Felicidades

This past February, I spent a day touring the Plamex plant, meeting some of the people behind the magic there, and learning why the accolades are so well-deserved. We blogged, on February 17 of this year, about their practice of employee mass weddings. The company is featured prominently in our new book, Contented Cows STILL Give Better Milk, which is coming out in July. Here’s an excerpt from part of what we wrote about Plamex:

When Alejandro Bustamante assumed the role of President of Plamex, the Mexican division of headset maker Plantronics, in the mid-1990’s, he encountered a largely disaffected workforce in a factory struggling to meet the demands of a growing market fueled by rapidly changing technology. Quickly assessing the situation he’d walked into, Bustamante determined that he couldn’t fundamentally change anyone, but what he could do, was to institute a culture in which everyone – everyone – was treated with respect. He soon restored respect and a real sense of dignity in the plant, and as a result, he and his team have pulled off a business turnaround of gigantic proportion. The company’s output, quality, profitability, and reputation as the place to work in Mexico have all soared.

“The job of a leader,” he told me, while standing in the entrance to the Tijuana facility’s large main factory, “is to create the atmosphere to get the results we want. It’s as simple as that. It’s not always easy to do, but it’s not complicated.”

When I asked Bustamante to explain how Plamex had gone from its 1995 state to being named the number one Best Place to Work in all of Mexico, by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2011, the Tijuana native had a ready answer.

“There are three things we want for every one of our 2,286 associates here. First, we want to give everyone the respect they deserve. Second, we want to develop each one of them, to let them do as much as they want and go as far as they want. And third – and this is probably the most important – we want to improve the quality of their lives, and the lives of their families. When you do those things, you get their very best. And that’s what we need – their very best.”

 
This is the company that solved its recruiting problem by giving every associate their own business cards, as a show of respect. It’s the same company that brings the Baja California Division of Motor Vehicles to the plant once a month so that associates can renew their driver’s licenses. And it’s the same company that has a robust career development plan that’s available to every associate who wants to develop within the company.

If you read Spanish, click here for a full article on Plamex in the Mexican press.

So, we take our hats off to the leadership and associates at Plantronics in Tijuana, Mexico, and wish them another great and profitable year of proving what we’ve always said – that Contented Cows Give Better Milk.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by virtue of a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. He and Bill Catlette are the authors of the popular “Contented Cows” leadership book series, and Rebooting Leadership. Their newest book, Contented Cows STILL Give Better Milk, is due to be released by John Wiley & Sons on July 3, but is available for pre-sale now. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Recently, Indiana school bus driver Angel Perry was aboard her bus with 11 children when a slight (no, make that big) problem presented itself. The problem was an F4 tornado bearing down on them at close range. Resultant from Ms. Perry’s quick action, 11 school children avoided certain injury or death. Please take a moment to click the image below and watch the video before continuing.

Like Ms. Perry’s school children, we (U.S. citizens) find ourselves aboard our national bus with not one, but several immediate and equally dangerous crises presenting themselves – a fiscal crisis, a trust crisis, a skills and education crisis, an energy crisis, a confidence crisis, a health care crisis (yes), and perhaps most importantly, a leadership crisis. Many of our educational, commercial, and other civic organizations face their own comparable dangers. We could certainly take a lesson from Ms. Perry’s example. Let’s deal here with the leadership aspect.

Ms. Perry knew that somebody had to lead, and although the word, “leader” is probably not reflected in either her job description or pay grade, it was required of her on that day. Such is true for many of the rest of us, whether our official job title is congressman, CEO, supervisor, or janitor.

With but a moment to summon the courage and wisdom to guide her, Ms. Perry called on her God for assistance. Then, having calmed herself, she calmed those around her, “Shh… quiet.” We’re neither qualified nor in the business of providing spiritual advice, so let’s leave it at, when in the heat of battle, you need to go wherever you need to go in order to act in a calm and rational manner.

