From the Wall Street Journal: Standout Letters to Cover Your Bases
“It’s something job seekers often wonder: Do you really need to submit a cover letter with your résumé?”

Wally’s Comment: Some hiring managers simply don’t read cover letters. So why put effort into your cover letter? Simple. You don’t know if you’re contacting one of the non-readers or a hiring manager who thinks cover letters are important. This article gives you advice on what to do to make your cover letter a potential competitive advantage.

From HR Bartender: Performance Metrics: Beyond the Numbers
“Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets managed.”  It’s very true.  Tracking the numbers is essential to running your business.  But it’s also important to not just calculate numbers. You need to have a good understanding of what they mean.”

Wally’s Comment: With spreadsheets and calculators, anyone can generate performance numbers. But which are the important ones? Why?

From Dorothy Dalton: Changing sectors or function? You need to walk the talk!
“50 % of my coaching clients aspire to move out of their existing sectors,   some perhaps that have been hard hit by the recession (automotive, logistics, manufacturing, financial services) and into hot predicted growth areas   for 2010 such as Clean Tech, IT renewable energy, healthcare, personal development education and re-cycling.

Wally’s Comment: Dorothy doesn’t say it, but some candidates seem to think that hiring managers are psychic. They expect the manager to look at a resume that lists only experience as a keypunch operator and see the potential for a marketing vice president’s position. OK, so maybe I exaggerated a little. But, if you want to change the kind of work you do or the industry you do it in, you’re going to have to bear the burden of communication.

From Cube Rules: How to build a broad business network
“Research consistently shows that your business network is the best way to find a job. Then, there is the best of the best: getting a recommendation from an employee in your network that is inside your target company. This makes sense: a person already in the organization knows the potential candidate and will put their reputation on the line saying this person (you!) will do great in the job. This means your best opportunity to find a job is to have a business network where people are in as many different targeted companies as possible. But how can you start to build that kind of network? Let’s check out some different tactics to get you there.”

Wally’s Comment: I selected this article because it’s about building a broad business network. The idea is not to have the most friends, twitter followers, or contacts. It is to have the most contacts that can help your career.

From Katheryn Rivas writing at All Things Workplace: Ten Online Resources for Job Seekers
“The Internet can be a very useful tool when it comes to finding work. However, you may have to search hard and long for quality websites, since, as with most things online, there’s a lot of junk. The following are ten online resources with job search engines and other websites to help you find work fast.”

Wally’s Comment: This is about the perfect length for a resource list. It covers a number of areas and offers a limited number of recommendations in each.

Title: Transitioning to Management: Leading Professional and Expert-Based Groups

Competencies: leadership, career development

Who benefits: specialists in or transitioning to leadership roles, bosses and coaches of specialists

Consultant Usage: executive and career development coaches

What’s it about? Today’s posting is a follow-up to my colleague/boss Ken Nowack’s wonderfully insightful post of a month ago entitled “Avoiding the Mistake of Moving Specialists to Leadership Roles”.  You can scroll down this site if you wish to reread it.  (Disclaimer: As I am want-to-do on occasions, this is my latest obvious ploy of sucking up to management.)

He makes a great case for not putting square pegs in round holes.  But it is going to happen.  And as chance would have it, I just came across a seminar that deals head on with the issue and is available this year in the US, UK, and Europe.

The one-day program is entitled “Transitioning to Management: Leading Professional and Expert-Based Groups”. The program is specifically aimed at specialists who are struggling with the move into a leadership role.

The program is presented by the Institute for Management Studies (IMS), which I have personally found to be excellent on all programs I attended.  The faculty is uniformly outstanding.

The presenter is Peter Krembs who is a Fellow, University of Minnesota Executive Development Programs at the Carlson School of Management, and is also on the faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. He specializes in the unique issues found in professional and expert-based cultures, including science, technology, financial services and health care.

If you are yourself a specialist under pressure with a leadership role, or your boss is, or you are coach who frequently deals with this specific issue, I encourage you to find a way to attend this workshop.  This program is not open to external consultants.  Not all internals will qualify, but you can “negotiate” one time exceptions.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: specialist-as-leader, career ladders, career development, ken nowack, institute for management studies, IMS, peter krembs, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

Jack’s retired now, after a long, successful career at a Fortune 200 company. That’s where he developed a reputation for hiring great people.

I chased him for months to get him to sit down talk about what he looked for when he was hiring. Jack was reluctant. It seemed like bragging to him and that’s something Jack hates. Besides, there were rounds of golf to be played and new countries to be visited.

