The Aspen Organization Development Blog

Integral Leadership - A Useful Model for Leadership Development

2009-10-29T07:48:00.004-04:00

Managers and HR professionals concerned with developing leaders are inundated with leadership development theories, models, concepts and courses - Situational Leadership, Servant Leadership, and the Leadership Lessons of everyone from Attila the Hun to Jack Welch, to name but a few.

One of the better leadership models to emerge in the last few years is “Integral Leadership” based on the work of Ken Wilber.

Integral leadership emphasizes working with both the objective, exterior, subjective, and interior aspects of individuals and organizations. Most leadership development programs focus primarily on the objective, exterior factors involved in the situation, for example: behaviors, skills, strategies, structures, and processes. An integral approach combines a focus on the external, observable factors with an equal focus on interior factors such as thinking, feeling, and values - at both the individual and organizational levels.

Integral Leadership considers four dimensions: Interior, Exterior, Individual, and Organizational. These four dimensions give us one of the best known tools known to management training – a four quadrant model. Here is how it plays out with the Integral Leadership:

It seems pretty obvious to say it, but effective leadership development must take account of all four quadrants. Most traditional leadership models, however, tend to focus either internally (e.g. emotional intelligence) or externally (e.g. situational leadership) and fail to integrate the two perspectives.

By not taking an integral approach to leadership development you risk misalignment between the four quadrants. If the internal and external landscapes are not aligned at the individual level, for example, you risk developing leaders who have learned some of the skills and behaviors of leadership but may not have the maturity and self awareness that leaders need to be effective in the long term. Similarly, if you have leaders who are not aligned with the organizational culture, systems, or strategies, how effective can they be?

At Aspen OD we use the Integral Leadership model as one of our key analytical and design tools when helping organizations to develop their leadership programs. We have found that a well designed leadership development curriculum must take account of all four quadrants to be successful.

Designing Effective E-Learning

2009-09-24T07:47:00.003-04:00

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that producing an effective e-learning module is a matter of juicing up a snappy PowerPoint presentation – you and your learners are likely to be disappointed with the results!

This article is designed to help e-learning designers and developers create, develop, and deploy effective on-line learning content and outlines some best practices to help get you the results you are looking for.

Make It Engaging

It is critical that learning content (whether e-learning, classroom, or blended) be designed to engage the learners and facilitate their interaction with the material. If the learners’ interest is not maintained, they will tune out—wasting precious time off the job and leading to poor memory retention. The learner needs to be involved through hands-on, participatory and experiential activities such as simulations and case studies. Engaging the learner also means that the e-learning should be fun or entertaining so that learners want to pay attention.

Use Relevant Examples

Adult learners are more motivated by practical, readily-applicable content than abstract theory and concepts. For content to be most valuable, it needs to relate to the learners’ world, including their industry, company and, most importantly, their job. Content should be relevant to the circumstances and aspirations of the students themselves. A way to make e-Learning more job-relevant is to design manager involvement and coaching into or after the course to provide on-the-job reinforcement. This improves e-learning effectiveness and retention.

Involve Experts

Content is more credible and accurate if it involves thought leaders or subject matter experts (SMEs) in the design of the e-learning content. SMEs have deep knowledge, skills or experience related to a topic. SME’s involvement can include writing content themselves or sharing their information with designers. Such experts are expected to not only know the subject but be able to implement it and relate their experience or “first-or second-hand anecdotes” to show how the skills and knowledge being covered can be effectively utilized to achieve desired outcomes.

Use Reliable Information

Use well-researched materials with reliable conclusions. Research based content is captivating, meaningful and accurate. To create it, eLearning developers should prioritize their efforts to ensure that learners can interact with research based materials and are able to relate it to their work.

Use blended methods if possible to accommodate different learning styles

E-learning can be combined with classroom based or on-the-job training to reinforce the learning. Each of us has a preferred learning style–the style in which we can learn most efficiently. That style is often defined using these three dimensions:
- Active or Reflective? Active learners attain understanding by doing or applying information. Reflective learners like to think things through before doing.
- Sensing or Intuitive? Sensing learners like facts, are rule-oriented, and feel comfortable with repetition and routine. Intuitive learners are more interested in the relationships between facts, resent repetition, and like to innovate.
- Visual or Verbal? Visual learners are more likely to retain what they see. Verbal learners remember words–spoken or written.
Most adult learners fall somewhere in the middle on all three dimensions. The challenge is to create learning experiences that will work for a wide range of adult learners. A way to do this is to incorporate a variety of instructional strategies into the course design. For example, you may wish to present “how-to” information in written form for the verbal learners, as well as streaming video demonstrations for the visual learners.

