New Year’s resolution for working people: Career happiness in 2008

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 30, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

TRY HAPPINESS AT WORK as New Year’s resolution.

Unhappiness at work is damaging to both the worker and the business. At the individual level, such unhappiness can result in absenteeism and other forms of inefficiency. At the group level, it can lead to crises that can warrant drastic measures and attract government intervention.

There are various causes of unhappiness at work: job mismatch, obnoxious boss, irritating officemates, lousy work conditions, misunderstandings due to miscommunication, low salaries, delayed salaries, chronic fatigue and so on.

We spend a huge amount of time at work that, inevitably, it has spillover effects on other aspects of our life. Left unchecked, unhappiness at work can adversely affect our relationships with our family and friends. It can also damage our health. It can paralyze us to a point where we are no longer able to function properly, let alone optimally.

Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology (psychology that focuses on wellness rather than on illness), explains that happiness has three components: positive emotions, complete engagement, and purpose in life. Based on results of global happiness surveys, this school of thought believes that happiness is not dependent on material trappings. Let us apply Seligman’s framework to experience happiness at work starting in 2008.

Positive emotions
What are negative emotions? The major ones are complaining, criticizing, competing and comparing. One is inviting unhappiness if he is engaged in these destructive emotions. In fact, in the case of comparisons, what makes people feel miserable is the Grass is Greener syndrome – the unbearable thought that others are better off than them.

What are positive emotions then? Oppositely, they are commending, affirming, cooperating and supporting. A person of courage and maturity accentuates the positive, demonstrates appreciation, works with competitors and expresses gratitude.

The mind is infinitely powerful. Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich” is an authoritative reference on positive thinking. As Hill says ‘thoughts are things.’ Happiness is first a creation of the mind that the body consequently articulates. Stop a negative thought as soon as it occurs. Do not allow negativism to dominate your work life.

Creating and maintaining positive disposition is vital to productivity. A cheerful worker radiates an energy that uplifts others. Tasks become lighter as well.

Complete engagement

Have you tried focusing on your job such that you got completely absorbed in it? This state of being is otherwise called peak performance. It demands presence or ‘being there,’ meaning that your mind, body and heart are synchronically attuned to the activity.

Take for example the mundane act of eating. Our taste buds become more receptive when we focus on the food. We are able to authentically appreciate the meal and stay fuller longer. Those who read, talk, watch television or surf the internet while eating diminish the health benefits of the food.

It would be to our advantage if we are able to rally all our senses to the demands of the occasion. Barring distractions, work becomes easier and enjoyable.

What we focus on is equally important. Lest we expend our energies on insignificant concerns, let us revisit Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” where the author distinguishes ‘urgent’ from ‘important’. According to Covey, something that is urgent demands immediate attention and is oftentimes irrelevant to the achievement of real goals. On the other hand, something that is important requires discernment and contributes to the achievement of vision, mission and goals. In other words, urgent matters force as to be reactive while important things require us to be proactive.

To sustain peak performance, and therefore happiness at work, stay committed to the things that are important and veer away from those that are merely urgent.

Purpose in life

What is your mission in life? Do you have a personal mission statement? A mission statement is your compass as you march along your career path. Covey calls it a Personal Constitution. A mission statement is life-defining.

Having a personal mission statement illustrates self leadership. With it you are able to discern the relevance of your work to your life. It is not enough though to have a personal mission statement. It is likewise important is to spell out how the mission is to be fulfilled.

Is your mission aligned with that of the company? Many would dismiss this as human resource hokum. One’s skills set may be what the company is looking for but dissonance in missions will ultimately result in job dissatisfaction. A proactive professional examines his personal mission and the corporate mission to determine their complementation. Of course, while changing a corporate mission is a major effort, a personal mission should be easy to modify anytime to fit emerging developments. Flexibility is a mark of a happy person.

What does a personal mission have to do with happiness? A personal mission serves as the anchor that will keep you steady in a sea of uncertainties. It becomes a source of stability. It gives you meaning.

