Managers: funny, isn’t it, how the times when you feel like you need training the most are the very times when you feel you can afford it the least?

Wouldn’t you love to know the Key Success Factors (KSFs) to track to help you reduce training expense without impacting effectiveness? I hope so, because that’s what I’ve written about today!

If you are in management, you’ll want to forward this post to your head of HR. In today’s economy, competitive companies must get development right… when financial capital is tight, human capital has got to be on.

KSF 1: Getting the Method Right by Communicating “Commercial-Style”

Many of my clients have heard me talk about communicating “commercial-style,” where I have them break a complex message into bite-sized nuggets and deliver those nuggets, one at a time, over the course of multiple interactions. Ideally, messages are entertaining, too… not because it’s important to be funny, but because people have an easier time remembering a message if they’re feeling relaxed while they are concentrating on it. This is opposed to trying to get all your points across all at once, and the method is modeled after those TV ads that have mastered the concept.

(Think about McDonald’s: when they show an ad about Chicken Tenders, they don’t worry that they’re not also telling you about Big Macs, late night hours, free coffee Mondays, and what have you. Unlike you, who worries that if you don’t get everything off your chest Right Now! then you will never have another chance to make your case, McDonald’s knows it will see you again, so it delivers a series of incomplete messages that, when strung together, tell a full story. Newsflash: b-school marketing classes teach the McDonald’s methodology, not yours. Know why? Because theirs works.)

Applied to Training & Development

Training & Development is not immune. Anyone who has built an Individualized Development Plan with me knows that I favor simple, doable plans that spread development out over time to overwhelming checklists that try to hit you with everything all at once.

The human brain can only absorb so much!

Yet most training programs still try to jam as much as possible into a day. Designers are afraid that if they don’t fill the hours and show a long list of “objectives”, that they’re not delivering value. The result are programs that jam more information in a day than a person can possibly retain, and while everyone walks out feeling like they got their money’s worth, the positive impact on results soon evaporates.

Could you imagine McDonald’s buying a 3-hour block of time and trying to tell you everything you need to know about McD at once? It doesn’t matter what “learning modalities” they accommodate, it’s simply too much information!

KSF 2: Getting the Message Right (It’s Not About the Content)

Why do people go to training classes?

Aside from “Because someone said they have to go?”

Hint: It’s not to learn the content of the course.

Got it yet?

People go to training because they want a better future. They’re buying the ability to chase a dream. The skills they learn are simply a vehicle for doing so!

Trainers who focus on learning modalities and other tools to refine the content of their programs ignore the primary reason why people are there… and their programs often fail as a result. The content could be perfect, sweet, and to the point, and it would still miss the mark.

If training, coaching, or other development content is going to get into someone’s head and stay there, then the message has to make an emotional connection with the participant. On TV, this emotional component is often, though not always, handled through entertainment. In business, it is often better handled through motivation.

But whatever it’s form, it must be present for learning and development activities to be effective.

KSF 3: Getting the Channel Right: Using Technology to Be Where the People Are

The third thing you need to do is use the right communication channels. This one’s simple: go to where your people are. Why pull them away from their desks time and again for training when much of that content can be delivered to their desktop… or better, to their cell phone, so they can take it with them?!

Take your developmental content that focuses on transferable skills: package it in a commercial with emotional appeal, shrink it down to its core essence so that you don’t waste a minute of time, and now deliver it through online video that can be downloaded via iTunes to someone’s phone or iPod.

Now, my focus is on managing and developing the next generation… you want to tell me that you think sticking people in a room together and lecturing them for days on end is going to yield better results than a series of compelling video commercials that can be viewed during an elevator ride?

What an Emotionally Connected, Development Commercial Looks Like: Handling Rejection

Enough description. What does this look like in practice? Below is the first “commercial” in a series on how to handle rejection. After you watch it, track how long it sticks in your head and gets you thinking about your behiavor. Initially feedback is: at least 2 full days.

