Monday, November 28, 2011

#16 - Harvest for College Tuition

There is a great article by Elizabeth Dwoskin in the November 20th issue of Bloomberg Businessweek titled "Why American's won't do dirty jobs." One of best American assets in this country is our agricultural industry. In many states, if it were not for beef (Montana), oranges (Florida), grapes (California), and corn (Midwest) our economy and our way of life would surely not exist as we know it. We are a well-fed nation because of our adoration of food and agriculture provides a very necessary economic and commercial engine for that love. Yet the problem: there is no one willing to harvest the crops.

Ironic isn't it?! Millions of people are out of work but are too snobby to take on the work of immigrants who come to this country to work tirelessly for near minimum wage jobs (or per piece or bucket or bushel)! But that is where the problem lies is the pay is not enough and the hours are horrendous requiring back breaking work that many of us went to college to avoid. After working for 12 years in worker's compensation and counseling legions of injured workers suffering from debilitating injuries due to physical labor (lineman, loggers, certified nursing assistant, truck drivers), I always touted the benefits of a good education - a desk job! Now I'm not so sure that we have been sending the right message. Instead, perhaps the message should be changed: work hard while you can while going to college to avoid having to do it forever!

BRAINSTORM: (Likely many won't approve because so few care to get their hands dirty but I think this could solve many problems and create a sustainable education system and agricultural industry - so bear with me as I elucidate). Harvest for Tuition! Yup - every student going to a public post-secondary institution can have their tuition waived if they put in 360 hours (6 days a week, 10 hours a day, for six weeks) of labor (per academic year) at a farm planting, maintaining, harvesting, and preparing fields. Okay, granted not everyone is physically capable of performing some of these duties but a majority are. Those who are not (and it's not because mommy said so) they can participate in other duties related to raising crops; forecasting crop futures (economics), assess value of crops and equipment (marketing/accounting), impact of weather (meteorology), pest (entomology), and other environmental factors (geology), tracking hours of the workers (human resources) and other aspects of the business of running a farm.

This would all be subsidized by the US government, students would then not need financial aid and those  who participate will be able to utilize this experience in the class room as well as gain a better understanding and appreciation of a billion dollar industry and it's variety of crops, locations, politics, and power across America. It will be entirely voluntary thus eliminating the illegal immigrant issue. Those students who pass on this labor agreement will have to pay full tuition. In addition they will miss a sense of pride over calluses that ring their palms, a wicked farmer tan, and respect for hard work.  

Thursday, November 10, 2011

WM #15: "Bar Fight"

Snow in OCTOBER?

I had an argument with woman I met in a bar in Mystic last night over the CL&P's post Winter Storm Arnold debacle. While sitting peacefully nursing a lovely Tanqueray martini with three olives, a couple entered the bar who were very gregarious and  sociable. Not sure how the conversation started but we got to the topic of the power outage in western and northern Connecticut and everywhere else in between. Essentially the female half of the couple felt very vehemently everyone needs to give CL&P (Connecticut Light and Power) a break and make the best of the power outage by going out and buying generators. While I can appreciate this point of view being an outdoorsy kind a gal adapting to a couple days without power, what I took offense to was her assertion that CL&P as a business do not have to report to anyone about their business practices and how they deal with this type of situation. She argued, "They were ill-prepared for a big storm that shook our state back to the 19th century and was comparable to Katrina in it's damage!"  Bull Shit!
Danbury, CT


First of all, CL&P is a customer driven enterprise that remains always and forever obligated to the their 1.2 million customers who rely upon them for power that sustains businesses, safety, comfort, and light. For this reason they must inform and prepare customers accurately and honestly on delays and failures in restoring power - PERIOD!

Second, whenever I hear someone who drinks deeply of the corporate greed "kool-aide" it just pisses me off - thus - a "bar fight." I see it as an opportunity to educate and influence a more appropriate point of view - MINE! Okay maybe I'm a little self absorbed but hey - this is my blog and I'm weird - but not too weird cause someone agrees with me.

Senator Joe Courtney sent his insights and plan of action recently via an email. Due to the missed CL&P deadlines and poor communications, Courtney called upon a Congressional Delegation Investigation. YES! Let's hold those bastards accountable while they languish in their multimillion dollar homes protected by their fancy, schmancy stock portfolio and gold Bullions housed in a Swiss bank account.

You can read an interesting (and short) letter to the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the following link: http://courtney.house.gov/index.cfm?.sectionid=206&sectiontree=4,11,206&itemid=1035

Because I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to comment, I wrote the following to Mr. Courtney:


Mr. Courtney, 


Thank you for your recent email regarding the current issues with CL&P. I am a professor of management at Eastern CT State University and often use organizational mishaps to discuss with my students on communications that have fallen short during a crisis (last year I discussed Toyota's accelerator issues and their poor response time to consumers and dealers). 


With all that our country and state is confronted with economically, CL&P and it's leadership must be held accountable for their failed communication and clear disregard for importance of holistically responding to this type of crisis. No organization is an island! 


I believe you are in a unique and hopefully pivotal spot to give them a clear understanding of the consequences of this situation. While I did not lose power after the winter storm, I did after Tropical Storm Irene. Many of your constituents recognized our dependence on electricity yet, unfortunetly, failed to recognize the "power" of a monopolistic entity such as CL&P. We can't switch power companies like we can banks. 


I look forward to seeing and hearing about the outcome and repercussions laid upon CL&P for their abuse of power and lack of respect for their citizens, customers, workers, and other public agencies that had to pick up the slack! Thank you for your continued communication and diligence in overseeing our state and it's entities. 


Lisa McRoberts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

WM #14: Hiring Managers: What they are looking for?