Starting in 2008

The advent of a new year provides us with opportunities of renewal and fills us with optimism. Resolving to be happy at work is part of career stewardship. A happy person is a productive person. Here are supplementary reminders:

1. Don’t be unfair to yourself by insisting that you’ll be happy only when you’re done toiling. Be happy right at the moment, right where you are. Be grateful for even the littlest graces, unleash your sense of humor and laugh heartily.

2. Recognize when you are happy. Avoid the tendency of magnifying and verbalizing only unhappiness. Identify the causes of your unhappiness and work on ways how to overcome them. Prioritize unhappiness factors that are within your control. Seek the support of family, friends and colleagues.

3. Acknowledge that you cannot be happy all the time. But with determination, you can be happy most of the time. To avoid disappointment, do not romanticize reality or set impossible standards.

4. Initiate lifestyle changes that will support happiness at work and in life in general. Strive for work-life balance.

5. Have a spring in your step as you wake up to start each workday. It said that as a race Filipinos are predisposed to be happy. Use that to your advantage.

HAPPY New Year!

Numbers to help you succeed in the workplace

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 2, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

NUMBERS HELP PEOPLE understand what is happening around them. Numbers help express and execute ideas better. Numbers can help measure experiences. Here are numbers from different disciplines that can help you excel in the world of work.

Communication

Effective communication is a key leadership skill. You may be gifted with verbal precision – using the right words at the right time – but this gift is squandered when your speech and body language are not in harmony with each other. While voice tonality accounts for 38 percent of your communication, body language represents an astounding 55 percent. Your choice of words adds in a mere seven percent. Communicate with impact by synchronizing your speech with tone and body language.

Presentations and conversations become dull after 20 minutes – that is the maximum length of time a person can stay focused. Rapid talking is not advisable though. We comfortably hear from 150 to 160 words per minute. Pace yourself well. After two days, your audience will retain only 20 percent of what they heard. Aid memory retention by making your every utterance count: use keywords, visual aids and exercises.

Time management

Only 20 percent of your activities account for 80 percent of your productivity. Inversely, 80 percent of your activities contribute only 20 percent to your productivity. The unproductive bulk is spent on time wasters such as gossip, YouTube, Friendster and other distractions. Stop wasting time by setting goals and planning ahead. If you resolve to always come early to the office remember that it takes all of 21 days of daily practice to form a new habit pattern.

First impressions

Thirty seconds is all it takes to establish your first impression. Within those precious seconds, 13 judgments about you are made. Poor image can kill your career. Impressions management is indeed important.

An impressed supervisor will probably tell his superiors and colleagues about your outstanding performance. A disappointed boss will certainly relay his frustration to as many persons he can reach. In customer care, it is estimated that bad service reports outnumber good service reports by as many as 5:1. Translated to impressions, these could be termed ‘criticisms versus praises.’ With the help of technology, bad news travels at the speed of light.

In consumer behavior, personal recommendations remain the most trusted information.
Good or bad, others are bound to know about you. Through word of mouth, it will take only three personality types to spread your reputation. They are, as described in Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" -- the connector who is respected in broad networks, the maven who analyzes information and shares his knowledge with other people for better decisionmaking, and the salesman who has excellent people skills. Reaching enough number of people, these three movers will be able to build a tipping point that will decide the fate of your career.

Lifelong employability

Good reviews are not an assurance of your staying power. For more than a hundred reasons including outsourcing, redundancy and obsolescence of competency, 100 percent of jobs are mortal. What is important is lifelong employability not lifetime employment. A lifetime of professional desirability will be attained with continuous retooling. Of course, attitude – towards yourself, towards others and towards your work – makes 100.

Working wonder women

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 16, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

Raising women from the rank and file

WORKING FILIPINAS are harvesting world acclaim. A 2007 Thornton International Business Report study ranked the Philippines on top of 32 countries in terms of number of women in senior management positions. The same study noted that 97 percent of businesses in the Philippines have women in senior management positions – a remarkable rate compared to the global average of 59 percent. In a related development, Fortune magazine’s October 15, 2007 issue ranked SM Investments Vice Chairman Teresita Sy-Coson number 41 in its prestigious roster of 50 Most Powerful Women in Global Business.

