Career Coaching

Avoid the “Culture Clash”

Posted on by Seniye Groff

In the February issue of Chief Learning Officer, there is a great article titled “Your Brain on Culture“.  Neal Goodman points out that “culture provides us with the guide to survival, we naturally feel protected by our own and threatened by other cultures.”  This “Us versus Them” attitude is a natural result of different cultures clashing.  But let’s face it, global intelligence is critical to surviving in today’s workplace.  Certainly a great place to start is knowing time variances and local holidays so that you are not trying to book a meeting or conference call at a disrespectful time.  Recently, I received a request for a conference call at 11 p.m. my time!  Of course I wanted to demonstrate flexibility but the person in Asia should have consulted a world clock so that they knew what they were requesting from me.

Goodman recommends knowing business customs and practices, too.  He relates an example of PUMA trying to sell a shoe with UAE’s flag colors on one of their shoes.  PUMA did not realize that culturally the foot is looked at negatively so putting the flag colors on a shoe must have seemed incredibly disrespectful!  On the flip side, Hilton Hotels created a program to make Chinese guests feel welcome by greeting them in Mandarin (by Mandarin-speaking staff), offering Chinese tv stations and Chinese breakfast items.  How smart and forward thinking!

It is naive to believe that what companies do domestically can easily be replicated globally.  Instead, Goodman suggests some ideas to help your company build cultural intelligence such as:

  • Offer a course on cultural intelligence to your entire workforce
  • Develop global leaders through training and immersion
  • Build global teams
  • Create a database on cultural intelligence.

Finally, Goodman suggests that  “a heightened awareness of cultural differences will allow employees to build bridges of understanding that promote trust, efficiency and effectiveness and increase an organization’s competitive advantage in the global arena.”

Check out the complete article at Chief Learning Officer.  I always read articles with great insight and tips from this publication!

So tell me:

What examples have you seen where companies have been thoughtful about being more culturally aware and responsive? 

What missteps have you seen?

10 Forces Shaping the Workplace of the Future

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Given the time of the year, I thought it might be interesting to share what I am reading regarding the future.  In the October 2011 Talent Management Magazine, David Rasmus wrote an article titled “10 Forces Shaping the Workplace of the Future.”  Read on to see if you are experiencing any of these trends.  First of all, fluid models and the ability to adapt are paramount. 

Rasmus explains that the first concept is Transparency and Trust.  Call me crazy, but I thought trust was a constant (not a new model!)  Out-tasking is the second concept.  In other words, outsourcing is dead.  Managing various resources takes a lot of effort and organization on the company’s part.  They will need to figure out how to manage external resources more effectively.  Needless to say, online reputations are increasingly important.  In the same vane, contractors will be seen as extensions of the organization, rather than independents.

Contract-to-Hire might be the happy medium between renting talent and filling a full-time employee position.  This is an effective way for an organization to “test a new market, experiment with a new technology or evaluate the difference between insourcing and outsourcing.”

Another concept set to evolve is On-boarding.  With increased distributed and global employees, organizations are going to have to reconsider how they onboard new hires.  Other changing concepts are:  Parallel promotions, Hire-to-automate, Business continuity, as well as, Demographic shifts.

 Finally, another huge force is Virtual Work.  As the standard becomes more and more virtual work, location will not be as important.  People will be hired based on knowledge and skills rather than where they are located.  Virtual work also will change how performance management is addressed.  Lots of things to think about as we progress in the working world!

Tech Tools of 2012

Posted on by Seniye Groff

November’s  Chief Learning Officer, “Tech Tools in 2012”  caught my eye.   Apparently investment in learning technologies continues to be a priority.  Content development and learning strategy also made the list of priorities.  This means that beyond the LMS, companies want to invest in mobile learning and collaboration tools including social networking tools.  After several years of declining spending, this is good news!

Not surprising, the ability to align all the competing priorities of the organizations is a focus.  CLO’s are focused on the goals of their organization and how to align it with the performance of its employees.  This includes informal learning, leadership training, overall skill development and overall productivity.

Technical tools are still a focus, especially those tools that are more “mainstream” such as learning management systems, elearning content tools and virtual classroom environments.  The jury is still out on how to use social networking, iPads and mobile devices for training.  As these tools demonstrate success and the ability to truly change behavior, I suspect the investment will follow.

Another article that shares the need for training as a continued priority was in Fast Company‘s blog post on training to close the skills gaps that employers whine so often about.  According to the post, many jobs remain unfilled because companies cannot find qualified people.  The old adage “hire for attitude, train for the job” seems to be forgotten.  It is easy to point the finger at our schools, but ultimately companies are going to have to create their own “schools” or universities to address the missing skills that job candidates need.

 

Personal Branding

Posted on by Seniye Groff

As I continue to work with clients on their resumes, I have many conversations about building a personal brand.  Today technology offers lots of options as you are building your personal brand.  Similar to every company, you have a reputation.  You must manage this reputation so that people’s opinions of you are positive.  Since it is so easy to Google anyone, why not be proactive and control what people see about you?

 Here are some possible ideas:

  • Create a two minute video of YOUR elevator pitch.  Place this on your website, LinkedIn profile or add it to your resume submission.  Check out VisualCV for a more dynamic resume than the typical paper version.  Add your video to this online resume, too.
  • Prepare for a Skype interview.  Gone are the days of only in-person interviews.  More and more, companies are completing their interviews with Skype.  Make sure you know the technology and more importantly, control the environment.  In other words, practice speaking into a web camera and take a look at the background; make sure lighting is flattering and any personal items or clutter is removed.
  • Consider publishing a blog.  It is a great way to stay visible and to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
  • Examine your profile picture.  Professionalism is key.  In other words, it better not be a picture from the latest party you attended!  (Unless you are a party planner, of course).
  • Join conversations.  LinkedIn has thousands of established groups.  Join groups that make sense for your brand and answer questions, post relevant information and establish yourself as a “go to” person.  Facebook also allows you to create brand pages.  Just make sure that what you start, you keep up with and post current information on a regular basis.

These are just a few ideas.  There are many more so get busy.  And get branding!