December 1, 2008

Table of Contents:

Keeping Up: Current Events

By the Numbers

Training Magazine's 2008 Industry Report states that classroom learning is still the standard bearer. Managers receive 65% of their training in classrooms, and executives are at 67%. Online learning checks in at 20% and 16% respectively.

According to Fortune Small Business the percentage of disabled people who are now self employed has risen from 12 to 15 percent since the internet became a dominant force in how we get our work done. The article features Disaboom.com, a community website focused on issues of the disabled. Registration is growing by 500% per month.

According to a study by ExpertUS an alarming 60% of the organizations polled report either "intense" or "significant" external pressure to reduce the costs of their budgets as it pertains to educating employees.

Change Leaders for Changing Times

With all the leadership change materials that have been written, published and presented, you would think that we would have it all down pat by now. Yet, every day we see that certain kinds of change are always easy to make; increasing and decreasing budgets, maintaining strategic alliances, arranging a merger—The fact is that these bold strokes are not what create sustainable change in the organization; it is the long marches that pay off.

Your Side: When to Raise it and When to Let Go

Situations are complex, especially at work. There are countless circumstances to deal with every week. Which ones should you take on? Which ones should be let go? The truth is that there is no right answer, because there is no way of ensuring how the conversation will turn out, even if you give it your best shot.

Regardless, when you do make the decision to take on a situation and communicate your angle, ask yourself; is the real conflict inside of you? Sometimes what's difficult about a situation is much more related to what is going on inside of you, versus what is going on between you and someone else. In this case, focusing on the conversation isn't going to pay off. You may as well complete the conflict within yourself.

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Editor’s Note

As witnessed in the past few weeks, the financial crisis creates very uncertain times. And, during these times, employees are even more disengaged than usual. A Towers Perrin study of 90,000 employees in 18 countries from November 2007 found that 71% of the employees were not actively engaged. The Gallup Organization estimates the cost of disengagement to corporations at $300 billion per year. That’s about half the bailout every single year! EDSI has always maintained that the accountable employee is the engaged employee and our course Increasing Personal Effectiveness® builds accountability and 26 other competencies. Call us at 800.282.3374 to learn how we can help make your human capital a true competitive advantage in this economy.

Book Report

The Encore Effect
Mark Sanborn

In his book Encore Effect (Doubleday, 2008), Mark Sanborn sets up life as a stage and challenges the reader to perform remarkably in every setting; who wouldn’t want that? He gives a background on the “encore effect” and tantalizes the reader with the idea of boosting self-performance so the rest of the world is left asking to see more of what you can do.

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Situation Room
New In-House System

You are the Director of a large information management division at your company. Your staff consists of a Manager of Inventory Systems and a Manager of Order Processing Systems as well as a team administrators and programmers. You report directly to the VP of Operational Technology.

Your department is nearly three quarters of the way through the most important project you have been given since taking your post. Your division has been charged with creating an in-house system to replace the model you currently use, which is hosted on the server of a vendor. Recreating the system to include what your company needs without losing the current system capabilities is crucial. Your entire department is spending at least a quarter of their time dedicated to this project.

It was recently announced by corporate management that your company is being purchased by a competitor from the same industry. The companies are approximately the same size but have completely different approaches to the marketplace. There is no avoiding some culture clash.

Out of the acquisition planning process has come a directive that similar headquarters administrative departments from the two formerly separate companies, such as Finance, HR and IT, will be combined, and "excess" positions will be eliminated. Preliminary expectations are that you and your VP will be retained, but about one half of your existing staff (including one of your managers) will be let go and several of the other companies programmers will become part of your new organization.

Additionally, the senior corporate management team has stated that the combined departments must quickly become effective teams that find and fit together. Obviously, you realize that these changes will have major effects on both your staff members and on your ongoing project.

At this point you are safe, however you need to determine quickly how to make two different staffs from two different approaches come together and get them on track for your project to be completed. As a leader, what would your teambuilding approach be to this situation?

Send in your solutions!

Author Profile

Dr. Jon Warner

Jon Warner has authored over 100 works, making him one of the most prolific authors in the Human Resource Development field – but he doesn’t stop there. Jon has also had extensive senior executive experience, leading organizations in a variety of industries through significant transitions to achieve impressive bottom-line results.

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