Written on Monday, March 30, 2009 by Eva
I recently read a post called Why it's smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work, which caused some intense debate about how soon is too soon to quit your job. Most readers voiced opinions that six months is a good amount of time to quit if you are unhappy. I take the other extreme viewpoint and I think you should give it at least a year. Though it ultimately comes down to personal and situational differences, here are my reasons why you should stick it out at a job you hate:
1. You are wrong.
The above-mentioned article points out that you might as well quit now rather than drawing it out because "you'll resent both the company and yourself for staying at a job that you knew you didn't like early on." But unfortunately, first impressions are overwhelmingly flawed impressions. It is unavoidable and human of us to make judgments, but to make a decision based on a judgment alone leads to error more often than not. Even if gut instinct is correct, the circumstances of your job will likely change over time. So a few months in, after you have proved yourself competent, you may have been promoted to the job of your dreams and you do not hate your job anymore.
2. You made a commitment.
Maybe it's the organization's fault for setting unrealistic expectations and not giving you a realistic job preview or failing at the socialization phase. Maybe it's your fault for not doing your due diligence on the company. Either way, you agreed to fill the position they needed. Though your employment contract may not have a minimum temporal requirement, it is sort of an unspoken expectation that both you and the company will give it an honest try to make this arrangement work to suit both parties' needs. A high performer might be able to switch jobs often, but those worth the title do not. Instead, they are committed to the company that has committed to them.
3. You will learn something new.
Finding your passion is great and to want to love your job is understandable. But it doesn't just happen, easily and right away. There's a long journey of self-exploration, which is usually full of both negative experiences such as awful jobs as well as positive experiences. Rather than looking at this as a failure, approach it as opportunity to learn about what you don't want to do, explore the reasons why you don't like it, and learn about what aspects of the environment are contributing to your state of displeasure. Who knows, maybe it's something about you rather than the job that is causing the feelings of discontentment.
4. You will be building relationships, contributing to society, all while earning an income.
It is another flawed assumption that your job performance will be terrible if you hate your job. Actually, no, your job performance is determined mostly by you, whether you love the job or not. Some people are great at things they hate. Others partake in activities they have no skills or abilities in whatsoever. And then some people are lucky enough to be good at what they love to do. But it is by no means a requirement. By sticking it out for just a few more months, you can do a good job, add coworkers to your network, and get paid.
5. You'll get a reputation for being consistent and reliable.
You don't need to switch companies to switch jobs. And you don't need to switch jobs to continue your learning. What if doctors switched specialties every few years? Constantly job hopping with no strategy or direction is just detrimental. By demonstrating a track record of job hopping, you'll set yourself up to be disrespected and dismissed in the future. People who respect others, build quality relationships, and stick to their commitments are the people who succeed.
6. You'll do the company a favor.
The level of voluntary turnover is negatively related to organizational performance. By quitting, you are costing the company thousands of dollars. The exact amount varies by position and tenure, but it ranges from $2,000 for an hourly at Wal*Mart to millions for a seasoned exec. The average is somewhere around $15,000 for professional jobs. If a company cares enough to evaluate voluntary turnover, they'll do it whether a person quits after two days, two years, or two decades. If you really want to do the company a favor, you'll stick around and expand your job duties to include fixing the problems that are making you and other employees unhappy.
Related Research:
- Organizational entry and exit: An exploratory longitudinal examination of early careers. 1999. Human Performance. College graduates' perception of organizational entry constructs, including aspects of preemployment anticipation, organization receptivity, adaptation difficulty, meeting with person previously in the position, feedback seeking, and organization attachment correctly predicted 73.3% voluntary turnover after Year 1.
- Commitment Propensity, Organizational Commitment, and Voluntary Turnover: A Longitudinal Study of Organizational Entry Processes. 1992. Journal of Management. Commitment Propensity -- measured by the desire for a career, knowledge of organization's core values, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and positive expectations -- is related to organizational commitment.
