Bob Rosner has a unique perspective on managing employees in his latest Working Wounded post – Stop Workplace Whining.  The setup:

A study by In Touch asked employees, “Why don’t you speak up at work?” More than 1 in 4 said they remain quiet because “there isn’t a good way to speak up” or “management doesn’t care.” I’ve outlined below three dos to reduce pressure at work and have everyone engaged in the problem-solving process. For more, check out Rant, Repair, Rave on workplace911.com.

I’ll leave the whale example at the beginning of his post for you to read on your own (it is funny and disgusting all at once).

Here is the suggestion I thought had some merit:

Rant. We know what you’re thinking, “Let my people rant at work. Are you nuts?” Trust us, they already are ranting! Why not move it past murmuring whispers and give them a safe way to voice their concerns and challenges? After years of counseling people in the Rant technique, we find it works best when rants are kept under two minutes. Another important guideline here is “do no harm.” Employees should be truthful in their rants, but not hurtful.

“They already are ranting!” is true, isn’t it?  It would take a particularly strong manager to be able to handle a meeting that allows rants.  I like the idea.  I have sat through meetings where individuals (myself included) went on a spontaneous rant.  After the meeting, I was called into the boss’ office and told if I ever did that again I would lose my job.

I ceased all rants (in front of that manager) from that point on.  But my rants continued with fellow employees.

Comments(0)

Here is an interesting article from Selling Power regarding predicting trends of the future.  Specifically, this one caught my eye:

We’ll return to real, thoughtful communications. In this era of text messaging, blogging, and email, we’ve become lazy in our communications. We tend to dash off notes without proofreading them. We tend to use generic catch phrases like “seamless solution” and “superior service” that sound good but don’t really mean anything. Why do we do it? Because it’s easier and quicker than taking the time to think, write, edit, and edit again until our message is clear, compelling, and precise. There’s going to be a backlash against today’s generic, rushed communications and it’s coming soon. The future of sales will demand that reps put thought, care, and creativity into every message they compose.

I think there is something to that prediction.  Resumes and cover emails are typically one of the most formal forms of writing in business.  The quality of writing I am encountering recently is borderline pathetic.  Informal, error-filled and cliche-driven documents are far too prevalent today.

I am convinced that editing is a lost art.  I hope the aforementioned prediction comes true.

Comments(0)

The retiring Boomers and the lack of X’ers to replace them is a well-documented problem in the labor force.  The Herman Trend Alert speaks to this problem, and more importantly to a solution, in their latest newsletter:

Many Baby Boomers retirements are, in fact, often “recareering” instead. See our previous Herman Trend Alert http://www.hermangroup.com/alert/archive_5-23-2007.html. All of the major players: Adecco, Manpower, Kelly, and Spherion now offer their clients the options of rehiring their retired employees as “consultants”, thus protecting them from certain legal liabilities. Many recareering Boomers are looking for project-based work, giving their employers the advantage of not hiring them as full-time, permanent employees on the payroll.

The bottom line problem is that there is still a widespread skilled labor shortage. Employers in most industries still have a hard time finding qualified workers. Wise employers are already looking for other opportunities for their valued employees within their organizations; thus, Baby Boomers may leave their high stress, high responsibility jobs and still benefit their long-term employers with their service. A recent Spherion Emerging Work Force Study reported that 80 percent of Boomer retirees “really do want to work again in some way”. They want to keep being productive.

I’m no expert on the generations, but this strikes me as the best short-term option to solve the skilled worker shortage.  Bringing Boomers back as consultants for project-based work puts a band-aid on many problems that are sure to appear in the upcoming years.

Comments(1)