Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

5 Truths About Work/Life Fit

My friend, Cali Yost, is an internationally-recognized expert on work/life fit.  In her new book, Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day, she suggests ways to hone in and make time for your most critical priorities.  But before you can do that, she shares some essential truths about work/life fit that are important to understand if we are to be satisfied at work and at home.

Truth #1:  A work/life mishmash is the new reality

As recently as the last decade, the hours of 9-to-5 were standard in most organizations.  You did your work during that period, and then you went home and took care of your personal life.  But the reality of people’s lives no longer matches those neat, rigid expectations.  The growing mismatch is causing people and business to suffer.

Truth #2: It’s not just your employer’s responsibility

Companies and managers alone can’t solve the work/life challenges of their employees.   Managers and HR departments can’t tell each person in the organization how to manage their work and life because everyone’s circumstances on and off the job are completely different.  Employers must create a work environment in which it is okay to discuss potential flexible work/life solutions.  Then we, individual employees, need to meet the organization halfway and come to the table with a plan that takes into consideration our needs and the needs of the business.

Truth #3: It’s work/life “fit,” not “balance”

Using “balance” to describe the goal of flexibility for individuals causes more problems than it solves.  That’s because there really isn’t a “balance” or ideal 50-50 split between work and life.  Most of the time, what we’re after is not working less, but working differently.  By shifting hours, allowing telecommuting, and changing the way work is completed, everyone can manage the way work fits into his or her life.  The goal is to create an environment where all of those different work/life fit realities can live together to achieve the goals of business over time.

For more truths from Cali's book, have a look at the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Are You Working in a Cult?

What does Steve Hassan have to do with the workplace? In a piece in Canada’s The Globe and Mail, writer Harvey Schachter uses Hassan as the subject in his column on work-life balance. 

Steve Hassan is a mental health counselor who’s an expert on cults. Hassan knows what he’s talking about. He entered the Unification Church at age 19 and spent several years recruiting and indoctrinating new members, as well as performing fundraising and campaigning duties. After rising to the rank of assistant director of the Unification Church at its national headquarters, Hassan was severely injured in a traffic accident related to his duties. While he was in the hospital, his parents took the opportunity to “deprogram” him.

It worked. Hassan left the church and is now a well-respected international authority on the effects of cult membership.

Taking a look at Hassan’s BITE Model (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotion) of cult-like organizations, it’s immediately apparent why Schachter would draw a parallel to some of today’s workplaces.

Behavior Control

Cults regulate the individual’s physical reality, including where he lives, what he wears and how much sleep he gets. Individualism is discouraged, while group-think prevails. The individual must make major time commitments for indoctrination sessions and group rituals, be obedient, and accept having little time for leisure, entertainment or vacations.

Information Control

Leaders decide who needs to know what. Information is distorted or held back, to serve the needs of the organization. Access to outside information is discouraged, such as critical analysis of the organization or meeting with disgruntled former members.

Thought Control

The member is expected to accept the organizational doctrine as the truth. Only good thoughts are encouraged, and negative thoughts are shut down. Questions that are critical of leaders are not seen as legitimate.

Emotion Control

Fear abounds over thinking for yourself. Members are indoctrinated into having a phobia about leaving the group or questioning the leader. Those who leave are shunned, and the belief grows that there is no legitimate reason for leaving.

For more on workplace cults, visit the AMEX Open Forum.

Building Culture in a Digital World

Quick quiz: true or false?

1. You don’t know anyone who works at your company.
2. You try not to involve yourself with your company’s digital networks.
3. When it comes to certain office protocols, you have no idea what is and isn’t acceptable.

If you answered ‘True’ to these statements, you’re part of the 20 percent of global employees who work on virtual teams, and your organization’s culture is a total mystery to you.

This is a problem, because even as we strive to enhance our cultures so our employees will stick around, our strategies mostly shut out employees who don’t come into our offices. If we want to encourage collaboration and track productivity, we have dozens of effective digital tools from which to choose. But when it comes to tools meant to inform and reinforce culture, there’s not much.

In a recent article for Fast Company, Austin Carr reported on a few new technologies that are a step in the right direction. Yammer, which is an enterprise social network that Microsoft acquired for $1.2 billion, acts like a Facebook for internal business use. It enables employees to exchange messages, media and status updates—integrating the option to “Like” a coworker’s post or give him or her “Praise” badges.

Taking it a step further is emotional intelligence company Kanjoya, which has a product called Crane that taps into an organization’s Yammer network and analyzes data to measure how employees are feeling at any given moment or on any given topic. Crane can tell, for instance if your employees are irritated by a new policy or don’t like the way management is handling a current issue. Although it’s not always clear what leaders should do with Crane’s data from a big picture perspective, the program at least allows them to address small details that might otherwise go unnoticed and fester.

For tips on how to effectively build culture in a digital world, check out my full post on the AMEX Open Forum.

