My Medium Content
Thanks for stopping by! The content here is going to be in a little flux for a while because I’m moving items and shifting some of my media creation over to Medium as a way to leverage the power of the publishing platform. I’ll still post a unique blog here and on LinkedIn from time to time, but my main focus will be on that site.
Get in touch!
pmann@educationalthinking.com
(717) 400-6266 (voicemail)
Harrisburg, PA
Do Your Priorities Compete?
Priorities that appear to conflict do not need to be managed, they need to be prioritized. In an earlier article, I wrote about ways to deconflict priorities, and that recommendation stands. When organizational priorities appear to be at odds, it means most simply that it is not clear which priority is more important than any other. This is a clarity problem, not a conflict.
Make Help More -- Helpful!
If someone cares enough to notice that you need help, whether via a consultant or not, it is a better option to consider that, 1) someone cares enough to notice the need, and 2) there is an opportunity to find and fix a blind spot in your perspective. Someone like me isn’t there to force a change or otherwise stick our noses into your business; we’re there because someone feels things need to adjust but aren’t going to get better on their own.
Playing Succession Too Close
One of the overriding themes of the last few years has been how to build one's bench -- how to identify and select high-potential employees (HiPos) and would-be employees to proactively enhance the team. Within this idea includes both building skills and knowledge capabilities, as well as grooming HiPos for eventual advancement into leadership as part of a long term succession pipeline. While this article relates to all of these factors, it's main focus is on the succession component and the problems that occur when we forget to tell our HiPos that they are HiPos, and what that means.
Fair Enough?
Many organizations, especially in government or government contracting, create “fair” interview panels from a deliberately (read: legally defensible) diverse group of disinterested interviewers. These interviews follow a rigidly structured protocol – though they often use behavioral interview questions, a subject of a future post – which disallows all but the most superficial pleasantries.
Your Thinking on Millennials is Wrong
There. I said it. You are wrong. Wrong about millennials, wrong about their place in the workforce, and wrong about how you are trying to gain their attention (long enough) to work for you. Just. Plain. Wrong. On at least three counts.
Stop Right There!
There is another horrible notion going around that you can attract, hire, and retain the best people if you can just figure out how to comply with all of the applicable laws and diversity initiatives dreamed up over the last couple of years. If you get the ratio du jour of colors, shapes, and plumbing, then you will have an environment of egalitarian inventiveness and creativity like nothing seen short of Star Trek.
You Get What You SEO For
…most of us would love to work in a place where our position was less cookie-cutter and more deliberately aligned with both our talents and the cultural identity of the company we work for. Likewise, I’m not bothered about the government-like titles such as “Aviation Technical Systems Specialist,” because it is a given that those don’t mean anything at all unless one searches the specific requirements of the position.
Recent Graduates …Only?
It is both amusing and problematic that the old paradox of recent graduates with 10+ years of experience is going away. It is amusing because the swell in nontraditional graduates, especially in terms of those who are either finishing their education while working a career, means that it is actually possible to hire someone who graduated in the last year (i.e. recent graduate) with a decade or more of experience.
Recruiters: Do You Want Qualified Veterans or Just Veterans?
Whether or not someone is a veteran should only give you a point of reference to find out more, but should never really be viewed as the total a person does or can bring to the table -- think about it as a piece of the puzzle, maybe even a corner piece, but it isn't the whole picture.
Do We Need (More) Rules to "Unplug?"
"Do those choices make sense in the context of the legal and ethical structure of their work agreement?" Turns out, checking email "off the clock" is dead at the first hurdle -- it isn't legal whether exempt or not.