I decided to start this blog to discuss those things in life that just seem to blow up in our face. I started using this analogy in my leadership training. I have found that building a leadership culture requires people to see what can go wrong...before...it goes wrong. Avoiding the minefields. It has been far more successful than teaching the 3, 5, 12 or whatever lessons of leadership. People learn leadership by learning to see how their immediate actions will play out in the long run.
I find way too many examples in organizations today where the company does the expedient thing today and then wonders why employees aren't supportive in the future. In this down many companies will lay off employees fully expecting that when the economy turns they will line up at the door. The odds are the really good employees will have found a job elsewhere. They just stepped into a minefield. Not only will the companies turn around be slower, since they will have to train new people, but those left will see how short- sighted the company was and how dedicated the company was to the employees.
This blog provides the opportunity to share minefields and learn from each other.
Welcome
- Phil
- Welcome to Minefields! I have used my diverse federal and private industry experiences to provide insights to leadership, decision making and communications. I now focus on providing training and seminars to help others be successful in this ever changing and challenging world. Please feel free to join this open and friendly discussion. There is always something to learn.
Great new blog Phil. The expedient thing to do as you say in a downturn economy is to look for an immediate fix. From a personnel standpoint, that often results in laying off - sometimes permanently - employees who are reaching retirement age. The rationale has to be that, one, the company can hire younger, inexperience people at a much reduced rate, and two, virtually eliminate retirement benefits for the older employee just let go. It's a fix that often results in a further downturn for that business.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this happen recently in some significant numbers. I was asked to speak to a group of unemployed professionals. The group was made up of lawyers, engineers, marketing, human resources and a host of other organizational professionals. As I looked out over this audience of more than a hundred people, most of whom were in their late 40's to 50's, I was struck with the notion that I would love to be able to start a company with the experience in that room! Not only would they be committed to its success, they would bring invaluable life experience as well as their own professional experience - gained over many years to the mission of the company.
I guess what it boils down to is this; you can build a cheaper product with less expensive help, but you can never replace experience and a vested interest in the operation with values based only on expenditures. In a disposable society those concepts often result business failure.