Use creativity or innovation in design

When evaluating the effectiveness of creativity and innovation in design of e-learning, a yes answer to all of the following questions is evidence of a high quality well designed instructional design e-learning program:
- Does the program immediately capture attention when it is run?
- Does the training program explain its relevance to learners? Does it answer the student’s question, "What’s in it for me?"
- Are learning objectives presented near the beginning of each lesson?
- Are learning objectives specific and observable?
- Is the presentation of content made interesting with a variety of media or through an engaging treatment?
- Does the program provide a variety of interactive exercises beyond simple multiple-choice questions?
- Are learners given the opportunity for frequent practice?
- Does the program include a post-test or other assessments?
Create easy-to-use support materials

Consider the support materials that should be provided for reference and as a reminder to the learners once they have completed the on-line module. This may be provided as downloadable material from the on-line learning module itself or a reference to a web site to access downloadable material may be provided.

Bring Civility Back to the Workplace

2009-08-24T22:47:00.001-04:00

According to the article "Clear Expectations Can Prevent Incivility, Experts Say" on SHrM, "Research shows that rudeness and incivility in the workplace—the type of behavior that doesn’t quite reach the level of bullying or harassment—creates a wide range of spillover effects. Training, clear expectations and accountability can help."

The authors of the recent research, Christine Porath and Christine Pearson, of the University of Southern California and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, respectively, note that "the cost of employee incivility can be measured by analyzing turnover and commitment rates, productivity levels, and the estimated number of work hours lost because of negative interactions."

The article goes on to define "incivility" in the workplace, which ranges from talking down to people to excluding people from meetings, and stresses the importance of employee training. A great way to ensure employees are informed of the organization's policies and procedures regarding incivility in the workplace is to create an employee handbook. An employee handbook details the company's policies and procedures surrounding the manner in which managers and subordinates alike are supposed to treat each other. Another way to foster a culture that promotes civility within the workplace is to provide training on topics ranging from conflict management to fair and equal management practices.

Though the research mentioned above has only recently been published by the distinguished scholars, the theories they have successfully helped to measure and quantify have certainly been observed in the past. Organizations have provided employee handbooks and traditional classroom training surrounding code of conduct for many years now. However, with the advent of new technology, there are new ways to combat "toxic" behavior in the workplace. Take our new product, Learning @..., for example. Learning @... is an online learning portal that combines great features such as the traditional employee handbook and training programs, but puts them into an interactive web application that employees can access any time they have an internet connection (and lets face it, that's pretty much all the time).

So for all the managers out there, make sure to properly train and inform all of your employees about the dangers of incivility in the workplace, no matter what tools you use to do it. Step up, be a leader, and help make your company a success!

Career Conversations in Trouble Economic Times

2009-08-18T18:23:00.001-04:00

I just read a great article on the SHrM website that discusses the need to engage employees in career development conversations, especially in these troubled economic times. Please take a look at the full article here: http://shrm.org/hrdisciplines/orgempdev/articles/pages/careerconversationtips.aspx

The author of the article, Caela Farren, Ph.D., states the following reasons why career conversations are still important: "We are living in tumultuous economic times. Job loss, corporate restructure, and worrisome finances are taking a toll on career plans. Strategies and tactics continue to change rapidly in organizations, which affects career options directly. The workforce is far more diverse—multicultural, multigenerational, global, technically diverse."

This is a very poignant and acute assessment, but it does not account for another scenario. Eventually the economy is going to begin roaring full steam ahead and break our of the doldrums that have thus far slowed it for the past two years. We are already beginning to see signs that some of the new economic policies enacted by the Obama administration are pointing us in the right direction. (This is certainly an arguable point, but I'm inclined to be a hopeful optimist!). With this in mind, it is important to have your employees on a viable and rewarding career track so that when the economic landscape corrects itself, employees do not jump ship from what they believe to be a dead end job.

Now is the time to have serious career conversations with your employees and create personal development plans that will provide goals for employees to work toward. Keeping your organization's talent on board when the economy is back in full swing will help you to meet future business demands.

Post personal development plan information on a bulletin board (or on your Learning @... web application - hint, hint :)) and help your dedicated employees succeed. Trust me, it will benefit your organization greatly!

Musings on Social Media

2009-08-13T00:06:00.003-04:00

There have been two recent articles in the news regarding employees use of social media in the work place. The first was posted on techcrunch.com and mashable.com and claims that 8% of the companies polled by ProofPoint, an internet security firm, have fired an employee due to their misuse of some of the most popular social networking sites, such as: Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Plurk, etc. (read the article here: mashable). The other was posted on the Society for Human Resources Management (SHrM) website, and was titled: Twitter with Care: Web 2.0 Usage Offers Few Second Chances. Similarly, the author notes that misuse of these popular sites can land employees in the proverbial hot water with their organizations (read the article here: SHrM).

Now some people may think that the appropriate course of action is to go home and erase every social media account they own. This might be a tad drastic. The lesson to be learned from these articles is to use social media, but make sure you do so in a responsible way. As organizations catch up with the rest of the world, regarding social media, they will surely become savvier at detecting your activities in the digital world. So the next time you decide to rip your boss a new one via your Facebook status, take a step back and think to yourself, "Is there any chance that he/she will see this?" There is a good shot that the answer is, YES!

For all the HR managers out there, it might be a good idea to make a clear statement in the company’s employee handbook that outlines the organization’s policies and attitude toward social media. Including social media as an aspect of the company’s policies and procedures should make employees think twice about posting inappropriate material.

