Monthly Archives: November 2011

Whose going to motivate YOU during the holidays?

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As the end of 2011 dwindles we’ve come to the Holidays at full speed. Where did this year go? (Okay, I always thought that only old people said those kinds of things, now I realize I’m that person).

For some odd reason at this time of year I think I need to just put on the breaks and enjoy a couple of months of doing nothing during the holidays because I owe myself for working so hard during the year. In fact, from the week of Thanksgiving until Jan 2nd, I find it very challenging to stay motivated. I can’t help but wonder if my mother had something to do with this type of thinking (We gotta blame somebody).

Growing up, my mom would always go a little nuts around the holidays. For instance, on our birthday (I’m the baby of five) we knew it was a given: She would always let us stay home from school, we got to pick out our favorite meal for that evening (mine was bread and somehow, that hasn’t changed) and she made us our favorite desert. And even tho’ money was tight she always made a big deal of our birthdays and Christmas.

Somehow today, even though I’m older, I still feel some kind of entitlement on holidays. I have to motivate myself.

Having been allowed the privilege of working from my home office for the past several years I can honestly say I have never really had a problem motivating myself, staying on track, making the sell, and getting done what needs to be done. That is a requirement when you work remotely and requires much discipline. There are days when you have constant interruptions and can’t get anything done and there are days when you get everything done by noon. No day is really ever the same as the day before.

As far as our workplaces go, here are some great ways to keep our employees motivated during the holidays. But what if you are a lone ranger entrepreneur? Who’s going to motivate you? YOU are! Come on, “You can do it.”

So, as things slow down for me this time of year and since I’m departing into “new waters” in regard to business I have decided to work these items during this down-time:

  • Brushing up on my skills - I have decided to go head-first into learning more about social media and online marketing and watch as many videos, participate in as many webinars, and read as much as I can to hone my skills in this area.
  • Revamping and updating my online sites and profiles. I intend to build a website, re-vamp my blog, and all my other platforms.
  • Work on personal projects. I am in the final stages of editing my dad’s book and I hope to finish that this week so I can get it off to the publishers. I also have two books that I’ve written over the past few years that are just sitting and I want to get them out to be published. It’s a perfect time to tie up those loose ends.
  • Spend some much needed quiet time figuring out my next direction. We all could use a little self-reflection on where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s good for the soul.

Don’t get me wrong – I am no scrooge! I love the holidays. I love spending time with my family. I’m hoping to bring my daughter here for a two-week visit.  But I realize the importance of re-grouping and preparing for a new year!

Photo Credit: Mauivents

PSU, Generations and Culture

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Today’s guest post is from one of my online friends in the HR Vendor world, Chris Capozzi. Chris and I have been connected online for awhile now, engaging and so forth, and had the chance to meet IRL at this year’s Illiniois SHRM State Conference. Take it away….

Are there lessons we can learn from Penn State?

Is there a generational consideration that should be given to Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky and others involved in the allegedly horrific crime committed on the campus of Penn State University?  Did the perspective on life that is shown from their generation lead to the actions of the alleged cover up in this case?  Could we learn more on what this teaches us about similar situations?

The answer is yes.  The generational perspective in this case comes from a generation known as the tradionalist group.  This group is from the WWII era and Coach Paterno, born in 1926 falls right in the middle of this group while Coach Sandusky born in 1944 is on the edge of the baby boomers. Let’s examine the key characteristics of this generation and see if this sheds some light on the relationship between these two individuals.

The tradionalist generation are loyal to the employer and expect loyalty in return; possess strong interpersonal skills, enjoy flextime so they can work their own schedule; believe promotion, recognition and raises should come from job tenure. They build a legacy – expect a lifetime career with one employer or at least in one field and have a sense of personal responsibility to work.

Coach Paterno was the leader of this program for over forty years and developed a culture of loyalty from those involved. The corporate culture within the system was solely directed by his life experience.  He has built a legacy but regardless of all the good will that he has built over the years his moral judgment will be forever in question.  While we may never know the truth and circumstances in this tragedy, what we do know is if the culture were different within this team all of the cases that occurred after 2002 could have been prevented.

