Managing Middlescence

Key ideas from the Harvard Business Review article by Robert Morison, Tamara Erickson, Ken Dychtwald

Burned out. Bottlenecked. Bored. That’s the current lot of many midcareer employees—those 35 to 54 years of age. Thirty percent of these middlescents work 50+ hours per week, while only 33% feel energized by their jobs. And many lament that their workplace offers few opportunities to try new things.

If your company’s like most, midcareer managers and employees make up half your workforce. Neglect their discontent, and you risk losing valued performers who seek exciting work elsewhere. This is a dangerous development—considering the brain drain that’ll soon hit when the vanguard of baby boomers retires. Disaffected middlescents who stay because they need the money take an even worse toll: Their lack of energy, innovation, and focus erodes your firm’s productivity.

How to avoid these losses? Tap into your middlescents’ hunger for renewal by helping them launch into new, more productive, more meaningful roles and careers. Fresh assignments enable middlescents to acquire new skills. Job changes help them develop new specialties. And training expands their business knowledge and stokes their desire to learn more.

You’re probably already using such simple and inexpensive career revitalization techniques on your stars. Extend them to all your midcareer employees: They’ll reward you with renewed commitment and productivity, as well as reduced replacement costs—immediately.

The Idea in Practice
Use these strategies to revitalize middlescents’ careers:

Fresh Assignments
Offer new assignments in different locations or parts of your organization to leverage middlescents’ existing skills and contacts while helping them acquire new ones. General Electric taps experienced managers to integrate new acquisitions—giving them a change of scene and bringing to bear their extensive organizational know-how.

Career Changes
Provide attractive internal career changes to help middlescents develop new specialties. Early in his 30+ years with Pitney Bowes, Dave Nassef served as a factory personnel manager and then marketer. When the company centralized HR, he was one of the few HR managers with manufacturing and marketing experience. At 40, he took on HR responsibility for half the company. Nassef’s additional careers within Pitney Bowes include corporate ombudsman and company representative in Washington.

Mentoring
Encourage middlescents to mentor less-seasoned employees. Your midcareer managers will relish giving back to their organization and making new social connections in the workplace. At Intel, a companywide employee database tracks skills attained and needed and matches employees with mentors—even if they’re in a different country. Both mentors and protégés take classes to learn ways to maximize the mutual benefit of their relationship.

Fresh Training
Don’t assume your middlescents don’t need training. Provide brief introductions to new business areas to expand their perspectives and trigger their interest in learning more. Use refresher courses and in-depth education to help them strengthen or develop their skills. The U.K.’s National Health Service is responding to a chronic nursing shortage by training seasoned aides to become nurses.

Sabbaticals
Provide paid sabbaticals: They cost less than replacing disaffected middlescents, and most people return from sabbaticals more committed than ever. At Wells Fargo, employees with five or more years of service and qualifying performance ratings can work in community service settings of their choosing for up to four months while receiving full pay and benefits. One employee traveled to Armenia to help women establish businesses. The company reaped good publicity, and the employee returned to work highly energized and recommitted.

Leadership Development
Just because midcareer workers are older doesn’t mean they don’t aspire to higher roles. Give them access to leadership development programs to rejuvenate them and stock your leadership pipeline. Health insurer Independence Blue Cross has put one-third of its top 600 people—most of them middlescents—through a leadership program. It includes a weeklong session at the Wharton School, individual coaching and career planning, and work on important business projects.

Copyright 2006 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Passive Job Seeker Recruitment

Guess what? All the good candidates are working. Luckily though, you’re not limited to just the 4-5 percent of Americans who are currently unemployed. Which is good, since only 20 percent of the unemployed are actively seeking jobs. The rest of the unemployed are truly unemployable. So where do you turn? Passive candidates.

Passive candidates are those individuals gainfully employed by your competitors. They are likely loyal, happy experienced employees that are not necessarily looking to change companies and would need a solid reason to leave. And if you get their attention, you’ll have to work fast. They’re not willing to spend much time in the interview and hiring process (though they may take their sweet time making a decision).