Studies explain that women excel in the workplace because of their perseverance, creativity, dedication, attentiveness to detail, flexibility and emotional intelligence. My work oftentimes requires working with women executives who effortlessly demonstrate their sense of direction and purpose, passion, intellect, empathy and sense of humor.

The Department of Labor and Employment reported that in 2006 there were 2.3 million women in supervisory positions. If there is this many women managers, there are more women among the rank and file. Whether inspired by their high ranking sisters, driven by personal ambition or by economic necessity, a good number of women in the rank and file aspire for management positions. Career planning and outstanding work performance is their legitimate vehicle for reaching the desired destination. Management and HR can help propel the careers of worthy women with the following:

Build a diversity-friendly workplace. Many Fortune 100 companies, Chevron among them, are employers of choice because of gender mainstreaming. Your company does not have to be in any prestigious list to build a diversity-friendly workplace. Start by being open to its added values, among which are: attracting talent, knowledge sharing, boosting employee morale, diversity awareness and improved public perception. The idea is to create a work environment of productive codependence on the strength of men and women’s equal dignity and value. Ensure that physical and organizational structures support the needs and aspirations of women employees. Conducting gender sensitivity seminars will help inculcate respect and eliminate harm and exploitation.

Spot potential early on. Use performance appraisal metrics to identify potential candidates for talent development. Observe the employee’s achievement orientation, decision-making, leadership and teamwork, and communication skills among others. These are reliable predictors of future managerial performance. Target, say, those belonging to the top 20 percent high potential women workers for career development.

Develop, demand, recognize. Having identified high potential women, it is time to ask them to submit a simple plan that identifies their development needs. In response, give them necessary training and mentoring. Encourage them to embark on self-initiated development to supplement company-sponsored learning opportunities. Assign more challenging tasks to them and acknowledge their accomplishments. Create feedback mechanisms.

Equal opportunity promotion. Being an equal opportunity employer is a start. Once inside the organization, men and women should be enabled to enjoy equal salaries and compete for promotions based on clear qualification criteria. The glass ceiling – the invisible barrier that, on account of gender stereotypes, prevents women from reaching the top of the corporate ladder – has to be shattered.

Celebrate working women. Organize the company’s women into a group that can contribute to the wellbeing of its members, the company and society. It can be the company’s major social responsibility. Organize fun activities aimed at recognizing women’s participation in the company. These activities can be conducted on a monthly or quarterly basis, with major activities during Women’s Month, which is celebrated in March. They should include learning sessions where women executives and those in rank and file can interact. Women leaders from various sectors can also be invited for lectures.

The call to action is not for companies to give special treatment to women but to eliminate gender-based workplace biases that deprive women and companies they work for of tremendous benefits. As the world congratulates the Philippines for the success of its women managers, Filipino companies should support women in the rank and file by developing them into second liners, future managers and business leaders.

Career power with the 4 P’s of marketing

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(Published on page J4 of the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 28, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

MARKETING INTRODUCES a brand to the consciousness of the target market. Astute marketing makes people buy the brand. Genius marketing makes the brand leap from commonplace to iconic – needed and coveted. Marketing follows the Four P’s: product, place, price and promotion. Apply the Four P’s of marketing to your career life to stay competitive and desired. Make Brand You a winning brand with the Four P’s.

Product. It all begins with an excellent product – Brand You. The demands of a globalized workplace continually elevate basic requirements. What is basic today is passé tomorrow. It was in the dreamy past when a college education was enough to land a cushy job. Today, graduate studies seem mandatory. Exceed the basic standards of your career category. Keep yourself informed and updated.

