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Energy and Endurance - Rocket Fuel for Effective Leadership
2008-06-07 22:16:00
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...
More About: Energy , Fuel , Leadership , Rocket , Effective

The Library Corner - Volume 1
2008-05-27 01:57:00
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 onl...
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Generational Differences Revisited
2008-05-15 04:23:00
The so-called ?generational divide? in the workplace between Boomers and Millenials 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 Millenials, 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 ...
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Dumb and Dumber
2008-02-20 06:54:00
Lloyd Christmas ( Jim Carrey) of Dumb and Dumber fame could clearly be a target in Susan Jacoby’s “The Age of American Unreason.” Ms. Jacoby, without apology, bemoans the state of American culture, specifically the lack of knowledge and a bias against intellectualism that pervades our society. According to a passage in the International Herald Tribune, she decided to write the book after overhearing two slackers in a Manhattan bar confuse Pearl Harbor with the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Her book is primed to set off debate and criticism, but it contains a theme that hits one of our cultural maladies with ICBM-like accuracy. Her newly published book covers society in general, but many of our workplaces could be her sole target. Just consider these questions: How many times have you heard the statement, “We need to bring this down to their level?” How many of your co-workers read more than 3 business related books (who are not students)? How often do yo...

Brain Candy Vol. 2
2008-02-13 03:04:00
Bryan Lund has started a blog covering Training Within Industry .  The history behind Training Within Industry (TWI) is pretty fascinating. During WWII, the United States implemented a comprehensive job methods training program (TWI) to help manufacturing firms meet wartime production demands.  The program was largely abandoned by American firms after the war (no surprise here!), but was introduced to the war torn nations in Asia. It was especially well-received in Japan, where it really became the precursor to Kaizen.   Training Within Industry has spawned a fairly large body of folklore, including an account in John Dinero’s book “Training Within Industry” (2005), in which John Shook relates a story in which a Toyota trainer brought out an old copy of a TWI service manual to prove to him that American workers at Nummi could be taught using the “Japanese” methods used at Toyota.Check out the incredibly witty cartoons at Savage Chick...
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Political Banter in the Workplace
2008-01-26 03:06:00
According to a survey by Vault.com, 35% of bosses openly share their political views with employees, and 9% of workers feel pressure to conform to the boss’ views. Regarding co-workers, 30% of respondents said that a co-worker has tried to influence their choice in an election. An article appearing at Associated Content reported that 53% of those surveyed believed that politics should never be discussed in the workplace. These results seem to reflect the conventional wisdom that discussions about religion, politics and sex should be off limits during the workday. Some companies do not shun politics in the workplace. They allow employees to take sabbaticals while serving in a state legislature, or invite candidates for key offices the opportunity to visit their work sites. However, I suspect that most would take issue with using cubicle shields as depicted below. While neither survey reported this, most employees hold “politically intrusive” leaders in a different...
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Why Improvement Efforts Fail
2008-01-19 07:34:00
Thirteen years ago, I published an article in the Journal of Quality and Participation dealing with the underlying reasons for failed or stalled change efforts. About every two years, I find myself revisiting the article to check for its continued relevancy. The article hardly rocks, but it’s still relevant, and only in need of minor updating.   I’d probably add these additional reasons why improvement efforts frequently fail: Lack of resources. This is becoming a more significant issue in organizations. Consultants report to me that they find their clients increasingly short on time, money and energy; Change fatigue. Some organizations do not provide folks with enough time to fully digest a change effort —- and then all of a sudden, a new one appears. Some employees are becoming “change drunk,” the organizational version of the “punch drunk” boxer; Organizational arteriosclerosis – Some organizations have “hardening of the...
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Employee Satisfaction ? Necessary, But Not Quite Sufficient
2008-01-16 03:52:00
Fortune’s list of 100 Top Employers is a perennial attention grabber for me. It’s thorough. It’s titillating. It’s outright entertaining to read about the “over the top” perks offered by America’s most sought after employers. This special issue goes far in fueling the conventional thinking that happy or satisfied employees drive higher levels of operating performance. The most recent academic endorsement of that theme comes from Knowledge at Wharton, which referenced an interesting piece of research by Professor Alex Edmans showing a strong causative relationship between employee satisfaction and share price appreciation. Employee motivation and happiness on the job are very complex. With each passing year, new research adds a thicker veneer of esotery to the topic. A subscription to the Academy of Management Journal or Personnel Psychology will prove the point. Wading through this research quickly makes one glassy eyed. To stay “groun...
More About: Satisfaction , Sufficient

