The Business BYO Craze: Has It Gone Too Far?

by SHARLYN LAUBY on AUGUST 12, 2012

One of the workplace trends being talked about is BYO (aka Bring Your Own). I can see where it can make a lot of sense…when it comes to certainthings. For example, given the popularity of smart phones, it could be a win-win to ask employees to bring their own. The company saves money by not buying a bunch of phones. They could give employees an allowance to cover a portion of the cost. Employees don’t have to carry two phones. And they use a phone they’re already familiar with.

I’ve also read a few articles about the changing face of education. The first was from Mashable “How Tech Will Transform the Traditional Classroom”. It’s a forward-looking piece about using tablets in school and how it will change teaching and even activities like homework.

The second was on The Huffington Post – “Technology in Schools: In Some Cash-Strapped Districts, Kids Bring Their Own Devices”. The article is exactly what you’d expect. Budget constrained school districts don’t have money to buy computers, so kids bring their own. On one hand, this is creative. On another, it’s setting a dangerous expectation that kids live in households that can afford tablet computers. I could understand if we were talking a $20 Texas Instruments calculator. But tablets aren’t cheap.

Now, there’s talk about Bring Your Own Learning (BYOL). Jane Hart penned a piece about developing a BYOL strategy since “smart, social, autonomous workers are already doing their own thing and solving their own learning and performance problems much more quickly and more easily by using their own tools and devices.” I found Jane’s post to be really thought-provoking and it brought back what I had been reading about BYO from others.

As a training consultant, I have to bring my own devices to my client engagements. And I have to figure out my own professional development needs along with making learning opportunities happen. So I get itconceptually. But it seems like the only way BYO initiatives will really have impact is if they are scalable. One school doing BYO is good – but entire school systems doing BYO is great. Scale offers the opportunity to create strategy.

Which raises bigger questions: Are individuals ready to accept responsibility for bringing their own? Has the education system taught people the principles so they can be successful bringing their own? And are corporations supplying the resources – both financially and otherwise – so employees have the means?

Talk about business BYO needs to be more than a “trend of the day” conversation. And it should center around more than just “technology is our future”. In order for it to be successful, there are serious questions to be resolved.

Image courtesy of HR Bartender

Talent Turnover is Increasing - What Are You Doing to Stop It?

Well it is beginning, the talent turnover cycle again. Why, because there are more opportunities out there today than there has been in the past three(3) years for talented and highly skilled individuals. The voluntary turnover rate from 2010 to 2011 increased from 7% to 8.2% according to Pwc Saratoga reports.  What that means is there has been a latent urge for top performers to leave their current companies. 


I would guess based on the report that you will see an increase from 2011 to 2012 as well and my projection is 9.0%. So what will you need to do in the meantime you ask?

• check on your employee engagement
• do a internal survey to really get the pulse of the population
• invest in training and development
• don't over engineer your performance management system. Make it simple and employee friendly
• review your spot bonus and incentive awards programs
• make sure you are challenging your Millennials and Gen Y population
• make employee more visible and connected to the business

I hope these ideas and your current practices get a fresh review and since it is close to 2013 budget time make sure you plan for these and other employee programs that engage your talent pool. 

The Rules of Employee Engagement

The other night I was at an event with dozens of my former employees. As we chatted about what’s going on in our lives, I heard a recurring theme. One woman told me about her most recent job, “I was hired to replace two people who left.” She started out handling the workload of two people, and did it so well that she eventually got handed the workload of three.

Another friend told me how the more successful he is at his job, the more responsibility he gets. Of course, that’s normal, but what was happening to him seemed a little extreme. He started out overseeing 20 websites for his employer and now handles 96, “I’m just glad they hired some people under me.” But with his duties increasing exponentially, he’s struggling to keep up.

These employees are singing a familiar song, one I heard echoes of in the latest Global Workforce Study by Towers Watson, a global professional services firm. The study, which found almost two-thirds of U.S. workers are not fully engaged in their work, defined three types of engagement:

1. Traditional engagement: Employees’ willingness to expend discretionary effort on their jobs.
2. Enablement: Having the tools, resources and support to do their jobs effectively.
3. Energy: Having a work environment that actively supports physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being.

