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Re-thinking HR through Innovation. Introduction to Hr 2015 focus issues
This document summarizes an article about the need for organizations to become 21st century learning organizations. It discusses how competitive forces, changing job requirements, emerging technologies, an aging workforce, new ways of working and a shorter shelf life of knowledge are driving the need for re-skilling and up-skilling employees. It argues that the focus is shifting from recruitment to employee development. It also discusses how the nature of work is changing from routine manual and cognitive tasks to more complex work requiring tacit skills like judgment, intuition, and expertise. Creativity and innovation are becoming increasingly important skills. Organizations must align learning strategies with business strategies to stay competitive in this environment.
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Re-thinking HR through Innovation. Introduction to Hr 2015 focus issues
- 2. - 1 - Allrights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. HR 2015 Focus Issues Copyright © bluebottlebiz, 2014 ISBN: 978-84-8356-801-9 Publisher: bluebottlebiz Distributed by: bluebottlebiz
- 3. - 2 - Tableof Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................- 3 - Introduction: Re-Thinking HR Through Innovation...........................................- 4 - by Cayetana Pablos The 21st Century Learning Organization...............................................................- 6 - by Nick van Dam Cross-Company Initiatives........................................................................................ - 14 - by Blanca Gómez González The Next Big Thing in Global Leadership........................................................... - 18 - by Ella Bennett And Now What? Keys to Measuring Management Quality.......................... - 21 - by Alberto Blanco Leading a Workforce of Four Generations......................................................... - 27 - by David Woods Growth Management: From Capitalism to Capital-Humanism .................. - 35 - by Ignacio Bernabé 2014: The Year of the Social CEO .......................................................................... - 42 - by Michael Gass The Importance of Sex................................................................................................ - 47 - by Silvia Leal Employee Happiness Is On the Rise – And So Are the Challenges….... - 52 - by Jane Sunley Together, We Are More Innovative ........................................................................ - 56 - by Clara Jiménez Gamification, the Fall of Pharaohs ........................................................................ - 59 - by Juan J.F. Valera Mariscal Trade Secret Protection: Build a Protection Program to Deter Theft and Enforce Rights................................................................................................................ - 65 - by Mark Terman Meaningful Human Resources: 12 Keys to Develop Common Sense.... - 70 - by Mª Julieta Balart Gritti A Journey to the Essential........................................................................................ - 75 - by Javier F. Aguado A Sample of bluebottlebiz Discovery Paths ...................................................... - 80 - Collaborators .................................................................................................................. - 84 -
- 4. - 3 - Acknowledgements Thisproject is part of our philosophy and vision. It is a shared project which would have been impossible without the help of all of our contributors and the bluebottlebiz team. We owe a debt of gratitude to Ella Bennett, Alberto Blanco, Nick van Dam, Michael Gass, Blanca Gómez, Clara Jimenez, Jane Sunley, Mark Terman, Silvia Leal, Juan J.F. Valera Mariscal, Javier Aguado, Julieta Balart, Ignacio Bernabé, and David Woods. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Jeanette Noble for editing, and to the rest of the bluebottlebiz team for bringing together all the contributors who have participated in this book. We hope that you enjoy this book, and more importantly, that it helps you make the most of your team.
- 5. - 4 - Introduction:Re-Thinking HR Through Innovation “You can’t continue to think that the world is the same as it was five years ago. It is incredibly different now: it’s even changed from how it was five weeks ago or five months ago.” Juan Béjar, CEO, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), Spain More than ever, corporations live in a global environment where they are still challenged by fragile economic recovery. According to the 2014 PwC Annual Global CEO Survey, this recovery is forcing some corporations to focus on opportunities for growth in areas where they already do business, and others to try to discover new markets. Whatever their specific challenge, all corporations understand that the world is not the same as it was five years ago, and the spiral of change is speeding up. So where will 2015 lead? We have asked experts in Human Resources, from corporate directors to consultants and academics, and we’ve created this selection of focus issues for 2015 in the HR arena. Feel free to read the articles in order or not. You will notice that all of them address, in one way or another, the two major transformations that are affecting all companies worldwide: • Technology disruption. New technologies have made it possible to have collaborative networks, even cross-company networks that are replacing conventional corporate environments, so now we have to manage a flexible and virtual workforce while keeping information secure, retaining talent loyalty and providing career development. • Demographic shifts. In most large corporations today we have four different generations of people working in the same place. One of the biggest challenges that all corporations face is how to trade the knowledge and experience from the senior generations to the new ones, when these generations often communicate and work in distinct ways. Furthermore, attracting and retaining talent among these diverse generations has become a focal point for any HR organization, requiring new, innovative ways of thinking and working. We believe that 2015 will see a major shift from what we have been focused on over the last five years -- cost optimization, cost reduction, sustainable cost management - all things “cost” -- to today's need for HR teams to generate value through people. CEOs are starting to be less concerned about downsizing their teams and more concerned about whether their teams have the right knowledge and skills to overcome the challenges that the new economy demands, and how to build a competitive advantage based on that knowledge and skills. At bluebottlebiz we realize that most corporations have sorted out how to hire the right people, but our clients tell us they struggle to enable these people to trade knowledge among themselves and to get the best out of them. For this
- 6. - 5 - reasonwe created bluebottlebiz as a knowledge development solution which can seamlessly integrate into your corporate intranet so your employees can access the knowledge they need when and where they need it. When we talk about “knowledge” we mean: resources (employees have access to the largest business library from the world’s leading publishers), tools (so you can easily search, work in, and learn from the content) and the network (so you can trade knowledge with your co-workers and follow experts in your field). Today some of the most prestigious corporations and academic institutions are already plugging their teams into this innovative solution, making them more efficient when searching for information and allowing them to benefit from shared knowledge between employees and offices. I hope the selection of articles helps you approach 2015 better-informed and better-prepared to get the most out of your organizations. Cayetana Pablos Llona General Manager, bluebottlebiz
- 7. - 6 - The21st Century Learning Organization Competitive forces, changing job requirements, emerging technologies, an aging workforce, new ways of working and a shorter shelf life of knowledge are driving the need for re-skilling and up-skilling the workforce. The talent management pendulum is swinging from recruitment to development. By Nick van Dam Reprinted with permission from Dialogue Review © 2014 (dialoguereview.com) Organizations around the world are under pressure to stay competitive and drive innovation. Enterprises must work differently, faster, better and at lower costs so learning strategy must be aligned with business strategy. Globalization, increased competition, complexity, uncertainty and the accelerated advancement of technology will drive the need for more tacit work. Tacit work, which combines common sense and intuition, provides the ‘know how’ required to achieve expert performance. It demands a high level of judgement and involves frequent, multifaceted interactions. This has been a game-changer in terms of the skills requirement of an organization’s talent, with a shift from the ‘know what’ routine manual and cognitive tasks, towards the ‘know how’ expert thinking and complex communication. Tacit skills are different from the past, where workers needed a high level of hands-on technical skills that enabled them to get the work done efficiently. And this explicit knowledge was able to be passed on in manuals and written instructions. However, in today´s war for talent, the global dimensions of increasingly critical and complex problems, the new perspectives of gen Y, the impact of the internet, mobile computing and high speed networks, and the market valuation of intangible assets, all demand performance based more on behavioural skills that augment a person’s education and experience. In addition, this tacit knowledge is more problematic to pass on to develop in the workforce. According to Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study by IBM in 2011, creativity was identified by 1,500 CEOs as the number one leadership competency priority in the future because creativity might enable innovation. Creativity in its pure form does not necessarily produce solutions that are useful and actionable.
- 8. - 7 - Thisis where creativity driving innovation comes into play. Innovation is defined as ‘the application of new solutions to meet new requirements, inarticulate needs or existing market needs.’ Innovation is creativity applied effectively to problems, processes, products, persons or places. Leaders must be innovation architects, creating a work environment that supports people engaging in innovation behaviours as part of their daily jobs. In addition, the shelf life of knowledge and skills is getting shorter. The learning organization Organizations need to align their people capabilities with the external environment to stay successful. Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, coined the concept of ‘the learning organization’ in 1990. It is a term given to a company that facilitates learning, continuously transforms itself and becomes a place that employees feel a commitment to. According to Senge, a learning organization exhibits five characteristics: Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision and team learning. The concept has gained acceptance and has become a priority on the business agenda in a growing number of companies. The execution of a strategy happens through people and is possible only if employees have the right capabilities. Many companies are striving to become true ‘learning organizations,’ but have achieved this only in varying degrees. One of the most difficult challenges in creating the learning organization is capturing the tacit knowledge of experienced workers and conveying these capabilities to the next generation. Thus, forward-looking enterprises have implemented knowledge management platforms and systematic dissemination of this knowledge among the workforce. Another innovation that supports knowledge sharing is the development of internal networks that are analogous to LinkedIn or Facebook. These networks are searchable, enabling all to find specific capabilities across the entire knowledge base of the enterprise, significantly supporting individual and collective learning. The strategic role of learning and development Shareholders will increasingly look at the role of these intangible assets when they value knowledge-based organizations. For example, according to a 2012 Deloitte report, at least 70% of market capitalization in global public companies is based on a vibrant skilled workforce and know-how (intangible assets).
- 9. - 8 - Myown research (2011) illustrates that in the 21st century, people expect interesting and challenging work with opportunities for growth and development. They like to work in value-based and sustainable enterprises that contribute to the welfare of overall society. They also want respect for their individual talents and an open communication with their management. More people value a deep investment in their personal lives in addition to enjoying a challenging work environment. It is also becoming widely recognized that the most important way to engage employees is to provide them with opportunities to learn and develop new skills, providing ways to improve their capabilities. Highly engaged employees have a significant impact on the productivity and performance of an organization. Furthermore, engaged employees are more likely to stay with the organization where they are being challenged and given the skills to grow and develop in their chosen career paths. According to Deloitte’s 2013 report Resetting Horizons Human Capital Trends, after leadership development, ‘sustaining employee engagement/morale’ is the most pressing talent concern for executives worldwide. There are many ways that a strategic focus on learning and development enhances an enterprise-wide talent culture. The strategic role of the chief learning officer For decades, corporate universities and life-long learning programs have sought to lead internal talent development. However, the overall architecture of talent management development has often taken a back seat to recruitment, compensation and performance management. As businesses struggle to fill critical positions and as the requirements for the leadership pipeline change rapidly, companies are putting renewed focus on building capabilities, not just finding them. According to Deloitte’s 2013 Human Capital Trend’s report, the ‘war for talent’ is shifting – and is becoming the ‘war to develop talent.’ This requires a radical rethinking of the internal ‘learning function.’ This also involves creating a fresh learning organization architecture, by moving the leadership of the learning function closer to the boardroom and executive team, and by realigning and reconfiguring learning functions to make them more responsive to business needs. In the process, the role of the chief learning officer (CLO) is coming of age to lead the way. The CLO will be the chief architect of the learning organization and must design learning interventions and solutions that support both individual learning as well as organizational learning. The primary task of the
- 10. - 9 - CLOis to articulate and execute a compelling vision of the role learning and development can play in driving business results. Some question the need for a CLO and believe that the chief human resources officer (CHRO) should be directly responsible for learning and development. Indeed, the CHRO is responsible for the oversight of learning and development in most organizations, as it is a substantial contributor to the continuum of the talent strategy, which includes among other CHRO responsibilities: Identification of the talent required to successfully achieve organizational strategy, recruitment, talent allocation, organizational and performance excellence, HR services, retention, compliance with government regulations and succession planning. In enterprises where the CHRO is solely responsible for learning and development, the learning function has frequently been decentralized into different geographies, business units and functions, resulting in talent capability development that is not aligned with overall business strategy, an overlap of learning initiatives and a promotion of isolated learning technology platforms. This leads to an overall inconsistent quality of learning and inefficiencies in spending, among other problems. In contrast, the CLO as the architect of the learning and development strategy provides essential and critical competencies to the enterprise, including mastery of the 21st century ‘learning domain.’ This multifaceted ‘learning domain’ demands a distinctive skillset combining the ability to: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of emerging learning theories and best practices Analyze the business strategy and create a relevant learning and development strategy that provides the capabilities and competencies to drive business success Employ the multiple technologies available to direct and support learning pathways and skills development, such as learning management systems as well as mobile learning Collaborate with multiple stakeholders to align the learning capabilities in the organization, especially critical in global enterprises where cross-cultural competence is required as well Develop agile and creative leaders at all levels of the organization Communicate the vision and the contribution of the learning and development strategy to business results Manage multiple reporting lines both into the CHRO and the business.
- 11. - 10 - Therole of the CLO drives learning effectiveness and efficiency. Since the overall learning strategy for an organization is part of a complex talent/HR strategy, the CHRO and the CLO must work closely together to leverage their complementary skills, both essential and critical to 21st century enterprise success. The challenges are also mounting for the CLO to strategically support success for their companies and people. The upcoming retirement of the generation of baby boomers will bring significant knowledge gaps in organizations, and the new generation of employees now entering the workplace has a very different learning style – more technology-enabled and team-oriented than previous generations. Most enterprises will expect people to develop competencies at a faster pace than before, as product life cycles are getting shorter and organizations are becoming flatter, more knowledge-driven, technology enabled, complex and global. Thus, executives in all industries are seeking to leverage the untapped talent of their people and they are turning to the CLO to ensure this talent is energized and engaged through sophisticated, advanced learning systems and approaches. In the 21st century, companies have the opportunity to deliver learning through cutting-edge channels, resources and tools. Learning must be integrated into the execution of strategy, developed collaboratively, extended through both time and geographies in a rapid, seamless execution, and must demonstrate valuable bottom-line results. The CLO role involves strategic performance in a number of significant areas including: Developing an enterprise-wide learning and development strategy. It is critical to engage business leaders and talent/HR leaders to develop and shape a vision for learning and jointly make decisions. This network of aligned leadership will optimize the implementation and adoption of initiatives. Building an employer brand through investments in learning. A company brand is one of the most import assets of an organization. Investments in learning and development can help to enhance the employer brand and position the organization as an employer of choice. The CLO must play an active role in making this a reality. Integrating learning with performance management practices. The learning function must be involved in a number of areas including:
- 12. - 11 - Developingcompetency frameworks, mapping courses to competencies and the design of individual competency assessments. This enables employees to build their personal learning plans, gaining certifications and building critical competencies in their desired career paths. Creating and supporting an enterprise-wide learning and collaboration platform. An enterprise-wide learning and collaboration platform provides the foundation for access to knowledge and learning, the capacity to track and report learning activities, and the opportunity for people to share knowledge through communities of practice and expert networks. Providing decentralized capabilities to create and share knowledge. Previously, learning programs were mostly centrally developed and delivered to people throughout the organization. In today’s world, it is expected that information and knowledge flow through the entire enterprise bottom-up, horizontally and top-down. Universal access to the tools and applications that enable distribution of knowledge and sharing of expertise within the organization is mandatory. Examples of these technology-supported tools include: collaboration platforms, virtual classrooms, learning apps, online performance support, learning videos and rapid e-learning development platforms, among others. Designing blended learning solutions. Learning solution designs provide people with the most efficient and effective way to acquire and share knowledge and develop skills. True blended learning solutions include one or more of the following components: physical classroom, workshops, individual learning plans, 360° assessments, web-based training modules, webinars, virtual classrooms, massive open online courses (MOOCs), discussion forums, program portal, shadowing leaders and action learning initiatives. Developing the value proposition and measurement of learning. Enhancing learning capabilities requires significant investments that can only be approved if a sound business case has been developed. To retain investment levels yearly, it is important to show the business impact that investments have achieved in enabling the talent to perform effectively and efficiently to achieve strategic goals. Learning strategy One of the key roles of the CLO is to develop and shape a learning strategy. The learning strategy derives from the business strategy and the talent/people strategy. The objective of a learning strategy is to develop the right people capabilities globally, on time, and in a cost-effective way. In addition, the learning strategy supports the enhancement of a learning culture.
- 13. - 12 - Thereare three performance indicators that indicate how well a learning strategy has been executed. 1. Strategic alignment with the business The first indicator looks at how well all learning initiatives and investments are aligned with the business strategy. Example assessment questions: • Do the learning solutions support the business strategy? • Have the learning solutions been prioritized to match business priorities? • Do learning interventions enhance the ‘learning culture’? A high performance on strategic alignment supports business excellence. 2. Effectiveness of learning solutions The second performance indicator looks at whether learning indentations change behaviours of people. Example assessment questions: • Are the correct learning modalities chosen to support the learning needs? • Do the learning solutions support the unique learning needs of a diverse (and global) audience? • Do the learning solutions enhance people performance and have an impact on the business? A high performance on this dimension supports learning excellence. 3. Efficiency of learning solutions The third performance indicator looks at how well investments and resources in learning are leveraged. Example assessment questions: • What is the percentage of digital learning hours as part of total formal learning hours? • How is informal learning encouraged and supported? • To what extent are curricula and vendors optimized? • Does the organization use centralized learning technology platforms?