By the way, here’s what 2 days means in terms of effectiveness: to match the impact of this 90 second video, a day-long training program would need to result in 640 days of changed behavior to match this effectiveness… and that’s not even correcting for training’s significantly higher cost per minute!

If you like the concept and want more information, send an email to jason@seidenleadership.com. I’ll be glad to show you more.

Brian & LaRon, this one is for you:

Posted under Video, Coaching & Consulting, Gen X & Gen Y

Looking for a job? First time job seeker?

That resume of yours may get you an audience, but it won’t close the deal for you. Especially in today’s market, you need the tools to go from opportunity to job. And that means knowing the following:

“Industry experience required”
Nothing in a job posting is more negotiable than experience (within reason). Managers will often gladly trade experience for a candidate with a demonstrated ability to take initiative. That said…

• Do a gut check. If the job requires an advanced degree and years of management experience, and you’re just out of school, think twice before carpet bombing the recruiter. But if the experience requested is only a few years, game on.
• Learn as much as you can about the company and the industry before the interview. Start by Googling the company and its competitors. Find industry groups, many of whom can give you an industry primer if you call them. Look up the names of trade shows, and see if you can find presentations for download. Read them. During your interview, refer to this research and ask about anything—anything—that stands out; it could be an acronym you couldn’t find explained or some other jargon. It doesn’t matter what the question is… it’s the demonstration of your initiative to do the research and form the question that matters.
• If that previous bullet sounds like too much work, immediately bend over and extract your cranium from your rectum. Last week, the world changed. (Or haven’t you noticed?) Easy Street has been closed for renovation.

“Ability to adapt to fast-paced environments”

The company isn’t sure what the job will entail, maybe because management is too lazy to think it through, or maybe because things are simply moving too fast. If you need a lot of structure to be happy, this will not be the job for you, opt out. But if you know how to handle ambiguity and get things done despite a lot of “noise,” this is your ticket. What to ask about in the interview: the top boss. If the top boss is a tough cookie, take the job; if the top boss is a waffle, or if you get any hesitation about the top boss’ capabilities or an answer that talks to politics of any kind, be wary that the flexibility required is result of oft-shifting priorities.

“Hiring Manager”
HR might love you, but this is the person making the decision. Be nice to everyone, and make no mistake: the last interview you do, with the hiring manager, is more than a formality. It is the real deal, and if you walk in thinking, “Hey, HR loves me, I’m in,” you’ve got another thing coming. That kind of arrogance will lead to two things: (1) you will get bounced, and (2) the hiring manager will wonder what the heck HR was thinking by sending you in.

“Phone Screening”
#1 thing you need to do: be liked. While you’re thinking of the hiring process, I’m thinking about all the days that follow the hiring process and if you’re the kind of person I want hanging around every. day. of. the. year. You’ll have a chance to tell me about your qualifications in a moment, right now, I need to know if you can connect with me as a human. And by the way, be ready for this.

Qualifications
No two people do the same job the same way, so don’t talk about your qualifications as if you are some automaton. Show me who you are and what makes you a better choice than the other candidates. Notice I did not say “tell me,” I said “show me.” Dress the part, shake my hand, look me in the eye, speak confidently, offer to show me an Excel macro you wrote, bring a writing sample… whatever it is, show me.

There is a lot, lot more that can (and will) be said in this area… if there is something you would like to see explored at more depth, like specific interview questions, what to look for during a site visit, etc., let me know. And for “10 Critical Differences Between Executive Job Candidates and Executive Job Getters,” see this article on Northwestern University’s website.

Posted under Self-Development, Gen X & Gen Y

The more I dive into generational issues, the more convinced I become that 20- and 30-year cohorts are simply too broad; the world is simply changing too fast.

Generations are not defined exclusively by the years they were born, they are also defined by the experiences they share. So when the world changes as significantly and as rapidly as it has been doing lately, and when one considers that people’s most formative years—often assumed to correspond with one’s teen years, more or less—span a period of only 6-7 years, it stands to reason that we’d find distinct cohorts within generations.