Choosing the Depth of Organization Intervention
2008-01-06 07:28:00
While surfing through back issues of the NTL publication, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, I stumbled across an incredible article written 38 years ago by Roger Harrison. Roger may not be as well known as some of his contemporaries, but suffice it to say that he has been a leading organization development (OD) practitioner and theorist since 1956, and has been involved in most of the developments and applications of OD from its inception. A leading force behind the advent of t-groups and sensitivity training, his writings and work are a treasure trove of original thought on building healthier organizations. His article, “Choosing the Depth of Organ ization al Intervention,” really struck home for me. He advances two key axioms in the article: An organization development intervention should occur at a level no deeper than that required to produce enduring solutions to the problems at hand; and The intervention should be at a level no deeper than that at which t...

Back in the Saddle!!
2007-12-29 00:48:00
The Cenek Report is returning from a lengthy hiatus. I just returned from a long term assignment in Brussels, Belgium and Istanbul, Turkey, and feel like writing again. My writing will be irregular, but my aim will be to post at least one meaty contribution monthly.My trip abroad was one of the most educational experiences in my life - not unlike the first year that I lived in NYC on the Upper West Side (during the Koch years I might add).  I’ve reached several conclusions based on my organizational development work abroad:1. Most employees across the globe want the same thing from their workplace – a good boss, recognition, fair pay, and trust in their organization;2. We are a global community. Most people are decent individuals, and harbor wholesome values not unlike what I remember during my formative years in the Midwest;3. There are cultural differences - and some of these play out in how women are viewed in the respective society; and4. Our country is revered ...
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The Thrill is Gone
2007-07-03 06:33:00
Three different types of authors tend to cruise the blogosphere:1. Aggregators – Authors who pull together pieces from other published sources and offer limited interpretation or synthesis;2. Originators – Composers who pen original pieces - or who synthesize information from other sources in novel ways to explain patterns, relationships or other forms of meaning; 3. Entertainers – Experienced practitioners who often report on personal and professional matters, and/or offer sage-like insights that frequently are NOT evidenced-based; and4. Combinators – Blogs that employ any combination of the above.I began my blog about 18 months ago with a number of explicit objectives.  They were:1. To compose posts that erred on the side of original thought; to offer uncommon commentary;2. To avoid self-aggrandizement or self-centeredness – i.e., not telling the readers about what I ate for breakfast or other personal news (12 million others on Faceboo...

Brain Candy Vol. 1
2007-06-16 14:59:00
Editor’s Note:  Brain Candy will be a periodic compendium of articles, web finds, and other items of interest for thinking business professional.Dr. Robert Hogan delivered a great article at the recent Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology conference in New York City.  Ambiguities of Effectiveness does a nice job in presenting the notion that successful leadership often comes with both a bright side – and a dark side.Job Vent is yet another site that enables folks to rant, rate and disclose the inner workings of their employers. What’s nifty about this site is that it allows for balanced feedback.  Employers who are loved by their employees – as well as those who are disliked by their troops - are both listed.In “Employers Lukewarm about Retaining Older Workers,” the Center for Retirement Research offers a cautionary note about the employment prospects of older workers. This brief reports on w...