Overall, just 37 percent of U.S. workers are highly engaged in what Towers Watson defines as a “sustainable way” (meaning they scored well on all three elements of engagement). Here’s a more specific breakdown:

• About one-fourth (27 percent) are unsupported, meaning they are willing to go the extra mile but don’t have the necessary enablement and/or energy.
• Thirteen percent are detached, meaning they feel enabled and/or energized but aren’t willing to go the extra mile.
• Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) are totally disengaged, meaning they score poorly on all three aspects of engagement.

Why the lack of engagement? Towers Watson says it’s:

“The result of almost a decade of pressure to do more with less and respond to the challenges of global competition, ever-evolving technology and the ongoing need for strict cost management.”

Sounds familiar, right? More specifically:

• Only 43 percent of disengaged employees say their supervisors have removed obstacles that prevent them from doing their jobs well.
• Just 26 percent say management involves employees in decisions affecting their lives.
• Less than half (48 percent) feel the amount of work they are required to do is reasonable.
• Only 40 percent say they have enough staff on their team to do a good job.

The employees who reported being highly engaged were far more likely to be positive about these areas.  When you look at what sustainable engagement requires you to give employees, it’s really pretty simple:

• Enough support from their supervisors to do the job well.
• The tools and resources they need to do the job well.
• Enough staff to do a good job.
• Mental, emotional and physical downtime so they can come back and keep doing their jobs well.

What is at risk for your business if your employees aren’t engaged? This isn’t just a feel-good thing. In some related research, Towers Watson looked at sustainable engagement scores for 50 global companies and found that companies with high sustainable engagement had operating margins almost triple those of organizations with a largely disengaged work force.

There are other risks, too. Remember my friend who was doing the work of three people? When she found out her employer was about to take on another huge project that she’d be in charge of, that was the last straw. Not ready to do the work of four, she quit and is now her own boss for the first time in decades. “I’m so glad I did it,” she told me.

How engaged do you think your employees are – and what are you doing about it?

Help Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Read more: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmallBusinessTrends/~3/3TAhxLH14go/rules-of-employee-engagement.html#ixzz21weF1Xyo

Who Holds the Real Keys to the Organization, Anyway?

What is the narrative of your movie reel?

The rank-and-file workforce had weathered layoffs, had their commissions slashed, and on top of that, their salaries had been frozen over the past five years.

However, the chief executive’s decision was this — let’s have the senior management team take a lavish trip down to Bermuda and live it up.

That was the story over at Benjamin Moore, where the CEO and top executives recently took that fateful trip.

How does clueless look?

The results were not pretty. Warren Buffett, who owns Benjamin Moore, made the decision to oust the CEO basically for being clueless. He flew in a group of officials and they fired Benjamin Moore CEO Denis Abrams on the spot. They even humiliated him by giving him just a few minutes to pack up his things before escorting him from the building.

Incredulously, it was noted that he kept asking what he’d done wrong. ”They told him to clear his stuff out while they stood and watched every move he made.”

It has gotten to the point that I have become jaded with corporate behavior. Nothing fazes me anymore. I heard the Benjamin Moore story on the radio as I was driving home. My reaction? I just shook my head and moved mentally to something else.

Reality and the new world order

The company is in bad shape. No salary increases, commissions slashed, and the decision as soon as the first quarterly sales increase since 2007 comes into view: Fly the senior team down to Bermuda, charter a yacht, have a sumptuous meal, and live large to celebrate.

That is the way it used to be done, but welcome to reality and the new world order. Those types of celebrations are relics of the “Mad Men” era.

I had a friend call me during the past Christmas holiday. His firm had just gone through another round of layoffs. He told me how despondent everyone was and that the CEO had just taken a seven figure bonus. Although their company was really struggling, this leader still took the money.

In a divorce, I have always said there are three sides: husband, wife, and the truth. In the corporate world there are also three sides: CEO, HR, and the employees. Instead of assuming what your employees want, just ask them.

Assumptions can no longer be made

It seems that there is no connectivity between the three aforementioned prongs of an organizations. CEO’s and their team see it one way, while HR has another view — and the key to it all is people.

Want to know who has the keys?

• Employees matter, more than any other entity within the organization — be it products or hard assets.
• Employees are the ones that will innovate and build the products.
• Employees are the ones that support and serve the organization’s customers.
• Employees create value.
• Employees undermine value.
• Employees cultivate relationships and, by the same token, can kill relationships. Employees drive success but they can also undermine success.

