Knowledge is a Key

Bloomberg Business Week ran an article about a challenge industry is facing.  It is across all sectors.  In a nutshell, boomers are retiring and exiting the workforce. These retirees are taking institutional knowledge and leadership experience with them.

Several companies are concerned about this substantial loss that cannot be easily replaced. Several companies are taking numerous measures to lessen the blow. Pay particular attention to the GE and BAE examples.  Mentoring is one vehicle.

I realize this is not directly on point, but I do see a parallel.  For economic development professionals in larger organizations, what mechanisms are in place when key staff retires or moves on to a new position?  I think we sometimes forget that long time staff does some work almost mechanically. By that I mean they almost cannot explain what they do on a step by step basis because so much of the knowledge to do particular tasks without giving it any thought.

As someone who has experienced the learning curve, it can consume time. Even issues as minor as where to get expense report forms, etc can all be a challenge.  If you know little about what was done, you may continually reinvent the wheel for the first few months.

Questions:

• Do you have mechanisms in place to transfer this institutional knowledge?
• Does your organization invest in training oriented toward managing staff for those who will likely be managers?
• Does your organization have a mentoring program?
• Do you have a vigorous on-boarding program?
• Do you have something as simple as key forms all new employees will need (not typical human resource forms)?

Link to article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/as-boomers-retire-companies-prepare-millennials-for-leadership-roles

Freelancer

Lately I keep running across interesting sites and services. The latest one is Freelancers.  Freelancers is an Australian company.  A description of the firm:

Freelancer.com is the world's largest freelancing, outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and projects. We connect over 18,045,481 employers and freelancers globally from over 247 countries, regions and territories. Through our marketplace, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering, the sciences, sales and marketing, accounting and legal services.

Registration is simple and required.  You have the option to register as a buyer or freelancer.  If you register as a freelancer you can choose among numerous categories of expertise. Examples include IT and apps, writing and copy editing, manufacturing, telemarketing, and professional services.  As a freelancer you have the option to register for free or a sliding scale of fees appropriate to the services offered.

Freelancers can post examples of their work and describe projects in detail.  The service offers an app to track the progress of a project.

The process is fairly straightforward.  Buyers post projects.  Freelancers receive notifications and then decide if they want to bid on the project.  The buyer then decides which freelancer to retain. The freelancer submits the project. If the buyer is satisfied, Freelancer.com releases the payment to the freelancer.

For companies in remote areas, this could be an excellent service. For freelancers in remote areas, this could be an excellent vehicle to get new business.

Link to website:  https://www.freelancer.com

Minor Changes Make a Big Difference

Usually I see two common traits in leaders.  This article that appeared in INC encompasses both.  The article is by Jeff Haden.

The crux of the article is about how leaders ask staff questions.  As I suspect you have, I too have experienced both. And I am sure you have too.

The first set of three questions should not be asked.  The author does a great job explaining each one and the consequences.  I would only add these are the type of questions an insecure leader or a "I am too busy to hear your thoughts, so let's get to the end" or as I like to call them - get to the end, because the means are irrelevant.  You see these leaders giving signs (either intentionally or not) that this session is over.   A more common example is the leader looking at his watch. 

What makes this sad is generally the leader actually thinks he is doing a great job, completely oblivious to other thoughts and analysis.  Or the leader is so insecure, he trembles at the thought of someone having a better option.

Now for the second part of the article.  These five questions are asked by leaders who think more of the staff and good of the organization than himself.

The leader who asks these type of questions is supremely self confident and demonstrates a clear respect for his team.  He knows good questions can lead to a robust discussion, which in turn may lead to the best possible solution.

So questions for you:

1. Which leader would you prefer to work for?
2. What type of leader are you or aspire to be?
3. What type of questions do you ask (be honest)?

Link to article:

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/3-kinds-of-questions-smart-people-never-ask-and-5-they-do.html