Ms. Perry shared the big picture with her young charges. “Tornado on the ground, guys… Look, the funnel cloud” while preparing them to act. “Shh… quiet.” Since none of us operate day to day, or moment-to-moment in the “big picture”, she also shared the immediate game plan, “”We’re going back to the school.” People desperately need that type of information in order to function responsibly. Without it, they’re basically just along for the ride. Yet, in an age when we have a wealth of communications tools and techniques at our disposal, it seems safe to say that we probably do a poorer job than ever of truly making meaning, which, in our view, is one of a leader’s foremost responsibilities.

Evidencing a leadership trait that is in such short supply these days, Ms. Perry demonstrated clearly and convincingly that she cared, really cared about her young charges, first by having them count off and then “checking off” each one as they exited the bus, and then later asking if they were okay. Interested in their safety, she had previously instructed them to shield their heads with a textbook. Whoda thunk it? (That was probably the only time in history when a school textbook was truly worth its retail price. Since our own books (http://contentedcows.com/books/)are often used as college texts, we’re pointing the finger at ourselves as well.) And unlike the captain of the Italian cruise ship, Costa Concordia, we’re willing to bet she was the last one off her ship, ‘er bus.

Angel Perry was, if nothing else, decisive. Knowing that her decision timeframe consisted not of weeks or months, but seconds, she demonstrated real bias for action. She also knew something that seems to regularly escape the rest of us – the fact that to make no decision is indeed a decision itself, and it is usually the wrong one. Kicking the can down the road, as so often happens in Congress, boardrooms, school board, and town hall meetings alike would have proven deadly.

Through her leadership, Ms. Perry kept that twisted and bent school bus from becoming a tomb. As we proceed from here, let’s all keep an image of a big yellow school bus seared into memory, as a reminder to emulate some of Ms. Perry’s actions, and a yardstick by which we measure the performance of others.

That fact notwithstanding, last weekend I decided to pressure wash our house. The all-white structure has a large expanse of siding at the back that faces due north, and is therefore hospitable territory to a gray-green coating of mold and algae. Although the heat index was in the triple digits, I was actually looking forward to the task. And I knew why.

It’s the same reason that I actually enjoy mowing the lawn, even though there’s a fully capable onsite teenager, who would do it more often if I’d let him. The reason I like these tasks so much, and eschew others, like laundry and disinfecting toilets? Instant gratification.

Every swipe of the pressure washing nozzle was like applying graffiti in reverse. Expend labor – see result. It was magnificent! And enough to keep me at it in less than ideal conditions until the job was done. At which point I stood at the back of the house gazing up and admiring my handiwork.

We all need at least a little instant gratification at work, too. A strong need to know that what we do makes a difference. Some jobs come with this feature onboard. With others, this feeling of accomplishment is more elusive.

If you lead others, and help manage and design their work, here’s an assignment:

• Pick one job you manage and assess it for instant gratification potential. Does it happen often, occasionally, rarely, or never?
• If the answer is rarely or never, change that. Build into the job at least the occasional opportunity to see the fruits of the labor that goes into it.
  • Give back office people some direct customer contact.
  • Balance sales professionals’ account portfolios of tough customers with a few easier sales.
  • If the task is an intermediate step in a process, let them at least see the finished product and have a clear understanding of the part they played in it.
  • Make sure no job is all frustration – no fulfillment.
• Once you’ve had a little immediate gratification with this experiment, do the same with the other jobs under your direction.

We all need to see the needle move from time to time. It’s part of what keeps us going.

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Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results with a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. He and Bill Catlette are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership, written with Meredith Kimbell. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

If the momentum of a slow recovery pans out, with the attendant moderate uptick in hiring whose prediction was reported last week in USA Today, then a lot of employers will need to put on their shirts and straighten up the front room, because for the first time in years, company is sure enough comin’ through the HR office, the metaphorical “front room” of most organizations.