A Modern Parable
2007-06-13 05:16:00
A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.  Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.  On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.  A management team composed of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion:  The Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.  They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing...
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Work Songs
2007-06-05 04:18:00
Some workers “whistle while they work.” Others, too encumbered to hymn or sing aloud, sing vicariously through IPODS and streaming music such as Last.fm.Singing in the workplace has helped workers in different settings and epochs to reduce feelings of boredom. In the United States, many people associate work songs with American slaves, who sang songs to remind them of their homeland. In America, the most famous slave songs were typically in a call-and-answer format, where a lead would sing a verse or verses and the other workers would respond with a chorus. One very famous song from this era is Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, a spiritual. Frederick Douglass, a slave that escaped to New York, noted in 1845 that:“While on their way (to work), the slaves would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tun...
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Obesity: The Real Public Health Calamity
2007-05-24 11:39:00
An earlier post of the Cenek Report covered the argument that far too much attention in our society is placed on the ills of smoking? and not enough on other public health problems, most notably the recent surge in obesity rates. Other blogs and publications are advancing similar arguments, or are at least chronicling the cost of other public health maladies, including the Group Guy, a blog devoted to employee benefit matters. The stakes are high for the need to expand our focus on all health problems. Health care costs are continuing to spiral in the U.S. At the current growth rate, health care costs are projected to consume 22 percent of the United State?s gross domestic product by 2015, which will clearly affect our competitiveness in the global marketplace - and will be clearly detrimental to American workers. By 2008, the average Fortune 500 firm will have a health care bill exceeding its net income. And most alarming, 47 million Americans today are living and raising their fa...
More About: Public , Obesity , Public Health , Real

Obesity: The Real Public Health Calamity
2007-05-24 11:39:00
An earlier post of the Cenek Report covered the argument that far too much attention in our society is placed on the ills of smoking? and not enough on other public health problems, most notably the recent surge in obesity rates. Other blogs and publications are advancing similar arguments, or are at least chronicling the cost of other public health maladies, including the Group Guy, a blog devoted to employee benefit matters. The stakes are high for the need to expand our focus on all health problems. Health care costs are continuing to spiral in the U.S. At the current growth rate, health care costs are projected to consume 22 percent of the United State?s gross domestic product by 2015, which will clearly affect our competitiveness in the global marketplace - and will be clearly detrimental to American workers. By 2008, the average Fortune 500 firm will have a health care bill exceeding its net income. And most alarming, 47 million Americans today are living and raising their fa...
More About: Public , Obesity , Public Health , Real

A Primer on Avoiding the Botched Termination
2007-05-15 09:50:00
The American physician & writer, Austin O'Malley, once stated that "revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you." Like a cantankerous dog, terminated employees will sometimes strike back too, especially if they've been shoddily treated on the way out. In the case of ex-employees however, they are not striking back with fangs, but rather with a two-legged guard dog that’s morphed into a lawsuit.Granted, not all employment-related litigation is avoidable. But if an employer is careful, forthright and professional with an employee during the separation process, the odds of an amicable separation are much higher. While the Golden Rule is a good starting point, there are other actions that employers should take to avoid the most common miscues in employee terminations, as described below. They are:Breaking Promises Broken promises generate a significant amount of employment-related litigation. If an employee believes that the employer has failed to de...
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Social Security Fix-It Book
2007-05-09 11:51:00
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College receives another A+ for their recent publication, “The Social Security Fix-It Book .” The book (PDF format - 2MB) presents a penetrating look at the financing challenges ahead – and some of the various proposals for safeguarding America ’s best-known social welfare program. The publication seems to be demagoguery-free; and I liked the concise and lucid treatment of our country’s generational “time bomb.”   It also has a very attractive design.Here are just a few of the interesting tidbits that can be found from cover to cover: Retirements benefits replace 41% of the average earner’s pre-retirement income; Today three workers contribute for each beneficiary. In 2035, the taxes that two workers pay will not finance the benefits for one recipient; The Trust Fund is projected to be depleted in 2040; A 13% cut in benefits for current and future recipients solves the financing cri...
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Social Security Fix-It Book
2007-05-09 11:51:00
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College receives another A+ for their recent publication, “The Social Security Fix-It Book .” The book (PDF format - 2MB) presents a penetrating look at the financing challenges ahead – and some of the various proposals for safeguarding America ’s best-known social welfare program. The publication seems to be demagoguery-free; and I liked the concise and lucid treatment of our country’s generational “time bomb.”   It also has a very attractive design.Here are just a few of the interesting tidbits that can be found from cover to cover: Retirements benefits replace 41% of the average earner’s pre-retirement income; Today three workers contribute for each beneficiary. In 2035, the taxes that two workers pay will not finance the benefits for one recipient; The Trust Fund is projected to be depleted in 2040; A 13% cut in benefits for current and future recipients solves the financing cri...
More About: Social Security

A Multimedia Look at Globalization
2007-05-08 06:18:00
Globalization - and its significance to our economy and society - and to others on the globe - is a well treated topic in the publishing world, and has spawned such critically acclaimed books as Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat," and Dan Tapscott's "Wikinomics."The presentation below originates from Karl Fisch, a high school administrator in Littleton, Colorado.  Provocative, eye-opening and icon-busting, it jolts the viewer into questioning how well-poised and ready we are to compete in the global economy.Another version of Mr. Fisch's presentation is available through YouTube, complete with a mix of tracks from "Last of the Mohicans." 
More About: Globalization , Multimedia , Look

New Web-Based Products for the Workplace
2007-05-07 09:20:00
Here are a couple of interesting products found during some recent cyber-surfing: Rescue TimeThis Web 2.0 product from a Seattle-based firm helps information workers to better manage their time. The software tracks which applications and websites you use, and provides easy- to- use web tools to help you use your time more productively. Unlike the typical PC-based time management package, Rescue Time monitors time usage automatically, thus reducing the need to manually enter information.  See screen shot above.Overhear.USY combinatory startup Overhear.US very shrewdly sees a market in creating a truly anonymous forum where a firm’s employees can voice concerns or simply b---c in cyberspace. What makes this product a little different is that the firm in the crosshairs can buy a feature (price TBD) that allows them to post comments that make their way to the front. This would be handy in those situations where a CEO wants to set the record straight (or at least straighter).T...
More About: Products , Workplace , Place , Lace , Prod

What's Wrong with a Little Hope?
2007-05-02 12:30:00
Hope can be a very strong coping mechanism during times of challenge, adversity or despair. After all, many survivors of Nazi concentration camps spoke of how hope assisted them in staying alive and coping with the horrific conditions they experienced. Hope also has a role, in fact, a much-needed role in many of today’s organizations, according to Harry Hutson and Barbara Perry, authors of “Putting Hope to Work.” Published last year, the book covers a topic that some would view as too “amorphous” in today’s quarterly driven, bottom-line oriented organization. To the contrary, the authors, armed with research findings and years of practical consulting advice, weave together a very compelling argument for the use of hope in today’s chaotic organizations.Their message: leaders need to further instill hope in organizations with five guiding principles that are:Possibility - the principle of possibility states that you hope best when you hope for...
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Is Personality Set in Stone?
2007-04-30 10:19:00
Current and past students of psychology are keenly aware of the school of thought that personality is heavily determined through genetic makeup.They are also aware of a competing school of thought – one that argues that personality is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. Most of the research on personality movement is based on changes in the Big Five dimensions (or components) of personality, which include neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Incidentally, most industrial and organizational psychologists use personality assessments based on the Big Five because they tend to be the most accurate.Several years ago, the Journal of Person ality and Social Psychology published research findings that further confirmed the argument that the Big Five can change over time –and most especially in middle adulthood. Conscientiousness and agreeableness increased throughout early and middle adulthood, while neuroticis...
More About: Stone , Persona , Personality , Sona

Is Personality Set in Stone?
2007-04-30 10:19:00
Current and past students of psychology are keenly aware of the school of thought that personality is heavily determined through genetic makeup.They are also aware of a competing school of thought – one that argues that personality is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. Most of the research on personality movement is based on changes in the Big Five dimensions (or components) of personality, which include neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Incidentally, most industrial and organizational psychologists use personality assessments based on the Big Five because they tend to be the most accurate.Several years ago, the Journal of Person ality and Social Psychology published research findings that further confirmed the argument that the Big Five can change over time –and most especially in middle adulthood. Conscientiousness and agreeableness increased throughout early and middle adulthood, while neuroticis...
More About: Stone , Persona , Personality , Sona