Why specifically target passive candidates in the first place? Why not keep with your traditional recruiting through mediums such as classified listings and job postings, and assume it will reach the best candidates? First of all, 80 percent of any company’s recruiting budget is spent on traditional activities – meaning there are a lot of companies reaching out to candidates in the same fashion. Each minute of every day there are about 294,000 recruiters logged into online job boards grabbing active candidates and battling for the ever shrinking labor pool. Those who are in the market for a job may or may not notice those ads and apply with your company.

Those who aren’t in the market – passive candidates – aren’t looking and are thus completely unaware of your presence in these traditional outlets. It’s similar to being in the market for a new car. All of a sudden you start looking and noticing cars on the road. If you are not in the market for a new car, you’re not “aware” of advertising. The same goes with job hunting. If you’re in the market for a new job – you’re aware. Reaching passive candidates takes a different approach.

The first step is having a quality recruiter who will be able to make a positive and lasting impression. You need someone who not only understands your industry and what competitors are offering, but also has a keen understanding of what the passive candidate wants. A good recruiter for passive candidates needs to have the ability to sell the position, and outsell their current employer. Part of this is the ability to build strong relationships so the candidate not only remembers you and your company, but also trusts you and will refer others to you in the future.

Speaking of referrals, this is one of the best sources for passive candidates. Who do your internal associates know? What about your vendors and customers? Chances are someone you know has a business or personal relationship with the ideal candidate for your company. Establish an incentive program for referrals and see your candidate pool expand.

Another great recruiting method is encouraging your employees to attend networking events and association meetings. While picking up sales leads, have them keep their eyes open for potential associates for your open roles. This builds direct contacts in your industry or one very closely related, and breaks the ice of unfamiliarity. Remember that even event speakers and experts are not off limits for recruitment. While you’re at it, don’t be afraid to go after the employees of your competitors. Fact is, they’re doing the very same thing. Finally, utilize online networking sources such as LinkedIn or Pulse.

You know who to target and where to find them, but how do you reach them? Approach it with the knowledge that they’re not looking to move. Be sure to avoid asking why they’re interested in working for your company – they’re not. Do discovery first. What would potentially motivate them to move? What professional needs do they have that are not being met? What are their future goals? Then sell the opportunity based on how your position and the company culture fulfill those initiatives.

Next, be flexible. You want this person but he or she does not have to give you the time of day. Lose the tailored process, avoid assessments and applications, and bend over backwards to schedule convenient interview times. Now is not the time for reference checks either. Confidentiality is of utmost importance if you want a chance at securing this candidate.

Once you decide you want them, make an offer quickly. Encourage their potential manager and peers to make follow-up calls. The decision to change jobs when they’re not unhappy is a difficult one. Help make their decision to leave easier. Follow these practices, and the quality of your new hires will improve.

The source of this article is Pro Staff - Special Advertising Supplement to Workƒorce MANAGEMENT

Don't Be a "Hater" - Be a Celebrator!

When the economy is robust, the Staffing Industry enjoys growth, piggybacking on the expansion of fast-growing and major industries. When demand is high, opportunity comes knocking, asking work teams only to react. Those that do so effectively enjoy the rewards of increasing revenues and the camaraderie winning teams encourage. The ability to overcome the difficulty factor in finding "good" candidates is the defining "high-level" challenge that separates the top-performers from the average players.

As the economy slows, a new challenge emerges. No knocking. This introduces a new business challenge, how to create "something' from "nothing" - making sales in an increasingly competitive environment. For most teams, this brings about collective confusion, procrastination and fear in the face of declining results. These stresses turn camaraderie to antagonism, resulting in a loser's pessimism. A work team's synchronicity is compromised, begging motivation and direction.

What to do?

Talk to each other. Really, that's what I suggest as a starting point. Ask about the following - What are your career goals? Why did you decide you wanted to work here? What would you like to accomplish while you are here? What are you truly good at? What "out of your comfort zone" work are you willing to do? Are there any suggestions you would make if you had the ability to improve the way you did your particular job? Are there any suggestions you would make if you had the ability to improve the way other staff did their particular job?

Out of this simple process comes volumes of information - most of it useful and relevant. This information enables teams to recommend a transformation in the way they, as individual contributors, and supporters of each other, work collectively in the new economic climate.

Get into Line With What Are the Objectives. Continue the conversation and set specific outcomes aligned with desired results. Generally, this will be centered around developing new business and the who, what, when, what and how to go about it.

