Workforce Development - A Good Investment?

The Future Workforce - Predictions about the New Role of HR

When I speak to people at conferences around the country, I encounter HR people who ask about the changing role of the HR department and role.  I also get many questions from upper management asking why their current HR efforts aren't paying the kinds of dividends they expect.  They question why operations people increasingly are shouldering a bigger part of the burden of recruitment, training and development and retention.  In my opinion, it isn't the HR department's fault per se, but rather the organizations inability to see that major structural changes are occurring that is morphing the traditional HR role into something new.

Fellow researcher and teacher Floyd Kemske provides some great insights into the way this transformation is occurring with a list of major changes that will shape the HR role of the future.

1. Successful HR departments will focus on organizational performance.
2. HR's value will be to have the right people ready at the right time: recruiting leaders to join the company's mix of talent and keeping the "bench" full of enabled, competent workers.
3. The focus of the HR function will be human capital development and organizational productivity; HR may be renamed to reflect this.
4. HR will evolve from strategic business partnership to strategic business leadership (driving change and results, not just monitoring them).
5. A key HR role in the future will be multidisciplinary consulting around individual, team, business unit and corporate performance.
6. Managers will grow to depend more and more on HR professionals as they realize that good people management can be the strategic advantage in the next decade.
7. Leading change will become HR's greatest contribution to the corporation.
8. More and more businesses will use HR as a strategic partner.
9. HR will have a "seat at the table" as part of the top management team and report directly to the CEO in most companies.
10. A key HR role will be managing increasingly scarce human and intellectual capital.

What's a worker to do when you're busted?

“My bills are all due
And the kids all need shoes
And I’m busted

“Coffee is down
To a quarter a pound
And I’m busted.

“I went to my brother to ask for a loan
’Cause I was busted
I took the bait like a dog takes a bone
’Cause I was busted

“My brother said there ain’t a thing I can do
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu
And I was just thinkin’ ’bout callin’ on you
’Cause I’m busted...”

The old Ray Charles song might be coming back in style. During the boom years of the ’90s and the ’00s, it made no sense to people. ‘Why not just take out a credit card?’ they wondered. ‘Or, refinance the house?’

But now credit is becoming scarce and busted is becoming plentiful. At least, that is what we expect.

In todays turbulent marketplace, workers are beset by high prices, and declining home values, which often results in negative equity, and higher levels of personal indebtedness from living off the equity we thought we had during the boom years.

Current economic uncertainties spurred by fluctuating real estate markets are a constant concern for human resources and corporate relocation
professionals. But how, and to what degree, have they actually influenced companies to re-examine their workforce mobility policies and programs?
In an effort to gauge the impact of current market conditions on corporate mobility, detect trends and identify best practices, Weichert Relocation
Resources Inc. (WRRI) conducted a detailed survey of HR and relocation managers.

This survey, which was conducted from February 26, 2007 through March 26, 2007, yielded 106 responses from US- and Canada-based employers,
with the largest number of responses from companies with more than 5,000 full time employees and more than 100 moves per year. According to these responses, today’s real estate market has had much greater impact on mid-level managers and new hires than senior-level management and renters.

Under the tiered relocation policies so popular today, these employees rarely qualify for guaranteed buyout programs, loss-on-sale, or extensive new home purchase benefits, making it difficult for them to sell their old homes and/or buy new homes without incurring a significant cost that isn’t covered by the company or offset by increases in compensation at the new location/job.

Not surprisingly, for these HR and relocation managers, the current confluence of unfortunate events across most real estate markets has translated into more requests for policy exceptions and rising inventory costs. Among respondents that take homes into inventory, 80% are experiencing somewhat or significantly higher levels of inventory, a trend that is likely to result in dramatic cost increases.