Aspen OD Launches Learning @...

2009-08-13T00:00:00.003-04:00

This week, Aspen Organization Development Consulting launched its new cost-effective employee-learning web application, Learning @...

Combining technology, training, and communication, Learning @... is a customizable online learning portal that gives employees access to vital company information and learning tools in one powerful web application – and all at a fraction of the cost of traditional training and development methods.

With Learning @... companies can easily deliver key messages from senior management or the Human Resources department, inform employees of company policies and procedures, post information on learning events and seminars, provide employee performance information, host online training courses, and much more.

Learning @... is available in 3 flexible plans: Express, Professional,
and Executive.

For more information, please visit www.learning-at.com.

Coming Soon: New Online Employee Learning Tool

2009-07-27T21:43:00.005-04:00

In August, Aspen Organization Development Consulting will be launching a brand new online employee learning tool! Stay tuned to learn more about our exciting new HR tool!

All Online Learning is Not Created Equal

2009-07-27T21:33:00.003-04:00

Online learning can be just as effective as traditional classroom education for certain types of learning. Technical content and theoretical rather that practical aspects of a topic are two areas that work well for on-line learning. To be effective, however, on-line learning needs to be designed with the needs of the learner in mind. To fully leverage the benefits of on-line learning, instructors need to know and apply the principles of instructional design and adult learning. Instructional design is a system for creating training programs that achieve intended, measurable results. One of the most commonly used instructional design models is "ADDIE" which stands for Analysis, Design, Delivery, Implementation and Evaluation.

Analysis - the designer identifies the learning problem, the goals and objectives, the audience’s needs, the existing knowledge, and any other relevant characteristics. Analysis also considers the learning environment, any constraints, the delivery options, and the timeline for the learning project.

Design - involves a systematic process of specifying learning objectives. Detailed storyboards and prototypes are often made, and the look and feel, graphic design, user-interface and content is determined here.

Development - The actual creation (production) of the content and learning materials based on the Design phase.

Implementation - During implementation, the plan is put into action and a procedure for training the learner is developed.

Evaluation - This phase consists of tests designed for criterion-related items and providing opportunities for feedback from the users. Revisions are made as necessary.

In conjunction with instructional design, an instructor should also have knowledge of adult learning principles. Adult learners differ from their younger counterparts due to experiences and motivations. A younger student may need a course that provides them with facts and definitions, while a more experienced learner might be more interested in starting a second career furthering their education for immediate application at work.

Each of us has a preferred learning style – the style in which we can learn most efficiently. That style is often defined using these three dimensions:

Active versus Reflective? Active learners attain understanding by doing or applying information. Reflective learners like to think things through before doing.

Sensing versus Intuitive? Sensing learners like facts, are rule-oriented, and feel comfortable with repetition and routine. Intuitive learners are more interested in the relationships between facts, resent repetition, and like to innovate.

Visual versus Verbal? Visual learners are more likely to retain what they see. Verbal learners remember words – spoken or written.

Most adult learners fall somewhere in the middle on all three dimensions. If you would like to check your own style, here is a good site: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

As training and education professionals, our challenge is to create learning experiences that will work for a wide range of adult learners - not just ourselves.

How?

One way is to incorporate a variety of instructional strategies into your course design. For example, you may wish to present "how-to" information in written form for the verbal learners, as well as streaming video demonstrations for the visual learners.

Gaining an appreciation and understanding for the needs of learners will help an on-line instructional designer to better tailor the end product to achieve the learning goals.

Can you Learn to Drive a Car Online?

2009-07-27T21:25:00.003-04:00

Sure, you can go online and Google “how to...” do just about anything, but will these online lessons allow you to complete the task in real life without having actual hands on experience? Chances are you will not be able to learn how to do many things by just reading about them, the hands on element is missing.

So you say you want to learn how to drive a car with a manual transmission. You can read thousands of different websites until you have memorized them forwards and backwards. You jump in the car, start it, push in the clutch, change gears and you stall. Why? Every car is different and you need to feel the push of the clutch against your foot to actually know when to shift gears and press the gas while letting go of the clutch at the same time.

If you want to learn how to play the guitar you can research chords, fingering and tabs online. You can master finger placements, and then pick up a guitar and the note sounds awful. Finger placement is one thing but you also have to make sure your fingers are pressing down on all the strings.

There are many advantages to online learning. It is quick and you can do it at any time that is convenient for you. It is also easy, since there are so many websites and they are generally free. However, there are many limitations to online learning for the topics that require hands on practice – supervisory and leadership skills to name but two!!

Precise and detailed online explanation is great for learning the theory, but it cannot substitute for the practical experience a person gets from hands-on learning on the job or working with an experienced mentor or a coach.

The Benefits of Employee Learning Portals

2009-06-16T21:34:00.004-04:00

In these tough economic times what keeps managers awake at night? The obvious answer is customer retention or cost reduction - less obvious, however, may be maintaining a motivated, skilled workforce!

Motivated, skilled employees may be your "last best hope" of getting your organization safely to the other side of the recession. After all, motivated, skilled employees are the ones who drive customer retention and cost reduction!