- 14. - 13 - •Does the organization have overlap in programmes/initiatives? A high performance on efficiency supports operational excellence. The development agenda requires more than tinkering at the margins. CLOs should move away from the traditional training agenda, but should implement learning interventions that create behavioural change and foster talent that can assume new and evolving roles. The focus should be on continuous learning that harnesses structured experiences, with a goal of linking training and development to business and customer priorities. Maximizing the capacity of each individual through targeted and personalized learning and development over time is crucial to business excellence and this defines the new role of the CLO. With a seat at the C-Suite table, there is a requirement that learning creation and execution are linked specifically and intentionally to the business goals of the organization, and that the CLO speaks the language of business. There are major opportunities and challenges to build an enterprise equipped to meet the demands of the 21st century, and the CLO has a pivotal role to play in creating the vision, the architecture and the business results that ensure success in the dynamic global business environment. Further Reading: The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, Peter Senge (1995) Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study, IBM (2011) Resetting Horizons, Human Capital Trends, Deloitte (2013) Planting the Seeds of Recovery Perspectives of Talent Management in the UK, Towers Watson (2013) Innovation Business as Usual: Paddy Miller and Thomas Wedell- Wedellsborg, Harvard Business School Publishing (2013) The Leadership Premium, How Companies win the confidence of investors, Deloitte (2012) Next Learning Unwrapped, Nick van Dam, Lulu Publishing (2011) Human Capital Trends, Deloitte Development (2013) Nick Van Dam is global chief learning officer at McKinsey, having joined the organisation after being a senior executive at Deloitte, where he worked for 19 years. He has authored more than 15 books and numerous articles on change and organisational learning and has been quoted by The Financial Times, Fortune Magazine, Business Week and The India Times to name but a few. In 2012, Nick received a Lifetime Learning Leadership Award from the MASIE Center, a think tank focused on workforce education and performance.
- 15. - 14 - Cross-CompanyInitiatives By Blanca Gómez González Seven years ago, I was lucky enough to be part of the first cross-company mentoring program in Spain. American Express, Oracle and Coca-Cola (where I was the HR Lead) started a program to mentor High Potential employees. The mentors had to be members of the Leadership Teams of the participant companies and from a different company than the employee they would mentor. We created the whole framework (kick off meeting, mentors’ and mentees’ communities, documents, training, confidentiality and non-poaching agreements for the three companies…) to set the basis for the experience. The idea started with a conversation between the diversity champions in AMEX and Oracle and myself and the main driver was to enrich the internal mentoring programs each one of our companies had at the moment. The experience couldn’t have been more successful and the main evidence is the fact that the initiative continues today. The program was much more interesting and useful for the employees and the companies than any previous programs each one of us had in our own enterprises. The employees were exposed to the reality of a company from a different sector, had a mentor who didn’t have any stereotypes about the mentee’s company or coworkers, and the variety of issues to be developed in the mentoring relationships grew significantly. Since that experience I have continued searching for other opportunities to start new cross-company initiatives in different human resources areas, especially in talent development. The cross-company initiatives are far more interesting than the programs a business can develop by itself, for different reasons: Expansion of experiences. Each one of us in our companies is able to create a limited set of experiences for our employees. In my opinion it is critical to expose ourselves and our employees to different experiences to boost innovation and multiply the possibilities to find connections between different areas, business opportunities, etc. In my case, at Microsoft we are able to expose our associates to many experiences as a big technology company, but in order to have a broader knowledge of reality, we need to complement these experiences with other ones in small or medium businesses, other sectors, other geographies, or other realities outside of the business world.
- 16. - 15 - Reduction of resources. We all are facing reductions of resources and we have the challenge, not only to do “more with less,” but to do “different with less.” One of the main ways to be able to compensate for the reduction of resources is to share costs and to soften the boundaries between enterprises. Growth of the overall program. The dimension of a program grows and enriches if we include the cross-company aspect. An example is the cross-company mentoring I just described at the beginning of the article. Increased opportunities. There are unlimited positive “collateral effects” between the companies who participate in a cross-company initiative, especially if they do business together. The trust increases, they understand each other much better, they get a deeper knowledge of the other company that can be used to improve the relationship and business they do together… Simply stated, there is no reason not to collaborate more between enterprises. A couple of months ago I was amazed by the results of an investigation published in Harvard Business Review (March 17th 2014) addressing how companies can attract the best college talent. The investigation was conducted by Sanjeev Agrawal from Collegefeed and done through 15.000 interviews of U.S. Millennials (60% in their last years of studies and 40% already graduated). The ranking resulting from the first question asked to the Millennials (“what are the top three companies you want to work for”) is very different from the ones we are used to seeing. The top 20 favorite employers in that ranking are: 1. Google 2. Apple 3. Facebook 4. Microsoft 5. Amazon 6. eBay 7. LinkedIn 8. Yahoo! 9. Goldman Sachs 10.IBM 11.Intel 12.Cisco 13.McKinsey & Company
- 17. - 16 - 14.Twitter 15.JPMorgan 16.Deloitte 17.Qualcomm 18.Salesforce 19.Morgan Stanley 20.The Walt Disney Company I have to confess that when I saw the ranking for the first time, the first company I looked for was Microsoft (my current employer) and the second one was Coca-Cola (my previous employer). In the case of Microsoft I found us very quickly, but in the case of Coca-Cola… I didn´t find them among the top 50 employers! I was really surprised by the concentration of companies related to the digital world in the top positions, but I was even more surprised with the minimal presence of mass market companies in the list. In this more-than-ever challenging and new environment, to attract and to foster loyalty from talented individuals can’t be done in isolation. We need to work together with many different partners to be able to present a more complete, interesting, and comprehensive candidate experience and employee experience. In Microsoft we are working in several cross-company projects currently: The first one is a project with other companies from our sector (ACCENTURE, ALTRAN, HP, INDRA and FUNDACIÓN TELEFÓNICA) to motivate students to pursue STEM (Scientific, Technological and Mathematical) degrees: “StartTech.” The intention is to include any other company from the sector who is interested in joining us. The only way to be able to change the current situation of this lack of technical vocations among students in Spain is to confront the problem as a sector, and not institution by institution. We have created a common platform where the professors, students, families, etc. will be able to find all kinds of resources and information about the different activities that have been organized to bring students closer to technical and technological professions. The participating companies add their resources and efforts until the students are in the second year of university, and from there, the competition begins for the actual jobs. Though it may not seem so at first glance, the two phases in this talent development process are not incompatible. The second initiative is called “Transform Talent” and is working under the umbrella of the “Transform Spain Foundation.” In this case we have created an
- 18. - 17 - ActionTank with companies from different sectors (ADECCO, APD, BBVA, EVERIS, FCC, GONWAY, IBERIA, LEADERS TRUST, LEE HECHT HARRISON, MICROSOFT, RUSSELL REYNOLDS, SANTANDER, TELEFONICA, UNIDAD EDITORIAL, ZURICH). The objective is to design different initiatives that will contribute to the acceleration of talent development in general in Spain (during the individuals’ studies and in their professional careers). Each initiative will be piloted and then presented to the broader public, as well as to other companies in a way that can be easily replicated. This facilitates the process for those partners who decide to come together and copy and implement the initiatives. These initiatives will include (but aren’t limited to) employee participation in training actions organized in other companies, co-design and co-delivery of training, cross-company shadowing (accompanying an employee in her/his day- to-day during a specific time period), cross-company mentoring, and sharing of working spaces. In addition to these two big initiatives, in Microsoft Spain we have continuous cases where we host employees from different small and medium companies -- for example, next week the Content and Social Media Manager from Womenalia (a small company which has created the first global network for professional women) will spend several days with us understanding how we do digital marketing at Microsoft -- and many of our employees mentor individuals from outside the organization in digital business. We are witness to how the boundaries between companies are progressively becoming less solid and, within this context, I fundamentally believe that the enterprises and organisms that connect and work collectively with others will achieve a greater competitive advantage. Blanca Gómez González is the Human Resources Director for Microsoft Spain and has more than 25 years of experience working in HR. She served as the HR Lead for several multinational corporations: Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and L’Oreal. Forever passionate about HR technology and innovation, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in pedagogy as well as an MBA, and is a professor in several business schools.
- 19. - 18 - TheNext Big Thing in Global Leadership By Ella Bennett Reprinted with permission from Dialogue Review © 2014 (dialoguereview.com) Globalisation is increasingly becoming a powerful force with regards to leadership considerations. But to my mind, at least for the time being, the majority of leadership roles are not ‘truly global.’ This is because each company and country is unique. Also, the extent of international leadership integration we are seeing in the market at the moment is heavily dependent on the culture of the organisation you are working within – and more often than not, there isn’t just one global leadership function to manage multi-nationals. However, global-leadership capacity is an element that is becoming of concern to many companies and it is time we focus on how we identify and develop leaders to fulfil these roles. This sentiment was echoed in a 2012 McKinsey study on developing global leaders, which found that as many as 76% of senior executives believe their organisations need to develop global-leadership capabilities. This study also showed that only 7% of these executives thought this was done very effectively – suggesting that we are not there yet with regards to making leadership truly global. Within Fujitsu, we have found that leaders who exhibit and role model certain qualities will help drive a change in mindset in the business the most and, therefore, be more effective – whether on a local or global level. First, leaders need to visibly demonstrate that they believe the business can change and can realise its goal, and show they are passionate about the people who work there. They must be willing to demonstrate the right behaviours. Changing a mindset starts with changing behaviours and leaders need to know, use and encourage these new behaviours in their work and within their teams. Leaders need to communicate continuously and consistently through multiple channels. In business, corporate messages are easily drowned out among the mass of communication your people receive. The more communication that can be personalised and delivered personally, the better. Leaders should be comfortable to use as many channels as possible and ensure they stay on message. They must also be firm and have authority. At points of change, it is vital to have leaders that inspire confidence. When decisions need to be made,
- 20. - 19 - theyshould be made thoughtfully, but decisively, and leaders must be prepared to hold the line on new ways of working. Leaders need to have the ability to sense when things need to change – and have the confidence to change them. And finally, they need the ability to have difficult conversations. This does not come naturally to everyone, even experienced leaders. Along the way, it is always necessary to have difficult conversations at all levels. Leadership pipeline Building a global leadership pipeline is complex. Companies have to assess their current leaders, develop a succession pipeline and actively move leaders around the business to develop growth to assess whether one person should lead a company globally or whether each country needs its own leadership team. Within Fujitsu, we operate on a lean management principle. Each country or region reports regularly to the global HQ, but for the most part we are autonomous – with each country being equipped with its own leadership team. This enables us to make the best decisions for our individual markets. It takes into account that each region has its own cultural differences, and that business is driven in very specific ways. Overall, this ensures that we are all doing our best in our own markets, while still focusing on delivering on the overall business objectives set by our Japanese HQ. I think that our Japanese heritage in this way gives us greater flexibility. Unlike many Western-owned businesses, our Japanese colleagues trust us to make the right decisions for our markets, instead of centralising all functionality. Executives are beginning to understand that cultural differences really do matter. As such, many realise that different and more collaborative ways of working will be needed to operate in a truly global marketplace in the future. The right talent From my perspective, future leaders need to recognise that to be able to execute a global business strategy will require them to have the right talent in the right places. Future leaders need to realise that they will need specialised leadership skills— such as the ability to manage and work with people from different backgrounds and customs. These leaders must also consider that different kinds of organisational and governance structures will have to be put in place by them to operate as a global company rather than just a company that
- 21. - 20 - happensto have a lot of different locations around the world – and change is never easy. To leverage a global mindset, a leader must first and foremost understand how his or her own cognitive, motivational and behavioural propensities impact them as individuals and their leadership style. A key to leveraging a global mindset lies within a leader’s ability to create a culture that encourages diverse thinking within their company that will ultimately bring about positive shifts. But building a culture that encourages diverse thinking is hard work. Individuals that want to do this will have to learn how to become transformational leaders. To achieve this, they will have to figure out what cultural shift they want to bring into their organisation and identify the means by which to do so. They will have to work closely with HR teams to proactively develop diverse teams, identifying talent in unexpected places. Ultimately, to leverage a global mindset, leaders have to be people who can anticipate the ‘next big thing’ and help their employees to embrace it. Good leaders, global ones included, come from many diverse backgrounds. But the one thing they have in common is that they have a multitude of skills that help them get the best performance out of their business. Ella Bennett joined Fujitsu in 2000. From 2006 she led Fujitsu's lean-based continuous improvement programme before being appointed HR Director, UK & Ireland, in April 2009. Fujitsu Services won the UK's top accolade of Overall HR Excellence at the HR Excellence Awards in 2007 and the gong for talent management excellence in 2013.
- 22. - 21 - AndNow What? Keys to Measuring Management Quality By Alberto Blanco It’s true; we cannot speak of management quality without drawing gasps of disbelief. It’s hard to talk about quality after what we’ve seen and experienced in the conduct of some executives, political leaders, and their associates in recent years. Incredulity aside, however, it’s worth focusing our attention on what does not make it to the media - the people who are not only managing to keep their companies afloat, but are actually making them thrive, managers who repeatedly ask themselves this question. “And now what?” It appears that the much-anticipated turnaround has arrived. Organisations are finally glimpsing a ray of sunshine after an interminable winter. The answer to the question is unclear, but there are clues that shed some light on the immediate future. The first is that we cannot have management quality without us managers reorienting ourselves towards the customer, without listening to him and understanding his real needs, without having a service mentality and striving for excellence. However, reorienting ourselves towards the customer is futile unless we can get our teams to do the same. We need to put the customer in the minds of the people who work with us and, although it may sound obvious, make them understand that their wages are not paid by the company, that there is no little fairy hiding in a corner of the office printing money. Wages are paid by the customer, and anyone incapable of grasping this simple truth will be left out of the picture. Understanding these clues requires accepting reality. Spain has its limits and if our customers are now located in all corners of the globe, so too is the talent we need. It isn’t possible to internationalise the business without also internationalising talent management. And what should we measure in management quality?
