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Engaging the Kept-On Workforce

Unbound Ideas — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:41:36 +0000

On May 20th, Beverly Kaye joined Howard Morgan to present “Engaging the Kept-On Workforce.” We believe the session was informative, practical and timely.

The topic of this webinar was engagement and retention, an aspect of leadership and management which, as Bev reinforced in her presentation, is even more critical today because of our tough economic times.

After all, workers who are being neglected by their managers because of the crisis at hand, or who are stressed out by traumatic organizational changes, or who are feeling guilty about surviving the latest cutbacks and layoffs are often passive and even resentful. This can mean a double blow to organizations in need of strong discretionary efforts right now.

As Bev put it, workers who are engaged look for what they can give. Workers who are disengaged look for what they can get.

What’s more, talent is always at a premium, and neglected talent can quickly find a new home. And even workers who appear satisfied with less engagement in a prolonged crisis are actually honing their resumes, their resentments and their network, and are getting ready for the upturn to seek greener pastures.

Bev cited a number of research studies in support of her observations, and she pointed out the parallels with past downturns to make her case.

Largely, Bev put the onus on leaders, line-managers and Human Resources for making the critical effort to engage with employees on an on-going basis. She described the strategies that leaders and managers can use to better connect with employees and earn those discretionary contributions, and indeed their commitment, enthusiasm and innovations. But she closed with the responsibility that employees must assume in helping to bridge the gaps they see in their organizations. At times like these, it’s up to all of us to lead in ways that make a difference.

While you await your copy of Bev’s book, we recommend this article. Next week, we’ll send you a copy of the Values Instrument Bev mentioned in her presentation.

On behalf of Beverly Kaye and Howard Morgan, we thank you again for joining us, and look forward to the next occasion.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas

Action items:
We encourage all attendees to host a repeat listen of Bev’s presentation in their organizations during the next two weeks. Your site registration fee included the opportunity to watch Bev’s presentation on demand as many times as you like over the next two weeks. Use the sign in information provided to you by our technology partner, KRM, to access the streaming recording. If you have any problems gaining access, please do not hesitate to be in touch.

We also encourage you to submit questions and engage in dialogue with your peers on this page. To do so, register and then post your questions below. Many of you had questions we ran out of time to answer, so we are going to use this as an ongoing resource of the captured learning of the session. As you post questions or comments, we’ll then ask Bev for her reaction, input, and answers. So check back to see what she and others have to say. Trading ideas, resources, and strategies virtually can be as beneficial as networking in person at a conference, and more time and cost efficient.

How do leaders respond to job-market pessimism?

Unbound Ideas — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:07:01 +0000

As economic conditions continue to deteriorate, workplace leaders not only face having to deliver bad news at times, but they also face the consequences of the increased anxiety caused by today’s market conditions. A recent Gallop survey indicated that a majority of workers are not worried about being laid off, which is a good thing. But a closer look at the data indicates a very high level of stress is being carried by workers everywhere.

Economic climate places additional stresses on workplace leaders

Even if the “majority” are not worried about being laid off in the near future, having nearly 1/3rd of respondents answering affirmatively to the first four of these five survey questions has to be pressing on workplace morale and productivity. How leaders respond to this anxiety and steer the nervous energy into productive outcomes, while not hiding the threats or economic realities, will go a long way in determining which firms survive and prosper.

And in dissent

Unbound Ideas — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:33:00 +0000

The publishing world continues to collapse. Ads down, reviews folding, imprints getting swallowed, and editors being spit out. I talked to an agent friend about all this yesterday, and mentioned that I thought a subscription book-buying model, much like emusic offers music consumers, or some kind of digital shopping option will be the savior of the industry.

But he thinks e-readers suck, and no one will ever ever want to use one to read a book.

I disagree. I think it’s coming. I think people in publishing – like record executives before them – may perhaps be the last ones to see the light. But that issue – is the technology ready to really convert the masses, and will it ever be – remains a tremendous sticking point.

Here’s a dissenting view about the quality of e-readers from a technophile source. As one comment notes, and I paraphrase: “I just want a book with real paper to carry around. The same book all the time, but different content depending on what I’m reading.”

In other words, the book experience needs to be virtually replicated if e-readers are ever going to replace books.

I buy that.

Kindle Kindle

Unbound Ideas — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Lots more on the Kindle out there, with the launch of Kindle 2. Some reports marvel about how sleek and neat the new version is. Others mention how Kindle / Amazon is getting the kind of ga ga reviews for its launch formerly reserved only for Apple. (I wonder if car companies look at these launches and think… I remember when….)

But there are also some naysayers doing a little backlashing.

There always are… those open code types are never happy.

Interestingly, even with its launch, Amazon is releasing its e-books to other platforms, compatible with its own competitors. It’s as though Apple launched the iPod and immediately opened iTunes to other MP3 players – which definitely didn’t happen. I think Amazon’s strategy is smart business, however. Unlike music, the market for e-readers remains small. If this new way of reading is to become successful, the habits have to be adopted in a mass-market way. With only 500,000 Kindles out there, that leaves a couple hundred million Americans alone yet to be converted. In other words, there’s room enough for options, and Amazon is wise to compete on the quality of its own product. This isn’t just benevolent marketing, however. Amazon also gets a cut from those e-books whether they’re downloaded to Kindles, iPhones, or that chip implanted in your fancy sunglasses.

