No matter what your job...

Who said that HR have no sense of humor? We're full of it!

No matter what your job, you can always try make the most of it ....

 Enjoy the weekend!

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The Shift: Take the Reins of Your Career

The companies are fighting an uphill battle at getting employees in when they are most needed (Just-In-Time Hiring) and keeping them motivated and engaged:

A global Gallup survey found that at the average big firm only 33% of employees describe themselves as fully engaged in their work, 49% say they are not engaged and 18% say they are “actively disengaged”.

Yet, I am not totally convinced that it is solely the organization that should bear the burden of fostering engagement. The employees are just as responsible for making their jobs exciting and meaningful.

Last month The Economist published a special report My Big Fat Career where the key ideas are

• The workplace is changing; information on employers and employees is balancing off; and you need to learn how to play the information battles

• Invest in your own development

• Stick with the right people

No question about this: workers have to take responsibility for their own future. For many the mantra will be "continuous learning, continuous learning, continuous learning". However, educational institutions from nursery schools up to universities are doing a poor job at instilling the idea of life-long learning. Most educational systems are built on two theories:

• The Pickle Theory: a cucumber put in marinade has no other choice but to pickle, and
• The Squirrel Theory: you should get your mushrooms and nuts now (get the knowledge!), maybe you will need in later in winter (when the crisis comes).

 So how do we prepare ourselves? If nobody really cares about our long-term career success either because of ignorance, powerlessness or lack of interest, it is you personally against the dragons. Fortunately, there are many who would help - help is often given to those who seek and those who deserve.

There is one thinker, author, professor and inspirational speaker that I would like to mention in this regard. In her book “The Shift: The Future of Work is Already Here”  Lynda Gratton of the London Business School talks about the changes that we need to make in ourselves to create value-add jobs that we will enjoy.

According to Ms Gratton, people will also have to invest more in their personal “social capital”, which will involve three elements:

1. First, build yourself a “posse”, a small group of up to 15 people they can turn to when the going gets rough. They should have some expertise in common, have built up trust in each other and be able to work effectively together.

2. Second, you need a “big-ideas crowd” who can keep you mentally fresh. This echoes the discussion of “managed serendipity” in last year’s business bestseller, “The Power of Pull”, in which John Hagel and John Seely Brown argued that the successful worker of the future will live in clusters of talented, open-minded people and spend a lot of time going to thought-provoking conferences.

3. Third, you need a “regenerative community” to maintain your emotional capital, meaning family and friends in the real world “with whom you laugh, share a meal, tell stories and relax”.

Listen to Lynda talking about her new book and get inspired. Stop whining a-la "they don't appreciate me" and start paving your own road to happiness.

Dare to Be Happy!

I am not a great believer in signs and omens, but today has been about happiness for me. Maybe it is selective attention to blame, but within a range of three hours I received three messages about happiness from three different sources (I also read an article about the number 3 as well today):

1. An article in The Economist I Dream of Gini, where connections between wealth, inequality and happiness are under close scrutiny. People can be absolutely happy in countries where equality leaves much to be desired (e.g. Brazil) and that seems to baffle the learned minds: http://econ.st/nyO7qg.

What is Your Year-End Function?

Last week I've got an e-mail: 

Dear colleagues, This is to announce  a casting to participate in a fascinating corporate New Year show "Musicals'  for our Winter party. If you like to sing, to dance or you have a genius for acting do not miss a unique opportunity to become a hero of a wonderful New Year party. The professional stage director, choreographer and vocal teacher will select the participants of the show. Once the participants selected we will start rehearsals and studio recordings. 

How could I pass this opportunity? Surely, I went to the casting and now I am looking forward to start rehearsals. Whether it will be Les Mis, Cats, or Notre Dame, I'm in for whatever.

Just like Web 2.0 is taking over the workplace, the office events also seem to become more participatory. Instead of inviting guest stars who do not really care why they are there as long as they get their fees, isn't it a great idea to make stars out of your own employees? It's cheaper, more engaging and more fun - do you know what your fellow workers are talented in? 

This goes further. I am genuinely pleased that many companies have realized (and we might have to thank the recent crisis for it) that they do not need external consultants in most cases and that they have enough capability and brains inside the organizations, which are merely underutilized. Companies are switching from the "kindergarten mode" (stuff should be done for employees) to the "scout camp" mode (employees are capable to do stuff by themselves, enjoy the fruits of their labor and have fun along the way).

As an illustration, you can see appearance of internal consulting units, brainstorming and employee idea gauging in any project, and increased staff participation. Way to go! Even if it starts small... like a year-end function. 

Best ideas come from the bottom - Burlesque

Burlesque should be seen at least for its soundtrack. Divas do not die - Cher and Christina Aguilera drive the audience to the extremes of aesthetic pleasure with their vocal stylings and (yes!) artistic abilities to a greater or lesser extent.

In a nutshell, it is a story of a young but talented singer (Aguilera) leaving "beloved" Iowa and moving to Los Angeles, where she falls in love with a Hollywood club called Burlesque run by an eccentric (of course!) but no less talented diva (Cher). Getting through a chain of fortunate and mis fortunate events in private and professional lives (some of them are having issues differentiating one from the other), both find love and happiness in some form. The movie trailer will give you a better idea of what it is all about:



Burlesque raises some important issues of communication between employees and management, when those who are on top do not want to and do not hear what their subordinates have to say, no matter how important, innovative or stupid that might be. "Do you listen to anything other than the sound of your own voice?" throws Aguilera a wet towel over Cher. Only then does the latter start listening to what the young rising star has to say. In the end, her suggestion saves the club from an imminent bankruptcy.

The club praises itself on "being like a family" but in reality there is only one voice that is being heard and only one opinion that matters - that of the owner. Fair enough, in the world of business one who has the power and legitimacy to be autocratic is welcome to do so, but in order to move the business forward, it is critical to gain input from everyone else. Aguilera had to wait tables for quite some time until she had a chance to sing on the stage and Cher was absolutely dumbfounded by the beauty and strength of her voice. "I had no idea you could sing like that", says she. Well, that is only because she never had the interest to ask...

In Burlesque being a Hollywood movie, all problems get miraculously resolved in the end and they live happily ever after, but out there in the real world, normally the workforce gets disillusioned and leaves. Those who stay prefer to keep silent as they know that initiative is punishable and tacit compliance is best rewarded. Employee opinion surveys become a joke and suggestion boxes are ever empty. It is because it is only genuine interest that drives employee engagement forward. You only hear if you listen and you only listen if you are empathetic or there is a personal gain. So if you don't do it because you truly care for how people are feeling, do it simply because it is what is best for your business.

Business for the Greater Good

According to the video above, productivity goes up by 40% when employees have the feeling they work for something greater than financial results. This study, done by the Notre Dame University, corroborates the idea that financial motivation is sometimes not the most essential part of the package. I would argue that in the majority of cases it is not. No doubt, money is important and there are many, who are primarily driven by the financial gain: a vivid illustration to that would be the recent financial crisis, a Shell reserves overstatement scandal, Parmalat or Enron fairy tales. It is not surprising that the human greed dripping from the top surprisingly quickly permeates the very essence of the companies.

Still, according to research, financial motivation increases employee performance for the period up to 6 months. What then? Then comes the non-tangible part of the rewards package, such as the corporate culture, or access to development opportunities, or the employer image, or an ability to do something that will make this world a better place.

No matter how much money British-American Tobacco are going to put in their employer brand campaign, it will forever bear the stamp of "smoking kills" over its shiny corporate logo. I am not sure how people working for them feel, but I know for sure that I would not enjoy contributing to the success of a company that is (indirectly) responsible for lungs cancer of thousands of people. Conversely, working for a "green" company, for instance, would make me want to achieve more, make an effort, go an extra mile... Call me an incorrigible romantic or a fool, but pay goes beyond the dollar.

I love my job!

What can be done to improve employee engagement? Many pieces of advice can be given, but if we analyze the research and literature on the topic, it comes down to the following basic recommendations:

• show employees the light at the end of the tunnel (i.e. vision and its implications on a personal level)
• make work second home (i.e. increase "embeddedness". it's a fancy term that has become particularly fashionable lately. so it is no longer enough for the employees to be engaged, they need to be embedded as well)
• clear up the mud (i.e. make processes and procedures transparent and understandable, improve communications and ensure employees understand company decisions. even when those decisions are hard and tough but easy for everyone to grasp, you will get much more respect and buy-in).

If you are slacking on those, you might get an employee, whose daily mantras would be something like:

Anyone who has not felt like that - raise your hands! Jokes aside, there are serious economic implications of employee disengagement. The figure below shows the correlation between the level of employee engagement and the company profitability:

Corporate image and internal communications

This is an Amnesty International ad targeted at my former employer, Shell:

As an HR professional, obviously, you need to engage your employees to minimize the damages. External Communications or Corporate Affairs will take care of mitigating the potential risks with external stakeholders, but you need to be aware of the damage caused to your brand as an employer and brief your recruitment team (profusely!) on how to handle potential question from the candidates.

Sometimes, companies focus too much on fighting on the external front and ignore the impact such campaigns may have on the current employees. Irrespective of the fact if the company is right or wrong or whatever the situation might be, communication and engagement are of utmost importance. Remember that your task is not to convince your employees, but to present all sides of the story truthfully and show what is being done (or what will be done). Only then you will be able to win your workforce over and gain a stronger front of supporters in mitigating the damages. If that is not being done, you might end up fighting on all possible fronts - including your own employees.