The power of energized & motivated employees

Regardless of what the organization’s goals are, if they are in the hands of mistreated, misinformed, and forgotten people in the process, it is not going to happen.

There is no comparison to being in the hearts and hands of energized, informed, and motivated people.

Organizations are ever-changing and are dependent on the engagement, talent, and energy of their people to operate successfully.

At a companies own peril, they can ignore the mental well-being of your people and culture. Step inside any company, no matter the size, stage of development, or level of success, and the culture is either driving the strategy or undermining it.

Timing is the #1 Reason Companies Lose Candidates They Want

Over 100 Boston-based hiring managers in startups and mid-sized organizations (CEO’s, VP’s, Recruiting Directors, Recruiters – basically the people with the highest stake in hiring); They were asked them the main reasons they’re losing the candidates they want in today’s market.

Here are the results of the survey, which did not come as a surprise, to say the least.  The question was asked why hiring managers lost candidates because of the following areas:

1. Timing
2. The ever-so-lovely “Counter Offer”
3. Higher Salary Offered
4. Better Equity/Options
5. Better Environment (bulked in is better product/service for candidate)
6. Better Location

Below are the results.  Anyone surprised?

Why do we lose candidates?

First of all, it’s hard enough to hire the people that are a perfect match, but if you throw timing into the mix, you have an uphill battle with almost every single hiring situation.  I’ve personally seen candidates go off the market in 2 days.  Talk about a competitive market! It is vital to think about timing during every step of the recruiting process.  The market has already turned back to a candidate market, so don’t wait, or you’ll be behind the game.

from Talentconnector.wordpress.com 

Stack Ranking - Good or Bad?

The conversation continues on whether or not ranking employees is the right thing to do in today's business world. The real question to me is does it drive employee engagement and output or does it drive stagnation, and employee malaise? Given the trend today, ranking is out of favor. Good !!

I am all in favor of doing evaluations on strengths and weaknesses but that is the extent of my conviction to performance appraisals and reviews. So why do I feel that way, not because the tide has shifted away from ranking but because it forces the manager to place people in categories or bell curves. That is down right wrong and potentially pushes the lower 20% out to door after you have spent thousands of dollars on training them and some should be continued to be invested in further development.

Since it getting to that mid-year review, how many companies are still following the ranking system? I'd like to hear your comments on this topic and what you are doing.

Making Linkedin Work for You!

Is your LinkedIn profile as effective as it could be? While you can see your “profile completeness” score on your profile page, it doesn’t measure profile effectiveness — how good your profile is at attracting contacts, generating leads and showing off your skills. Use this checklist to ensure your profile is thorough, effective and updated.

1. Use the name you’re known by. Perhaps your name is Robert, but most people know you as Rob or Bob. Or, for women, perhaps you worked under a maiden name for years. Use the name that most people know you by professionally. Cover all your bases by using your main name in your basic information and mention any other names elsewhere such as in the “Professional Headline” field, or in your recommendations.
2. Upload a professional photo. It’s worth the price to use a professional photographer.
3. Create an effective Professional Headline. Add a “Professional Headline” in the “Edit My Profile” page. This is a short bio that sums up what you do. Mine says, “Content Maven aka writer and editor behind meryl.net.”
4. Pick the industry that best represents what you do. Alternatively, you could use your clients’ industry if they all come from the same one.
5. Enter details for current and past positions. Highlight the activities that represent what you do or want to do by mentioning them first.
6. Write a summary that highlights your most important business information. Keep your summary clear and to the point. Remember you can list details under “Current Position.” The point of a summary is to give people instant information on what you do. I’ve looked at various summaries, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. I used to have a bulleted list, but switched to a short paragraph. When I come across long paragraphs in the summary, I find them hard to read and follow. The shorter ones hold my attention and get the point across fast.
7. List your web sites and blog. Rather than using the name of your web site and blog, use keywords that describe what you do. For example, I use “Writer for hire and blog” instead of “your own name notes,” the name of the blog.
8. Add your Twitter ID. If you haven’t already, add your Twitter name.
9. Request recommendations. It’s OK to ask people to recommend you, but make sure you ask the right people.
10. Write recommendations. Writing recommendations can lead to receiving recommendations.
11. Add applications to enhance your profile. If you have a blog, feed your blog entries into your LinkedIn account with one of LinkedIn’s applications. You can also turn LinkedIn into an online document collaboration platform.
12. Send selected Twitter tweets to LinkedIn. While you can connect your Twitter account to your LinedIn profile, many of us tweet too often or tweet about things that would be irrelevant to our LinkedIn contacts. Instead, select just the tweets you want to show up in your LinkedIn profile by adding the hashtag “#in” to the tweet. You can turn on this feature inTwitter Settings.
13. Select what to display in your public profile. People not connected to you can only see what you allow them to see by setting your Public Profile options. The more you reveal, the easier it is for people to know if they have the right person. Here, you can also set up your Public Profile URL, which shows up as to http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.
14. Review and adjust your settings. Though I’ve been on LinkedIn for a long time, I still run into new features and settings. Settings cover everything from profile views and email notifications to personal information and privacy settings. You can provide advice on how people should contact you on the Contact Settings page. Mine says, “Email is the best way to reach me.”