Finally, Thomas Friedman, writing from India, his home away from home, mentions the possibility that Silicon Valley could one day go the way of Detroit. Does that mean their football team will suck, too? I forgot… maybe the Raiders and the Niners are leading indicators.

Google and Amazon meet iPhone and G2

Unbound Ideas — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:07:00 +0000

I think it’s starting to happen. Google is making public domain books available for the iPhone and G2. And Amazon is making its Kindle-ready collection for other readers, too.

Pretty soon we’ll be aiming our phones at airport bookstores as we’re conveyer-belting to the gate, and pulling in the latest titles directly to our hand-held devices.

In Japan, they already use their mobile phones to pay bills, as transit passes, and to swap name cards.

And you thought you couldn’t live without your cell phone now….

And furthermore

Unbound Ideas — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:33:00 +0000

More evidence of the transition. The Washington Post’s Book World is dead. The culprit? Publishers who didn’t pony up for ads. Somehow, seems to me that book buyers buy other things, too…

e-ink

Unbound Ideas — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:17:00 +0000

I missed this when Esquire published it in the fall… E-ink. It’s the same technology that goes into the kindle, but somehow, seeing the words change on a “static” piece of paper is mind-boggling. More evidence that words are going digital fast.

Bad for books or just BN?

Unbound Ideas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Back when I was a barista, and before that was a common word, a customer once offered an explanation for the crowds in the coffee shop. “In bad times, people are more willing to pay for small luxuries.”

Barnes & Noble thinks it’s going to be a less than merry Christmas season. But maybe books are exactly what people want when everything else is on hold?

The O in Obama

Unbound Ideas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:53:00 +0000

In the last ten years, no one has done more for book sales than Oprah. I believe a direct connection could be made between her book club and the proliferation of book clubs around the country – including my own (very male) book club, which otherwise has no discernible similarities to anything that can be seen on daytime TV, unless you stray into cable.

But American Presidents have a way of stimulating book demand, too. An obscure techno-thriller writer named Tom Clancy got a rocket boost when President Ronald Reagan described The Hunt for Red October as “unputdown-able.” I remember when the first President Bush mentioned The Guns of August as a book he thought long and hard about before the first Gulf War – though I doubt there was a surge of readers towards Barbara Tuchman’s deserving history. President Clinton was a reader but for the life of me I can’t remember any particular books he recommended – though I do remember an unsettling anecdote in which he was purported to have quoted a page from Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury by memory. President George W. Bush once mentioned he’d been reading Camus’ The Stranger – another scary moment.

So maybe my theory is buncombe and there’s no relationship between presidential reading material and book sales, except for Reagan. But there has certainly been a wave of interest in certain books because of Obama. I’ve heard so many mentions of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about Lincoln, currently #12 in Amazon sales rankings, that “team of rivals” seems to have become the phrase of the year – or right up there with “credit crisis.” Now there’s this article wondering which book about FDR Obama meant and what that will do its sales.

Of course, Obama is a best-selling author of his own – and he faced off against another best-selling author in Senator McCain. But I’ll be waiting to see what leadership book, literary novel, or thriller he gets caught with next. It will likely be a sign of the times. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be the first president to boost science fiction sales.

Has the time come for e-books?

Unbound Ideas — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:19:00 +0000

What could possibly make books sexy again? I buy a lot more music digitally than I ever bought on CD. The reason is simple. It’s incredibly easy to buy on-line. I can browse efficiently and download in seconds, and services like emusic help direct me toward interesting choices, some of which I NEVER would have been exposed to otherwise.

People who talk with nostalgia about independent book stores say the same thing. It’s the special shelf of new offerings that they like, or the salespeople who have real knowledge.

I like browsing for books in stores. But blogs, digital reviews, and Amazon have largely taken over and enhanced my book buying decisions.

How many more books would people buy if they could download them more easily? I have so much music on my ipod I can’t even listen to it all. That doesn’t stop me from downloading more.

Until recently, we’ve been waiting for a good digital reader. I’m dying to see a Kindle in real life, but have heard great things about its quality and ease of use. Just today I came across Stanza which is a software platform that works right off your iPhone. According to a press release, 40,000 books are downloaded daily.

That sounds like the beginning of a new era in e-books to me. Now, if I only had an iPhone…

How Saturn Vue’s Book Clubs

Unbound Ideas — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:48:00 +0000

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, but apparently book clubs are from Saturn.

At Unbound Books, we’re pro-book club. We think they’re great ways for people with a common interest in books to read something on a schedule and reward themselves for the accomplishment with good discussion, good company, and some social fun. Not everyone likes or even reads every book. But that’s okay. You get to share ideas and opinions and learn something new.