My husband retired from the Navy two weeks ago. As of today he has been looking for work for two months. Because of the BS going on between the Democrats and Republicans over jobs and budgets, a job that would have secured my husbands dignity and overall view of post Navy life would have been rosy! But alas, the two jobs he interviewed for dried up because of the political pissing contest that is going on in D.C.

What I find amazing is a recent blog I read by Jason Seldon (My blog is Profersonal) about the current critical shortage of employees reported by some organizations. Now this really surprises me with millions of often high-level, qualified, and competent people (like my beloved spouse) that are out there. According to Jason, a recent Career Advisory Board study done by DeVry University reports that the skills that employers are looking for are absent from the available candidates looking for work. According to the survey of hiring mangers, 86% of them felt that the candidates did not have the skills their company were looking for. These skills are:

  1. Strategic perspective
  2. High integrity
  3. Global outlook
  4. Strong base work ethic
  5. Dependable and accountability
So the first thing that popped into my brain was "DUH! NO kidding, really!?" If these employers are talking to only fresh out of school college students, I can see where they may be struggling in getting a valuable read on candidates for these characteristics but from seasoned employees who come from various walks of life and perspective in the United States? Really? I would suggest they need to ask the right questions and not base their conclusions on an electronic copy of a resume or a 30 minute telephone interview. 

First of all - what is their filtering criteria to get folks into their office or on the telephone? Is it a HR generalist or recruiter that likely does not have a degree in business and fail to recognize these requirements and attributes correctly. Or are managers using some fancy wham-o-din software program to select key words that any idiot can strategically place into their word document uploaded to the company web site? Granted, I know there are a trillion applicants for every single job but really, figure out what your software is missing by actually selecting a random sample of resumes and looking at them. 

Second, spend some time with the folks that you have selected (call around and find out who hasn't applied, networking works both ways) and device a few short questions and scenarios that enable you to gain insight on someones knowledge of strategy. "Strategic perspective" is tough for professional strategist; it's a lot like Philosophy and requires some pretty high level thinking  to articulate so don't expect someone to really understand what that means unless you clearly understand it in the context of your organization and how you EXPECT a potential new hire to articulate it. In other words, was the candidate able to search out your organizational strategy (Internet, company brochure, sign in the lobby) and understand it. Many organizations don't even have a clear strategy so if you can't articulate it - how can a potential new employee provide perspective? 

Finally, remember job searching is extremely stressful - especially for someone scared to death NOT to get the job because then they have to go out and beg for money from their parents to make it to the next interview and unemployment check. This is a crazy time and everyone should be trying to work together to get our economy jumped started again. Businesses have to start recognizing that they have an obligation to hire and sustain growth but also to at least prepare themselves to interview constructively and without intimidation. Slow down, take some time to prepare, give the candidate an opportunity to try and fit in to your organization. 

Monday, September 26, 2011

WM #13: References from BAD Bosses

I really like this video about  right and wrong in employment references. I always heard from HR specialist (which I am not) that when asked for a reference one must only give dates of employment, last wages earned, and confirmation of employment - that's it! WRONG!  This is especially timely considering the state of flux in our US and global economy and the impending or actual doom for more workers to either be laid off, fired, or downsized. Or to have fired a bad employee how to prepare for those requests for references.

While the good advice to managers looking to "separate the chaff from the wheat" in a business that may have too many employees to support is "Last Hired, First Fired" many still look at firing or eliminating positions based on other criteria. For example workers that managers construe as unlikable or unproductive when in fact it may be a personality issue or just plain mean-spirited in a bully-like environment. This is becoming more and more a problem in organizations that hire young or inexperienced micro-managers with narcissistic tendencies (we all know who they are). They may be cheap and full of fire but they just create a fire-storm of angst among the ranks.

The video from this link is a valuable and important reminder of what you can expect when getting a reference from a bad boss (with really good advice to protect yourself from subjective and inappropriate responses) to what managers (the good ones) can say if asked for a reference on a bad employee.

Ways to stop a bully boss from giving a bad reference!

The website - Undercover Lawyer - is chock-a-block full of helpful information!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

WM # 12: West Meets East

I went to the Academy of Management Annual meeting in San Antonio Texas at the end of August. The theme was East Meets West with over seven thousand participants - management geeks like me - from across the globe. It was a fascinating and enriching experience where collaboration and networking between countries was definitely the pursuit. I met an interesting professor from Meiji University in Tokyo Japan. I think I was meant to meet him because our paths crossed twice in exactly the same place and twice in one day. I invited him to dinner. He teaches diversity and communications. He has been contracted by the US military to discuss his perspective on how to effectively communication with other cultures. He is preparing to teach and consult at the American University in Washington D.C. later this year. These were some of things I learned from him during our short time:

1. Be brave enough to explore controversial topics and ask people questions about it - even if you are not from the area (He decided to study the cultural perspective of Barack Obama's leadership style by asking citizens from Virginia - he went door to door with his survey.)
2. Teach and speak like a rock star (He wasn't afraid to be enthusiastic about his topic. I was immediately drawn to his energy and excitement. His average class size at Meiji University is over 1000 students! From what he told me - they love him! I know I did!).
3. Be willing to discuss your ideas while also promoting your own work. (He was not fearful of discussing and promoting his own work. I'm often reluctant to do this because I don't want to come off as arrogant. He was so excited to share his ideas and what he was working on you couldn't help but want to read what he had done.)
Japanese symbol for "Friendship"

Here is the link to my friend Dr. Motoo Unno's work : http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/frontline/unno/index.html

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

#12 - Amy Winehouse, a unique individual!

RIP Amy!

As is the nature of the entertainment industry, it is wrought with it's critiques - those who don't particularly like or agree with what a unique talent is doing. One has to be really brave to try to break into this elitist and often degrading industry since ones bones will be picked dry by vultures called paparazzi, tabloids, industry big wigs, promoters, PR agents, and an abundant list of others who look to sponge off  talented individuals and their business naivete. And to think, people are clamoring to break into the entertainment industry in just about any way possible; no thanks, I'll pass.