- 23. - 22 - Arecent study published by The Conference Board and Right Management on leadership development trends worldwide looked at how companies measure the success of their leadership development programmes. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they measured it by business results. And this makes perfect sense. A leadership programme that is effective has to impact the bottom line. However, only 16% of companies said they measured the success of their management development programmes using customer satisfaction. And this was the point that particularly caught my attention; because if we don't know if our customers are satisfied, how can we know why we get results? Therefore, to speak of management quality is to speak of customers, results and people. In that order, and, even better, without increasing costs and by using the people we already have in the organisation. And how do you do this? Although each organisation needs to integrate these ideas into its business strategy, there are seven factors influencing the quality of the managers of the future: 1. Leadership by example. Or, in other words, leaders who practise what they preach. This is possibly one of the biggest challenges for current leadership development programmes: getting grown adults to learn things they probably weren’t capable of learning from their parents when they were seven years old. In any event, this factor is non-negotiable because, without the support of example, leadership will not survive. 2. Results. Yes, financial results: turnover, revenue, income, EBITDA, i.e., money, cash. Because without financial results, there is nothing more to discuss. Nevertheless, we cannot speak of results without taking into account the human dimension. We must consider the achievement of results with people, not in spite of them. I recall a comic strip I once saw in a newspaper showing an executive and his assistant reviewing financial statements. The assistant was timidly suggesting, “…but sir, behind the numbers are people…” “Well, get them out of the way!” screamed the executive. And that's what I'm talking about: results through people, not at their expense. But there is more, putting the focus on results does not only entail money and people, it entails making a real contribution from a social perspective. Whether we call it CSR or something else, the important
- 24. - 23 - thingis that our contribution is real and not swallowed up by marketing and communications campaigns. 3. Facilitating collaboration. Gone are the days when just a few executives were capable of steering a company to success single- handedly. Real management quality is achieved by sharing the ball, working with one another and not for the other. In addition, Internet and social networks are demonstrating that collaboration within the company is not only possible, it is also profitable. 4. Identifying the key people. Most companies are learning the hard way that they must tackle their current challenges without increasing costs or hiring new people. It is therefore critical to be able to identify the key people and their potential. This should not be seen as the responsibility of the Human Resources department, but as a management process involving the entire organisation. 5. Developing internal talent. I once heard José Aguilar of Mindvalue say that “a diagnosis without treatment is an autopsy.” And this is a great truth. What’s the point of identifying the key people in our organisation if we do not implement action plans to promote their development? When doing so, however, we should avoid the paternalism characterising the development programmes of many companies in recent years, and instead empower people, give them the freedom to take responsibility for their own professional and personal growth. 6. Tolerating frustration. After what we have experienced in recent years, I think most of us now have a black belt in frustration tolerance. We have grown accustomed to the idea that no matter how much energy and talent we invest in our professional development, we do not always get results when, how, and from whom we expect. I personally like to work on frustration tolerance by telling myself that anything is better than going back to where we were, and this requires a tremendous effort. 7. Learning Agility. We live in times where stupidity has its charm but ignorance does not. Openness and learning agility are just some of the variables that will determine the success of our present and future leaders. Learning Agility has to do with the breadth and depth of our thinking and is reflected in how we work with ideas – our own and others’ – how we
- 25. - 24 - interactwith people, how we behave in situations of uncertainty and how me make things happen. How is management quality measured? Measuring management quality is not a Human Resources process, it is a management process. And like all management processes, it needs to be based on a model, a series of metrics and the technology to make it viable. Each organisation will incorporate these processes in accordance with their strategy and culture, but they can generally be structured around the following five steps: 1. Define the purpose. We must understand why we need to measure management quality in our organisation: to open up new markets, become a more efficient organisation, retain the know-how of key talent, etc. It is only by doing this exercise that the "whys" can be integrated into Human Resource processes like recruitment, succession programmes, international mobility, high-flyers, etc. 2. Design a variable measurement model. We saw earlier how management quality is defined by seven factors; however, each organisation will need to integrate these into their competencies, skills, performance and development models, etc. and, most importantly, make them directly observable and measurable. 3. Identify participants for the deployment of the process. All measurement processes should be accompanied with a subsequent action plan. It is therefore critical to identify the appropriate people to participate in the process and, of course, manage expectations effectively, including the expectations of non-participants. 4. Design the assessment experience. Although we often associate the idea of assessment with unpleasant experiences like exams, what we are really aiming for with the management quality assessment process is to be able to measure, predict, quantitatively and qualitatively assess, diagnose, learn and discover. Assessing management quality involves the creation of an environment in which people can bring into play their capabilities, behaviours, skills and motivations, and it must be possible to measure these objectively and reliably.
- 26. - 25 - Whilea great many assessment methods exist at the management level, I would like to highlight two in particular: the first is the 360-degree Feedback assessment, because it has been in use for many years and will probably continue to be used for several more. This method provides leaders with a comprehensive view of their strengths and areas for improvement, not only on the basis of their self-assessment, but also on that of their environment. The second method would have been unthinkable five years ago, but is now possible thanks to technology: Serious Games. The purpose here is to create online simulations where people can demonstrate their knowledge and skills, but in a setting that is entertaining, hence providing an emotional experience. 5. Map the results. In a management quality measurement process, knowing people’s results and the way they achieve them are equally important. It is therefore essential to analyse both the person's contribution to the company and their strengths and areas for improvement on an individual basis. However, if the management quality measurement process is to be truly useful to the organisation, the Human Resources Department must be able to offer overall results for the process and provide the organisation with maps showing visual and intuitive information on people’s talent. The ultimate goal of a process of this kind is to facilitate decision-making for the organisation, and this is only possible when data can be transformed into facts, and evidence can be obtained instead of reports. That said, no management quality measurement process will be successful unless an important aspect is adequately addressed: feedback, which is still an outstanding challenge for leadership. Without feedback, there is no improvement, and without improvement, we cannot speak of management quality. Learning Agility: Go ask WhatsApp! As we have seen, leadership by example, a focus on human and financial results, promoting collaboration, identifying and developing key people and frustration tolerance are just some of the factors that will shape management quality in the future. However, Learning Agility, perhaps because it is a relatively new and less explored variable, deserves special consideration.
- 27. - 26 - Learningagility is about understanding that out there right now somebody is creating a new business model to do what we are currently doing in the organisation, only faster, cheaper and with more value for the customer. A recent example would be WhatsApp, the company that has revolutionised mobile communication by making it cheaper, more fun and more useful. What’s more, the company’s founders have announced that soon they will also be offering free voice calls. In this example, Learning agility is the ability of telecom operator leaders to understand that the days of charging for phone calls are over, that they must find new ways to fill the gap this leaves in the income statement and learn to compete in this new scenario. Large corporations are becoming increasingly aware that the great ideas that will revolutionise the market will not come from within, because great ideas are almost always born out of necessity and freedom. These corporations are forced to learn and understand what is happening beyond their walls, in ecosystems that are being developed outside market research, strategic plans and business schools. WhatsApp is just a glimpse of what is to come. It won’t be long before we hear about the geek who, in shorts and flip-flops, is right now inventing a new business model… perhaps for banking. Alberto Blanco is General Manager in Grupo ACTUAL (actualgrupo.com). He's focused on design of solutions to identify and develop people's talent in companies, based on models of Management 2.0. @alberto_blanco
- 28. - 27 - Leadinga Workforce of Four Generations By David Woods Reprinted with permission from Dialogue Review © 2014 (dialoguereview.com) In the mid 19th century, the mathematician Malthus used a simple equation to estimate global populations in the future: double the number 1, and you get 2; double the number 2 and that gives you 4; double 4 to make 8, and so on. By following this rule, the number reached by doubling one 50 times is colossal. The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Black Death in 1350, when it stood at 370 million. In January 2014, the world’s population was 7,177,568,766 (a growth of more than six billion people over the intervening 664 years) and the UN Population Division estimates the population could be as large as 24.8 billion by the year 2150. As population growth continues inexorably, and people live longer, for the first time in history, there will be four generations of employees in the workplace: baby boomers (born in the late 1940s and early 1950s), generation X (born in the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s), generation Y/millenials (born in the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s) and generation Z (born in the late 1990s). Kevin Kelly, until recently global CEO of Heidrich and Struggles, sums up the issues this brings to employers eloquently, explaining that generation Y expects to have held 14 jobs each by the age of 38. Employers are left with the challenge of trying to recruit, retain, motivate, engage and lead this growing group of aspiring individuals as well as their older colleagues. And Kelly is fearful: “The war for talent is over,” he says. “And talent won.” Employers will have work to do, managing simultaneously four generations with four very different outlooks. Defining generation Y The UN says 138 million babies were born in the late 1980s and as Steve Hewitt, HR director of Lumesse (a business consultancy with 22 offices in 18 countries), explains: “By 2025, members of generation Y will make up 70% of the global workforce, according to BPW Foundation’s study. With the stream of millennials entering the workplace set to become a flood, organizations need a better understanding of how to attract and retain this emerging talent.”
- 29. - 28 - Sowhile employers will need to be nimble in demonstrating four different management styles to match four generations, soon the needs of gen Y will be driving new management theories. Jeff Cornwall, director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, thinks that because parents have increasingly raised their children to be independent, one differentiating aspect of generation Y is that they are more inclined to follow their entrepreneurial pursuits. Hewitt continues: “According to a 2012 report by the Kauffman Foundation, the largest entrepreneurial foundation in the US, 29.4% of entrepreneurs were 20 to 34 years-old and roughly 160,000 start-ups a month were led by millennials in 2011. Additionally, a recent survey of IT candidates aged under-35 by the recruitment consultants Harvey Nash found almost half had some entrepreneurial experience.” One important way in which gen Y is different and needs to be managed differently at work is that they need their space and freedom to be more entrepreneurial to show what they can do. Hewitt adds: “Once businesses have understood the case for recruiting generation Y, they’ll need to create a talent strategy specifically tailored to doing so.” Understanding generation Y But employers are struggling. US-based university admissions consulting firm Anna Ivey reports that managers find it hard to discover the best ways to recruit, manage and retain generation Y. Why? Because many employers simply do not understand what makes them tick. “This is not about the age of employees; it’s about experience during the formative years,” says Justine James, founding director of Talent Smoothie, which has completed a study of more than 2,500 generation Y employees. “It’s very much based on how our parents treated us – for example, for baby boomers it was a case of children being seen and not heard, whereas generation Y see themselves as the centre of the universe. “Generation Y employees are much more likely to go straight over the management layers and speak to the CEO. Generation X would be less likely to do this.
- 30. - 29 - “Takethe example of going to the movies and how you would gather people. Generation X didn’t have mobile phones, so they made a plan, couldn’t change it, and everyone would stick to it. “In a work context, this means generation X will have a plan – a generation X manager might find it frustrating if generation Y deviated from a plan. Generation X have to learn to manage the outcome rather than the inputs, i.e., have you made it to the movies? The challenge for these managers is not to judge others by their behaviour, but by the outcomes.” Tech-savvy millennials grew up in a world with a high level of interactive stimulation: TV, video games, the internet and “social web” (Facebook, Twitter), an experience that older generations do not always readily appreciate. “As a result, today’s recruitment communication and channels are rarely aligned with the interests and social media preferences of this target audience,” says Hewitt. “This creates the need for new strategies, which are experience-based, responsive and centred on relationships.” Jamie Homer, global director of HR and talent at fashion retail chain Urban Outfitters, agrees: “The very concept of generation Y and Z is an interesting and often complex one for someone from Generation X to comprehend. I’m a member of generation X. I can still remember getting my first ever email address back in 1997 and my first mobile in 2001. “Fast-forward to 2014 and the world is suddenly a tiny online, connected community. Everyone and everything is “Google-able”, accessible and right here for us to discover. “We shop, bank and book doctor appointments with our phones, we price-check products in the store to make sure the deal is the best one possible, we watch TV whenever and wherever we want, even if it is broadcast live, we order a product from any store/website and have it delivered to any address (or Amazon drop box) in the world, and we can talk to anyone in the world from anywhere we are, instantly. Not only that, we have come to expect that kind of personal and commercial immediacy – the idea of connectivity is now a commodity to the point that one day service providers may not even be able to charge you for it.” And as we think about what this means in modern day business, Homer believes we must shift our focus away from these concepts of old and recognize that we, from pre-Y and Z generations, likely don’t know what we don’t know in the new reality of today.
- 31. - 30 - “Andit doesn’t just affect us as employers, it also affects us as business people,” continues Homer. “To me, the number one challenge facing an older generation stuck in their old world mentality is failing to see and grasp the opportunity that technology affords us all. Mobile commerce does not create issues, rather it creates, and has already created, massive opportunities that forward-thinking businesses have adapted to and integrated into their business models. In other words, they have embraced this challenge, not hidden from or rebelled against it. Technology leads a business forward and we must recognize that our customer expects an easy, seamless, simple and, above all, safe transaction. “Failure to embrace this only keeps us firmly planted in the past and unable to drive forward. And considering the pace at which things move, evolve and grow today, this concept of mobile technology is already yesterday’s event.” What’s next? Is there a problem? Given mounting evidence of this disconnect in the workplace, will it be possible to lead and engage all the generations going forward? Sally Bibb, founder of Engaging Minds and author of Generation Y for Rookies, thinks so. “Generation Y can be led if they are inspired and feel like they are learning and being stretched,” she explains. “Gen Y have a different expectation of what it means to have a leader – they have high expectations of that person and view the relationship as very much equal. They demand as much of the leader as the leader does of them. They don’t hold the hierarchical ideal as gen X and boomers do. “In my experience, the best leaders embrace the generation gap and seek to learn from gen Y. In practice, this takes the form of reciprocal mentoring, e.g. a phone company that has gen Y mentoring execs about the internet and social media, and execs helping gen Y with influencing skills and stakeholder management. Business leaders can embrace and accept the generational differences in the workplace by creating a mutual understanding and appreciation between generations. Mutual appreciation of the views and value each generation brings is key, as is an understanding that you can’t label and box off people simply according to their age. The so-called generational divide can only damage organizational culture when it is not addressed and managed positively. Business leaders certainly need to think about what management and
- 32. - 31 - leadershipmeans – in fact, what Gen Y want, Gen X would have liked too, but we were conditioned not to expect it.” Jez Langhorn, senior VP (people) at global fast food chain McDonald’s, is emphatic in his belief that employee engagement and the right leadership could and should cut through any generational divide. “At McDonald’s, you will find people of all ages and backgrounds working together and playing an important role in the business,” he tells Dialogue. “Whether it is a 35-year-old mom or a teenager looking for their first job, we look for qualities such as enthusiasm, initiative and passion for delivering great customer service, rather than qualifications or their background.” Drawing on her research, Talent Smoothie’s James supports this. She says: “It’s a misnomer that generation Y are more ‘flighty.’ They don’t go into an organization planning to leave – but planning to work their way up the ladder. They’re less likely to put up with stuff they don’t like; but would be more likely to return to an organization they have left. And I have a hunch this is going to happen more depending on salary opportunity.” She explains: “Generation Y have watched their parents remain loyal to organizations and face redundancy, so they don’t have the same ideas of loyalty and a job for life. They want a job they love. Career opportunities and career development are on the list for generation Y, but these are less important for other generations. Society encourages them to be individuals and focuses on personalization.” Langhorn tries not to draw lines around generation X, Y and Z in his business: “We offer the same opportunities to all of our employees, regardless of their age.” And returning to the notion that generation X, Y and Z clash over their worldviews and that their misconceptions and miscommunications can stifle business growth, he doesn’t believe this clash to be an issue. “While the vast majority of our employees are under 30, it’s good for our people and good for our business to have a diverse range of ages in our restaurants,” he says. “Our own research (with Lancaster University) shows how a blend of generations can be a positive influence. Young people can teach leaders a lot, particularly in an ever-increasing digital world, bringing a new, fresh perspective to business, while the older generation provides mentoring skills to the workplace, helping younger colleagues develop and mature.”
- 33. - 32 - Commentingon the research to which Langhorn refers, Paul Sparrow, director of the Centre for Performance-led HR at Lancaster University, adds: “The research demonstrates the very real business value of recruiting an age-diverse workforce. Mature employees are a key part of the performance recipe.” This is good news for the workforce, given the changing demographics of our society. We are likely to see more and more people working for longer, either because they are sufficiently fit and healthy to do so, or to store up their financial security. Langhorn picks up the story. “Talking to young people, we identified a couple of areas where they felt they needed support and which, as employers, we could provide guidance on. For example, many have never had anyone give an employer’s view of their CV, highlighting what works and what doesn’t. The same applies to interview technique – showing them what impresses an employer and how to prepare,” he says. “As a business, we have thought about what we can do to help. Recently we piloted a How to Get Hired program, extending our internal support for young people to those who don’t work for us. We invited young people who have been unemployed for longer than three months to take part in workshops designed to give them a helping hand in their job hunt. Interestingly, the young people who took part in the workshops told us that their biggest lesson was hearing exactly what an employer is looking for. Many were surprised that relatively simple things such as timekeeping, enthusiasm and demonstrating passion for a business can make a real difference to their prospects of securing that all important first job. This is the kind of basic information that mentoring by an older generation could provide.” Generation Y as leaders In 2012, during a session called Leadership Across Generations at the World Economic Forum at Davos, a group of 70 millennial leaders from around the world said that leaders need to “think younger” and come up with new ways to address the challenges their businesses face. Lumesse’s Hewitt explains that Martina Mangelsdorf, the founder of GAIA Insights, a firm specializing in leadership development for generation Y, believes that recruiting graduates will help to improve a company’s entrepreneurship and bring its associated benefits – a fresh perspective, passion and innovation – to the business.
