Learning from History, Part II

Basic Business Cents

In Part I of our series, we discussed the behavior cycles that repeat every four generations[1] and how knowledge of that can be used to guide our management techniques. Judging by the year our personnel were born, we can determine whether they are from the Prophet, Nomad, Hero, or Silent generations and from that certain personality traits and behaviors that they can be expected to exhibit.

Kurt Lewin identified three major leadership styles; authoritarian, participative, and delegative.

Authoritarian leaders provide clear expectations to group members on what should be done, when it should be completed, and how it should be accomplished. Frederick Winslow Taylor was the foremost expert on this leadership style. His time and motion studies were a small part of his teachings but became attached to his name. These authoritarian leaders make decisions without input from group members. It worked well with the Silent generation following WWII as exemplified by the book and movie, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Overuse of an authoritarian style can be construed as bossy and controlling. Worst-case examples of this style can be seen when leaders utilize bullying techniques such as yelling, abusive power, or demeaning group members.

Participative leaders accept input from one or more group members when making decisions and solving problems, but the leader retains the final say when choices are made. Group members tend to be encouraged and motivated by this style of leadership. It often leads to more effective and accurate decisions, since not leader can be an expert in all areas. Input from group members with specialized knowledge and expertise creates a more complete basis for decision-making. This leadership style resonates with the Artist and Prophet generations.

Delegative leaders allow group members to make decisions. This style is best used in situations where the leader needs to rely on qualified employees. The leader cannot be an expert in all situations, which is why it is important to delegate certain tasks out to knowledgeable and trustworthy employees. These employees match the characteristics of the Hero generation. The complexity of technology today almost demands use of this style but occasions can require utilization of all three styles depending on the situations, for example:

· Use an authoritative style if a group member lacks knowledge about a certain procedure.

· Use a participative style with group members who understand the objectives and their role in the task.

· Use a delegative style if the group member knows more than the leader about the task.

Group leaders need to adapt and change based upon the objectives, needs of group members, and situational factors. Needs can be real or perceived and both need to be understood by the effective leader. Perceived needs are largely shaped by the current generation-Hero, Silent, Prophet, or Nomad-of the majority of the workers. It is up to us to know which type of group we are facing and what will work best with their personalities.

We can indeed learn from history to help us manage our organization and its personnel.

[1] The Fourth Turning, An American Prophecy, William Strauss and Neil Howe, 1977, Broadway Books, New York

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Learning from History, Part I

Basic Business Cents

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Stowe[1], published in 1997, predicted that in about ten years we would be facing a grave moment of opportunity and danger, including the following:

· Economic distress, with public debt in default, entitlement trust funds in bankruptcy, mounting poverty and unemployment, trade wars, collapsing financial markets, and hyperinflation (or deflation)

· Social distress, with violence fueled by class, race, nativism, or religion and abetted by armed gangs, underground militias, and mercenaries hired by walled communities

· Cultural distress, with the media plunging into a dizzying decay, and a decency backlash in favor of state censorship

· Technological distress, with cryptoanarchy, high-tech oligarchy, and biogenetic chaos

· Ecological distress, with atmospheric damage, energy or water shortages, and new diseases

· Political distress, with institutional collapse, open tax revolts, one-party hegemony, major constitutional change, secessionism, authoritarianism, and altered national borders

· Military distress, with war against terrorists or foreign regimes equipped with weapons of mass destruction

Wow, talk about an accurate crystal ball! The authors made these predictions by studying history and determined that history repeats itself every fourth generation. They described these generations as:

1. High, an upbeat era of strengthening organizations and weakening individualism when old values decay. Current example is the Baby Boomer or Prophet generation, those born between 1946 and 1964.

2. Awakening, a passionate era when the civic order comes under attack from a new values regime. This is the era of the Gen X or Nomad generation, born between 1965 and 1980.

3. Unraveling, a downcast era of strengthening individualism and weakening institutions with the decay of civic order and emergence of new values. This would be the era of the Millennial, Generation Next, or Hero generation, born between 1981 and roughly 2000.

4. Crisis, a decisive of era of upheaval when the new values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one. This is the era of the Artist or Silent generation, born after 2000.

We can relate to earlier cycles of the Hero generation of WWI followed by the High of the early 20s, the Awakening of the depression, the Unraveling of international accord, and the WWII spawning another Hero generation. The Heros of that generation were born somewhere between 1900 and 1928, followed by a Silent generation born between 1929 and 1945.

From these reoccurring cycles, the authors of The Fourth Turning based their predictions detailed earlier. An understanding of these cycles can provide guidance of action on a global, national, and local level.

Behavior of people within our organizations changes with the changing cycles, and with it management style must change. This is interesting because as managers, we can determine from their age, what cultural behavior to expect from our employees and gain insight on how to motivate and lead them.

In Part II of this article, we will discuss three major leadership styles; authoritarian, participative, and delegative as identified by Kurt Lewin to use with the different groups.

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[1] The Fourth Turning, An American Prophecy, William Strauss and Neil Howe, 1977, Broadway Books, New York

Invest in Learning

Basic Business Cents

Education is an investment that keeps on returning dividends to individuals, their family, their company or organization, and to their community. Education is what made this country and there is a direct relationship with the strength of the economy and the strength of education.

A report by the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress stated in the year 2000, “Human capital is the notion that individuals acquire skills and knowledge to increase their value in labor markets. Experience, training, and education are the three main mechanisms for acquiring human capital, with education being primary for most individuals. Education facilitates the acquisition of new skills and knowledge that increase productivity. This increase in productivity frees up resources to create new technologies, new businesses, and new wealth, resulting in increased economic growth.”

Examining the three mechanisms, experience tends to come from doing the same thing over and over again. Dr. W. Edwards Deming used to say that experience by itself teaches nothing; we need some theory to support or disprove with experience. By making this comparison of theory to experience, we learn to modify or change our theory.

Dr. Richard Bawden of the University of Western Sidney says we have to learn how to learn; that is, to think and develop a theory of what to expect, apply knowledge learned from our training, experience the result, compare that with our theory and modify our theory and keep going around the loop, continually learning. Eventually, he says we need to learn to challenge on a regular basis what we consider to be true.

Families benefit from investment in education with higher earning power during individuals’ lifetimes, greater employment stability, higher self-confidence and esteem, improved living standards, better health and longer life span (due to learning how to take better care of one’s health). Youths that work and attend school are found to have a decreased likelihood of engaging in criminal activities.

Communities benefit from investment in education with a workforce better to attract new industry, increase the vitality of the community, grow the population and therefore the tax base, and to keep promising youth in their hometowns. Data suggest that there is reduced reliance on welfare and public assistance programs among those with higher levels of education. It would seem to be a better investment in education rather than in criminal incarceration and welfare programs.

Employers’ organizations benefit from investment in education by the ability to attract better employees which increases productivity, quality of goods and services, and at a lower cost. Turnover of employees can be expected to be reduced with a more stable, educated workforce. The more education individuals acquire, the better they are able to absorb new information, acquire new skills, and familiarize themselves with new technologies. Education is becoming increasingly more important in our new information economy.

Knowledge is based on theory and we develop our theories by continued learning. The days are long gone when we “finish our education”. Technology, communication, and knowledge of what we deem to be true are changing so fast that we need to continue formal education as long as we live.

Today that is difficult for us in this community except for e-learning over the web but we have an opportunity. Minnesota State Community and Technical College is offering college courses in Park Rapids at the Frank White Education Center. Office hours for consultation are Wednesdays from 9:00am to 3:00pm. They are offering a curriculum leading to Associate of Arts and Associate of Applied Science degrees plus other diplomas and certificates. Other courses can be offered as needed by local businesses or just interesting topics for adults. They just need a critical mass of students in each class; currently the thinking is that fifteen students are enough to make a class a go.

The important question facing us is what we need to do to make MN States presence in Park Rapids successful. I believe it is tremendously important to the future of our community to have a local source for continuing education. I would like to see a concentrated effort to raise scholarship funds for local students. I think service clubs, foundations, businesses, and individuals could endow scholarships or make yearly contributions.

We proposed a Junior College in Park Rapids in 1966 and it never came to pass. Let’s not blow another opportunity to get higher education in our community for the benefit of our families, community, and organizations. We have the opportunity to reap huge dividends from modest investments by sharing the knowledge that this opportunity exists, by subsidizing employees to continue their education, by creating scholarships for local students, by investing in our children, and by enrolling ourselves.

It will happen if we make the investment to put people in the seats.

Achieve Your Dream Career

Basic Business Cents

What position would you like to hold or what would you really like to be doing at the peak of your career? That will probably come in your late 50s and it is probably time to put plans in place to make sure that dream comes true. There is an old saying that if you don’t know where you are going; any road will get you there. It is best to know where you want to go and then make sure you are on the right road.

First, close your eyes and visualize what that might be, what it will look like, what the environment is like, and what your life will be like. Where will you be located, will you own your own business or be an executive for some organization, will it be in private business, government, education, a non-profit working to improve mankind, or something else? What makes you happy?

Are you on the right path to get there? Do you have sufficient education, experience, or talent? Are you currently with the right organization or field to get there? What is important to you; is it money, recognition, power, family, or what?

About halfway through my working years, I attended a seminar titled, Work Life by a psychologist who promoted a balance between work life and home life. We spent three days doing a lot of visualizing of what we really wanted to happen in our lives. Until that time I had spent over 20 years as a manager and executive for large corporations. What I began to realize during the course of the seminar was that this is not what I really wanted in life; I wanted to start and lead my own company. I guess I sort of knew that but the seminar was the catalyst to get me started to make my dream come true.

Some questions to ask ourselves are: how do we balance our work life with our family life, what is really important to us, what will give us pride in our work and pride in our life, and what will give us a sense of accomplishment. Another factor today is whether we can do our dream job from home so we have more time with our family instead of being away from home or on the road. The Internet is revolutionizing marketing and other aspects of business.

Once you have visualized what you want to be at the peak of your career and you are satisfied it will achieve a proper balance between your work life and home life, then you need to plan to get there. First, get on the right road to get there and then be flexible but always keep your eyes fixated on the end goal. Be visible, don’t be a braggart but don’t hide your light under a bushel either. Be a leader; leaders lead! Don’t sit in a fetal position hoping you are going in the right direction but get out in front and make things happen. Listen! People will tell you what they want to hear if you keep quiet long enough to let them. Listen, assimilate, and take action.

One of the most important assets you have in your career advancement is your network. Keep a current contact list of friends but more importantly people you have encountered that may be in a position to help you someday. It is very, very important to develop and nurture your own personal network.

At the peak of your career, I hope you can look back with pride and accomplishment and say, “Wow, what a ride!”

Corps Business

Basic Business Cents

Our editor enjoys a play-on-words. The title of this column, Basic Business Cents, was her creation. I proposed Basic Business and she added Cents as a double intendre. Another play-on-words appears in the title of a book by David H. Freedman, Corps Business, The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines. It should come as no surprise that these principles have relevance to business.

One of these principles is to organize according to the rules of three. It says in times of stress, people can efficiently handle exactly three key responsibilities. To follow that thinking, the principles that apply to business can be organized into three groups, Focus on the Essence, Organize Around Tasks, and Challenge Your Thinking. We should be able to remember these three guiding groups rather than thirty principles.

Focus on the essence means to break down complex situations into simple terms. In this way, employees will be able to act quickly to respond to changing situations. It is better to have a few options that can be easily adapted to changing situations than to try to make specific plans for every contingency. It is also better to decide quickly on an imperfect solution than to wait for a perfect plan that may be too late. The ability to react quickly and effectively in chaotic environments usually trumps other competencies.

Organize around tasks reminds us to determine the size and make-up of groups within the organization depending on the needs of each specific situation. The lowest levels of personnel accomplish most of the organization’s critical tasks, so anything to help them become more effective will pay dividends. What is also required is flexibility, the ability and willingness to reinvent the groups as situations change. Cross training will enhance the ability to be flexible and adjust to new tasks. Focusing on developing organizational talents creates opportunities while focusing on products and services invites obsolescence. Distribute competence; educate and train people at all levels so that they will not face situations on the job more daunting than they faced in training. When they are aligned with the vision, mission, and objectives of the organization, let them make decisions in real time without your micro-management.

Constantly challenge your thinking. Demand to be questioned by your employees. They should feel free to openly disagree until it is time to carry out the final decision. It is wise to get as many opinions as possible and often insights for improvement can come from people in seemingly unrelated fields. Another good way to challenge our thinking is to experiment obsessively. Even the most successful organizations will eventually stop winning if it doesn’t explore radically new approaches and technology.

So you thought running your business had nothing to do with running a military force like the U.S. Marines? Think again. Even the word strategy originated with the military and has a military meaning:

• a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim

• the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle.

We can learn from many sources and continued learning is essential to our growth and success. Oorah!

Positive Thinking Leads to Positive Results

Basic Business Cents

It is funny how life works; we tend to get what we expect.

Two books that I recommend for every person in business, or not in business, are written by Norman Vincent Peale-The Power of Positive Thinking and Enthusiasm Makes the Difference.

Peale says you do not need to be defeated by anything; you can have peace of mind, improved health, and increasing flow of energy by keeping a positive frame of mind. Do not allow negative thoughts to dominate.

Tony Schwartz in Harvard Business Review advocates practicing realistic optimism. He says that doesn’t mean putting a happy face on every situation, which is blind optimism but it means intentionally telling the most hopeful and empowering story in any given situation, without distorting the facts. He suggests when facing a problem or something we worry about, we calmly write down the best possible outcome of the situation and focus our attention to making that happen. He says, “Emotions are contagious, how we feel profoundly influences how we make others feel, and how effective we are at whatever we do.”

Early in my career, I was in sales and noted an interesting phenomenon. When I received an important order, whether it be big, particularly difficult, or unexpected, something was different. I would immediately make contact on key pending contracts or proposals and chances were good I would close several other orders that same day. There must have been something different in my aura, my self-confidence, my attitude, likeability, or something emanating from me. I don’t know what it was; I just know my chances were greatly enhanced because I was in a positive frame of mind.

A series of sports books, e.g., Inner Tennis, have been published teaching you to visualize the results you hope to achieve. For example, when you are playing golf, think about your drive going long and far down the middle of the fairway. Your chances of that resulting are improved. If on the other hand, you think about that out-of-bounds on the left, guess what happens. If you are playing tennis, visualize your serve going hard into the far corner where it cannot be returned and it is more likely to happen. I can’t explain it, but it seems to work. Again, our brain has more power than we understand.

Peale talks about achieving health and happiness with positive thinking and enthusiasm. I am not a doctor but I believe we do not fully understand the power of our brain in improving health and healing. I do know that when we maintain a spirit of positive thinking and enthusiasm, we are happier people. And, we increase the happiness of people around us. Who likes to be around a “gloomy Gus”? Like measles and mumps, positive thinking and enthusiasm is contagious. Your life should be full of joy and satisfaction and not in the downward spiral of negative thinking.

Peale says positive thinking and enthusiasm will step up energy and vitality. It drives energy for constructive personal and social living. Nature fulfills our expectations.

Life is more fun and rewarding if we approach it with a positive outlook and enthusiasm.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Basic Business Cents

In our last column, we wrote about Stephen Covey’s five needs that are fundamental to human fulfillment. They are, “to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” They might ring a bell with some of you who vaguely remember once studying a pyramid representing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It was sectioned into five layers with the more basic needs at the bottom.

Self-actualization Esteem Love & belonging Safety Physiological

Abraham Maslow in his paper of 1943 presented the results of his research describing the growth in humans. Maslow’s theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire the higher level of needs.

Physiological needs are literally the requirements for human survival. Air, water, and food are requirements without which we cannot survive. Clothing and shelter are necessary to protect us from the elements. Until these needs are answered, humans or other animals have little interest in anything else. Unfortunately, we have people in our society with these needs.

When physical needs are met, people then turn to the next level and safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior. These needs include personal security, financial security, health and well-being, and protection against unforeseen events. In the workplace it would include adequate salary, job security, savings program, retirement and other benefits, and health insurance.

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs are social and involve feelings of belongingness such as friendship, intimacy, and family. Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. This may come from the workplace, social organizations, religious organizations, gangs, partners, sports, or family. We need to love and be loved. Businesses play to this need with loyalty cards, advance notice of sales, advisory boards, and “insider clubs”.

The esteem need pertains to the basic need we have to feel we are contributing to the greater good and are worthwhile. We have a need to be proud of our selves and what we do. A complication on the satisfaction of this need is that low self-esteem, depression, inferiority complex, and other similar maladies must be corrected internally before respect from outsiders will help.

The need for self-actualization is the understanding of what we can be and realizing that we have achieved it; to be everything we are capable of being. This varies from person to person as some might have as their aim to be the very best parent or spouse. Others dream to excel in athletics, art, inventions, writing, etc. What does it take to fulfill our lives? I once visited a small grocery in a tiny rural town. The owner of the store was obviously very bright, outgoing, and eager to talk to this stranger when he discovered that I was a student at the state university. He shared that he had also been a student at the university years before when his father passed away and he had to quit school and return home to run the family store. One could see after all these years that he was still wondering what life might have had in store for him had he been able to finish school. It still pained him to think about it. For others, a dream of running such a store, interacting with friends and neighbors on a daily basis, and having their other basic needs satisfied might be very fulfilling. We are all different.

What does all this mean to us in our business? Marketing courses teach Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as one of the first theories as a basis for consumers’ motives for action. By understanding the needs of target customers, we can position our products and services to a ready market. We also need to understand the needs of our employees and where they are on the pyramid of needs to enable them to be more proficient at satisfying customers’ needs.

A useful adage for us to follow might be, “He who best understands the needs of his/her customers and employees, and supplies solutions at a fair price, will best satisfy his/her own needs.”