A December 1, 2010 article by Andrea Davis, in Employee Benefit News, reports that with hopes of at least a modest recovery, up to 60% of high-performing employees are eyeing plans to leave their organizations in 2011. That remains to be seen, of course, but what’s certain is that there’s lots of pent-up desire to seek greener pastures, and a more robust hiring picture will certainly open the gates for those who may feel abused and taken for granted during hard times.

If you’re planning to ramp up your hiring after a hiatus, it may be wise to do a checkup on your intake process, remembering that your reputation as an employer has everything to do with the caliber of your applicants. Some (no, lots of) organizations have become sloppy, cocky, and arrogant in how they treat potential new hires, reasoning that the labor supply/demand imbalance gives them the upper hand. They’ve apparently forgotten that every applicant represents a window, with a mouth, into the character of their organization.

If you know an organization like that (wink, wink, nod, nod), here’s a checklist you might want to send them anonymously:

• Do we have enough HR staff to handle an increased workload without botching the job or burning themselves out?
• Is the HR staff sufficiently trained in all aspects of their jobs, especially those who will be conducting interviews?
• Does the professionalism and consideration with which we treat job applicants accurately reflect the way we treat our employees?
• Do we treat every interviewee as we would a guest in our home?
• Who – or what – is making decisions to take applicants to the next step? Do real humans have input at every point? Or are we letting software determine who gets to play on the team?
• How well do we communicate with applicants? Do we let them know, in a timely and professional way, that they’re out of the running? Or do we assume they’ll figure it out by our inaction?
• Are we looking for the right qualities? Things that really matter? Or are we stuck on irrelevant “qualifiers” that leave the best talent to the competition?
• Do those we don’t hire feel at least about 80% as good about us as those we do?

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

First, the usual disclaimer whenever I blog something that could be seen as political: I’m not, repeat, not, making a political point here. The example I’ll use simply brings up an interesting leadership lesson. If I do what I intend, you won’t know any more about my political persuasion than you did before you started reading this.

Yesterday, Ohio Republican John Boehner (whom I don’t like) accepted the gavel as Speaker of the US House of Representatives from Democrat Nancy Pelosi (whom I don’t like). (How am I doing so far?) According to USA Today, Boehner promised, in his speech, that the minority party would be heard. Then, the first piece of business to come to the floor after the speech was fraught with disagreement between the R’s and D’s, and the R’s didn’t give in.

As a result, both Congressional Democrats and outside observers were quick to dismiss Boehner’s promise that Democrats’ views and input would be heard. This dismissal may ultimately be justified. Or not. But, at the moment, it’s premature.

OK – let’s move off the House floor, and into the place you work. As leaders, we have to listen. Really listen. And we have to be genuinely and honestly open to the input, views, ideas, opinions, plans, suggestions, and pleadings of those we lead. None of us is smart enough to lead well without doing this. But our openness and encouragement of others’ input does not create an obligation to always use it.

HOWEVER, comma… If we consistently ignore the stuff they give us, bang goes our credibility. And that has consequences. The kind we don’t want.

If you ask for your followers’ input, and never use it, they’ll learn not to bother offering it. Then you’re flying solo. While that’s not likely to happen in Congress, it’s the common response at work.

Just because the Republicans have verbally invited Democrats’ input, and then ignored it in this instance, tells us nothing about the sincerity of the invitation. A consistent pattern over the next few months, one way or the other, will.

Same goes for us at work.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Popeye's in the Atlanta Airport - where they have a bit more OOMPH!

I lunched a few days ago at the Quizno’s sub shop in Concourse D of the Atlanta Airport. Actually, I lunched on the fast walk from the Quizno’s to my gate, but you get the pic. I like Quizno’s sandwiches, which is why I was willing to endure what I’m about to describe.

The people behind the counter (I hesitate to say working) had 2 speeds. Slow and stop. The longer I stood in line, the more I began to wonder if maybe the theoretical concept of absolute zero, the cessation of all molecular motion, were about to be realized.

