There probably isn’t an executive out there who wouldn’t claim that the lines of communication within their organization are always open, but that doesn’t necessarily make it true. Yes, employee engagement and communication is important, even necessary, to the success of any organization. However, once-a-month emails or asking rhetorically “What do you think?” at the end of a meeting isn’t nearly enough. Leadership, from execs to HR to department managers, should be doing everything they can to create a Communication Culture in which their employees feel safe enough to communicate without solicitation or fear of reprisal.

Sound a little severe? “Fear of reprisal?” Well, according to a recent study on Harvard Business Review by James Detert and Amy Edmondson, employees surveyed “reported withholding input from a person higher up in the corporate hierarchy” because they were afraid the higher-up would resent the implicit need for change. However, the authors suggest that instituting a Communication Culture isn’t necessarily fast or easy. They say it

“isn’t simply a matter of removing obvious barriers, such as a volatile leader or the threat of a summary dismissal [… or even] putting formal systems in place, like hotlines and suggestion boxes. Making employees feel safe enough to contribute fully requires deep cultural change that alters how they understand the likely costs (personal and immediate) versus benefits (organizational and future) of speaking up.”

They recommend that “leaders must explicitly invite and acknowledge others’ ideas” and “actively challenge the myths and assumptions that reinforce silence” to cut the initial difficulties in making a cultural change.

Keep in mind that employees will be more willing to participate if they are shown that the rewards for their opinions exceed abstract pats-on-the-back. Detert and Edmondson go so far as recommending that organizations can “tailor their reward systems so that employees share more directly in the cost savings or revenue streams they help create.” Now that’s real engagement.

In a post on the KnowHR Blog, Frank Roche admits that it’s standard for HR managers to initially “encourage employees to speak up, to offer opportunities for improvement, and to ‘be engaged’” but also that “the tide of managerial resistance is hard to overcome.” But overcoming that hurdle should be part of HR’s domain. Since, as Systematic HR puts it, human resources owns “identifying competencies and expertise” in employees, new and established, HR can take a leadership position and inform executives when an employee “is a go to person for particular topics” and the employee’s input should be considered.

Engaged employees demonstrate higher productivity, loyalty and stamina, and that usually contributes to a healthier bottom line (although there’s even more at stake here). They’re easier to retain, and they help foster the retention of their fellow employees. And employees who are given an even broader culture of communication yield even greater benefits. They tend to be innovators and thought-leaders who drive progress for their organization. It isn’t something that every business has in place, but in the coming War on Talent, where retention will be so vital, maybe more businesses should develop a Communication Culture.

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Let’s say, hypothetically, that you are lucky enough to have some top-talent, Quiet Working Professionals in your network. One day, a position comes along that you think would be a perfect match for their skills. Now, do you know how to recruit them? If all you’re able to offer is the old slightly-higher-salary/ slightly-bigger-office, you may find yourself unable to recruit them. If, on the other hand, you dig deep and try to understand the QWP’s specific needs (which often have little to do with salary), you’re more likely to place them and come out looking like a star recruiter.

The thing about Quiet Working Professionals is that they have a relatively satisfying job already. And they’re quiet for a reason. They want their explorations to be done in a very private, confidential, gracious manner. Sure you might be able to offer them a job with better compensation, but they’re being paid well as it is. What else can you offer them to offset the hassle of changing jobs? To figure out the answer to that, you have to get in touch with their other needs. The case is often that an improved work culture is more attractive than money.

Rowan Manahan, managing director of Fortify Services, says that the

“majority of people don’t leave companies for greater opportunities or more money. They generally leave because they are not happy with their previous company’s culture or their previous bosses” (on Fortify Your Oasis).

You have to be able to demonstrate to a passive candidate or QWP that the opportunity you’re showing them features a significantly better environment and/or culture than the one to which they’re accustomed. Show them that the new opportunity features great communication and engagement and that their participation is going to be highly valued.

Barb Bruno says, on her blog, that simple questions can help you determine what it’ll take to offer QWPs an improved work culture. She recommends a role-playing sort of question like “What would you change about your current opportunity if you were your boss?”

A truly “Quiet” QWP may not have even considered how their work-culture could be improved, but opening that door for them can make them more receptive to the great opportunity you have lined up for them. Of course, as Barb points out, if their answers are simply money or advancement, you better be able to offer them those simple improvements too. However, it’s more likely that they’re going to want to be accurately matched with an opportunity that meets the broader spectrum of their work-culture needs. That means that you better have those kinds of opportunities lined up if you want to attract the QWPs in your network.