What would this legacy look like in the corporate world?

The leader that has been in place for decades setting a culture of “this is the way we have always done it” and expects everyone to fall in line with the culture the leader has built as his legacy.  In this company if a scandal was brewing we would see the leader take care of it and expect that he can handle the situation in the way he knows best.  The leader would know that if such a scandal was public his reputation and legacy would be destroyed.

Can we learn from this?  Sure we can. Has this happened before in the corporate world and a different direction taken?  Yes it has.  Think back to 1982, potassium cyanide was placed in Extra-Strength Tylenol throughout Chicago. Seven individuals died from this form of terrorism. Johnson & Johnson (the makers of the pain reliever) could have simply taken Tylenol off the counters in the Chicago area. Instead, the company immediately recalled Tylenol from the stores nationwide. Consumers, advertisers and other businesses praised J&J for its swift actions. Today the company is one of the most well-liked companies by consumers (Bickel, 2011).

Will Penn State University be able to recover from this scandal?  Yes, if they put safe guards in place to ensure this can never happen again.  The school must work to create a safe environment for all staff, students, and visitors. PSU will need to carefully create a standard of operation procedure in reporting and handling such situations in the future.

Future leaders of the institution will need to have a greater understanding on the impact that child safety and the handling of this situation will have on the future enrollment of students and families supporting youth camps on campus.  A policy is not enough.  A culture change is needed and respect for people should be at the foundation if they indeed want to return happy to the valley.

About the Author:

Chris Capozzi is the Director of Business Development for Legacy Business Cultures whose workshops, train-the-trainer programs, and employee climate surveys have touched thousands of organizations, millions of employees, managers and leaders across the globe. Legacy Business Cultures and its partners have been the experts in helping shape organization culture Worldwide for over 14 years. Connect with Chris on twitter @chriscapozzi.

Veterans Day: Taking care of our own

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This seems appropriate for today, Veterans Day – November 11, 2011. There is buzz going around that I’m loving in regard to helping our Veterans find jobs.

Here’s what are government is doing in this endeavor:

I came across several posts this week on this subject that I thought were outstanding. One was over at Tim Sackett’s blog called “HR Pros – You Can’t Handle The Truth” and then on Kevin Grossman’s site called “Hiring Military Veteran’s – It’s a Pair of Ducks.”

I am so passionate about our Veterans and here’s why. Of course my Father and my brother were both in the Navy. No, that’s not why. The reason is I see our government sending them off to do our dirty work for us and when they return they can’t find jobs, they wind up homeless and discarded as disposable citizens. Or at least, that is how is has been.

Thank God, we are finally starting to see policy put in place from the head (being Washington) and trickling down into our corporations and businesses. Here is an example of an event taking place to help Veterans find jobs:

November 14, 2011 - Veterans Virtual Career Fair  

Fast Track Your Military Experience to a Civilian Career. At the Veterans Virtual Career fair you will be able to communicate and engage with exhibitors and attendees in a collaborative virtual environment.

Thanks to all of you who have laid your lives down that we might lay our heads down at night in peaceful sleep. Thank you for all you have given up, that we might remain in freedom. We.Appreciate.You.

Fraternizing at work

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Fraternization is described in Wikipedia as “‘turning people into brothers‘- conducting social relations with people who are actually unrelated and/or of a different class (especially those with whom one works) as though they were siblings, family members, personal friends or lovers.”

In and of itself, fraternizing is a good thing. However, bad things can and do happen. Let’s explore -

After my divorce, I met this great guy who happened to have moved from North Carolina to Florida. He and I became “involved” and I was looking to start a fresh life out of the small town in Alabama in which I had lived most my life, so I took a job in the city in which he moved, packed my shit, and moved in with him. It all seemed fine, at the time.