From my perspective this is a very common phenomenon within any industry where someone looks to break out (or into) and do things differently or create fundamental change. Change is feared and unique individualism is scrutinized. It's one of the reasons I think that America is economically "stuck" - any new ideas are squelched by cronyism. While technology is running along at breakneck speed (because by golly - too many people are making money at it), America remains rooted to very out-dated and staid thinking.

Take for example public education - walk into any school in this country (except for maybe a few charter schools) and each one will replicate the same pedagogical model: sit at your desk and listen to your teacher. But it doesn't work any more - kids are dropping out, failing, or just not learning enough to advance to the next phase of growth, e.g. dynamic problem solving and creative thinking are stilted and squashed resulting in social and economic inertia!

We could learn from this travesty of Amy and others - those who look to break out usually break down.

Friday, July 15, 2011

WM #11 - Virtual Insanity

"Virtual Insanity"


(Partial Lyrics taken from Jamiroquai)


"Futures made of virtual insanity now
Always seem to, be govern'd by this love we have
For useless, twisting, our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound - for we all live underground"



On my walk this morning I was listening to this song. The lyrics seem so appropriate for an introduction to this blog. 


As a management scholar I get to look at others research mind boggling reveals some interesting insights about technology which many of us realize but don't seem to do anything about. While technologies like the Internet, Facebook, MS SharePoint, Blackboard and a inexplicable number of other software platforms are being developed, there are NOT enough qualified workers to maintain, secure, and administrate them. 


A good friend ('sup Charles) is preparing a study to explore this as it relates to Information Assurance (essentially computer network security) and his insights are facinating. What he has discovered is network security doesn't have enough people with experiential learning to equip them for this type of work. The current workforce for this field and often organizational spending is focused on technology rather than human resources. Those who do have the training and experience command such high salaries that only MAJOR corporations can afford to hire.


So what is going on  here? Why don't we spend more time helping people learn technology instead of just piling on more technology? This is what I think:


1. Organizational leaders love new gadgets (blame it on the Geeks from Wired Magazine).
2. Organizational leaders think technology can replace the work of two people (but need to be maintained by support desk "Betty" in India at $70/hr).
3. Organizational leaders think new technologies will eliminate or catch up with competitors (really - worry about the customers!).
4. Organizational leaders don't revisit their SWOT analysis and ask do we have the skill set within the organization to handle this new technology?


Stop the Virtual Insanity people - workers are having a hard enough time checking our three email accounts, linking our phones to our Outlook accounts, and programming our VCRs or DVRs to record reruns of Friends or M.A.S.H. Don't keep piling on new technologies on your employees in hopes that they will adapt - it needs to go the other way around!


Check out the Virtual Insanity Video - AWESOME!

Monday, July 11, 2011

WM #10 : Either you run the day or the day runs you.


I read this quote today: 
Either you run the day or the day runs you.
~Jim Rohn


As managers, leaders, teachers, students, parents, ... human being, we are often directed by everyone but ourselves. The proverbial 'fires' that sprout up every few minutes and demand our attention versus the other way around. Today - being Monday - this quote from famous life strategist Jim Rohn really resonated with me.  


During adolescents our schedules are dictated to us versus the other way around - and this is for a reason - because you know that children and students are often not yet disciplined enough to make their own schedules (I think I'll schedule Microbiology at 8:00 a.m. on Monday because I will never party the previous weekend and need to have late classes on Monday!). When I was an undergraduate at Washington State University, my 8:00 a.m. class every Tuesday and Thursday was Philosophy 101. WHY DIDN'T I drop that class! Probably because it was a pre-requisite for Abnormal Psychology and I had no other course choices - I was a victim of someone else's schedule. I did poorly in that class.


We all can recall looking forward to the ultimate freedom of creating our own schedules; when and where we want to be and do. Huh!? Does it really work that way? Sick kids, disorganized bosses, urgent phone calls, doctors/dentists office hours, etc.... Life is too complicated and it is filled with other human beings who fail to heed schedules or those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who do and force us to use them. We are a product of our environment and it is drilled into our brain since birth - when to eat, sleep, sit, study, and play. Then BOOM - you are on your own baby!


If this is your struggle, as it is for me, do the following right now: list all tasks that are important for you to accomplish during the course of this month (starting today). Example: an article that needs to be written, schedule car tune-up, a budget completed, talk with poor performer on your, a presentation that needs to be outlined. Everything that is a must do but is easy to put off - write them all down and prioritize one through ten or whatever length of your list. (If you have a list of over twenty things - OK - quit micromanaging and delegate - shesh!)


Now, give yourself a deadline for each of these items. In school we have forced deadlines (mid terms, finals, advisor office hours). Force yourself to do this - realistic or not, you may not know because of others that are involved (the source of our fires) but this will force you to keep it on your radar. For example this is my list: 
  1. Practice Dissertation Proposal conference call with Accountability Partner - July 11 (Mon)
  2. Finish Writing WM #10 - July 11 (Mon)
  3. Finish reading "Taming the Abrasive Manager" (for possible course text) - July 13 (Weds)
  4. Download NVivo9 Software onto laptop - July 15 (Fri)
  5. Email "hello" to French students - July 16 (Sat)
  6. Finish outline short story (Invisible Fence) - July 22 (Fri)
  7. Pack for AoM in San Antonio - July 28 (Thur)
Notice that each of these are actionable and not ambiguous. This is key to ensure that there is something you are able to actually do versus something that is rather vague and non actionable. For example 'Email "hello!" to French Students' is precisely what I need to do versus "Contact students" which could have all sorts of meanings (phone, email, which students, etc.). Giving yourself very direct instructions for your list will increase the likelihood that you will DO it! 