A couple of weeks ago, Jack slowed down long enough to talk with me. He said that he and other managers looked for “all the usual things.”

But he found three things that he thought were the identifying marks of someone who would do well at his company. I call them “Jack’s Big Three.”

Jack looked for people who had dealt with failure or disappointment. He believes that you can’t have a career without several setbacks. What matters is whether you figure out what went wrong and what to do differently in the future.

Think about times in your life when things haven’t turned out the way you wanted. How did you deal with it? What did you learn? Can you describe those lessons and how they made you a better person and candidate?

Jack looked for people who would enjoy the work of their first job with the company. He reasoned that if you didn’t enjoy the work, you probably wouldn’t be passionate about it and put in the effort to do it well.

Think about the jobs you’ve applied for. Do you know what you’ll be doing every day?

Jack looked for people shared the values of the people in his company. He said that when someone has different values than the organization, it’s like they’re playing the game using a different rulebook.

Think about the companies where you want to work. Do you know what their values are? How do they compare with your own?

What struck me about Jack’s Big Three is that they weren’t about basic qualifications, what he called “all the usual things.” They’re about fit and ethics and work ethic, the things that drive success in a particular job or company.

“Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” 

Aaron Levenstein

Another addition of leadership and talent management “facts” from all over the world. Some intuitive and some not….what do you think?

1. A recent 2009 survey by Accenture on work life balance found an interesting surprise–68% of the men in the survey said they wanted more availability with their families compared to only 46% of women.  More men also said they would prefer to take the opportunity to work from home (91% for men and 75% for women).  The top two priorities for both men and women about work were salary (79%) and having work/life balance (64%).

2. 22% of Fortune 500 companies offered executive physicals to their CEOs in 2008 (Towers Perrin).  Executive physicals cost from slightly under $1,000 to well over $5,000 and can include luxury spas and hotels to CT scans of the heart or entire body.

3. It has been estimated that 90% of all Fortune 500 firms use some form of 360 feedback assessments for training, coaching, performance evaluation or succession planning. A recent survey from the 3D Group indicated that 22% of organizations are using “off the shelf” 360 feedback or multi-rater feedback assessments for developmental needs.

4. A 2009 Manpower talent shortage survey of nearly 39,000 employers across 33 countries found those with the most difficult time filling jobs were in Romania (62%), Taiwan (56%), Peru (56%), Japan (55%), Australia (40%), Costa Rica (48%), and Poland (48%).  Countries finding it least difficult to find talent included Ireland (5%), Spain (8%), UK (11%), China (15%), Czech Republic (17%) and India (20%). 

5. A 2009 study by the Kauffman Foundation from over 5,000 companies found women-owned businesses launched new startups with about 70% of the capital compared to ones owned by men.  Women-owned firms generated less revenue and profits, had fewer employees and were more likely to be home based compared to male-owned firms. 

6.  In a new report called “The Forgotten Middle Worker” by the Workforce Alliance, middle-skill occupations which require more than a high school education but less than a 4-year college degree make up about 50% of all employment in the nation.  Although most middle-skill workers make up the majority of all state’s workforce, most education and training are reserved for those younger than 25 years of age.

7. Social Networking I: In a recent 2009 survey in the use of social networking by Deloitte, only 17% of the executives surveyed said their companies have programs in place to monitor social networking site usage by workers to minimize any risks.  However, 74% of all employees surveyed reported that these sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) can be a risk since they can easily damage the company’s reputation.  61% of employees reported that even if their company monitored their posts it would not change their behavior online.

8. A survey in 2009 by Watson Wyatt found that “engagement” (loyalty) of top performing talent has dropped 25% over the last 12-months due to increased lack of job security, cuts in benefits and a slow down in promotions. 

9.  A Monster.com survey in May 2009 found that 79% of all job holders said they had increased their search for new jobs since the recession began last year.  Along these lines, Spherion Staffing Solutions asked 2,500 workers and 300 employers in October 2009 to name the top “drivers of retention” and compared those to their 2005 and 2007 surveys.  They found that the top drivers emphasized benefits and compensation with just 27% reporting that they were “very satisfied” with their pay and only 37% with their benefits.

10. Social Networking II: An April2009 survey by Opinion Research Corporation (n=500 executives) indicated that 31% of CEOs are on Facebook and 14% have a Twitter profile.  This survey also found that 11% have a corporate-sponsored Facebook group, 23% use social networking for recruiting, 29% use it as a tool to build brand awareness and 23% use it as part of their internal communications to employees.

