Am I Innovative: Test Three

According to Harvard and The Energy Project people that are able to focus on one task at a time are 50% more engaged.   What this means is that those people were more involved with and passionate about their work.

The same holds true for Innovation.  Those individuals who can focus on one task at a time tend to be more innovative.  The big question is why?

The answer is simple.  Innovation takes time.  In order to create something new or change a process in a meaningful way it takes time.

When we innovate we need to play with ideas and concepts, define a future state, test new processes, and more.  People innovate when they have the time and space to engage in those efforts.

We also lose time when we take on too much and multi-task.  Study after study comes back with the same answer:

• People that multi-task actually lose productive time and the quality of their work decreases.

So in order to truly say yes to an idea we have to say no to others.   How are you creating time in space in your organization for people to innovate?  How are you creating the time and space for you to innovate?

I am Innovative: Test One

I am Innovative: Test Two

The Workforce Challenge

What’s standing in the way of our running a successful enterprise?

Executives from all over the world were asked to choose the top two obstacles to building a workforce that meets their future business needs. The two biggest obstacles identified were:

• Employee longevity or loyalty
• Adequate leadership

Source: Oxford Economics’ Workforce 2020: The looming Talent Crisis 2014

When you compare that with following Career Builder statistic:

• Only 34% of U.S. workers aspire to leadership positions, with 7% aiming for senior or C-level management.

We have a challenging recipe.  But when you add-on that several studies that state people will switch jobs over 10 times by the time they reach 30 we are really underwater.

What do you think we can do to address this issue?

Leadership Transitions

If only 34% of U.S. workers aspire to leadership positions, with 7% aiming for senior or C-level management what will that mean for our leadership bench strength? share your thoughts and ideas.

Share Your Career Story

Best Career Moments

Everyone has had that moment in their career.  The moment when it all clicked, came together.  The moment when we felt unstoppable.  We loved what we were doing. When we put in extra hours and did not notice the time passing.  We probably worked like a dog, but felt like a champion.  Burnout was not even on the horizon.

These moments in our career are special.  We get out of them as much or more than we put into them.  They demonstrate when we are on top of our game.  We all want more of these moments and we want them to last longer.  Let’s learn about these magic moments from each other.

When were you at the top of your game? What were you doing?  Why do you think it all came together?  What helped you create or have that career moment?

Share your story.

Bringing Young Leaders Forward

At Five Star Bank, we are always looking for ways to further our employees’ talents and invest in their strengths. It is part of bringing the best service we can to our customers. A prime example is Five Star Bank employee Stephanie Petrakos, who started at the bank eight years ago fresh out of college as a management trainee and worked her way up. Currently she is the Vice President and Credit Administrator. In her position she is required to have a leadership role in the bank’s credit department. As such, she was sent to a leadership development conference through Independent Community Bankers of America. What she also found was that Five Star Bank could be ahead of other organizations when it comes to ushering in the next generation of its leadership.

Read the full article at:

Five Star Bank

Top 5 Employee Deal-Breakers

What frustrates employees?  what makes them want to look for a new job?  According to HR Manager, Sept 2014 these are the Top 5:

1. Not feeling trusted and empowered by their boss.
2. Being expected to work or answer e-mail during a sick day, during vacation or after work.
3. A boss who shifts the blame to employees when things go awry.
4. Lack of flexibility for family responsibilities.
5. Not getting along with co-workers.

Do you agree?  What would you add to the list?

Rising Tides or Sinking Ships?

Average CEO pay is now 257 times greater than the average worker’s pay. 

What does this say about the health of our economy? Our society?

Sound off.  Tell us what you think. 

F&H Solutions Group Hires Business Development Executive

Tom McKenzie, former principal at Capital Partners, joins human resources consulting firm to strengthen business development efforts.

F&H Solutions Group, a national consulting firm specializing in human resources and labor relations, welcomes Tom McKenzie to the company’s Washington, DC, office as business strategist. He will help expand F&H Solutions Group’s product offerings and introduce the firm’s consulting services to a wider market.

With more than 30 years in executive positions in diverse organizations, McKenzie has a very strong business development skills set. He is a proven business strategist who will help F&H Solutions Group reach new business sectors and industries.

McKenzie has worked with companies ranging from Global 500 companies to new seed capital startups. His vast experience includes selecting, hiring, growing and managing successful sales, marketing, and customer service and client teams. McKenzie’s expertise also includes managing sales and customer service operations; enterprise selling and facilitating customer relationships; measuring sales and customer service effectiveness; and launching new products and services. In addition, he has focused on redesigning sales, marketing and customer service strategies; enhancing sales and customer service roles in brand management and public relations; maximizing revenue growth while managing profit margin; and implementing global accounts and strategic account teams.

Brad Federman, chief operating officer of F&H Solutions Group, notes, “We promise our clients that we will know their business, recognize their needs and use our best resources to strengthen their company and culture. With the addition of Tom McKenzie, we are fortifying that promise. I have known and worked with him for years. No one is better at understanding a client’s needs and recognizing what will help a particular organization in a given situation become even more successful.”

Prior to F&H Solutions Group, McKenzie was a principal at Capital Partners, where he performed due diligence, analysis, acquisition/transaction negotiation, sales, operations, and financial management for private equity and venture capital projects and companies.
As a managing partner of SkillMeasure, a management consulting firm, McKenzie worked with senior executives and sales teams to perform gap analysis of sales, marketing and customer service team performance and to recommend solutions. He helped grow the business into a global sales consulting company.

His career also has included positions at Provant/Global Novations, Behavioral Technology and FedEx. These experiences afforded McKenzie firsthand knowledge of ways to structure and improve sales and customer service relationships. Some of his past clients include Apple, FedEx, Intel, Yahoo, Microsoft, Bank of America and the General Services Administration.
McKenzie says, “Joining F&H Solutions Group will enable me to leverage my past experience and knowledge to continue providing our clients with proven solutions and capabilities to help them address the challenges and opportunities that come with growth and management in our rapidly changing global economy.”

About F&H Solutions Group
F&H Solutions Group is a national consulting firm specializing in human resources and labor relations matters. Our professionals have unmatched expertise and experience in working with all types and sizes of organizations in different industries in both the private and public sectors. Since 1989 FHSG has provided clients with solutions for a better workplace. Our long-term client relationships are a testament to our commitment to improving workplaces and preparing clients for a successful future. For more information, please visit http://www.fhsolutionsgroup.com.

See original press release

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Manufacturing Council Releases Competency Definitions

The national Manufacturing Skill Standards Council has released its 2014 National Work Standards for Production and Logistics. The industry-led, nonprofit MSSC is an authority on defining industry-wide core technical competencies needed by front-line workers in advanced manufacturing and logistics.

“We believe that the use of a common language between industry and education will offer a more efficient and cost-effective way of preparing individuals with the higher skills needed by industry,” said MSSC Chairman and CEO Leo Reddy. “MSSC standards help produce agile knowledge workers — the industrial athletes of the future — with the stronger, cross-cutting foundational skills needed to help companies achieve greater productivity, innovation and global economic competitiveness.”

The detailed MSSC Work Standards provide the industry definitions, organizational taxonomy, syntax and nomenclature to describe the critical work functions, key activities and performance indicators for manufacturing and logistics. These standards enable industry, state agencies, community colleges and high schools to more effectively harmonize their curricula and credentialing programs, creating much higher levels of coherence, portability and economies of scale.

Specifically, these organizations can use the MSSC work standards in two ways. First, they can serve as the starting point for defining industry skill requirements to make the process for defining needs more efficient. It also reassures companies, most of which operate within a national or global environment, that they are leveraging the authoritative national skills platform defined by MSSC.

Second, schools should embed the subject matter of the standards into for-credit courses at both the secondary and postsecondary levels and build credit articulation agreements between high schools and community colleges. MSSC has produced online curriculum that schools can incorporate into new or existing programs. This enables students to work toward an industry certification as well as a high school diploma or associate’s degree.

MSSC’s work standards are distributed nationally to companies, community colleges, high schools, government agencies, unions and foundations involved with workforce skills education and training. These standards provide effectively a national, industry-defined “common language” for these stakeholders to use in preparing individuals for higher skilled entry-level work for the nation’s 12 million front-line production and closely related material handling-distribution occupations.

Originally published on Chief Learning Officer Media