Preface:
Welcome to Sunday Koa Kākou. Sunday is the day I answer questions you send to me (or I take the day off! Want different? Be a Squeaky Wheel). If you have a question connected to management and leadership, leave a comment here, or email me.
“There really aren’t too many excuses for why someone doesn’t have an email address or a professional online presence in these days... I’ve been wondering though... for someone who is tech savvy, why is it that an immediate reaction to finding out about someone else’s less tech savviness is looked down upon? Is it the generation? ignorance? rudeness?”
I thought it was a good question, one we could bring to Koa Kākou today for a bit more exploration and discussion, for it’s a question we could probably apply to a lot of other situations where someone knows more about something than another person, not just technology as I am doing today.
“Is it the generation? ignorance? rudeness?”
The generation? – personally, I don’t think so.
Ignorance? Rudeness? – could be a part of it, but likely not the whole story.
There is certainly a judgment of some kind involved; let’s call it a levying of opinion about the situation at hand. However I think that opinion and the emotions connected to it depend a lot on varying circumstances… The person already ‘in the know’ may not be looking down on someone as much as they are surprised, disappointed in them, or just impatient.
They could even be alarmed, concerned at what a friend is missing out on, when in their view ignorance is NOT bliss. Our assumptions get challenged, (“But I thought you already knew this!”) and we can’t help but wonder how else our assumptions in relating to that person and interacting with them might be wrong: We get thrown off balance because that person is no longer as predictable to us; they are no longer a comfortably ‘known entity.’
The Tech Effect: Competency and Communication
In the case of tech and being web-savvy, I do feel it is a big assumption in business today that prospective candidates have a basic handle on technology. If they don’t, we wonder why.
Tech competencies can be taught fairly easily and quickly as on-the-job training, and that is not the concern: We wonder why the learning hasn’t already happened, and we wonder how else a candidate may be ‘learning challenged,’ or otherwise disinterested in innovation, something critical to the long-term prospects of every business.
Taking this even further, I coach business owners that once people are on staff, the managers and leaders of that business must step into the role of teacher and coach as new advances in technology promise to potentially affect both work performance and lifestyle comfort. Work affects life and life affects work. For instance, I’d bet that every business owner would LOVE it if every single one of their employees had a personal email address and gave their employers permission to use it to communicate with them.
Advances in technology have had a pervasive effect on our society, and while we can still opt out personally, for many of us opting out is not a viable option within the workplace. The ‘tech effect’ looms largest in these two critical areas:
1. Job Competency, i.e. best-possible productivity practices.
The number of software programs which now exist to automate, speed up or otherwise improve work performance is amazing. Do they always have that effect? No, and part of job competency has become the learner’s experience with weighing the pros and cons of specific technological application, figuring out whether the old way or new way is still best.
2. Communication.
Consider email and company intranets as just two of the many examples which exist today, or the way that Bluetooth receivers are so commonly issued with uniforms throughout the food service industry for the front-of-house staff to better communicate with the kitchen. Now think about all the external partnerships and customers of your workplace, and what it takes to meet their expectations whether or not a business is tech-savvy internally.
So here is my advice, and in light of my recent articles, this is not likely to surprise you.
Get on board the Tech Train and enjoy the ride!
Going back to this for a moment; “Is it the generation? ignorance? rudeness?”
Let’s say no!
--- The generation?
No, and don’t allow that to be an excuse or justification, or your expectation of others. Technology consistently proves there are no age barriers, just different learning and adoption choices within every generation.
---Ignorance?
We live in a day and age where ignorance is hard for people to accept any more than other excuses or justifications are, and they do wonder and look deeper for other root causes. They question if there is really something else going on with you, just as I’d mentioned how a hiring manager can wonder about a learning challenge or attitude of disinterest. People tend to be more understanding about a learning curve with job competencies, but they are much less understanding about someone choosing not to communicate with them in ways that they prefer or feel are easier.
---Rudeness?
Let’s hope not, and let’s all do our part with eliminating any rudeness or intolerance. Let’s offer to teach, help, and coach others, making it easier for them. Let’s talk about those joys of learning and the exciting and inspiring prospects of creativity and innovation. As Mother Teresa said so well in the context of eliminating poverty but very apt here too,
“If each of us would only sweep our own doorstep,
the whole world would be clean.”