Back to research some new talent development facts….Be well….

Technorati Tags: talent management, succession planning, leadership development, succession planning, micromanage, performance review, performance appraisal, overweight, obesity, wellness, coaching, executive coaching, executive development, surveys, kenneth nowack, Envisia, Envisia Learning, leadership development, ken nowack, Nowack

From MSNBC: Revamping your job-search strategy
“If you’re not landing interviews, it’s time to try something new”

Wally’s Comment: The test of a strategy is in the results. If your strategy isn’t getting results you need to try something else.

From the Wall Street Journal: Social Networks Work
“When you’re making a career change, social-media networking is better than traditional networking for several reasons.”

Wally’s Comment: Alexandra Levit doesn’t make any wild promises here. So if you’re looking for a magic trick, this is not the article for you. She reviews the ways in which social-media networking is more effective than traditional networking with suggestions about how you can leverage those differences to your advantage.

From the New York Times: Writing a Resume That Shouts ‘Hire Me’
“IT’S tempting to think of a résumé as a low-maintenance aspect of your job search. Just list where you worked, what you did and where you went to school, attach that to each application and press the button. In fact, though, you have considerable flexibility in how you structure your résumé. The decisions you make about what it says and how it looks can affect whether you get the job you really want, or get a job at all.”

Wally’s Comment: Your resume is a marketing document that you use to land the right job. This article covers strategy, structure, and tips to help your resume help you to a better future.

From Forbes: How To Give Great Interview
“Show that you have the skills and would fit in, but above all make it clear how much you want the job.”

Wally’s Comment: If you think of your search strategy as marketing and your resume as a marketing document, then this article will fit right it. It treats the interview as something like a sales call with tips for prep and follow-up as well as for how you should act during the interview itself.

From Terry Starbucker: The Secret To A Lifetime Of Productivity – And Five Ways To Find It
“The secret to a lifetime of productivity is simply this:  Making the best selection of WHAT to do at any given moment.”

Wally’s Comment: This post is about easy ways to make a good decision about what you should do right now. Terry’s five tips are general enough to work in most situations and specific enough to be really helpful.

 Title: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Competencies: leadership, adaptability, strategic problem solving, change management, self-development

Who benefits: leaders, managers, any individual confronting “change issues”

Consultant Usage: must read for organizational consultants

What’s it about? This book by the Heath bros. – Dan and Chip – of Made To Stick fame, came out a few days ago and thanks to my Kindle I am already well into this fun read.  More than a year ago my friend Jeanne Hartley wrote me about one of my postings and said, more or less, “But why don’t you like this book?”  I have tried to keep that question in mind no matter whether I like or dislike anything I read.

Personal themes emerge for me.  I like books with stories that have a point.  I like clear, unambiguous writing – not dumbed down, just well written.  I like to feel like I am having fun reading a book or article.

Switch exceeds my expectations in these areas.  It is a joy to read if you are interested in the topic.  And the topic is “Change”.  Avalanches of books have already been written on the topic; but occasionally someone comes out with a fresh perspective.  And that’s what the Heath brothers have done.

For me there are three themes running through the book.  The first is the fear of change.  I found their ideas about what it is and how to deal with it to be fresh, refreshing, and reinsuring.

The second theme is about how to determine if something is broke and then fixing it (something that has been a part of the cultural identity of the United States) and identifying something that is beyond broke and needs a change (something that is not in the cultural nature of the US).  If you think this is easy, just think “Detroit – car industry”.

The brothers Heath have a cute phrase to describe the tendency to fix something that is beyond repair: TBU – true, but useless.  True-but-useless is a clever form of denial.

Rather, they say in the third theme, we need to cultivate a mentality of discovering what is working and how do we do more of it.  They encourage us to “clone success”.  Sounds simple – hard in practice.

Well I am encouraging you to have a look-see if you have any interest.  If you don’t have time for the whole book, you can read excerpts at the Fast Company website.  One caveat, the excerpts read rather choppy; book flows much better.

I will end here.  I want to get back to the book.  Happy reading.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: dan heath, chip heath, heath brothers, switch, made to stick, change, fear of change, TBU, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

The woman whose body we buried didn’t have one of those lives that are significant in the view of most of the world. She was a wife and mother and grandmother and great-grandmother and great-great grandmother. She had a lot of friends. She had family who loved her.

