Engagement, Extrication, Light Saber Leadership - Workology

Engagement, Extrication, Light Saber Leadership - Workology The Extrication Process It seems like everyone these days is talking about engagement. Whether it’s employee engagement, customer engagement, client engagement, or candidate engagement.   In our Conversation Culture series, I focus specifically on workplace culture and engagement because things impact your customer, client, employees, candidates, and even social media. Companies like Zappos create an engaging workplace culture to draw candidates and customers in.   Tony Heish’s use of paying new employees to leave his organization is seen as a risky engagement tool by many.     Imagine all the headaches that could be avoided if provided new disengaged workers opportunity to leave the workplace before they interacted with our customers, and we spent the time training them. The Extrication Process The process that Zappos employs is called  extrication.   Eliminating and removing those unhappy, miserable, and organizational cancer causing employees before the cancer spreads.   Some companies unlike Zappos wait months or even years before the extrication process begins.   Sometimes dragging their feet or providing their disengaged workers stellar employee performance reviews only weeks later requesting their removal from the throes of the organizational culture.   And without documentation or conversation. I know what you are saying.   The interview and hiring process must be flawed.   How can we let our leaders hire disengaged and disenchanted employees in the first place? (a topic for another day) Keeping Employees Engaged Engagement on the other hand encourages conversation.   Defined as the act or state of being engaged.   It is also referred to  a promise or agreement.   Engagement is a state to which one can fall in and out of.   Similar to love except divorce is a much more messy process unless your extrication results in a big fat lawsuit. Engagement can happen a number of different ways to promote a Conversation Culture.   And conversation involves an engagement.   While talk may be cheap, the real magic of engagement isn’t talking, it’s listening through a variety of methods. One on Ones.  Individual meetings with your team members to talk about projects, the job, results, and life.   One on Ones are a two way conversation where the employee controls most of the topic selection allowing for brainstorming, developing a relationship, and creating a sense of involvement. Skip Level Meetings.  These are meetings where upper level management meets with their manager’s employees just to touch base.   Effective Skip Level Meetings are a small manageable size focused on a particular topic.   This should scheduled at regular intervals and involve an employee base selected at random.   (I recommend using an online random  number generatorwith your employee roster corresponding to numbers.   Use an Excel spreadsheet. ) Town Halls.  Groups of employee populations with the purposes to generate discussion either around an assigned or random topic.   These are a great way to get the pulse on a location.   The meeting allows for ground rules or respecting others, be open, and solution focused.   Actionable items should be followed up with the corresponding attendees so that you can demonstrate progress. Employee Committees.  Let your employee population become your marketing team.   Get them involved in an employee committee lead by their peers focused on something like actionables from the employee survey or a group focused on the company culture.   The committee is volunteer/hand selected.   They can help be the champions for Conversation Culture.   Past committees have presented location initiatives like flexible scheduling, the need for a wii in the breakroom, or moving the management team to the cubicle floor. Not sure that engagement works?   Consider companies like Rackspace and the Conversation Culture strategies they employ.   Visit their  Racker Blog  to learn more and check out a video of the workplace culture an impromptu Light Saber Flashmob below. May the force be with you

What Its Like to Work Year-Round in a Vacation Destination

What It's Like to Work Year-Round in a Vacation Destination What It's Like to Work Year-Round in a Vacation Destination During my summers in school I lived and dealt with Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Just an hour or two from Boston, the number of inhabitants in Cape Cod swells by in excess of 250 percent in the traveler substantial long stretches of July and August. This deluge of vacationers requires a large group of occasional representatives to help them and keep them engaged. In the late spring months occupations flourish for individuals who can work in inns, cafés, pontoon visit tasks, event congregations, day camps, fairways, and so forth. Indeed, even the National Park Service and neighborhood law authorization offices need to increment staffing levels to help the crowds of individuals arranging to get a decision spot at the sea shore parking garage. For me it was a simple fit for a mid year work. I worked six to seven days every week at a sandwich shop and tended to tables at a café. The main summer I lived with a nearby family (cherished companions from New Hampshire who had moved there) and met a neighborhood kid whom I dated all through school. Through him and his companions, I got an elevated view into the all year economy. After school I remained one fall through November and encountered the distinct difference of the Cape with and with out sightseers. Here are a few things I discovered that may help in case you're