- 34. - 33 - Jamesagrees, adding: “Generation Y and Z tend to get on with the older generations, but I think the trick is about respecting others and being respected by them. Reciprocal mentoring is a good solution – the idea of old mentoring young and young mentoring old (on social media for example), but it has to be equal value on both sides. “With networking, for example, for generation Y, it’s part of the psyche; older generations find this a bit more difficult. This is generation diversity – there have never been four generations in the workplace before at the same time – there are so many perspectives and the opportunities are endless.” Urban Outfitters’ Homer picks up the thread from a personal perspective: “It seems that if I am going to stay relevant and connected in the world of retail today and into the future, I need to stay in touch with the younger generation, the Y and Z generations, who are living their lives the only way they know how: right here and right now – doing it for themselves. “My daughter only knows how to change her home screen by touching it and interacting with it. As she grows up, I could probably only do myself a favour by understanding her view of the world more and figuring how that will translate into the world of consumption.” In fact, Homer goes one step further, adding: “The notion of generation Y being led and managed seems to be the antithesis of what this generation is actually all about. “Accepting what they are told, accepting what they read and watch on the news, accepting what their politicians tell them simply doesn’t happen anymore. Why would it when you can do your own research on Google and Wikipedia and form your own opinion in less than 10 minutes? Look at how fast the Arab Spring took hold. World-changing events mediated through social media and online platforms by young people who know more than any of us that if they want something to happen at the pace they have come to expect, they believe they must instigate the change themselves.” This concept of non-conformity presents challenges to the traditional workplace and it is evident that many work cultures are not equipped to handle this. They need to become so. Thoughts from a generation Y leader Josh Allan Dykstra (age 33), is co-founder of Work Revolution and member of the Young
- 35. - 34 - EntrepreneurCouncil. He thinks the clichés around generation Y have some truth – but employers are missing the reasoning behind them. It’s not that generation Y doesn’t care about the workplace. Rather, they care too much. They want their work to be meaningful and Dykstra thinks some managers are missing the opportunity to engage people who want to be passionate about their job. He thinks leaders need to think about looking at the similarities between the generations, rather than the differences. Generations are more similar than they are different and through mentoring, generation Y can be engaged the same way as baby boomers. Are we speaking a common language? Are we focusing on the right thing? Surely we will widen the divide between the generations if we continue to think they are different. Mentoring has been a big component in Dykstra´s life – he is always keen to go to a baby boomer and ask for advice. But the main question should be: “How do we accomplish the best work possible and create something as a team?” The market is acting like generation Y with a fast flow of information in a digital age and businesses need to adopt a gen Y mentality. It’s no longer about communicating better; it’s about catching up before we are left behind. Further reading: It’s Never OK to Kiss the Interviewer, Jane Sunley (2014) Generation Y for Rookies, Sally Bibb (2008) David Woods is editorial director at LID Publishing for the UK and North America, as well as editor of Dialogue, a global business journal published in partnership with Duke University's Corporate Education department. David was previously deputy editor of HR Magazine where he launched a highly successful campaign to reform labour regulations in the UK which led to him being ranked the number one influencer in the world via social media on the topic of employment law. In 2012, David was awarded the accolade of HR journalist of the year and talent management journalist of the year for his undercover report into the unemployment crisis in the United Kingdom and its qualitative research into the future of people strategy globally.
- 36. - 35 - GrowthManagement: From Capitalism to Capital-Humanism By Ignacio Bernabé Thousands of managers around the world have already aligned with the proposal of Growth Management® that spreads like a weather front of fresh air from Europe to the USA and Latin America. This is a new model of managing companies, based on the parallel management of organizations and people, which aims to add value to the foundations of a new system of economic and social order towards which we are inevitably heading. What is the cause for this? Already, many of us from different perspectives watch closely the death of the capitalist system and do not promote its resurrection, as we are evolving towards a model where change will occur naturally, the same way capitalism did when emerging from feudalism. It cannot be otherwise, because the inexorable process in the evolution of social models is similar to that of the human being. Responsible, constructive criticism is necessary when we have assumed the responsibilities of organizing the ideas and sustaining the basis of the new socio-economic model. A model, called to manage a great cultural evolution with historical dimensions, as well as a bigger socialization process than that generated by any of the great industrial revolutions or maybe even bigger than all of them as a whole and its subsequent crisis and effects - overproduction, unemployment, mass emigration, colonialism, and imperialism, among other things. This represents a period of transition in which we will need to learn and develop new thoughts, as well as embrace new values, habits, norms and behaviour with a revised perception of social and personal reality. The ship has departed once again, and we will eventually arrive at a new destination. However, to the extent that we are able to define how we want this destination to be, it will be a better place for all, since the vision and the attitude will fulfil the prophecy. We are in a new dimension where people and organizations will have to learn to live again, cohabitate, and create value and be competitive. Create value and competition
- 37. - 36 - Itis imperative that we begin to think, feel and operate differently. Only then will we be able to respond to the needs and interests of a modern society which pleads bitterly for someone to take action, as there are many who feel that we are sailing adrift through a turbulent sea without any final destination. And in fact, these thoughts are justified. This situation in which we are immersed is the virulent side effects of the capitalist system. It was flawed from its conception, because in my judgement, although its principle motive was always noble, it didn’t consider in its design how the peculiarities of the human being, and especially human behaviour, would negatively affect the results. This is understandable, even acceptable, since the errors, just like lack of precedent, knowledge and experience, are all respectable aspects of any innovation process. This exceptional turbulence is the result of the process of self-regulation to which all systems tend to succumb. This is the warning to all involved, that the capitalism which has ruled for centuries the minds of leaders, directors, entrepreneurs and decision-makers throughout the world, must give way to another one. The main premise upon which we develop a socio-economic system, and the cause of its success or failure, has to do with our own essence, that is with the study and analysis of the peculiarities and contradictions of mankind itself as a social being. In any case, any model should adjust to the culture and human nature, not vice versa. Probably, capitalism by its very nature adheres more to this premise than other models, although not to the level it should, and this is the main reason for its decline. This is something we can now understand from deep analysis, under empirical and scientific perspectives that in the past were not possible, because knowledge, like ideas, is charging ahead towards solving human challenges. In order to serve the most basic requirements of economic and social needs, he model towards which we are heading, and which we need to promote requires the alignment of cultural transition - i.e. new social thoughts, prejudices, habits, customs and tradition - with human capacity (talent) and with universality - i.e. morality, ethics, reason and humanity. And yet, the spirit of capitalism is always going to stay present because the macrodynamics created behave like a giant, unstoppable wheel. In evolving from one system to another, it is imperative we choose the most intelligent option -- that is, to refrain from fighting the waves and instead, make use of their dynamics to ride them. From this point of view, this unstoppable wheel should
- 38. - 37 - beoiled to keep turning smoothly, and that's all we can do. This evolution is in our hands - in each and every one of us. The system must be made more human. If we are to be successful moving towards a new model which stands up, like a surfer on his surfboard, to the dynamics generated by the previous one, then we must promote intelligent dynamics that drive the change from the micro - the personal option- towards the macro - the organizational, institutional and social response. The business environment and its participants - businessmen, directors, employees and society in general- should embrace that responsibility, regardless of what the administration does, as at some point there will be no other choice but to respond to the butterfly effect produced. The social authority of a critical mass always exceeds the institutional power, which ends up having to adapt to the weight of reality. As Immanuel Wallerstein says "Capitalism has somehow worked out wonderfully for 500 years. It has been an extremely successful system, but ended up crumbling, because its ruling class and its political elites were unable to resolve the problems of uncertainty in which they have involved themselves.” Capitalism won’t meet its end without the combination of an “extreme external shock” – the current crisis plays that role perfectly – and a “convincing alternative from society” – a new doctrine. The alternative of Capital-Humanism I have worked for more than 20 years promoting the basis of this necessary transition, from capitalism towards what I call Capital-Humanism. Because of the worldwide financial crises that have transpired, many of us could see the decline of capitalism coming, but few wanted to. We failed to make this decline sufficiently visible to those of us who have always confronted the system by looking for new perspectives, those of us who are by nature restless and rebellious. And despite our perseverance, we are unable to speed up the passage of time required for innovation and change to take hold. Natural evolution is what ultimately determines the course of events. Capital-Humanism is not an idealistic doctrine but a practical model that is an off-shoot from a systematic observation of capitalism. It comes from the knowledge we have of reality - human, social, business, political -- to evolve along with it. It doesn´t pretend to be a utopia: far from being based on ideals or philosophical concepts, it relies on scientific knowledge -- psychobiology, psychology, sociology, management.
- 39. - 38 - Wewill not desist in our efforts because we know that important things do not happen overnight. As Aristotle said "the moral excellence is the result of habit." We only become humanists by doing acts of humanism. In fact, this text is much more an act of humanism than it is a manifestation against capitalism. This is not a ruthless criticism but a deep reflection. I disagree that capitalism is not promoting properties or services of social interest as many allege. Neither is it the cause of the economic disparity between the social classes. I do believe that from this system some natural elements will be kept. And while the benefits of capitalism allow little discussion, the new doctrine must overcome the obstacles that have become the main problems of the current model. Perhaps, the greatest challenge is placing the human being at the center of politics and business, against personal benefit, political income and business profit, to create a responsible and sustainable model. To do this, we must promote a collective thought which generates more rational social behaviour in relation to the pursuit of happiness, minimizing the culture of the indebtedness and excessive consumerism. Also, promote the reconciliation of work and family life, thereby promoting the development of better relationships, social and family values. In another vein, it is necessary to minimize the collateral damage derived from business development, engage more effectively in the healing process and develop sustainable production that aligns with the "rate of regeneration" of the planet, which are some of the environmental goals of Capital-Humanism. At the enterprise level this means: streamlining different processes depending on the needs and competencies of different countries; strengthening some in production or management in an effort to favour the most disadvantaged; strengthening others in training or R&D&I, favouring the most developed. Furthermore we must ... • Promote the flattening of the hierarchy system and instil in the culture a focus on development, values and social relationships, and foster the value of the team over individualism. • Rationalize and balance business profits with the salaries of directors, managers and workers, in addition to the production and accumulation of capital with social needs. • Reward behaviour and achievements, aligning income level with competency level. • Rationalize and equalize, at all levels, the access to education and talent development.
- 40. - 39 - Amongthe other challenges to be addressed are the growth of a long term, intelligent, responsible and global vision, eradicating the current one which is likely short-sighted and devoid of values. In short, we must develop values, thoughts, feelings, as well as policies, processes and procedures to align the legitimate rights and freedom of both business and social challenges. Capital-Humanism is a doctrine for which I strongly advocate the need to strike a balance between the legitimate business benefit and the ever-important legitimate social welfare. It is a model which originates from the central idea that the best form of organization is one which evenly develops the full potential of organizations and the greatest capabilities of people. Therein resides the efficiency and prosperity of the organizations, and the commitment, competence and happiness of the workers. It is a model that promotes the best aspects of companies -- their ability to organize, motivate and guide towards achieving common objectives -- and the best of people -- their talent -- to create jobs, wealth and welfare. Capital-Humanism does not aspire to be a perfect model, and it would be unwise to do so, since man himself, as a benchmark of perfection, is imperfect. Why would it not be the same for any work of creation? Capital-Humanism aspires to something more cautious: To be the best alternative to capitalism. Growth Management Management cannot remain indifferent to this transition, it needs to play an active role in the process, developing the necessary prerequisites to launch it from inside the company and promote its relationship with society. This will be in part accomplished by remembering that underlying the severe crisis we are currently going through there is a huge crisis of values that has driven the market to self-regulation – values that, to say the least, are unadvisable, unwise and ethically reprehensible, held by all those involved - leaders, politicians, bankers, entrepreneurs, workers, civil servants and society in general. For all of the above, Growth Management collects the basis, objectives and fundamentals of Capital-Humanism to achieve its primary goal: To grow as human beings – evolving our values, attitudes, abilities and commitments - and as organizations, institutions and as society in general. It encourages personal growth as the prime motivator to transform social, economic and business development. It is a model that guides us towards strategic management of talent, as a means to transform enterprises into authentic teams of competent, happy and committed people, to enable progress.
- 41. - 40 - WorldwideGrowth Management could guarantee the required business and economic development to reabsorb part of the population currently excluded from the labor market as a consequence of today’s major economic crisis. This development embraces new technologies, the most innovative techniques and methodologies, the most recent knowledge, and focuses on what is most important – bringing to the forefront the talent in each individual that remains needlessly hidden. The market will overcome difficulties and will face humanity’s challenges -- energy, environment, science, medicine, education -- more effectively by creating new industries, generating employment and acquiring new skills, towards the individual’s development and exploitation. The imperatives, in terms of social advances, are the ones that should regulate the system and not the other way around, as the needs for employment in society should be satisfied by taking on the challenges given by constant modernization – mechanization, automation, artificial intelligence, digital communication -- not by resisting this progress and holding to traditional ways of working. Full employment must be the consequence of efficiently adapting to those requirements. We should never keep jobs or skills that are strategically useless. What Marx and Shumpeter called “creative destruction” is a proven and inevitable fact. Industrial revolutions and the greatest changes to existing societal models bring along crisis and destruction of employment. But behind that, there is an instinctively efficient change management which allows even more new creation and growth. Growth Management reaffirms itself in this mantra: “Believe to create and to grow.” Without firm belief in people, growth is not possible, nor can creation be sustained. There is no doubt that politics has a lot to do with all of this: The education system, same as the labor one, should be adapted as soon as possible to play a fundamental role in the challenge of instilling and engraining the new doctrine, from childhood and throughout our lives. Meanwhile, the business world must deal with a historical challenge: The development of the Capital-Humanist enterprise. The costs of avoiding this challenge would be devastating. Ignacio Bernabé is the founder and president of IVAFE, the Valencian Institute for Training and Development in the Enterprise, and of TALENT Great Team, the first international think tank of Spanish experts in talent management. He is also
- 42. - 41 - theauthor of the international reference book El Gran Equipo (The Big Team). Considered an expert and pioneer in talent management and development in Europe and America, he has participated in over 400 projects in companies and major multinationals, including Coca-Cola, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte.
- 43. - 42 - 2014:The Year of the Social CEO Business leaders can no longer avoid being actively involved in social media because it is quickly evolving into an essential leadership tool if not an expectation for company leaders. By Michael Gass Reprinted with permission from Dialogue Review © 2014 (dialoguereview.com) Tom Dickson, founder and CEO of US blender manufacturer Blendtec, has developed a cult following through social media. In a recent interview, Dickson shared the story of one of the greatest viral marketing campaigns of all time: Will it Blend? was developed accidentally by a marketing director hired in 2006: “I have always been one to try to break my blenders to find their fail points and determine how I can improve them. George Wright, the marketing director, discovered some of the wacky things I was doing to my blenders, including shoving 2x2s into the jars to try to break the blender. With a $50 budget, George bought a Happy Meal, a rotisserie chicken, Coke cans, golf balls and a few other items, and they made five videos. Six days later, they had six million views on YouTube. In six years, 120+ videos and almost 200 million views later, Will it Blend? has been named as the number one viral marketing campaign of all time,” said Dickson. The importance of social media on business has dramatically escalated. The world has moved through the “hype phase” of social media – when businesses felt compelled to participate because it was such a fad – and entered a “productive phase” where companies are starting to crack social’s code to turn it into a genuine marketing advantage. Andy Polansky, CEO of global public relations firm Weber Shandwick, explains: “Just as having a company website has become standard operating procedure over the past two decades, utilizing social media channels has now become an increasingly essential platform for companies to communicate their messages to the general public and other audiences.” Social grows beyond marketing into other areas of business Publicly traded companies are beginning to adopt social media for business communication and crisis management. Social is breaking down corporate silos, creating new ways of connecting and changing the way the company works together. It enables more collaborative relationships and enhances creative ideas and innovation. It is helping companies to gain better consumer insights and engage with customers.
- 44. - 43 - Socialnetworks are having a broad-based impact, changing everything about the way business is done. The tightly controlled corporate environments are falling apart. Control of brands is shifting into the hands of customers and employees. And while many companies now understand the important role that social media plays in business, most have not realized the changes it is about to make to the role of CEOs. As communicator-in-chief, the CEO will need to have a more prominent role in social media. Further, as social changes the way companies work, it impacts the talents and skill sets needed by the generation of business leaders to become more social CEOs. CEOs lack knowledge of social media Many CEOs have grown to see the value of social media for their company’s participation, but have not yet seen the need for their personal involvement. The vast majority of chief executives have no presence on any of the major social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+. According to the 2012 Fortune 500 Social CEO Index report from CEO.com, only 19 CEOs from the world’s top 500 companies use Twitter (or have someone use it on their behalf) – and only nine of these are active. CEOs have not been baptized by participating in social media and do not really understand how it works. This lack of understanding tends to make them sceptical and reluctant participants. They remain unrealistically fearful of making mistakes and in an uncomfortable position of learning while leading. However, CEOs can no longer avoid being actively involved in social media because as consumers have become more social savvy, social media is quickly evolving into an essential leadership tool. The time has come for social media to become an expectation for company leaders. As social business changes the way companies work, it impacts the talents and skill sets needed for the current generation of CEOs. Peter Aceto, CEO of ING Direct Canada and Toronto’s Communicator of the Year 2010, was quoted as saying: “Successful leaders will no longer be measured just by stock price. Managing and communicating with shareholders, employees, government, community and customers will be table stakes in the future.” In a 2012 IBM study of more than 1,700 chief executive officers from 64 countries, 70% of the responding CEOs plan to shift their focus from using e- mail and the phone as primary communication vehicles to using social networks as a new path for direct engagement. According to the study, in the next three to five years, social media is anticipated to rise from the least likely method for CEOs to connect with their audiences to the second highest method, just behind face-to-face interactions.