She got the nickname “Picnic” because she would put together a picnic at the drop of a hint. Her picnic basket is the treasured possession of a grand-daughter.

“Picnic” was a living example of what psychologists mean when they talk about “social support.” She had friends and family that mattered. She was an active member of her church. And those relationships made her life rich.

There is a bottom line here. Being connected is important. Study after study comes up with findings that people who have a rich social networks and relationships love longer, happier, and more productive lives.

On blogs like this one we spend a lot of time on career success. Sometimes we discuss “work/life balance.” But developing your social support doesn’t get much attention. To remedy that, here are some suggestions.

Make time for social connections. If you’re busy with your career, it’s easy to do just a little more work instead of spending time with your spouse or friends. Make the time.

Do nice things for others. Kindnesses develop your social support net while they help you feel good about yourself.

Tell people that they matter. Tell them you appreciate them, admire them, and love them.

Do those things consistently. That’s how you develop a “Picnic” kind of life, one that’s rich in people and relationships.

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

Albert Einstein

How trusting are you?

Here is a quick quiz to test your level of trust:

1. I usually count the number of items in another person’s cart when I stand in the 10 item or less express lane at the grocery market.

True or False

2. I usually remove my automatic garage opener from my car when I valet park.

True or False

3. I always double check my bill at restaurants when it is given to me.

True or False

4. I always cut up and discard old credit cards after they have expired.

True or False

5. When colleagues at meetings are text messaging, I often think they are writing about me.

True and False

You probably want a scoring key right? In fact, you probably trusted me to provide you with some interpretation of how trusting you really are based on these questions. OK, your scores range from gulible to paranoid (if you also heard voices while taking this trust quiz please don’t contact me).

Trust involves numerous aspects of our daily lives, from work interactions, business dealings and interpersonal interactions with family and friends. Exactly why we trust some in certain instances but not others is really not understood very well. Surveys of trustworthiness show enormous differences across countries, from 3% in Brazil to 65% in Scandanavian countries such as Norway.

We trust leaders who create a compelling vision of a better future. We also tend to trust cult leaders, sociopaths and executives who seem to ultimately lack a moral compass. Why do some leaders play better with others? Could there be a biological basis for trust?

In some absolutely fascinating research headed by Dr. Paul Zak who is founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University these questions are being asked — and answered¹.

Zak has designed a series of studies to explore why some people are indeed more collaborative, cooperative and trusting of others. In his studies trust and trustworthiness are measured using a sequential anonymous “trust game” with monetary payoffs between participants. In his first set of studies Zak demonstrated that participants who were most interpersonal trusting had a significantly higher level of a pro-social peptide in their blood called oxytocin (the same hormone associated with the “tend and befriend” stress effect I wrote about in an earlier blog).

This is a wild finding but nothing compared to his second round of studies where he provided extraneous oxytocin to one group using nasal spray of the peptide (and verified through blood tests that it was indeed elevated) and a placebo to another group and had them repeat the “trust game.” In this study, the group with elevated oxytocin levels demonstrated signifcantly higher levels of collaboration compared to the placebo controls².

In the study, the participants were paired up, and one person in each pair was randomly assigned to play the role of an “investor” and the other to play the role of a “trustee.” Each participant received 12 tokens, valued at 32 cents each and redeemable at the end of the study.

The investor in each pair decided how many tokens to give to the trustee. Both participants, sitting face to face, knew that the experimenters would quadruple that investment. The trustee then determined whether to keep the entire, enhanced pot or give some portion of the proceeds —- whatever amount seemed fair back to the investor.

Among the investors who had inhaled oxytocin, about 50% gave all their tokens to trustees, and most of the rest contributed a majority of their tokens. In contrast, only 20% of investors who had inhaled a placebo spray gave up all their tokens. Oxytocin influenced only investors. Trustees returned comparable amounts of money after inhaling either spray.

We are collaborating with Paul in a new study exploring trust and resilience using a specific scale from our StressScan assessment called Cognitive Hardiness. This scale measures leaaders who perceive change as a challenge rather than a threat, feel a sense of control over the outcomes of their actions, have high self-esteem and are socially oriented. I will let you know in a future post what we learn.

Fo now, if I could find a way to create a cologne that emotionally incompetent leaders would smell, organizations might not only run with a lot less conflict but we might even enjoy working with those competent jerks a whole lot more….Be well….

