost each year of about $300 billion in lost
productivity. Here is a quote from a U.S. ex-employee following a
recent organization upheaval. “You may now only borrow 40 hours of my
life a week – that’s all I’m gonna give.”
And it would be easy to point
fingers at workers. However, in our surveys we have shown a direct
relationship between the strength of affiliation that people feel and
the ability of leaders to create a sense of inspiring purpose. Strong
affiliation means that people operate closer to their full potential and
are more productive. Our exit interview studies repeatedly show that
people leave organizations for a range of reasons directly linked to
leadership practices.
So what are we to do with
this leadership challenge? One important step is embracing leadership
responsibility for workforce development at all levels in our
organizations. Our studies show people working on average at only 60%
of their potential. This translates directly into compromised
organizational performance. This is an area of great opportunity.
Closing just half of this gap, to 80% of potential, contributes over one
billion dollars each year to the financial performance of an
organization of 100,000 people. There are few strategies that offer
such rich rewards. And there are examples of organizations, such as
Southwest Airlines, that embrace the workforce as central to success.
This means demonstrating commitment to individual development,
demonstrating respect for individuals, and expressing long term
commitment to build affiliation. Let’s look at alternative approaches
to closing the organizational performance gap. They are summarized in
the following figure.
Here we see four
alternatives, which are not mutually exclusive. The first is that of
redirecting the organization, typically driven by a major external
shift. For example Microsoft’s (late) adoption of the Internet as
central to its strategic direction. Redirection can also be imposed
when an organization is losing its competitive position, for example
clothing manufacturers with U.S operations struggling to compete against
low cost production in emerging economies and shifting their sources of
production. Redirection is often driven by survival needs and is
usually a top down initiative.
The second alternative is
that of reorganizing. This can be driven by emerging or changing skill
and ability needs. In many areas, ranging from movie production to
healthcare record-keeping to airline reservations, advancing technology
and communication capabilities have fundamentally changed production or
transaction processes. New skills can be created by reorganizing to
channel existing capabilities in new directions. Sometimes,
unfortunately, reorganizing is driven by political considerations when a
new manager in an organization brings his or her cronies into the
organization. In these cases the process is often one of the top
telling the middle what to do to the bottom.
The third alternative is to
attempt to buy talent. We saw this frenzy unfolding in the dot.com days
when lavish signing bonuses were common in the technology world and
tenure with high tech organizations dropped to an average of about 18
months as people job shopped continuously. It is typically viewed as a
quick fix and requires that talent be available for purchase. Both
assumptions are questionable. Talent is usually sought by casting a
broad net, using costly brokering processes such as executive search.
The fourth option is that of
building talent. This requires clarity of direction and senior
leadership invested in committing time and energy to the building
process. It usually occurs in a growth environment, although it is
integral to the sustained success of any organization. For example,
healthcare organizations that link their community, student outreach
efforts to hiring, integration and development are creating a
sustainable future workforce. Building talent requires continued
alignment of people’s aspirations and skills with organizational needs.
This means having systems and policies that support such alignment, for
example removing barriers to, and enabling, internal transfers. It is
through the building process, and integrating development, performance
and workforce planning, that we realize the potential of each person in
our workforce and the resulting productivity benefit.
Organizations seeking long
term prosperity adopt the fourth practice that of building talent as a
central strategic approach, augmented as needed by the other
approaches. Leaders in their sectors such as Southwest Airlines, Whole
Foods and Microsoft are a testament to this approach. In thinking about
how your organization is positioned, consider these stages of workforce
development.
4
Ignore
§
This is the going out of business approach. There is
little or no investment in building workforce capability. Perhaps
adopted on the basis of perceived low risk in the short term; it creates
huge risk in the long term.
4
Haphazard
§
In this case workforce development occurs sporadically
according to the whim of the moment. Examples include adoption of the
latest management fad, or viewing development as an employee perk
uncoupled from organizational or individual imperatives. It depletes
resources and contributes little.
4
Short term performance focus
§
This approach focuses only on short term organizational
results. It is driven by tactical outcomes and generally alienates the
workforce leading to rapid, acrimonious departure of people. An example
would be the venture backed company that demands excessive work hours
from employees, while providing negligible support for their
development.
4
Long term development focus
§
This is a true partnership between the organization and
the individual addressing the strategic outcomes for both. It is a
balance of giving and getting and generates long term sustainable
success. DuPont’s successfully re-invention almost every 30 years, for
about 200 years is a demonstration of this approach.
We all carry leadership
responsibility and can choose the path to adopt. Adopting a path of
long term development to build individual and organizational
capabilities is central to securing organization success, individual
fulfillment and healthy community.
Our Evolving Society
“We can have a democracy or
we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We
cannot have both.” This insight from Justice Louis Brandeis is
particularly telling when we look at information about child poverty.
The following figure from a recent Unicef study (2004) “The State of the
World’s Children 2005” highlights the perilous state of child poverty in
the U.S. Child poverty in the U.S. resembles that of Mexico, a country
struggling with limited resources, and it is far removed from much lower
child poverty rates in developed nations such as those in Scandinavian
countries.