I began my new job working in what appeared to be a great company, with great people and was off to a great start in building my new life, with this great guy. However, when he moved to Florida, he didn’t have a job but was in the process of looking for work. He found a temporary position in sales (you know, when you’re in sales you can pretty much find something). That position didn’t pan out though, and then one day it happened – probably around the dinner table.

“Do you think you could get me on where you work?”….. And to my demise, I agreed to go to the office manager and talk with her about hiring him for an inside sales position. The next thing I knew, we were commuting together, going to lunch together and then things got worse.

Due to the nature of my position (Executive Assistant to the President) I spoke with vendors on a daily basis (mostly men). Mr. X would walk into my office at different times of the day and ask, “Who was that you were talking to?”…. And of course this would make for a longggggggg drive home while playing twenty-questions. It was the WORST!

Somehow we had both managed to befriend the office manager and she was now all-up-in-our-business and quickly became our counselor (Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth from thinking about this). The next thing I knew, she  and her boyfriend were double-dating with me and Mr. X.

This all turned out for the worst – as you can imagine. I finally decided that it was time to break up with Mr. X and Ms. Office Manager and I left the company and moved back to Alabama. So much for my new-found life.

My advice? Making friends at work to a point can be beneficial. Taking it outside and enjoying rounds of tequilla shots with working pals, well – that can be good too. But working with significant others in a place other than your own business, can turn into a frickin’ nightmare.

I’m all for having friends at work and creating a support of healthy emotional support in the workplace but we must set boundaries.  And a word of advice – keep your love life business in the confines of your dwelling (home).

More on this subject at a later date! In the meantime, enjoy this piece on Office Taboo.

Your employees are stealing you blind!

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One of the things that blew my mind when working in the security industry was the fact that the majority of thefts were due to employee perps (aka – perpetrators). That’s right! I know you’re saying to yourself, “Nah-ah”…..but I say to you “Yah-ha.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that 75 percent of all employees steal at least once, and that half of these steal repeatedly. The Chamber also reports that one of every three business failures is the direct result of employee theft. According to their report – employee dishonesty costs American business in excess of $50 billion annually.  And don’t think it can’t happen in your company.

Here are a few lies we tell ourselves about employee theft:

Lie #1:  We are careful in the selection of our employees!

That may be true, but the majority of employees who steal are ‘first time offenders.’

Lie #2: We have our own security department!

Last year, a western regional bank suffered a number of “ski-mask” robberies. When the robber was finally caught, he turned out to be the bank’s Director of Security! How about them apples?

Lie #3: Our computer systems have the latest anti-hacking software.

That’s cool, but more than 65 percent of IT crime is traceable to insiders.

Lie #4: Our cameras and undercover agents catch most shoplifters.

Uh, did you know that according to the National Retail Security Survey, 48 percent of merchandise losses are attributable to employees.

Lie #5: Our procedures are foolproof.

Famous.Last.Words. Many of the largest frauds occur in companies who say this.  No matter how effective the internal control and accounting system, it is not unbeatable.

Lie #6: We would not want to insinuate and accuse our staff who have been with us for many years.

This sounds thoughtful and considerate, but a little naive – don’t you think?

Lie #7: Those are just isolated incidents.

Most large losses are caused by long-term, ongoing schemes that are cleverly hidden for years.

Lie #8: We have never suffered a theft by an employee.

That may be true, but the fact that you may never have had a fire or a vehicle involved in an accident, does not prevent you taking out property insurance. And maybe, you just don’t know it yet.!

U.S. businesses lose as much as $110M dollars a day due to employee-related crimes. And oh yeah,  most employee theft goes undetected.

So the next time you think your employee looks like they may have put on a several pounds OVER LUNCH they just may have your whole meat department all up under that skirt so they can feed those youngans at home. (By the way this is a true story from a Cracker Barrel owner in Alabama where I had installed security cameras to catch the perp who was stealing all the meat from the freezer).

Here’s more info on the subject and what to do.