Negative Equity has a significant impact as well on the mobility of the workforce.  Overly optimistic borrowers caught in declining markets are increasingly susceptible to negative equity situations, especially if they have not lived in their home long enough to realize appreciating value. Among our respondents, only 11% will “make up the difference.” The largest percentage (48%) indicate it is the employee’s responsibility to absorb the loss or otherwise pay off the mortgage before the home can be accepted into the program. Another 22% handle these situations on a case-by-case basis, and the remaining companies (19%) use a variety of methods to address the issue:

• offering company loans,
• paying off the difference for the employee but deducting payments via payroll withholdings,
• extending marketing time in the hopes that the employee will generate a home sale bonus or that lump sum allowances will cover the costs.

As the widespread downward adjustment in housing prices continues, along with the contraction of credit by lenders, I feel there is sure to be major adjustments companies being able to attract the talent they need, as well as the ability of workers to get out from under their existing mortgage/home equity commitments.

I'll continue to watch this area and provide you with feedback on what we're seeing.

Adult Learning and The Four Quadrants of the Brain

Whether you're a learner or a teacher, have you noticed that in everyday life, you relate to some people smoothly, while with others the process of interaction seems gnarly? Or that some tasks at work, or in your personal life, give you pleasure and satisfaction, while others are boring, irritating, and difficult?

read more | digg story

You'll Find the Baby Boomers in the Classroom

Why are roughly 80,000 baby boomers currently taking classes? Experts believe they desire to remain connected to the workforce and make intellectual contributions as they near retirement age -- even if only for pure enjoyment. They are making the right strides to secure a future for themself in the job market -- and improving their quality of life

read more | digg story

Good Grief Charley Brown ! Now We Have a Maintenance Crisis

My thanks to Joel Leonard over at PlantServices.com for taking the bull by the horns.

With American Idol returning to the television air waves, Joel was reminded of why he started his crusade for awareness for the Maintenance Crisis in the first place.

The fuss and attention being paid to crowning still another singing American Idol has gotten on his nerves again. In case you didn’t know, almost five years ago he was a guest speaker at the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) Conference in Nashville. That conference changed his life and started him on a crusade against the maintenance crisis.

At the time, Joel was serving as VP of the Association for Facilities Engineering and the board had been discussing the pending retirement of the boomer generation. To his surprise, that was a key concern at SMRP. Bob Baldwin, then editor of Maintenance Technology, led an open discussion about the pending crisis. He polled the audience of more than 600 engineers and maintenance pros from the biggest companies in the United States and said, “Raise your hand if you plan to retire in the next 10 years.”

More than 90% of the audience  reached for the sky. Then he asked the attendees to keep their hands raised if they felt comfortable with the next generation. Everyone dropped their hands.

Baldwin then asked why. One said,  “The kids aren’t hungry and aren’t pursuing the education needed to advance in this competitive profession.” Others chimed in, saying, “The insecurity of manufacturing is scaring the younger generation away,” and, They don’t want to get their hands dirty.” Some said that most of them don’t even know about the maintenance, reliability and facilities engineering professions. Or maintenance simply just isn’t cool.

When the group adjourned for a break, Joel and others stretched their legs outside in the 30° weather. To their surprise, around the corner they saw about 5,000 of the very people we had been looking for —16-to-28-year-olds — standing in a line outside the Nashville Coliseum. They were waiting to audition for American Idol. While we were discussing the exodus of retiring maintenance talent, whose salaries averaged more than $80,000, and wondering where the next generation was, we realized there they here at the Coliseum, hoping to sing their way to the top.

That evening, they decided that talking at maintenance conferences or writing books and articles for other engineers wouldn't fix the problem because outsiders need to be aware of the problem and the opportunities the crisis presents. After a couple of barley-infused beverages, Joel posed, “Why not write a song about the maintenance crisis?” His friends agreed that it was a good idea, but they said he couldn’t do it.

They were partly right: he couldn’t do it alone. With the help of some friends, real musicians took Joel's original lyrics and now as a result there we is not only a song, but in nine genres, with one version especially for women, and jazz, Spanish and French renditions in the works.