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I/O Psychology,
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Written on Thursday, March 19, 2009 by Eva
The Harvard Business Review Online puts out case studies and even has
interactive versions online where anyone can take their shot at being an executive and provide comments on the solution.
This month's case study is especially interesting to me because it's about layoffs.
I've written about both
layoffs and
talent management during a dowturn, but those were articles written from an outsider's perspective… and in a predominantly theoretical, in an ideal world,
what not to do fashion. Now it's time to look at a realistic scenario to answer
well, what would I do?
The Cast:
Robin Astrigo, CEO
Morris Meyers, CFO
Lisa Warren, Head of Legal
Marzita Vasquez, Head of HR
Bob Slater, Exec Director of Strategy
Sushil Bhatia, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy
About the Company: Astrigo Holdings (Chicago)
Astrigo is made up of 12,000 teammates whose highest goal is to ‘Take Care of Our Customer.’ Astrigo Holdings accomplishes this by selling the highest-quality goods at the best price, with the best customer service, in the world. Great customer service begins with talented, innovative team members.
“Pop” Astrigo, the founder, had started out as a hardscrabble midwestern lumberyard owner. A fiscal conservative, he steadfastly believed that a strong cash position was crucial to the company’s health. But he also taught his son that to keep its reputation for great customer service, the company had to treat employees well. He always insisted on keeping several million dollars in the bank just in case the company needed to make critical acquisitions. After "Pop" Astrigo's death in 1996, Robin Astrigo has taken over the company and has ran the firm well.
The Challenge:
Astrigo Holdings had missed its earnings estimate by 20 cents a share. Profits have dropped by double digits, regardless of efforts to slash inventory and expenses. Despite aggressive promotions and price cuts, the Astrigo home-improvement stores were losing sales to cheaper retailers with far worse customer service. The recession was hitting the firm hard. Though the company had millions in the bank thanks to values passed on by "Pop," Robin didn’t want to risk Astrigo’s future health by burning that cash now. The company has a policy of holding a big cash reserve for acquisitions but isn't it a little hard to justify a big bank account at the same time that people are losing jobs?
An aggressive reduction in head count looked like the only course of action. Pop Astrigo had been forced to let people go in past recessions but had loathed taking such an action. A large layoff would be crushing for the families of the affected employees—and for all the towns where Astrigo stores had long been a central fixture.
Robin had asked his executive committee to form teams of two to work through possible layoff scenarios, which would then be presented to the Chairman of the Board. This is what they came up with:
Option #1: First In, First Out - proposed by Morris Meyers, the CFO
A 10% workforce reduction would generate enough savings to keep profits in line with Wall Street’s expectations. Robin doesn’t want to cut back more on store associates, because that affects customer service, so the cuts will occur at middle management level with a first in, first out policy. Cons voiced are charges of age discrimination.
Option #2: Performance-Based or Rank-and-Yank - proposed by Lisa Warren, head of Legal
A performance-based layoff based on the next evaluation cycle in order to eliminate the lowest 10%. The company develops a higher-performing workforce. Cons are that people become competitive and scared all the time, office politics take a harsh turn, and the ranking system will also require a lot of effort.
Option #3: Last In, First Out - proposed by Bob Slater, Exec. Director of Strategy
Use the simplest layoff policy possible, and that’s last in, first out. That way, you don’t have to pay people a lot of severance. It's great since the company doesn't have the time to do anything really complex. And it’s inherently fair -- everyone understands that you have to work up to seniority. But layoffs aren't just a financial transaction. Cons are that you lose your youngest superstars -- new doesn't mean dispensable. If last in first out is enacted, what about Yukio, that young woman we hired a few years ago to run new business development? The company courted her hard. She’s a first-in-class MBA from a top school, and she’s full of bright ideas. Two competitors were after her, but she decided to come to Astrigo in the end because she liked the company's corporate values. With a blanket last-in, first-out plan, people like her would be out. The best recruiting in the industry is for nothing when a company lets someone like her go. And that company can forget about acquiring good people in the future if there's a history of firing best new hires.