Focus is an important product ingredient. Which one, 10, 100 or 1,000 companies or individuals will derive value from your services? Have an intimate understanding of that market – its needs, preferences and mindset. Attempting to impress everyone will result in pleasing no one, not even yourself.

Perception is another key element. Brand You should captivate the imagination of the target market. How do you perceive yourself? How would you want your target market to perceive you? Appeal to the taste of your market. Refine and innovate accordingly if necessary. A successful brand communicates and establishes an emotional connection with its consumers. What one word best describes you? Try leader, decisive, sharp, witty, inspiring, principled, or other powerful words to determine your brand attribute.

But is the product useful? Identify or develop your unique selling proposition or USP. Are you a super salesperson? An expert in a yet untapped field? A dazzling communicator? An incomparable leader? Fantastically creative? A publicity genius? Your USP is the differentiator that will enable you to stand apart. Avoid being a me-too product that merely duplicates others. Do not be a Swiss knife either – multitasking but lacking focus. Make sure that Brand You performs and delivers on its promise.

Packaging is equally important. Thirteen judgments are made within the first 30 seconds of your appearance. See to it that you are decent and presentable at all times. Influence perception by presenting substance with style. That includes communicating with impact.

Place. Are you well-positioned in the mind of your target market? The challenge is to plant the Brand You flag in consciousness prime spot. You need to be in a position of leadership to do this. In this context, it is your ability to lead yourself.

Do you envision a pride of place? Do you honestly believe that you will belong to the top 10 percent of people in your career category in due time? Benchmark yourself according to the standards of individuals and companies you admire. Study their strategies before they became successful and how they now sustain that success.

Are you at the right place at the right time? Be an opportunity spotter and creator, and leverage every break. Be where the action is. Showing up does half of the job.

Price. This can be your desired compensation – your market value – given your qualifications and potential. Obsessing on the money, however, will be futile if the product is not buyable, let alone sellable. Brand You must be truly unique and indispensable. Price is more of how you value yourself. Multiply your self-worth by investing in authentic self-improvement – continuously enhance your knowledge, skills, attitude and behavior. Price includes the risks or bargains you are willing to offer and take in furthering your career.

Ultimately, the market will not mind lavishing on a prime brand.

Promotion. Sizzle or fizzle. An excellent product, Brand You should be easy to promote. Be visible to your target market. Network strategically: approach industry stalwarts with the intention of building mutually beneficial relationships. How? You can volunteer for a project, provide intelligent information such as analysis of industry trends, broker business links, present opportunities, or submit a proposal.

Beware of shameless promotion, hard sell and parasitic networking. Ubiquity does not necessarily translate to desirability. With its substance, Brand You will not require big bang promotion or deceptive spin. The key is for Brand You to be valuable. Favorable word of mouth will follow thereafter.

Use the Four P’s in building Brand You. Devise a marketing plan that will propel your career. With patient, determined and sustained work, Brand You will reach a tipping point that will trigger success. Properly managed, Brand You will have no expiration date.

Taking care of workers takes care of business

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 23, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

From personnel management to people management

THE SHIFT FROM “personnel management” to “people management” has significant connotations transcending semantics. Business practice is progressing from “depersonalization” (man as machine) to “humanization” (workers as partners). From being treated as mere peons, workers are now valued as individuals – complex human beings with needs and emotions. The era of “walang personalan-trabaho lang” workplace mentality is fading gradually. This development can be attributed to driving forces such as:

Appreciation of workers’ rights – With the help of watchdogs and advocates, workers are aware of their rights and are more confident about asserting them. For its part, the company is well aware of the potential consequences of violating these rights. Legal battles, workplace conflicts and loss of trust are disastrous to the company.

Increasing consciousness about work-life balance – Business and workers seek equilibrium in their life at work and beyond. Burnout and fatigue lead to absences and underperformance. Work-life balance counters the adverse effects of work-related stress.

Search for personal relevance in constantly morphing work conditions – Workers are pressured to cope with technological advances, outsourcing, mergers and similar developments that result in the rapid obsolescence of competencies. Without proper retooling, workers feel disoriented and irrelevant.