I have been a strong and forceful proponent of social networking and self promotion for years, especially in this new world social media world. I hope that this post will help you in truly distinguishing you from the millions of other HR professionals.

Analogy: The New Way to Spot Strategic Opportunities

When Charlie Merrill (the Merrill in Merrill-Lynch) envisioned banks as becoming "financial supermarkets" in the 1930s, he was describing a new strategic opportunity that no one else had imagined. Using a powerful analogy not only helped Merrill think through the idea of offering a broad menu of financial services to the middle class, but also aided him in selling the idea to others.

Traditional strategy development relies on economic analysis. The problem is that this approach yields opportunities that more than likely will also be discovered by competitors. And thus the power of strategy development tied to analogy: visionaries see opportunity where no one else is looking.

Writing in the July-August Harvard Business Review, HBS professor Giovanni Gavetti calls this looking at "cognitively distant" opportunities because they require a mental leap. "This way of thinking suggests that a crucial component of strategic leadership is the mental capacity to spot opportunities that are invisible to rivals and to manage other relevant parties' perceptions to get them on board."

Harley-Davidson and Ducati envision themselves not as motorcycle manufacturers but as providers of entertainment. Google re-imagined the Internet portal business not as a media business -- the model used by rival Yahoo -- but rather as a technology business. When you re-imagine your business, new ways to compete appear.

In addition to overcoming set ways of seeing things, the visionary has another monumental task: to convince employees and other stakeholders to buy in. Gavetti writes that former Kodak CEOGeorge Fisher clearly envisioned the company's future in digital, but couldn't change the corporate DNA, which was bound to film.

Want to become a thinking-by-association leader? The article preaches the use of structured associative thinking, which is a process for recognizing and working around out our own cognitive biases.

For strategists, reading The New Psychology of Strategic Leadership could be a fruitful way to begin thinking "outside the box."


a reprint from CBS

Why HR Still Isn't a Strategic Partner

For two decades we have been hearing that HR must become a strategic partner to the business. And the fact that we're still hearing it suggests that in many organizations it hasn't happened.

The need to align HR with the business has become more urgent than ever. Financial markets exert relentless pressure for growth, especially in emerging markets. Customers demand more and better service at lower cost. And cost-efficiency, resource conservation and regulatory compliance have become issues for almost every organization. Turnover among top talent is expected to increase in 2012; globalization is requiring stronger regional HR capabilities; and demographic shifts across the world are dramatically affecting availability of qualified people.

Yet, all too often, business leaders still wonder aloud why their organizations even have HR departments. For their part, many HR leaders are willing to partner with the business, but given the unique situation of each individual company, they have little in the way of concrete guidance about how to fulfill that role.

Let me suggest a way to start. Of every action you take as an HR leader, ask this simple question: does it cause friction in the business or does it create flow? Friction is anything that makes it more difficult for people in critical roles to win with the customer. Flow, on the other hand, is doing everything possible to remove barriers and promote better performance. The question applies to virtually any company in any business and it will take you farther down the road faster than the hazy, abstract injunction to become a strategic partner. Even in what appear to be routine HR responsibilities, you can inject the business perspective simply by asking whether what you are doing is going to enhance the flow of the business or impede it with friction.