The songs have been played at industrial and engineering conferences worldwide. Rolls Royce Aerospace and others have made it their department’s anthem. The songs have been downloaded from Joel's Web site more than 50,000 times. Radio stations, including National Public Radio, have played it. Even a class of sixth graders knows the country version, “Find me a Maintenance Woman,” and at least three of them memorized the lyrics.

Free downloads of “Find Me a Maintenance Woman” and “The Maintenance Crisis Song” can be found at www.mpactlearning.com.

Ask any employer - Here are the "Stars" they seek

And you'll probably hear that when they are looking for skilled workers, they place particular value on people that can:

• Communicate well (oral and written)
  
• Work productively (in teams and in groups)
  
• Have a customer sensitivity and overall sense of the business
  
• Listen in communications for meaning and comprehension
  
• Be resourceful and employ creative problem solving methods
  
• Prioritize their own work and periodically self evaluate growth areas
  
• Comprehend meaning and communicate quantitatively
  
• Develop original solutions to novel problems they encounter

What could you do if you had a stable full of talent like this?

The Future Workforce - Predictions about the "Re-Definition" of Jobs

I have been discussing in this blog, as well as my numerous speaking stints around the country, about how very nature of jobs and how they are defined is changing. 

A brilliant fellow, author, researcher and teacher Floyd Kemske, provides some great insights into the way we jobs as they are currently defined are changing, and a new paradigm is replacing traditional job definitions.

1. Organizations won't pay for the value of the job but for the value of the person.
2. Versatility will be the key factor in determining employee value with strategic thinking, leadership, problem solving, technology and people skills close behind.
3. Compensation systems will be linked to business outcomes.
4. All jobs will require higher levels of computer skills.
5. Positions will be organized in teams focused on a task, not organized around a hierarchy.
6. Positions will be defined by the competencies needed to be performed.
7. Employees will be more independent, moving from project to project within their organizations.
8. Many jobs will be redesigned to be much broader in scope, especially in management positions, resulting in leaner head counts.
9. Employees will be increasingly measured by how much value they contribute to the business, not by whether they fulfilled predetermined objectives.
10. Work will be more challenging, and jobs will become increasingly complex.

Work/Home Balance? It's Called Life

While employers and employees alike regularly struggle to achieve parity between the job and home, the truth is that life is composed of goals and choices. We must learn to embrace work and life as one and the same, and determine what is appropriate for each individual situation.  No "cookie cutter" solutions but this article provides help

read more | digg story

Food for Thought

On the glide path to Easter, some random musings about the state of todays job market.  (We'll discuss some of these in more detail after the holiday)

• Ask any recruiter and they'll confirm that while technical skills may get you the interview, soft skills will be needed to get you the job
• Technical skills are increasingly a commodity - which means that they often can be done anywhere they can be done cheaply, even in another part of the world.
• If your background is Technical, your future (eg ability to advance) will be to advance into jobs that require more "soft skills" and recruiters are looking for these during the interview - they’re absolutely essential to long-term success
• The real world is of today is increasingly unpredictable - soft skills are how you learn to cope with change
• Most organizations assume you have some technical skills - thats why most recruiters interview time is on how you ‘fit’ into the organization. A person who doesn’t fit can ruin the inertia and spirit of the team
• More of jobs today are customer facing.  Do you have a good undertstanding of what this means, and are you realistic of your ability to interact well with customers?

Not sure where to pickup softskills?  Online provider, like RedVector offer dozens of relevant courses that will help you get the basics that you need.

Are Construction Jobs Going Down Under?

One of my favorite sources on trends about the skilled labor shortage, is "Perfect Labor Storm 2.0" authored by Ira Wolfe, who constantly helps fill in the gaps about HOW people are coping with the worsening skills shortage.

One of Ira's latest excellent contributions is "Will U.S. construction workers flee to Australia?" where he discusses how the Australian Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called for a special visa scheme to recruit 15,000 overseas construction workers to combat the local (Australian) skills crisis. Thousands of skilled building workers could be lured from the faltering US housing industry to help ease the crisis "down under"

I'd like all of my readers in the construction space to ponder this, and carefully so.  Ask yourself what you think the economic will be to the US, when many workers choose to "relocate" their future to the other side of the globe. 