Quest for competitiveness – Despotic companies simply cannot attract the best minds. Mistreated workers are not the best of performers. At the heart of a competitive company is a motivated workforce that accelerates productivity and profitability.
Availability of information – Information technology allows workers and watchdogs to obtain data easily. Benchmarking work practices is just a Google search away. Mass media is also a helpful information source and a powerful influencer.

A company that insists on the primitive way of treating workers as mere production inputs faces extinction. Its comeuppance is near. Here are some ways of valuing people at work:

1. Ensure that workers enjoy entitlements that are mandated by law. Comply with regulations governing compensation, social security, housing and healthcare. A law-abiding company will not have to deal with litigation costs and work disruption. Apply industry standards especially when they exceed the requirements of the law. Some companies provide daycare and scholarships for employees’ children.

2. Institutionalize continuous development. The first step is to know the workers’ development needs. Armed with this knowledge, run a responsive training, coaching and mentoring programs that provide vision and direction, enhance performance, optimize skills, improve relationships and facilitate change. Recognize employee’s self-initiated activities such as volunteering in nonprofit organizations as performance-enhancing credits.

3. Create a professional and comfortable work climate. Equip workers with technologies that enhance efficiency. Ergonomically designed equipment and furniture are worthy investments as they reduce work-related stress. Beyond the physical, a work environment that minimizes conflict while allowing creative friction will encourage workers to be more innovative. Apply sound corporate and human development philosophies to strengthen company culture.

4. Promote work-life balance. Stress-busting exercises, rest and recreation activities, subsidized gym fees or in-house facilities, allowing people to conclude a workday at the eighth hour and offering alternative work arrangements such as telecommuting are just some of the ways to prevent burnout.

5. Match jobs and persons strategically. Avoid job mismatch by learning about a person’s real interests and skills in relation to business requirements and objectives. Half the battle is won when a job role is assigned to the best qualified person. Solid support, capability gap remedy, monitoring and evaluation will ensure that the role is executed satisfactorily.

6. Affirm performance. Grant merit-based raises, incentives and rewards. Depoliticize such decisions by using objective performance appraisals. Recognition can be in cash or kind as long as it symbolizes the significance of the worker’s contribution.

7. Communicate openly and honestly. Establish mechanisms that engage management and workers in regular dialogue. Authentic communication characterized by verbal and nonverbal articulation and active listening fosters trust, promotes team cohesion, defuses conflict, reveals insights and encourages involvement.

8. Democratize decision making. Involve workers in making crucial decisions. Make sure that it is not merely token attendance in meetings but genuine participation. Allowing them to ventilate their views, with the assurance that their ideas are considered, paves the way for workers’ buy-in and cements their sense of ownership of decisions made.

9. Uphold the use of leaves of absence as a right. Labor law grants leave credits to workers. As such, leaves should never be dangled as “utang na loob” or rewards that are difficult to obtain.

Open communication builds trust

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 9, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

“Big companies run on trust. Our company is set up so that information – both good and bad – travels upward at a rapid pace. And I insist that none of our leaders block the information flow. At the heart of every good team is open and honest communication.” – Jeff Immelt, GE CEO

Is trust such a pricey commodity that only corporate giants like GE can afford?

Judging by former GE CEO Jack Welch’s book Straight from the Gut, the company cultivates trust via open communication. Immelt’s statement merely reiterates the fact. The company has a profound understanding of its multifaceted relationships with its stakeholders and publics – the board, consumers, employees, investors, suppliers, competitors, media, policymakers, the community where it operates, and even critics. GE dialogues with all of them. The company keenly appreciates the long-term impact of meaningful communications, both internal and external, on business vitality.

Trust is not bought. Neither can it be obtained through intimidation. Communication builds trust. Trust builds teams. Trust establishes brands. Trust emits from honesty. And honesty is not size-related. It applies to all packages. It is not its monolithic size that compels GE to observe honest and open communication.

A company operates in two modes: business as usual (BAU) and crisis (CRI). When a company is dishonest in its communications during BAU, it will be very difficult to become honest in CRI. If a company is sneaky about promotions and incentives, expect it to be less forthcoming about looming mergers and other emergencies. The crop cannot be harvested without planting the seeds. To begin with, dishonest companies are prone to CRI situations. Dishonest communication has exposed the clay feet of otherwise respected companies and individuals.

Make communication a trust-promoting tool. Follow these tips:

1. Inculcate honest and open communication. Categorically include this thrust in key statements such as company vision, employee policies and speeches. Lead by example.

2. Specify reasonable parameters. Open communication is meaningless when not imbued with a sense of responsibility. Open communication should be congruent with corporate governance principles. Trade secrets, for example, should never be shared wantonly with outsiders.

3. Eliminate layers of communication screens. Install processes and technology that facilitate unfettered flow of information. Establish a streamlined documentation system.

4. Do not cultivate ‘assets’ assigned to spy on their colleagues. These assets are liabilities because they breed betrayal. Demand objectivity through peer evaluation instead.

5. Establish rewards for honesty (alongside performance) and sanctions for dishonesty. Be impartial in dealing with employees. Administer rewards and penalties fairly. Reinforce ethics.

6. Foster dialogue with key stakeholders. Set quality time for formal and informal discussions. Information is power. Learn from stakeholders’ insights and implement their ideas whenever practicable. Acknowledge their contribution.

7. Be honest, sincere and consistent in your message. Never mangle, twist, fabricate, or sugarcoat information. This especially applies in high-stress CRI situations when difficult messages such as bankruptcy, dissolution, and job loss have to be communicated. Honest communication need not be traumatic. Words and phrases have been coined to deliver truth tactfully.

8. Measure results. Monitor public interest (as evidenced in customer inquiries, job applications and media attention, among others), improvement in lead times, and sales increase, when attributable.

Organizations that thrive on secrecy attract unnecessary scrutiny. Trust is not contingent on the size of the company. Honest and open communication promotes trust. Trust cultivates respect and loyalty.

Making workplace training work

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 19, 2007, Sunday, titled "Get more than a break from your training")

By Roel Andag

Contributor

A JOINT EMPLOYER-employee responsibility

Paradigm gap

Training is a critical undertaking. Serious companies train their employees thoroughly, even sending them abroad to learn from their foreign counterparts. Three crucial drivers compel companies to invest in training: efficiency (to improve behavior, relationships, and processes), effectiveness (to develop skills, knowledge and potential), and economy (to enhance productivity, competitiveness and motivation). An expert once advised that a company’s training investment should never be less than three percent of total payroll. Competitive companies view training as a necessary investment. As such, the company expects training programs to result in organizational profitability and employee satisfaction.

Employees, however, do not necessarily view company-sponsored training through the same businesslike lens. Some consider training as a brief vacation – a break from the frenetic office environment. Others attend training merely to comply with company requirements. Still others begrudge attending training, feeling that they have been uprooted from their real priorities. Employees oftentimes fail to relate training with company objectives. Negative attitude impedes learning thus defeating the purpose of training.

The cost can be staggering when this paradigm gap is not addressed. The company squanders resources while the mediocre employee coasts along. Both parties lose opportunities in the process. Addressing this handicap can be challenging and at the same time rewarding. The first logical step is for both employer and employee to jointly agree that optimizing training is a joint responsibility. Here are mutually reinforcing tips for both sides.

Employee responsibility: career stewardship

Adopt correct attitude. The modern worker owes it to himself to advance his career. Continuous learning is the most effective way of doing this. Training is an opportunity to learn new things. Based on the training program, list your learning expectations. Proceed to training anticipating to discover and to explore, conscious that you will gain value from the exercise.

Understand the purpose of the training. It is not enough that you know the venue, schedule, program and parking lot location. As soon as you receive the memo for you to attend training, level off with the human resource manager as to why you are being sent and jointly specify subsequent management expectations.