Make a Plan. It is not a top-down plan, it is the plan developed from hours of conversations with co-workers. They developed it, put it together. And, with my each team member's strong assistance, encouragement, and support, it can be implemented.

Celebrate the Results. This is the part that brings back "winners" camaraderie. Recognize brave actions, continuing attempts in the face of failures, small achievements, ease with changing daily tasks, new skill with unfamiliar activities, and when a coworker "steps up" to "lift up" the team.

So there you have it - communicate and build alignment, fall in with the objectives and celebrate your achievements. In doing so, you just might find that this encourages good people and business behavior that sustains and uplifts top-performing teams, even in uncertain economic times.

Motivation Tips for Success

So the economy is a bit down, orders are slowing down and the pressure is on to meet your revenue goals. Strategizing with your sales team is certainly a good idea. Coming up with creative ways to motivate your sales team is definitely the right way to go. The right amount of nudging might just be what a crestfallen sales person or recruiter might need reinvigorate and start their efforts anew.

Many people and companies think that the only method of motivating sales people is to give them an opportunity to make more money. Salespeople are certainly motivated by money, but other factors come into play. You need to take some of these factors into consideration when working to motivate your sales people.

When trying to motivate sales people it is important to insure that your salespeople understand the vision of the company. Whether you are an individual selling on your own, or you are motivating sales people in a large sales force, it is important that salespeople are able to move toward an empowering vision. The head of the company (or you, if you own the company) must have a strong vision and communicate it to the sales people in a clear and concise manner.

Another important factor in motivating sales people is the culture of the company or organization. Sales people are often motivated by being part of a very strong and a very well understood cultural environment. The vision for the culture of the company must be clearly communicated and demonstrated from the top of the company. If sales people are clearly involved in the company’s culture, it will motivate them more than big paychecks.

Sales people are also strongly motivated by recognition. Public recognition can be a very powerful motivator for sales people. In my company, we motivate our sales people by giving them recognition at events that the whole company attends. This type of recognition can be very powerful in motivating sales people and making them feel more connected to your company.

Regardless, at the end of the day, all motivation is essentially self-motivation. Here are seven very practical, easy-to-follow and helpful self motivation tips and techniques you can use and share to withstand even the most difficult times:

1. Identify and Set Short-term Goals That "Move the Ball” in the Right Direction
Figure out your most pressing and specific goals - reaching established budgets or recovering recent business milestones may seem too far reaching. Focus energies on immediate action and outcomes - once achieved, then celebrate progress and set new objectives. Set, achieve, celebrate and repeat.
2. Create Realistic Timelines
The next logical step is to create deadlines. Even if they are not exact, it gives you a rough timeframe and helps you keep your eye on the prize.
3. Make a Plan
Now that you have your goals clearly stated and timelines appointed, there must be a plan of action for how you will get it all done.
4. Overcome Procrastination
Many people have a hard time with self motivation simply because of their bad habit of procrastination. A major cause of procrastination is usually just feeling overwhelmed, which keeps you from beginning. A buddy-system or networking venue may help coworkers help each other stay motivated.
5. Accept Obstacles
On the road to completing your goals, you will undoubtedly come across obstacles. Though challenges can cause people to lose motivation and quit, if you learn to see them as your teacher, the obstacles will begin to work for you rather than against you.
6. Positive Attitude
Envision yourself reaching goals, even if they are only for the end of the day. As Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can or think you can not—you are probably right.” A positive attitude almost always breeds positive results, but a negative attitude will do just the opposite.
7. Enjoy yourself
Finally, enjoy yourself. While this tip may seem more common sense than other self motivation tips, it is essential.

Times are getting tougher, and you don't want to lose your A players for sure – especially during a slowing economy. There is always need for top talent in a weak economy. When times are hard and average performers are not doing so well, staffing firms seek good performers to weather the downturn.

Managers’ Survey: Interviewees Flunking Etiquette 101

The Find: 59 percent of hiring managers say that job candidates’ manners have deteriorated in recent years.

The Source: A recent survey from Vault.

The Takeaway: With a plethora of sources of advice for interviewees, it seems like, by now, every job seeker should know the interview etiquette basics. But when Vault surveyed over 150 hiring managers, they uncovered a multitude of interview sins. Even that most covered principle of job hunting–dress the part– is often overlooked (or misinterpreted). A full 87 percent of hiring managers have had candidates show up dressed inappropriately. But hiring managers encounter more extreme behavior problems as well:

26 percent have had interviewees answer their cell phones during the interview
43 percent have had candidates use profanity
19 percent have had job seekers show up with a child in tow

It may seem sort of depressing that these etiquette basics need to be gone over again, but it is heartening for businesspeople who have their interview etiquette down cold to be reminded that all those carefully pressed cuffs and polite thank you emails may, in fact, make you stand out.

By Jessica Stillman

Are You Truly Ready to Sell?

Selling is all about preparation. However, you can know your customer’s business (and your own business) up, down and sideways, but if you don’t know the points of leverage — the places where you can influence the customer to buy — you’re not really ready sell.

Scientific research (really!) suggests that if you’ve got six key questions answered in your own head, you’re far more likely to make a sale. They’re generic to all sales situations and provide some touch points to know whether you’ve got the leverage to develop the prospect and close the deal.

1. How can I help this customer? If you truly believe that you can help the prospect, the prospect will feel obligated to say “yes.” Example: if you’re only calling on truly qualified prospects, and you’ve got an offering that you’re sure can do the job, you know that you can help them.
2. What will it cost the customer to not buy? A prospect is more likely to say “yes” if there’s pain and loss connected with saying “no.” If the prospect stands to lose business or opportunity or career points by not buying, you’ve got leverage to make the sale.
3. What are the sources of my authority? A prospect is more likely to say “yes” if he or she believes you are knowledgeable and credible. So be certain that you’ve done everything you can to establish yourself as a credible source that can add value to the conversation.
4. What similar commitments have already been made? A prospect is more likely to say “yes” if they’ve already made public commitments consistent with purchasing. Example: a prospect that’s made a public commitment to increase revenue will buy offerings that help achieve that.
5. Who among the prospect’s peers is already your customer? Prospects believe that saying “yes” entails much less risk if the prospect knows of similar people who have already said “yes.” Make sure that you have reference accounts and sell through referrals whenever possible.
6. What is it about this customer that I can truly like and respect? A prospect is more likely to say “yes” to somebody who is likeable, and likeability is a reflection of your own attitude towards the prospect. So find out what’s special about the prospect, and decide to like and respect it.

By Geoffrey James

Facts Inform, But Passion Moves

Passion is at the top of the list of the skills you need to excel whether you're in sales or any other profession. A salesperson without passion is just an order taker.

If you're in sales, you can have a great product, a tremendous territory and a fabulous marketing campaign, but if you don't have passion, it's hard to make a sale. When you have passion, you speak with conviction, act with authority and present with zeal. When you are excited and passionate about a product-or anything for that matter-people notice. They want in on the action. They want to know what can be so good.

There is no substitute for passion. If you don't have an intense, burning desire for what you are doing, there's no way you'll be able to work the long, hard hours it takes to become successful.

"Make sure that the career you choose is one you enjoy," said Kathy Whitworth, who won 88 LPGA tournaments, more than anyone on the men's or women's professional circuit. I was lucky enough to be in attendance when she won four of them. "If you don't enjoy what you are doing, it will be difficult to give the extra time, effort and devotion it takes to be a success. If it is a career that you find fun and enjoyable, then you will do whatever it takes. You will give freely of your time and effort, and you will not feel that you are making sacrifices in order to be a success."

President Harry Truman once said: "Good work is never done in cold blood; heat is needed to forge anything. Every great achievement is the story of a flaming heart."

Mark Twain was once asked the reason for his success. He said, "I was born excited."

J. Paul Getty, the wealthy oil tycoon, actually ranked passion ahead of imagination, business acumen and ambition as necessary ingredients of business success.

Surround yourself with people who are passionate about their jobs. You'll catch their passion. And remember that you can't be passionate when you feel like it. You have to be passionate about your job, product or cause all the time.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-mart, had 10 "Rules for Success." Rule number one was "Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anything else. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do the best you can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you-like a fever."

Set an example for your co-workers or teammates to be passionate. There's nothing more powerful and more contagious than passion.

By Harvey Mackay