To earn a profit in the quick service restaurant business (what fast food calls itself these days), things have to move fast; otherwise the numbers just don’t work. And I’d hate to be the Quizno’s manager who had to explain the numbers on this particular day. They simply couldn’t have gotten enough people through the line in the period of an hour to pay the fixed and variable costs they incurred. They don’t serve rice pilaf at Quizno’s, but there was plenty of customer peel-off as one hungry traveler after another changed destinations to competing outlets that afforded a greater chance of catching a bite before catching their flight.

I know what some of you are thinking – that the food service workforce in the Atlanta airport is made up largely of young people who haven’t had a lot of advantages in life, and they can’t really be expected to put a whole lot of oomph into making sandwiches. Bull! It’s not the workforce demographics that explain the lethargic performance in this shop. It’s the “management”, a representative of which could be seen in the back room of the shop talking on the phone while his employees were wandering aimlessly behind the counter and his profits were taking off for other destinations. You’ll see a demographic carbon copy of the Quizno’s crew in the Popeye’s Chicken in the same airport’s Concourse B.  There, a spirited shift manager gets those chickens moving so fast down that serving line that you’d swear they had wings. I love watching the energy there, as this bunch makes serving fried chicken and cajun rice and beans look downright fun.

We wrote a book a few years ago, entitled Contented Cows Moove Faster. And we see the truth of that statement borne out every day. So do you. Got any lethargy in your outfit? How much is it costing you?

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

At the end of the show, the audience showed its intense appreciation for the outstanding performance with thunderous and sustained applause. From a seated position. The cast took their bows. The audience kept clapping, and hooting, and whistling, and shouting. And sitting.

As a big fan of musical theatre, and the father of a musical theatre major, I’ve been to lots of shows. In my experience, in the United States, unless a performance is embarrassingly lousy, it gets a standing ovation, deserved or not. Once in a while, after a truly remarkable performance, the standing O is spontaneous, immediate, and unanimous. More often, it starts with a few enthusiastic supporters, then those who think “Yeah, that was really good. I guess I’ll stand like these other people,” and finally a more reluctant group who stand so they don’t look like soreheads.

I belong to a professional association whose annual conventions (the last 19 of which I have attended) feature some of the best professional speakers in the world. Many of them have deserved a standing ovation; virtually all of them have received one. More than once, I’ve asked a friend sitting – er, standing, nearby, “Did you really think that was all that great?” to be answered, “Not really, but I think we should be supportive of each other, so I always stand at the end.”

I respectfully, and supportively, disagree.

Standing ovations, like the top rating on a performance evaluation, should be reserved for those performances that are truly distinguished in their excellence. When everybody gets a “5”, “Outstanding”, or “Consistently Exceeds Expectations”, it cheapens the feedback meant to be imparted by an evaluation.

I’m all for positive feedback. But I’m even more in favor of accurate feedback. Become known as a straight shooter. When someone’s got room for improvement, let them know, then help them get the rest of the way. We’re doing no favors when we tell people they’ve reached the summit, when the summit is actually just a few yards away. Reserve the standing ovations for those performances that are truly in a singular place at the top.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

When:

What: Real Recognition Radio with Roy Saunderson and S. Max Brown will feature Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, talking about how good leaders get people to put more OOMPH! into their work.

Roy Saunderson, founder of Recognition Management Institute and S. Max Brown host Real Recognition Radio Tuesdays at 10 Eastern.  These guys understand the value of recognition in getting the most, willingly, from people at work.

Tune in and listen to the show, on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time, then bookmark their site, to listen each week.

And so on my recent trip to Lima, Peru, to speak for the Human Capital Forum, I was a little creeped out when I began to see the ubiquitous sign designating safe areas in case of “sismos”, Spanish for earthquakes. Now, Peruvians don’t play at earthquakes. Their most recent bad one, in 2007, killed more than 500 people. And the history of Lima, Peru’s capital, is more or less defined by any given event’s relation to the earthquake of this year or that year. And so I’m not sure I entirely believe the little green signs’ claim that the area around it happens to be safe, if the ground decides to yawn real big. Nevertheless, had the shaking started, I’d have been the first one to the green sign.