Just check out one of many sites offering Construction Jobs in Australia and you'll notice two things:

1. many companies are actively seeking qualified and skilled people to join them, and
2. these are the same types of jobs that are being cut by the implosion of the residential housing construction market in the U.S.

American construction workers may be surprised at how well they'll be received by the Australian workforce marketplace, and the incentives they'll have to come down to work.  Kind of makes you wonder when the last time their former American employers told them how valued they were?

Put yourself in the place of the laid-off or soon-to-be-laid-off construction worker.
There are a number of questions you might want to ask yourself...

• Did you feel valued at your last job? 
  
  • Was it because you were unappreciated, or was it because your work contribution was just "ordinary"?
• Do you have the skills to compete in the highly competitive Australian workforce
  • you didn't think they were looking for unskilled general labor did you?
  • (by skills, I mean the skills to survive in the marketplace, not just the technical skills to get the job)

Looking for another job, especially in another country, can be a daunting, as well as an enlightening process for US construction workers.  By entering into a job search in the other parts of the world, they will become informed of other opportunities and perhaps for the first time for most U.S. construction workers, lets them know how competitive they are in the "global" job market.  (HINT: If your skills have become outdated or job specific, you might want to consider a few training programs in order to update your skills, or develop new ones.)

American construction workers who consider the new global opportunities that are appearing, may also find that they need skills to adapt in a different culture that they never before had to consider.

Time of great risk or great opportunity?  I guess it depends on how you want to look at it.

What Should We Expect as Basic Administrative Skills?

When I interact with small business owners, I am appalled to hear the difficulty that they are having finding workers with the most basic administrative skills.  I recently spoke to a client who advertised a entry level sales position, got over 2,000 responses, and after sorting out the candidates, was left with only one (1) that demonstrated the attitude,, work ethic and technical skills that he required.

When I asked what he was looking for, he gave me his list. 
It looked like this:

• Familiarity with desktop operating systems (Apple OS, Windows)
• Ability to access files - understand the concept of connectivity - storage
• Perform basic word processing
• Operate E-mail, calendar, address book
• Able to perform data entry and chart preparation
• Create a brief informational presentation
• Ability to safeguard confidential information
• High-school graduate (not GED)
• Able to pass a drug test
• Valid active in-state drivers license

Note that sales experience was NOT one of his requirements.  He was prepared to train the new hire in his products / services and how to sell.

Is this indicative of what the "available" workforce looks like?

What Role Do Ethics and Social Responsibility Have in the Workforce - Unfinished Business

The increasingly regulated and Global nature of business operations greatly increase the possibility that our managers will face an ethical dilemma.

Many firms today provide ethics training for their professional employees.  It's not just a sound "risk management" decision, its sound business practice.

• Different cultures have different notions of right and wrong.  This is a complex issue but here are some guiding thoughts
  
  • There are certain universal basics that govern "moral" business behavior (honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, avoiding unnecessary harm, respecting the environment), that seem on the surface to be common
  • However, even within this context, variations often exist in what societies generally agree to be right and wrong in the conduct of business activities.
  • There are also many factors affecting cross-cultural variability.  These include regional religious beliefs, historic traditions, social customs, and prevailing political and economic doctrines.  Cross-country variations also exist in the degree to which certain behaviors are considered unethical
• U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (1977) which has two main components:
  • Anti-bribery Provisions: prohibits bribes (or offers to bribe) made to foreign officials, political parties, candidates for public office whether made directly or through a third party
  • Accounting Provisions: requires accurate books and records and adequate accounting and financial controls
  • Violations of the act can result in both criminal and civil penalties including imprisonment, fines, loss of export licenses and suspension from competing on government contracts
• Many firms and industry groups have developed their own codes of conduct for foreign operations.
  • for example, "Ethical Decision Making for Engineers", a program written by Kelly Montalto, a RedVector course designer, addresses the common ethical questions faced by people in the engineering profession such as:
    • What actions would you take if faced with
      • a conflict of interest,
        
      • a request to associate with a firm that is not authorized to practice,
        
      • a questionable request for a reference, or
        
      • duty to report a violation of a copyright licensing agreement in your own office?
        