Now, think how long will it take to complete each of these tasks? Finish outline of short story could take me one to eight hours depending upon how far I want to take it so I may consider breaking this up into pieces putting it into my schedule incrementally but I don't work that way - once I start it I have to finish it with no interruptions. Same with writing a blog - I lose the flow if I'm interrupted. So know your style of dealing with these things. Don't let others dictate it.


As managers we are often caught up in the ad hoc role of firefighter versus productive and proactive leader, organizer, and planner. If you heed this advice, you'll likely be the one forcing others to move to your schedule versus the other way around!


So why is this weird management - because few of us actually do this and accomplish it consistently thus making it a extraordinary phenomenon. Ask a few colleagues - "How many fires did you have to put out today?" Their response will be 'enlightening!'

Monday, June 20, 2011

WM #9.5: Planning ahead (The Critical Path)

(I had promised to keep these Blogs short, which my spouse so purposefully pointed out to me after the last one; it was a tad overkill creating a glazed-over look on his face - so I cut it in half. This is probably "Blog suicide" but since I'm trying to keep this an active post for students taking my Fundamentals of Management courseI decided I'd better edit this particular post - my apologies to those who have been reading and are confused by this recent edit.)

WM #9.5: How to avoid a train wreck - Plan Ahead!

Through the identification of "critical path" (often with the use of a Gantt chart), a manager defines one sequence of events that take the longest and cannot easily be reduced in size, speed, or time. In other words, what ensures that the project is accomplished safely, correctly and with the least amount of risk if things go wrong. An easy example to illustrate this process is envision constructing a skyscraper; the main structure or foundation must be completed first before any of the plumbing, dry wall, or windows can be installed, hung, or inserted. Henry L. Gantt was the first to develop this very simplistic idea in the form of a bar chart that lists activities and dates enabling projects to be accomplished by visualizing the project activity duration.
Understanding what takes precedence in a project to ensure that other's activities can take place either concurrently or right after one is accomplished.

In a complex society where work is accomplished not just by one person but many, this type of planning is paramount to project delivery and meeting business objectives while ensuring safety to the humans performing and receiving the new service or project. Especially in contemporary society where everything seems to be done YESTERDAY! Time is literally money in every aspect of business life and often corners are cut for the sake of reducing the amount of time to save on costs. This is wrong but often done in many instances of human economic development and a topic for another blog.

Why did this train drive through a tornado (see previous post)? Probably because they didn't consider the consequences (assessed risk) and maybe had never done it before (Train Engineer says, "We're heavy with umpteen cars weighing 15 tons apiece - a tornado won't be a problem"). I bet they'll never do that again! Now I gotta go change my shirt - I spilled grape koolaide (again, refer to last post)!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

WM #9 : Plan AHEAD!

My kids always tease me that I can't keep a white shirt clean because of my preponderance to dribble whatever I eat or drink right on the front of it. It's called a shelf people! And for a buxom broad like me, well, it's an inevitable problem. My biggest (no pun intended) problem is being somewhere that I don't have a way to cover up, clean, or replace the offending shirt that has been the recipient of a recent DQ chocolate dip cone dribble or a dollop of mustard that has escaped from my Nathan's hot dog! So planning is everything and whoever invented those Tide Clean Stix should receive the Nobel Prize for invention and innovation! Whenever I go somewhere that requires some semblance of professionalism, I always plan to bring a sweater, jacket or - even better - a scarf; versatile, easily tucked away, and so many styles and designs to match a multitude of outfits. I KNOW that I will be needing something to cover any "oops" dribble if there is any beverage or food consumption in my future!


So you may be asking yourself, "what's this got to do with management?" Planning people! I repeatedly discuss this concept with students and how often managers are caught ill-prepared for difficult situations. While we cannot possibly plan for every contingency it is important to have every possible problem or mishap planned for with the hopes that it will NEVER happen. The above video illustrates a situation that likely many train engineers had hoped that they would never have to be confronted with but unfortunately, did! A tornado struck this train quickly and with incredible fierceness that serves as great YouTube fodder but think what the cost was to the train company and town for clean-up, recovery of equipment, loss of life and limb, and the logistics required to get the train track passable again. With all of the recent catastrophic weather conditions around the country (fires in SW, tornado in Springfield MA, flooding along the Mississippi) businesses must be prepared for every possible catastrophic scenario to keep their business afloat.

While working on a large project management assignment as a consultant, I was struck by the planning required to launch a complex, multi-layered, global information technology project. Included in this  project was a vast number of human resources who worked to analyze, define, develop, test, and communicate a project of this size. Hundreds of people worked on their individual piece of the project puzzle while ONE incredible woman - the program manager and my boss - kept it moving. Her job was to orchestrate the entire process. I learned a lot from her and realized that while technology is a wonderful and powerful tool to accomplish the most mundane and tedious tasks, the number of people involved to ensure that it works correctly for the end-user (like you and me) is daunting! We consumers nearly subconsciously use technology to pay our taxes, purchase shoes, or check savings account balance.

With all this technological development, contingency factors of risk must be considered. What does that mean you may ask? The "what if" scenario. "What if" the organizational network fails or is not adequately stress tested for the deluge of users on April 14th and while uploading your taxes the US Government server crashes - Yikes! What if you find the perfect Agatha Ruiz de la Prada toddler shoes at half price (regularly $85.50) for your daughter on Zappos and the server fails to upload your credit card information? Not quite a catastrophe but seriously irritating! And all of the sudden you are seeing a sudden spike in your bank credit card balance but unable to confirm it through your bank's help line because they aren't able to track down where the transactions took place because their server is down? Lack of planning and foresight on the part of the business and it's developers is what has happened. While it may not seem a train wreck, it can make or break a business.

See the next blog WM #9.5: Planning ahead (The Critical Path)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

WM #8 - Pain leads to wisdom

My daughter just gave birth to my first grand child - Gavyn Lochlan. I had promised myself that when I started this blog that I would write weekly to ensure a sense of flow and responsibility to any readers. But life gets in the way and especially when you have kids - priorities lie with them. I was in the delivery room when my daughter gave birth to Gavyn and it was probably one of the most difficult experiences of my life. To be so helpless during a time of untold pain and excitement of childbirth. While my daughter had an epidural to alleviate the significant pain of the child birth (a medical miracle and we should all revere this procedure developed by John Bonica, MD the founding father of Pain Management!), she had been in labor for 18+ hours and was exhausted. All I wanted to do was take over this burden for her. As a mother who is both nurturing and authoritative - I often take over and this one instance I was completely helpless. While I could wipe her brow and give her encouraging words I was still helpless to her child-birth struggles. It was agony.

I realized after what seemed like a decade of pushing (probably only about 30 minutes) that I was NOT helping her. She needed someone to come in and take over a more objective and less invested role to coach her through these last few contractions to get this baby out! I was too nurturing with every cell in my body screaming "I'll take over!" It was time for a more "Quit your whining and get this baby OUT!" approach. My US Navy Chief husband is good at that but he wasn't there to take over (although I think he might have been traumatized watching his little girl push a baby OUT of her ... well you know).

I leaned close to her prior to next push and said, "Kels, I'm going to have the nurse come in and help you." At this point, I think she didn't really care who was there but I knew this was going to be hard for her to get over if I didn't tell her exactly what I was doing. I motioned for one of the other nurses to replace me at my daughter's bed side to encourage her through the next contraction. Her boyfriend was on her right side doing a phenomenal job of not trying to push and breath with her like I was. My empathy was at an all-time high and it was time to back off for the sake of my daughter's pleading, scared eyes. I know what you must be thinking: "How could you just leave her!?" Well I was doing more harm than good. Because as a mom I bring popsicles home during a bad case of the flu, lie on the bed after a nightmare, or come charging to the rescue after a minor fender bender; this was the one time I couldn't really help.

How often do we put outselves into a position of taking over when we really shouldn't. When instead we should and MUST step back and let others work through the pain. As parents we are programmed to pick up and comfort our kids after a semi-serious bicycle accident or a fall off the teeter totter but there will be moments when help is a hinderance, when they have to learn that we won't be there all the time to dust them off and kiss their pain away. This particular situation of my daughters first child birth experience may seem extreme as an example of management but it holds true for many of those "micromanagers" out there (and you KNOW who you are!) who feel they need to do EVERYTHING much to the chagrin of their subordinates! WE CANNOT GROW UNLESS WE EXPERIENCE PAIN!

Someone wrote or said, "Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain." And maybe that is why we try to take over when someone is trying to work out a problem or make a tough presentation that we authoritative and "can-do" managers accomplish in a manner of minutes because we know from past experiences the 'best' way to do things (ya right!). But what do others learn from us taking over and how do they grow if we don't allow them to experience some pain? Nothing except we'll take over - running ourselves ragged, running out of time to get our own work done, and resenting them in the end! So next time you get the urge to "push" for your subordinates in getting something done - don't! Let them experience and learn from the pain!

This blog is dedicated to my beautiful daughter Kelsey and her new baby boy!

Monday, May 16, 2011

WM #7: "Here kitty, kitty!"

Wierd Management #7

I have a great friend who works as a Director of Security for a large East coast retail distribution center. She's worked for this company for many years and is a wonderful storyteller relating illustrative and "weird" analogies to share with her staff. She oversees a mostly male security guards staff with the stressful management obligation of security of a vast variety of merchandise ordered, delivered, and distributed through this huge-a-mongous warehouse. Located in bucolic mid-western Connecticut, you'd think this job would be relatively non-drama but alas - it is NOT! Often she forgivingly hires individuals who are either just-recovered drug addicts, prostitutes, convicts along with laid-off executives, retired military, and college students. It's a mixture of drama and intrigue that should be made into a movie! I often call her during my commute home from work knowing that she will be doing the same to get the latest on her trials and tribulations while on the job that day. It's always entertaining!

This weekend, while visiting for a girls weekend, she shared with me the most recent drama between two security guards who regularly worked together - one male and one female. They became 'deeply involved' and then proceeded to break up shortly there after creating a very uncomfortable work environment not lost on ALL of the employees that make this very busy distribution center roll. The young man caught in the drama with the love-thwarted female guard attempted to avoid her at all cost but my friend knew he had to learn this hard lesson of on-the-job love affair gone wrong and she was going to make sure of it. While he was in her office there was some problem reported over the radio requiring a security guard to go check and help as needed. This young buck knew he'd be asked to go but since he knew the person who was reporting trouble was the broken-hearted, ex-girl friend he wanted to get out of it. He pleaded with my friend to get someone else to go. Nothin' doin' thought my friend! This was a perfect opportunity to share a metaphorical analogy as well as ensure that he thought before he leaped into his next work-place romance.

My friend situated herself comfortably in her director chair and begun to wax poetic toward the young fella.
Cute Kitty!



"You know what happens when a cute stray kitty comes around?"
"Ya?"
"What do you do?"
"Feed it."
"And what does it do after you have fed it?"
"It keeps coming back to get fed."
"So what happens if you stop feeding it?"
"It gets mad and bites you."
"Thats right - so what should you do?"
"Keep feeding it?"
"Well you could but then you are stuck with a cat that you don't really want - right?"
"Right - but I don't want to get bit either!"
"So this is what you do at the very beginning - you sprinkle pepper all around the parameter of your house to keep those cute kitties away! Then you'll never have a problem!"
"Oh - right - Wow! Ok so what do I do now?"
"I don't care what you do but right now, you gotta do what I say - get out there and find out what the problem is."

BAD KITTY!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

WM #6 - "I heart my S..T job!"