The sign, “Safe zone, in case of earthquakes” made me think, “Does the workplace have “safe zones”, someplace people can go, not when literal earthquakes strike, but when they feel the ground beneath their feet is wobbly, or that the walls around their lives are crumbling?”

Maslow, the Heirarchy of Needs guy, who knew more than he ever imagined about employee engagement, thought safety was pretty important. Right up there with basic survival needs. One thing that’s been reinforced in the economic earthquakes and tremors of the last couple of years is that fear paralyzes. Fear leads to preoccupation. And preoccupation and engagement are mutually exclusive.

In your outfit, where do people go when they don’t feel safe? From a workplace bully, or a boss that doesn’t quite “get” the zero tolerance thing on harrassment? Or harrassment notwithstanding, where can a person who respects the chain of command go when the next link up is the problem? Where’s the safe zone when you’re not sure your job’s going to be around, since nobody ever tells you anything about how the company’s doing?

Is there someone you can go to when you’ve lost the way on your career path? How about when things outside of work have gone haywire?

People need a safe zone. Whether it’s a human resources department doing what a human resources department should be doing, or a well-functioning employee assistance program and referral network, a good alternative dispute resolution process, or just someone who cares enough to listen, people need someone, someplace where they can “touch base” and know they’re going to be OK.

Looking for a way to get more out of your work experience? Create, or better yet, be, a safe zone.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Meanwhile, in the states, 88-year-old Betty White has suddenly become more popular than at any other time in her long career, thanks to a Snickers candy bar commercial that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl, and culminating (so far) in last Saturday’s much-hyped hosting of “Saturday Night Live”.

Whether or not you find either or both of these octogenarians entertaining is beside the point of this blog post. Here are some things I think are the point:

• Both women are clearly talented. And clearly old.
• They’ve each garnered tremendous support from people whose hearts have been lightened not only by their respective performances, but by their willingness to step into (or back into, in Betty’s case) the spotlight. Janey’s singing, and her comments afterward (if you can understand them – I can – I’m married to a Scot) have evoked both laughter and tears (tears of support) from many. I can only imagine the number of times the phrase “you go, girl” has been uttered in the last few weeks, on both sides of the Atlantic.
• These two have highlighted the important realization that, though they’re of mature years, they’re not, to quote Monty Python, “dead yet”.

If you’re in a position to hire, or lead, employees, you’re undoubtedly noticing that the over-60-set is not, in fact, moving out of the way like so many were predicting they would not so long ago. You’re getting more applications from them, and you’re being challenged to lead, manage, and motivate them to work with all their Discretionary Effort. Some thoughts:

• Don’t underestimate older workers. They’re a force to be  reckoned with. And led, and encouraged, and developed. Yes, I said developed. Just as they’re not dead yet, they’re also not done growing and learning.
• Don’t stick them all in the same box. There’s as much diversity among them as there is in any generational cohort.
• Capitalize on what they bring to the job, that younger workers don’t. Experience, perspective, institutional history, and much more.
• Keep performance standards high. To do otherwise perpetrates an injustice on everyone – the older workers, younger workers, your customers, and your shareholders. Janey Cutler and Betty White have shown us they can keep up with the best of ‘em.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and the followup Contented Cows MOOve Faster. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Sure, it’s cute. The kids are really good. Adorable. And the creative team that put it together is brilliant. But what makes it work is that it’s anything but ordinary. Thomson passengers actually watch the thing, and I have to believe that retention of the material is off the charts compared to the forgettable safety videos on almost every other airline.

Anybody can do ordinary. As leaders, we’ve really got to do better than that.

Ordinary is having a need to meticulously account for every day, hour, and minute someone is “at work”, whatever “at work” means anymore. Extraordinary is what they do at Netflix. Check out what they call their “Freedom and Responsibility Culture“. No, it won’t work everywhere, but it sure seems to work for Netflix. And it sure isn’t ordinary.