- 45. - 44 - Traditionalcorporate communication is beginning to give way to social communication. CEOs interacting through social media help their companies appear more human and accessible. Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist at communications firm Weber Shandwick, explains: “Companies that are truly social and engage their employees and customers in genuine conversation will be recognized as the new corporate leaders. CEOs who are social will be the next new thing.” This is a major change from the traditional, controlled, protective corporate environments of the past towards a more open and transparent leadership structure. As social media continues to evolve towards direct engagement, as “spokesperson-in-chief” the CEO’s skills and experience in social media will become even more important. Customers expect to have direct connections to brands and brand leaders, which is why the time has arrived for social media to become an expectation for company leaders. According to the 2012 CEO, Social Media Survey & Leadership Survey by consultancy BRANDfog, 82% of consumers say they trust a company more when its CEO and leadership team are active in social media. CEOs who are “social” are perceived as better leaders and better communicators by their employees. Executives with social CEOs say their CEO’s social media presence makes them inspired (52%), and technologically advanced and proud (41%). CEO sociability provides a multitude of benefits, allowing the CEO to: Share company news and information Improve company reputation Demonstrate company innovation, “humanize” the company and improve employee communications Improve business results (the more socially tenured, the more people- focused and spontaneous he or she is considered by executives) Help resolve a crisis Show innovation Enhance credibility Help CEOs to know the company Be more effective in crisis management Help find and attract new customers Have unfiltered direct communication with consumers Attract and retain top talent Become a valuable asset for sharing corporate social responsibilities and causes.
- 46. - 45 - Tohave success with social media, CEOs need to understand that it is not just another marketing tool. It provides a two-way channel of communication, allowing them to connect and engage with large numbers of people quickly. It also maintains the characteristics of one-to-one conversations because people can use social media to respond instantly and directly. Sir Richard Branson, world-renowned entrepreneur and businessman, has been called the consummate social CEO, arguably more for his daring balloon flights than because he tweets. He is the founder of the Virgin Group consisting of more than 400 companies around the world. Virgin has created more billion- dollar companies in more sectors than any other enterprise. Branson was named as the world’s top social media CEO for 2013 by the World of CEOs website. The chief executive candidates were appraised by their number of Twitter followers, number of tweets, LinkedIn Influencer followers and their Klout scores. Branson has amassed more than 3.5 million Twitter followers, 2.1 million connections on LinkedIn and 2.9 million Google+ circles. His blog is averaging 500,000 visitors per month. Sir Richard shares inspiring leadership stories and quotations, thereby creating online conversations about fresh business ventures. He also raises awareness for charitable initiatives or other things he finds of interest or fun. He says himself: “Above all, remember to be authentic and organic, answering questions in a straightforward manner – there’s no need to check with your PR team first. You know your products and services, and people will see through any effort to parrot slogans or broadcast a marketing message.” Because Branson tweets and blogs daily, almost all Virgin employees engage directly with their customers through social media. They use it to find out what customers want and need. How will CEOs respond organizationally and personally? CEOs anticipate the rise of social media as a primary way to connect with their audiences in three to five years. This is a huge shift in a short period of time. How are they going to get up to speed on social media so quickly? It cannot be outsourced. It will take personal involvement. Sure, there are risks involved, but not participating now appears to be the greater risk. Further reading: What Won’t Blend? Ask Blendtec Founder Tom Dickson, February, 2013 How CEOs Can Engage Through Social Media – A Conversation With Weber Shandwick CEO Andy Polansky On CEOs And Social Media, Forbes, August 14, 2013 2012 CEO.com Social CEO Report Leading Through Connections: Insights from the IBM Global CEO Study The Social CEO: Executives Tell All, Weber Shandwick, 2012 CEO, Social Media Survey & Leadership Survey, BRANDfog
- 47. - 46 - Richard Branson on How to Connect with Your Customers, Entrepreneur.com, September 9, 2012 Michael Gass is a global new business consultant to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies. He founded Fuel Lines, one of the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Ad Age’s Power 150.
- 48. - 47 - TheImportance of Sex By Silvia Leal I would love to claim, but unfortunately I cannot, that such an ingenious title was my own work. I confess that I have borrowed it from The Economist. Its original author used it to title an article in which he reflected upon the necessity to profit from female talent. Published in 2006 (just one year before the beginning of the crisis) it warned of the shadow of a strong and dangerous economic plummet resulting from the underutilization of the female labour force. The macroeconomic data which accompanies this phenomenon is devastating. The article shows that the incorporation of women into the labour market has been, without a doubt, the largest source of economic growth in the last few decades. More specifically, it has been a contribution to the GDP which far exceeds those made by powerful technological giants and countries such as China and India. Last but not least, if the contribution made by women inside the labour market were to be added to the unpaid work done in the household (domestic chores, looking after the elderly and children, etc.) the growth figures would exceed 50%. If we focus on the forecast for what lies ahead, the statistics are even more shocking. The effective incorporation of female talent to the labour market would bring an economic growth for the United States of a (not insignificant) 5%, a figure that would reach 9% in the case of Japan, 12% in the United Arab Emirates, and 34% in countries such as Egypt. In other words: nowadays, women are the most powerful and promising engine of growth that we have at our disposal. Unfortunately, they are also one of the least utilized resources. More than 865 million female professionals, according to the figures from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), are being wasted. Among them, 812 million can be found in emerging or developing countries. Can you imagine the impact their incorporation into the business network would have? And how would this affect the socioeconomic development of their countries? For this reason, although a lot has happened since the article was published (world economic crisis included), its conclusions are still entirely valid. The incorporation of talent and the potential of the (so-called) "weaker sex" into the world of work is, of course, a question of social justice. It should be obvious. We cannot have a "healthy" society if women commit to a labour market that denies them, for reasons of gender, the opportunity to incorporate themselves.
- 49. - 48 - However,this is only one of the reasons why urgent measures are needed (by all of us) in this area. The low exploitation of this resource, as it is known in economic language, is also, given the times in which we have had to live, a question of profitability, and in some cases survival. Thus, it is necessary that governments establish urgent corrective measures that will bring with them the basis for the structural transformation that we need. Companies must also assume their role in this, because it will be impossible without their collaboration, to solve the root problem. But they are not the only ones with a responsibility here. Each and every one of us can and must do our bit. At this point, some will ask: “Why?” Why must we also assume this responsibility? Another one? Don't we already have enough? In fact, many will think: Isn't this really a problem that those in the power should solve? The politicians! Successful businessmen! All those that think like this are wrong. Is it the politicians’ and businessmen’s problem? Yes, of course, it is, and they must bear it in mind. It is a big problem for all of them, but without doubt, it is also a problem for each and every one of us. It is a big problem for you, and it is a big problem for me. To better explain, I will use the example of what is happening within the technological and digital labour markets. From there, I encourage each reader to make their own conclusions and speculate about the sectors that are closer to them. Before proceeding, I would like to clarify that the selection of this market niche is based on two simple and powerful reasons: the rates of employment (re)generation and the current presence (or absence) of women. Research carried out in this area shows that for every job that disappears from the "traditional" world, 2.6 new ones are created in the digital environment. As an example, official forecasts tell us that over the next four years, 5 million jobs will be generated in the European Union around the development of new mobile applications, which will bring with it an economic growth of 63 billion euros. For all those who do not know about the evolution of this sector, it is important to add that the deep crisis in which we have had to live since 2008 has not only left these professionals untouched, it has, on the contrary, positioned them among the most demanded and the highest paid. In contrast to this optimistic data, we find that of every 1,000 women that graduate these days, only 29 opt for the new technologies industry, versus a male ratio of 95. This means only 23% of the total number of first-time professionals entering this field are female.
- 50. - 49 - Goingdeeply into the digital divide, the statistics show that once they’ve reached the age of 30, only 20% of these women will continue working in the sector in which they decided to specialise. In other words, 80% of the 23% of those professionals who chose a career in this field will have already left. If that wasn't bad enough, if the rules of the game don't change, a new brain drain will take place during the subsequent years and the result will be than only 9% of women will remain in this sector when they reach the age of 45. The outcome of all this? The female depopulation in this sector has become one of the principal generators of the growing, global "digital gap" which worries governments so much. For those that might not know, this is the name by which the mismatch between professional supply and demand is known in this labour market. In the case of the European Union, the official figures are on the table. Experts foresee a shortage of workers that fluctuates between 505,000 and 864,000 vacancies in the year 2015. With this data it is estimated that, if we reached 50% in the division of labour in this sector, the European GDP would grow by 9 billion euros. With figures like this, can anyone doubt the necessity to do something? Or, the necessity for each and every one of us to do our bit? Our women and our children can't miss this opportunity. Leaving the technology sector to one side, let's look again at the universal game rules. Why? Why does the entrance of women in the business world bring these growth figures? What changes with their presence? First we find, of course, the impact on the human factor. We have all heard that, in general, women are very creative, great communicators and capable of working in a team very effectively. Furthermore, their incorporation into mixed groups increases the capacity to solve problems in organisations. It's difficult to generalise, as we all know. What there is no doubt about is that men and women are different, it is a physiological reality, and knowing how to manage this diversity efficiently could be competitively differential and very valuable. Second we find the economic arguments. Recent investigations claim that women have a great ability to make investments, which in the medium and long term has a positive impact on the investors’ and shareholders’ pockets. Along the same lines, several statistical analyses have shown that companies with women on their Management Board have better results than those who leave female talent out. The report, Closing the Gender Gap: Act now from the OECD (2012) points out the value of a new vision in strategic decision-making. And finally, there is a third reason, in my opinion, the main reason above all the others, which all CEOs and entrepreneurs should always bear in mind.
- 51. - 50 - Accordingto the CIA's The World Factbook (2013) the world is made up of 50.5% of men and 49.5% of women. Nevertheless, these women make around 80% of the buying related decisions. In other words, the client is almost always a woman. Despite this, they are too often left out of business decisions. Consider, for example, the 500 companies that are included in the Standard and Poor's Index: less than 5% have women as CEOs. If we broke down the figures by sector, if we did a study by country, or if we changed the size of the company, the numbers would vary somewhat, but, believe me, we would arrive at the same place: the low presence of women. What do you think could be the result? Does anyone really think that not incorporating women in the chain of design, production, trade and, above all, decision-making doesn't have repercussions? Men and women think, feel and act in different ways. I don't like (nor do I believe it appropriate) to evaluate which is better or worse. What matters is knowing, understanding and effectively managing these differences and in order to do this it is necessary to have women very close. If, therefore, you are part of a team that runs a business, if you are an entrepreneur, or if you are thinking about embarking on a business venture, don't forget: female talent is one of today's most valued and, at the same time, underutilized resources in the market. Take advantage of it. If, conversely, you are one of these women ready to "take on" the world, but you haven't had it easy, don't throw in the towel. The future will be full of new opportunities that we cannot let go. It is our opportunity and also our responsibility. In conclusion, one final clarification, in order to avoid an incorrect interpretation of what is presented here... I am in no way suggesting a necessity to substitute male for female talent, or the profitability of doing so. I have never mentioned such a substitution. My position is that we start taking advantage of and maximizing the full potential of both male and female talent. Currently, and back on the path to growth, there is room for us all. References: The Economist (2006): http://www.economist.com/node/6800723 The Economist (2006): http://www.economist.com/node/6802551 Aguirre, DeAnne et al: Empowering the Third Billion: Women and the World of Work 2012, Booz and Company, 2012 Elborgh-Woytek, Katrin, Monique Newiak, Kalpana Kochhar, Stefania Fabrizio, Kangni Kpodar, Philippe Wingender, Benedict Clements, and Gerd Schwartz. 2013. “Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity.” IMF Staff Discussion Note. September 2013. Silvia Leal has a Ph.D. in Innovation, Information, and Communication Technologies (ICT). She is the director of ICT Programs and the Executive Masters Program at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. She was previously the
- 52. - 51 - CorporateTechnology Director for GEOBAN (Backoffice of Banco Santander Group).
- 53. - 52 - EmployeeHappiness Is On the Rise – And So Are the Challenges… By Jane Sunley Most businesses recognize the power of engaged people -- heightened productivity, enhanced motivation and improved loyalty – all these can have a direct impact on the bottom line. Management consultants, Hay Group, found that companies with highly engaged employees experienced 2.5 times more revenue than those companies without. And the Corporate Leadership Council revealed that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the business. When you consider this, it’s hardly surprising that companies like Apple, Virgin and the world’s most valuable brand – Google - place people at the heart of their businesses and are prepared to invest to ensure their people practices are ahead of the pack. Although it can be argued that the happiness of employees is just one indicator as to the levels of engagement within a business (and thus the strength of an organization), we believe that as a quick measure, it provides very good insight. Therefore each year we review data from over 45,000 employees globally to establish people engagement, happiness and satisfaction trends. This year, our 2014 Talent Toolbox™: Review – People Engagement Trends report revealed some particularly interesting findings… Happiness on the rise, along with challenges After several years of declining positivity amongst the workforce, this year employee happiness is rising with seven out of 10 employees feeling extremely happy at work – an increase of 7% since May 2013. This increased level of happiness coincides with the positive growth of the economy, particularly within the UK, where the Government’s ‘State of the Nation’ report revealed that employee optimism is also on the up. Interestingly, however, happiness levels continue to improve despite a 34% increase in the number of challenges experienced by employees globally – with two-thirds of the workforce facing barriers when executing their roles over the last 12 months. Engaged and confident employees often relish a challenge and the fact that they are overcoming barriers and remaining positive would indicate that they have the tools and support to be able to meet these challenges. Those surveyed did, however, reveal that more than 50% of the challenges could have been avoided. When delving a little deeper, the core challenges centred on a lack of mentoring / coaching, underperforming colleagues, and
- 54. - 53 - suchbasics as poor time management. So despite general optimism, there is always room for improvement. With employees now more learning-savvy than ever before, having access to a wealth of knowledge and information at their fingertips for ‘just in time learning’ (that which they can access as and when they need it) they recognize that classroom learning is not going to support their development and are therefore looking to low cost – no cost learning methods, such as mentoring, information hubs and self-help methods, to gain expert advice rather than technical skills based ‘training.’ Technology has a major part to play here. As a result of the challenging economy over the last few years, many organizations minimized their investment in developing skills such as listening, coaching, planning and leadership; failing to put more creative solutions, which require less investment, in place to fill the void. Now, with employees citing a need for mentors and coaches, it’s very apparent that this short-term approach is beginning to create a negative impact. Instead of ‘pigeon-holing’ people into the same standard learning, employers must identify the skills gaps and ask their employees for feedback in relation to development requirements. Then creative, contemporary and cost-effective solutions and action plans can be delivered. This doesn’t have to be a laborious exercise however, as there are talent systems available which collates this information in just a few seconds. The Talent Toolbox ‘Wiki’, for example, provides a platform for company approved learning resources in multiple media so that users can draw down what they need, when they need it, and be sure of finding information that fits in with ‘how we do things around here’ as opposed to an Internet search which often provides various, conflicting options. This can be used in conjunction with a Pathway which allows people to follow pre- determined career journeys at their own pace, removing the onus from the line- manager onto the individual who can drive his or her own career providing much needed control while freeing up management and HR time. A brand new view We also asked our respondents what they believe makes a best place to work. Interestingly, and for the first time ever, employees ranked ‘employer brand’ as the number one characteristic. In recent years, the importance of employer branding has increased dramatically. Not surprising when prospective and current employees only need to run a quick internet search to find post, after video, after tweet, filled with honest opinions of how good or bad their employer is. Internet moguls have capitalized on this with the launch of sites such as Glassdoor; where employees are encouraged to list the pros and cons of the business as an employer. Or creating trending hashtags, like #badbosses, where employees dish the dirt on bad leadership. Salary, benefits, the good, bad and ugly – it’s all there for anyone to see.
