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Current View of Corporate Training and Work |
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 In the most recent edition of Harvard Business Review (February 2006), the editor, Thomas A. Stewart remarks that "the world is always in motion – but not all motion is change."
In corporate training this statement seems to ring true. While we have improved in management innovations, human nature seems to lack a few paces behind, resisting that consistent link-up with ideas and automatic behaviors.
At a recent presentation, performance guru Harry Stoltovitch noted that training and development is a $100 billion dollar a year industry with only a 10% return on investment. Yet the demand for us as human change agents to "get it right" has never been more pressing. In this same new HBR issue, COO of Despair Inc., E.L. Kersten, reported that 50% of American workers have reported being not satisfied with their jobs. This is the lowest it has ever been and has been declining steadily since 1995, according to a reputable data source that he cites (i.e., Conference Board). And in my opinion, it doesn’t appear to be ergonomically or economically related, or even investment in leadership technology or CEs. Lord knows there are tons of those around based on that multibillion dollar industry number.
This is actually a very empowered time for the American professional, and he/she does not seem to be pressed up against a wall. Latest research shows that the American worker spends on the average 2 hours a workday doing personal business, surfing the internet, or just "daydreaming." So why is Corporate America not addressing (or rather, executing or implementing well) this alarming trend of disengagement? What are we not seeing in the solution?
More Information
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Challenging Conventional Wisdom |
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Like gears that turn but don’t click, much of our organizational efforts show attention to motion (i.e., "doing things") without keen observation to the quiet assumptions that add or substract traction to intention. And like a car when it is put into the right gear, sputtering stops, and movement becomes effortless, for it feels just right. Don’t we all want this in our companies? What is missing? Maybe the self-improvement industry that is manifested in hundreds of Amazon.com books can teach us something here. Every book with a promise wants to add something new to your bag of tricks, whether it is health, happiness, or relationships. The problem is if our bags are not cleaned out, how can we fit anything new in there? Shouldn't we first know what is in the bag and remove accordingly? Let’s take a look inside the human nature bag. If we can really know what’s in there, then our leaders and managers who have to motivate, inspire and ultimately align these individuals to the missions of their companies can do this with more committed responses---and less compliance.
Here is what conventional wisdom tells us:
1. Focus on getting your workers committed, enthused, or active, and you will get engagement in the work task
2. In a specific role or task, the "best" candidate will display the same talents
3. The talent needed for a job can be learned
4. The greatest opportunity for growth is in the awareness and execution of your weaknesses
And don’t hang your head low if you found yourself believing and/or enacting strategies that reinforce these thoughts. These myths are seen in leaders and citizens in countries around the world, according to Gallup organizational consultants who have researched talents/strengths. As you can imagine, the implications for organizations conducting their business internationally are far-reaching when we consider this multicultural phenomenon of thinking regarding hiring, succession planning, leadership development and performance evaluations.
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Innovative Solutions |
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Let's revisit each one of these beliefs noted above and get to the truth. And pay attention to the "180" that happens in your brain when we do this. I have coached hundreds of executives on correcting these beliefs and they have told me that impact on bottom line, values alignment, and company loyalty is extraordinary. But the most incredible result? We as leaders can finally get it right, and stop hitting our head against the wall.
1. It is NOT about increasing activity or commitment that leads to engagement, but in fact it is the other way around: engagement leads to commitment and successful performance. So hold off on the automatic assignments to committee chairs, monitoring mere activity to management-directed performance goals. Instead, figure out the idiosyncratic ways that this person gets engaged. See the Clues for Engagement section below
2. This one is simply not true. Perhaps we have needed to believe this because we haven’t changed the systems of measurement. As we succumb to falsehood, we have fallen victim to the adage "if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em." But we just took that head that we banged against the wall and simply turned it around to the other side. Cognitive neuroscience has shown us that no two exceptional brains work alike. That two high performers can do the same activity and have different part of their brains light up in terms of neuronal stimulation. With this startling evidence of individual variation, the landscape opens up widely to accommodate necessary creative expressions of what constitutes on-the-job talent. If this is the case, then our criterion of talent will always be a unique set of strengths.
3. Talents can not be learned. They are innate and to be self-discovered with commitment, and not coached out of someone in an air of compliance. In essence, learning executives would get more mileage from their training programs if they simply looked underneath the rocks already there for the hidden talents everywhere. Leave alone the one size fits all and behavior-change-at-all-costs message with many clichéd training and development programs. In other words, the "just do this" message, whatever the training tip du jour is, is not as effective as finding out who your people really are.
4. Coaching an employee on his/her weaknesses gets you some improvement. But coaching someone on their implict and explicit strengths will get you exponentially greater growth, performance, and engagement. This is just a fact. It’s like this: you can bang a round peg into a square hole and it will stay. I guess one could say that "it worked." Or you can find your round peg and put it in your round hole. Smoother. Easier. And more of a fit. Isn’t that what we want?
If these ideas make intuitive sense to you, then I ask you all to make a bold commitment to change your lenses. How?
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Five Clues to Engagement |
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Check this out. Here are 5 Clues to Engagement:
1. Yearning – where and what are certain employees wanting to be/do?
2. Rapid Learning – what do people learn really fast?
3. Flow - what is that state where people get "lost" in their task and time seems to pass so quickly?
4. Glimpse of Excellence – what are those things that you "accidentally" did so well that even you were surprised because it wasn’t your job necessarily?
5. Satisfaction – what at work can be aligned most effectively to a feeling of utter, deep satisfaction and meaning?
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Dr. Fleming: In the News |
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Dr. Fleming Cited as an In Demand, Sought After Executive Coach
.....in new book, "If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of the Wizards" by corporate philospher guru, Tom Morris. The book's publication date is May 16 but can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com now. The book is breaking records for foreign rights sales for a business book in Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, and all spanish speaking countries with others developing rapidly. Order now!
Msn.com Asks Dr. Fleming to be Their Relationship Expert on an Upcoming February/March 2006 Piece.
Dr. Kevin J. Fleming Appointed To Business Advisory Council Washington, D.C.
Click here for full story.
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