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This will come as a surprise to many of you, but the itzbig blog is evidently not read by every single employer out there in the world. At least, that’s the only possible answer we can come up with when we hear about some of the workplace dissatisfaction in today’s market. As boomers begin to step down and millenials begin to step up, some workplace environments are going to have to increase their graciousness if they want to retain high numbers of employees. Still, as a candidate, there are steps you can take as early as your job discovery process that can help put you in a more gracious workplace.

A recent study by The Conference Board found that satisfaction in the workplace (especially among the rising ranks of young employees) is at a record low. Specifically, the study states that:

The low level of job satisfaction in the under 25 year old segment began in 1995 when 55.7 percent indicated that they were satisfied with their jobs. By 2000, that level dropped to 50 percent and by 2005 it dropped even further to 49.2 percent. By 2006, the level had dropped to 38.6 percent. By comparison, between 50.3 and 55.3 percent of those over the age of 25 report being dissatisfied in their jobs. (via a post on College Recruiter)

A satisfaction drop of 17+% over 11 years is potentially monumental, considering the sheer volume of incoming millenials in the workplace. As a candidate (whether you’re a millenial or not), you have considerable power in determining your workplace satisfaction.

Some executives will admit that people are their most important asset, but secretly wish that they could cut some corners in spending on those assets (to paraphrase Gautam Ghosh). However, you can sniff out those kinds of bosses during the application or interview process. In a post about Bob Sutton’s HR book The No Asshole Rule, Guy Kawasaki summarizes some ways you can get a sense of workplace graciousness. Whether on an online community (which Kawasaki discusses) or possibly even during an interview process, you can ask questions about a boss’ collaboration history, treatment of both higher-ups and subordinates, information sharing and even email style.

Does the boss come up when you ask about people’s best days at work or when they talk about their worst day at work? How do people describe communication with the boss? How is teamwork described within the company. Once you feel like you’ve been accurately matched with a potential employer, it’s important to figure out exactly what the workplace environment is going to be like. However, a little detective work can help make sure that you’re getting the most out of your next boss, and that can help make the difference between a job and a dream job.

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[Daily post from itzbig] Are you going on a job search or a Job Discovery?

“Search” suggests finding something that is obscured or hidden, something that’s missing. In most cases the job opportunity that you are looking for isn’t hidden or missing. It’s right there waiting for you to start work. Like Columbus’ new world, it is just waiting to be discovered.

CollegeRecruiter.com Blog: Gen Y Hates Their Jobs

“To anyone who has ever had discussions with friends or family about how much they like or dislike their work, it should come as no surprise that the Conference Board found in a survey of 5,000 U.S. households that many Americans dislike their work. The group that disliked their work the most? Gen Y.”

BusinessWeek: Executives Remain Wary of Web 2.0

“Instead, they’re putting their resources behind technologies that enable automation and networking, according to a Mar. 22 McKinsey Global Survey, ‘How businesses are using Web 2.0.’”

JimStroud.com: Double digit salary increases for Indian Engineers are on the way!

“When publicly traded companies report financial results, executives typically also provide future guidance, such as the number of new customers they expect for the coming year, or expectations for revenues.Two of India’s leading IT outsourcing firms have added another category to future performance guidance: the size of the salary raises they expect to give.”

More than a living: Hello, Crazy

“We Gen-Xers were inspired by words based in the go-go 80s wealth accumulation, instead of the 90s mid-life reflections. Maybe we had something to rebel against, because we were getting messages like “you’ll earn less than your parents” or “jobs security as you’ve observed it will no longer exist.””

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Who do you think is in charge of your talent acquisition? Many executives would answer by saying “Human Resources.” However, HR usually doesn’t have a seat at the executive table. HR usually lacks the stature and clout to make direct recommendations that bring real, strategic value, but this should not be the case. If you don’t have the right person in charge of talent, you are essentially without a process to acquire and measure talent. Among all the C-level players in a company, there needs to be a Talent Officer. Without someone representing talent in executive-level decisions, your talent probably isn’t giving you the highest return.

The Chief Talent Officer would have responsibility for the organization’s acquisition, retention and development of talent. In today’s knowledge-based markets, most organizations will succeed or fail based on their ability to manage their human capital. Yet, many organizations still don’t have a Chief Talent Officer at the C Level Table.

Human capital is, arguably, the most important asset on a company’s balance sheet. That’s why quality talent acquisition (and that definitely includes Quiet Working Professionals) needs to be a strategic initiative in today’s competitive market. Unfortunately, talent acquisition is something of an intangible asset, and it consequently lacks the development it should receive. A post at SystematicHR muses about these problems this way:

“If we’re locked up in a knowledge economy, why are we still using industrial era production analysis when the real capital is talent? If business can make the shift to evaluating the return on talent rather than capital, would this make the executive teams more interested in what we’re doing?”