I don’t know what to make of this. On the surface, it’s a series of webisodes about a group of four professional women who sneak out of their obnoxiously boring and pretentious book club for a series of exciting road trips in a hybrid Saturn Vue. Is it anti-book club? Is it anti-book? Is it just anti-pretension? I can’t really figure it out. The women may not like their book club but they do read books. We see them flipping pages as they drive. Their road trips are tangentially related – the first episode features a surfing outing with a half-naked stud instructor because that’s how you connect with the spiritualism of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. (Of course, you have to swim in your own clothes or underwear because you’re so spontaneous you didn’t pack a bathing suit.)

To add to the confusion, the website promotes book clubs “in your area” and has opinions and reading lists for the characters. And it all somehow ties in to the experience of driving a Saturn.

The most bewildering and even offensive aspect of the whole production, however, is the banality. It’s professionally acted and shot but the script seems stilted and contrived. The tone is not quite sincere but not quite sarcastic, kind of Desperate Housewives lite. It inspires you to wonder what the market research department discovered. Someone must have said: networks are the way to reach people; book clubs are a kind of network that our customers use often; books promise exotic destinations and lifestyles but discussing them at someone’s living room is kind of boring compared to driving a Saturn… Let’s hit the road!

I’m completely hooked. I promise to keep watching and let you know where this great rolling book club adventure ends up.

Road Reading

Unbound Ideas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:27:00 +0000

What kind of books do you like to read while traveling? I have friends who carry a number of books representing different genres – something light, something business or economic, something classic. Others like the (guilty) pleasure of a fast-paced mystery or thriller. Then there are those who read largely for personal inspiration or to get a handle on the challenges at work.

An author from one of those categories, Michael Crichton, passed away today. Many of his books dealt with business themes, including Disclosure (sexual discrimination in the office reversed), Rising Sun (the menace of world-wide Japanese economic dominance – remember that!?), State of Fear (questioning the threat of global warming). But basically, his formula was a little bit of science or knowledge, and an ample sprinkling of suspense when things go wrong. RIP.

Meanwhile, the king of guilty pleasures, Stephen King, has released his latest collection of short fiction, some of those stories (inspired by his mixed feelings for exercise machines) actually written in hotel rooms while traveling. Think of that the next time you zone out on CNN.

Election emotions

Unbound Ideas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:16:00 +0000

Many books will be written about the significance of the election. But this clip of Jesse Jackson speak volumes.

No, that’s not Steven Colbert

Unbound Ideas — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:22:00 +0000

It’s Peter Tertzakian on The Daily Show. Peter was interviewed by Jon Stewart about the energy crisis. The reason: Peter stated that America had an addiction to cheap oil in his book, A Thousand Barrels a Second, then President Bush used the phrase in his State of the Union Address.

Stewart’s interview was interesting and thoughtful, as they generally are. The attention brought to Peter’s book was impressive. It climbed the Amazon sales ranks noticeably in the next few weeks, reaching the top ten a few times. Luckily for Peter, the Daily Show episode got replayed a number of times because Stewart went on hiatus to prepare for the Oscars.

Books are a printed medium, but as Oprah and Stewart demonstrate, there’s nothing like a little PR from the TV. It’s interesting that publishers have yet to find a really successful means of publicizing books in the digital age. Until they do, Oprah and Stewart are the publishing equivalent of winning the lottery.

Road Warriors Getting Squeezed

Unbound Ideas — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:14:00 +0000

I like to travel. But I hate traveling by plane. You know the complaints – the security, the second bag charge, the lack of space on the plane, the bogus delays and cancellations. My favorite video on overseas flights is the one that gives in-seat exercise tips for happy fliers. The smiling passenger bends over and touches her toes, then lifts her arms and does little swirly motions. As I watch, I’m so tightly squeezed into my seat I not only can’t touch my toes, I’m forced to take shallow breaths. I’m not sure if the video is a cruel joke or a sociopsychology experiment.

I don’t know how you road warriors do it. Some of the authors we work with are on the road half the year. Our 50TopCoaches co-host, Marshall Goldsmith makes it sound easy. Go light on the clothes, only use carry-on bags, eat before you fly. But for most business travelers I think things are a bit more grim.

Apparently, it’s only going to get worse with the economic downturn and rise in energy prices. According to the NY Times, “scrutiny on travel has increased dramatically.” Meaning fewer business class flights, fewer luxury hotels, more meetings squeezed into each trip, ad nauseam.

New “travel management technology” is supposed to help alleviate some of the pressure. But somehow, I doubt it. Road warriors seem pretty efficient already. Instead, I think new communication technology will be the answer. Instead of traveling to conferences or meetings, we’ll participate virtually. We’re not going to see the end of all business travel, but I believe a serious curbing is on the horizon. CISCO Systems, for example, has a goal of reducing all business travel by 20 percent, and they’re developing the communication technology to make that plausible. Not only will it alleviate the squeeze on road warriors but it will help reduce energy consumption, too.

Peter Tertzakian talks about how energy prices are changing our work lives in his webinar on October 29. He’s got compelling things to say about how we’re going to get ourselves out of the squeeze we’re in right now. It’s been rough lately in corporate America. Analysts like Peter help explain what’s going on and where we’re headed.