    • Do you know how you would handle issues of this sort if faced with them?
      

What messages are we sending to students?

Students are influenced by parents, faculty, peers and society at large, as they ponder their life choices, which include fields of study, choice of career path, etc.

But are students (at all ages) making informed career choices?  In today's increasingly sophisticated business climate, does having no Baccalaureate degree = a dead end?

Today's students I fear are abysmally unaware of the many career choices available to them.  Nor, do I perceive that the pathways from educational pursuit to career are being clearly laid out before them.

There is, in my humble opinion, more emphasis on who is getting the jobs now, as opposed to who will get to keep them in the future.  Don't get me wrong, having a near term focus is important, but not at the risk of short-term gain that will lead to a dead-end later on.

That's why lifelong learning and development are so important to be instilled in our learners today.  Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. 

Here's an assignment - you need to comment back on this post and share with our readers...

Ask some of the young people that you encounter that are completing their last year of school.  Ask them what's next in their life...

Don't be surprised if you hear
School -- Boy! I’m glad that’s over -- now I can get to work!

Houston - We Have a Problem

As we ponder the many changes happening in the workforce and how we educate people, there are some "perception issues" that I feel need to be addressed:

Do we have the right emphasis on the role of "technological education?"  Do we view technological education as engineering “lite” versus education for a "legitimate" profession?

Is the role of the scientist, or engineer more important than that of the electrician?  In what ways do the work of each impact us directly?

I also increasingly perceive a lack of common agreement among educators on the issue of focus / value of education for people entering the trades versus professions.

For many years I have held to the belief that you get the behaviors that you reward.  In the workforce development area, I do not see clear measures of success that are clear to learners (e.g. are we rewarding graduation versus placement?)

Likewise, have we examined the quality of relationships that educators have with business?  Despite having  Industry Advisory committees, are these committees providing the caliber and numbers of workers that industry needs? 

Have we struck the right balance between the skills needed by tradeworkers upon whom we are day-to-day dependent, as contrasted with the graduate who will apply technological skills in a different manner?

Readers, your thoughts?

Fundamental Changes Are Happening in the Workforce

There are many aspects of today's workforce that render traditional approaches to workforce development inadequate

How enterprises are valued is different.  Yesterday's emphasis on "physical capital" has been replaced by "intellectual capital", or put another way, tangible assets are being replaced by intangible assets. 

There is far less reliance on the traditional organizational hierarchy than was the case previously.  Behaviors valued include agility and speed as opposed to the old model which emphasized efficiency and low cost.

Globalization and trans-nationalization have also transformed the workplace.  Skills are now globally available commodities and the “Know-How” of a firm is often widely distributed over many dispersed locations.

How then is it that much of the "education" today still teaches and reinforces the "old ways"?  How do we learn the skills to manage and operate in this new type of organization?

One clue is to look to the folks who can create and deliver learning information in a new "package" and rapidly adapt the changes in our workplace to the course content.  Among the leading online providers, RedVector has positioned itself in this role. 

Leading "hard text" publishers such as Wiley, McGraw Hill, Reed Publishing and others who have provided published content in traditional formats, are increasingly turning to firms like RedVector to put this content online and in a more digestible form, that appeals to todays younger learners.

In addition to being able to provide rapid distribution in changes to teaching materials, learners are able to stay up to date on the latest practices and techniques.

The Future Workforce - Predictions about how Workforce Development is Changing

I have been discussing in this blog, as well as my numerous speaking stints around the country, about how the workforce development process is changing. 