Why is it so difficult to inject that business perspective? Because as HR leaders we feel ourselves to be near the pinnacle of the organization. The organization reports to us. It must meet our demands for information, documents, numbers.

In fact, that's backwards. We are far removed from the points and people that make a difference with customers and a difference to the business. Our perspective should be that of seeing to it that the people at those points can perform as smoothly, productively, and frictionlessly as possible.

Think, for example, of your talent strategy. Do you simply manage talent, or do you provide talentsolutions that reduce friction and enhance the flow of the business? Often we pride ourselves on trying to recruit the best talent we can find and consistently and fairly spending our resources and focusing our attention equally on everyone. But does that really enhance the flow of the business?

To truly be partners to the business we must identify those critical points of the business where the strategy succeeds or fails, and provide relevant talent solutions. In other words, we must think in terms of what Brian E. Becker, Mark A. Huselid, and Richard W. Beatty call "the differentiated workforce," in their book of the same name. That means managing talent as a portfolio of investments, some of which will pay a much higher return than others. Instead of spending an equal amount of time, attention and resources on everyone equally, you make disproportionate investments in the most critical roles and critical people — not just in terms of compensation, but in terms of development, opportunities, retention, engagement, and human capital planning. All jobs in a business unit are important, but not all are strategic and have maximum impact on the economic value of the business.

Many business units spend time each year identifying talent and competency needs, but few get real about it by developing plans around winning in their critical talent spaces. Let's say you have, in your opinion, spent the appropriate amount of time identifying your strategic talent needs — the difference-making roles. Then ask yourself how much time you and your HR team and line leaders spend focusing on solutions for acquiring, developing, engaging and retaining the talent to fill those needs? Or do you have the "equality" mentality — devoting the same amount of attention to everyone? It's shocking how many HR leaders say that their business has a strategic priority such as accelerating growth in emerging markets, but they and their teams spend little time in emerging markets. Does your investment of time and resources match your business strategy? If not, you are creating friction in the business that diminishes strategic impact.

From Harvard Business Review

More blog posts by J. Craig Mundy

More on: Human resources, Leadership, Talent management

J. CRAIG MUNDY

J. Craig Mundy is vice president of human resources and communications for the Climate Solutions sector of Ingersoll Rand. In this position, he leads the human capital and engagement strategies for the Thermo King and Trane brands, and has implemented a global talent solutions approach for the sector’s business operations around the world.

Remembering "The Wisdom of Teams"

I was in a used bookstore the other day and came across a copy of the Wisdom of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith. It brought back memories of an off-site sales meeting we had at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA where I gave a presentation to the 150 sales reps on teams and in particular information based on the book. That year at Reed Business Information, then Cahners Publishing Company, we were trying to develop the team concept so various sales reps from different books could go in and sell a joint program to clients/customers. 


I was nervous because my mentor Dr. David Merrill was there to see me give the presentation because it was Katzenbach's and Smith's findings complemented by Merrill's findings that was the basis for the presentation. Needless to say I was really concerned at how it would come across given that this was their works interpreted by me and not them. 


I stayed up all night making sure I had the presentation down pat so I would not have to look at notes and stumble. Well, it turned out great, I was happy, no stumbles, losing place, ands and ums. Merrill was very happy and the sales team really enjoyed the presentation and said they thought it would help them as we entered the second half of the sales year. Each sales rep received a copy of "The Wisdom of Teams".


The upshot at year-end was sales were up 21% and joint book programs were up as well because the team concept really took hold. The book and concepts about teams is as important today as it was in the 90's.  

The most successful people in business approach their work differently than most. See how they think--and why it works. I'm fortunate enough to know a number of remarkably successful people. Regardless of industry or profession, they all share the same perspectives and beliefs.

