December 2008

Safeguarding the Intellectual Capital of Baby Boomers
When transitioning boomers into retirement, loyalty begets loyalty.
by Beverly Kaye and Joyce Cohen

It’s no surprise that the impact of mass retirement will soon be felt in workplaces all over the nation. And that impact will take the form of a skills shortage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides us with ample data to be concerned — by 2010, baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) will be retiring in droves. Every day, 11,000 boomers turn 50. The eldest of this group turned 60 in 2006. This boomer population of more than 76 million then bequeaths their jobs to younger counterparts — the Gen Xers. But because there are only 43 million Gen Xers to fill the boomers’ 152 million shoes, the next decade will bring with it a huge need for added skills to keep productivity optimal.

Pay attention to boomer employees
There are some extremely compelling reasons to give the concerns of boomer employees top billing. There will not be enough younger workers to fill the void of those departing. So rehiring or retaining older workers is a viable solution to short- and long-term staffing dilemmas (experienced workers can troubleshoot, fix, and work with existing equipment, and they understand customer needs). In this way you begin to ensure that your experienced staff transfers its knowledge and skills to younger workers. Additionally, you may be able to avoid possible age-discrimination lawsuits. In 2002 alone, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received more than 20,000 age discrimination cases, many of which came from annoyed boomers.

It is fundamental to note that employees who feel valued tend to remain loyal, and this is the best way to keep your intellectual capital in your own camp. These productive, valued, longtime workers take fewer days off, maintain productivity, and mentor younger workers. Consider also that with 25% of employees caring for older family members, companies who view eldercare as an employee benefit further ensure that same retention, loyalty, and productivity. Finally, recruiting and retraining older workers also enhances their market value.

In short, you will have a clear competitive advantage if you invest time and effort in the care and nurturing of your boomer employees’ cumulative brain power, talent, and skills. This intellectual capital must not be taken for granted. Boomers are, in fact, the “institutional memory” of your organization. If they have no reason to stay loyal to you, they may take their wisdom elsewhere – and along with it, their market tips, trade secrets, and friends.

Consider the case of Katherine, a respected boomer who was a manager in an organization for 18 years. When family illnesses started to usurp her time, she asked her boss for a one-week vacation extension, which was flatly denied. Katherine explained, in vain, her caregiving circumstances.

The illness sparked a family emergency, and Katherine could not help out. Instead, her workload increased. Then she was denied participation at a training program because of time constraints, and was overlooked for a development opportunity. All that was combined with a growing annoyance that she was being discriminated against.

Katherine left the company to take a position with a local competitor. She took not only her own talents, but also those of two other key managers—the three of them had been the lifeblood of the department. This situation could have been handled easily and fairly, but instead became a platform for negative hall talk and the exodus of three respected and crucial contributors.

Myths of workplace ageism
Workplace ageism has lasting negative effects on both individuals and organizations. At age 40, workers are eligible for protection under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967. Yet often, older workers are still denied training, development opportunities, participation in internal programs, and advancement.

Many employers wrongly assume that training older workers yields a poor return-on-investment. Such faulty logic can become a self-fulfilling prophecy because what follows is decreased productivity, withdrawal of proactivity, disengagement, disgruntled workers, and low staff morale. Such illusions perpetuate because of misconceptions about the abilities of older workers, such as beliefs that midlifers are slower with technology, less interested in their work, unwilling to learn or change, fearful, accident-prone, less efficient, less capable, and just “counting days” until retirement.

However, study after study shows that older workers are the antithesis of these stereotypes. In actuality, aging boomers want to mentor others (and many are good at it), do meaningful work, keep current with technology, learn new competencies, and use their lifetime experience. They are generally quite flexible, and willing to work part-time, full-time, temp, and flex-hours. They also have greater patience. Many will remain loyal and committed to their organizations when offered interesting choices as they approach retirement age.

Today’s 50-year-old has more energy, vitality, and drive than the 50-year-old of 1970. As a recent cover of AARP The Magazine stated, today’s 60-year-old is yesterday’s 40-year-old. Career development may seem like an oxymoron at midlife, but it is relevant because of the choice to work longer. Midlifers want to write their own scripts. Managers need to become aware of these changing preferences and offer appropriate age-related benefits to all of the diverse generational groups.

What leaders can do
In short, leaders need to protect their investment. A successful framework for midlife engagement focuses on the aspirations of individuals, and the key is to get to know your employees and what motivates them. Once they know you have their best interests in mind, they can be a wealth of creativity, talent, and motivation.

Determine how the four components below relate to your employees and the role that your leadership might play in sparking a positive difference.

Focused activities. Tap the experienced workforce to:

• Serve as subject matter mentors for new hires or employees with less experience
• Learn about and record diverse generational viewpoints on selected topics
• Write work manuals for older equipment, processes, and business functions
• Form innovative, intergenerational teams using experience and new techniques (such as games) to solve internal problems
• Launch phased retirement, age-related sabbaticals, “rehired retiree” programs

Age-related perquisites
Combat ageism and age-related discrimination through dialogue and focused action. Read up on EEOC lawsuits and discrimination cases, many of which come from peeved midlifers. Understand their concerns, see how your organization compares, and take appropriate action where necessary.

Offer appealing benefits including preretirement planning, health and wellness programs, comprehensive medical coverage, and tips on caring for elders. Provide options to expand networks and build a more dynamic organization, and utilize intergenerational talent on committees, projects, startups, and think tanks. Lastly, understand that midlifers can be more productive, incur fewer healthcare costs, take fewer days off, and build greater staff loyalty if they are valued and treated fairly.

Transfer of knowledge and know-how
First, make sure you’re talking about the same thing. Determine both the “explicit” and “tacit” knowledge of each midlifer. Explicit knowledge is what is learned, can be written down, shared with others, or put into a database. Tacit knowledge is one’s special know-how and way of doing things, personality, insights, intuition, and so on.

Once the concept is understood, create an internal strategy by first identifying knowledge and know-how that needs to remain with the organization, and determining where gaps are and who needs to figure out solutions that work.

Then be sure to outline a broad and deep succession plan of how to maintain that knowledge base, including maintenance of your competitive edge. Create processes needed to maintain the necessary knowledge and key information, and figure out where that information needs to reside (with individuals, on a database, or in a manual).

Legacy development
Begin by seeking information. Ask experienced workers, “What do you want to be known for among your colleagues?” Question them to identify the gaps that exist between how they are currently perceived and how they want to be known.

Follow through by mapping out a personal plan to bring individual legacy components to life; for example, creating a workflow journal, designing a department memory bank, or developing a journal on how to operate a given system. Explore these legacies. They are part of the mark you want to leave with colleagues, the work group, and the organization. Introduce “legacy portfolios” to record and disseminate stories, accomplishments, examples, artifacts, and feedback providers. Channel salient facts to a holding place such as a database or living history network, to raise awareness of talent and accomplishments within.

Building the loyalty you need
The workforce of tomorrow will require not only nanosecond thinking and planning, but also a generational mix of individuals who can create cohesive environments that work efficiently, electronically, and autonomously.

Organizations loyal to experienced workers will find them more than willing to offer their skills and knowledge. Just as the word retirement has outgrown its meaningfulness and should itself be retired, so must the old rules about capturing the ingenuity of the boomer contribution be withdrawn. This may be just what is necessary to keep your competitive edge.

One key question remains: Are you building the loyalty you’ll need for the future?

Beverly Kaye is founder and CEO of Career Systems International, Scranton, Pennsylvania; beverly.kaye@careersystemsintl.com. Joyce Cohen is a life planning specialist and has been a leading figure in career development and life planning for 25 years; info@u-wisdom.com.

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Writing Tip: Use a Forecasting Subject Line
by Stu Tanquist

A small step that offers big results
Forecasting subject lines are a simple, yet powerful tool for Writing to Get Things Done. By stating the business application of your message in the subject line, you will entice your readers to learn more and take action. Consistently follow this simple tip and watch your productivity grow.

Forecast the bottom line of your email in the subject line
Forecasting subject lines tell the reader what you're going to tell them. In other words, they forecast the business application of your email — they tell readers how your email affects them.

Effective subject lines offer more than a general topic description. Assume for a moment that you work in Human Resources. Which of the following is more likely to pique your interest, a topic subject line or a forecasting subject line?

• "Benefits Plan"
• "Recommendation for Enhancing Our Benefits Plan"

People are naturally curious. Consider the previous example. By disclosing the business application of the email, readers will wonder, "What is the recommendation? How could the benefit plan be enhanced?" These questions grab the reader's attention and turn them from passive to active.

Examples of forecasting subject lines
Use the following subject line openers to enhance reader interest:

• Review of ...
• Request for ...
• Proper handling of ...
• Recommended use of ...
• Instructions for ...
• Comments about ...

To further increase productivity, follow these four guidelines for writing forecasting subject lines:

• Repeat key words from paragraph 1
• Compose last — after a draft is completed
• Do not make a sentence or a question
• Strive for no more than 50 characters

A small step that offers big results
When you want your emails to get things done, begin with a forecasting subject line. This simple step will turn your readers from passive to active. It often determines whether your email gets read or not.

Stu Tanquist served on the board of the third-largest ASTD chapter for four years and authored two best selling Info-Lines. He teaches employees how to meet important deadlines and keep projects on target by writing emails that get things done. Stu can be reached at www.BerryWritingGroup.com or (612)799-1686.

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Beth Spencer

President's Letter: Reflecting on 2008
by Beth Spencer

Dear member,

2008 has been a wonderful year for our chapter. We’ve had many successes:

• Fantastic monthly programs
• SIGs meeting a variety of your needs, including the new Health, Safety, and Environment SIG
• Two new committees — Corporate Connections and Marketing
• An amazing regional conference in November
• Marshall Goldsmith’s day of intensive training on coaching
• The Influencer — the Power to Change Anything program early in the year
• Many high-quality job postings on Talent Scout
• Continued financial stability

We’ve faced some challenges as well — declining membership in the face of economic hardship, as well as a slight reduction in attendance at the Regional Conference this year. Not to worry though — we operate with a six-month financial reserve at all times, and we adjust our budget throughout the year to reflect trends we are experiencing so that we remain a strong and thriving chapter. Additionally, we’ve launched an intensive project around Member Value so that we can be sure to continue meeting your needs. Many of you are participating in this project already as a part of focus groups — thank you.

As I reflect on this year, a few things come to mind that I want to share.

First, it has been a deep honor to serve as the president of the ASTD-TCC chapter. We have such a great community of professionals here, and working to guide the organization that meets our professional development and networking needs has been truly rewarding.

Next, the individuals that volunteer to serve on the board of this chapter are amazing, and I am proud to have served with them. Board members are a very special set of chapter volunteers — they give their time and talent without compensation to ensure this chapter not only keeps running, but continually moves to the next level in fulfilling our mission.

Volunteers who serve at all levels, not just the Board, deserve much recognition and praise. I can’t remember the number of times I’ve thanked a volunteer and they’ve said "Oh, it’s nothing." But really, if members didn’t volunteer to greet people at monthly programs, or work on committees, or host a room at the regional conference, the chapter could not function. Volunteers mean everything to the success of ASTD-TCC.

And finally, we would not be here without members, so thank you for choosing to be a part of our chapter. I sincerely believe we have something special here, and I’m delighted that you are a part of it.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity I’ve had to serve as your president. I cherish the experience, and look forward to bringing it back to the chapter as an active member for years to come.

Warmly,
Beth Spencer

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World Café: A Professional Knowledge Networking for Colleagues with Similar Interests
by Waid Johnson

In my 12 years’ experience facilitating groups, I have not found a better model than “World Café” to generate substantive discussions and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to talk to as many people in the room as possible at a meeting or event.

World Café is a conversational process using a simple methodology for hosting questions that matter. There are integrated design principles that have been refined over the years to deliver the greatest benefit for business and social value in a limited amount time. The simple version of these design principals includes:

• Setting the context
• Creating a hospitable space
• Exploring questions that matter
• Encouraging contributions from everyone and connecting different perspectives
• Listening for insights and sharing collective discoveries

In short, it is a structured process for learner-directed learning around questions that affect your organization.

The World Café started in 1995 during a two-day meeting among a global, interdisciplinary group known as the Intellectual Capital Pioneers. Since then, hundreds of groups, including large multinational corporations, educational institutions, government offices, community-based organizations, and small non-profits have used this method to meet¹. This methodology has been instrumental in creating and implementing innovative approaches to education, health care, socially responsible business, sustainable development, and many other critical issues.

This process can work whenever there is need to cover many questions under one convening question. For example, the convening question may be: “How do we deliver the best training to mid-sized companies?” Specific questions under that larger convening question could be:

• How do I deliver the best e-training?
• How do I reach a multicultural group of employees in the same room?
• How can I best measure whether the employees are transferring the content back into the workplace?
• How do I train on a tight budget?

What makes it work?

A good convening question
The facilitator needs to create a compelling, convening question. A convening question sets the topic of discussion for the group by raising a matter that is both important and of practical use to meeting attendants. From the convening question, other sub-questions are solicited from key participants prior to the meeting. This method follows the Appreciative Inquiry approach, formulating and editing questions to focus on the positive, rather than the negative.² An example of a good question would be, “What are the best methods, techniques, and technologies to reach, train, and develop the Y generation?” We would avoid framing the question as, “Who is to blame for the difficulties in teaching the Y generation?” This is based on the theory that our minds tend to follow the energy of the questions put before them.

A “host”
Once you have solicited a question that someone is willing to discuss with their peers, you can help that person learn how to “host” a question. Hosting is quite simple and, unlike having an “expert” speaker, it is based on the assumption that the host does not have the answers.

Essentially, a host just needs to come to the table with an eager attitude for listening; peers at the table will also be dealing with the same question and will have resources and experiences to share. Also, the group may uncover a perspective that shows what is missing in the question, leading to perhaps an even better question to explore.

Connecting the dots
The connections, themes, and essence of the discussions come out at the end of the three rounds when the facilitator leads the larger group in a very brief summary and a process of questioning that helps the group transfer what they have learned back to the work place. Begin with data questions such as what people saw, heard, smelled, etc., then move to questions about thoughts and feelings, then into interpretational questions, and finally into questions about how participants will take new action with this new information.

Basic structure
People sit at tables of no less than three and no more than six people. The room is set up like a café to promote informality. People usually discuss questions for 20 to 90 minutes. Then a signal is given for everyone (except the hosts) to rotate to another table for discussion of another question. For events or meetings of 10 to 50 participants, every table has a different discussion question. In larger groups, there may be as few as three questions or as many as the total number of people divided by three.

Even though there is a convening question that all participants came to explore, each host may address a specific question that may seem disconnected from other questions; the summary at the end and the line of questioning allows the group time to analyze and connect the threads of learning between different questions back to the workplace.

Recent examples where World Café has worked for ASTD-TCC members

The ASTD Corporate Connections Learning Directors Network: The meeting took place in June 2008, where this format was successfully implemented and well received. Attendees (some from Fortune 500 companies) represented people in charge of learning and development in either their companies or business units.

Entrepreneurs SIG: Attendees represented people starting and running their own businesses. Again, the format was well received. Questions included: finding the best legal advice for contracting, figuring out the best bang for their marketing buck, and controlling rapid business growth.

The possibilities of the World Café format are great if you have a group of employees with some great questions.

¹ http://www.theworldcafe.com/history.htm
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appreciative_inquiry

Waid Johnson is President of Paint the Elephant www.painttheelephant.com. He has his Masters in Experiential Education and has provided training, consulting and facilitation for Fortune 500 companies in large and small groups.

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Slow Down to the Speed of Caring
Mindful leadership is at the core of an engaged workforce
by Sue Lindgren

As business owners and leaders, we are moving so fast that we forget to take the time to listen — to really listen. Have you ever sent an email instead of having a face-to-face conversation with someone who works just a few feet away? Have you ever greeted someone by asking, “How are you?” without waiting for the reply or even worse, not hearing how they said their rote “fine” (because how it’s said is often the only opening you have with that person)? Being disengaged (i.e., non-present) is just one bad habit that is robbing us, and everyone we interact with, of our ability to be fully engaged.