So, we play full out: Let’s talk story. You now have three Alaka‘i ways to do so:
Comment right here on the blog —I encourage you to introduce yourself so we can get to know you.
Twitter with us @sayalakai —mahalo nui loa to those who have already jumped in there!
Email me your questions for Sunday Koa Kākou —it’s no surprise to me that Sundays now capture some of the best postings here, for you make this happen.
Preface:
Welcome to Sunday Koa Kākou. Sunday is the day I answer questions you send to me (or I take the day off! Want different? Be a Squeaky Wheel). If you have a question connected to management and leadership, leave a comment here, or email me.
From the Say “Alaka‘i” mailbox:
Rosa, in telling us about Twitter, you wrote: “On the other side of the spectrum, there are scores of businesses still resisting giving internet access to their staff much less taking the plunge with social media, and caution is wise.” So it sounds like you are in favor of businesses opening up internet access to people while they’re at work; true or false?
True, especially for those who are using the computer right now as a workplace tool. I think that working at a computer keyboard without internet access in 2009 is very short-sighted. It’s like expecting a chef to prepare food with sauce spoons but no knives, or expecting a librarian to work in a place that censorship is actively practiced in stocking the bookshelves.
And that is primarily why I am in favor of internet access at work: The internet is a portal which gives staff access to the biggest ‘library’ of information on the planet. Close that portal, and you handicap your chances with approaching the full capacity of your business enterprise.
That clickable mouse is a library card
Google is now a verb. I have not used the white or yellow pages of a phone book for as long as my coaching business has been in existence (SLC is in it’s 6th year now). Consider how our kids will do their homework, and how we all gather so much of the information we’re looking for when we are on our computers at home. Why not bring that common sense to work, opening up access to the thought leaders in your field across our entire planet?
While experiencing the web’s digital, virtual library, the person with computer mouse in hand learns exactly how to access it for real-time need, facilitating the improved quality of actions taken to then immediately implement that knowledge within day-to-day workplace context. We have far, far surpassed the days of only using computers for word processing, or as a fancy spreadsheet calculator, or for the mac-kids and artsy types saving digital pictures and doing graphics layouts.
If a business owner fears the time sinks possible with web-surfing (the biggest objection by far – time frittered away reading stuff unrelated to work), I highly suspect they have an assortment of different challenges requiring their immediate attention. They need to get to the root cause of the problem, namely that their staff is not interested enough in the job at hand: Work bores them. On the other hand, when work is engaging, fulfilling and meaningful, people are actively preoccupied with doing it: Their day flies by, and they find they only have time to web surf at home, for they’ve bought in, and genuinely believe the work they do is more important.
There are new cautions with Social Media
That said, I did not expect Twitter —or even reading this blog— to be on your list of sites to visit while at work: I fully expect this to be extra-curricular reading for managers and leaders who are taking on the tertiary learning of Managing with Aloha (the ‘rootstock mission’ of my Say “Alaka‘i” writing) and social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious and other web apps) as part of their own self-improvement self-coaching docket.
However, they could be brought to work, and quite successfully! It depends on if they are also to become acceptable, endorsed workplace tools which are put into staff hands for a specified purpose, one in alignment with the way you learn and communicate —both inside and out of your company.
There are new cautions with social media in particular. One was linked in my first mention of our Twitter experiment, and again in the question above: Online branding can get muddled, and users must be aware that they can be viewed as business ambassadors when they make public statements on the web. There is also the fact that the internet is a free copy machine, and “delete” clearing one computer screen of a few pixels does not equate to delete throughout the world wide web.
What does it take for a manager to be digitally savvy in 2009?
The computer is like any other tool in the workplace: Arm staff for optimal effectiveness —as opposed to turning them loose while ‘armed and dangerous.’
When people come on board, you do not assume they already know how to use all the tools you will soon place in their hands, right? You teach your people how to use workplace tools in the best possible way.
Imagine a landscaper signing out a hedge-trimmer for the first time. Even if they have used one before, you don’t hesitate to thoroughly explain that “this is the way we prefer you handle this while at work,” and you demonstrate, sharing tips and tricks unique to the landscaper’s craft; you point out safety features, and explain how to keep the trimmer in good working order. You will then ask, “Do you have any questions for me? What are your thoughts at this point on where you’ll use this on the seaside project today? How you will get this to work best for you there? When do you anticipate needing the wood chipper for those bigger branches?”