A new tool to help organizations develop an informed and skilled workforce is an Employee Learning Portal. Many large organizations have already invested in more expensive learning content management systems to communicate and train their workforce, however, until now, few small to mid-sized companies have been able to afford this technology.

Now, technology, training, and communications have finally come together with the advent of Employee Learning Portals – technology which allows employees to access powerful on-line tools at the fraction of the cost of more traditional methods. A new generation of employees, located anywhere in the world, who are used to finding instant answers on Google or Yahoo, can now access one web site and find:

Key Messages from Senior Management - Company Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals

Policies and Procedures - On-line Employee Handbook, Benefits Information, Forms, etc.

Employee Performance Information - Job Descriptions, Performance Review Procedures, etc.

Employee Development Library - Training Materials, On-Line Assessments, On-Line Learning Modules, Reference Materials, etc.

Using an on-line Employee Learning Portal, a standardized template can be adapted to deliver "best-in-class" content such as training materials, competency models, and company policies to fit the needs of small, medium, or large organizations.

And the cost - depending on the number of employees covered, the cost can be as little as $2 per employee/month - well worth it for a good night's sleep!

Newtown Chamber of Commerce Shines Spotlight on Aspen Organization Development Consulting

2009-06-03T22:10:00.003-04:00

The Newtown Chamber of Commerce recently did a write up of Aspen Organization Development Consulting. Here's what they had to say:

Aspen Organization Development Consulting (Aspen OD) helps clients with their hiring, organizational transition and change, and employee development needs. They use state of-the-art tools to assess new hires regarding their fit with the job and the organization. They also provide individual and team coaching and training to build new skills and improve performance among employees.

Aspen OD specializes in helping employees develop:

Personal effectiveness skills:communication, time management,team skills and creative problem solving

Supervisory skills: coaching, managing performance, resolving conflict

Leadership skills: strategy development and implementation, building motivation and morale

Kevin Nash, Ph.D., founded the company in 2007. He has had over twenty years of consulting and corporate experience in a broad range of industries and has held senior management positions in Human Resources and Marketing.

Running his own business is very demanding and it is difficult to take time away, but Kevin and his wife don’t let that stop them. "We do take vacations, but I always have my blackberry and laptop handy. I try to respond to clients the same day," says Kevin.

Kevin belongs to multiple organizations including The Society for Industrial
and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and The Institute for Behavioral and Applied Management (IBAM).

Kevin’s business generally comes from referrals and networking, so in 2008 he joined the Chamber to increase his networking opportunities and become more involved in the community. "I want to use my Chamber membership to help fellow Chamber members
benefit from the skills that I utilize," says Kevin.

That Important Little Voice in Your Head

2009-04-20T22:31:00.002-04:00

You know the little voice in your head that (hopefully) kicks in when you're doing something stupid and tells you to "hold on just a minute…" You also probably recall times when the little voice failed to kick-in and you did something that you instantly regretted.

Psychologists call the little voice "metacognition". It sounds intimidating but actually the term metacognition has been used by educators for many years. Metacognition is now recognized one of the essential qualities needed for effective learning. Without that little voice acting as the brain's "command center" we would probably not question what we are doing and learn new behaviors.

Metacognition is the brain's higher level reasoning control center. It is similar in concept to emotional intelligence popularized by Danial Goleman, however this deals more with the emotional control centers of the brain.

If you have read this far you are probably saying "so what!" Well, if you are hiring or promoting people in your organization you need to consider their ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome (as the Marines would say it). These are skills that are important in the current challenging climate – and to be successful, they depend on our metacognative thinking ability.

Knowing someone's metacognative ability would be useful when making a hiring or promotion decision, but without a way to measure an indiviual's metacognitive skills it is of very little practical use. Luckily there is a way to assess metacognition using a computer based simulation called the Cognitive Processes Profile – or CPP.
The CPP is a laptop based assessment that takes about an hour and a half to complete. It tracks an individual’s ability to monitor and control their own thinking and it is also able to assess problem solving abilities and the person's judgment quality.

If you are considering hiring or promoting someone into a position that requires sound judgment and well developed thinking skills then busing a well researched assessment tool such as the CPP can provide you with valuable information for your decision.

Aspen OD Launches: DailyHRTips.com

2009-04-20T21:37:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of April, Aspen Organization Development Consulting launched a brand new website called DailyHRTips.com. The new website is dedicated to providing ALL employees, not just human resources and organization development professionals, with tips and ideas to help them make their company's better places to work; HR and OD book reviews; product reviews; and daily HR tips newsletters!

At DailyHRTips.com you will find information to help you improve your organization, but also advice on how to improve your overall work experiences and, in turn, your career. Visit DailyHRTips.com now...

Strategic Thinking: The Key to Business Success

2009-04-20T21:32:00.002-04:00

Strategic thinking is all about effective anticipation! So says the National Defense University and they should know - they are the people responsible for preparing candidates for senior strategic roles in the US military. In a tight spot, they say, a leader's ability to correctly anticipate the outcome of a course of action can be the difference between winning and loosing on the battlefield. The same is true in organizations where anticipation and effective decision making can make you a hero.

So can strategic thinking skills be developed? The evidence says yes! In general, thinking skills can be divided into upper level and lower level skills. According to Bloom's Taxonomy, the bible on such matters, upper level thinking skills are: Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation, while lower level thinking skills are defined as: Knowledge, Understanding, and Application.

While many organizations hire or train for the lower level thinking skills, relatively few hire or train their employees for the higher level ones. This may explain why people with effective strategic thinking capacities at the senior executive level are frequently in short supply. This is not to say that knowledge and application skills are unimportant, only that the importance of strategic thinking capacity increases significantly as one ascends the leadership ladder.

So how do you develop strategic thinking skills? A good starting point is increasing self awareness - the ability to reflect on and accurately assess one's own behaviors and skills as they are manifested on the job. Self assessments and assessment by others are rarely fully congruent, however, and this lack of congruence is called "the coefficient of self-delusion". Unfortunately self delusion has been the downfall of many "want to be" strategic decision makers.

Some of the tools that organizations can use to close the gap on the "coefficient of self-delusion" are 360 feedback assessments and simulations such as the Cognitive Processes Profile. These tools can provide an accurate evaluation of current and future strategic thinking capacities for new hires or for current employees. They are particularly useful for employee development when combined with support from an experienced coach.

So leaders can develop effective strategic thinking skills by exploiting opportunities to better understand themselves and how they react under pressure when solving complex problems. This understanding is critical since the more you are in touch with the reality of the situation, the more likely you will be to call the shots correctly and anticipate outcomes better than the next guy.

Searching for Talent during the Hiring Process

2009-03-25T23:28:00.006-04:00

In his book, Talent Is Overrated, Geoff Colvin hypothesizes that too much emphasis is placed on innate talent when it comes to assessing "great" performers. Providing in depth analyses of world-class talents such as Mozart and Tiger Woods, Colvin theorizes that despite their seeming ease with life's most challenging tasks, great performers are still subject to the grueling hours of study and practice it takes to accomplish anything worth accomplishing; they just realize a lot sooner than most of us that to be great takes years of disciplined loyalty to a chosen craft. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, makes a similar observation and notes that it takes at least 10,000 hours of dedicated, diligent practice in order to become an expert at anything - clearly ability and talent are not things we are born with.

This theory is interesting when placed in an organizational development setting and puts a new spin on how we look at "talent" in the hiring process. Talent is obviously extremely important for all companies due to the fact that the identification, selection, development and retention of key, talented employees are necessary for organizational sustainability and growth - after all without people, there is no organization. It is important to select the "best" employees for key roles, not people who have a fancy school printed under the education section of their resume.

There are many tools available for hiring managers to assess the talents of job candidates, including behavioral hiring methods and hiring/promotion assessments. In the context of Colvin’s theory, it is important to use these methods/tools to ensure the hiring of the right person - do not automatically hire the Harvard Business School grad because of the name brand. Look carefully at a job candidate’s employment history, strengths, weaknesses, culture, background, education, assessments scores etc. and you will be sure to find the most talented candidates for the positions you are filling.

What is your natural leadership style?

2009-03-25T21:27:00.005-04:00

We all get a little temperamental at times don’t we? Most people don’t realize, however, that when we become temperamental we revert to our true nature or temperament. According to Robert Hogan (the personality guru) up to 50% of our personality is genetic and laid down at birth and we call this our "temperament". It is the foundation on which the house of our personality is built and is manifested in well defined behavioral tendencies and mood states.

Temperament is usually divided into four main types first used by the ancient Greeks, Sanguine (fun lovers), Choleric (doers), Melancholic (idealists), and Phlegmatic (rationals). In an easy to remember system developed by Greg Hicks, the four temperaments can be portrayed as four animals:

The Fox:

Fun-loving, optimistic, realistic, and focused on the here and now

Pride themselves on being unconventional, bold, and spontaneous

Make playful mates, creative parents, and troubleshooting leaders

Excitable, trust their impulses, want to make a splash, seek stimulation, prize freedom, and dream of mastering action skills

The Beaver:

Dutiful "doers", cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions

Pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working

Make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders

Are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice

The Dolphin:

Enthusiastic, idealistic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom

Pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic

Tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials

Make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders

The Owl:

Tend to be rational, pragmatic, skeptical, self-contained, and focused on problem-solving and systems analysis

Pride themselves on being ingenious, independent, and strong willed

Make reasonable mates, individualizing parents, and strategic leaders

Are even-tempered, they trust logic, yearn for achievement, seek knowledge, prize technology, and dream of understanding how the world works

Learning about temperament helps us understand the "glories" and "pitfalls" of our natural leadership style. This in turn will help us learn how to become more effective at leading others with different temperaments.

Business Expands to South Korea

2009-02-05T22:45:00.002-05:00

Visiting South Korea on business is an enlightening experience. Two Aspen Organization Development consultants spent some time there recently to facilitate a team development session with a group of senior executives. We asked them to comment on their Asian experience.

Q. What were your overall impressions of how business is done in South Korea?

A. In South Korea little things seem to mean a lot. We were impressed with the attention to detail that seems to be everywhere, from getting handed a pair of slippers while your shoes are being x-rayed at the airport security, to the heated toilet seats in the hotel rooms. A lot of thought and analysis seem to go into how things are done. Everything seems to work as it should - perhaps this is an example of the analytic mindset in action.

Q. What stands out for you during your short trip?

A. That one is easy – the quality of the service. From the time we started our journey on Korean Air, through to the hotel and restaurant service, we were blown away! Here is a great example: one of us developed a bad cough and sore throat and thought it was turning to bronchitis. This was really worrying as he was due to fly out to a week long set of important meetings. He asked the concierge about seeing a doctor to get some medication and the concierge directed him (in perfect English) to the Overseas Visitors desk at the hospital just across the road (see if you can find one of those at a US hospital). Over he went and explained his predicament. One short phone call later he was assigned a guide and interpreter (a Korean MIT student home from Boston for the holidays named Henry) who whisked him up to the Ear, Nose and Throat department. He was taken to the head of the line of about 200 locals (quite embarrassing) and went straight in to see the doctor. The doctor punched the prescription into his computer and his drugs were waiting at the pharmacy within ten minutes. Yet again we were impressed by the level of service.

Q. What did you learn from your trip?

A. Now that we are back in the US our attitude towards things Korean has definitely changed. Brands such as Kia, Hyundai, and Samsung look a lot better than they used to, and the importance of effective customer service training has been reinforced for us.

Building Business Acumen

2009-01-27T19:55:00.003-05:00

What is business acumen? It’s hard to pin down, but as Justice Potter Stewart said in 1964 when trying to define pornography, "I know it when I see it".

Managers these days live in a world of ambiguity, paradox, and conflicting requirements. It sounds uncomfortable - and it is! Managers are told they should:

Think global but act local

Be collaborative but also compete

Manage change but maintain order and stability

Make the numbers, but nurture their people

You almost need five heads to be able to do it all - and coincidentally that is exactly what Dr. Henry Mintzberg of McGill University said. Well actually he did not say that you need five heads – rather he said that managers need five "mindsets" to be able to integrate these contradictory concerns and goals.

Mintzberg went on to say that managers must focus not only on what they have to accomplish but also on how they have to think. They must apply judgment and insight across a wide range of issues and consistently make good choices. They must evaluate the best alternatives while minimizing risks to the organization. Then they must use financial savvy to integrate data, identify key issues, trends and opportunities.

The five managerial mindsets that Minzberg identified are:

The Reflective Mindset - take the time to think, reflect, ponder, and cogitate (long walks on the beach? – yea right!)

The Analytic Mindset – the ability analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data

The Worldly Mindset – have the practical experience to put data into context to make sense of it

The Collaborative Mindset – the ability to work effectively with and through others to achieve the goal

The Action Mindset – a “can do” attitude with a bias for taking action

You will notice that some of these mindsets tend to oppose each other. Can someone with a reflective mindset also be effective in taking action (and visa versa)? Can someone with an analytic mindset be flexible enough to collaborate (and maybe compromise) with others? Developing business acumen requires the integration of five heads into one. It’s almost like one person acting like an effective team - bringing different perspectives to the problem all by themselves.

Can this competency be developed? Definitely yes! With the right coaching and experience, business acumen can be developed and accelerated among employees who demonstrate potential.

Building Business Acumen programs are a good place to start. These programs are based on methodologies used in many MBA courses. Classroom work is recommended, but time spent in the field researching real business problems and coming up with recommendations for creative solutions is essential. Participants of such courses must also manage their regular jobs while participating in the program. Contact us to learn more about how a Business Acumen program can add value to your organization.

New Year, New Site, New Services!

2009-01-22T01:32:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year from the Aspen Organization Development Consulting Team. Watch out for our new and improved website, a new blog, as well as some great new services. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter and receive our monthly newsletter!

Season's Greetings From Aspen OD

2008-12-19T00:03:00.003-05:00

Season's Greeting from Aspen Organization Development Consulting. Hoping the holidays and New Year bring you peace, happiness, and success from Ben, Scott, Magda, Kristen, and Kevin.

Managing Office Bullying

2008-11-02T13:59:00.002-05:00

A recent WBI-Zogby poll found that 37% of all U.S. workers have been directly bullied, with another 12% witnessing it. That represents 71 million Americans touched by workplace bullying. Bullying is pattern of workplace harassment, emotional abuse and targeted aggression. It is, in fact, a non-physical from of violence and it requires more than mere conflict resolution. Bullying is four times more common than either sexual harassment or racial discrimination. So why do employers often ignore bullying (despite its costs and bruising impact on productivity and morale)? The fact is that bullying is not yet illegal.

So what are the factors that cause bullying in the workplace and what can employers do to minimize this behavior? According to the Workplace Bullying Institute there are three main factors that promote workplace bullying:

FACTOR 1. Work that is designed using zero-sum, cutthroat competition principles that creates opportunities for bullying. Employees are pitted against each other in positions or tasks that allow only one winner to emerge from deliberate battles, creating many losers.

FACTOR 2. Hiring people who are willing to exploit others. A small percentage of employees see the opportunities for bullying and are willing to harm others. They are the manipulators and not necessarily disturbed or psychopathic.

FACTOR 3. Bullying is rewarded or at least not punished. Bullies who bully others with impunity become convinced they can get away with it forever. They will continue until stopped.

So, some bullying can be prevented by good work design, and implementing a no tolerance policy for bullying. But how to prevent hiring bullies in the first place? When interviewing don't rely on your "gut" instincts says Robert Mueller, an expert in this field. Hiring decisions based on "gut instincts" provide bullies with their very best forum. Bullies are extremely adept at manipulating authority figures - saying what they think a higher-up wants to hear.

Interviewers should look for spontaneous exchanges during the interview. Bullies are not skilled at relating to the people presently in the room with them. Does the candidate participate in the normal back-and-forth of conversation, demonstrating the basics of human exchange? Or does the interviewee have to carefully calculate a response to match what seems to be expected of him or her?

Look for empathy. To be a good leader, one should have an above-average capacity for empathy. Empathy makes compassion and understanding possible, and is the difference between a person merely hearing words and a person actually appreciating another person. Ask the candidate to recount a particularly sensitive personnel problem in the past. Does the candidate's answer reflect compassion for a subordinate, or does it have elements of bragging, triumph, or rigid authoritarianism? When bona fide leaders are faced with a difficulty, they stop, look, and listen - and then devise a plan furthering the employer's interests. Not so with bullies.

Turn on your know-it-all meter. Ask a question a candidate will probably not know the answer to - but make it seem as though he or she should. The particularly forthright will admit they don't know. Most will "fudge" it. But bullies will generalize unduly. Bullies may even boldly attempt to steer the entire discussion in what they calculate to be the most advantageous direction for them.

Make intelligent use of background checks. The data employers will have available before interviews will always be thinner than preferred. However, make the best of what you have. Background checks are useful beyond being just pass-fail tests. They are a wellspring of specific evidence that can be used to measure the veracity of a candidate generally. Bullies utterly lack veracity. At no point during an interview should you let the candidate know what pieces of information you actually do and don't have about him or her. Test the interviewer's truth-telling against what you know to be facts.

Conducting a pre-hire personality assessment can also provide insights into the personality traits and tendencies of the candidate. In a UK study last year, thousands of senior managers were assessed using the Hogan Development Survey psychometric measures. The survey findings indicated that 22 % had a "confident/arrogant" personality type -who also frequently lack self-awareness. The research concluded that this personality type is the most likely to be viewed as bullying in their behavior, whether their actions are intentional or not.

Remember, bullying behavior may be costing your organization dearly in terms of reduced productivity and morale and increased employee turnover, and with a little thought and care in hiring and work design there are ways of minimizing the bullying problem.

Tips For Maintaining Employee Trust

2008-10-29T20:32:00.002-04:00

Trust in the workplace is glue that keeps an organization together. Without trust among the employees who comprise an organization, very little meaningful, efficient work can be accomplished. If employees do not trust one another or, what's worse, do not trust management a company can very quickly come unbound.

To ensure a positive, confident workforce is maintained within an organization, managers need to take proactive steps to maintain trust in the workplace. Here are a few simple, yet effective ways managers can build and maintain organizational trust:

Stress the importance of integrity. Integrity is essential for trust within an organization. Employees need to believe that they can rely upon their colleagues to come through when needed and know that they are not being deceived in any way. Management should nurture a culture of honesty and responsibility to ensure business is conducted in the most ethical manner possible.

Share the Company's Vision. Open communication is necessary throughout an organization. By sharing the organization's goals with all employees, managers and employees alike can work towards a common goal and mutually decide the best routes to get there. Nothing instills a greater sense of trust than the feeling of being listened to.

Remember, No One Has A Monopoly On Good Ideas. Teamwork is one of the most important and necessary aspects for a successful organization. The only way for efficient teams to function is if there is a high level of trust among team members. Managers need to stress that all employees can contribute their feelings and opinions on issues and that they are as valid as anyone's; after all a good idea is a good idea, regardless of whether or not it came from the board room or the mail room.

Do Not Be A Glory Hog. When a team accomplishes a project or task, don't steal the spot light. Furthermore, recognize those who excel, but make sure everyone is rewarded for a job well done. If you don't, your team may not work as hard the next time around if they believe you will steal all the glory.

4 Tips for Job Seekers during Tough Economic Times

2008-10-28T19:49:00.004-04:00

Searching for a job in these tough economic conditions can be a daunting task. With many companies downsizing their workforce and competition being at its peak, it has never been more important for job candidates to stand out in a crowd. To help job seekers out there, here are a few tips to help you find that job:

1. Send a Distinct Resume

Anyone can send a one page word document with the traditional run-down of experience, education, skills, etc. But when the competition is high, take steps to make sure your resume jumps off the page. Here's an example: recently a HR manager at a marketing agency showed me the resume a potential job candidate had sent to her office. Rather than send the traditional word document referenced above, the candidate had constructed an aesthetically pleasing, professional-looking HTML email "resume" that visually conveyed her relevant work experience, education, references, etc. According to the hiring HR manager, "I contacted her immediately!" As you can see, when done right, making your resume stand out can pay dividends.