When we look at the resources
committed to social endeavors, as shown in the following figure, this
alarming position is not surprising. The U.S. is close to the bottom of
the group of nations in committing social expenditures as a percentage
of GDP. Child poverty levels rise in direct proportion to the reduction
in social expenditures. 
While most people would see
elevated child poverty levels as ethically reprehensible, others might
simply respond “I am comfortable so why should I be concerned?” There
is a powerful answer to this. The two figures below are taken from a
World Bank study by Fajnzylber Pablo, Lederman and Loayza, “Inequality
and Violent Crime”, August 2001. The first figure shows intentional
homicide rates increasing directly with growing inequality in income
distribution as measured by the Gini coefficient. The higher the Gini
coefficient the greater the degree of inequality, which leads directly
to elevated poverty levels. The second figure shows a similar trend
with robbery rates increasing directly with growing income inequality.
(The September/October and November/December issues of this newsletter
contain information about the Gini coefficient).
As we saw in the
November/December newsletter, in the U.S. we have gross and growing
inequity. We are forced to confront an unpleasant conclusion that, in
the words of William Sloane Coffin, “we have a government of the
wealthy, by the wealthy and for the wealthy.” We are challenged to
respond to this inequity.
Quote
“It is not because we have
value that we are loved, but because we are loved that we have value.
Our value is a gift not an achievement.”
“Because our value is a gift,
we don’t have to prove ourselves, only to express ourselves, and what a
world of a difference there is between proving ourselves and expressing
ourselves.”
William Sloane Coffin.
Recent and Upcoming Elsdon Organizational
Renewal (EOR) Events
·
Recent interview in the education field “Affiliation as a Unifying
Principle in Education”
http://community.bridges.com/content/resources/feature/aupe.html
·
“Create a Business Case for Workforce Development.” Presentation for HR
Connection, Silicon Valley
o
Friday, February 11, 2005
·
“Career Fitness in Turbulent Times: Maintaining Job Search Readiness.”
Presentation for UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Alumni
o
Saturday, March 19, 2005, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business
·
“Building Employee Affiliation in a Growing Economy.” Presentation for
Foreword Financial Bank Human Resources Conference.
o
May, 2005, Memphis, Tennessee
·
“Create a Business Case for Workforce Development.” NCHRA workshop, San
Francisco
o
Thursday, May 26, 2005
·
“Becoming Career Fit in Turbulent Times” for PMI-ISSIG PDS’05 Symposium,
San Francisco
o
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
·
“Building the Organizational Bridge for Career Development” Professional
Development Institute for NCDA Global Conference, Orlando
o
NCDA: National Career Development Association
o
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
About EOR: Our Value Contribution
We enhance your workforce, leadership and organization by:
·
Using proprietary approaches to understand workforce and leadership
challenges
·
Creating tailored action plans and solutions to strengthen workforce and
leadership practices
·
Building individual capabilities and contributions
We enable you to focus on external results and building value, confident
that your organization and leadership are operating at peak
effectiveness.
Our Mission
To support your organization by enhancing performance, productivity and
effectiveness through revitalized workforce relationships and leadership
practices.
Our Approach and Values
We
tailor our engagements to the needs of each organization with a process
designed to surface critical issues, identify root causes, build
effective solutions, monitor progress and implement.
With
a scope that ranges from system and organizational interventions to work
with individuals, our focus is on the heart of the relationship among
the individual, the organization and the community. We believe that
organizational and community prosperity are built on enabling each
person to fulfill his or her potential.
Our Services
We work with individuals and groups in your organization to drive
performance and development for both the short and long term. As a
result people will choose to work in your organization and will prosper
there.
We bring solutions when you need to:
·
Reverse declining revenues and performance
·
Revitalize your workforce
·
Stem the loss of key talent
·
Redirect your organization to new areas
·
Stop losing customers or market share
·
Penetrate new markets
·
Combat aggressive competitors
·
Handle major change
·
Break down communication barriers
·
Energize your leadership team
·
Successfully build on an acquisition or merger
Our proprietary services include:
·
State-of-the-art tools to take the pulse of your organization and then
move to action
o
Web enabled systems
o
Experts to gather and analyze information, moving your organization to
action
·
Individual leadership coaching to give you world class leadership
capabilities
o
Leaders who know themselves and their aspirations, build their
capabilities and become catalysts developing others
·
Workshops to build interpersonal skills in your organization so that:
o
Communication is timely, concise, accurate and personal
o
People listen to each other
o
Negotiations are quick and effective
o
Differences create rather than destroy value
o
Teams move forward, get results and quickly commercialize new products
and services
o
People understand and link their motivations to your organizational
needs
o
Your teams understand what it takes to create a committed, energized
workforce
o
People use their time well
·
Systems that make it easy to drive performance and build capabilities
by:
o
Linking objectives throughout the organization
o
Strengthening key competencies
o
Making sure you have the bench strength where and when you need it
o
Giving people tools to take charge of their own careers and development
and have a major long term influence on your organization
·
Proprietary simulation and modeling techniques that let you explore how
to maximize the value of your workforce
o
Move from guessing what might happen to looking in depth at the
financial impact of different approaches
