January 26th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
It’s time for a little stereotyping. I’ve noticed something about myself, so I am going to use this observation to describe a whole generation. (A perfect sample size for unbiased and objective results: one).
In the spirit of transparency, here’s how I came to my conclusion:
Hypothesis: Gen Y lacks the motivation and determination to solve problems, because of our dependence on the Internet. (Nice way to say we’re lazy)
By no means do I think we are less intelligent or suffer from some genetic flaw that makes us less capable of solving a problem. I think we’re a little lazy. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. We’re lazy.
Gen Ys: don’t worry! It’s not your fault. I blame Google and the iPhone. Think about it: how many times have you been faced with a question or a problem that you didn’t know the answer to? I’m sure more times than you can possibly count. My generation doesn’t do what people for millenia have done before us, namely stopping at this point to try and figure it out for ourselves. Before a Gen X could even have started down that path, we’ve got iPhones in hand, Google query half-written. All of the questions that can’t be answered with a quick search get dumped in the “it wasn’t really that important” category.
Conclusion: As a result of having grown up with the internet, where answers are found within seconds, our generation has become overly dependent on the Internet to do our thinking for us.
Descartes said “I think, therefore I am.” If Descartes was around today he would have said “I Google, therefore I am.”
Tags: descartes, gen y, internet dependency, lazy, stereotyping
January 25th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
In my last post I talked about how leaders lead by example. Here’s a great story of leadership from Geoffery Webb’s post, Take a Stand.
By December 23rd, 1944 entire US Divisions were still retreating as the German Army continued to advance through the Ardennes Forest in a last-ditch effort to win World War II. On that frigid morning 65 years ago, a sergeant in a retreating tank destroyer spotted a bedraggled paratrooper chipping a foxhole out of the frozen ground.
The unshaven soldier looked up as the vehicle approached and yelled, “Are you looking for a safe place?”
“Yeah,” answered the tanker.
“Well, buddy, just pull your tank behind me,” he replied, “I’m the 82nd Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going.”
Check out Geoffrey’s blog, Leading on Purpose for more great stories on leadership.
Tags: Leadership, Leading by example
January 25th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Recently we’ve shared some tips on how to become an effective leader. An important aspect of leadership is knowing how not to act. Here are some great tips from Are You Committing Leadership Malpractice?:
Overloading the star performer. Stars make it look easy. So easy, that it’s tempting to keep on throwing balls in their direction, assuming that they will push back when they have too many in the air. Problem is, many times, overachievers don’t know their limits.
It’s natural to want your best people on your most important projects. But you have to remember that everyone has their limits. Overload your stars and they’ll burn out. Being an effective manager is knowing which projects are crucial. Prioritizing your projects will help you assign you star performers and ensure you don’t overload them.
Refusing to address performance issues. It’s a fact that some people are better at their jobs than others. If one of your people is struggling, something is wrong. And, if you know it, so do they.
Talk to your people! Sit down with them for fifteen minutes and ask them how they’re doing. “How are you as an individual (not an employee) doing?” Then highlight some projects where they did a great job, and some areas they can improve.
As we saw in Beth Steinberg’s recent series, Greatness Through Culture, this will help develop stronger relationships between managers and direct reports, an important step in creating a culture of accountability and responsibility.
It’s business, it always comes down to the bottom line. But remember, firing and then hiring someone new is expensive. Helping your people succeed, helps your business.
Always remember:
A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.” – John Q Adams
Tags: accountability, beth steinberg, lead by example, leader, Leadership, leads, responsibility
January 22nd, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
What do all those generic performance review phrases really mean? Probably one of life’s more important questions to answer. Courtesy of Blog Tactic, HR language translated into plain old Queen’s English:
HR: Active Socially translate English: Drinks A lot
HR: Independent Worker translate English: Nobody knows what he/she does
HR: Has Leadership Qualities translate English: Is tall or has louder voice
Read the rest of the translations in What yearly performance reviews words really mean
Tags: HR, Performance Reviews, Queen's English
January 21st, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Come join us for a discussion on the role of social media in the enterprise, focused on the transformative nature of technology. Is social media a savior or a sinner? Will it radically reshape the organization of the future? Is it more signal or noise?