I saw this placard stuck to a window of a  expensive mid-size SUV parked in assigned college administration parking yesterday:  "I <heart> my S..T job". Along with plethora of bumper stickers promoting a green planet  and a child's car seat, this glaring reminder of how some view their jobs - those that have one - really struck a nerve! I was struck at how ballsy it was to have an assigned parking spot with this statement suction cupped to the back driver side window for eight hours at their s..t job on a campus filled with students who would kill to have a state job in Connecticut with it's bountifully benefits and collective bargaining unit!

Then I was struck by how really angry I was that this person thought it okay to declare this as a "badge of honor" along with self promoting a social consciousness with "Go Green" stickers. A real contradiction during a time of economic upheaval in our country where unemployment continues to ebb and flow. Many students come to me asking whether they should just go to grad school instead of looking for work after graduation. I don't know what to tell them: Go ahead, take more classes and build up more debt versus going out to find a S..T job! It'll be okay."

If I was the president at this school and saw this little sign on another administrators car I'd be scrambling to talk with them; but then maybe I'm a little optomistic that someone in a state-held leadership position would give a damn! As a management expert, I'm consistently surprised by the lack of necessary and simple management skills within many organizations (especially public ones) and how complacent people have become regarding happiness and motivation in ones work. A few years ago I had four French students take my management of organizations course. I require each student to write out goals for the term. All of the American students (mostly seniors) wrote, "Find a good job after graduation." ALL of the French students wrote, "To be happy!" I thought WOW! that is very interesting.

So this little display of angst on a fully loaded, fancy schmancy SUV made me think - we could learn a lot from the French and their pursuit of happiness - maybe we should rethink our S..T jobs! We'll see if management is paying attention!

Friday, May 6, 2011

WM #5 - DWTS Non-Verbal Communications

Weird Management #5
I never thought I'd be a fan of Dancing with the Stars (or as it is lovingly referred to by my sorority sisters on Tweets and Facebook: DWTS)- it seemed to corny and WAY too many people my parents age were watching and raving about it. Yet it's an entertainment phenomenon. This show draws you right in through its orchestrated drama and physicality by pairing HOT dancers with "regular" stars who frustratingly must be transformed from non-dancers to ball room dancers in the span of a few weeks. It's pretty amazing.

So how does this tie into WEIRD management you may be asking? Well I'm getting there.

During this last weeks show Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas (the front runner in my humble opinion) pulled off an exceptional  paso doble routine but it was met by some harsh criticism by two of the judges. Mark is the professional dancer and the comments by the judges didn't sit well with him. While walking off the dance floor with Disney darling Chelsea in tow he threw in a lewd gesture (I call it the jerk-off gesture).

You can watch it here at Mark's website (which is actually a nice website).
Now I'm surprised the "gesture" was not caught by some of the DWTS pundits who likely would (or maybe did - I'm still looking) rip into Mark for his unprofessional behavior. His Mommy, a professional dancer in her own right who was in the audience, likely gave him a good tongue lashing for it. I think he took a great risk showing his "unprofessional" emotions in such a way knowing that every move he made is being recorded for television! And the chance he takes that the "older" voters rebelled and voting off poor, innocent Chelsea was a big risk (I know it doesn't work that way but you get my gist). I agree - tensions are high and the blood, sweat, and tears that go into grooming a non-dancer into a REAL dancer must be exhausting. Poor little guy! But this serves me in my blog post to illustrate the importance and effectiveness of non-verbal communication.

In our lives we spend so much time looking at the  printed word in our blogs, emails, texts, and multiple other technological mediums that provide us with a plethora of information, yet we rarely see one another to read traditional nonverbal communication like smirks, shrugs, and grimaces. Yet we fail to recognize the power and purpose of nonverbal communications in the ethosphere (yes this is a term) of technological society. Case in point, I was contacted by a newspaper subscription service today asking why I had cancelled my subscription. Quite bluntly I told them, "The report writing sucks and I don't want it any more." The caller hung-up - no response - no inquiry or concern - opportunity lost. The newspaper industry is in a crisis right now dealing with a significant reduction in subscribers and lost revenue - if one of their past subscribers says "it sucks" during a call wouldn't you as the publisher want to know! Okay, I was pretty blunt about my feelings about this product of which I was a customer but many people are reluctant or scared to voice their opinion because our Anglo-Saxon roots tell us it's not polite (well my Norwegian/Swedish mommy told me to never be rude!). This is unfortunate since I think many crappy businesses are still around because customers are afraid to be honest about services.

Yet, nonverbal communications is becoming a hot topic in Customer Service Management (CRM) and software is being developed to ensure that when a consumer is unhappy with something the organization is able to pick up on it through speech analytics. In other words, when a customer logs in to a business website customer interaction is monitored and measure on Web sites, chat threads, survey responses, blogs, product reviews (think of Amazon and Ebay), Twitter, Facebook, to name a few. So here we move from what we say or write to how we say it or write it - a new layer of business communications. But fascinating and an interesting niche market to explore by anyone who thinks they can write code to identify and decipher nonverbal verbal and written communications. Apparently IBM-Netezza - a data warehousing company has developed a widget to help identify and translate consumer angst reducing the number of computer bugs fixed by 67% (Okay - not sure how or why but having worked as a contractor with a company owned laptop - this would be a handy tool to avoid having to contact the help desk every time you need to remember how to map your computer to the nearest copier).

This could be a transformative opportunity for those online organizations who get most of their business from Internet orders. So next time you are on the phone getting jerked around by your bank or an online retailer perhaps even making the "jerk-off gesture" toward the automated or real live customer service agent, they may actually know it! Think about it!

So hows that for WEIRD MANAGEMENT!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

WM #4 - "Don't Quit"

Weird Management #4

This is a poem shared by "My Daily Insights" a website that provides daily inspirational quotes. While the site pushes a lot of motivational coaching and other books or product the quotes from this site are particularly good.