Stop for a minute and humor me. Remember a time when a leader, mentor, or boss was 100% focused on you. What was that experience like? How did it make you feel — heard and understood? More important, you probably felt rejuvenated, challenged, and inspired by that person’s confidence in who you are as well as your abilities. Those moments when you engage with another person and it’s as if there is nowhere else to be, nothing else to do, and only the two of you and your conversation matter: this is slowing down to the speed of caring.

That is the magic of Mindful Leadership. Mindful Leadership is about you making an impact with your employees each time you have an exchange. It is asking yourself, “How can I be completely present for this person right here, right now?” It sounds easy, right? Not really, not without practice. And when you practice Mindful Leadership, the rewards are expanding: you will inspire a deeper level of engagement from your people. Imagine a workforce of highly engaged, committed people. What would stop them? Not much!

Mindful Leadership is also about re-defining joy and fulfillment. Many people say they crave balance, but if you are a business leader, you are probably not one of them. You thrive on change and challenge, and the undercurrent of that energy drives your passion. But consider how much more fulfilled you would be if you could learn how to be 100% present where you are. At work, you are completely focused on work; no thoughts from home creeping into your mind because when you’re at home, you’re completely focused on home and your family, and no thoughts of work are necessary. Imagine what that would be like! Mindful Leadership offers you the flexibility and freedom to be fully engaged from the deepest part of who you are, wherever you are. It’s simple, not easy. It is an experience of completion without sacrifice — a key to joy.

How to get started with Mindful Leadership at work:

• Hold meetings only if they are highly productive. Thirty-one percent of employees believe meetings are held out of habit and have no real purpose. In the U.S., almost 60% of employee time is spent in meetings, and counter to their intent, most of those cause distrust and misalignment. When your employees believe their time is being wasted and communication is poor, their trust in the organization and your leadership dwindles. That, in turn, leads to low productivity, absenteeism, and attrition over time.
  
  
• Focus on clear, consistent communication. Show concern for your employees’ time. Reward their loyalty and give them clear information to do their jobs well. Mindful Leadership means helping them envision themselves as important players who directly contribute to your company’s future. You may be clear; are they? Take the time in the beginning to ensure they understand — not that they just heard the words — it needs to make sense to them given how they see their world.
  
  Understanding takes more time than agreement, and it yields abundant rewards in accountability, productivity, teamwork, and morale. Communicate the information they need. Answer and share the following:
  
  
• What are your expectations of them individually and as a group?
• What is the competitive environment?
• What are the financial challenges and results?
• What are their career and development opportunities?
• What are your business challenges and strategies?
  
  
• Be aware of your communication and its impact on others. Seventy percent of the reasons companies lose clients, employees, and customers are due to poor communication. And of all the reasons people were terminated, 75% were because of low emotional intelligence competencies.
  
  
• It is critical for leaders and managers to learn how to sense, understand, and react appropriately to others’ emotions. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, the top three reasons careers are derailed are:
  
  
  • The inability to handle interpersonal problems
  • Poor team leadership in the face of challenge or conflict
  • The lack of capability to adapt, change, or elicit trust

• Practice communicating regarding employees’ career needs and what matters most to them. Fifty percent of employees surveyed said companies fall short in providing employee development initiatives and offer poor or inadequate communications regarding their career and what matters most to them.

When you slow down to the speed of caring, your focus is on listening and being present for the people in your world. Using clear, thoughtful communication, you will improve your power to inspire and fully engage those around you. As a result, everyone within your sphere of influence will gain greater satisfaction in their accomplishments while your bottom line improves.

To learn more about Mindful Leadership, visit www.idealcoaching.com or call 952-746-3190.

Sue Lindgren is the founder and CEO of YESS! – Your Extraordinary Success Strategies, Inc. (www.sayyess.com), and co-founder and Principal of Ideal Coaching (www.idealcoaching.com), a world-class coaching organization offering customized programs and coaching certification. A Certified Management Effectiveness Coach, Lindgren is a best selling author, an internationally-recognized seminar leader, speaker, and entrepreneur who specializes in the domains of communication, leadership, coaching, and organizational effectiveness. She has received numerous honors for her business and charitable activities, and was most recently selected as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 2007 Minnesota District Office and Midwest Regional SBA Champion Award winner for Women in Business Champion of the Year. She was also named one of The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal’s Women to Watch in 2007. Lindgren helped create, and appeared in, a movie called The Answer which debuted in 2007.