A computer hooked up to the internet is no different. It is a powerful, work-enhancing tool. To be a digitally savvy manager and leader, I offer you these 5 suggestions:
Shed any doubt and the fear. Shift from conventional thought to innovational creativity – just think of the possibilities!
Learn what technological tools are available to you to better execute the actions that will make your strategic initiatives realistic, and easier – don’t add complexity.
Select digital tools based on how you can best capitalize on their functionality internally (within your organizational culture) and externally, i.e. integrating with your industry.
Enroll your staff in your vision, mission, and strategic initiatives using the user-friendly language of digital tools – get your vocabulary to be current, and aligned.
Be the user evangelist. Learn to use the tools you have chosen consistently well – optimize them. Keep them freshened with new updates, and keep them integrated into your communication channels. Be sure to share success stories.
I know there is an incredible amount of both learning and productivity challenges in those five things. However I also know that new learning and meeting new productivity challenges is always worth the effort.
If you are a digitally savvy manager, or learning to be one, please share your tips with us! We learn to be Alaka‘i kākou, together.
Preface:
Welcome to Sunday Koa Kākou. Sunday is the day I answer questions you send to me (or I take the day off! Want different? Be a Squeaky Wheel). If you have a question connected to management and leadership, leave a comment here, or email me.
From the Say “Alaka‘i” mailbox:
Went to a luncheon meeting for my industry’s local association chapter, and the guest speaker kept referring to “Hawai‘i’s triple bottom line” but without ever defining it for us. Turned out to be one of those situations where nobody wanted to ask the question and appear to be the clueless one. Do you know what he was referring to?
I am not familiar with the gentleman you identified for me as your luncheon speaker, and thus cannot speak into his intended context, however I can respond based on my own knowledge of the phrase. Perhaps that will trigger some thoughts for you.
Let me first say, I wouldn’t have thought the question a “clueless one.” You can chalk up seeking a ‘triple bottom line’ for a business’s profit and loss statement in that listing of business-speak which consistently cries out for greater clarity and definition, for many different industries (and places, like Hawai‘i) have seized the concept for their own adaptation.
A strong three-legged stool
A triple bottom line is thought to be “strong, sturdy, stable, steadfast and stalwart” in the time-tested design brilliance of the simple three-legged stool. When each of the stool’s three legs are of equal proportion and they are equidistant in their footing the stool doesn’t wobble, and it will bear your weight well; it will be comfortable for you to sit on, and it will likely be strong enough for you to stand on with confidence.
However take one of those legs away (break it, or weaken it somehow), and the stool tips over and falls. Easy to see what a great metaphor this is for the design of a business plan that should best result in a triple bottom line which gives a company long-term success, keeping it standing upright in optimal usefulness. Yet the metaphor is also conducive to much creative interpretation; in keeping ‘triple bottom line’ as a financial term, which three measurements do you choose as the legs you confidently stand on?
The stool topper of sustainability
And what about that topper which holds those three legs together? Is there a common ground they must meet at, giving you the most comfortable seat?
One ‘stool topper’ which is probably most common is that of sustainability, where the stool doesn’t only keep you in good standing, it gives you the greatest possibility for forward momentum. Sustainability is thought of as the common sense which underpins all business plans —at least those not knowingly built for short-term flipping.
For instance, in the book To Be Of Use, The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work, by Dave Smith, best known as cofounder of Smith & Hawken, the triple bottom line as “advocated by many progressive organizations today, [is defined as] environmental sustainability and social responsibility [which both] can be incorporated with a company’s financial bottom line [profitability].”
However I find that value-based legs can get confused with bottom-line measurement; it is not always clear that the topper is sustainability, purely financial, operational or something else. As Dave Smith also points out about his definition, “It’s true that this is often simply ‘greenwashing’ the real way a business operates, paying only lip service to ideals, or trying to fend off bad publicity with ‘spin.’” Thus he talks about this version of the triple bottom line connected to his virtue of ‘prudence’ asking us to “reclaim the soul of business.”
