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Economic Problems Beget Performance Problems
| Half of those surveyed in a recent poll report feeling stress over financial matters. Just under half say the current economic uncertainty has caused them to be less productive at work. No doubt this is going to affect workforce performance in your project.
Performance affects may be obvious and wide-ranging, or may be hard to pin down as they appear to be isolated incidents:
Don't deny the possibility of continued performance problems in your project caused by the global economic meltdown. Support an effort in your organization to maintain continuous communications to workers designed to calm fears and bring a realistic perspective. It is also a good time to remind workers of the employee assistance program. |
Posted on: October 17, 2008 07:18 AM
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Comments (1)
Telecommuting and Sasquatch
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Many Alert Readers commented on the telecommuting posts I made. Generally, they were supportive of my comments about the importance of preparation of the workforce for this different way of interacting. One mentioned the problem with the nebulous rationalization that workers benefit naturally from "being together." I would say those who think this way confuse benefits of being together with benefits of effective interactions.
One reader was interested in my own experience. I telecommute about twice a week, and love it. Of course, my office is (temporarily) about 100 miles from my house. (When it comes to carbon footprint I am Sasquatch.) My employer - a global company - is extremely supportive of employees who work away from the classic office or workstation. I, in turn, support my team as they work at home certain days each week. I get performance benefits. They get work/life benefits. But we use special techniques to make it work.
Another reader responded that, if there is new telecommuting at an organization, things seem to be going along smoothly, and no one is "screaming", then why bother with establishing some bigger program? You may not actually have to in certain limited cases, but the classic reason usually applies: The symptoms of the problems are noticed too late - too late to repair the damage. |
Posted on: October 13, 2008 10:33 PM
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Why You Shouldn't Hire Experienced Workers
| Trying to pick up some experienced talent for your project in this recessionary environment. Hold on there, Sparky. A new study has determined that even though you get more experience and skills by hiring workers from other organizations, you may also get so much baggage that the costs outweigh the benefits of the experience. Yes, a study actually showed this. You can read the PDF yourself.
What's the baggage? "Behavioral and cognitive rigidities"
Experienced people may be set in their ways, which are not your ways, and may not be able to transition. They may be unable to escape some mental scripts that serve as the foundation of their decision-making, which also unfortunately make their decisions incompatible with success in your organization.
These findings must be major considerations for recruiters and workforce planners. I mean who woulda thunk it? The researches say that there is much justification for hiring newbies and indoctrinating them into your organization's culture. |
Posted on: October 08, 2008 10:25 PM
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E-Mail vs. Communication
| Our ability to write has not yet begun to transfer information that face to face communication allows. The e-mail reader is not able to decipher our true meaning by looking at our body language and facial expressions, which account for 65-93% of the message (depending on the expert you ask). In fact, more than one study has shown that "participants were only able to accurately communicate sarcasm and humor" in about half of the e-mails they sent! Worse, writers had no idea their views were being misinterpreted.
This is important to remember if you are a project manager who has many reasons to communicate well to motivate, inform, clarify, recognize performance, and so on. Readers cannot read "you" in an e-mail so be very careful. Experts suggest you re-read e-mails, read them aloud, or save them and look them over again later. Certainly avoid humor or sarcasm when it may be misinterpreted. Perhaps v-mail maybe our future. Leave e-mails for mass firings. (was that sarcasm?) |
Posted on: October 05, 2008 10:31 PM
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Preparing the Whole Team for Telecommuting
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In a recent post the subject of telecommuting came up. Organizations are allowing employees to work remotely without the proper planning for various economic reasons.
Telecommuting is not something you can simply "allow". There are many team issues and control measures that must be managed by a variety of specialists. A few examples:
These are only a few example, but give you an idea of the scope of what is involved. |
Posted on: October 03, 2008 07:33 AM
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