A Better Way to Process Negative Feedback
2007-04-25 10:57:00
Most people naturally tune out poorly delivered or inaccurate feedback. It’s part of our natural “fight or flight” response to threats. According to John Weeks and Fernando Bartolome´ of INSEAD, discounting such feedback is a mistake. Their research findings have led them to conclude that it’s possible to learn how to transform bad feedback into useful information. Both researchers feel that having the ability to do this is critical, as it’s easier to learn how to process low quality feedback than it is to teach others to give you better feedback. Apparently executives who were adept at processing low quality, negative feedback gained this ability by not being hyper-sensitive, defensive, or “hypnotized.”
More About: Back , Feedback , Feed , Better , Proc

Organization Effectiveness the Toyota Way
2007-04-23 12:16:00
The folks at Hogan Assessments recently forwarded to me another dandy article by Dr. Robert Hogan, entitled Organization Effect iveness.  The piece nicely ties together some of the predominant reasons for Toyota 's success.  It's a very, very  interesting read!
More About: Ness , Effective

Selecting Individuals for Team-based Work
2007-04-20 12:42:00
Few quibble with the rationale and importance of selecting individuals based on person-job and person-organization fit. Assessing the degree to which the applicant “can do the job,” “will do the job,” and the degree to which they fit the work culture and environment is a well-tested axiom in the field of human resources management. Surprisingly enough, some organizations do not specifically assess a candidate’s fit in a team-based environment, or if they do, it occurs somewhat haphazardly, or should we say informally.One might ask, what’s so different about selecting for a team? First, a little background on the characteristics of a team….A work team is a group of individuals who MUST depend on each other to accomplish their mission and tasks. Their work is interdependent; that is, the output of person x is influenced by outputs of team members y and z. Equally important, many teams have to implicitly or explicitly self-regulate their work ...
More About: Work , Team , Individual , Selec , Select

In Defense of Personality Assessment
2007-04-18 12:21:00
Robert Hogan, co-founder of Hogan Assessment s, wrote a brilliant piece two years ago on why personality assessment is relevant and meaningful. The article, by no coincidence, shares the same title as this post.  Download article here.Stereotypes and misguided assumptions abound on this topic. This article cuts through many of them, and brings a fresh perspective to the measurement of personality.
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Walmart Woes
2007-04-16 13:30:00
The woes for Walmart are continuing to pile up. Another public laundering of linen comes from a former employee, Bruce Gabbard, who reported the existence of a 20-member Walmart spying operation called Threat Research and Analysis Group, which was housed in a separate high security building nicknamed the Bat Cave.According to an article by Peter Cohan at Bloggingstocks.com, and a good treatment of the allegation by the Wall Street Journal, the spying operation engaged in such clandestine activities as protestor infiltration, vendor porn tracking, employee spying, consultant monitoring, and shareholder threat assessment. Manfred Ket De Vries, the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development at INSEAD, and incidentally, one of the best management theorists on the globe, penned a brilliant book in the early 90’s entitled, “Organizations on the Couch.” In this groundbreaking book, Ket De Vries describes five different types of neurotic o...
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Another Look at Pay Secrecy
2007-04-16 12:31:00
Government officials and the top highest paid executives in a publicly traded corporation have at least one thing in common – their pay is a matter of public record!Pay gurus, including Ed Lawler of USC’s Center for Effective Organizations, have long argued that keeping pay secret does more harm than good. They cite research results that suggest people have a tendency, in the absence of public information to the contrary, to underestimate or to overestimate the pay of others. Limited empirical research suggests that pay secrecy leads to lower employee motivation and higher dissatisfaction. Some however, including Gary Charness and Peter Kuhn at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have also argued the opposite: equity perceptions do not appear to influence the expenditure of effort. Other compensation experts have argued that readily accessible pay information unintentionally fuels a continuous spiraling of executive pay because many organizations chase the 50th ...
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