Option #4: Lose a Unit - proposed by Marzita Vasquez, Head of HR
To look at layoffs as a tactical cost-cutting measure is shortsighted. Not only are good people out of work, but layoffs shout to our customers, ‘Look at us. We’re in trouble.’ They hurt morale, and that hurts customer service and, ultimately, investors. The problem can best be solved by looking at our overall strategy. The company is overreached. It could save the money by selling or closing the most recent acquisition, Prugh Furniture. It’s time to refocus on the core business. Cons are that a lot of thought and time and effort go into acquisitions and they're not made lightly. Getting rid of any strategic business units may not be a wise move.
Option# 5: Pay Cut - proposed by Sushil Bhatia, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy
How about taking steps that would let the company stay truer to its core values? It’s necessary to get a bit more imaginative. Just pick a number. How about a 5% across-the-board pay cut, maybe a bigger one for people making six figures? Astrigo is not a union shop and so has the flexibility to do it. Cons are the pushback but isn't that better than the alternatives?
Eva's Solution:
My first thought is that nobody mentioned budget cuts. Was that assumed?
I will eliminate Option #1 and Option #3 right away. That is quite possibly the worst way to do a layoff. Talented employees are not just assets to an organization - they ARE the organization. You lose a few key players like this and your entire organization is at significant risk. Sports analogies are always fun and intuitive; imagine letting go your all-star just because he was "first in" … consider letting go of your rookie just because she was "last in." That coach would be so fired, end of story. In fact, for an immediate cost savings, I'd rather replace Bob with Sushil.
I like all the three remaining options, and instead of choosing just one, I'll turn them into a three-step process for layoffs:
STEP 1. Re-examine strategic goals.
Focus on your core business or focus on your most profitable business. Consolidate, lose a unit, or go back to the basics. Prioritize and re-evaluate spending (ahem, parties and jets), but don't take xx% off everyone's budget, do it selectively. Hike up the revenue-generating budgets that have a high ROI and cut off completely the support budgets that haven't delivered value. Put a halt to any extensive reorganization or transitions. Review your company history, and put yourself in the founder's shoes - what would you NEED to do to survive? Ask why the company is doing what it is doing…. If it makes sense-keep it, If it doesn't-lose it. Ideally, Bob Slater (Executive Director of Strategy) has done his due diligence and not much change is needed. More likely, the reason behind financial woes has spun your entire company off-course and change is needed. This is NOT a lose the unit, therefore lose the people type of layoff. Lose the unit, repurpose the people.
STEP 2. Look at adversity as an opportunity.
Fire underperformers who have slipped through the cracks through performance-based job cuts. This is NOT the lowest 10% layoff. Ideally Marzita (head of HR) has been doing her job and this is a 0% cut. More likely, the company has kept a few weak links around longer than necessary and the best time to remedy the situation is now. This is NOT a rank-and-yank. Again, if Marzita has done her job well, the rankings have already been done and the yanking is a no-brainer. More likely, you have just cut a line of business and there are 1,000 redundant positions, all performing fairly well. In this case, performance is relative. Step 3 should weed out the losers.
STEP 3. Involve the entire team.
People are anxious, emotional contagion has overtaken all motivation, negative energy in the air has zapped concentration and productivity, and the overwhelming stress of layoffs is causing a spike in illness - oops that's not a cost savings! Skip all this nonsense by making the issue transparent throughout the company. Let people know that they are still there and that is on purpose and they are very much needed to either step it up or step on out. Instruct managers to redefine their department's goals to be in line with the company's new shift in strategy and redistribute work to be most effective and focus energy on what is most needed. The worst case scenario is pay cuts across the board. Keep all but the most extravagant benefits. It stinks, but it's just temporary and a better option than the alternative.
Agree? Disagree? What would you do?
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Posted in
Case Studies,
Organizations,
Performance Management,
Talent Management
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Written on Friday, March 13, 2009 by Eva
What is wasting time? How do you define it?
