Do you groan at the thought of having to hire and manage new-to-the-workforce people?
Do you wonder what’s wrong with today’s college graduates?
If so, remember two things.
The problems are not a product of your imagination.
You are not alone.
Multiple studies find the same problems I hear first-hand from managers.
“When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving.” –special report by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace
“Problems with collaboration, interpersonal skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity, flexibility and professionalism.” –Mara Swan, the executive vice president of global strategy and talent at Manpower Group
The result is that many new hires require remedial actions from already overloaded mangers that go well beyond the professional growth coaching that typifies the best managers.
I had just finished unloading my cart at Home Depot the other day when a woman pulled up with her two young sons; when I offered her my cart she shook her head and kept walking.
There was a time when she might have offered to take the cart, but those times seem a part of the past.
Instead, she kept walking, talked to her sons and answered her cell phone.
Is the world really shrinking or is it just a narrowing of interactions and less interest in what’s around us in real-time?
The more distracted we become, and the more emphasis we place on speed at the expense of depth, the less likely and able we are to care.
Everyone wants his parent’s, or friend’s, or partner’s undivided attention — even if many of us, especially children, are getting used to far less. Simone Weil wrote, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
Each step “forward” has made it easier, just a little, to avoid the emotional work of being present, to convey information rather than humanity.
As usual, I am out of step.
I take back the carts, function beautifully sans cell/smartphone, pay attention to the humans in my orbit and love real-world interactions.
Digging in the dirt, conversation and reading (mostly cozy mystery fiction) are my favorite “time wasters;” no Facebook, Twitter or Candy Crush (my sister’s addiction).
I prefer to be connected to a few in the real world than connected to dozens (hundreds?) in the cyber world.
In short, I want to continue to pay attention and be present for whatever time I have left on this planet, whether decades or days.
52% of wired boomers are using social networking sites. 32% of online seniors over 65 are using social networking sites. 57% of boomer Internet users are using Facebook, along with 35% of online seniors.
Those are hefty numbers and growing and their social media use is growing even faster. They also have financial resources that many under-30 don’t have.
Women are the other powerful market force that is often ignored, so those startups run by, and (benefit of the doubt) unconsciously for, men, may want to think again.
A record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family…
That’s money, honey.
Not only money, but talent. Yesterday we looked at the legal dangers of not hiring women, but that almost pales in comparison to the lost talent and productivity inherent in not hiring/promoting women.
Cause:But an even greater enemy of change may well be the ingrained attitudes of those who simply can’t imagine a world different from the one they’ve lived in.
Effect:The closer that America comes to fully employing the talents of all its citizens, the greater its output of goods and services will be. We’ve seen what can be accomplished when we use 50% of our human capacity. If you visualize what 100% can do…
One of your very own, not crowdsourced via social media or validated by others on one of the myriad sites that review everything from what you wear and where you go to what you do and how/when/why you do it?
An article I read today mentioned a 1950 book that described this mindset with eerie accuracy.
People went from being “inner-directed’ to being “outer-directed,” from heeding their own instincts and judgment to depending on the judgments and opinions of tastemakers and trendsetters. Having lost touch with themselves, outer-directed souls were all alone in the midst of other people.
I had to laugh.
Young people love to brag about their individuality and uniqueness; call themselves rebels and scoff at their elders as being stogy and unoriginal.
Actually, it’s just the opposite; always has been if you looked under the hood.
But these days that need to fit in has been taken to extremes never before dreamed of.
Every thought, idea, feeling, attitude, menu, what to buy, where to shop, what to wear, where to eat, movie to see—the list never ends—everything, from the big picture through any and all minutiae is a group decision.
Independent opinions and decisions seem to be the province of (mostly) older folk who aren’t wired to their smartphones, addicted to social media and came of age when thinking for yourself was a sign of intelligence and sophistication.
Your very own opinion—try it, you might just like it.
People’s preoccupation with their screens has been blamed for many things and if you’ve been around someone who kept sneaking peeks while talking you know how annoying that is.
But did you know it messes up not only your brain, but also your capacity for connection, friendship, empathy, as well as your actual physical health?
Texting even messes up your infant’s future!
New parents may need to worry less about genetic testing and more about how their own actions — like texting while breast-feeding or otherwise paying more attention to their phone than their child — leave life-limiting fingerprints on their and their children’s gene expression.
It’s not just a case of being distracted.
Your vagus nerve connects your brain to your heart and how you handle your social connections affects the vagal tone, which, like muscle tone, can improve with exercise and that, in turn, increases the capacity for connection, friendship and empathy.
In short, the more attuned to others you become, the healthier you become, and vice versa. This mutual influence also explains how a lack of positive social contact diminishes people. Your heart’s capacity for friendship also obeys the biological law of “use it or lose it.” If you don’t regularly exercise your ability to connect face to face, you’ll eventually find yourself lacking some of the basic biological capacity to do so.
Do I think this research will actually make a difference in people’s actions?
No!
Even if the information becomes widespread I don’t think people would give up the instant gratification of being mentioned or conquer their FOMO and focus instead on quality face time.
It doesn’t seem a big deal right now, but look into the future at a world that doesn’t just lack connection and empathy, but is filled with people who aren’t even capable of it.
Ask most people if they hear people or listen to them and they’ll say they listen.
But if you are checking email, doing stuff on your smart phone; thinking about dinner, plotting a date with the hot guy/gal you chatted with while getting your morning coffee, listening to the conversation at the next table or any of a myriad of other things then you aren’t listening.
Most people acknowledge the addictive quality of today’s technology.
Crackberries have long been a joke, but from email and texting to Angry Birds and Facebook people are staying online longer, often to the detriment of their families, their work and even their humanity.
The addictive qualities of technology have long been a subject for academics, psychologists and social scientists.
The question now is when building a product, what responsibility, if any, do entrepreneurs have for its effect on people?
That’s a question being asked by tech leaders from places such as Google, Twitter and Facebook and forming the basis for an annual event called Wisdom 2.0.
But hearing it from leaders at many of Silicon Valley’s most influential companies, who profit from people spending more time online, can sound like auto executives selling muscle cars while warning about the dangers of fast acceleration.
“We’re done with this honeymoon phase and now we’re in this phase that says, ‘Wow, what have we done?’ ” said Soren Gordhamer, who organizes Wisdom 2.0, an annual conference he started in 2010 about the pursuit of balance in the digital age. “It doesn’t mean what we’ve done is bad. There’s no blame. But there is a turning of the page.”
Wisdom 2.0 provides a forum and insights from the very leaders whose success most entrepreneurs want to emulate.
In the crush of 80 hour weeks it’s difficult to find the time or energy to consider the long-term effect of what you are doing, but it’s necessary if you are in it for more than the money.
However, the thoughts are worth having and you’ll find that creating a conversation among those who toil alongside you is a great way to share, bond, learn and grow personally, as well as build a stronger company.
Over the last seven years of writing MAPping Company Success I’ve suggested limiting, and occasionally ranted about, the current 24/7 work style and how our over-connectedness is destroying creativity and innovation along with families and personal health (most recently here and here).
“Is our obsession with technology creating new kinds of potential hazards in the workplace? Is there something wrong with the way we work? What can we do about it? What do you think?”
As good as Heskett is at posing questions that make you think, the greatest value often comes from the reader comments.
Here are excerpts from two I found particularly cogent,
Cell phones, smart phones and any other electronic device that tethers us to the world are the new adult “binkies”. They are the new security trinkets that help people feel better about themselves. All the phobias and insecurities, the feeling of being needed or important, and the sense of belonging that come about from healthy relationships are filled by devices. –Phil Clark, Clark & Associates
This new type of work life disturbs me in two ways. First, it is destroying the art of pondering.
Great advances come from great thoughts, and great thoughts need pondering time. (…) …eureka moments come most frequently when you put aside work and let your mind rest in pleasurable diversions. –Gerald Nanninga, Principal Consultant, Planninga from Nanninga
Many more comments, stories and analysis will be added before Heskett closes the forum.
It will be well worth your while to make time to follow the discussion.
If you choose to participate, please post your comment here, also.
In our wired era being available 24/7 generates both bragging rights and work/life balance complaints and nowhere more so than the high-powered world of management consulting.
It was in this world, as represented by a small team at Boston Consulting Group, that HBS professor Leslie A. Perlow initiated an experiment four years ago on the extreme benefits of “predictable time off” (PTO).
She shares the story and documents her findings in a new book called Sleeping With Your Smartphone.
Supposedly, the unpredictability working across time zones requires constant availability, but is that true?
“What caught our attention was that the more people were on, the more unpredictable their work time seemed to become.”
The key to success was predictability.
Perlow’s research started with a small team and three basic steps.
“First, team members have to agree on a specific unit of time each week that everyone can turn off. Not at the same time, obviously, since team members have to cover for each other. In our first experiment, it was one night a week. But whatever the goal, it has to be valued by the team, as a group. It has to be small but doable. And it has to be concrete and measurable.”
“Second, the team needs to meet weekly to discuss the challenges and successes they’re facing as they try to achieve the goal. These meetings are crucial for PTO to work, but they offer much more. They’re a regular forum for productive conversations about work, conversations that empower people to speak up. In theory, people are speaking up about process, which allows the team to meet the time-off goal. But really they’re speaking about all aspects of the work experience.”
“Finally, the team’s leaders — bosses, managers — have to show support for the project and for team members’ efforts. That’s not just about allowing colleagues to speak up and to use their time off. It’s also about doing the same themselves.”
Four years later 86% of the consulting staff in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC are practicing PTO.
According to BCG’s CEO, Hans-Paul Bürkner, the process unleashed by these experiments “has proven not only to enhance work-life balance, making careers much more sustainable, but also to improve client value delivery, consultant development, business services team effectiveness, and overall case experience. It is becoming part of the culture—the future of BCG.”
Retention is up, job satisfaction is up, productivity is up, client satisfaction is up.
Given proven results and a reliable methodology to follow, PTO can be instituted by any manager at any level even where the over-arching culture is hostile.
Nor is there any need for HR approval.
Go ahead; reap all those rewards and be a hero to your team—all it takes is 20 bucks and synergistic MAP, both of which are in your direct control.
…a phenomenon that’s been identified by Edward de Bono, the legendary creative thinker. He calls it the “creative pause.” (…)The creative pause allows the space for your mind to drift, to imagine and to shift, opening it up to new ways of seeing.
From HBS’ Jim Heskett’s research question on deep thinking to my own comments on the value of silence, the need for undistracted time and the resulting creativity is well documented.
To be or not to be distracted is an individual free choice and can’t be dictated by others, but it is always wise to look at the consequences of one’s chosen actions.
Distracted driving kills people.
Distracted thinking kills creativity and innovation.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Do you groan at the thought of having to hire and manage new-to-the-workforce people?
I had just finished unloading my cart at Home Depot the other day when a woman pulled up with her two young sons; when I offered her my cart she shook her head and kept walking.
This post is for entrepreneurs (and thinking people everywhere).
Have you had an opinion lately?
People’s preoccupation with their screens has been blamed for many things and if you’ve been around someone who kept sneaking peeks while talking you know how annoying that is.
Ask most people if they hear people or listen to them and they’ll say they listen.
Over the last seven years of writing MAPping Company Success I’ve suggested limiting, and occasionally ranted about, the current 24/7 work style and how our over-connectedness is destroying creativity and innovation along with families and personal health (most recently 
In our wired era being available 24/7 generates both bragging rights and work/life balance complaints and nowhere more so than the high-powered world of management consulting.
