Be Prepared to Do Things Differently

One thing we know about life is that there will be days when it will not be predictable. Because we can’t predict 100% the events that will occur in a given day, many people embrace consistency and predictability or even sameness. Perhaps you can relate to this. Do you know people who surround themselves with people who think like them and don’t want to be pushed to think ahead or to ask why we aren’t making changes? After all don’t we already have enough to do without creating more work for ourselves.


Thinking like this is what cause companies and people to quickly get into trouble. Dismissing the need to look forward into the future quickly leaves us behind. One thing we know from history is that life changes, work changes, and values change. Some changes are more subtle than others are, but approx. every 40 to 50 years society undergoes a rebirth or a period like a Renaissance. The trigger or reason for the rebirth are diverse perhaps it is some new revelation or invention. What we do know is that these periods are typically marked by the coming of a new generation who begins to question why things are done a certain way, they start asking, or as some perceive it - demanding changes. The generations before them, see these request as demands as disrespectful, this perception often causes them to dismiss what the younger generation is asking for. Our lack of readiness and willingness to change does not mean that we don’t need to change. It simply means we may be getting in our own way of learning and improving and of gaining the inside edge over competition.


Today I am in Houston Texas working with Cameron International and their Global HR Conference. Two topics that I am presenting on are Taking Motivation to New Heights and Generational Diversity in the Workplace an HR Perspective. Companies such as Cameron that are willing to look at ways to improve motivation that will work across generations are a step ahead of other organizations who don’t see the need to open their eyes and see what they can do. The change is coming and the more prepared organizations are the better off they will be in the future.


So what do organizations need to be looking at for motivation and retention across generations.


How does your corporate culture embrace change?


Do you know the demographics of the population you serve and if so can you answer the following:


Average retention of employees?


Retention of employees in generations?


Number or percentage or employees approaching retirement?
Transitional knowledge plan?


What is your present motivational plan? Does it fit across generations? Does it work across cultures?

Surveys across the globe assessed the following to be the Top 5 motivators:
1. The challenge the job offers.
2. An opportunity to learn more from a training course or seminar to earn new skills.
3. The people they work with day to day.
4. Fair pay – Raises - Promotion –Monetary Rewards.
5. Receiving recognition or a thank you note etc. from their supervisor regarding good performance.

Since we work hard to get employees and they are a company’s most valued asset we need to work hard to retain them and to motivate them. Motivational plans or programs should be designed to cross generations, cultures, and even hard economic times. If a company works on a bonus system, that if the company produces X then people get a bonus, then during an economic tightening the bonus is either missing or less, the internal message employees perceive is that the company doesn’t value them, when that is not the case. Bonuses translate into short term motivators and are called “slippery cash” because rarely can employees remember what they did with the money so it doesn’t have the lasting motivational affect.

So begin to develop a motivation and retention plan that last with the company. Keep in mind the Top 5 Motivators and motivators that are on the rise as you begin to build a plan to roll out. For established companies the generations that have been the backbone of the company for years will need help in adjusting to changes. This is part of their nature to need help accepting changes and they may not understand why vacation and time served are changing. After all they served their time to get the three weeks off why shouldn’t the next person have to earn it. Beware of this mentality and build in extra perks and appreciation for those who have served the time.
Here are items to consider when developing a motivational plan.

1. How can you consistently manage the plan?
2. Does it compliment the corporate culture and help it to grow in a positive manner?
3. Who are the people that will have to buy-in to the program? What are potential obstacles that need to be overcome? Who are the stakeholders in this and how can we get their buy-in.
4. Over what period of time can we implement the new program so that we continue to reward those who have served their time and honor those who are serving with productivity.
5. What can the company do to reward productivity versus longevity? Longevity is a filter that exist in many companies it was built in during the industrial period to reward people for their stick-to-it dedication. Today’s generations want a life and don’t want to be rewarded for time served but for serving. Example - employed 3-5 years to receive a 2-week vacation versus meets deadlines or production goals 100% for a year and receives a 2-week vacation.)
6. How can you work to decrease the filters so that younger generations will stay longer and be more productive and older generation employees continue to feel appreciated?
7. What are methods that can be implemented to promote positive feedback and to help managers be more proficient at giving positive feedback daily as well as annually? Do they need training on how to give feedback?

Let us know how we can help guide you in this planning or provide surveys and data for your organization. I look forward to hearing from you. Remember our email system has a spam filter on it, that will require a response to assure we get the email or just call us. We will get back with you as promptly as possible. Thank you again! (772) 461-8313 USA Eastern Standard Time. Hope to hear from you soon.

Bring a program to your City: Schedule a program while Cindy is in your area.
2008 Upcoming

October 7-8 Cameron International Global HR Conference:

October 10 Pompano Beach, FL Broward County Health Dept. Customer Service:

October 13 Martin County, Florida Customer Service,

Oct. 17-18 Tampa Florida:

October 22nd Orlando – Gender Diversity The He She Art of Language:

October 23-27 Albany NY:

Nov. 3 Fire Inspectors Conference Ft Myers, FL Keynote Address:

Nov. 11 Martin County Florida – Customer Service:

Dec. 4. Vero Beach Florida – Cultural Diversity and Sensitivity Training All Day. ***********************************************************************************************

Fufilling Your Leadership Role

Real leaders are not able to hide. They have a role to fulfill. Being able to fulfill your leadership role means being able to help others find their direction. Leaders need to remain objective and practice communication skills that are objective yet that demonstrate the highest level of professionalism. Many people who find themselves in leadership positions have arrived there through hard work and sacrifice. It can be easy for a leader to lose sight of the role of being a leader, which is to serve others and to be able to keep priorities in line while serving.
It is important to find a balance between doing what needs to done, while doing what you love to do. Completing tasks that need to be done, can sometimes feel less rewarding and unappreciated, yet these tasks are important. I remember asking my daughter to take out the trash and her coming back with a comment that she didn’t want to take it. To which I replied, but it needs to go out, because neither of us wants to smell it tomorrow. There are many situations we will find ourselves in that we don’t want to be in, but as a leader we step up and do what we need to do.
In November of last year, my husband began to experience some abnormal symptoms. By December we had a preliminary diagnosis of a brain tumor. Dec. 27th he’d had a biopsy and we knew he had an inoperable tumor. This was to be the most trying time in our life as we faced initial uncertainty. When treatment attempts didn’t work, we had to be prepared to face a final farewell. This was toughest role I ever had as a leader, was to lead him through personal trials and tribulations and to make him know how important he was. When I have spoken about leadership, I always have referred to the fact that our most challenging role as a leader is to make sure that we are there for our families and that we will be ready to do what we need to do for them. On April 17, my husband passed away with me at his side.
This has been a trying time to say the least. As a leader, we are often given the role of doing things we don’t really want to do, but when we step up to the challenge, we grow and others learn from us. What have you done today that you didn’t want to do that demonstrated for others the importance of doing for someone else. Our tasks don’t have to be huge; they just have to be done because it is the right thing to do.
Thank you for your patience while I put work on hold and took time out for family. I have returned back to work and would greatly appreciate you letting me know if there are any upcoming opportunities that I could offer for your company or association. Thank you again. I look forward to hearing from you. Remember our email system has a spam filter on it, that will require a response to assure we get the email or just call us. We will get back with you as promptly as possible. Thank you again! (772) 461-8313 USA Eastern Standard Time. Hope to hear from you soon.
Cynthia Krosky, CSP, LCSW

Leading without Limits

Have you ever wondered what you were really capable of? What you could do, if you didn’t know what you couldn’t do? Our world is full of limits, some which are legal limits to give us boundaries to keep us safe. Other limits are imposed on us, sometimes by people around us, and sometimes by ourselves. Legal limits are important and are therefore not the subject of this newsletter. However our self-imposed limits are!
Have you ever heard someone say – “I can’t do that!” Why can’t we do more than we ever dreamed we were capable of. The reason most people can’t and don’t is because they decide they can’t and then they fulfill that destiny. Effective leaders are visionaries, they allow themselves to see the potential and to ignore the imposed boundaries. If we lead others without limits then we allow them to think, we encourage them to express themselves so that new opportunities can be shared. We make discoveries. We grow. Take a look at some of the most successful companies today! They are companies who had vision, who had determination and who believed in testing and trying things that pushed them beyond the limits of most peoples imagination.
So why do we have limits? We have them because we have listened to people who were programmed to listen to limits. I use the word programming loosely, but much of the world has historically been divided, as it is today, there are those who want to discover and those who don’t. The discoverers or leaders have paved the path to our technology and exploration. But these people are the minority. The majority have been conformist, in that they don’t want to seem greedy, they dream of having only what they absolutely need to survive, because to them it would be selfish to want for more. They are reluctant to believe in bigger goals and therefore settle when they reach the first goal rarely striving for the 8th goal. They settle and begin to live within limits.
Living without limits – is as much a mental process as it is anything. We have to believe we can achieve which is the first hurdle. Then we have realize that we are going to work toward that goal. I was with Jim Cathcart Saturday, author of the Acorn Principle, he reminded me that when we get stuck in limits, we may need to dream for a moment, about what we want to be, and then aim so that we become that person or reach that goal. What would you like to be? What limits are stopping you from being the leader you need and want to be? Be careful because this question often invokes our blame characteristic, when we are often the only person there is to blame on this issue. I understand we all have a maximum capacity, at which we become tired and unproductive, but I also understand that if we keep working this capacity it can grow. As a skydiver, I want to grow and to test my ability to learn more about this sport, it causes me to stretch and that helps me to change my limits. In 2006 and 2007 I walked in the Susan G. Komen 3 day 60 mile walk to fight Breast cancer. For many the thoughts of walking 20 miles a day is overwhelming. But when we break it down into small segments it becomes something we can do.
I am completing the final touches on my book Closing the Gap: Brining Generations Together. Any limits I had about writing this book, were mine. I have 25,000 subscribers to this newsletter and not one of you, said I couldn’t do it! I created my own doubt, but I decided to let go of my limits. In this book on the various Generational Issues all over the world I talk about Generation Y or the Millennial Generation born after 1977. They are a generation that tests the limits. They need leaders without limits regarding potential, because they are ready to move us faster and farther, if only we will let them. Today, challenge yourself to see the potential that lies within you and those you lead, instead of accepting limits.