And guess what: we can. Unscientifically, here’s one way to slice Gen X… this is unscientific, and is not meant to be exhaustive. This is meant only to illustrate the point that a generation can be logically sliced into narrower cohorts… and to get you thinking about the folks you’re working with in a new way:

Gen X Cohort 1
Reagan Democrats
ERA expiration
Double digit inflation
Middle East out of control (Iran hostage crisis, Sadat, Marines in Lebanon, TWA hostage crisis, El Al attacks in Rome and Vienna, Achille Lauro, Berlin nightclub bombing, Libyan “Line of Death”)
VCRs, CDs, MTV
Judy Blume
Mary Lou Retton
Deer Hunter, First Blood, “Born in the U.S.A.”, Platoon
Standing in line for movies like Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Star Wars, E.T.
Geraldine Ferraro
AIDS debate (it was not universally accepted as a crisis at first; there was a lot of push-back and organizational sclerosis in dealing with it)
SDI Initiative (Star Wars)
Live Aid
1984
Iron-on t-shirts
Madonna, Run D.M.C.
Japanese manufacturing threat

This cohort comes of age as America finally absorbs the lessons of Vietnam and the economic impact of the oil shocks of the ‘70’s. Double digit inflation comes under control just in time for taxpayers see the president double the national debt and propose even more spending for SDI. Computers proliferate. Kids watch their moms go to work and, because society doesn’t know how to support moms in the work place, they watch out for each other. Even minor cultural events like summer blockbusters are still large, communal events. An actor in the White House, and MTV in the living room, mean that appearances matter from now on. Rules about gender roles are starting to change, but a resurgent national pride and focus on military build up give the era a decidedly masculine feel.

Gen X Cohort 2
Iran-Contra scandal
Chernobyl
Yuppies
1987 market crash
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!”
Hair metal (that’s music, y’all)
Tianimen Square
Salman Rushdie fatwa
I get my drivers license and fill up @ ~$.97/gal (just waxin’ nostalgic)
S&L crisis
AIDS
Barbarians at the Gate, Wall Street
Exxon Valdez
Pan Am flight 103
“Read my lips!”
Wayne’s World
Gulf War
Milli Vanilli
Japanese market collapse

The 1989 earthquake in SF is a great metaphor for this cohort, which seems to experience the results of long-term pressures in quick, big jolts. Chernobyl is the result of crumbling infrastructure; China cracks down on dissidents; America goes to war to secure oil access; S&Ls cost US taxpayers $150 billion—a staggering sum at the time; M&A activity is larger than life; the stock market crash is blamed on program trading; terrorism takes a turn for the spectacular; the entertainment industry is scandalized when Grammy award winners are outed as fakes. The music is loud and the nihilistic, no-tomorrow rock star lifestyle is celebrated to the extreme.

Gen X Cohort 3
Nirvana
Russian economic crisis
Proliferation of the internet
Netscape IPO
Over-commercialization of… everything.
Napster

Nirvana gives the finger to very concept of the institution, with Cobain literally showing up on Rolling Stone in a “Corporate Magazines Suck” t-shirt. With that, the individual enters the scene as a powerful force… big time. Big business as it has been doesn’t know it yet, but it’s days are numbered. Initially, the power of the individual is captured in the negative—think “Loser” by beck and “Creep” by Radiohead—but when Netscape hits, that individualism translates into free market labor and a technical revolution. Napster is a first crack at individuals fighting against the machine and winning… people on the inside are a bit taken aback at just how many victories are scored before the machine fights back, and the disorganized, ham-handed return volley by the industry is laughable.

Certainly, not a scientific cut… not even final thoughts; I could just as easily sliced these cohorts a different way. But as I go through and cut this generational stuff every which way, it does strike me that even within a single generation, multiple, distinct cohorts exist. This is one way of identifying them.

