Despite the lack of snow, it's certainly Christmas here in Western North Carolina. Every year for the past 5 years, Amanda and I have made the (16 hour plus) pilgrimage to Boone, NC, home to my parents and their friends of many years.
The C-day custom here is to show up with food in hand at the First Baptist Church, put on the apron or nametag, and help serve meals to "anyone who comes," which includes not only members of the church, but travellers, those who (in the words of James Ellroy) are living the "outdoor life," and anyone who simply wants to eat their holiday meal in the company of others. Over 150 shut-ins who can provide an address for the "meals on wheels" surrogates who volunteer to transport dinner up in to the "hollers" or similarly hard-to-reach places have a great holiday meal courtesy of the church.
For Amanda, it is the "day of congeals," her reference to the southern preference for food suspended in Jello. We don't see much of this in Beantown, or for that matter anywhere in New England. It's a southern thing . . . just like the way that meat is just as often a "side" with other meats for the main course.
After recovery from the noontime food coma, we're back at it, with Amanda and my mother in the kitchen getting the leftovers ready for the evening meal.
It's been a great visit.
The coming weekend holds a lot of promise. Although I'll be trapped in a local hotel for three days (not my idea of heaven), I'm looking forward to a great experience with a very caring and talented group of people taking the Process course led by the very experienced coach-trainers of CTI.
I don't know what the group demographics say about the coaching profession per se (in my last class, I was the sole male . . . see the photo below), but I suspect that it's no surprise that a proclivity for nurturing and coaching draw on the feminine part of the personality, regardless of demonstrated gender. While this is a stretch for me, it's a good one . . . and like many other tasks that don't come easily, it requires total concentration to stay in the moment.
While I've taken other classes in the curriculum, the Balance class that I shared with the group shown below was far and away the best. Let's hope this one's even better.
I did not want the week to end without commenting on the recent BoVox meetup at Cafe Paradiso across the river in Cambridge. It was great to meet members of our local blogging community, as diverse a group of individuals as one might expect in the Boston metro area. Artists, PR pros, consultants, writers, students . . . all with unique POV's which they were willing to share. I was particularly impressed by the efforts of the organizers to do background research on those attending, providing the opportunity for more meaningful introductions and easier conversation. I'm looking forward to the next one!
From our friends at MarketWatch, comes this alarming headline:
Productivity Growth Grinds to a Halt:
Is this as bad as it appears, or have American workers realized that profits from productivity gains usually don't trickle down any further than the executive suite? Here's a quote from the article (underlining is ours):
"Productivity, a concept that's simple in theory but elusive in practice, is output divided by hours worked. Productivity gains are the key to higher living standards, higher wages, increased profits and low inflation.The nation's economy had undergone a productivity boom in the past five years, fueling a surge in profits at the expense of workers. After averaging about 2% in the post-war years, productivity gains have averaged 3.1% since 2000. Unit labor costs, by contrast, had increased an average of 0.8% since 2000, while real hourly compensation has increased by an average of 1.6%."
As a Thomas Pynchon fan from way back, I followed the breadcrumbs from Bookslut to Amazon to learn more about his latest offering, Against the Day. I thought this description of readers and near-readers, taken from a Publishers Weekly review on the Amazon site, was priceless:
Some things just never change. How many miles did you tote Gravity's Rainbow before finishing it?
Earlier this year, we reported the difficulties that Japanese had with western management practices, particularly those regarding performance management. Apparently that's not the only aspect of western culture that has the potential of causing psychological damage from those who've grown up in the structured culture of politeness and service that is Japan. According to Reuters, visits to Paris can be bad for your mental state, if you are from Japan. The malady even has a name . . . Paris Syndrome.
PARIS - Around a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Hmmm. Problems with the French? Maybe we have something in common with our friends on the Pacific Rim.
Today CBC is full of people, not unusual for a Sunday, but today is different. The people from PHT (PowerHouseTiming) are in getting the systems ready to go, and those of us from Umpire Central are also making sure that our coordination with the other key players is ready and right. The Head of the Charles is only one week away, and the level of activity amps up day by day.
You won't hear much from us during the next week or so. Suffice it to say we're busy.
Many employers try to differentiate their organization by emphasizing some fairly high-minded characteristics, such as an emphasis on corporate citizenship, promotion of diversity, etc. But are employees really drawn to companies because they want to be a part of something "special?"
Recent research by my former employer Accenture may throw some cold water on this type of thinking by executives and the human resource professionals involved in recruiting. According to a recent article in Workforce Performance Solutions, what really brings the people in the door are opportunities for advancement and cold hard cash. Specifically, we are told:
"Job seekers don’t place nearly as much value on such increasingly popular programs as corporate citizenship and diversity as they do on traditional benefits such as robust rewards programs and personal growth opportunities."
The answers given are not restricted to American job seekers. The survey ". . . queried more than 4,100 job seekers in 21 countries in North and South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region."
What do people want? Certainly fair treatment, and reasonable working conditions. And they want the opportunity to do interesting work. However, the people in charge of recruiting at Accenture learned that the key drivers are the traditional ones:
“Interestingly, we found that what is considered important to potential recruits was remarkably consistent across geographies,” said John Campagnino, global director of recruitment, Accenture. “Also notable was the fact that while we know from our own employees that corporate social responsibility and diversity are important employer characteristics — things our employees demand and place high value in — the research also validated what many of us intuitively know. Namely, that more tangible benefits such as rewards and recognition are most important from an external recruit’s perspective.”
While seeking to become an "employer of choice" may lead companies to look for an edge through lofty values and good works, they need to remember the basics. People may volunteer to save the world, but they go to work for the money.
During a recent conversation with one of my clients who does business overseas, the issue of email came to the forefront. Finding over 100 work-related emails in the inbox every morning, each demanding a reply, had become commonplace at this company. What we welcomed as a productivity tool ("wow, it's so quick and easy") has become a productivity drag of the first magnitude. This was echoed by Jared Sandberg in a recent WSJ Online article:
"A part of the torment arises from the fact that email, stripped of paralinguistic cues (intonation) and nonverbal messaging (eye rolling), can lead to ambiguity, naturally requiring more email. That's why email conversations can drone on as much as five times as long as a telephone call, estimates Daniel McFarlane, principal member of Lockheed Martin's engineering staff, who has researched interruptions."
To really save some time, consider using the phone.
According to my spouse (the real blogging geek in our household), the Vox folks threw a great party last night at Vox Populi (life imitates art) here in Boston. As a long-time Typepad blogger, I'm really intrigued by the amount of fanfare generated about this new service from SixApart.
Her geekness enjoyed the live demo, and was particularly interested in the selective viewing (posts public, posts private) feature. Although I've been the prime blogger (in our family unit) on this new service, I expect to see more interest in her part on this feature-laden entry in the future.
Look for her in an upcoming video segment done at the party.