Here's the website if you are interested: http://www.mydailyinsights.com/default.asp

 As a manager and a teacher I am always approached by students, workers, friends, and family looking for words of encouragement. This particular poem seems amazing applicable for lifes struggles, tribulations, disappoinments, and trudges toward success. The following poem is particularly appropriate for those  of us dealing with a lot (and who isn't right now!). I hope you enjoy it and share it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Anonymous

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

WM #3: Tick Season

Weird Management #3

About two weeks ago I was bit by a tick on my left shoulder. Initially I thought the itchy irritation was from a bra that I hadn't worn in awhile (alas yet another petty annoyance of the female species - "bra rash") but when I woke up in the  middle of the night to scratch my right scapula region, sure enough, the little bugger was buried in deep and sucking my precious blood into its turgid little body - ICK! Nothing is more frustrating and embarrassing then having a tick embedded in your skin - on a rating scale of "icky-ness" it's verges on a 7 or 8 next to  a bad case of head lice! Okay - maybe not quite that bad - (both my daughters had head lice while we lived in Hawaii ten years ago and you'd think our house was quarantined for the Bubonic plague! I was surprised bright yellow tape wasn't strewn around my house with "crime scene" printed in bright bold red letters). Anyway - I plucked out the evil bugger and fell back to sleep thinking nothing of it except YUCK! 

A week went by and a quarter size rash developed around my bite area. Again - I attributed it to "bra rash" irritating the region. Then it grew to a half dollar size (for those of you who haven't seen or used change or coins except for an occasional penny on the side walk or a vending maching chocolate bar, it's roughly the size of those dandelions popping up on lawns everywhere). I showed the rash to my husband and he was like "huh - keep an eye on it." (This from the man who regularly bangs his arms, legs, and head into inantimate objects releasing a steady stream of blood into the surrounding region while calmy grabbing a paper towel to squelch the flow saying "OW!"). I had my "lice-free" 21 year old daughter take a look at it and she freaked! "MOM! you have to go to the doctor!" Okay so I took the middle-of-the-road approach and did nothing but decided, "If it gets bigger - Urgent Care - here I come!" It did get worse! Much worse!

So what does this little diatribe have to do with weird management -  so many employees who are poison to an organization and just "suck" the life out of an organization versus contributing and facilitating growth, team work, and comraderie. I have worked and consulted for several organizations that allow this type of ambivilent behavior to occur without taking the initiative or having the guts to rally these people out of the organization through accountability measures or firing them.  It's painful to watch and even more painful the longer an organization waits to do something (like my tick bite which eventually needed to be lanced to remove the ... well, you get the idea). While this may seem a very drastic metaphor for lazy employees it really isn't. Think about it - what is the repercussions to employees who contribute little to nothing to an organization. A culture of non-accountability, cognitive dissonance, low-performing workers and lack of buy-in to organizational mission (if there is one that is regularly touted and reenforced).

Case in point - most government organizations are wrought with a culture of entitlement rewarding employees for just sitting at their desk for the long haul. See the following article regarding longevity and Connecticut non-union state employees: CTNewJunkie.

Connecticut, like most other states, is in a budget crisis and they are doling out these bonuses like Halloween candy to "good workers" in a costume of longevity! REALLY! Longevity bonuses!? Do I get a bonus for being married to the same guy for 25 years? NO! Do I get a bonus for keeping the same car for five years? NO! Do I get a bonus for being a long time customer of a restaurant or frock shop (Well this is for another topic - YES! if you don't reward or recognize your customers some way then you have other issues to deal with). And the bonuses amount to MILLIONS! Wow! Freakin' terrible! Where's the accountability man!?

So just remember your Spring clean-up check up list:  check for "ticks" regularly, erradicate quickly, and keep the surrounding area clean of others who may have picked up bad habits or characteristics of the past tick! If you fail to do so - you may be dealing with a much BIGGER problem down the line! Now that's some WEIRD Management!

Monday, April 25, 2011

New meets the old! Trevor Bayne - a NASCAR analogy for management

Weird Management #2
(I wrote this right after the Daytona 500 race in February / March 2011 and discussed it in my Business Fundamentals class - students thought I was weird - but a good lesson in having and keeping a new perspective)

Trevor Bayne – An analogy of essential 21st century business management
As an instructor of business management, I am always looking to discuss current events that can be used in a classroom to illustrate real life management to students with little or no work experience other than babysitting, camp counselor, or ice cream server. I also am not keen on lecturing ad naseum about what I know - which is not much to be honest in the grand scheme of things. Yet, unique start-up  successes or daily corporate big wigs screw-ups constantly give me classroom fodder to provide insight, humor and storytelling opportunities. With which the break-neck speed our world evolves in the face of globalization and technology, it is important to recognize stories that put into context managerial dilemmas for TODAY not yesterday. The world is changing and those of us who teach and consultant just try to keep up by offering a “real world” view of business. However, sometimes I do not pull it off as well as I would like but I’ll try to in a weird way with this particular blog!  
Nineteen-year-old Trevor Bayne had never driven the daunting two-mile track at Daytona, Florida before that day in February before his 20th birthday when he drove from his home in Knoxville Tennessee. Without even a change of clothes only armed with an iPod and a couple of bottles of Gatorade in true adolescent, minimalist male style, Bayne was just happy to be doing what he loves – drive! To know veteran competitors like Ricky Rudd, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon would surround him was enough to keep him humble. These “rock star” racecar veterans had driven this world-famous Florida track countless of times; Bayne was there for the first time and he won.
Now let us look at this from an “environmental” perspective. For those NOT in the know from a business management perspective – environment is anything external or surrounding a business from which resources are drawn (supplies, people, customers, etc.). In this particular scenario, the environment is the “track” – specifically Daytona 500 racetrack.   Bayne had never driven on this track before race day so what is it that he had that the others did not on that particular day? While I think many would like to attribute his win to just plain, dumb luck, much can be said for paradigm, perspective, creativity, and a supportive team.  The track at Daytona had been completely repaved in 2010 thus altering the track experience for each of the veteran drivers. Trevor Bayne had never driven on that track before the repave – he had zero preconceptions. He had no assumptions about anything related to that track. Everyone else did and it had changed – dramatically.
2010 Daytona Repave

