Cenek Report

With close to thirty years of organization development experience in the rear view mirror, I’ve become convinced (and more so with each passing year) that few leaders really get this right.

 I’ve become even more convinced that the ability to recognize others’ efforts is a simple barometer of leadership effectiveness.  Yes, I realize that many psychometricians will take issue with this statement, and may comment on intervening and confounding variables being at play, but bottom line, I see a very high correlation (empirically derived by the way) between a leader’s ability to recognize and their capacity for developing an in-depth understanding of what “makes their people tick” – in short, being able to “connect” with their people.  Leaders skilled at recognizing others are usually “naturals” at connecting with people and getting the best efforts from them.  It seems fundamental to me that if you do not “what makes your people tick,” how in the world can you lead them? 

 The research is pretty convincing that employees who feel appreciated - and who believe that their contributions are noticed and recognized - are more apt to expend more discretionary effort than employees having supervisors who are clueless as to what they are really getting paid to do.   

 I know that some of the passages above may produce yawns, and probably a muttering of “OK, what’s your point?  We all know this.”  Well, my point is that one may obtain a very quick read on another person’s leadership ability by establishing the degree to which they can ‘walk and chew gum at the same time” in recognizing others.  Some well thought out questions spliced into normal conversation (or doing an employment interview) will provide volumes of clues.  Here are some examples:

• How do you feel about employee recognition?  If the person indicates: “why should I recognize someone who is already getting paid to do what you would be recognizing them for,” further test for other neanderthalic leadership tendencies.
• Ask them what they tend to recognize others for, and how often that typically occurs.  Last week is a good sign.  Last decade is a bad sign.
• Ask them what they find to be effective in delivering the recognition.  Do they send emails – or do they meet with the person face to face (or at least call)?

 For more good information on the topic of recognition, review this research monograph entitled, “The Value and ROI in Employee Recognition.”  For pragmatic tips and insights on recognition also see Dr. Bob Nelson, Paul Hebert and the folks at Globoforce.

Another thought provoking look at the future of work.  This seventy-two (72) slide presentation makes a strong case that knowledge-based workers will increasingly find a workplace that’s transparent (performance more tightly measureable), flat (work will no longer be considered a place), competitive (no one is going to pay you for having a degree), and on-demand (work will become more of a contractual relationship characterized by its fluidity).

With tension levels in many work settings running at unprecedented levels due to the current economic conditions spanning the globe, the critical role of humor as an organizational relaxant can not be overstated.  Yes, there’s no better time than now for keeping the ‘stuffed shirts’ at bay. The ability of humor to defuse tense situations is well documented – and needs very little proof for the reasonably informed.  What’s often overlooked, however, is the role that humor can play in advancing a host of various organizational outcomes, including boosting productivity, workplace satisfaction, creativity, and innovation.  Certainly Southwest Airlines and Ben and Jerry’s understand the inherent power of humor in the workplace, and have made it one of their core values.

 A recent article by Eric Romero that appeared in the Tavistock Institute’s journal, Human Relations, highlighted the ability of humor to promote psychological safety, which is the “shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.”  Groups having a higher level of psychological safety have less defensiveness among members, and have a higher ability to make decisions based on data as opposed to politics.  We also know that the most charismatic leaders are very skilled at using humor to coalesce groups, and typically have no hesitation in using humor of the self-deprecating variety.  The bottom line: most workers spend a significant portion of their lifespan in the workplace.  Work can and should be fun. 

The National Intelligence Agency, a center of strategic thinking within the US Government, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and providing the President and senior policymakers with analyses of foreign policy issues, published a really interesting report nearly a year ago that predicts key global trends over the next 15 years that might shape world events.  The document is a really interesting read overall, and paints a pretty sobering picture of the future.

 One section related to the “pensioner boom,” and how aging societies in the US, Western Europe and Japan will place a heavy burden on their respective economies.  Provides further corroboration of the notion that seismic-level forces in our economy will delay retirement for many Boomers.

Nifty concept here that ties one of the key techniques found in Lean to personal organization and time management.  Two key themes are emphasized – one, limit WIP (work in progress), and two, visualize your work.  The originator of Personal Kanban, Jim Benson, uses this tag line at his website:  “It’s hip to limit your WIP.”

 

Russell Ackoff, one of the great systems thinkers of the 20^th century, recently passed away at the age of 90.   Many do not know that Russ was a very active advisor to August Busch in the 1960’s and heavily influenced the firm’s strategy – and subsequent prominence as a brewer. 

I recall attending a workshop led by Russ while working in Seattle in 1989.  His only prop was a set of clear overhead transparencies and a few different colored marking pens.  He held the audience at bay for nearly 8 hours!