Focus. Be attentive. Listen to what the trainer is sharing. Record your reflection and insights on a training diary. Documentation is very important. If you get distracted by noisy participants, pass them a polite note or take them aside during break time to verbalize your concern. If this does not work, approach the trainer.

Ask questions. Ask the trainer and fellow participants. The objective is to clarify some points and to learn more, not to challenge the intellect of the trainer or to embarrass him. Also dare to ask yourself. How does the training relate to your own situation? How can you apply what you are learning? Adopting an inquisitive mind deepens analysis.

Participate actively. Contribute to the discussion but be careful not to dominate it. Share an experience related to the training subject. Make sure that it is not merely random storytelling. Be able to establish relevance by emphasizing ideas and lessons learned. Join games and workshops, they are opportunities to process learning and to relate with other participants. Overcome shyness and control unhealthy aggressiveness.

Apply what you have learned. Be accountable: volunteer to cascade to your colleagues what you have learned, report to your boss and the HR department your observations and plans on how to apply your learning. Part of career stewardship is internalizing what was learned during training. Use the tools provided by the trainer. Digest, apply, test and improve on the ideas offered.

Company duty: stimulate learning
Create a training calendar. Do this annually as the New Year starts. Capitalize on the heightened sense of renewal, vigor and commitment. A training calendar sets schedules, primes employees and guides budgeting. Dedicate quality time to this activity. It is advisable to make everyone participate to enhance employees’ sense of ownership of the process. When finalized, post the detailed training calendar in conspicuous locations around the workplace and in the company intranet.

Run a responsive training program. This is congruent with the training calendar. Conduct a quick, company-wide training need analysis through an online or paper survey. This bottom-up approach will cement the connection between the lineup of training courses, company objectives and employee needs. Review the training program regularly. It should be dynamic enough so as to accommodate emerging developments.

Deliver impact. See to it that training courses create the desired beneficial effect on the individual, the business unit and the company. It would be better if the impact is measurable. Pretest the responsiveness of a training course by determining its design and overall objectives. Training courses should be creative, trainers need to possess the required skills set and venues conducive to learning.

Promote a learning culture. Encourage employees to initiate training on their own. Make them proactive in looking for appropriate training courses they want to attend. Affirm those who undergo training by providing opportunities to immediately apply what they have learned. Adult learning theory says that an individual retains 80 percent of what he has learned if he is allowed to immediately practice what was taught. Monitor and evaluate improvement with tools such as First 100 Days post-training reports and performance appraisals.

Prep the trainees. HR should arrange a pre-training briefing to clarify expectations. This is to reiterate the company’s learning culture.

Be inclusive. Ditch the practice of sending only favored employees to training, especially abroad. It cultivates the flawed notion that training is a function of office politics rather than of development. The objective of training is to ensure that nobody gets left behind. Company performance is only as strong as its weakest link. Training opportunities should be spread equitably and purposefully. Everyone is trainable.

Genuine employer-employee partnership will make training meaningful.

Feedback and surge forward

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(Published in the Job Market-Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 27, 2007, Sunday)

By Roel Andag

Contributor

A guide to productive feedback process

Every company practices or wants to have it. Depending on the giver’s mastery in handling the process and the receiver’s sincerity in pursuing self-improvement, it can induce either excitement or discomfort. It is feedback in the workplace.

For the company, an effective feedback process produces better leaders and performers. On the other hand, the employee benefits from the affirmation he receives and from becoming more aware of behavior adjustments he needs to make.

As much as it can be nerve wracking for the one who will receive the feedback, it can also be challenging for the one giving it. It’s a two-way process and the parties have individual and shared responsibilities to make the process work. Because it is delicate and should be a productive exercise, it is important to follow these guidelines:

Specific behavior not general performance

Do not confuse or misuse the feedback process as performance evaluation. Performance is the execution of an action while behavior is the manner of conducting oneself. Feedback focuses on specific behavior. The desired behaviors are ideally those that are aligned with the values and culture of the company. These are behaviors that support the employee in the performance of his job. The result of the feedback process is not a performance evaluation but can be used as one of the bases in such evaluation.