However, a properly positioned Talent Officer should also own the creation of a strategy for acquiring the best talent. Toby Lucich says it succinctly when he argues that “Execution is not enough.” He points out that

“To be a valued advisor to leadership, you must not only fulfill your stated responsibilities, but you must also demonstrate how your activities drive the organization to become critical to the leadership of an organization.”

So, it becomes incumbent on a Talent Officer to enact forward-looking hiring policies, to basically source ahead of demand. Lucich says that they have to “ensure management understands that they are recruiting future leaders, not [merely] hiring for the current opening.”

The new itzbig network will be a powerful resource for allowing a company to source ahead of demand. Through it, a talent officer will be able to make confidential contact with quality talent that fits specific needs. And our system of scoring, matching and ranking will help make those contacts even before there is a job opening. In other words, when talent comes along that matches a talent officer’s requirements for a “dream candidate,” a Michael Jordan of business, our network will show that talent to the officer and facilitate contact. Now that’s forward-thinking.

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[Daily Post from itzbig] Before you activate Plan B, consider your work attitude

“The sad truth is that lots of people are unhappy at their jobs, but - in the spirit of lemonade-from-lemons - that also means that there is a lot of potential talent out there ready for a new job. Still, before you go quitting your job, there is a lot to consider.”

Employment Digest: Crafting a resume requires knowledge of changing rules

“Remember the rule about getting your resume on a single page? Well that one has been thrown out. Here are some more. Have you ever noticed that just when you figure out all the rules, the rules change?”

Systematic HR:: Communicating with a Millennial (Part 3: Getting to Know You)

This wasn’t supposed to be a series. Both the Recruiting Animal and “Ryan” have brought up interesting points that I’d like to comment on. Is it possible that all of this “adjusting” going both ways (to the Millennials and for them to work) is really just workforce entry angst?

StlRecruiting: Mapping The Recruiting Community

“One of the things I do for my interactive marketing business is community mapping. The idea actually came from recruiting, as I always think of my community maps as sourcing websites as opposed to sourcing people.”

Bostonworks: Online database fatigue?

“In my mind the science of recruiting is in using the tools and technologies to find candidates; the art, however, is in the landing.”

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We’ve written before about the possible dangers created by a poorly managed workforce, and while that advice is great (do you expect anything less from this blog?), not every HR department is going to follow it. The sad truth is that lots of people are unhappy at their jobs, but - in the spirit of lemonade-from-lemons - that also means that there is a lot of potential talent out there ready for a new job. Still, before you go quitting your job, there is a lot to consider.

According to a study posted about on the Taleo Blog, talent management and performance evaluation/reward are the two leading factors in work-place positivity (via Gautam Ghosh’s blog). What happens when both of those aspects of a job are lackluster? Obviously, you’re going to be dissatisfied with your job. However, think about what it means to be unhappy at your job. Why are you unhappy, and is there anything positive that can be done about your situation? Specifically, are there ways you can turn adversity into opportunity? Rising above negative co-workers, making the best of your responsibilities, and trying to be positive.

Sure, that may sound like sort of abstract advice, but you should think about it as a specific, proactive tactic. on Alexander Kjerulf’s blog, Chief Happiness Officer, he argues that:

“The single most efficient way to increase your productivity is to be happy at work. No system, tool or methodology in the world can beat the productivity boost you get from really, really enjoying your work.” (read the full post here).

Of course, if you still want to activate Plan B, that positivity and added productivity are likely to make your management a little more positive about you, a little more willing to give you a good review, perhaps.

Similarly, CNNMoney.com magazine recently published an article about “knee-jerk vs. smart” responses for people who are unhappy with their jobs. The knee-jerk response usually perpetuates your negativity which can give management a reason to fire you (i.e. take responsibility for your talent out of your hands), while the smart response
usually sets you up to look like a hero, even if you’re on your way out.

You might also take the “Should You Quit Your Job” quiz posted at About.com. It might help you figure out if you’re staring down the barrel of a dead-end job or if you’re staring opportunity right in the eyes. It’s never too late to change jobs or careers, but it can be a major decision. Many people dream of rushing into their boss’ office and letting go with the famed “Piece-of-my-mind.” But, do some deliberate thinking before you walk out on what could be your chance for career greatness, and don’t go burning any bridges. Then, if you’re really ready for a career change, you’ll go into Plan B poised for success instead of carrying unhappy career baggage with you.