Lately, I have been coming across some odd ideas about time and how it is wasted.
Some say that the top ways employees waste time at work are:
surfing the internet
socializing with co-workers
conducting personal business
spacing out
running errands off-premises
To me, nothing noted above counts as wasted time. It can be argued that surfing the internet fosters creativity and new ideas, socializing with co-workers leads to collaboration and more effective teamwork, and spacing out is your brain boycotting you due to fatigue.
"A certain amount of slacking off is already built into the salary structure."
-Senior Vice President at Salary.com
Really? Well I'll be sure to slack off for precisely the time allotted, then. With that quid pro quo attitude, how can the same people turn around and complain about employee disengagement?
"Chatting with your online friends is unethical, and wasting your boss's money."
-General Manger of Sales & Marketing
Maybe it's just me, but this makes no sense. Not quite sure what is unethical about it, since answering my overly chatty co-worker is pretty much the same thing, just face-to-face rather than online. It takes about 5 seconds to type out a response to the occasional IM. In that line of thinking, you may as well add in restroom breaks as a waste of your employer's money.
Counterproductive workplace behavior is behavior that is counter to the goals of an organization and includes mundane activities such as ineffective job performance and absenteeism all the way up to the criminal such as theft or violence. My take is that much of what people consider "wasting time" is NOT counterproductive workplace behavior. Instead, it is an excuse. It is displacing blame.
If an employee is performing poorly and missing deadlines,
that's a problem in the area of performance management. Don't blame it on wasting time. It has nothing to do with time. Actually, the same article that mentioned the top time wasters also mentioned that the top three reasons for it. Those reasons were:
To me, that sounds like a problem with the organizational structures and processes rather than a specific employee's motivation, work ethic, or ability to perform. So let's take responsibility and fix what's broken rather than simply pointing fingers.
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I/O Psychology,
Office,
Organizations,
Performance Management
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Written on Sunday, March 08, 2009 by Eva
This is written with PowerPoint 2007 in mind, since that is what I use (and because it's awesome). Some of these tips will also be helpful for older versions as well.
TIP #1: Recolor Images
So you got all fancy with your slide backgrounds and added a background color or maybe even a gradient. You now want to add an image, but it has a white background, totally messing up the look of your slide. Or maybe the image has lots of pink on it and you'd really prefer for it to just be in black and white. Now what?
Select the image object.
Click on the Format Tab.
On the left side of the page click on Recolor.
Set to Transparent Color.
Click on the background of your image to make it transparent.
If you'd like to change the color of the image, choose More Variations, and then select your color.
TIP #2: Use Smart Art
The best way to present information is by displaying a model. People just get models. But making one from scratch takes a lot of creativity and time. Luckily, Microsoft Office has automated much of the process for you.
Click on the Insert Tab --> Select Smart Art
Choose from a list, process, cycle, hierarchy, relationship, matrix, or pyramid. A list is especially helpful if you just can't think of anything else except for bullet points. Use a SmartArt list instead!!
If at any point you change your mind about the layout of your smart art, right-click on the border of your smart art and select Change Smart Art
To change the color default for your smart art, use the Design Tab.
To change individual box colors, right click on the object and select Format Shape.
TIP #3: Embed Your Video
You've seen it. A presenter wants to show a video to make a point, but in doing so rifles through his hard drive, exposing several confidential docs in the process. Worse yet, goes to YouTube and attempts to search for the video while the waiting audience grows impatient. Don't do this! Instead, embed the video in your slide. You can even make it autoplay. There are two options for this:
Online access
Use this if you'll be using a different computer or someone else will be viewing the presentation. This one is a little trickier so you can watch a video about it here... or not:
Click on Developer Tab --> Click on More Controls
Select Shockwave Flash Object
Draw a box in your slide
Right click on your box, select Properties
Get a url for your video, delete watch? and replace = with / (So for http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChq5drjQl4, you'd want to input http://www.youtube.com/v/hChq5drjQl4)
Insert URL in the Movie field
If you want the video to autoplay change Playing to true
Hard drive access
Use this option if you aren't sure if you will have wi-fi access but you will be using your own laptop to present.