What are these behaviors? It depends on the company but the generally desired ones are aligned with competencies such as leadership, achievement orientation, decisiveness, communication, adaptability, collaboration, strategic thinking, innovativeness, and focus and drive.

Isolate behaviors from one another so as not to pollute your judgment. For example, if you are the feedback receiver, don’t claim that your consistent attendance should make the feedback giver overlook your arrogance with customers.

Descriptive not evaluative
“Your resistance to work in a team is blocking your potential” is an evaluative statement because it determines the worth or significance of a behavior. Its descriptive equivalent is “You resist working in a team.” Why is it advisable to be descriptive? First, to allow the receiver to come up with his own judgment about his behavior and second, to maintain the objectivity of the process.

Effective feedback requires candor and sincerity. Filipinos who are exceedingly modest and diplomatic are in for a surprise when they work in multinational companies where feedback is a no holds barred affair. In this case, the Filipino saying ‘walang personalan, trabaho lang’ best applies.

Self description required

An effective feedback process is not one-sided. It takes into consideration the perspectives of both the giver and receiver so as to obtain an objective view.

If you are the receiver, you are best suited for a feedback session when you come prepared with a self description. You will gain this knowledge through introspection. Ask yourself hard questions. Make sure that your self description is unadulterated by false pride, excuses and exaggeration. You can use the feedback session as a tool of promotion by accentuating the positive, enumerating lessons learned and identifying proposed way forward. The best preparation though is demonstrating commendable traits way before feedback time and making helpful behaviors a way of life.

If you are the one giving the feedback, stick to the set of behavioral competencies defined by the company. Do not interrupt the receiver while he is giving his self description. Keep an open mind, listen empathetically and wait for your turn to talk. Ask insightful questions.

A person is his best personal judge. A self description will demonstrate how the employee perceives himself and how healthy his self image is.

Commend and recommend

Even the favorite employee is not beyond reproach. As far as work is concerned, no one is a perfect creation. A person has his pluses and minuses. If you are the favorite employee, do not delude yourself with the thought that the one giving you feedback will not have anything negative to say. On the contrary, your political standing in the office may even invite criticism. Be careful.

Both giver and receiver have to enumerate the employee’s behavioral strengths. The affirmation will reinforce desirable behaviors and encourage their continuance. Likewise, areas for improvement have to be pointed out. The merits and demerits will produce a balanced picture.

Plan, implement, monitor

Don’t leave the process hanging by ending it with the talkfest. Aside from documenting the process and the result, there has to be a solid sustaining action so that the feedback process does not become unfinished business.

If you are the receiver, it is your responsibility to design and follow an action plan that details actions on how to institute behavioral changes. The plan is based on the feedback result. Share your action plan with the boss and ask for support that can come in the form of training, mentoring and coaching. Stick to your plan and monitor your progress.

Who and when?

Who gives and receives feedback? If it is serious about developing leaders and improving its competitive advantage, a company should subject everyone, regardless of position, to feedback. Teams also benefit from feedback. The 360 degree feedback is a dynamic leadership mechanism that allows a person to learn from the observation of people around him.

As to timeliness, a semestral or annual formal feedback session is recommended. The intervals give the receiver ample time to make meaningful behavioral changes. Informal feedback can be slipped during conversations as long as privacy and confidentiality are ensured.

Although it can be accomplished through email communication or by accomplishing a prescribed form (never resort to using a suggestion box!), a person to person feedback session is the best approach. The dynamics of personal interchange generates a wealth of insight. Besides, a lot of emotion is invested in the feedback process. Regardless of method, professional etiquette has to be maintained throughout.

Feedback is not an occasion for power tripping or bullying. It should be based only on actual observations not on assumptions clouded by animosity between giver and receiver.

Properly managed, feedback will enhance effectiveness at the individual, team and organizational levels.