- 55. - 54 - Allof this has empowered the prospective candidate – they are demanding that businesses must be best places to work. And if we want these talented individuals we must comply; meaning an organization has to look beyond how they market their products and services and consider how they position themselves as an employer. Some may say this is another fluffy ‘HR’ buzzword; however getting your employer brand right can have a serious impact on the business. Luxury UK hotel group, De Vere Hotels and Village Urban Resorts have witnessed a direct £3m (5%) increase in EBITDA and improved employee engagement by 15% since they focused on and re-launched their employer brand. They also saw an increase in speculative CVs, an outcome which recruitment board, CareerBuilder, has found amongst their clients who witnessed 3.5x more speculative role applications with a strong employer brand than those without. All of which helps reduce recruitment spend and produce a solid talent pipeline. Crucial for a strong employer brand is ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging and proud of their place of work; understanding what it stands for. This centers on two things – values which individuals can relate to, and a clear employee value proposition which is delivered consistently. Both of these areas should be reviewed at least annually to ensure they are up-to-date and meeting the needs of your workforce. And if you haven’t got either, then we suggest Purple Your People: the secrets to happy, inspired, more profitable people is a good starting point… Focus on the improvement areas When exploring these two areas, it’s vital to look closely at the areas where improvement can be made. Usually it’s the small things which cause the most bother and can easily be resolved without ending in a social media rant from a disgruntled employee. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen the YouTube video from Marina Shifrin who spectacularly ranted about her employer through the use of dance before quitting her job – at last count the clip had 18.2 million views… Our research found employees highlighted one key area for improvement – communication. This goes back to the aforementioned empowerment; employees want more say in the business and the promises it makes to its people. It’s all about adult-to-adult conversations and consultation where aspirations, goals and personal needs are openly discussed, considered and acted upon. However too many businesses still adopt a parent / child approach: where there’s more telling than asking, where opinions are requested, yet ignored, where changes are made without prior discussion. Technology can help here too – by creating a vibrant communications hub, De Vere Hotels and Village Urban Resorts regularly receives over 23,000 internal visits. You can see it for yourself here www.talenttoolbox.com/clients/vhappypeople. This is transparency in action and it works. Getting this right is much more than paying employees lip-service, however. Employers must ask, listen and take action in relation to the individual needs and challenges. Though this isn’t about the business coming up with all the
- 56. - 55 - solutions,engage your people by making them accountable for the required resolution – it’s teaching a man to fish, not just handing over a beautifully cooked Dover sole. Jane Sunley is the CEO of Purple Cubed, a firm of experts who specialize in simplifying HR strategy through common-sense advice and great technology. By doing so they enable aspirational growth organizations to attract, develop and retain great people. www.purplecubed.com / @PurpleCubed / @JaneSunley
- 57. - 56 - Together,We Are More Innovative By Clara Jiménez “Man is a social creature, and to get aroused, his intelligence needs the buzzing of the hive.” Santiago Ramón y Cajal – Winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine (discoverer of neurons) The courage to walk towards innovation is a quality that one must conquer individually, but if we walk hand in hand with other colleagues it becomes a shared challenge easier to face. Thus, to get to the innovation faster, we should begin to think about “us” instead of thinking about “myself.” This entails a paradigm shift in all of those newly created organizations or those that are in the process of renewal. Among other things, it requires a more collective and shared responsibility and vision. Such a change in thinking also brings other related benefits, such as: • Developing creativity and innovation, as it creates an environment that rewards and motivates the generation of ideas that have been refined by collective intelligence. • Promoting a new way of working, more collaboratively and more efficiently, when using a virtual environment. • Motivating the organization’s members to engage and commit as a basis for entrepreneurship within the organization. “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” Demosthenes Professionals need the opportunity to give new ideas or enhance ideas proposed by others. This participation provokes a mindset shift in which innovation, no longer a privilege accorded only to isolated cells in the organization, becomes democratized, spreading throughout the organization and becoming an asset of and for all professionals, and then, really charging our DNA. How to involve the professionals? How to move their minds from production to exploration? Short term thinking and the imperative to get business results are the strongest enemies of innovation. There is always an excuse for not innovating (no time, too much risk, etc.). The main weapons to win this battle are: communication, training, and rewarding. Communication “That which we are capable of feeling, we are capable of saying.” Miguel de Cervantes In terms of communication, it is important to use a tone that is provocative, inspirational, and intelligent and, in some cases, it is also recommended to break the established models. With this philosophy in mind, every year, we
- 58. - 57 - shoulddevelop a communication plan that includes information sharing through bimonthly newsletters, portals, a yearbook, ecards, etc. The objective is not only to inform, but also to empower professionals with high quality content. I remember the first communication campaign we undertook to engage professionals in our crowdsourcing of ideas program. A lot of post-its were placed throughout our offices and they clearly changed our way of living and understanding the world. In the texts of these post-its you could read something like "What would life be like today if <name of the inventor or discoverer> had listened those who called his/her invention, <name of the invention>, a useless thing?" In answer to many of these such questions, we would not have the phone, the microwave, the elevator, even toilet paper. Yes, some post-its were placed in the bathrooms! It was crazy, but very funny. Nobody remained indifferent and all the professionals involved in the exercise understood that innovation depends on oneself. Since then, half of them at Accenture Spain, about 5,000, are involved in at least one of our innovation initiatives. Training “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Thomas Alva Edison It was often thought that innovativeness was an inborn attribute, that a person was either born innovative, or not. Furthermore, the ability to innovate was considered to be difficult to improve in a systematic way. While not entirely true, these assumptions are not entirely false either. We are all born to be innovative, but we lose this ability as we grow, by the social constraints that limit us. Fortunately, it is possible to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to overcome existing barriers and promote this attitude and aptitude in the individual. The key is certainly in our brain, we need to exercise it and train it. A curriculum is required that promotes these skills and knowledge, and it can be implemented both in face-to-face training and online. Consider an online platform that teaches essential creative tools to develop individual creativity and, thus, to share, enhance, and capture ideas that can improve our business, our internal processes and, also, our people. In relation to training, this pivots on developing skills to become more innovative. It contributes to building a culture of innovation in the professional environment. This allows us to anticipate change and to increase our differential value, providing a sound competitive edge. As a complement to this online methodology, make sure face-to-face sessions are available for those professionals most committed to innovation and also those who proactively ask to improve their ability to innovate. The satisfaction level of the training program we implemented (online and face- to-face) at Accenture is very high, and every year the innovation department tries to incorporate new themes and learning methodologies.
- 59. - 58 - Rewarding “Productsare tangible, services are intangible, but experiences are unforgettable.” Richard Florida – Author of “The Rise of the Creative Class” The third weapon in our innovation arsenal is rewarding people for their effort to innovate. A cultural transformation needs evangelists, not mercenaries, and for this reason it is best to reward the most innovative people with memorable experiences, rather than giving them an economic reward. Embracing this philosophy at Accenture, we created innovation centers in Nice and Milan and reward top innovators with visits to these centers. I personally had the opportunity to participate in events in both locations and I can confirm that the experiences are really unforgettable. The creation and planning of such “reward experiences” is a challenge in itself, because every year we have to think of something new, fun, and educational. Innovation is a serious game, but an enjoyable one. It enriches our experiences backpack, and being rewarded in such a way inspires further innovation, making us stronger competitors in our respective fields. Remember: people are the drivers of change. Clara Jiménez Piñar is the Director of Innovation for Accenture Spain. With more than 18 years professional experience, she has spent the last 5 years focusing on innovation in Human Resources and HR technology in addition to innovation management and emerging technology scouting. She holds a major in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University in Madrid and was named to the “Who’s who in Innovation in Spain” list by InnovaSpain in 2014.
- 60. - 59 - Gamification,the Fall of Pharaohs By Juan J. F. Valera Mariscal The Digital Empire: from papyrus to the bit If we look back through history at organization management we can notice that revolutions have started and empires have been built as a result of important changes in the processes and the technologies by which people have been led, organized and managed. If we consider the example of the Egyptian Empire we see how innovation happened in the fertile and rich Lower Nile. The abundance of resources attracted several small tribes, but it wasn’t really enough to trigger the growth of a civilization. The decisive factor, or the reason why this human cell came to stay together and stand out, was the development of the communication technologies. On one hand the control of a great conductor of materials and ideas -- the Nile, and on the other hand the expansion of writing, with a new code -- the hieroglyph, on a new format -- the papyrus, and with this the appearance of specialized experts -- the scribes. This all made easier the transmission of ideas, values and data to improve the management of people and projects. What followed this basic, but evolved organization of a group of primitive and isolated people was a world-powerful empire full of prosperity throughout centuries of expansion. As far as we can see, at the base of organizational development there is a strategic project that cannot be realized if it’s not possible to communicate it in a way that can be shared, meditated on and supported by the rest of the people involved. There is real power in having a communication strategy, and in having the knowledge and use of the right resources and technology. Nowadays in people management, their coordination, orientation and motivation can be stored in electronic formats, but just like with the papyrus, by itself this information brings us no closer to growth if it’s not used in an effective and efficient way. The staff in charge of managing people and the Human Resources professionals must be prepared to get the most benefit from the new systems and tools available today. For this reason it’s fundamental to be aware of the new trends in innovation and technology to get maximum results. Now we have a new Nile, the internet, and our new papyrus, the bits. Big Data: From static to dynamic information, from the painting to the video From the beginning of the 21st century, the expansion of computerized online solutions started to add speed to the processes, for example in recruitment with the jobsites, in skills evaluation with e-testing and e-assessment tools, in internal communication with a company’s intranet, and in competencies
- 61. - 60 - managementwith the different HR modules included in ERP software. These solutions are designed for a traditional, centralized and horizontal structure in the model of earlier organizations of the previous centuries to automate and accelerate the operations and processes. Their primary purpose, their original design is neither to share, nor to add more support or contribution. Fortunately, for those people who are interested and know how to use them properly, those tools are an efficient and easy source of information, quick enough to allow more than a static report of the situation in a concrete moment, and useful enough to provide a dynamic vision of the data in a continuous evolution. I argue that we can have better management and more valuable information, leveraging this easy access to the data provided by the technology. To use a metaphor, we can switch from the picture of a moment to the video of what’s going on. It’s a decent idea, but it implies that we have the knowledge necessary to manage the amount of data presented by these systems. The bottle neck of information is caused by the limits of our own human perception and our inability to process the data. To the rescue comes the new wave of integrated solutions in two concepts: Business Intelligence (BI) and more recently, Big Data. Nowadays, the massive use of data is truly working in fields such as marketing and social research. Its entrance into people management is imminent and HR professionals must be aware of the technology trends and they must have the skills to use the technology. They must be informed as well about the ethical and legal implications, so as not to become “Big Brother” instead of just the consumers and analysts of Big Data. The boundaries of privacy, personal freedom, and autonomy must be respected. HR 2.0: From the pyramid to the Net Since the first administrative Egyptian organization, it has been a gradual evolution through five thousand years of history with mostly subtle changes. Not so much the case in the last two centuries -- from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, to the cultural spread of the 20th century, and now, most of all, with the arrival of the digital revolution at the end of that century. This last revolution introduced us to a new context of unprecedented innovation since the invention of writing. Right now the changes are happening at full speed, in less than a generation span and it’s urgent to be conscious of the new trends and their importance. If we have to select a symbolic shape to represent the organizational structure model prevalent for the last five thousand years it would be for sure the pyramid. Until the 20th century the dominant model was horizontal, where all the power, control and data processing came from the peak of the organization. The maximum organizational intelligence was that of one person, or a small group in charge. The base of the structure was supposed to take care of the operational part and the people assumed the slogan “I am not paid for thinking,” therefore damaging the innovation and the organizational development.
- 62. - 61 - Nowadayscomputerization allows most of those operational procedures to be done by mechanical or digital systems, and not by employees in the base of the organization, as it used to be. With the arrival of concepts such as Web 2.0 and social networks, the (relatively easy) access to data, and the globalization of knowledge, it is now possible to count quickly on the contribution of the multiple intelligences of the company, if they have the will to do it. To take advantage of new opportunities, the dominant structure should be more decentralized, ubiquitous, and mobile, a network. The intelligence should be well-distributed and each element should be able to add value and ideas from any device or any place. This includes the challenge of delegating functions, to give empowerment and maintain the loyalty of the people towards the organization and its success. The agile and flexible organizations, with a great capacity to innovate and adapt quickly to change, should know how to take advantage of the internal social network of connected intelligences. The responsibility of talent management must be shared by the entire organization. All managers should be people managers, and each person should be proactive when it comes to managing his or her own talent. The new department of Human Resources is transformed into a facilitator and a promoter of the new trends. It is there to guide towards the strategic goals and to conduct the energy with shared responsibility. The initiatives start more often from the right place, with more customized and quicker actions in the network management model, than they ever could in the model of top-down management. In Human Resources it’s essential that the professionals know the technology, and at the same time they must remember that the human being is the center, because without this center, the model cannot work. Gamification, from effort to fun In this new technological and human context, if we want to develop a project we need to go from imposition models to engagement ones. It’s not enough to share the objectives and interests of the organization; we should also understand the personal interests of the people. And if we analyze the motivation studies, the economic behaviorism, the positive psychology and the testimonies of several people with their personal experiences, we will find some common interests in the people engaged with their work: • Meaning: people search for a meaning in their acts. This can be circumstantial, personal, transcendental or epic, but there will be no commitment if the only reason is perceived as an imposition. • Autonomy: people want to be the masters of their destiny. Professionals are where they are after studying so many years and accumulating in the meantime a lot of experience. They want to put into practice their ideas, to have the power to take their own risks and participate. They want to
- 63. - 62 - feelownership over their projects, to be part of the success or the failure, all of which is part of the learning process. • Development: people need to feel that they are growing, that our activities let us grow as a person. Nevertheless, in some cases the professional experience is very frustrating. Some people feel that despite the effort they make every single day, at the end they are always in the same place. We need to break that Sisyphus Syndrome and realize that our effort makes us progress and improve. • Social Interaction: finally, we need to value the social interaction with other people. These are intrinsic motivators, and they are what make it possible for employees to feel engaged. These motivators are summarized in the acronym coined by Daniel Pinkin -- RAMP: Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. This implies a new approach to how to do things and changes the design of the processes and the activity itself. When we look around we find again a new trend in management that can help us, and the inspiration comes from the videogames industry. The videogames industry surpasses the cinematographic sector and is one of the fields with the most growth in the last years. There are more than 1.2 billion users and the sales exceed 74 billion dollars. Videogames have the capability to generate the engagement and motivation that the companies need in their employees. The new trend inspired by the videogames is Gamification, applying the elements and thought models of videogame design to other environments, in our case applied to the management of people, also called “Internal Gamification” in the enterprise. Analyzing the application of Gamification in recent years, we can already see qualitative and quantitative benefits. Among the qualitative benefits we can find a better experience at work. Gamification, as do videogames, focuses the attention on the positive aspects, in the advance more than in the effort. We are interested in the process, and not just the results. For example, during a sporting match, the plays, the relationship between the team members, and the joy of playing are valued more than the suffering, the pain, the effort or injures. During the work day, usually the negative aspects are most present in our thoughts: boredom, and monotony. Gamification breaks the boundary between work and fun because it considers that the design of the activity is what makes it pleasant or not, and not the activity itself. Therefore in gamified contexts we can find a better user experience, an important fact that can have the following advantages: - Increased the engagement with the project, the company or the activity. - More motivation, participation and autonomy. - Better organizational alignment and participation. - Faster rate of learning in training.
- 64. - 63 - -Immediate access to the information about individual progress and achievements. - More opportunities to express success in several versions and generate collaboration among the participants. - Promotion of best practices. From a quantitative point of view we can simply say that we can achieve an improvement in results. In fact, the first thing we must consider in designing a successful gamification project is the business goals. From here, we can analyze the behaviors required to succeed, which type of design we need, and the right tools to promote this. A couple of examples: Liveops Case Objective: convert the call center agents into brand ambassadors, measured by shorter call times and improved customer satisfaction rate Achievements: onboarding time was reduced from 160 hours to 14 hours and participating agents out-performed peers by 23% in average call handle time and boosted customer satisfaction by 9%. (Source: Bunchball.com) BBVA GAME Case Objective: improve the relationship between the bank and the clients through the Web and at the same time improve the financial culture using informative corporate videos. Achievements: in the first year there was a fifteen-fold increase in the fans of the social network and a thirty-fold increase in the displaying of the videos. The time people stayed on the Web was doubled. (Source: BBVA) Gamification is successfully applied today in several different fields: recruiting, hiring, internal communication, training and development and change management, just to name a few. Gamification is inspired by games but with a great scientific component based on years of psychological research. It’s the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration: designers, psychologists and technicians, among others. Today we are already a big group of professionals devoted to designing gamified environments and tools that can help companies to better know their people, promote their motivation and encourage their professional progress. At the same time, we will have a richer work experience, with better business results.