For Gen X, The Pressure's On

Perry Marshall is in the compression zone.  So are my husband and I.   So are most of our friends.

When I read Marshall’s blog post, Shout Out to the 30-Something Street Fightin Man, I thought a lot of you might be in the compression zone too.  According to Marshall, here’s what that phase of life involves:

Kid #3 just arrived.  Kid #2 is still in diapers and kid #1 is barely out of diapers.  The day starts when one of ‘em starts screaming at 3:45am and the sweet honey-dew of sleep is OVER.  Momma either stays at home, which means money is impossibly scarce, or momma goes to work and puts the kids in daycare, which means money is… impossibly scarce.  Everybody’s emotional tank is on “E” for Empty.

Dad works 1 1/2 jobs and he’s the “Go-To-Guy” in both of them.  His ‘superiors’ regard him as a promising young lad who has a lot of potential and a lot of heart, if only his daring adventures would pay off.  One morning he calls in late because a spat about loading the dishwasher all wrong turned into World War 3, and if we don’t sit down and talk this out right now, Momma’s probably gonna move in with her parents.

Deep in his heart he craves, yearns for, thirsts for… Respect.  From… somebody. Anybody.  “I wish SOMEBODY would listen to me. I wish ONE of these projects would come through as promised.  I wish ONE of these resumes I’m sending out would get an answer from a real manager instead of a form letter.”

When he was in the midst of the compression zone, a friend of Marshall’s told him:  “If you get through this and keep pressing forward, you’re gonna get to a next stage that’s a whole lot better.  It’s the harvest season of your life.  It’s when things really do start paying off.”

Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel?  More at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Advice for Those Struggling to Stay Motivated

Over at Intuit's Fast Track blog, we received the following reader question:

Here’s the question, with our experts’ responses below:

Do you have any tips for concentration or productivity in the office? I’m more than a year into my first full-time position in marketing, and I’m either experiencing burnout or a newfound case of ADD. My company is small, and sometimes I get to the office and am alone for several hours of the day. I seem to get sucked into checking blogs, wanting to sleep, texting friends, thinking about coffee breaks, etc. I put off my work, thinking that I’ll tackle it later that night, but when I get home, I am so exhausted that I barely move from the couch.

When I do have a deadline, I am able to meet it, but it’s not because I work ahead – more like I rush until the end. The work my company does is very meaningful, but I just stopped caring recently and don’t know what to do. I want to be successful, productive and energized but it seems my mind and body are fighting against me. How do you stay motivated?

Here's my answer:

Although you ask about productivity, I’m going to focus your last statement on motivation because I believe this is the crux of your issue.  Getting motivated isn’t easy in today’s professional world, which is stressful and chaotic even in organizations with meaningful missions.  However, the good news is that your own level of motivation is in your control, and you have the power to change it.

The lowest hanging fruit here is to read (or re-read) a few of the great business classics – I recommend Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People/How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – and posting some of your favorite inspirational quotes in your cube or office. Share the concepts that resonate with you most with others, and you’ll be surprised how much easier it is to believe in them yourself.

Sign up for any personal development or leadership courses your company offers, and stay busy so you don’t have time to sit around and think about your lack of motivation, or waste time, which just makes you feel worse.  If you haven’t already done a self-assessment or thought carefully about what you really want out of work and how you can get it, now’s the time.  Once you formulate a big picture, don’t let it out of your mind.  Do something every week, like mastering a new skill or taking on a new project, that brings you one step closer to your overall career goal, and celebrate your little successes along the way.

There will still be days when you just can’t get it together.  When that happens, be patient and wait for the mood to pass. Pretend it’s your first day of a new job, and imagine approaching every task with confidence, eagerness, and enthusiasm. You can do the same thing by imagining that this is the best day of your working life.  When you get home from work, you are still full of energy because you have accomplished so much and touched so many people.  Keeping these types of thoughts at the forefront will help you battle the malaise that inevitably creeps into everyday life.

For more great tips from the other experts, check out the full post.

Could You Work From Anywhere?

Many of us are growing increasingly accustomed to doing our work from anywhere, anytime.  It’s a skill we will certainly need in the years to come.  But since I am working in London as we speak, I’ve been researching what it means to be truly location independent.  To that end, blogger Sean Ogle has provided some excellent suggestions for being as safe and productive as you can while working overseas.

Suggestion 1: Reliable VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and the primary purpose is to allow you to allow you to securely connect to a network remotely.  A VPN can allow you to hide your actual identity or location.  Many countries block certain sites completely, so the only way to access them is when connected to a VPN.  A VPN can also make you look like you’re in the country, which can come in handy if you need location-specific search results, for instance.  Sean recommends Express VPN.

For more recommendations, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

How to Avoid Self-Destructing on Foreign Soil

On April 20, 2010, the oil rigger Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.  After the explosion killed or injured 28 workers and released 4.9 million barrels of crude oil, the gushing wellhead was finally capped. British Petroleum (BP), the multi-billion dollar oil and gas company, was indisputably responsible.