thinking about migrating to a spot you love to travel. Consistent Year-Round Employment Is Scarce and Limited The most ideal approach to guarantee all year work is to have a vocation in a calling, for example, medicinal services, instruction, law or banking. Summers on Cape Cod can feel like a casual huge city in light of the fact that there are such a significant number of individuals from New York and Boston traveling there. Be that as it may, large city or tech employments, for example, programming designing, the board counseling, internet based life showcasing, and so forth., are everything except non-existent. In the event that you need to work in those kinds of fields, you will wind up driving 60 miles or more to the Boston territory. Consider in the case of going through hours daily driving is worth access to sea shores that you'll be too worn out to even consider enjoying. To secure the positions that are there, organizing with local people is vital. It is genuinely modest community living where who you know is a higher priority than your astonishing resume. Many of these occupations are taken by individuals who experienced childhood with the Cape, left to school and returned to begin their families. The more you can become acquainted with them, the better possibility you'll have of discovering proficient business. Be a Jack-of-All-Trades Numerous Cape Codders have a late spring vocation and a winter profession. A mid year angling visit vessel guide may do lodging development in the winter. A primary teacher may run a reward remain in the late spring. Different occupations that have occasional changes are UPS drivers and occasion retail. Occasional adaptability likewise implies that you can hope to work longer hours in the mid year and furthermore get more cash-flow, which obviously should be spared to get you through the winter months when you may work shorter hours, if any whatsoever. Systems administration is key for these occupations also. Somebody's better half or spouse or companion or relative will be supported for an occupation over a pariah. In case you're working at an occasional activity as of now, and need to remain on, become acquainted with local people, especially entrepreneurs. They are the ones who will keep you utilized and pass your name along when they know about something. Making significant individual associations and telling them all the things you can do will keep you top of psyche when it comes time to change gears. Diversion Options Decrease in the Off-Season Probably the most mainstream cafés and watering openings are covered after Labor Day. In the event that you love a spot like the Wellfleet Beachcomber or the Brewster Woodshed, don't hope to go there in December. Numerous structures that house well known summer organizations arent even protected. Summer exercises, for example, building sandcastles on a packed sea shore may be supplanted with walking around an abandoned sea shore. You may likewise find that you need to drive farther to get more assortment. A modest community zone like Brewster and Orleans can keep you engaged in July and August, yet come fall you'll wind up needing to wander toward Hyannis or even Boston just to encounter some assortment. Retirees are Everywhere Numerous occasional get-away goals have gained notoriety for drawing in retirees for all year living. Cape Cod is one of them. On the off chance that you work in wellbeing administrations, this could be reason enough to move there. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you are looking for the dynamic youth culture you find at a spot like The Woodshed, go to where those individuals live, not where they get-away. You are Free to Enjoy The Land Without all the People A wonderful spot is excellent in each season. You won't jump into waves at Nauset Beach in January, yet you can in any case appreciate watching the waves slamming on the shores while wearing a parka. The lakes may be solidified and the sea shores secured with day off, you'll locate another thankfulness for those unique spots when they're not swarmed with visitors. Most all year occupants love it for precisely those reasons and inhale a murmur of alleviation come September. That is the thing that makes it justified, despite all the trouble. Indeed, even with all my neighborhood associations I didnt decide to remain on Cape Cod past that one November. I realized I expected to live in a major city to do what I adored. Be that as it may, a significant number of my companions are still there and are flourishing as a piece of the network of local people.

Live on High Velocity Radio! -

Live on High Velocity Radio! - Im eager to welcome you to listen live tomorrow Monday, July twentieth at 10:00 am Eastern time on High Velocity Radio when I will join visitor have Stephanie A. Lloyd, Founder and CEO, Radiant Veracity (at the crossing point of ability and web-based social networking) and Jenny DeVaughn, Senior Talent Consultant at Talent Connections, for a conversation about online life and how to utilize it effectively for individual marking, getting a new line of work, business advancement and propelling your vocation. Where would you be able to discover High Velocity Radio? Follow THIS LINK to Stephanies blog for a listen live player. There is nobody size fits all vocation guidance. Dont you merit the best, customized data and help? Figure out how I can assist you with your inquiry. Disappointed that your inquiry isnt bringing about work? In Atlanta? Go along with me and Stephanie for our arrangement of in-person pursuit of employment mediations. Peruse increasingly about how to drive your pursuit and sign up here.