Insert Tab --> Movie from file --> Find your video
A pop-up will ask you "How do you want the movie to start in the slide show?" Choose from automatically or when clicked.
TIP #4: Create a Master Template
Let's say you have a specific logo and background and font type you tend to use since you like to brand yourself. And you give different presentations fairly often too. For this situation, it is useful to have a template, so you don't have to always be formatting each and every slide.
Start with a blank presentation
Click on the View Tab
Click on Slide Master
In your side bar you see you have a master slide, and then the different types of slide layouts available.
Work with the master slide only. Make changes to the others later.
Do all the formatting you want to appear.
Click on Save As…
Choose Microsoft PowerPoint Template from the Drop Down
Next time you need to make a presentation, find your template and start from there.
TIP #5: Content Control
You followed my tips and have done an amazing job presenting at a conference. You get a flood of emails asking for a copy of the presentation. Your mind flashes to the cons immediately … stolen content, misattribution, formatting mishaps when viewing in different versions, negative publicity, etc. You have at least three options to prevent that:
Save as PDF
The file is viewable and printable, but it cannot be altered. The videos, animations, sound will not function in a PDF.
Make appropriate changes to your slides (delete videos, change overlapping animations)
Click on Save As --> PDF
Save as PowerPoint Show
When the file is opened, it will always play in presentation mode. The videos and images and sound will be OK, but the user cannot print or edit the presentation. Save As --> Microsoft PowerPoint Show
Save as .GIF, .JPEG, or .PNG
Want to share an awesome slide somewhere? Save it as a pic. Save As ---> Select an image type from the Save As Type Drop-Down Bar
TIP #6: Use Images
Microsoft clip art is limiting? Don't want to pay for images? Don't have a camera/time/artistic ability to create your own art? Use open source images from Flickr or Google Image Search.
TIP #7: Link your Excel chart in your PowerPoint document
This is most useful when your primary document is an Excel spreadsheet and you then must create a PowerPoint presentation based on the data contained in that spreadsheet. This tip is especially useful when the data changes or is updated regularly.
Open up both your PowerPoint file and your Excel spreadsheet.
Create a chart in Excel.
Copy the chart.
In your PowerPoint document.. Paste Special --> Paste Link.
Every time the data in your Excel chart is updated, you can right click on the chart in your presentation and select Update Link (or you can set it to update automatically).
TIP #8: Jazz it Up
Make images stand out or add some interest to flow charts.
Select your image or text box or shape object
Click on the Format Tab. Alternatively, you can right click the object and select Format Picture or Format Shape.
Your effect options are shadow, reflection, glow, soft edges, bevel, and 3D. My favorite is a beveled reflection.
You can also add or change the border as well as the color.
TIP #9: Link to It
Link to a place within the document, in your files, or on the internet.
Click on your object or select your text
Insert Tab-->Hyperlink
Choose from:
Place in the document (if you want to create a Choose Your Own Adventure type of - presentation or a Tutorial or you want to reference another slide)
Place on your hard drive (if you'll be using your own computer during the presentation)
URL on the Internet (if you'll have internet access during the presentation)
TIP #10: Break Some Old-School Conventions
It was well-meaning advice at one point, but usally your presentations will be better off without the following:
Agenda slide so you can "tell them what you're going to tell them"
Your slides don't have to parallel your words. It's OK, you can tell them what you're going to tell them without showing them a table of contents.
Slides per time limit/2 minutes per slide
Forget it, there's no rule of thumb for this. It depends. If you want a dynamic PowerPoint, you'll need WAY more than this. If you are telling stories or have built in interactivity during your presentation, you'll need way less.
X words per bullet point or per slide
Words do not make a slide and you shouldn't be using bullet points, see TIP #2.
Most of all, be consistent. Make sure everything flows together. Don't use different font types unless you have a good reason. Don't switch the background unless it helps prove a point. Don't use animations just to make things creative. Do things that enhance your message, not things that distract.