A like-minded fellow, author, researcher and teacher Floyd Kemske a really smart guy and a voracious writer, provides some additional insights into the way we will recruit, develop and retain our workforce.

1. Lifelong learning will be a requirement.
2. The focus of training/learning activities will be on performance improvement and not just on skill building.
3. Employees with varied skills and competencies will be valued more highly than those with a depth of expertise in a single area.
4. Problem solving and decision making will become a required curriculum with practical work problems as the training medium.
5. Training will be delivered "just in time," wherever people need it, using a variety of technologies.
6. Companies will demand constant personal growth, and employees will respond positively to higher expectations.
7. It will not be possible to survive in the workplace without basic computer skills.
8. People who can learn new skills/competencies quickly will be highly valued in a faster changing world.
9. Team projects and special assignments will be a major factor in personal development.
10. As the computer-savvy generation is more assimilated into the workforce, employees will become much more productive in complex tasks and less dependent on other people and departments.

Nontraditional Teachers Lining Up

One of the great educational challenges we face today is the shortage of individuals want to teach and who can teach our youth what they will need to know to cut it in our rapidly changing world.

Why does this article resonate with me?

For one thing, the teachers "in the system" are in many cases struggling just to maintain their existing teaching load, and are themselves challenged by school district bureaucracies and policies.  Where are the "real world" perspectives to come from, amidst a rapidly changing jobs landscape.

For example, how many teachers and guidance counselors are introducing our youth to careers in construction, where the pay, benefits and job security are above average?  Do the current faculty see construction as much more than the "summer job" that they may have held before, where they were little more than job site general labor?  Does such an attitude dissuade them from encouraging youth to learn about jobs in this industry? 

Do our current cadre of teachers and guidance counselors have an awareness of the types of match, science, or communications skills that these youth will need to be able to enter the field at the "skilled worker" level?  Are these teaching professionals even aware that people without a degree with just a few years of experience with these skills are being actively sought after and snagging annual pay in the high five and low six figures? 

Yet because of youth making misinformed academic choices they often end up competing after graduation for "commodity" jobs that are often not fulfilling.  If they had chosen a path that enabled them to grasp basic math/algebra/geometry skills, they would likely find themselves in  a better bargaining position for jobs.

So it boils down to how to get people from the professions to step into the teaching profession to expose our youth to some of these possibilities.

Check out this story about a St. Paul schools program, designed to find candidates for hard-to-fill jobs by making teachers out of professionals coming from other fields.

read more | digg story

Engineers empowered towards Design for Sustainability

Design engineers are more aware of the world in which they live than the average person; they have a better appreciation of the resources that are required to manufacture products and of the finite nature of the world’s resources. 

Most have also now formed an opinion about how urgently man-made climate change needs to be tackled.

Yet design engineers and design managers may feel there is little they can do to make a difference within the constraints of their day-to-day work activities, that it is more a question of governments legislating and consumers being educated to change their behavior.  Find out why...

read more | digg story

They Say It's Only Going to Get Worse. Really?

A recent article published at HR World, entitled "Job Filling Is Only Going to Get Harder" provides a glimpse into the future for employers.

“These numbers indicate a critical need for talent that’s forcing organizations to rethink their hiring and retention practices-or suffer the consequences,” said Steve Watson, international chairman of Stanton Chase, which has 57 offices in 35 countries and is a top 10-ranked global retained search firm.

Two-thirds of the firms are concerned . . . and another two-third are at least partially prepared for it.

However, according to the survey, 36 percent of employers are taking the bury head in sand route. That’s always productive.

Think it’s hard to fill jobs now? It’s going to get even harder. According to a recent survey by Stanton Chase International and Birkman International, there will be 11.5 million more jobs then workers by the year 2010. Why?

According to the research data from many sources, it’s because baby boomers are retiring and the new generation of workers have different work ethics, talent and expectations then their older counterparts.

I disagree and think this is view is a bit simplistic.  The worker shortage involves the boomer retirements, but you also have to factor in the shifting global demand for workers, a lower birthrate, people waiting until a later age to start families, shifting attitudes about work, and on and on.