While I’m not a huge fan of NASCAR and it’s demon worship of the almighty automobile that contributes to the collective expansion of our countries waist line and the reduction of all of our natural resources, I do appreciate the value that this particular industry offers in very real and valuable insight into the current state of business in the US. It continues to grow and flourish. While this particular race quickly launched a career for a young, ambitious and clearly talented driver from obscurity to rock star (check out his website) it also remains an American obsession with each race tallying up a greater number of fans  making it one of the most popular sporting events in the world. The amount of time, money, resources, media airtime and attention toward this particular event is worth billions to the auto and related industries and NASCAR – this all on a sport that entails driving fast and turning left. If I were an alien from outer space, I’d think these humans were NUTS!
Yet this is a unique argument for managerial perspective and to recognize the limitations of preconceptions that interfere with performing effectively and efficiently. In business, I see this as an incredible truism with many old business models that are repeated over and over again. It is like management schizophrenia – “… if we keep doing the same thing over and over again, maybe something around us will change – or better yet – bail us out! Hmmm – sound familiar? So I want to propose that the next time your management team tries to adopt a new business model that looks extremely familiar or starts using terminology that sounds spiffy like “milestones” or “bench marks” – consider Trevor Bayne and his team, Wood Brothers racing. This team had nothing to lose and were preparing to back out of racing all together. They put all their faith into this youngster while backed by the monolithic Ford Motor Company. Wood Brothers are a small but historically significant organization (established in 1950) that were heading to obscurity – they needed a golden ticket to return to the much-needed limelight of racing. They weren’t sure how to do that but what they did know was they had a fearless competitor in Bayne. “We decided that he (Bayne) didn’t know how to do it wrong. It’s new to him. It’s all brand new, so however he did it was correct.” said Eddie Wood (Ford Racing Notes, Feb 20, 2011).  While Bayne may seems to be the overall winner here, he could not have done it without the experience, desperation, and fortitude of the racing team that rattled instructions in his ear and supported his willingness to take risks – BIG risks which clearly paid off.
So what did we learn:
·         Learn from the old guys/gals
·         Still trust your gut
·         Take BIG risks
·         Surround yourself with smart people
·         The environment is always changing – so don’t assume what the old guys/gals say is true for NOW

What is weird management?

You may be asking yourself - what is "weird management" and why should I care? Here is why:
1) Weird, according to my circa 1998 Webster Dictionary states: "Having an extraordinary or strange character." (This is right up my alley).
2) Management, according to Peter Drucker the guru of management (in my humble opinion)  is succiently described as: "Management and managers are the specific need of all institutions, from the smallest to the largest. They are the specific organ  of every instituion. They are what holds it together and makes it work" (Drucker, 2008, p. 2).

So this is a blog about the extraordinary "organ" called management. How is that for weird! And a catchy title in the competitive blog-o-sphere. As a teacher and student of management I am always struck how few people understand and practice this most basic and fundamental skill and process. Essentially the act of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Now while that may not seem so "weird," what is weird is how few organizations recognize the necessity of this very basic task and try to sustain it and support it. And likely that is why it is so often diminished because of its "basic" nature - people assume they can manage because they can breath, walk upright, and chew gum at the same time - WRONG!

Now full disclosure - I am NOT an expert on management. At 48 years of age and, although I've spent countless hours studying, researching, teaching, and practicing management, I am not remotely close to the required time to be considered an expert (1 million hours should do it!). I decided to start this blog as an opportunity to share and impart some of my experiences as a student (Ph.D.), teacher (adjunct faculty at Eastern CT State University), and practioner (multiple positions in private, non-profit, and public sector jobs). Also, to learn from you!

After hearing that my only sibling had his second heart attack (first at 36, he's now 45) yesterday on Easter Sunday, I realized time is short. If it hadn't been for a well-timed phone call from my father and the decisive actions of my 13 year old niece, he would likely be dead. My niece saved her daddy and helped me to recognize the need to get off my butt do what I do well before it's too late:  write, teach, and advise. I've spent the last few years languishing in the hopes that opportunities would present themselves to me instead of the other way around - I'm taking charge as well as you all should before our time is up on this crazy planet!

So this is what you can expect from these posts:
  • Weird and obscure facts about management.
  • Mistakes and successes in management.
  • Case studies 
  • Weird analogies and insights relating life to management
  • Perspective 
  • Resources
Again - I know you are probably thinking - hmmm really? What does this mean for me, I'm not a manager. WE ARE ALL MANAGERS! We manage our lives every day and work, experience, suffer through management that regularly mess with our heads. When was the last time that you went into a restaurant and thought after getting a cold cheese burger and fries or was confronted by a rude server: "WOW! Somebody needs to tell the manager"? Or how about when you are working on a project at work or a  social club, church committee, college class project and realized the person who was leading it had no clue how to manage people and tasks!  Everyone can benefit from this multi-faceted 'organ' that enables us to move effectively and efficiently through this chaos called life!

So there you have it - this is the end of this first diatribe - now it's up to you to decide whether you think it's worth the effort to read (I promise, I'll keep future posts shorter).

Welcome to Weird Management!

Lisa D. McRoberts Ph.D. (abd)
Adjunct Professor of Business Management
Eastern CT State University

Reference:
Drucker, P. F. (2008). Mangement (Revised Ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins.