June 26, 2008
I think I saw the future today. Of course, I’ve seen it all before….but that was in an episode of Star Trek. This was the real thing!!
I’d encourage you to visit http://www.musion.co.uk/Cisco_TelePresence.html and take a quick look at this demo of the ‘Cisco On-Stage TelePresence Experience’ where holograms of two executives in California are beamed to a Stage in Bangalore, India and interact seamlessly with the CEO of Cisco, John Chambers. I’m not exaggerating when I say it looks virtually no different to if they were actually on the same stage together.
The two companies have clearly invested a lot of money in this system and they probably stand to make a lot of money too. But my interest is in the potential of this technology to change working lives. Business will be the first market for Telepresence and it has already been sold to companies in 23 different countries. After that it won’t be long before they start appearing in our homes!
There are several positive aspects to this advance – first, I can almost hear the sigh of relief from salesmen who pound out the motorway miles to get to and from customers each year. Imagine how stress levels will fall when you don’t have to get up at 5am to drive to the other end of the country – instead, you go to the office at the normal time and use Telepresence. Second, I can hear an equally large sigh of relief from the environment as cars are taken off the roads (which also benefits those who do have to commute) and less people need to fly for business purposes. Finally, consumers will benefit as the time to market for new products and technologies will be dramatically reduced because of the ease of having ‘face-to-face’ meetings using this system or ones like it.
Of course, it won’t actually be a face-to-face meeting – but you can’t get much closer to having one without actually being in the same room. I’m sure that using this system would take some getting used to, but compared with the stop-start nature of tele-conferencing it seems like this offers a whole new level of remote communication. Anyway, check out the demo and let me know what you think….and remember, this is not science-fiction!
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Productivity, Stress | Tagged: business meetings, CEO, environment, stress levels | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
June 20, 2008
This week Labour MP Tom Harris hit the headlines after he wrote a blog post entitled “Heaven knows we’re miserable now”. He suggests that although we are richer and more secure, we are actually less happy and more miserable than we were decades ago. He implies that even with the credit crunch we are wealthier and relatively more secure than ever before - because in the past we had the fear of nuclear war, poverty and the average wage was much lower. In some respects, I agree that we are better off now and that this hasn’t led to corresponding increases in happiness – the well-rehearsed ‘money and material goods doesn’t buy happiness’ theory!
However, I disagree that our cynicism, whinging and apparent pessimism is part of the intrinsic British makeup. On the contrary, as an American who has lived and worked here for over 30 years, I think we have become more optimistic, less cynical and less whinging. The ‘70s saw the height of pessimism, conflict and cynicism - but since the ‘80s we have progressively become more positive and the benefits of a positive mindset have been demonstrated and acknowledged in the fields of professional sport, business and our language – for example, the proverbial glass ‘half full’, ‘positive mental attitude’ from the ’80 and ‘90s and more recently ‘positivity’.
In my opinion, what we are seeing today is not ‘national miserableness’, but a reaction to an underlying concern about our security. The insecurity of our jobs, financial insecurity, insecurity because we live in a world where we know terrorists are prepared to give up their lives to destroy others, the lack of community as we hunt the almighty ‘buck’ to look after ourselves and our families.
I suspect what is happening is that people at the moment don’t feel they have much control over their own lives. At the same time, they don’t feel that the ‘significant others’ in society (e.g. government, employers, Bank of England, FSA, etc.) are in control of events either. This lack of control - whether it relates to the cost of fuel and food or the decline of the economy or the rising influence of the EU - causes concern and anxiety for people. So, this so-called nation-wide ‘miserableness’ is a means of expressing our worries, a reaction to a specific way of life that characterises our society – it’s not an intrinsic national negative personality trait!
Read Tom Harris’ Blog post at http://tomcharris.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/heaven-knows-were-miserable-now/
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Productivity, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: credit crunch, happiness, harris, miserable, unhappy, Well-being | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
June 19, 2008
Last month Personnel Today reported research from Frankfurt University showing that ‘professional smilers’, such as flight attendants, sales personnel, call centre operators, waiters and others in contact with the public for extended periods of time, were at risk of seriously harming their health. Professor Dieter Zapf, a psychologist and researcher into human emotions at Frankfurt University, said that fake friendliness led to depression, stress and negatively affected the immune system. The implication of the findings was that every time a person is forced to repress their true feelings, there are damaging consequences for their health.
This is hardly surprising, but for me puts the spotlight on recruitment decisions – those of both candidate and recruiter. For the recruiter, it’s critical to know what you’re looking for and how to identify it in the candidate. For example, if you are looking for a friendly, sociable flight attendant you need to understand the enduring personality characteristics that drive the behaviour you are looking for, as well as checking that the person has the skills to interact with passengers effectively. If someone has a personality characterised by high levels of neuroticism and introversion they are very unlikely to behave in the manner you require – no matter how well they perform in the role play at the assessment centre. Learnt skills can mask true personality in the short-term, but it never lasts.
Which brings me to the candidate’s responsibility in these situations: No matter how much someone wants the job there is no point in them pretending to be someone that they are not. If you like to spend time quietly problem-solving, analysing data or writing reports you are unlikely to enjoy the kind of work that requires a lot of human contact, outgoing behaviour and constant smiling. So it’s important to be honest with yourself and the recruiter and to self-select out of the process when this kind of mismatch occurs.
For people, who are naturally outgoing (in personality terms, extroverts who are open to experience and have low levels of neuroticism) I doubt that working in these roles would be inherently stressful, as the Frankfurt study claims. However, for someone who wasn’t completely honest during the recruitment process, or got the job as the result of a poor selection decision by the employer, these kinds of roles could become excruciating. I’d like to see the results of a study like this that controlled for personality type.
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/05/16/45890/enforced-smiling-in-the-workplace-puts-health-at-risk.html
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Management, Recruitment and Selection, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: Depression, personality, recruitment, Stress, stressful | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
June 16, 2008
I recently did some work for City & Guilds, the awarding body associated with vocational learning, who have just released the results of a national survey focusing on ‘happiness’. They found that ‘pay’ ranked only 4th in their Happiness Index behind the following aspects of working life:
• A stimulating and interesting job
• Financial security
• Good work-life balance
With all the strike action going on in the UK at the moment - Shell’s haulage workers went on strike this week - you’d be forgiven for thinking that pay is still as important as everyone thinks it is for employees. But these results offer an alternative view and reflect what I hear when I talk to both workers and managers – that, yes, fair pay is a factor, but without stimulating, challenging work and a good work-life balance it’s not enough.
Having good relationships with work colleagues was also seen as important by respondents. This should be no surprise as we all have examples of our working lives being damaged by poor relationships with our boss and/or colleagues. Conversely, if you have good relationships work-based friends can be a critical source of support when times are tough or when the pressure is on.
All of the above factors are fundamental to employee well-being and happiness, as well as a firm’s ability to retain their employees and deliver sustainable success. Of course, given the current negative economic climate and the associated media hype, it is harder for employers to maintain levels of well-being / happiness. Staff are focusing on the security of their jobs and may not give much credence to their employers’ overtures about the benefits of well-being at work. But if well-being levels were good before the economic downturn resilience levels are likely to be higher now, staff more receptive to change and the task of managing them in the current context easier all round.
There are lessons for all of us here in terms of how we motivate, retain and develop our people. This survey, together with the Learning and Skills Council’s ‘Train for Gain’ programme, is encouraging all employers to stimulate people, give them more autonomy, provide a reasonable level of security and invest in creating a high morale work environment - and that’s no bad thing.
1 Comment | Engagement, Management, Personal Resilience, Productivity, Well-being | Tagged: autonomy, happiness, motivate, pressure, resilience, Well-being, work-life balance | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
June 10, 2008
Well, according to The Great Place to Work Institute (http://www.greatplacetowork.com/), which named Google as America’s ‘Best Company to Work For’, it’s because its employees think that….
“..this company has created a culture that is high on trust, low on politics, great at sharing resources and sharing the wealth, and is full of meaning and significance.”
As one Google employee put it “The don’t be evil” mantra is more than skin deep; it is the core of the culture”.
So, the culture runs a lot deeper than the perks that ‘Googlers’ receive, but they can’t hurt either – just take a look at the selection below:
And more recently they have added:
• Annual on-site Health Fair offering various free testing services, including eye exams and cholesterol testing; plus free flu shots.
• Fuel Efficiency Vehicle Incentive Program encourages employees to purchase hybrid cars by providing a $5,000 financial incentive.
• Their new maternity leave policy gives new mothers, who have been Google employees for at least 1 year, 6 additional weeks of paid leave (a total of 18 weeks) to bond with their baby. New fathers can take up to 7 weeks of paid time off during the baby’s first year.
Now, I know you’ll be thinking that this is an impossible vision. That Google is one of the world’s richest companies and doesn’t have to worry about making a profit each month. And you’re right, it does highlight a gulf between most UK workers’ experiences and those of the Googlers; but it also shows us what’s possible. What if your business leaders applied the philosophy of Google’s leaders in your organisation? It wouldn’t be the same, but how might work feel different for you and your fellow employees?
No Comments » | Leadership, Well-being, reward and recognition | Tagged: Best Company To Work For, work culture, Perks & Benefits, business leaders | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
June 6, 2008
It’s been tragic this week to see arguably the most talented footballer of a generation, Paul Gascoigne, being admitted for treatment again after years of depression and alcoholism. One of the most thought provoking reactions to the news came from our most successful club manager of all time, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. He reminded us that he tried to sign Gascoigne for United in the late 1980s and, he believes, that things could have been very different had he done so. He was quoted as saying the following:
“We had a structure of players who could have helped him and I think it would have given him some discipline. Maybe it would have helped him, too.”
There are lessons here about the perils of following a career path driven by the quest for thrills and money, whatever the occupation. Indeed, it has been reported that it started badly when Sir Alex left the UK for his holiday that year believing he had signed his man, only to return to discover alledgedly that another club had tempted Gascoigne to sign for them by buying his mother a very large house. This would have been undeniably tempting for a young man, but is hardly the right platform for a stable, open and two-way psychological contract between player and club.
Ferguson’s point about structure and discipline is the important one though – we all want to tap into the raw talent and enthusiasm of younger employees, but it needs to be carefully nurtured if we are to generate sustained levels of high performance that serve the organisation over the long-term. Managers of all kinds have a responsibility for creating a climate where discipline and structure sits in the background, but is not constraining and does not stamp out energy and creativity.
There’s no doubt that younger workers can benefit from the parental / mentoring role that Ferguson plays for his team members and it can be that which makes the difference between a career defined by 2-3 explosive years followed by burn-out and twenty years of sustained brilliance. Returning to the football example – just look at two players from Gascoigne’s era who have just lifted the European Champion’s League trophy for the second time - Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. The latter has also just broken Sir Bobby Charlton’s all time appearance record for Manchester United at the age of 34. That could have been Paul Gascoigne.
No Comments » | Leadership, Management, Well-being | Tagged: high performance, psychological contract, Talent | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
June 3, 2008
With the summer holidays approaching, most of us are looking forward to switching off for a couple of weeks…….but does that include your Blackberry and mobile phone too? The advent of PDA / Blackberry technology enables us to take our work around the world with us, and while this has improved communications and flexibility (sending an email from a train would have been unthinkable fifteen years ago!), it also brings risks and challenges for us all.
The standard advice I give to people is to try to keep the use of this technology during holiday periods to a minimum – however important you think the matter is - because it’s important to have ‘real‘ time off, where you truly disengage from everything to do with work. However, I often come across people who push back against this with a different argument.
They tell me that switching their blackberry on 2 times during their holiday for only a short time (and being disciplined about it), might, for some workaholics, actually helps them to relax while they are away. This may seem counter-intuitive – but having discussed this with several people I’ve started to see how this could work… for some.
Firstly, for those who worry about things going wrong while they’re away from the office, and feel they are not ‘in control’, taking a quick look at the Blackberry can alleviate a lot of anxiety. It can enable them to go back to enjoying their time with their families with 100% of their attention. Secondly, if there are people who rely on you back at work and you can ‘unstick’ or support someone with a short email, this may relieve stress for co-workers, improve results or avert a potential major problem you’ll have to deal with on your return. And finally, the pressure of the first few days back in the office may be relieved, because you have already seen most of your emails and considered their content so that it’s one less thing to deal with.
I must emphasise that I’m not advocating this approach for everyone – it is absolutely fine and probably very sensible to say to yourself “I will not think about work even once during my summer holiday”. But for those who don’t want to do this (or can’t), there are options as long as you don’t start working all day every day. Ultimately, it’s down to each of us to decide how to get the most out of our holiday time for ourselves and our families – the measure of whether you’ve got it right, is whether you go back to work feeling refreshed and having spent some quality time with the people that matter to you, your family and friends!
1 Comment | Stress, Well-being | Tagged: pressure, Stress, support | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