And they act on those beliefs:

1. Time doesn't fill me. I fill time. - Deadlines and time frames establish parameters, but typically not in a good way. The average person who is given two weeks to complete a task will instinctively adjust his effort so it actually takes two weeks. Average people allow time to impose its will on them; remarkable people impose their will on their time
2. The people around me are the people I chose. - You chose them. If the people around you make you unhappy it's not their fault. It's your fault. They're in your professional or personal life because you drew them to you--and you let them remain.
3. I have never paid my dues. - Dues aren't paid, past tense. Dues get paid, each and every day. The only real measure of your value is the tangible contribution you make on a daily basis.
4. Experience is irrelevant. Accomplishments are everything. - Successful people don't need to describe themselves using hyperbolic adjectives like passionate, innovative, driven, etc.  Remarkably successful people don't need to use any adjectives at all. They can just describe, hopefully in a humble way, what they've done.
5. Failure is something I accomplish; it doesn't just happen to me. - Embrace every failure: Own it, learn from it, and take full responsibility for making sure that next time, things will turn out differently.
6. Volunteers always win. - Success is based on action. The more you volunteer, the more you get to act. Successful people step forward to create opportunities. Remarkably successful people sprint forward.
7. As long as I'm paid well, it's all good. -  Specialization is good. Focus is good. Finding a niche is good.
8. People who pay me always have the right to tell me what to do. -  The people who pay you, whether customers or employers, earn the right to dictate what you do and how you do it--sometimes down to the last detail.Instead of complaining, work to align what you like to do with what the people who pay you want you to do.
9. The extra mile is a vast, un-populated wasteland. - Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Help a customer unload or unpack a shipment. Don't wait to be asked; offer. Don't just tell employees what to do--show them what to do and work beside them. 

These are the things that will make you different and successful.  I use these every day in my activities and all the people I have worked for who were extremely successful marched to these 9 elements. You may not embrace them all at once but over time, that's what will make you incredibly successful.

 

Brain Fitness – The Competitive Advantage

by Guest Columnist, Pat Faust

Our workforce is aging. “The curve of early retirement is flattened out, and people are staying on the job longer,” says Neal Cutler, PhD, executive director of the Center on Aging of the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills, California. A 2005 survey from Merrill Lynch found that 76% of baby boomers intend to work and earn in retirement. What has been set up to accommodate the aging boomers in the workforce? Wellness programs have been developed to address the physical, mental/emotional and stress effects that are taking a toll on older workers. However, there has been little if any attention directed to the aging brain. That is really an alarmingly low awareness level – because we are our brains. We protect institutional knowledge and the brain trust, but what happens with aging brains?

Of all the organs in our body, the brain is the most demanding and intriguing. It has fooled even the most renowned neuroscientists. Up until a few decades ago these scientists believed our brains were pliable, or could be shaped by learning only until early adulthood. After that we had all the brain cells we were ever going to get. As it turns out, we maintain the ability to grow new brain cells – neurogenesis – throughout our entire life. We also have the ability to reshape out brain through learning – neuroplasticity – throughout our lives. These findings have completely changed everything in relation to our perceptions about how the brain functions.

We definitely are at our cognitive peak in our twenties. Cognitive decline starts on the slippery road of decline around age thirty. The brain has such vast reserves that we don’t notice the losses we are sustaining until around the age of fifty. This is when we start to notice a slight acceleration in cognitive decline. It is then that we can’t find our keys; we skip introductions because we can’t remember names, we forget why we went to the grocery store and we better make a bee-line to the kitchen before we forget what it is that we went to get. These are all normal memory lapses. The processing speed of our brain slows down as we get older. The brain of a sixty year old is two-to-three times slower than a twenty year old. Neurochemical production slows down as we get older. We are very dependent on Acetylcholine and Dopamine neurotransmitters for communication and memory function. Acetylcholine is depleted in Alzheimer’s disease and Dopamine is depleted in Parkinson’s disease.

So what has the research revealed to give us hope? The brain has the capacity to repair, reorganize and rebuild itself. The key to this phenomenon is brain fitness. There are several ways to achieve brain fitness at any age: through nutrition, physical exercise and brain exercise. Each of these components can have a profound effect on the brain but together the synergistic effect can reverse cognitive decline.

Nutrition:
What is good for the heart is good for the brain.
Omega – 3 fatty acids are the rock stars of nutrition for brain health. DHA is the most abundant fatty acid in cell membranes. The human body produces DHA but not enough – so we need to get DHA from outside sources. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty fish such as salmon. It is also in walnuts and flax seed. Of course it is available in supplement form. Research indicates that Omega – 3 might have the ability to reverse cognitive decline. It is important to eat fatty fish at least once a week.