Where?
Rypple HQ
20 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 1900
When?
Feb 4th, 2010
2pm – 4pm
There’s only space for 25 people so hurry up and sign up!
January 20th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Earlier I wrote about being a bold leader. Here’s a collection of 5 great articles and posts on leadership:
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women.
Groucho Marx
Tags: leader, Leaders, Leadership, Leadership Lessons
January 20th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Boldness may not always have genius, power and magic in it — but passivity never does. – Diane Buckner
Leadership is making a decision and acting. If you don’t act, you’ll never succeed. As a leader you must inspire, guide, and act boldly.
Here’s some tips from CIO on how to be a bold leader.
Fight for your vision
You’ve done your research, and you have a great business model for you idea. Fight for it! Your drive will rub off on the the people you work with making them stronger too.
Pick your battles
The best fighters know when to hang back and wait for the opportunity to strike. It’s the same in business or life. As a leader, not everything will go your way. Accept the things that you can live with or without, fight for what you believe is crucial to success. Fight when you can win.
Read the rest of 8 tips for Bold Leadership
What leadership tips do you have?
Tags: being a leader, bold, boldness, CIO, Diane Buckner, Leaders, Leadership
January 19th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Conflict between a manager and an employee will affect the bottom line. According to How to silence 7 common employees gripes, an article on HR Specialist:
A Gallup poll says organizations are 50% less productive—and 44% less profitable— when serious boss-employee conflicts exist.
Managers, here’s a book for you: 30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers. It outlines common employee complaints about management, and offers solutions.
Here’s a complaint and a solution we weren’t surprised by:
“My performance reviews are useless.”
- Provide continuous feedback. Nothing in the review should come as a surprise.
- Involve employees in setting goals, and adapt a development mind-set.
- Focus on specific employee behaviors (and cite documented examples). Don’t criticize the person’s character traits.
- Conduct reviews on time.
As a manager, what complaints do you face most often? What do you complain about most often?
Tags: execution, HR Specialist, management, performance, Performance Reviews, Rypple
January 18th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
Regular one on one conversations between manager and employee are crucial. These conversations align both employee and manager helping to ensure that project goals are achieved and everyone knows where to focus their efforts.
Not only are regular one on one conversations important for the success of the business, they are crucial for ensuring job satisfaction. Regular one on one conversations eliminate that ‘lost’ feeling and make sure an employees efforts are focused and appreciated. Think of them as mini coaching sessions to help an employee understand their weaknesses, concerns, and focus their efforts.
Andy Houghton’s BusinessWeek article, Performance Reviews: It’s about ‘How’, Not ‘Why’, offers some excellent tips for managers on how to conduct productive conversations and increase an employees performance.
Through such conversations, the manager gets an understanding of what lies behind the employee’s performance, what energizes the employee, and how the employee can be best used
Do you meet with your manager regularly to discuss performance? What techniques do you use to ensure your employees are focused and motivated?
Tags: Andy Houghton, BusinessWeek, Coaching, employee, Feedback, job satisfaction, one on one conversations, Performance Management
January 11th, 2010
Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing
I got the chance to be part of something amazing. Chris Ferdinandi, of Renegade HR, asked me to contribute to his ebook, Do Amazing Things. I was honored to be part of a project that include many leading thinkers from the HR community.
A little about Do Amazing Things:
Do Amazing Things is a collection of short, actionable ideas – things you can do this year to become a better HR professional.
The book is a great resources because it contains a diverse set of actionable ideas from leading HR thinkers. It’s licensed under creative commons so you can share it with anyone and everyone you think will benefit from it.
Enough from me, download the book! (pdf)
The Authors:
Tags: actionable ideas, chris ferdinandi, Do Amazing Things, ebook, HR, HR professionals, Renegade HR, Rypple
Recent Comments