- 65. - 64 - Thefuture is encouraging the new leaders and HR professionals to understand the basis and applications of gamification and ideally, think as a game designer in both personal and professional life. We are living a historical moment, key to people and organization management. This is a landmark that implies a paradigm shift, a new vision of the world and of management, with some cultural and intellectual changes. Those changes demand some effort but they constitute an advantage, bringing both tangible and emotional benefits. As it happened after the Neolithic revolution with the birth of writing and the appearance of agriculture, nothing will be the same afterwards. Let’s look towards the future, rather than end up like professional salt statues, left behind in the middle of the way. We have a new empire with a net of interconnected “Niles” where we all can be scribes or high priests. Things are not anymore as the Pharaoh said. In fact, the Pharaoh is dead in the organizations, and the pyramid rests in the desert as a symbol of the past. Juan J. F. Valera Mariscal is a Gamification and management expert and Author of "Gamificación en la Empresa,” the first book of its kind in Spanish specializing in HR and internal Gamification. It has quickly become a reference for the Spanish speaking population worldwide, for those who want to have a comprehensive introduction of how Gamification is applied in companies. A consultant, executive trainer, and professional coach, he has a degree in Social Psychology and a Masters in Human Resources Management. He has trained over 4000 professionals for some of Spain’s most important enterprises, including Airbus, Telefonica, Vodafone, IBM, BBVA, Renault, and Philip Morris.
- 66. - 65 - TradeSecret Protection: Build a Protection Program to Deter Theft and Enforce Rights By Mark Terman As more companies rely on trade secrets for competitive advantage, misappropriation of those assets hurts them in the marketplace by empowering competitors who have not invested the money and sweat needed to create them. Trade secret theft can also demoralize company sales, R&D and other employees who helped create trade secrets only to have a former employee or business partner, now a competitor, unscrupulously seek to profit from their labor. And, in a global economy where electronic tools accelerate productivity and innovation, trade secret theft can happen in a flash. Companies need a program to deter and limit trade secret misappropriation. Counsel and key stakeholders and experts, such as IT, Security, Finance and HR, should be involved in developing the program. A good program reduces risk of loss. If there is a loss nonetheless, it puts the Company in the best position to go to civil court to stop wrongdoers from using and profiting from stolen trade secrets. In other words, build a program that dovetails with legal enforcement frameworks. Trade secret theft in the United States is believed to cost the economy billions of dollars each year. Federal law predominates on criminal recourse. The Economic Espionage Act (EEA) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) criminalize global trade secret theft and thefts involving unauthorized computer access. Federal prosecutions tend to be in high-profile and major theft matters, and some courts have declined to convict former employees under the CFAA because they were authorized to access the Company’s computers as part of their job (albeit not for an improper purpose) at the time. On September 17, 2014, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved The Trade Secrets Protection Act of 2014, H.R. 5233, which would amend the EEA to create a federal civil remedy for the misappropriation of trade secrets. Nearly every state has enacted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) or a close version of it. The UTSA defines what a trade secret is and provides civil remedies of injunctions, damages and other recovery. When a company sues over trade secret misappropriation, the UTSA is the necessary touchstone. And, it is helpful to be thinking in advance about how to persuade a court to, for
- 67. - 66 - example,issue an injunction to stop the use of, and profiting from, stolen trade secrets. With that in mind, what are the key elements of a trade secret protection program? Identify the trade secrets The UTSA defines a trade secret as information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process that: (a) has actual or potential economic value from not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and (b) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. In other words, is it secret and is the company treating it like a secret? A good starting place for companies to evaluate their proprietary information is to answer three questions. First, what information, if taken and used by a competitor, could seriously damage the business or give the competitor an unearned windfall by not having to develop the information on its own? The more narrowly a company defines its trade secrets, the more likely a court will be persuaded. Some courts are skeptical of claims of trade secrets that look so all-encompassing and overbroad that the volume distracts from protection of the “real” trade secrets the company cares about most. Don’t overlook “negative information,” such as the results of lengthy and expensive research proving that a certain process will not work, which could be of great value to a competitor. Second, in reality, is the information generally available to others, common industry practice, or outdated? If it is relatively easy to recreate, or reverse engineer, it is probably not a trade secret. Third, if it is a trade secret, how much time and money will the company spend (or has it spent already) to develop the information? Developing this record and updating it periodically will reduce the kind of “scrambling” to assemble the information that sometimes occurs when there is immediate urgency to seek an injunction. This may appear to be an unnecessary burden; but, this record could also have a valuable interim business purpose of helping enhance company value for financing, M&A transaction, insurance or other business purposes. Maintain secrecy
- 68. - 67 - Identifyingthe trade secrets is not enough. The company must maintain reasonable efforts under the circumstances to maintain secrecy, though not an impenetrable fortress. The baseline is that all personnel who may come into contact with trade secrets (or confidential information which might not rise to the level of trade secrets) should be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Require this as a condition of initial hire and maintain a copy signed by both company and employee that can be accessed easily. Include a provision that requires return of all company property upon end of employment. Update employee handbooks by including confidentiality and social media policies, and limiting employees' expectation of privacy in their use of the company's computers, phones and work areas. Use pre-hire background checks to identify applicants whom the company lawfully ought not to hire in the first place. Next, identify and limit access to each type of trade secret to individuals or work groups who need to know the information to function and perform well in their job. Compartmentalize and limit physical and electronic access to only those who need to know the particular information. These “need to know” barriers tend to be the most practical and effective measures to protect information. Methods include, labeling “trade secrets” as such, installing layers of computer password-protected access with warning screens reminding employees of their confidentiality obligations, adding time-out functions on inactive computers, restricting the ability to print or copy files, inserting codes into sensitive files and documents that restrict access and permit tracking of their use, imaging key employees’ workstations and laptop hard drives routinely, electronically purging deleted files that contain trade secrets, formatting hard drives before disposing of old computers, adding the ability to remotely wipe out data from company- owned laptops and phones of exiting employees, installing physical barriers such as locks on doors and drawers, requiring identity and access badges, and shredding paper trash. Include lawful monitoring of networks, workstations and laptops to detect and make a record of, among other things, attempted downloads, file transfers and usage of trade secrets. In 2013, by Executive Order of the President, the National Institute of Standards and Technology was directed to develop a voluntary framework based on existing standards, guidelines and practice for reducing cyber risks to critical infrastructure. (See, http://www.nist.gov/cyberframework/#). This framework can be helpful to IT teams to protect companies from external and internal threats. Social media and employee-owned devices Social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, now impact the way many businesses interact with its customers and stakeholders. Many companies encourage marketing and sales personnel, for example, to leverage
- 69. - 68 - socialmedia to promote the company and to interact with existing customers and prospects. Yet that may dilute a company’s claim that the identities of its customers and their decision makers are trade secrets. In some industries, that information is widely known anyway; but, in many industries, that information can be difficult to come by and may rise to trade secret level. Companies should evaluate the business utility of social media and then develop policies and employee agreements. Issues include: whether the company will permit use of social media for business purposes, acknowledgement that all social media content developed on the job or with company resources or confidential information is company owned, what information can and cannot be included on social media, required settings on social media accounts for who can have access to the information, and deletion of information when the employee’s employment ends. In the best case, the only permitted social media use is on company owned accounts. This can help solve several issues, including potential thorny legal ones involving employee privacy and other rights. In many states, for example, it is illegal for employers to require that its employees permit them access to personal social media accounts. In addition, the National Labor Relations Board has been quite active in challenging companies who limit employee communications or “concerted action” about wages and working conditions. Legal care should be taken in drafting policies and agreements that, while designed to protect confidential information and trade secrets of a company, do not run afoul of employee rights. Smartphones, tablets and laptop computers are staples of business today. For company-owned devices, companies generally can prohibit personal use, access the device to search in-person or by remote and, if the device is lost, the employee is suspected of wrongdoing, or leaves the company, information on the devices can wiped-out remotely. The prevalence of companies who permit use of employee-owned devices for business purposes raises employee privacy and other legal issues affecting a program for protection of business and trade secret information. With the help of counsel, company policies and agreements should deal with these issues. For example, prohibit use of non-approved apps to convey company information, implement security measures on devices, obtain written employee consent as a condition of employee access to the company’s systems and information. This consent should include that the company can access the device, and can remote-wipe all information on the device, under certain business-reason circumstances. Consider a requirement for “sandboxing” software that segregates business information on the devices from personal information. Exit interview to remind departing employees of confidentiality and obligation to return all company property
- 70. - 69 - Interviewevery employee and ask them to sign an acknowledgment of continuing confidentiality obligations. Even if they do not sign, provide an extra copy of the confidentiality agreement with a letter saying you expect them to abide by it and that they should show it to their next employer. Require return of company property, including equipment and documents. For key employees, routinely retain records that may evidence that employee’s activities while employed, including computer hard drives, phone data and contacts, building and garage access logs, and expense reports. Include outsiders as part of the program Do not overlook non-employees in the program. Execute NDAs with business partners and outsiders who may come into contact with company trade secrets such as independent contractors, recycling and other vendors, IT and other consultants, bankers, and in appropriate situations, customers. Scrub presentations of company personnel to outsiders. Narrow company tours to avoid access to trade secrets and confidential information. Promptly investigate suspected thefts and take action When a theft is suspected, involve counsel and investigate it promptly and thoroughly. When a key employee leaves, do the same. When investigation reveals that trade secrets were taken and the company’s business is at risk, take legal and other lawful protective action. Bear in mind that not taking action may give an argument to the next violator that the company does not itself believe it has trade secrets to protect. Mark Terman is partner in the national law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP where he handles labor and employment litigation and counseling matters for employers and their management. His litigation experience extends to trade secret, unfair competition, wrongful termination, discrimination and sexual harassment, fraud, wage & hour, and unfair labor practices. He counsels clients in claim prevention, crisis situations, M&A issues, and hiring, policy, discipline and termination matters.
- 71. - 70 - MeaningfulHuman Resources: 12 Keys to Develop Common Sense By Mª Julieta Balart Gritti Increasingly, we live in an environment which needs people with "common sense" to address social, economic, and cultural challenges. And although "common sense" is one of the most valued senses, it is not so common, afterall. Perhaps this is because it has never been a collective focus, and Human Resources departments are not interested in developing it in their personnel, even though it is essential to leading better, making better decisions, and resolving conflicts. Few HR managers worry about training people on what it means to have common sense, yet everybody complains when common sense is in short supply, because its scarcity hinders teamwork, blocks negotiations, creates conflicts, and even destroys businesses. First, let’s make sure we know what we mean when we say “common sense.” One of the most complete definitions I've found says that common sense is the knowledge and beliefs shared by a community and considered to be wise, logical or valid. In short, it is the natural ability to judge events using reason. The definition contains the rational concepts "wise," "logical," and "valid." Why do these constitute common sense: To ensure the individual and collective survival of the human species. Even if the rules of cooperation and solidarity are, nowadays, prevalent in humans, others factors such as time constraints, intense work requirements, stress, crisis, etc., drive people to take into account only their own needs, their desires, and their immediate motivators, often without considering the impact their decisions or actions may have on others. These situations produce conflicts and problems that could be prevented with common sense. It is precisely in times of crisis, when our foundation staggers from economic, social and cultural pressures, that it is essential to develop a cooperative vision that not only helps us survive, but also promotes growth. To achieve such a vision, society must change its approach and that includes in the workplace environment. Individualism is no longer sustainable, it is essential that we be more oriented toward the common welfare, and developing common sense is a fundamental tool for that purpose. Therefore, to promote the proliferation of common sense, I have developed a model to know how best to secure our individual and collective survival:
- 72. - 71 - My12 Keys to Develop Common Sense… 1. Simplify things. This means getting rid of the things we do that don’t add value to our lives, in order to focus on what's important. This requires thinking about what we do and why we do it, if it adds value or how important is. Simplifying life is not conformity, or laziness, but quite the opposite. It involves a personal commitment to use the ability to discern, to dare to choose and take responsibility. Simplifying also means investing time in activities and relationships that are worthwhile, because they give us welfare or some kind of knowledge, and learning to say "no" to those things that are worthless and consume our time and energy. In short, “simplifying is to bringing something to its bare minimum, as Hemingway said, "the man who has begun to live more seriously within, begins to live more simply without." 2. Choose the essential thing. The “essential thing” is to be what we should be according to our talents and that which makes us unique human beings. To that end, it is fundamental to know, accept, and value ourselves. This is the only way to give meaning to our own lives. We start building or defining this meaning (our purpose) within our families and often it accompanies us to death, but it is important to review it from time to time, especially when our emotional barometer tells us that we are not satisfied with the life we are living. Emotional distress usually occurs when we are not living life according to our own values, but according to the values of others, or when we have simply chosen an easier, more comfortable or seductive life, regardless of our identity, our essence, our uniqueness and what makes us special. As Tavho said "the meaning of life is to give life meaning.” 3. Don’t be a victim. This refers to intellectual victimization, suffered from by people who blame others or their environment for their unhappiness. While we can't avoid what happens, we can decide to take it as an opportunity to grow instead of as a threat or punishment. Being responsible means acknowledging that we have the freedom to decide how to perceive what it is happening to us, and to choose what to do with this freedom. Some situations are perceived as a threat when they confront us with our weaknesses and fears, but they are also challenges to leave our comfort zone and opportunities to develop trust. As Graham said, "Those who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain as such unless they develop a greater vision for their lives." 4. View disagreement as an opportunity. We do not see reality as it is, we see it as we are. Thus, if we admit that we are all different and that
- 73. - 72 - eachof us sees a different reality, disagreeing with someone is no longer a threat. Instead, it represents an opportunity to expand our vision and to be enriched by other perspectives. If we want to develop common sense, we cannot nurture our vision alone; it is essential to develop a collective vision. We must be open to discrepancy, to look beyond and, to question our paradigms. This will enrich us because it expands our field of view and comprehension. As someone once said, "If you think like me you are a friend. If you do not think like me, you are doubly a friend, because together we can find the truth." 5. Go beyond, think about the sequence or consequence. We are not isolated; we belong to multiple systems of human interaction: family, work, community, etc. The behavior, emotions, and feelings of all of these systems play a role in the interrelationships among its members. Therefore, every individual movement has a systemic effect. In this cause-effect relationship, we are responsible for what happens to us in that, if we do something, we create something and if we do nothing, we perpetuate the existing reality. If we want to change the outside, we must begin by changing ourselves, because reality only changes from action. In one sentence: If you cannot change reality, change your reality. 6. Get rid of paradigms. Paradigms are sets of beliefs and values that affect how individuals perceive reality and how they respond to it. The advantage of paradigms is that we use them to automate our behavior without needing to think too much about each step we take. The disadvantage is that they prevent us from seeing reality with a fresh perspective, and we react to it with behaviors learned in the past. The paradigms in which most of us move are primarily dichotomous: rich or poor, north or south, good or bad, which is a very limited view of reality, often motivated by fear and the expectation of scarcity. Common sense, on the other hand, allows us to develop an integrated vision where there is no choice between you or me, it is us who will prevail, motivated by the trust and expectations of abundance paradigms. Seize the discoveries of quantum physics that tell us our expectations create reality and change paradigms to create a better world together. 7. Deal with the process. We are immersed in a result-oriented culture that creates fear and anxiety about not achieving our goals when and how we wish. Being constantly worried about results comes from a fear of the future, which is a direct result of living with a scarcity mentality, constantly seeking security. However, dealing with the process, rather than worrying about the results, requires being focused on the present, putting all our senses on what we are doing and being passionate about
- 74. - 73 - theway we’re doing it. This way, our abilities are enhanced, our time spent is more effective, anxiety becomes intensity, distress turns into satisfaction and, eventually, fear becomes confidence because with all these ingredients we can achieve results. Maybe we are not always able to get what we want, but if during the process we are calm, aware, and committed, we can willingly accept results. 8. Co-own the results. Given that we are not isolated elements, if we generate a stimulus A, we get an answer B, and if we change the stimulus, the result will be different. The Law of Attraction says that our conscious and unconscious thoughts create reality because we attract those things in which we concentrate our attention. Every atom of our body is constantly responding to stimuli: from the environment and from our mind, emotions, and behaviors. Therefore nothing is casual, or rather, everything is causal, and if we want a better environment, it is important to review the alignment between what we want and what we think, feel, and do. 9. Work toward the common good. Much of the current crisis is caused by a social, business, and family culture centered on the individual, which has led us to a very egocentric view of life. It is time to transcend that vision and to orient ourselves towards interdependence, rather than independence. We are connected to everything around us, people, animals, and nature. It is therefore essential to develop values that guide our own behavior in order to fulfill us as a person, but also to maintain a harmonious coexistence and to reach a collective welfare. In short, it is necessary both at home and in professional settings to promote values which encourage individual and collective responsibility toward common good behavior. 10.Blend wisdom and serenity. Because we as human beings have only a limited ability to control what happens to us and to make things work as we wish, we need to apply wisdom to distinguish where we are able to influence and where not. In doing so, we can avoid negative emotions such as anger, disappointment, and frustration and the unnecessary effort to pursue impossible goals. Serenity, however, is the emotion that arises when we apply the wisdom to accept what cannot be changed and when we take the initiative to change what is in our control, thereby taking responsibility for what we think, feel, and do, rather than feeling victimized. Everything that happens to us has a reason that we often fail to understand immediately, but that helps us to grow and to evolve. Therefore, if we combine wisdom and serenity, it is almost certain that we will behave with common sense.