Instead of expressing true remorse and compassion for the disaster, then CEO Tony Hayward committed a series of cultural gaffes that enraged U.S. citizens and lawmakers. For instance, well before the Gulf crisis was resolved, Hayward proclaimed that he “wanted his life back.” Then, as efforts to plug the leak continued feverishly in the U.S., he casually took in a sailing race with his son off the Isle of Wight in the UK.

Hayward’s American Disconnect

This behavior was consistent with Hayward’s work/life balance philosophy.  He once said publicly that he didn’t work weekends and took all of his holidays no matter what.  What the British Hayward failed to realize was that most Americans don’t necessarily agree with this point of view. It is the American way to take responsibility for one’s mistakes and do everything you can to remedy a bad situation. Until the problem is solved, free time does not exist. Since Americans were affected most when Deepwater Horizon exploded, many wanted to see Tony Hayward on a boat participating in the clean-up.

Although much of his business is conducted in the U.S., Hayward did not demonstrate strong global competence. His lack of understanding regarding how the crisis would be received in the U.S. led to a backward slide of goodwill and a plunging stock price for BP. That summer, it would also cost him his job.

To find out how you can avoid a Tony Hayward-like PR catastrophe, read my advice over at the AMEX Open Forum.

 

Hire Smart Like Billy Beane

Who could resist a movie with Brad Pitt?

In Moneyball, which is based on the 2003 book of the same name by Michael Lewis, Pitt plays Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics.

Pitt or no Pitt, I normally stay away from sports movies. But Moneyball is no ordinary sports movie. It’s a lesson in hiring to which all small- and large-business owners should pay attention.

Baseball’s Mistake in Identifying Top Talent

The basic premise behind Moneyball is that baseball scouts have recruiting all wrong.  For more than a century, they’ve been relying on statistics like batting average and runs batted in (RBI) to assess players’ future performance on Major League teams. 

Worse, more often than not they “go with their gut” when making hiring decisions, letting personal feelings about a player, how he looks in a uniform, and the role they picture him having on the team, influence their selections. 

Billy Beane’s Lean and Mean Hiring Machine

Once Billy Beane realized that neither the objective nor subjective measures being used correlated with team wins, he turned the whole system on its head. Beane worked with Athletics’ data analysts to reveal the key factor in predicting future player success: the on-base percentage. The more effectively a player can control the strike zone, the better he’ll perform overall.

Fortunately for the Athletics, this quality was cheaper to obtain than traditionally valued attributes, and despite being outspent by $80 million by teams like the New York Yankees, Billy Beane’s Athletics were competitive and strong.

For advice on how you can hire like Billy Beane (and save a bundle), read the full article at the AMEX Open Forum.

Gen Y Employment Trends for 2013

Members of Generation Y are desperate for jobs.  

Born after 1979, most have come of age during the recession, and their professional opportunities have been limited. Payscale, a provider of compensation data and software, and Millennial Branding, a Gen-Y research company led by personal branding expert Dan Schawbel, recently found that in general, Gen Y is unemployed and underemployed at a greater rate than the rest of the working population.

Gen Y Goes Retail

The research showed that although those in Gen Y admire companies such as Qualcomm, Google, Medtronic, Intel and Microsoft, they aren't holding out for jobs that would use advanced skills such as data analysis and social media optimization, opting instead to take lower-skilled jobs to pay the rent. In 2012, many Gen Y college grads hold either full or part-time jobs as retail floor clerks and sales associates.

They Do It Their Way

While they may be working at the mall now, Generation Y entrepreneurial ambitions. According to a recent study from freelancing website Elance, Gen Y workers are embracing the freelance lifestyle at a faster rate than their older peers.  And Schawbel and his colleagues uncovered that the third most-popular major for Gen Y college students was entrepreneurial studies.

For more on what Gen Y is looking for in a work environment, check out the full article at the AMEX Open Forum.

Independent Work is Increasingly Common

Having your own business was once a rarity. 

I remember when I first took the leap. I’d go to a party and tell people what I did, and oohs and ahs would ensue. The admiration bestowed on me then was similar to that of a movie star or a neurosurgeon. Most could not even imagine being their own boss.

Today, they’re not just imagining it. They’re doing it.

MBO Partners, an advisor to organizations who want to efficiently manage their  contingent workforces, recently released its second State of Independence in America study and the results of its first Independent Workforce Index. Since 2011, the independent workforce has grown by nearly a million people and currently contributes about one trillion dollars in revenue to the U.S. economy. 

Most interestingly, though, the research tells us a great deal about the face of the independent worker–defined as people who work at least 15 hours or more per week in non-traditional, non-permanent, full- or part-time employment–in 2013.

For more on the face of the independent workforce, read my Culture Beat column at the AMEX Open Forum.