 Few management thinkers, past and current, can match his wit and ability to reframe complex ideas in a simple manner. Here is a great article on the right approach to using mistakes for learning value.

 

An earlier post featured Shift Happens, a very entertaining look at the major demographical forces at play in our global community.

Today I stumbled across a couple of You Tube videos with similar messages.  One of the videos was co-produced by Nitin Nohria of the Harvard Business School.

Enjoy!

Mark Salter, John McCain’s alter ego, co-author, campaign advisor and personal confidant, is a former college roommate. If John McCain should win the presidential election, most political observers agree that Mark will occupy a significant post in his administration.

I recently found myself reminiscing on how far he’s progressed in his career. Being a student of talent identification, I locked into thinking about those personal attributes that he displayed 28 years ago that may have contributed to his success in politics and publishing. While a wide assortment of behavioral traits are surely at play, including his first-rate intellectual and communication abilities, he was known to many as a person with a bottomless reservoir of energy and endurance. Mark was clearly driven, and pursued personal goals with unbridled zeal and a single-minded focus. A sure signpost for his energy and endurance levels was a rare ability to function on five to six hours of sleep for extended periods of time (caffeine-free I might add) – and still pull perfect grades with plenty “fire in the belly” left over.

That recollection of Mark prompted me to reach a very obvious conclusion – one that probably many of us have forgotten, or surely take for granted. Successful leaders tend to have levels of energy and endurance, which allow them to persevere despite significant obstacles, hassles and opposition. Like Mark, the amount of time, energy and endurance that these leaders expend on their work is largely irrelevant, or at least not burdensome. To use a hackneyed phrase, their effort and toil is a “natural high,” or using the words of Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, they’ve achieved flow.

Energy and endurance seem increasingly important in today’s hyper-competitive global economy, yet very little research has been undertaken on the topic. Yes, the omnipresent Jack Welch has long touted the virtue of high energy in leaders, but its centrality in the workplace seems overlooked or forgotten. Is it time that it takes a more prominent place on the stage?

Some new releases that deserve a place on the bookshelf….

Effective Executive Compensation (Michael Dennis Graham, Thomas Roth and Dawn Dugan)

Kudos to the authors for penning a very readable book dealing with a topic that’s traditionally been drier than a cheap box of cabernet sauvignon. Virtually no area of executive compensation is left untouched. Case studies are included – and more interestingly – they detail a number of executive compensation practices that increasingly are being frowned upon, or sure to invite shareholder discord at the annual meeting.

Strategic Staffing (Thomas P. Bechet)

This volume volume presents unparalleled insights into the world of strategic staffing. While geared more for the practitioner in a large enterprise, anyone who wades through this second edition will come away with some new techniques for more strongly linking staffing to business imperatives and direction.  Purchasers of the book gain access to online templates and other nifty resources.  Hats off to Mr. Bechet.

Warming Up the Workplace (Frank and Susan Pastizzo)

This book is largely based on the completely engaging presentations that Frank delivers to roughly 150 audiences annually. Frank offers a variety of tips, in easy to read short chapters, that would benefit many individuals in our Type A, greed-driven, “what about me?” society. An added bonus is a set of instructions on how to juggle three plastic shopping bags.

Note: These reviews have been written voluntarily by the author – and are not paid endorsements.

The so-called “generational divide” in the workplace between Boomers and Millennials continues to draw fatique-level copy in the popular business press. It’s significance grossly over-spun, (see earlier Cenek Report post), some refreshing balance has been injected into the ongoing dialogue by two reputable business organizations.

The highly esteemed Gallup organization published survey findings in its March 2008 edition of Management Journal strongly indicating that all workers want the same things from their work. Similarly, Robert Half International issued a press release reporting that Millennials, like Boomers, share similar concerns, such as saving for retirement, having decent medical insurance, and achieving work-life balance. According to Half, they also expect lots from their leaders – and see them as partners in success and job satisfaction.

Pitching the notion of generational differences is a killer revenue generator for the most enterprising authors and consulting organizations. As Harry Levinson, formerly of the Levinson Institute and Harvard University, often remarked, many people in the world of work yearn for simplistic (but inherently incomplete) prescriptions for dealing with complicated behavior in the workplace. They believe, but mistakenly so, that it provides order and explanation to the unpredictable patterns of human behavior that swirl in all work environments. Nothing else more powerfully explains the large commercial success of the One Minute Manager – or the fabulously entertaining Morris Massey tapes that all training and development departments in the 1970’s could count on to salvage reactionaire scores.

By the way, one of the better articles on the topic was penned by Frank Giancola, and appeared in a past issue of Human Resource Planning.

More scholarly research is needed on the topic. To date, most of the discussion about generational differences is based on speculation, weak polling, and anecdotal evidence.