Technorati Tags: pro-social peptide, trust, oxytocin, neurobiology of trust, immune system, health promotion programs, employee wellness, stress management, psychoneuroimmunology, collaboration, team work, neuroeconomics, altruism, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Zak,P., Kurzban, R., and Matzner, W. (2005). HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR. 48, 522 – 527
2. Zak,P., Kurzban, R., and Matzner, W. (2004). The Neurobiology of Trust. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1032: 224-227 (2004). doi: 10.1196/annals.1314.025 Copyright © 2004 by the New York Academy of Sciences 7

From Career Diva: Wussy networkers don’t get the job
“From what I hear from job seekers lately, networking is the primary way they end up getting jobs they enjoy, but you all still spend most of your time posting your resumes on job boards. Time for some networking tough love.”

Wally’s Comment: Yep. That networking thing is necessary, even if you don’t like it.

From Anita Bruzzese: How to Hang on to a New Job
“You may think that once you land a job you don’t have to sell yourself to others anymore, that your days of trying to establish connections with strangers is over and you can finally just settle down to doing a job and earning a paycheck. Wrong, wrong and wrong.”

Wally’s Comment: More bad news if you hate networking. You’re not done with it once you land that job. Guess you better learn to do it well.

From HR Bartender: Something to Say: When and How to Say It
“We should all develop opinions and thoughts about ourselves and our businesses in order to help achieve good things.  But that prompts the question, when and how do you present what you have to say?”

Wally’s Comment: Everybody tells you to speak up and say your piece so that you impress the boss and live on in memory when promotion time comes. But no one tells you how to decide when the time is right and how to get that communication job done. Well, almost no one. That’s what this post is about.

From the Wall Street Journal: Get Yourself Noticed
“When you’re reinventing yourself, establishing yourself as an expert achieves two purposes. It promotes your visibility in the new field, and it forces you to become more knowledgeable about current trends and more skilled in relevant areas. Most people who seek to become experts do so out of a desire to help others and foster new business relationships. Once others begin to trust their advice, sales for their products and services usually increase.”

Wally’s Comment: If you follow HR Bartender’s advice, you’ll get the best mileage if your comments help establish your expertise. This post is about building both your expertise and your reputation for it.

From Forbes: Why Job-Seeking Is Just Like Dating
“A veteran career counselor says a 15-year-old dating manual offers surprisingly good advice for the job hunt.”

Wally’s Comment: Most of the posts and articles I’ve seen comparing dating and job-hunting are entertaining. This one is, too. It’s also helpful.

Title: Linkage Training Workshops

Competency: coaching

Who benefits: internal and external coaches, managers and supervisors as coaches

Consultant Usage: sharpen you coaching skills

What’s it about? I like Linkage Training programs.  I am not shooting for originality today, so I will just paste in what they write about themselves.  I will only add that in my experience it is a very accurate description:

“Every Linkage training program includes a set of proven and practical tools to increase your confidence level in specific skill-sets. You’ll learn from Linkage’s team of top-notch consultants on the latest techniques and approaches. And, to drive home the learning, all the programs offer a highly interactive forum with role playing, simulations, case studies, and action planning based on real-life business challenges.”

I know that a lot of you readers are in the coaching biz, either formally or informally, so I thought I would acquaint you with some of their coaching workshops.

Coaching for Business Leaders: “This program is specifically designed to train business directors and front-line managers on how to coach their direct reports and teams to high levels of performance to achieve critical business objectives.”  This program is coming soon to Chicago and Boston.

Coaching Leaders Certification Program: “During this intensive program, participants will learn the four stages of Linkage’s proven Coaching Leaders Model™. Throughout the program,coaches will learn how to use key tools to expedite and sustain the coaching process, along with exploring information-gathering techniques and assessments. A detailed coaching simulation on day three allows participants to apply their learnings to a live situation—all while gaining feedback from the Master Coach and peers.”

Advanced Coaching Skills Lab: “This program, led by Linkage’s Master Coaches, focuses on in-depth exercises to further improve critical coaching competencies. Throughout the program,advanced-level coaches engage in discussions on enabling your coachees to execute on their action plan and make the behavioral changes to get results. This program also includes a detailed coaching simulation that enables participants to gain feedback from the Master Coach and peers.”

In addition, there are some specialty and elearning programs that may be of interest to a more limited audience.  Check out the Title link above for more information.

Catch you later. 

Technorati Tags: coaching, executive coaching, coaching skills, advanced coaching skills, linkage, linkageinc, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley