Volume
1
Issue
3 November/December 2010
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Intergenerational Conflict in the Workforce on the RiseBy: Richard J. Anthony, Sr. Most of the time, when I tell people that we're headed for intergenerational conflict in the workforce, I get one of those looks. The kind that dismisses me as operating too close to the fringe. This morning was one of the exceptions. My barber, whose business is off more than 25% because hair cuts aren't a necessity when unemployment is over 16% (the real number), told me he knows lots of angry young people who didn't have jobs last summer because the perennial jobs were will filled by older people. I matched his report with stories I hear from students in a college course I teach. It's titled "Managing the Intergenerational Workforce." The younger students tell of their frustration with older workers who are not tech savvy and are jamming up career paths because they are not retiring. Older students expressed their disappointment with the generations below them who seem to feel they are owed everything they want. Running The Business or Managing the Organization By Richard S. Lewine Two distinctly different efforts, requiring two distinctly different skill sets. When it comes to systems, procedures, methods, and executing, the tools are also different. In our marketplace, the small to mid-size organization (SMB), frequently the same people are responsible for both efforts. Running the business is generally a “concrete”, tangible process: make sales, process orders, deliver the goods and collect the money. Lots of minutia, requiring day-to-day attention and an eye on the details. Whether product or service, these same basics of business apply. Managing the organization requires much more of the human, cerebral touch. Articulating a Vision, formulating strategy, building goal systems, managing group and individual performance, are people centric, conceptual processes.
How does someone with a linear thought process, that is, someone who is comfortable with tangibles and facile with spreadsheets and the like, effectively deal with the challenges of visioning, conceptualizing a picture of some future state? How do they handle the fuzzy process of formulating a strategic direction to support that vision? In our experience, not very well. Conversely, the conceptual thinker is hard pressed to steep him or herself in what they may consider the mundane activity of financial controls or production statistics. This disparity is one of the primary obstacles to growth in entrepreneurial organizations. Few people are well equipped to handle both domains well. Too much “stuff” begins to fall through the cracks. more. . .
Starting - The First Step
Toward Success Salespersons
are
coached
in
the power of a first impression. Orators devote hours to
opening statements. Journalists are admonished never to bury the lead.
Sprinters practice racing out of the starting blocks. Interviewees are
taught the importance of their initial handshake with a potential
employer. In
leadership, as in many other areas of life, the beginning often
determines the end. False starts and weak foundations can be ruinous.
Here are five insights to help you start successfully.
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