2. Tap Into Your Base

This is a common saying when it comes to running for political office, but the principal of the phrase applies here too. As with many things in life, it's not what you know, but who you know. So before you begin scouring Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com, go through your contact book. When hitting the job market, networking with people who already know you may be more beneficial than "selling" yourself to an entirely new contact.

3. Show What You Can Bring To The Table

Find out as much as you can about the company and the job. Even if you have done similar jobs at other companies try and find out how this company does the job and what they are likely to be looking for in terms of technical knowledge, experience and other skills such as team skills, and competencies such as building relationships, communication, planning, etc. Try and get information on the organizations culture - are they hard driving and results orientated or more laid back and people oriented. This will help you to present yourself in the best way at an interview, should you get one. It might also tell you about whether you would enjoy working for the company given their culture and values.

4. Master Your Stories

If you are successful in getting to the interview stage, you will more than likely be asked pretty predictable questions such as your relevant past experience, why you want this job, and your career goals for the future. You should prepare and practice your answers to these questions in advance - don't wing it! The more prepared, confident, and self assured you appear at the interview the more you will stand out from other applicants. It may seem awkward, but practice role playing interview questions with a friend or significant other. All the better if you can do it with someone who is an experienced interviewer themselves.

The Path to Innovation

2008-10-21T01:21:00.007-04:00

I recently had an interesting conversation with a very insightful friend on the topic of innovation and creativity in the workplace. During our conversation he recounted a visit he had made to Google's NYC office, highlighting the fact that the brilliant minds at Google allotted a certain portion of the work day to be simply creative time for its employees. This time could be spent doing anything from cooking in Google's well stocked kitchen to playing video games and watching movies with co-workers.

When you first hear something like this, it's hard to imagine anything gets done within the organization; with so much time to "goof" off it must be nearly impossible to get anything accomplished. Clearly this is not the case given that Google is one of the most successful companies of all time (both financially and creatively)! So what is Google on-to that the average, more traditional organization is not? The answer can be found in this month's edition of Fast Company Magazine.

This month's edition of the magazine is geared toward creativity and design. There is a great article called "Rewiring the Creative Mind" that explores how some of the world's great visionaries, from Walt Disney to Steve Jobs, perceive the world differently from others and often begin implementing their vision before others recognize the potential. I won't summarize the entire article for you because I believe it is worth reading in its entirety. But I will point out that the author of the article, Gregory Berns, does show how changing one's perception can spur new, creative ways of thinking; something invaluable to any organization. With regards to idea generation in a corporate environment, he states, "Most corporate off-sites...are ineffective idea generators, because they're scheduled rather than organic; the brain has time to predict the future, which means the potential novelty will be diminished...[N]ew insights come from new people and new environments - any circumstance in which the brain has a hard time predicting what will happen next" (56). Berns notes that the change in perception, or to put it more succinctly, the change in the mundane is necessary to spur creativity - without a change in scenery every now and again, the ideas will begin to dry up.

The lesson in all of this is simple: If organizations wish to be successful they must have talented employees who are able to generate new, creative ideas to tackle demanding business needs. In order to entice employees to think creativity they must help them to alter their perceptions. Either that or send them to work for Google for a while :)

Benefits of Executive and Management Coaching

2008-10-08T10:38:00.005-04:00

Increasingly, organizations are providing their rising stars and emerging leaders with a management coach to help accelerate their development. Gone are the days when coaches were seen as a remedial solution to someone's poor performance. Now coaches are seen as enablers to accelerate their client's development as a leader. But does coaching really work? Yes- according to a recent book by Richard Kilburg, Ph.D. of Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kilburg provides evidence that a coach can help you to become more effective in handling complex interactions with people, increase your capacity to handle what's on your plate, and improve your social competencies. He also claims that a coach can help increase your ability to manage yourself and others during organizational crisis, help with career transitions, and improve your ability to handle the tensions between business needs, family needs and personal needs. Having coached over a hundred individuals and teams I can attest that Dr. Kilburg's claims are valid. I have seen people make dramatic improvements with the help of a coach. After all, even Tiger Woods has a coach! Ok it's for golf but the same principles apply. Management coaching can help accelerate your progress because an experienced coach can take all the trial and error out of figuring it out for yourself. A good coach will give you the hard hitting feedback and direction you need to raise your game and "be all that you can be." Organizations need to be careful, however, when selecting a coach, and should check references and credentials. It is also important to make sure that the personal chemistry is right between the coach and coachee or the coaching relationship will founder. There is no state license or other qualification required to be a management coach, and neither is there a universally accepted code of ethics for management coaches - so anyone can set them selves up in this business. When purchasing the services of a management coach, therefore, "let the buyer beware!"