Our brains are extremely vulnerable to oxidative damage. Antioxidants in foods and vitamins are crucial to good brain health. The vitamins high in antioxidants are C, E and beta-carotene. Vitamin B12 becomes more critical to brain health as we get older. In fact, a person totally depleted in B12 can show signs of delirium. Vitamin B12 is found in protein based foods. Vitamin D is necessary for cognitive functioning. Red wine has powerful antioxidant properties and contains a nutrient called Resveratol. Research indicates that Resveratol has the ability to stop plaque formation from occurring in Alzheimer’s disease. Although this research is still in animal studies it is showing great promise.

Physical Exercise:
A controlled research study revealed that participants exercising for at least 45 minutes a day/ three times a week had the ability to hold off Alzheimer’s disease up to 32% (Annals of Internal Medicine). Through functional MRIs it was shown that physical exercise stimulated cell growth within the hippocampus – center of learning and memory. These results are far more exciting than any of the medications that are on the market today. Aricept, Nameda and others slow down the progression of the symptoms of the disease. Physical exercise alone has better outcomes than any of these medications.

Brain Exercise:
The adage is – “Use it or lose it”. The question is – Use what or lose what? There is some controversy over this old adage of use it or lose it. We have a master pathway in our brain. It is here where most of our mental functions fall. It is our auto-pilot. So, when we do a crossword puzzle – it falls into our master pathway. We are not challenging the rest of our brain. We are not lighting up all of the rest of the machinery. We are not using it. So what do we have to do? In order for the brain to benefit from activities and exercise – it has to be challenged. Brain fitness activities have to push the brain to do things it has never done before. For example: challenge your brain to pick out the cello from a classical musical composition; learn to juggle; learn a new language. We have more brain cells than there are stars in the galaxy – it is time to start using them – so we don’t lose them.

Brain fitness involves speed of processing, getting back working memory, improving executive function and many other functions. Software developers have teamed with neuroscientists to bring brain fitness products to the marketplace. Nintendo opened the floodgates a few years ago with their Brain Age program. Since then many different software products have been introduced to the market. Happy Neuron is an on-line subscription based product consisting of 28 different computer game exercises focusing on a number of brain functions including memory, attention, language, visual-spatial skills and logic. Lumosity is also an on-line product addressing the same domain areas. MindFit is developed by CogniFit. Their programs are designed to boost cognitive skills including short-term memory, reaction times, recall and eye-hand coordination. Posit Science, out of San Francisco, has two programs on the market right now: The Brain Fitness Program, an auditory program that increases auditory processing speed by 131% and 10 years average improvement in memory; and Cortex with InSight a visual program that has shown a 300% faster visual processing speed and a 200% larger useful field of view. The programs by Posit Science have been heavily researched and all reported statistics are evidenced-based.

Why should companies, organizations and the corporate world be paying attention to brain fitness? Up until now there has been virtually no attention directed to brain health within the parameters of wellness in the corporate setting. There has been no thought to corporate training as far as mental acuity is concerned. However, the aging workforce is going to force a reevaluation of this entire area. Cognitive issues are going to be brought to the forefront especially in high risk jobs. People 55 and over are expected to make up 23% of the workforce in 2016. Having employees who are cognitively fit becomes a bottom line issue. Older workers have industrial knowledge from years of experience. Capitalizing on that by boosting memory and mental processing speed through brain exercises and you can significantly improve performance standards. Getting the most from a mature workforce translates into a competitive advantage.

Howard Newman, sixty years old and CEO of Pine Brook Road Partners, a private equity firm, invested in the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program. He had specific reasons for turning to brain fitness: he wanted to increase his working vocabulary; he wanted to sharpen his ability to pay better attention to oral presentations; finally, he wanted to be mentally stronger. He accomplished all of these goals and found that his softball skills also improved! After his successes he included his office staff in the programs and allowed them to do the exercises during office hours. (CNBC, February 2009)

As these testimonials become more mainstream, brain fitness will be as much a part of corporate wellness programs as physical fitness programs are now. Fit bodies, fit brains – that will be the picture of tomorrow’s workforce.

References:

Bazaitis,A. (2008) The workforce landscape – graying but gritty. Aging Well 1 (4) p16.

Frauenheim,E. (Jan.2008). Special report: training and hr technology – retrain the brain.
Workforce Management. 19-23.

Jarvis,R. (Feb.2009). Healthy Horizon: Brain Exercise. CNBC.