Ordinary is treating everyone consistently. Extraordinary is being fair with everyone, but rewarding WOW work and commitment with WOW rewards.

Ordinary is giving everyone who does a good job a gold star, whether they happen to like gold stars or not. Extraordinary is learning what your workers’ dreams are, and finding a way to link their dreams to the success of your enterprise.

Ordinary is sympathizing with a team member when they’re going through a hard time. Extraordinary is parting with some of your own cold hard cash, or other resources, to help a worker out – someone who needs it, and who deserves it.

Ordinary is buying the corporate line that “we can’t afford any training right now until things, you know, get a little better.” Extraordinary is finding creative ways to support workers’ development needs.

Ordinary is playing it safe. Examples: you fail to give someone really difficult feedback because it’ll be really unpleasant for both of you; you keep someone on the payroll who has ceased to earn his or her place there, because, well, it’s just easier; you hire the acceptable candidate who’s going to be easy to get through HR, rather than the best one, whom you may have to do battle for. (Please – no nastygrams from my HR friends, of whom there are many. I’m just sayin’…).

While I’m castigating ordinary, I’m not advocating weird or bizarre. Or illegal, or unethical. But I am saying that if you, as a leader, or as an organization, want to get people really engaged, to stand out, get noticed, make a real difference, you gotta leave ordinary behind.

Kinda like Alice and company…

To be honest, they hit the nail on the proverbial head with much of their prognostication (with a few notable, and glaring exceptions). And yet, four years later, what hits me right between the eyes is the clear fact that the list was written with absolutely no foreknowledge of the economic cataclysm that was lurking just off the calendar, and that came ashore just two short years later.

Here’s the list:

1. Rising health care costs.

2. Increased use of outsourcing (offshoring) of jobs to other countries.

3. Threat of increased healthcare/medical costs on the economic competitiveness of the United States.

4. Increased demand for work/life balance.

5. Retirement of large numbers of baby boomers around the same time.

6. New attitudes toward aging and retirement as baby boomers reach retirement age.

7. Rise in the number of people without health insurance.

8. Increase in identity theft.

9. Work intensification as employers try to increase productivity with fewer employees.

10. Vulnerability.

OK – right off the bat, we’ve got 3 of the 10 trends dealing with healthcare. And they were right on target with all 3. The game changed last week. Whether for better or worse remains to be seen. But there’s no question that they were right on this one. That healthcare would become, to paraphrase Joe Biden, a “big deal”.

But look at all the stuff about retiring baby boomers. What retiring baby boomers? Of course, back in blissful ’06, we didn’t know (though maybe we should have?) that our 401(k)’s were headed for shriveldom, and that the unemployment rate was gonna be up there where our 401(k) returns used to be…in the good old days.

I thought it interesting that the list included the two seemingly oxymoronic trends of work intensification and increased demand for work/life balance. The battle rages on, but work intensification is winning. The balance thing has taken a back seat to being lucky enough to have work in the first place. Sad, but true.

But in addition to the economic meltdown and complete flip-flop in the labor supply and demand relationship, here’s what else the ’06 list missed, and in a big way:

• The disintegration (well-earned) of trust in leaders (at work and elsewhere).
• Continued and growing dis-connectedness between workers and the institutions they “appear” to be working for. People simply don’t identify with their “employer” to the degree they once did. Maybe with their profession, their career; but not their employer.
• Continued and growing need for connectedness to something, as manifested by the whole social media phenomenon.
• The coming (and now already here) dearth in leadership development efforts by employers, in large part due to the unforeseen recession.

These trends, and others, help form the basis for the new book we’re working on, along with our friend and colleague Meredith Kimbell, entitled Rebooting Leadership. Look for it this summer.

Meanwhile, what trends do you foresee in the workplace in the next, say, five years? Leave us a comment with at least two serious workplace trends that you see, or expect to see, and we’ll put you on a list to receive a free copy of Rebooting Leadership when it comes out.

Thanks!