Since this article is from a design perspective, check out PowerPoint is My Slave for some delivery tips and tricks.
What are your favorite tips and tricks for PowerPoint?
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Written on Thursday, March 05, 2009 by Eva
In 1997, some consultants at McKinsey & Co. coined the phrase war for talent and it's been a buzzword ever since. Their follow-up piece, The War for Talent, published in 2000, asserts that the war for talent will last for at least the next 20 years.
But instead, we hear of hiring freezes. A screeching halt in the search for new employees has been reported at various levels, from 68% of organizations in the manufacturing/mining industry to just 17% of organizations in the health care industry. And, of course, there are the layoffs.
Up until the recession, talent was considered the new strategic advantage that will transform today's workplace, like technology did in the 20th Century. And thus, talent management and the adequate preparation of the succession pipeline became a priority. Some reasons given include:
A shift from the Industrial Age to an Information Age
Demand for highly competent knowledge workers in the managerial and executive roles
Some-40% Boomers eligible for retirement within 2 years; smaller Gen X population
Job hopping and attrition (and the resulting cost of both replacement and the loss of knowledge transfer)
But as we experience unprecedented economic conditions, is talent still a strategic advantage? Is the managing of said talent a priority? Should it be?
Take a look at the list above again. Has any of that changed? The downturn didn't take us back to the Industrial Age. Managerial and executive skills are still just as important and, arguably, even more crucial during this time of stress. The generational numbers gap isn't changing so the need and competition for talent will still exist. Job hopping may require more creativity from the job hopper's perspective, but unplanned attrition will still affect organizations negatively-- again, possibly even more so now, when key team members have increased influence. So what is up with the hiring freeze? Why the cut in L&D funding?
Like I mentioned in an earlier article, I get the need for survival mode. But my belief is that operating in survival mode is an admission of defeat. In no way is that a strategic move, and in no way does that set you up for long-term success. This is true at both the organization and individual level. But with a little thought, and a focus on the primary drivers of success, there can be both a cost savings and a long-term advantage.
Key point... focus on the important, not the immediate.
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Learning,
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Talent Management
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Written on Monday, March 02, 2009 by Eva
Now that I'm done with school I can admit I was somewhat of a lazy student. Maybe the correct spin on that is I was a very efficient student; I did the minimum work required to get the grade that I wanted. On one vocab. test in high school, I discovered a trick that worked as brilliantly as cheating, without the ethical violation.
Here's the trick. I visualized the classroom and then associated each word with a particular object in the room where I would be taking the test. So for example, I visualized the clock above the chalkboard and thought about my vocab. word "recalcitrant"… I pictured the word on the second hand, on the minute hand, as a logo on the clock, and printed in a circular text instead of the numbers. Then I imagined, "resisting authority or control, hard to manage or operate" - and I gave this attribution to the clock. For example, the clock is recalcitrant because one has to get a step stool to change the battery when it dies. Whatever, it doesn't have to be perfect. When it came time to take the test, all I had to do was look around the room and both the words and definitions popped into my mind. If you're relatively creative, you can do that with any word and any object.
I still use this trick today. If I want to remember something but can't write it down, I'll think of an object that will be around at the time I want to remember, and merge the two together in my mind. So for example, if I want to remember to bring a book to work with me the next day, I'll picture the cover of the book as a big poster on my refrigerator. The next time I see my fridge, the book, as well as the fact that I wanted to pack it in my bag, pops into my mind.
Though I didn't know it at the time, that trick is a way of enhancing your long-term memory's storage-and-retrieval process. It works much better and much faster than memorization by repetition. You store the information when you associate the two unrelated objects. You retrieve the information when you encounter the tangible object. Just as a multiple-choice test is easier than an essay test, you are basically making things easier by taking something that requires a recall function and turning it into recognition task.
Just to name a few, you can do this with remembering people's names and birthdays, making a mental to-do list, or giving a presentation without notes.
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Learning
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