Imagine how much better workers could do their jobs if they knew exactly how they spend their day.

Suppose they could get a breakdown of how much time they spend actually working on their computer, as opposed to surfing the Web. Suppose they could tell how much an afternoon workout boosts their productivity, or how much a stressful meeting raises their heart rate.

Thanks to a new wave of technologies called auto-analytics, they can do just that. These devices—from computer software and smartphone apps to gadgets that you wear—let users gather data about what they do at work, analyze that information and use it to do their job better. They give workers a fascinating window into the unseen, unconscious little things that can make such a big difference in their daily work lives. And by encouraging workers to start tracking their own activities—something many already are doing on their own—companies can end up with big improvements in job performance, satisfaction and possibly even well-being.

Read Full Article in Wall Street Journal.com

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

After reading, Who Say’s Elephants Can’t Dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround (Collins, 2002), by Lou Gerstner (former CEO of IBM), I was amazed by the clearly pointed and relational elements that go into turning around a struggling, near obsolete company.

Mr. Gerstner did the impossible: he took an aging, but proud lion (IBM) and brought it into the future, much of it by using past fundamentals, which is a terrible irony for a technology company.

What was really interesting was how with IBM’s bloated infrastructure, monolithic bureaucracy and myopic culture, Gerstner assumed the task of shaking IBM from its historical moorings, to make it a strictly information technology and consulting enterprise, as opposed to servers and personal computers, which had served the company well for generations. Gerstner had to blowup the company to save it.

Gerstner had to undo much of IBM’s past glory, reinvent a future that IBM could capture and become the leader of, and do this while shedding most of IBM’s old practices, processes and culture. Gerstner was being somewhat forced to create a new IBM with the same employees most suited for old IBM. Hell.

In the book, I was surprised at the rudimentary nature of some business objectives depicted as effective (principles, vision and customer satisfaction), which most businesses lose as they grow and go forward, characteristics some businesses avoid, due to the discipline and consistency required, while other businesses don’t know these things exists to strengthen and monitor their performance, so from the start they’re in real trouble, but they don’t know they’re in trouble until it’s too late.

Whether you are considering a turnaround, in the midst of one – or just operating a sound business platform and want to go the next level – these insights will help your next three minutes, your next three days – your next three years.

1. Lead by principles.
2. Basic beliefs; excellence in everything we do, superior customer service and respect for the individual.
3. To change the culture you can create the conditions of the transformation. You can provide incentives, define the marketplace realities and goals, but then you have to trust. Management doesn’t change the culture; management invites the workforce to change the culture.
4. The way an organization speaks to its various audiences says a lot about the way it sees itself. It’s important to maintain the organizational voice, how it converses with its constituencies, both inside and outside the company.
5. The marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do.
6. What is the core mission and overriding commitment to quality?
7. The primary measures of success are customer satisfaction and shareholder value.
8. Operate with minimal bureaucracy and a never-ending focus of productivity.
9. Never lose the strategic vision.
10. Think and act with a sense of urgency.
11. Outstanding people make it all happen, especially when they work as a team.
12. Sensitivity to all employees and the communities in which we operate.
13. Create a culture that is performance based.
14. In the shoes of the customer, do it the customers way (provide real services).
15. Decisions based on facts, data and measurement.
16. Diversity of ideas and opinions.
17. Accountability.
18. Prioritize.

Good luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
calvin.wilson1@verizon.net
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

“Excellence is an unrelenting struggle, but it’s also the surest route to enduring satisfaction. Amy Chua, the over-the-top “Tiger Mother,” was right that there’s no shortcut to excellence. Getting there requires practicing deliberately, delaying gratification, and forever challenging your current comfort zone.”

This is an excerpt from a recent Harvard Business Review article by Tony Schwartz, “Ten Principles to Live By in Fiercely Complex Times.”

Tony Schwartz is a different kind of thinker. As CEO of the Energy Project, he spends a good portion of his time disabusing society of what he considers to be some of our society’s most pervasive myths about work.

He says that productivity is not about time-management. It’s about energy management.

He says the way we work isn’t working.

Interesting, thought-provoking material. If you’d like to learn more about Tony Schwartz and his innovative work with the Energy project, visit his website at http://www.theenergyproject.com.

At Upstart, efficiency and excellence are two of our core principles. The concepts Schwartz teaches have grabbed my attention, and I’ll be doing some more investigation to find out more about leading and growing through energizing.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Leave a comment and participate in the conversation.

Donnie Bryant
Content Director
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals
dbu@donnie-bryant.com
http://twitter.com/Upstart__Nation

I don’t get it, but I do understand it. In the business world, we are now inundated with metrics for everything – metrics for measuring really nothing, yet we really haven’t created a sophisticated tool for measuring the most important part of any business: no, not the product – it’s the people – the employees.

You really cannot count a performance review as  a 360 degree snapshot of the “created  value by any individual or department, in term of its contribution to the overall organization. Many of the measurements we now utilize are nebulous or disingenuous, so we never really help employees create the most beneficial framework for their success, which should as a byproduct improve the prospects of the company.

I wonder why this is so and I came to the conclusion that it’s hard to judge people on performance, because there are so many corollaries, in terms of circumstance: and there also is the “human factor,” where those people reviewing the performance can become hampered by prejudices or loyalty, so we never get the right thing from the right people: never get the company fully functioning as it should.

In the article Company Training Programs, What Are They Really Worth, author Gary M. Stern of Fortune Magazine stated, “American businesses spent a staggering $125.9 billion on employee learning and development in 2009, according to the American Society of Training & Development’s 2010 industry report. While companies track every data point of an advertising campaign, they often ignore the return on investment on their training dollars. Are companies getting any bang for their training buck….While many companies collect data on the number of employees they train and the cost of training per person, most do not establish metrics that connect training sessions to the ultimate goals: improved sales, generating new customers and increased productivity.”

My point: how can any company large or small, lay out such a prodigious amount of resource, risk and time, and not really measure whether they have the right people – with the right skill-sets and experiences, who not only can get the job done — but those who can position the organization within its best moments through innovation — futurity — creativity — operations — and leadership.

It’s not surprising our labor force is becoming obsolete: corporate negligence might be a contributing factor. If employees are not provided with the right tools  — they cannot become world class contributors: and pedestrian employees always become expendable.

What do you think?

Good Luck.

Calvin Wilson
Founder and CEO
Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals Calvin.wilson1@verizon.net

Upstart: Management

When is the last time you asked the group you manage, and the individuals in it, this simple question:

What can I do to help you be more effective?

What question could be more central to being a good boss? If you want to manage and lead successfully, you’ve got to know what the people doing the work need. So why not ask them? But the truth is, this question is not asked by bosses nearly enough.

You’ll get a variety of answers, especially in the beginning — including non-answers (“Gee, nothing. Keep doing what you’re doing.”) and requests you can’t do much about — personal problems, company policies you can’t change, complaints about colleagues who make this person’s work life miserable, as well as personal requests you can’t or won’t address (such as “Raise my pay” from someone whose performance is mediocre). Take everything under advisement, if you can’t respond immediately. Promise to take action when you think it’s warranted but resist efforts to “delegate up.”

You will also get answers that are implicit or even explicit criticisms of you. Respond to these by explaining yourself, but don’t argue or react defensively. Admit mistakes, if appropriate. At the least, respond with, “Let me think about that. Thanks for telling me.”

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals

Upstart: Management

A recent post by HBR blogger Gill Corkindale illustrates how dysfunctional or outdated organizational designs can make it difficult for managers to operate effectively. Judging by the spirited responses, her examples resonated with many readers.

As today’s executives struggle with the fallout of a globalized economy, they are likely to make their organizational structures even more complex. It’s like trying to solve a constantly moving Rubik’s Cube. The colors will never line up, no matter how many times you spin it. What results are multi-dimensional matrix structures where decision-making is torturous and unclear; siloed functions that underleverage people’s efforts; or serial reorganizations that create constant uncertainty.

Despite this whitewater environment, there are still steps that managers can take towards simplifying their own structure — which may influence senior executives to adjust the broader design. Here are a few approaches that you can try:

Work with the current structure: Managers love to reorganize when results are not what they need to be. After all, it’s a convenient way to create the appearance of taking decisive action to reduce costs, refocus priorities, etc. But often this just creates more complexity. Most organizations can be made to work if leaders set the right goals, hold people accountable, streamline end-to-end processes, and put in place appropriate disciplines. In the absence of these (and other leadership actions) any structure can appear to be dysfunctional. A few years ago, the consumer division of a packaged goods company went through five different redesigns in an eighteen-month period, with little change in performance. Only after a stronger consumer business leader was put in place did results get better — without any further reorganization.

Continue Reading

Upstart: Business and Management for 20-40 Year Old Professionals

Employee motivation, in my view, is key to creating long term successful companies.  While there are no magic bullets out there, here are 9 tips that we’ve gathered over the years that can help any manager improve the motivation of the people working for him or her.

1.  Understand that everyone is motivated differently

We often apply the same motivational programs, ideas and processes across the board to the people that work for us.  Too often this is based on our own belief of what is motivating.  We tell ourselves, “well this would be motivating to me” believing that it should then be motivating to everyone.  Managers need to understand that we all have different motivational profiles.  By tapping into the individual needs of our employees we can maximize the effectiveness of our work.   Look to the 4-Drive Model to help understand all the different levers that a manager can use to touch the most people.

2. People don’t always know what is motivating to them

In response to the first question, managers often go about asking their employees “what would motivate you?”  While on the surface, this is good, it is important to understand that not everyone knows what really motivates them.  Research has shown, that when asked, people rate money as the number one motivator more than 70% of the time.  However, in certain side by side experiments performance improved significantly more when people were rewarded with merchandise or travel compared to money (see work by Scott Jeffrey).  Don’t just ask people but get to understand what drives them, understand what works specifically with each individual, find out each person’s personality and use data to find out the underlying motivators for each employee.  Henry Ford’s statement, “If I had built what people said the wanted, I would have built a faster horse” rings true.

Read the other 7 Steps

Upstart: Business and Management for 29-40 Year Old Professionals

This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

Last Friday I had a medical scare and ended up in the emergency room for seven hours. Fortunately, it had a happy ending and I’m now fine. Sure, I had the usual experience of “powerlessness and falling down the rabbit hole into zombie land,” that endless wait until someone comes and starts poking you to take blood. But in other respects it was extremely positive–or as positive as being flat on your back with wires and tubes sticking out of you can be.

For one, the doctor was extremely personable and caring. He took the time to understand what was bothering me and to get to the bottom of my problem. In fact, no medical test seemed to be enough: Two EKGs, since the first one didn’t quite look right; two blood tests four hours apart to be sure there was no change; a sonogram of my heart. There was no hesitation about the cost. The attitude was: How can we determine what is wrong? What can we do to help?

It sure felt good to have someone be so thorough. Contrast that to a typical doctor visit where you’re rushed in and out so quickly you feel like you’re on a bullet train. Now this is not a meditation on the high cost of medical care or our broken health care system. None of which I’m qualified to talk about. But it is about the Power of Taking the Next Step. Of being thorough. Of going to the end of the earth and back in pursuit of answers.

In today’s quick as a whistle world, we’re on to the next thing before we can even take a breath. Instead, why not embrace the Paradox of Slowing Down to Speed Up Results. I believe we would be much more productive if we applied the brakes. If we took the time to be more thorough. If we didn’t always approach everything in the same way. And if we took a critical eye to our work.

Here are some questions I’m going to start asking myself in my B2B PR work with our clients to help me and my team be more thorough–and ultimately productive:

• Why are we taking this particular approach?
• Have we truly answered the questions we set out to ask?
• Could we try a totally different approach?
• Can we do anything else that will make a difference?
• Anything totally out of the ordinary we could try that might be productive?

What are you doing to be more productive in your work? How can you slow yourself down to go further? I’d love to hear from you.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1674854/the-simple-key-to-productivity

We entrepreneurs are a hard working lot.  If we want success, we have to be.  And a lot of times that means long hours, deadlines, and pressures that can add up over time.  Studies have shown that if you don’t take steps to care for yourself while you’re working to build your dreams, you can do some real damage.

In fact, some estimates say that up to 90% of visits to doctors’ offices stem from stress-related issues.  And what good does it do to build a successful business if you’re not around to enjoy it or have to deal with health concerns because of it?  To avoid burnout and enjoy the journey – and the rewards – more, follow these tips:

1. Exercise more than just your brain. As an entrepreneur, you’re continuously giving your brain a workout, but don’t forget about your body.  One of the best ways to reduce stress, and condition yourself to handle more stress, and handle it better, is to stay in good physical shape.  If you’re going to take time out of your busy day to participate in any activity, few will have a more positive, lasting effect than exercise.

And if you think you don’t have time for it, you might have some misperceptions about what it takes to stay in shape.  You don’t need to spend hours a day working out to reduce stress and feel better.  Just a few minutes a day, a few days a week will help a lot, and you’ll feel a difference quickly.

2. Watch what you’re putting in your gullet. Along the same lines as exercise, watching your diet is important for feeling your best and will help you deal with stress and burnout.  Busy entrepreneurs are often on the move, and need to grab a quick bite on the go.  Unfortunately, if you’re not careful, what you’re stuffing your mouth with isn’t always the stuff that will keep you feeling your best.  Something as simple as cutting down on high-sugar snacks and drinks can make a big difference in how you feel, and you’ll be far less likely to experience that common afternoon burnout, much less long-term burnout.

3. Don’t go it alone. Trying to do everything yourself is a one-way ticket to entrepreneurial burnout.  Unfortunately, it’s also very common among people building their own businesses.  Whether it’s our independent nature or the need to save money, we entrepreneurs are often reluctant to hire anything out, and it can end up hurting us in the long-run.  The good news is that we can maintain control of our businesses and actually end up saving money if we approach this problem properly.

Consider finding one or more virtual assistants or freelancers to help you out.  You’ll not only pay less than you would for employees, but the time you’ll free up will allow you to concentrate more on the things that are making you income.  And the best part is that you’ll avoid burnout by delegating those tasks that you’d rather not do anyway, which will make you feel better and will free up time to follow some of the other advice on this list.

4. Get social. A necessary ingredient in a truly fulfilled life, and a key to preventing burnout, is to set aside time to participate in activities that you enjoy and are completely unrelated to your work.  Going out with friends, attending a sporting event, seeing a movie, or hitting the beach with the family can all help to get your mind off your pressures for a little while.

The key is to have some fun while focusing on something other than your business.  That’s not to say you won’t think about work at all, but your concentration will be on your friends, family, and the activity you’re participating in.  When you do return to your work, you just might be surprised at how refreshed you feel, and the ideas and inspiration that come to you!

5. Manage the clock. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but we definitely don’t all make the most of that time.  A lack of time management skills can seriously contribute to burnout.  If you’re not managing your time well, deadlines creep up faster, you find yourself rushing everywhere, and you might end up dealing with the added stress of letting people down by not being able to follow through as you promise.  There are a lot of online tools to help you manage your time, and technology can make a big difference in this area.

Another way to improve in this area is to compartmentalize your tasks.  In other words, group all similar tasks so you aren’t hopping all over the place and can focus on one area until you’re ready to move to the next.  For example, set aside a specific time each day to focus on social media and a time for email, rather than checking them throughout the day.  This will increase your focus and ultimately save you a lot of time.

What other tips do you have for managing stress and avoiding burnout?  Or, what’s your biggest challenge with managing your business and avoiding burnout?  Share in the comments!

http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2010/05/11/avoid-burnout-5-tips-for-busy-entrepreneurs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogtrepreneur+(Blogtrepreneur)