- 75. - 74 - 11.Learnfrom our mistakes. Wisdom is an applied knowledge, therefore experience is essential to acquire it, and it is usually a path riddled with successes and failures, victories and defeats. To experience anything in life, we must be prepared to fail, not in a premeditated and conscious way, but humbly accepting that although our will is to succeed, anything that has not yet been experienced by us could have some unforeseen aspects and surprises. Experience can also teach us the difference between what we think and what we do, because we do not always know our real abilities, or we do not act with sufficient motivation and concentration, allowing our desires to drive us towards failure. To experience requires taking action and overcoming fears, especially the fear of making mistakes. And of course, if we fail, we get to learn from that experience how not to repeat the same mistakes. 12.Say “no” to fear, and “yes” to self-confidence. Common sense means behaving in a way that benefits us and others, or at least not consciously harming anyone. It is therefore essential to avoid selfish, aggressive, and self-destructive behaviors, which are usually motivated by fear. Fear is the primary emotion that we share with animals and if it appears in front of a real threat, is objective and good, because it protects us and ensures our survival. However, that is not the only fear that motivates our behavior, we have many subjective fears that are not real, either because its intensity is not proportionate to the risk, or just because it arises as the result of a negative thought, the product of perceiving reality as a threat. This fear must be faced and transformed into trust, meaning we must be willing to confront our weaknesses and move out of our comfort zone. Companies need mature, responsible and emotionally intelligent professionals to create valuable products that have a positive impact on their clients and the world. To this end, workplace environments should facilitate creativity, team work and positive values towards a greater good. Investing in people development is an investment in the development of the organization, it is common sense! Maria Julieta Balart Gritti has a MBA with an undergraduate degree in Economics and Business, as well as a Masters in Human Resources. She has delivered over a 100 lectures and presentations in Spain, Portugal, Venezuela and Argentina and is a monthly columnist in the publication “Observatorio de Recursos Humanos” (Human Resources Observatory).
- 76. - 75 - AJourney to the Essential By Javier Fernández Aguado We are living in a civilization of noise and urgency. The acronym ASAP - as soon as possible - is constantly repeated. Everything must be resolved immediately. Perhaps it should be that way for the day-to-day incidentals, but there are other, more important matters which require deeper reflection, especially those matters dealing with people and their development. Stalin was known to repeat, like a personal mantra: “Where there is a man there is a problem. Eliminate the man and you will eliminate the problem.” In today’s world crisis, just as it has happened in any other crises, many have applied this Bolshevik principle (fortunately without actually, physically eliminating people), including those who had never heard this exact quote or knew its origin. But many have transformed these human resources into meaningless lines in an Excel spreadsheet where the only thing that matters is the final sum. Organizations whose structures do not support the development and success of their people are condemned to failure -- maybe not in the short term but, without a doubt, in the mid and long term. Managing people and organizations requires a deep understanding of reality, often deeper than the one needed for other functions. Both executive leaders and Human Resources managers within a company must serve as the examples – leveraging their skills to evangelize across the organization a new way of acting that will promote true sustainability. Most meetings dedicated to people management – at least the ones in which I have participated during the last decade – focus their attention in instrumental aspects like: new management tools, software that saves time and increases transparency, explanations of new legislations, etc. Or, they center on motivational drivers and processes to manage emotions. All of these aspects are not just relevant to the organizations, they are essential. But now we must focus on more -- not in contradiction to the previously stated areas, but rather as a complementary foundation to them – we need to focus on what is truly fundamental: organizational anthropology, or said in a different way: the science of people. I’ll put the concept in raw terms, to raise the awareness of all involved (which is all of us): The great challenge of any executive leader, as with any person, is his or her epitaph. A visit to any graveyard will give you some interesting phrases. On some headstones I’ve seen inscriptions stating, for example: “Here rests Juan, and us
- 77. - 76 - evenmore.” Another said: “Here rests Pedro, who never did anything different.” There are others who are more sarcastic: “Here rests Maria. I told you the doctor was an idiot.” Some executives seem to hope that their legacy will be engraved on their headstone with words like: “I became millionaire,” or “I earned countless amounts of money,” or “I fired many employees.” Really, all human beings should hope to justly state on his or her headstone those words used in the posthumous autobiography of the controversial Pablo Neruda: “I confess that I have lived.” Living is not moving up in the hierarchy. Neither is it getting rich at the expense of others. Some people confuse living with prospering, or with simply lasting for a long time. And so for many -- directors, or managers, or no -- life is something that happened while they were tremendously busy making money or making their way up in the hierarchy. During the fourth century Agustín de Hipona, one of the greatest European minds of that passionate period, argued that too many people spent life travelling to exotic places, while forgetting that the most challenging journey they could and should make is a journey to the interior of oneself. I believe that those people in a role of responsibility, especially anyone with an executive position, should make a similar journey. That expedition towards the inner self is more feasible as people mature more. At the beginning, the incidents of change – promotions, power struggles, financial hopes, etc. -- tend to obscure the true goal. Is not a matter of age, being older does not necessarily make you wiser. There are many people who only accumulate years and not wisdom. As much as any other year, 2015 could be a good moment for those who put hours of effort into executive positions, and for those who analyze or advise these executives, to focus part of their attention on the essential – the inner journey. Such a shift in focus will help prevent the numerous mistakes that happen all too often in the leadership of organizations. The motivations of a collective are what normally transform a mere group into a team. The intangible elements are essential to providing meaning to the tangible ones. In this sense, and only in this one, Marx was right when he pointed out that the economic systems must bear in mind is reflected by the work of each individual. Fundamentally, the work of any one individual brings two complementary results: On one side, the objective output, this is the physical, measurable result of our efforts. On the other side, the subjective output -- what happens to us as individuals when we work. Of course organizations must concentrate their attention on the objective output, because results are essential, but they must not forego the other,
- 78. - 77 - subjectiveoutput, since - and this is the most relevant point - the best part of people can’t be bought, it must be earned. As I have pointed out in my studies on the “Feelings Management” model, organizations are conceptually placed above individuals. But this is only in concept. It is simply irrefutable that the company ecosystem is a direct result of the contributions made by each and every individual in the organization. The journey to success must bear in mind that two types of accomplishment exist: the personal and the professional. Some might judge themselves successful because they achieved their goals (either ones assigned to them, or ones they chose). That would be great, as long as this was also an accurate way to measure success as a human being. Unfortunately, many reach (or think they have reached) the top of their professional career, but during the journey lost their integrity, and, therefore, failed as people, as humans. The harmonic balance between professional work and authentic human development requires an intense journey and few reach the intended destination. This is, again, why the journey should never be a journey to the highest peaks of responsibility or financial results, but rather to the inner essentials. I like how the “Lion king” advised his son Simba. He instills in him the importance in finding his place in the circle of life. To realize such self- knowledge is not easy. It demands first -- a detailed examination of our own capabilities, second -- determination so we can improve and expand the inherent skills that we have, and third -- persistence when facing obstacles; so we don’t falter when facing the inevitable difficulties of personal laziness, envy of others, or simply natural events. Throughout this process it is of course vital to have the right instruments, but even more important is to know the goal and never give up. Like Aristotle explained in his Nicomachean Ethics, the goal is the last thing achieved, but it must be the first intention. Stated differently, even if we have the most powerful car, driving fast without knowing where we’re going does not ensure we’ll reach our destination. Quite the contrary, it very likely means that we are quickly getting farther away from it. This essential inward journey is more challenging that what we might first realize. It requires us to reconsider what we are doing, and evaluate if it is really what we should be doing. The journey will often entail radical decisions that will require us to adjust the rudder that navigates us through the busy day to day. We are all required to carry on through the drudgery imposed by modern society. (Primum, vivere, deinde filosofare: “First live, then philosophize.”) Nonetheless, we should periodically remove ourselves from the mad activity, as it anesthetizes our consciousness and prevents us from knowing if we are on the right path to find the place we hope to reach.
- 79. - 78 - Thepractical consequences are bigger than any superficial reality we might perceive. As a former Harvard professor used to remind a group of senior executives at a well-known pharmaceutical company: “Remember, when the day comes and you are suffering, none of the managers or company owners will be at your side supporting you. It will be your spouse, your children, and your parents who will stand next to you in the hardest moments.” In sight of the end and during all the steps along the way – the question commonly posed as “What do you want to be when you grow up?”-- helps us make the right decisions. In the field of people and organization management the 2015 trending topic won’t be the meaning of life. It won’t be, because it has been the trending topic of the world, since the beginning of time -- especially for those who are not satisfied with limiting themselves to just surviving, who have opted to pursue living. To contemplate people as humans and not merely as numbers is an important part of the journey towards the essential. At times we will be required to make tough decisions, but we must make these decisions from a place of empathy, putting ourselves in the shoes of those we are disciplining or firing. A voyager on this journey to the essential does not know how to count higher than one, because he looks another in the eye and knows that he is dealing with a person and not with an anonymous element that forms part of a productive system. We must never forget that we are still immersed in crisis of economics and principles, thanks to Hayek and Marx and their followers. Fundamentally, because both of them where better essay writers than the experts on practical economics. The economic liberalism and socialism in all their different variations have been malicious social experiments in which the only relevant thing was the masses (without calling it people, proletariat or collectives), whereby the individual did not carry any weight when making decisions. You reap what you sow A journey to the essential needs to have a special conceptual focus so we can easily succeed in the practical applications. To conclude: everything that is instrumental will be relevant, but only if we are able to design a system that can balance the collective part with the individuals. If we assume that the only thing that is relevant is the group, we will establish an organization in which each individual sacrifices himself one after the other in search of a common success that will never arrive. Ask the victims of Maoism, of orthodox or heterodox communism, of Nazism or of extreme capitalism.
- 80. - 79 - Andon the contrary, if the only relevant element is the individual, it will not be possible to create teams in which each person is willing to renounce a part of their own personal interest in order to obtain a collective profit. A journey to the essential is necessary so, at the end, each one of us can affirm that we have lived, and that we didn’t limit ourselves to just managing… All the while remembering that true leaders are not just managers, but human beings who at some point were able to fully evolve their own existence. Javier Aguado is an executive coach and founder and CEO of MindValue Group, a firm specializing in professional services for top executives. He is a world- renowned speaker and has received several awards, including: the Best Executive Director in Spain 2014 and the Peter Drucker Award for Innovation in Management.
- 81. - 80 - ASample of bluebottlebiz Discovery Paths Discovery Paths are the newest product offering from bluebottlebiz.com -- a short collection of chapters, videos, and articles curated by thought leaders, consultants, and authors. In less than 90 minutes these knowledge boosters will provide your teams with what they need to know about the trending topics impacting their business. You can purchase them individually and embed them directly into your training program or learning platform. Why Having a Mentor at Work is Beneficial 75min Mentoring is perhaps one of the most misunderstood parts of self-improvement. It is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool. It is an effective way of helping people to progress in their careers and is becoming increasing popular as its potential is realised. It is a partnership between two people (mentor and mentee) normally working in a similar field or sharing similar experiences. It is a helpful relationship based upon mutual trust and respect. But, the confusion happens because the mentee must take the initiative and do the leg work in the relationship. The final responsibility for actions taken, as a result of mentoring, lies with the mentee. There is a raft of literature about being a mentor… but not so much about having one, so hopefully this pathway will help you work through understanding how having a mentor will help you as you drive your career forward and help you find the right mentor for you. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/why-having-a-mentor-at-work-is-beneficial/ How to Make the Most of Your Social Media Metrics 75min Social media metrics. If your company has an online presence, these should matter to you. So how do you know what to do with them, or even which data you should be paying attention to (and which data you can ignore)? First, figure out the goal. When you know what you are trying to achieve, you'll understand better the metrics and tactics you'll need to use. This selection of readings illustrates the importance of social media metrics in business today and helps you understand how to get the right data and what to do with it. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/how-to- make-the-most-of-your-social-media-metrics/
- 82. - 81 - BoostProductivity and Profit Through Employee Engagement 90min "Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life..." Employee engagement is often overlooked when businesses consider possible growth strategies. Having co- workers and employees who are motivated and feel trusted by the company not only creates a positive working atmosphere, but also translates to increased profits and shareholder returns. This short collection of readings provides ideas on how to foster engagement within your teams, and shows how this very engagement will make your organization more successful overall. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/boost-productivity-and- profit-through-employee-engagement Why Adaptability Should be Your Top Job Skill 60min Adaptability is the New Strategy. All success is successful adaptation. All failure is a failure to adapt. Adaptability is the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to find success, victory and happiness for all of us. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/why-adaptability-should-be- your-top-job-skill/ Rock the interview and land the job 75min In this life three things are guaranteed to happen to you: death, taxes and job interviews. And while, in official business cliché, job interviews are designed to ‘help you understand a bit more about a particular organization and the role on offer’, we all know that they are interrogations by a team of managers (over the phone, via Skype or in person) set to challenge – and test - you as an individual. Let’s be honest. And whether or not you come out actually wanting the job, you will still want to impress the panel. But the beauty of job interviews is that everyone has been through them – from senior managers to office interns. Your interviewers will probably have to go through the process again themselves at some stage, so whether they show it or not they will have a degree of empathy. And luckily, there is a world of literature out there to help you nail the interview and land the job of your dreams. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/rock- the-interview-and-land-the-job/
- 83. - 82 - GoingGreen 80min "Green business" is something a lot of people talk about, but what does it really mean? When you're running a business, it's important to know the options and implications for applying "green thinking" to your company strategy. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/going-green/ Attracting Consumers through Social Media 75min Social media is such a broad topic and much can and has been said about it. The objective here is not to bombard you with every detail, but to show you, specifically, how organizations can attract new and keep current customers through this ever-growing marketing medium. Use this selection of readings to understand if your social media strategy is really working, how to attract new consumers, and what not to do when developing your social media strategy. Included are examples and small case studies of companies and people who succeeded in using these very strategies. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/attracting- consumers-through-social-media/ Risk for leaders 90min When business leaders think of risk, the first things that spring to mind are hedge funds and finance, but risks whether environmental, internal, political, financial or even environmental can rock a business to its very core – affecting everything from HR and recruitment to brand and marketing. For that reason, risk management is paramount in any organization. But my personal belief is that good businesses face risks – and risks don’t turn to issues because of ‘bad staff’ or ‘bad decisions’ in themselves. Leaders can use a risk strategy both to mitigate risk, but more importantly to develop competitive advantage, plan ahead, increase their sustainability credentials, impress stakeholders and secure longevity. That said, the following chapters and articles will guide you through developing and implementing a world-class strategy so risk turns from a threat into an opportunity. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/risk-for-leaders/
- 84. - 83 - Prepareto be Successful (with Your Startup) 45min Establishing a new business is a long process. Startups require dedication and perseverance. While I believe that consistency is key to any successful undertaking, I also know that in order to succeed, you must learn how to adapt. It is almost impossible for a business to succeed in today’s world if an owner does not learn new strategies for success. The following collection of readings provides quick, common- sense strategies to help you design, implement, and successfully grow your startup. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/prepare-to-be-successful-with-your-startup/ Resilience 90min So much has been written and said about ‘resilience’ and how business people – and indeed their organizations – need to have an inner strength to deal with a complex and trying economic environment. But what do ‘resilience’ and ‘agility’ actually mean in practice? There are so many interpretations of what it means to be resilient – is it staying focused and alert in a world that never sleeps? Is it being like UK tennis player Andy Murray and bouncing back from defeat after defeat, to win at the Olympic Games and Wimbledon? The following six lessons (and an interesting info graphic to sum up) summarize to me what individual resilience in the corporate world means and takes the readers on a journey from learning about the theories of resilience and how they can apply them to their working lives. http://www.bluebottlebiz.com/book/resilience/
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