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[Daily Post from itzbig] Use a more human strategy to put talent in the best possible position

“Just as a prospective candidate is made up of more than a one-page history, the hiring procedure should be made up of more than just a mere fulfillment of the traditional steps. In other words, putting the best talent in the best positions means that recruiters and employers need to engage in a new, more human strategy.”

Secrets of the Job Hunt: Second Act Careers

” The full report along with tips and guidelines for making the switch will appear in the April issue of MONEY, on newsstands March 26 and available online now at http://www.CNNMoney.com/bestjobs2007.”

StlRecruiting: DoAskDoTell: Employee Blogging Policies

“Do you have a dress code policy at your place of employment? Do you have an acceptable Internet Use Policy? Do you have a corporate blogging policy?”

…from the trenches: Expo Bloggin

In 2005, I walked away with so many tactical ideas that I filled a whiteboard with them back in my office. Last year, the networking was sensational. This year, I’m hoping to see a good mix of recruiting knowledge acquisition and hard-core networking, and you can read about it both here and on the ER Expo Blog.

The Recruiting Edge: Citigroup to Axe Recruiters?

Needless to say, many of the Edge’s friends recruit at Citigroup - and we feel your pain. So hopefully, the Edge will be one of the first to offer any Citigroup recruiter a chance to blog about themselves as part of a multi-pronged approach to finding a new gig.

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[Daily Post from itzbig] How important is passionate recruiting, really?

To highly-paid recruiters, recruiting is of the utmost importance. To hungry job seekers, recruiting might be pretty important. However, if you move up the corporate ladder a bit, recruiting and hiring often take a backseat to other business concerns.”

Guerrilla Job Hunting: Tips for Job Hunting Smarter

“Get your priorities straight. Focus on the interview producing stuff FIRST and foremost. Ask yourself: Is what I am doing this moment going to lead to an interview in the next 10 days? If not, stop doing it immediately.”

Employment Digest: Market Yourself with a Resume that Gets Results

“Most of the time I think why people wrinkle up their noses when someone says “networking” is because it is seen as selfish and self-serving. It kind of reminds you about all those used car salesmen jokes.”

Recruiting Animal: The Motivation Interview

“To make a good hire you’ve got find out if the candidate moves naturally in a direction that will match him to your job. How? Todd asks the candidate why she is in her current job. If she indicates that it suits her, he asks why again and then analyzes her answer to death with a lot of follow up questions.”

Marketing Headhunter: Recruiting for Online Retail

“My candidate used a number of Firefox extentions to analyze the site’s source code, merchandise selection, and layout. Finally, he ordered eight items from the company’s website — after having built and abandoned two shopping carts during his user session.”

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Obviously the answer to the above question will depend on who you’re asking. To highly-paid recruiters, recruiting is of the utmost importance. To hungry job seekers, recruiting might be pretty important. However, if you move up the corporate ladder a bit, recruiting and hiring often take a backseat to other business concerns. Unfortunately, that can create unserved workers (as we talked about yesterday). It can also mean that lots of quality talent gets passed over, and that can be the worst thing to ever happen to a business.

To Austin Hill, there’s no greater business concern than recruiting, but he argues that it should be approached in just the right way. Hill suggests that businesses and their recruiters should have a passion for recruiting, that they should “love recruiting the best people and be willing to invest the time to reach out in every way possible to meet potential candidates” (from a post on his blog). His reasoning is that “Top talent is never looking for jobs. Jobs need to hunt out top talent.” That hunt, he argues, requires a serious devotion to recruiting.

That need for devotion is echoed by Rob Hubert, CTO of Elite IT Services, an an IT staffing company. In a post on their blog, he writes about the importance of passionate recruiting in technical fields like IT:

“Today’s IT Job Market has become very competitive between employers The best candidates are receiving multiple offers and are in favorable positions to make a choice. But our clients are not competing for average candidates; they are competing for the best candidates.”

The people he recruits know they are in demand, so he has to go to greater lengths to make them want the work he has for them.

Jay Goldman of Radiant Core agrees as well. When placing candidates, he has come to expect candidates who “are assessing Radiant Core as much as we are assessing them” (from the Radiant Core blog). To him that mutual assessment “shows that they understand the value that they bring to the organization,” and is proof that there is no way to reach that talent without a perceivable passion for recruiting. Ultimately, if you recruit without passion, you end up with mediocre talent who also lack passion. On the other hand, if you have a serious love for recruiting, for finding and placing the right candidates in the right jobs, you’re going to end up with the most desirable talent in jobs they love.

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