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!

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

#12 - Amy Winehouse, a unique individual!

RIP Amy!

I have not always been a big fan of Amy Winehouse but respected her musical talent, quirky identity, and pursuit of individualism. Since her untimely death, I have to feel and see a bit of a kindred spirit within her and others who have tried to break out. Amy Winehouse had a special gift that she wanted so desperately to share through her incredible voice and personal perspective; yet she was unwilling to change her identity to "fit in." Her famous song Rehab reiterates this desire.

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.

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!

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!'

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)!

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)