Posted under Gen X & Gen Y

I recently read a manuscript about Gen X in the workplace, and as I did so, I was struck by how much of a transitional generation we are. Perhaps because of all the flux that has occurred (and continues to occur) in our time, we have always struggled to have a positive identity; so many of the experiences we share are negatives. In no particular order:

-3 Mile Island
-AIDS
-Tylenol scare
-Drinking age went up from 18 to 21
-Existential self-awareness of grunge
-Emo bands before them
-Cobain’s suicide
-Bush’s famous broken promise, “No new taxes”
-Clinton’s impeachment

Even positives are often construed as negatives:
-The Berlin Wall fell; communism failed
-The Gulf War: military victory, social and geopolitical mess
-Wall Street (“Greed is good…” Don’t expect loyalty!)
-Political Correct movement… which stamped out discrimination on its face, and also gutted fearless, honest dialog
-Dot com boom… and bust

And what’s the hallmark of our generation? Arguably, it’s our snarky, ironic, self-awareness-laden sense of humor. From the Church Lady to Colbert, with guest appearances by Garafalo and Spade, our humor has a dark overtone.

What does it mean? I dunno, maybe nothing. But as I was reading through the manuscript and cataloging for myself all the things that define us, I struggled… I interpreted the negative definitions to mean that we are not defined… we are so used to be neither this nor that, it only seemed fitting to then ascribe that same “neither” quality to our trends… hence language framed in the negative. Indeed, most of the major trends I could think of had us either a little ahead of the curve or a little behind it… very few had us right in the middle. I thought that the absence of a defining characteristic was maybe in our genes (remember “slacker?”), sort of like a collective egolessness.

Then I thought about Sherpas.

Like Gen X, Sherpas have long been part of incredible journeys, but they’ve always been just a step to the side, never in the limelight and never really part of the action. Defining the Sherpa who carried Sir Edmund Hillary’s pack for him up Mt. Everest would have taken the spotlight off Sir HIllary… and that might have ruined the the romance and majesty of the trek. Focus too heavily on Tonto, and the mystique of the “Lone” Ranger falls apart. I felt like maybe society on the whole needs us to be undefined. We’re the ones laying the ladders over the crevasses, scoping the paths, installing the ropes… taking over for the Boomers who were happy to establish base camp and prepping the pass for the Yers who we already know want to hit the peak.

But unlike the work of the mountaineering, Nepalese Sherpa, the infrastructure we are laying is far more subtle. And disruptive:

-Technology: We put together Web 1.0. Most of us who were in it knew full well we were pushing these technologies beyond their capacities, that the collapse was only a matter of time, but we also knew that we needed to lay the infrastructure hard and fast in order to force corporate America (the driving force of change in our society) to take notice.
-Management: We have been flattening organizations for over a decade. Along with the Dot Com Boom came another important trend: flatter organizations. That era ushered in the idea of the meritocracy like none other: don’t like your job? Leave for a better one across the street. You’re the best programmer in the city? You could command salary and perks commensurate with your capabilities despite not being a management muckety-muck.
-Values: We have been putting a torch to wanton commercialism since day one (though this trend seems to be becoming undone). One morning when my dad and I had breakfast in 1997, he was stunned to see me in a swag t-shirt and ripped jeans. “You should dress like the CEO,” he said. “I do,” I replied. Nice suits? Brand names? Not necessary. We had our fill when Guess and Girbaud had us wearing acid wash jeans and ballon-y cotton pants. We learned early that being a slave to fashion could make you look dumb, and we haven’t forgotten the lesson.

The analogy is not perfect, but the idea seems to fit. And as we enter roles of real responsibility, it’ll now be our job to shepherd society through radical change in the economy overall, from a capitalism as we used to know it to something more fluid, global, and (de)centralized. Something that, like us, has yet to be defined, that retains elements of what preceded it and includes elements of a future that is still taking shape.

We’re not in the old world, and we’re not yet in the new. We are very much in between, and it’s up to Gen X to lay the foundation that gets us from the former to the latter.

America’s economic Sherpas.

Posted under Gen X & Gen Y

In technology?

Planning on moving from functional expert to manager to executive?

This presentation is for you.

If it’s helpful, let me know.

If it’s not helpful, let me know fast.

Posted under Coaching & Consulting, Gen X & Gen Y, Leadership