WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
11/12/07
When older workers have younger bosses
It's finally happened: a significant number of our seasoned employees are being managed by people young enough to be their children. How can we help our older workers come to terms with this new phenomenon?
My advice to older workers: You can't succeed on your own; neither can your manager. You two need to be partners in delivering on the organization's needs. Don't get hung up on what's different about younger bosses. Instead, establish an effective working partnership with your manager based on your skills, interests, and needs - and his or her needs.
Here are a few specific suggestions for older workers with younger bosses:
- Avoid assumptions - Books abound on generational differences. Yet each employee or leader - regardless of age -- arrives at work with different life experiences, personal motivators, and career ambitions. Rather than make generalizations, focus on understanding your manager, not his or her peer group.
- Exchange information - Our employee engagement research indicates that the more you and your manager know about each other, the more satisfied and successful you'll be. This is more important when there is an age gap, since you are unlikely to have shared context. (I, for example, have a different definition of "soon" having started in a workplace devoid of faxes or e-mail.) Discuss and get specific examples on what your manager thinks about:
- Regular check-ins - In person? Every day? Once a week? As needed?
- Meeting style - Quick and to the point? Leisurely?
- Discussion style - Does your boss like brainstorming ideas out loud or absorbing information, thinking, and then discussing?
- Detail orientation - Big picture or weeds?
- Risk tolerance - Comfortable with new ideas or proven processes?
- Don't parent - Your boss doesn't need another mother or father to provide worldly advice or marvel at his or her technological wizardry. His or her success depends on your performance and commitment, not your approval.
-- MARY ANN MASARECH
Meeting disparate training needs
As the complexion of our workforce changes, I've noticed that our one-size-fits-all approach to training no longer seems to be working. What specifically can we do to meet the training needs of multiple generations and different cultures in our workforce?
Learning and development are certainly becoming more complex. As organizations look to provide more strategic development more cost-effectively, and as more and more individuals who never lived in a world without computers enter the workforce, technological advances can provide significant new ways to learn.
Although it's important to stay abreast of the workforce's evolving learning preferences, the most important point to remember is that your choice of learning methodology needs to be suited to the topic or skills you're trying to teach.
It's also helpful to think less about training and more about learning. We're all more comfortable today at finding answers (witness the phenomenon of Google). The more information you can provide - accessible when employees need it to support their performance - the better. Consider "wikis" - multi-user contributed web documents - for information sharing, where employees can help each other learn. Online content that can be easily searched just in time is also a valuable addition to your standard training curriculum.
And don't give up on the human touch. A recent study by the University of Phoenix and Yankelovich indicated that Generation Y, although very comfortable with online learning, craves personal attention.
-- MARY ANN MASARECH
Evaluating 360-degree feedback programs
I am looking for a 360-degree feedback program that we can implement on our own. We don't want to retain the services of an external vendor because we cannot afford it right now. Also, what are the pros and cons of implementing a web-based program vs. a traditional program?
Multi-rater (aka, 360-degree) feedback programs can backfire if they are not introduced carefully. So whether you choose to work with a firm that provides consulting in addition to the assessment process or select an online, "off-the-shelf" tool, you must be very clear on why you are implementing multi-rater feedback. And you must carefully communicate your objectives. Do you want to encourage self-directed development? Put teeth into your annual review? Identify high-potential employees? Without thoughtful implementation, this process can create anxiety and distrust throughout your organization.
The lower cost and apparent simplicity of an online tool may not be enough of a savings to make up for the lost benefits that a more traditional approach provides. According to my colleague and senior consultant, Alan Abeles, who has many years' experience coaching executives and administering multi-rater feedback programs, you're likely to miss out on the following benefits if you use an online-only program without the involvement of a consultant:
- Tailoring of questions to reflect your business priorities - A consultant can help you identify which behaviors or characteristics are most important now for your organization.
- Confidentiality - Third-party involvement helps ensure that feedback providers and individuals being assessed are comfortable with sharing sometimes sensitive information.
- Development planning - The report generated by a feedback tool (if read at all) may provide a comprehensive analysis and recommended next steps. A certified coach, however, can help an individual net out the most important insights and translate generic recommendations into a personalized, reasonable plan of action in the context of that person's work priorities.
Bottom line: If your organizational culture tends to be "feedback-averse" or does not have a history of performance accountability or developmental planning, I'd consider not going it alone.
-- MARY ANN MASARECH
Performance management as part of HR
To what extent is performance development a new variant of human resource management or simply the latest fad?
Performance management is a subset of human resource management. It focuses on aligning employees' goals, development, and (ideally) compensation with the organization's needs.
It's no fad. Since labor costs typically account for a significant portion of organizational budgets, performance management is a way to measure and improve the return on "human capital investments."