And that connection to reclaiming the soul of business is where Hawai‘i seems to chime in most often, where sustainability often becomes a question of stewardship (of our communities, and our island-based living), and our Sense of Place.
Hawai‘i’s Sense of Place connection: Host, Guest, Place
The triple bottom line usually discussed in Hawai‘i is one I first learned of from the late Dr. George Kanahele, where the three legs are host, guest (or visitor), and place. It has been defined in the effort to reconcile our value of Ho‘okipa, and the hospitality we extend to those visiting our islands when we fear they have overcome us, swallowing us up in their larger numbers. Imagine these three legs with “what we value most” as the stool topper, where “we” may refer to a specific business entity, or to Hawai‘i as a whole —optimally, it’s a win-win for both of us.
“Despite the good feelings Hawaiians may have about their capacity for hospitality and generosity —the positive sides of the popular stereotype— there is no question that in matters of dealing with tourists Hawaiians have divided opinions, for many good reasons.
Some would argue that the conditions today are so totally different that the ‘old customs’ simply do not apply and that what we can offer at best is mostly ‘pseudo hospitality,’ because either we have to sell it or buy it. Genuine hospitality can take place only when no exchange of money is involved, or, more precisely, when something is given without any thought of getting something back, except the pleasure of giving and purest aloha.”
—Dr. George Kanahele, in Kū Kanaka, Stand Tall
In our Sense of Place, it would be sad for us, a horrible feeling of defeat, to accept that “what we can offer at best is mostly ‘pseudo hospitality,’” and thus Hawai‘i’s triple bottom line is a challenge of sorts, and a formidable one: How can we get the needs of host, guest, and place to be like “a stool’s three legs of equal proportion, [so] the stool doesn’t wobble” and it will bear our weight well?
However what we often get confused about, in my view, is that stool topper. Many in Hawai‘i will say that it is sustainability, but to me, we will still fall short if we stop and settle there (and yes, I fully realize we are not there yet, so we take one step at a time). I learned of the topper as Gift; the gift of Ho‘okipa offered in its full traditional sense, “that is, as an act of giving which is based on reciprocity.” If you have Dr. Kanahele’s book, or borrow it from the library, you will find this discussion well articulated in his chapter on The Relevance of Primal Economics, and I highly recommend it.
Consistent with our core value-goal here of Alaka‘i, the Hawaiian value of leadership, I would encourage you to ‘power up your vocabulary’ with the definition and clarity of a triple bottom line most applicable to your own business. Pull it out of business-speak, and make the phrase relevant and useful to you. Conventionally it is a financial metaphor that should be measured with the same ethical integrity with which you measure profit, with each leg fortified by value-alignment. And don’t forget the topper.
Preface:
Welcome to Sunday Koa Kākou. Sunday is the day I answer questions you send to me. If you have a question connected to management and leadership, leave a comment here, or email me.
From the Say “Alaka‘i” mailbox:
I’m ready to put all my blog reading on hold: I know you try to keep us in the positives versus the negatives, but I get very frustrated when I read articles by you and other business coaches these days, for all I can focus on is making money and keeping it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared about being able to make a living than I am right now. The prospects are so terrible and my savings have run out. It all seems completely out of my control. Your advice about better management and leadership practices may be great when there’s money in the bank, but until then, I can’t be bothered with reading about what I cannot work on. That old saying that money is the root of all evil is so true, isn’t it.
This wasn’t exactly a question, but it was a heartfelt frustration that I felt compelled to answer both privately and here on the blog, for I am fully aware that times are tough, and I suspect many people have similar feelings.
Believe me, I share your concern. I will openly admit to all of you that 2009 will be a year I will struggle to keep my own business alive and well too; to do so, I must reinvent it a bit, keeping what works and discarding what doesn’t, replacing those discards with newly promising strategies, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. The Hawaiian value I call on most right now is Ho‘omau, that of persistence and perseverance, seeking to perpetuate the good in my life, and continually reminding myself that adversity can make me stronger, wiser, better. It’s an energy-creating self-talk I cannot allow to falter. Neither can you.
“I don't care how hard this period is. You have to have the combination of believing that you will prevail, that you will get out of this, but also not be the Pollyanna who ignores the brutal facts. You have to say that we will be in this for a long time and we will turn this into a defining event, a big catalyst to make ourselves a much stronger enterprise. Our characters are being forged in a burning, searing crucible.”