The marketplace is becoming global - Are you ready for it?

Are you ready to play in the global marketplace?

Do you understand what this implies?

If you have been paying attention over the past few years, you understand that there are massive changed happening in world output and the world trade picture.

• The U.S. no longer dominates the world economy
• Large U.S. multinationals no longer dominate international business
• The centrally planned communist economies that made up roughly half the world suddenly become accessible to Western businesses
• The global economy has become more knowledge-intensive

I'd like to address the last point - becoming more knowledge-intensive.

It is no longer enough to have the latest or best knowledge.  Further, the idea that "knowledge is power" has become somewhat of a attitude that is off-putting to others.

Let me provide context for this statement.

I recently completed arranging a foreign trade deal for a US firm that knew that they needed to be sourcing from China, but didn't have a clue as to how to begin.  This is not an uncommon situation, as increasingly, international business is a critical necessity of business.

It's not simple, nor straightforward, but is doable for those that want to spend the time to become smarter about the situation, and required processes regarding foreign trade.

One area that I have noticed that is often unfamiliar to those westerners seeking to establish trade/business relations with people/organizations in other cultures is the western tendency to "pigeonhole" people by our existing cultural beliefs.

Not only does this get you into trouble (quickly), such incorrect generalizations can damage potential for future relationship development.

Here's come suggestions to help you when dealing with people of different cultures:

• Do not try to identify the counterpart’s home culture too quickly. Things that you believe represent "cues" to the other's cultural orientation (e.g., name, physical appearance, language, accent, location) may be (and increasingly are) unreliable.
• Be particularly aware of the Western bias toward “doing.” Ways of being (e.g., comportment, smell), feeling, thinking, and talking can shape relationships with people of other cultures more powerfully than doing.
• Resist the western tendency to formulate simple, consistent, stable images.  These may not translate the same in other cultures.
• Do not make the assumption that all aspects of the culture you are dealing with are equally significant.
• Strive to recognize that the norms for interactions involving outsiders (e.g. YOU) may differ from those for interactions between compatriots.
• Never overestimate your familiarity with your counterpart’s culture. More often than not, you will be wrong.

Please trust me on these points.  I have learned the hard way that global trade is based on relationships, and is not entirely price driven.  In the fastest growing economies of the world, the relationship takes precedence in negotiations.  And relationship development doesn't happen quickly (by design)

There are many places where westerners (across many industries) have screwed up by trying to apply western values and practices to other cultures. Here are a few examples:

• An American oil rig supervisor in Indonesia shouted at an employee to take a boat to shore. Since it is no-one berates an Indonesian in public, a mob of outraged workers chased the supervisor with axes.
• Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive.
• A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals.
• The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that Fresca is Mexican slang for "lesbian."
• When President George H W Bush went to Japan with Lee Iacocca and other American business magnates, and directly made explicit and direct demands on Japanese leaders, the American representatives violated basic Japanese etiquette. To the Japanese (who use high context language) it is considered rude and a sign of ignorance or desperation to lower oneself to make direct demands. Some analysts believe it severely damaged the negotiations and confirmed to the Japanese that Americans are barbarians.
• U.S. and British negotiators who you might think are the most able to communicate well, found themselves at a standstill when the American company proposed that they "table" particular key points. In the U.S. "Tabling a motion" means to not discuss it, while the same phrase in Great Britain means to "bring it to the table for discussion."
• When Pepsico advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad "Come Alive With Pepsi" they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."
• In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."

So it's important that your actions and words are carefully considered, when dealing with anyone of another culture.  Remember, this is not just about dealing with people in foreign lands; increasingly, individuals from other cultures are all about us, and the sooner we learn how to deal with our "cultural colleagues", the better we will be at expanding into the global business community.

Think about it.

Who says that online learning can't be fun?

Have you ever taken a really dry and boring online course?

Most of us have at one time or another...

However the days where online learning choices are limited to boring and static "page turner" type of experiences. 

Take a look at some of the methods that leading eLearning course developers are putting into learner-paced instruction in order to more actively engage the learner in the process (not to mention helping reinforce important teaching points):

Flip book:

Matching:

Hangman:

Active Listening Techniques

Crossword

Learning Wheel

So if you're still learning the "old fashioned" ebook way, you may want to consider that there's a more engaging and fun way to learn "out there"

Make sense?

 

 

Is there really a shortage of skilled labor in the workforce?

A while back, through my colleague and friend Dave Boggs, of Syberworks, I was asked to participate in a couple of podcast sessions on issues in today's workforce

I agreed and the podcast, which was published on Syberworks' website as "Episode 17: Is There Really a Workforce Shortage?" is provided here for your listening pleasure.

As always, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Supply of engineers will fall well short of demand

The sustainable design movement depends upon a supply of "green" products.  Increasingly however, the engineering talent needed to develop these products is in increasingly short supply.  And it's not just in the U.S.  A survey by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) found that no less than 40 percent of UK companies believed that they were almost certain not to be able to recruit the necessary number of engineers or technicians to meet their needs between now and 2010.

Where do you think UK manufacturers will look in order to fill the shortfall?  Yep, another "source" that will likely be siphoning off U.S. engineering graduates.  This is a "must read article" !


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Classrooms are NOT where most learning happens

If you believe that the classroom / instructor method is the major way that adults obtain new information, you'd better take the blinders off.

There are  many other forms of learning that occur at the workplace apart from delivery of information in a classroom setting.

Examples of these alternative methods of instilling knowledge include

• the action learning method,
• 360 degree feedback technique,
• active listening,
• simulations,
• live-case method,
• learning through teaching,
• using theatre,
• collaborative inquiry,
• the learning log,
• conversation,
• self-direct learning, and
• project-based learning.

Take a look at the way you approach educating adults today.  Are you using any of the above "alternative delivery methods?"

Not even sure what some of them are? 

Suggestion : check out this blog in the weeks ahead, as I will be discussing each of these methods and the practical application of these techniques to educate today's adult learner. 

(Hint - if you go to the FEEDBLITZ signup box at the upper right hand of the home page of this blog, you can have daily updates delivered directly to your mailbox, or use our Feed Crier service to get it on your mobile device!)

Why our future depends on education...

Lee Iwan, a perennial favorite of mine, has published "Our future depends on education"

OK, Before you reply with a big DUH, consider what's really at  stake. Read the article, and I promise you, you will have a different point of view.

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The Future Workforce - Predictions about the Nature of Work in Society

With the retirement of the baby-boomer generation, we will see a radical shift in the way work is viewed in our society. Author, researcher and teacher Floyd Kemske, a really smart guy and a voracious writer, provides some great insights into what we will see happing in this respect and how it will influence the "future workforce"

1. Family and life interests will play a more prevalent role in  people's lives and a greater factor in people's choices about  work--there will be more of a "work to live" than a "live to work"  mentality. 
2. Employees will demand increases in workplace flexibility to pursue  life interests. 
3. Dual-career couples will refuse to make the sacrifices required  today in their family lives and more people (not just women) will  opt out of traditional careers. 
4. Families will return to the center of society; work will serve as  a source of cultural connections and peripheral friendships. 
5. Workers will continue to struggle with their need for work/ life  balance, and it will get worse. 
6. Integration of work with quality-of-life initiatives will create  solutions to problems formerly seen as the responsibility of  government. 
7. Community involvement and social responsibility will become part  of an organization's business vision. 
8. "Cocooning" will become more popular as workers look to their  homes for refuge from the pressures of a more competitive  workplace and depersonalized society. 
9. Just as defined-contribution plans have begun to take over from  Social Security, companies will take on responsibility for elder  care, long-term care and other social needs through  cafeteria-style benefits programs. 
10. Those people who refuse or are unable to adapt to new technologies  will find they're working harder and accomplishing less.