Performance management is a hot topic, too, because organizations struggle to make it work. Successful performance management requires ownership by senior executives, employee goals clearly linked to the business strategy, managers who coach and hold employees accountable for their goals, a focus not just on strategy (the what) but also on organizational values (the how), and a commitment to manager-employee dialogue about performance goals before anyone inputs information into an online tool or system. It's harder than it sounds.
-- MARY ANN MASARECH
Reaching out to virtual employees
I am looking for suggestions on ways to reach our virtual employees and help them feel like they are a part of the organization. I am able to hold events for our corporate employees but would like some suggestions on how to reach those outside of headquarters.
Here are some suggestions:
- Pick the right employees and the right managers for these assignments - SHRM's experts suggest that the answer to this question starts at the beginning of the relationship. Not every employee or manager is ready to be virtual.
- Make it easy for these employees to work with others - Create group e-mail distribution systems. Make sure they have access to files and group folders and meeting minutes, project files, and status reports. There should be no distinction between how hard it is for them to work remotely and the employee who sits in front of you. Use phone calls, e-mails, chat rooms, web ex calls, and video cam events as possible.
- Include them in social events - Call them when there is a party. Send them a cake and celebrate their birthday.
- Annual meetings - If possible, invite all of the virtual employees into the home office to meet at least once a year.
-- NORMA CONLEY
Considering e-learning
We have been doing classroom-based corporate training for years, but e-learning is a new and unproven phenomenon for us. I am unsure of its effectiveness and don't even know where to start exploring options. Can you tell me how I would begin researching this? What are the benefits versus traditional training? And has it really caught on in the corporate world?
The use of e-learning has increased dramatically due to the following four issues:
- The need to issue a great deal of information to a lot of employees at one time.
- An increase in employees' computer savvy in the workplace.
- Increases in the typical workload.
- A decreased ability, due to cost and time, to have many employees in the same place at the same time for on-site educational programs.
The decision to consider e-learning is a big step. Although there is no doubt that e-learning can spread its message to a large market with little difficulty, there are considerations that must be made. Take a look at the May, 2001 SHRM article, "Are You Ready for E-Learning?" First assess your situation. If you have numerous common educational goals that must be met for a large group of employees in a wide range of locations, and these programs do not require the in-depth approach of classroom training, then e-learning may be an option. For example, common company policies such as Code of Ethics, Sexual Harassment, and specific company policies can easily be incorporated into an e-learning solution. If your employees are computer savvy and if you have the appropriate technology to institute e-learning, then consider this as an option.
-- NORMA CONLEY
Determining job titles
What is the latest thinking or a good resource for determining corporate job titles? We are a growing firm and I need to distinguish between team leaders, supervisors, directors, etc. We are just at 400+ and suddenly titles mean a lot where they didn't use to. Any direction would be great.
The dilemma of who has titles and how many there should be increases with the maturity and growth of a company. Numerous titles may not be all bad. First, ask yourself the following:
- Does the nature of the business require extensive titles?
- Are the titles required to meet industry standards?
- Does your organization have many unique business units?
- Have you been part of a recent merger or acquisition?
Then, I suggest you take these steps:
1. Review all of the job descriptions and job titles that exist and combine like job titles and duties into families of jobs.
2. Job titles should reflect the content of the job.
3. Job titles should fit into the large compensation system in your company.
4. Make sure to review jobs across departments and divisions.
5. Make certain that you have clearly reviewed the perks that go with the job titles.
The key is to analyze what your company needs and why and then institute titles accordingly. If you follow the guidelines above, you should have a fair and logical method for designing and implementing a job title program.
-- NORMA CONLEY
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance
This is a major concern for HR: how do we maintain a healthy work life balance in the firm? Employees in our firm work terribly long work hours, and we need to present some new ideas to our CEO and want to send the right message.
Here are some ideas to address your concerns about work-life balance in your company:
- First of all, own up to the problem - Invite your employees to address the issue. Make it a company-wide program for your employees to think of ways to change the workload to save time.
- Next, give back time to employees - Make it clear that an employee can take a couple of hours off to see their child play in a game or leave early. Arrange for dry cleaners to come to the company; check if food services will deliver; arrange for your cafeteria to prepare take-home meals at a reasonable cost. Consider letting employees flex their hours.
- Provide for employees' health - Your employees' health is critical. Arrange for payroll deduction for a health club or the YMCA. Buy exercise equipment for one of your offices and let employees use this during the day. Create a walking club so that people exercise. Most healthcare providers will arrange for healthy programs at work for limited to no cost.
- Thank them - Establish a practice of thanking your employees every day for all that they give to the company. Create an on-the-spot program and hand out a check for $25or $50 or more to those employees who give every day. Create sports trivia pages and post them at the coffee stations. Winners get dinner for two. They are working a lot of hours for you.
-- NORMA CONLEY
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