Revisiting Spacial Intelligence

In November 2008(Spacial Intelligence - 11/28/2008), I posted this and got lots of comments. Since it is still relevant today I wanted to re-post it so you do not lose sight of this important trait. 


In HR we learn about all the different types of intelligences. However, most people in our profession do not know how to distinguish between them. One of the more important intelligence types is spacial intelligence which gets pushed by the wayside for the following:

• EQ, IQ, AQ as well as;
• Linguistic and verbal intelligence
• Logical intelligence
• Body/movement intelligence
• Business intelligence
• Interpersonal intelligence
• Intra-personal intelligence.

Spacial intelligence is how do you put together a picture that the CEO, or senior HR leader paints for the organization. Does your spacial intelligence see the same picture or direction? So if someone said put sales under marketing how would you picture that on a organizational chart, or better yet how would you realign the placement of departments within the organization? Usually, this is left to department heads and the facilities manager but as HR leaders this is one area that you should really be a part of in your organization. So think about spacial intelligence and how you measure against what you hear and how you see it.
I welcome your comments and opinions at wgstevens2@gmail.com.

Survey Highlights Successful Onboarding Strategies for Salespeople

George      George Bradt, Contributor

Sales Architects’ 2012 “Salesperson Onboarding Survey” illustrates how comprehensive onboarding programs can increase employee engagement and drive faster results.

Some of the most striking data in the survey, being released next week, details how long it takes new salespeople to generate the same revenue as tenured reps in companies with and without comprehensive onboarding programs: 251 days with a program and 381 without.

Click here to request a summary of the 2012 Salesperson Onboarding Survey

Key 2012 Salesperson Onboarding Survey Takeaways

(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

According to the survey, those who were satisfied with how fast their sales people got up to speed have a comprehensive onboarding program in place which leverages:

• Mentors and in-person group training
• Starting with a well-defined “first day program” that goes on for a meaningful amount of time
• Testing results at the end of the onboarding period, and following through to help those that aren’t generating the same revenue as tenured reps

Other takeaways from the survey include:

• Deploy a structured, comprehensive onboarding program. The most effective onboarding programs are highly structured and comprehensive in nature including testing, tailored coaching, one-on-one learning experiences and re-testing.

• Pivot off a well-defined day one. That one change doubles participants’ satisfaction with the program.

• Extend the onboarding period. The length of time to develop productive salespeople is significant. The onboarding program duration should be designed to reduce the amount of time it takes for new salespeople to produce at the same level as tenured ones.

Lee B. Salz, the Sales Architects’ sales management strategist who put together the survey, said:

The survey results remind us that top companies don’t view adding sales headcount as hiring, but rather as an investment in revenue. Onboarding is the key to a high return on that investment.

Implications For the Rest of Us

While salespeople are different animals than other employees, many of these ideas can be applied to other leaders and the broader organization.

Prepare in advance

Getting a head start is key – for all. As discussed in an earlier article, “Executive Onboarding, The Key to Accelerating Success and Reducing Risk in a New Job,” the basics of getting a head start, managing the message and building the team generally apply. Inherent in this is creating a structured, comprehensive onboarding program and planning in advance. This should take into account all aspects of onboarding from before the first contact through to accelerated results.

Manage the message

Part of why day one is so important is because it’s when new people really start converging with the culture. If culture is the only truly sustainable competitive advantage, which it is, then how you define day one, how you communicate your message, how you make people feel has ramifications far beyond that day. There’s much to be learned by how the Red Cross’s Charlie Shimanski inspires others with his message.

Follow through

There is no reason to believe that onboarding has any less impact on people in other functions. Thus, shame on people that don’t follow through on their onboarding programs beyond those first, early days. New leaders and new employees need more help longer than you think.

Take Onboarding Seriously

Whether you’re dealing with salespeople or others, onboarding is a crucible of leadership. The state of the art of onboarding continues to evolve, but this survey and the discussions at the recent Conference Board Onboarding Labboth drive to the same basic points. Having a comprehensive or systemic approach to onboarding makes a big difference. But personalizing what you do is critical. And remember to earn the right to lead before you start to lead.

Click here to request a summary of the 2012 Salesperson Onboarding Survey

Full disclosure: this survey was designed and implemented by Sales Architects with assistance from ES Research, HumanNature@Work, and PrimeGenesis (my firm).