—Jim Collins, in an interview with Jennifer Reingold
Ho‘ohana: Shift intention to where attention is
I agree that you must focus on the basics of “making a [good] living” (the value of ‘Imi ola, and seeking your best possible life) before you work on things that are the greater pursuits of legacy-focused work that is ‘affordable’ when times are better for you. Matching up your Ho‘ohana (intention with worthwhile work) to wherever your attentions doggedly must remain is usually a wise strategy. If you need more money, you need more money; that’s the fact of life your intentions must be set toward improving in your favor.
However believing that “money is evil” isn’t going to be very harmonious with that intention to make more of it. That’s like trying to make a nightmare come true instead of a dream. You want every one of your pursuits to be a noble effort you believe in. Your need for more money (and our need for money as a society), isn’t going away, so turn money into your dream enabler instead of your nightmare creator. Money by itself is neither evil nor saintly, but you are.
Money is simply currency. Any “evil” that may be associated with it has to do with bad behavior using money in an ill-conceived, uneducated or unfortunate way. When the behavior improves —with philanthropy for example, and with social entrepreneurship, so does the reputation of money as the tool which enables those more admirable behaviors. Then we give money a different name; donations, funding, or venture capital, but it still is money for good versus money for not so good.
What we are all being reminded of right now, both as individuals and as businesses, is that “times are better” when we have a substantial contingency fund that we have ready access to when a storm rages. That may be our first lesson in financial literacy (#2 here: The Top 7 Business Themes on my 2009 Wish List).
Being ‘broke’ is a mistake, not a failure
I think the biggest mistake we make with money is failing to become better educated with using it. The good news is that correcting that mistake is not that difficult. We simply need to redirect our attentions (and intention) with doing so, i.e. with becoming more financially literate.
Money is our basic transactional currency. We all need it, and we all need to be sure we have enough of a contingency fund available (an emergency fund) when circumstances in our world spin out of our control. A contingency fund finances our basic living requirements when everything else goes haywire.
If your savings have run out, you simply made the mistake of not having a contingency fund in addition to your savings (or one which was large enough). And you are not alone: Many of us are getting quite a reality check with which of the two is ultimately more important (contingency or savings) and which must take first priority, and by how much of a margin. We are learning that non-liquid assets do not readily convert into cash flow. We are learning that some conditions we once thought of as ‘fixed’ can be very volatile, and actually are ‘variables.’ We are learning several financial lessons that the present recession has pulled from back burner to front.
Log your lessons learned in precise measurements that will give you the structure for a new personal financial game plan. Then, articulate them more positively, by turning them into the new goals of your intentions. Correct your past mistakes, and make your goals dreamy.
Learn with a good teacher
I encourage you to seek the help you may need with learning the lessons you must now learn. Great teachers and coaches hold you accountable and shorten learning curves. And I am not implying you must hire someone: You aren’t alone in relearning a newly emerging financial literacy for these times; we’re all doing it. Team up with those who have similar learning goals, and seek those willing to teach you and help you learn what they know, as you do the same for them: Collaborate; barter your knowledge.
And yes, if my blog is not the one giving you the most answers right now, read the ones which are: Match up your attentions to your new intention. Get offline for a little while so you can better focus: Redirect your monthly internet payment into your new contingency fund goal, and read the coaching of financial authors available at your library or local bookstore.
Preface:
Welcome to Sunday Koa Kākou. Sunday is the day I answer questions you send to me. If you have a question connected to management and leadership, leave a comment here, or email me.
From the Say “Alaka‘i” mailbox:
I’ve been reading your job hunting and RISH postings with great interest because ours is a firm which is hiring, and we need to fill a few positions. However RISH can also get harder when unemployment rises like this, and people are so desperate to get a job, and any job. Hate to say it, but people lie a lot, and it seems the white lies in interviews get bigger and bolder. I am very wary of people who interview well, but really just want to get a paycheck again, and so they seem to be “gaming it” in our conversation. So I was wondering about adopting a more scientific system: How do you feel about those talent assessment programs you can purchase, where behavior-based questions are specifically designed for a company’s needs?
I’m not a fan of them, and I think you’d be better off spending your money in another way right now. Talent assessment programs are generally very expensive when customized (essential, if you purchase them at all), and their results are not completely satisfactory nor pleasing to me.
A quick sidebar: We’ve devoted a good amount of blog space to job-hunting and hiring lately, and I’ll index the posts this emailer refers to as a footnote below.
Buying a fish, or learning to fish?
I first used one of those “talent indexing” programs years ago while with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and at the time I felt very fortunate because we were taught how it was constructed, and how to interpret the results accurately: It was learning I have since used repeatedly and built on. However since then, the newer systems I’ve learned about keep much of that back-story and analysis as part of their proprietary information – and that doesn’t help you. To paraphrase an old parable: You are buying a fish, but you aren’t learning to fish.
A second drawback is that over time the questions became rote and boring to interviewers, and appear very detached and impersonal to candidates (something we learned quickly at The Ritz-Carlton hotel I was then associated with). Those “canned questions” can possibly be effective when they are part of the screening process in the HR office of a very large company looking for a few basic competencies and consistencies, or in a mass-hire situation where they are highly preliminary, in that (and only if) they are always followed up by another more personal interview/conversation by the hiring manager – who should be the person they will directly report to.
Frankly I don’t care for them very much then either, for they don’t give the greatest first impression I would want a potential candidate to have of me or my company. Canned processes don’t sync well with my Aloha, Ho‘ohana and Ho‘okipa value system.
Relationship should trump process
You are starting a relationship when you interview, and no canned process can do that as well as you being willing to personalize your conversation with a candidate one on one. And yes, that includes separating the good candidates from the not as good ones.
Your question tells me that your intuition is kicking in when it needs to, and though it takes time, I feel that grooming your intuition continually by merit of both your hiring failures and successes is a far superior idea, one that will serve you well tenfold.
Let’s look at a couple of those RISH questions again, and from a different standpoint, that of a manager’s personal intuition, something no assessment program will ever duplicate for you. The ones connected to Recruitment are in italics, and I’m going to add a bit to them;
Who are you seeking?
What does “the best possible person” for a position mean to you?
What kind of relationship will you want to have with this person if you hire them? How often will you converse, and about what kinds of things, and how important will it be that you both communicate well, with full trust and understanding? Are you already having that kind of conversation right now, or will it take considerable more work?
What combination of talent, skills and knowledge and industry/position competencies is most desirable, and what values are you hiring for?
Think about how these things will be received by your customer, and by your vendor partners as well: Will they enjoy a relationship with this person too, feeling they are authentic in sharing your company competencies and values? In addition, will this person be part of a team? What are the strengths and weaknesses already present on that particular team: Will this be the person to successfully fill any gaps?
What do you consider “ready to hit the ground running” to mean? Conversely, how much training are you willing to give someone, or might you even prefer to give them?
And let’s think about both orientation and training for a moment: How much of it will be a natural for this person, and how much might be a fairly strenuous shift for them, where their results will be staged at best? What kind of learning are they looking for, and can you visualize they’re growing with you as their mentor? Will you enjoy teaching and coaching them?
I have yet to find an assessment tool which can answer most of these questions better than a hiring manager can, even one fairly “green behind the ears.”
Make the best of every conversation you have
Don't just go through the paces. Switch gears if you have to. For remember this: There are tons of different relationships you can have!
If you are in an interview and your intuition kicks in, telling you, “this is not the person I am looking for in filling this position,” ask yourself this: “So, who can they be? What kind of relationship could we still have?” Are they potentially a customer for you? Could they be a well-connected ambassador of your company? Could you personally strike up a good friendship, or network in a different way? Once you have made your decision in an interview not to hire them, these questions are not a conflict of interest.
Seek to optimize the best possible result of every interview you do.
Most jobs turn out to be temporary; we want people to continually learn, and grow into meeting bigger challenges. On the other hand, our relationships generally last much, much longer serving us in multiple ways, and looming much larger than company boundaries, something particularly true in our island communities.
Footnote: These are the past postings I believe this reader and hiring manager was referring to:
Rosa Say is a workplace Aloha coach, founder of Say Leadership Coaching and the author of "Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawai'i's Universal Values to the Art of Business."
Manage and Lead: Learn to do both, and you can say and be Alaka'i (a leader), living and working within the Hawaiian value of management and leadership.