Measuring Intelligence - 5 Reasons For New Thinking on IQ

Measuring Intelligence - 5 Reasons For New Thinking on IQ Measuring Intelligence 5 Reasons For New Thinking on IQ Image Source: iStockIN ANY discussion of  measuring intelligence, the Intelligence Quotient or IQ score usually plays a significant part. But if any  one thing in human history has had the most undesirable consequences arising from the name given to it, ‘Intelligence Quotient’ or IQ must surely be one of the strongest candidates for the dubious honour.Coined by psychologist William Stern the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, is a score derived from one of a number of standardised  tests designed for  assessing and measuring intelligence in humans. The first IQ test was developed by psychologist named Alfred Binet to help identify students who required extra help. Refined by Stanford Professor Lewis Terman, this became the “Stanford-Binet” test that’s still used today.If intelligence can be taken to mean the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, it is a good thing that a standardised  process for attempting to measure it exists.The problem tends to arise when the num erical score of the IQ has been usedâ€"as it often has beenâ€"as a predictor of success.  The key words and phrases in the above paragraph are “acquire and apply”, “knowledge and skills”, “measure”, “numerical score”, and “predictor of success”â€"and the phrases create a dissonance arising from the juxtaposition of scientific, data-based accuracy with the imprecision of “prediction” and the abstract concept of “success“.Of course, that was something of a word game, and proves nothing. What can’t be denied is the rise in those who criticise  the limitations of IQ and other standardised  tests; key business figures who are beginning to reject the tests outright; and researchers who are working to establish alternatives.Here are five main reasons why IQ needs to reassessed: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. The Minority EffectIN  IQ tests, the median score is IQ 100, and there are standard deviations of 15 points greater or less. Appro ximately two-thirds of the population will score between IQ85 and IQ115. Above 5 percent of the population scores above IQ 125, and 5 percent below IQ 75.As noted by the Seattle-based writer Emerson Jane Browne, who researches and blogs about cognitive science and neuroscience, IQ scores recreated visually create a bell curve shape [see graph below], with long, steep tails on either end.Image Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe consequence is that there are “no negative or even neutral words” to describe IQs more than two standard deviations from the mean [i.e, greater than 130, lesser than 70].Those more than two standard deviations below the mean are considered by greater society as falling outside the norm, “and require additional assistance to adapt and be successful in society”.Meanwhile, those with IQ scores in excess of 130 are singled out as gifted, exceptional and above averageâ€"“only positive words” are used, and particularly for the 146+ bracket: thereby creating an other minority, but not one that is viewed with “the same compassion and understanding”.“The rating is out of balance. It exaggerates the positive aspects of the IQ without respecting the difficulties,” writes Browne, underscoring the views of the CIVIQ Society, which admits only those with IQs of greater than 14: “That high intelligence is a gift with only positive implications is a common misconception: it brings up facilities (talents, strengths and interests) on one hand, but often also specific difficulties and needs on the other.”2. IQ Does Not Predict SuccessTHE IQ threshold for Genius is 140; and Extraordinary Genius is 160. People often draw a direct correlation between genius IQs and success and achievement in the cases of, for example, Beethoven (165); Bill Gates, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin (all 160); and Thomas Edison (145). This overlooks a number of other key factors that do these iconic characters a great disservice, and also place burdens of ex pectation on those with equivalent IQ scores.What united all those successful people was their persistence in the face of setbacks, failures and disadvantage. Einstein did not speak until he was four years old; Bill Gates’s first business failed; Edison worked at thousands of prototypes for the lightbulb before succeeding; Franklin dropped out of school at the age of 10; and Beethoven was told he would fail.Their fierce persistence paid off, but it was as much hard work and guts, as high IQ, that secured their success. Fortunately, persistence tends to be a trait of people who score highly on IQ tests, but not everyone with a high IQ is a success.Lewis Termans study of 1,500 California pupils with IQs greater than 140, begun in 1926 and extending into the longest-living subjects eighth decade, found that while the groups average salary was twice that of the average white-collar job, many pursued professions such as policing, seafaring and secretarial work. (adsbygoogle = window.a dsbygoogle || []).push({}); 3. IQ Does Not Predict RationalityA STUDY by Keith Stanovich at the University of Toronto found that rational thinking was independent of IQ.Stanovich looked into the “my-side bias”, the tendency to cling to our assumptions and reinforce our attitudes, and found that avoiding this, a strength of rational thinking, was no more likely to be done by smarter people than by those with average IQs.4. IQ Does Not Predict WisdomIN 2014, Igor Grossman at the University of Waterloo, Canada, devised a means of predicting success and happiness that was based not on intelligence but wise reasoning and wisdom.Grossman presented his randomly chosen volunteers with social dilemmas, drawn from reality, and observed and recorded their reasoning; their tendency to bias; the construction of their arguments; and whether they were prepared to accept the limits of their knowledge.In the study, Grossman found that wise reasoning was associated with greater life satisfaction, better social relationships, more positivity and less negativity in speech, less “depressive rumination” and greater longevity.Grossman has also begun testing his view that wisdom is not fixed, through simple experiments such as talking through problems in the third person, and assessing how this emotional distance can reduce prejudice and leader to wiser arguments. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. Larger Companies Losing Faith in Standardised TestsLASZLO Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google, suggested that IQ had had its day as a means of measuring intelligence, when he told The New York Times in 2014 that the company was no longer looking at grade point averages, test scores, and even IQ.“For every job,” he said, “the No. 1 thing we look for us general cognitive ability, and its not IQ. Its learning ability. Its the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.”The other qualities valued at Google, in descending or der, are leadership (but not the traditional evaluationâ€"“when faced with a problem, and youre a member of a team, do you, at the appropriate time, step in and lead. And just as critically, do you step back and stop leading…?”); intellectual humility (“without humility you are unable to learn”); and finally, expertise.Possession of those qualities is seen at Google as being achievable even without third level education. Bock reveals that the proportion of people at Google without college education was as high as 14 percent on some teams.IT IS undeniable that IQ tests have their scientific uses, but they are by no means a satisfactory design for life. While they may provide a sound indication of cognitive ability, it would be a mistake to over-emphasise their reliability in measuring intelligence.Employers and hirers must work harder to devise more rounded indications of employee suitability.To do anything else would be rather at odds with the wisdom that Igor Grossman has found so central to a long, happy and successful life. Measuring Intelligence - 5 Reasons For New Thinking on IQ Measuring Intelligence 5 Reasons For New Thinking on IQ Image Source: iStockIN ANY discussion of  measuring intelligence, the Intelligence Quotient or IQ score usually plays a significant part. But if any  one thing in human history has had the most undesirable consequences arising from the name given to it, ‘Intelligence Quotient’ or IQ must surely be one of the strongest candidates for the dubious honour.Coined by psychologist William Stern the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, is a score derived from one of a number of standardised  tests designed for  assessing and measuring intelligence in humans. The first IQ test was developed by psychologist named Alfred Binet to help identify students who required extra help. Refined by Stanford Professor Lewis Terman, this became the “Stanford-Binet” test that’s still used today.If intelligence can be taken to mean the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, it is a good thing that a standardised  process for attempting to measure it exists.The problem tends to arise when the num erical score of the IQ has been usedâ€"as it often has beenâ€"as a predictor of success.  The key words and phrases in the above paragraph are “acquire and apply”, “knowledge and skills”, “measure”, “numerical score”, and “predictor of success”â€"and the phrases create a dissonance arising from the juxtaposition of scientific, data-based accuracy with the imprecision of “prediction” and the abstract concept of “success“.Of course, that was something of a word game, and proves nothing. What can’t be denied is the rise in those who criticise  the limitations of IQ and other standardised  tests; key business figures who are beginning to reject the tests outright; and researchers who are working to establish alternatives.Here are five main reasons why IQ needs to reassessed: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. The Minority EffectIN  IQ tests, the median score is IQ 100, and there are standard deviations of 15 points greater or less. Appro ximately two-thirds of the population will score between IQ85 and IQ115. Above 5 percent of the population scores above IQ 125, and 5 percent below IQ 75.As noted by the Seattle-based writer Emerson Jane Browne, who researches and blogs about cognitive science and neuroscience, IQ scores recreated visually create a bell curve shape [see graph below], with long, steep tails on either end.Image Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe consequence is that there are “no negative or even neutral words” to describe IQs more than two standard deviations from the mean [i.e, greater than 130, lesser than 70].Those more than two standard deviations below the mean are considered by greater society as falling outside the norm, “and require additional assistance to adapt and be successful in society”.Meanwhile, those with IQ scores in excess of 130 are singled out as gifted, exceptional and above averageâ€"“only positive words” are used, and particularly for the 146+ bracket: thereby creating an other minority, but not one that is viewed with “the same compassion and understanding”.“The rating is out of balance. It exaggerates the positive aspects of the IQ without respecting the difficulties,” writes Browne, underscoring the views of the CIVIQ Society, which admits only those with IQs of greater than 14: “That high intelligence is a gift with only positive implications is a common misconception: it brings up facilities (talents, strengths and interests) on one hand, but often also specific difficulties and needs on the other.”2. IQ Does Not Predict SuccessTHE IQ threshold for Genius is 140; and Extraordinary Genius is 160. People often draw a direct correlation between genius IQs and success and achievement in the cases of, for example, Beethoven (165); Bill Gates, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin (all 160); and Thomas Edison (145). This overlooks a number of other key factors that do these iconic characters a great disservice, and also place burdens of ex pectation on those with equivalent IQ scores.What united all those successful people was their persistence in the face of setbacks, failures and disadvantage. Einstein did not speak until he was four years old; Bill Gates’s first business failed; Edison worked at thousands of prototypes for the lightbulb before succeeding; Franklin dropped out of school at the age of 10; and Beethoven was told he would fail.Their fierce persistence paid off, but it was as much hard work and guts, as high IQ, that secured their success. Fortunately, persistence tends to be a trait of people who score highly on IQ tests, but not everyone with a high IQ is a success.Lewis Termans study of 1,500 California pupils with IQs greater than 140, begun in 1926 and extending into the longest-living subjects eighth decade, found that while the groups average salary was twice that of the average white-collar job, many pursued professions such as policing, seafaring and secretarial work. (adsbygoogle = window.a dsbygoogle || []).push({}); 3. IQ Does Not Predict RationalityA STUDY by Keith Stanovich at the University of Toronto found that rational thinking was independent of IQ.Stanovich looked into the “my-side bias”, the tendency to cling to our assumptions and reinforce our attitudes, and found that avoiding this, a strength of rational thinking, was no more likely to be done by smarter people than by those with average IQs.4. IQ Does Not Predict WisdomIN 2014, Igor Grossman at the University of Waterloo, Canada, devised a means of predicting success and happiness that was based not on intelligence but wise reasoning and wisdom.Grossman presented his randomly chosen volunteers with social dilemmas, drawn from reality, and observed and recorded their reasoning; their tendency to bias; the construction of their arguments; and whether they were prepared to accept the limits of their knowledge.In the study, Grossman found that wise reasoning was associated with greater life satisfaction, better social relationships, more positivity and less negativity in speech, less “depressive rumination” and greater longevity.Grossman has also begun testing his view that wisdom is not fixed, through simple experiments such as talking through problems in the third person, and assessing how this emotional distance can reduce prejudice and leader to wiser arguments. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. Larger Companies Losing Faith in Standardised TestsLASZLO Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google, suggested that IQ had had its day as a means of measuring intelligence, when he told The New York Times in 2014 that the company was no longer looking at grade point averages, test scores, and even IQ.“For every job,” he said, “the No. 1 thing we look for us general cognitive ability, and its not IQ. Its learning ability. Its the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.”The other qualities valued at Google, in descending or der, are leadership (but not the traditional evaluationâ€"“when faced with a problem, and youre a member of a team, do you, at the appropriate time, step in and lead. And just as critically, do you step back and stop leading…?”); intellectual humility (“without humility you are unable to learn”); and finally, expertise.Possession of those qualities is seen at Google as being achievable even without third level education. Bock reveals that the proportion of people at Google without college education was as high as 14 percent on some teams.IT IS undeniable that IQ tests have their scientific uses, but they are by no means a satisfactory design for life. While they may provide a sound indication of cognitive ability, it would be a mistake to over-emphasise their reliability in measuring intelligence.Employers and hirers must work harder to devise more rounded indications of employee suitability.To do anything else would be rather at odds with the wisdom that Igor Grossman has found so central to a long, happy and successful life.