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The Uncomfort Zone: Pleasure Principle
by Robert Wilson

Swing and miss. “Strike Two,” cried the umpire. I threw one more pitch right in at the player’s wrists. He swung hard, but the ball just dribbled right back to the pitcher’s mound. I picked it up and gently tossed it to the first baseman for the out.

As the batter turned back toward the dugout, his team captain stepped out and screamed, “Darrell, you’ve got to get over your fear of this guy!”

The words poured like sweet honey into my ears.

It was the third time I had gotten him out that night, including two strike outs. I had completely shut down the best hitter on the best team in the league. It was the most fun I’d had in weeks.

No, I wasn’t throwing heat. Quite the contrary, I’m talking about slow-pitch recreational softball for the over-thirty crowd.

But, I was totally into it. Once a week I stood on the mound under the lights with everyone’s eyes on me. Despite the butterflies in my stomach, I can’t image anything more exciting (okay, except for maybe skydiving!).

And, I was totally motivated! I spent several hours each week tossing balls in my driveway. I set up an area with a pitcher’s rubber and home plate laid out to the exact dimensions of those on the playing field. After I mastered the two standard softball pitches, I developed two of my own. The best was a softball version of the knuckleball. A spin-less ball that baffled batters the first time they saw it, but even when they did hit it, they could never get any distance on it.

I have friends who are obsessed with golf; others with tennis. None of them has a clue what drives me to play softball. But, then again, I don’t get why they play golf or tennis.

What motivates me to play softball or, for that matter, my friends to play golf and tennis? That’s easy ... it’s fun! It is all about having fun ... pleasure is very motivating. We all seek some pleasure in life. It’s what keeps us going. And, for those pursuits that we enjoy, we are never too tired; we always seem to find time and energy for them. It comes to us easily. If only we could find that kind of relaxed energy for work.

What is it that you can’t wait to do every day? Is it a hobby? A sport? Sigmund Freud described that driving creative spirit as the Pleasure Principle. But he also spoke of a contrasting principle that existed to put the brakes on our desire, called the Death Instinct. Thankfully, that theory has been disproved; however, it’s still very true that “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Not only dull. Where happiness is absent — health is often absent, too.

I look forward to work every day. I have clearly followed the advice of my father who encouraged me to find a job I enjoyed so that I would never “work” a day in my life. In her book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood, Marsha Sinetar tells us to do the same thing. But, what should you do if you’re not happy in your work? Make changes! That may be easier said than done. So, if you can’t change your job, then change your work environment.

It’s a well-known fact that employees who enjoy their work are more productive. This is so true that people frequently turn down better paying jobs to stay with one that is fun. There are many ways to make your workplace more fun. Authors Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes in their book offer us 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work. Every organization is different, so it will be up to you to discover what you can do to make your place of business more fun. But, if you want to motivate your staff, I always say, “Give them something to laugh about!”

Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is a motivational speaker and humorist. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert's programs please visit www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com.

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• Come Play with Us!
  Generations at Play...and at Work
  Sign up for this exciting reception on December 9, 2008 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Dorsey Ewald Conference Center. This program opens the door to “generation education,” while you can play games from the ’50s until now. Experience the interactive fun and networking, and let us show you how much we appreciate you. Interested?
  
  
• Take advantage of the Season Pass by
  January 19, 2009 and save up to $80
  You can sign up by downloading a PDF of the enrollment form here. For only $120, you get automatic registration for monthly meetings from January through June, and discounts on memberships and ASTD-U sessions, and much more! For details, click here.

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From November 1-30, 2008

New Members

Renewing Members

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What would you like to read?
If you have ideas for articles or information that could be shared in Spectrum, feel free to contact the 2008 editor, Sarah Brammer, at smbrammer@embarqmail.com.

Upcoming Spectrum submission deadlines and topics: