T+D Blog

Bye-bye blogging?

Man, life is so unfair. Just as I get into this blogging thing, there are no end of articles telling me the craze is over. The most recent is this post from The Chicago Tribune. It says: “Gallup finds only 9 percent of Internet users saying they frequently read blogs, with 11 percent reading them occasionally. Thirteen percent of Internet users rarely bother, and 66 percent never read blogs.”

My mom has read my blog, but she has no idea why I do it. I guess she has a point. If you have to ask that question, then blogging might as well be snowboarding -- something for young people who dress badly. The Trib article notes that a big problem with blogs is large corporate money chasing too little revenue. But the article suggests that even if the mega-money boys can’t find a financial windfall in the blogosphere, the fun will continue. Says the newspaper: “Gallup's report gives a nod to the chattering class -- that segment of inordinately dialed-in Americans who are enthralled with, or at least entertained by, one another's opinions about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

That group, however, does not include my mother.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, says a press release from the Society for Human Resource Management. In the United States, there are 33 million people with disabilities, and their unemployment rate is 44 percent. Yikes.

As a skills shortage looms in the United States and world, this is one largely untapped labor pool, SHRM points out.

Although many companies fear a high cost of building in accommodations, SHRM says that 38 percent of employers have not had to spend money on accommodations for people with disabilities, and an additional 17 percent have spent less than $500.

Disability Mentoring Day, which demonstrates "how employers can create opportunities for individuals with disabilities through internships and on-the-job training," and matches companies with job-seekers, will take place October 19th.

Last year, more than 4,000 students and job seekers were connected with 1,500 private, non-profit, governmental, and educational employers. For more information, visit the website of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Two more Katrina-related items

More on learning-related Katrina efforts: An educational organization has stepped up to create a helpful tool for higher ed institutions.

Educause, a non-profit organization whose mission is "to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology," has set up a Hurricane Relief Community Exchange webpage, which enables

• institutions needing specific information technology (IT) help to describe their needs
• institutions interested in providing IT-specific help to do so
• vendors of IT products and services who wish to offer help to do so (such help should be entirely noncommercial in nature)
• institutions and organizations who wish to offer non-IT support to do so.

Also, I received an email from reader David Zinger about his project to donate two cents per word written in his blog until the end of the year. In other words, his two-cents worth! He's challenging other bloggers to do the same. This is a neat idea! I've stretched my budget in donations already, so I'll have to sit this one out, but I wanted to pass the idea along to other readers with blogs.

Friday humor

I'm back from vacation, and boy are things frantic. Not to mention grim with the recent hurricane news. So I thought we could all use some humor.

This is from an email forward I received recently.

Best Out Of Office Auto Replies
-------------------------------------------

1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

3. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

4. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

5. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

5. I've run away to join a different circus.

EQ in Harry Potter

Along the lines of HR Lessons Learned from Star Wars, now comes EQ in Harry Potter, a whitepaper put out by TalentSmart.

The paper examines a conversation between Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione in the fifth book of the series, The Order of the Phoenix, and dicusses how Harry's two best friends respond with emotional intelligence to his bad mood. It then offers a four-step strategy for conflict management drawn from the conversation.

Ok, it's a stretch, and not funny like the Star Wars piece, but an okay try. I think the strategy of linking hot pop culture topics to information you want to get out there--if done well--can be very effective. It definitely gets people's attention.

If you can use humor with it, even better. Store Wars is another example--a fabulously clever and funny one that also happens to impart a lot of good information.

Maybe something to try with training initiatives you're developing?

HR lessons learned from Star Wars

I never run press releases verbatim, but this one brought a smile to my face, and I thought you all would enjoy it as well. It gets my award for most clever press release in the 5 years I've been an editor for ASTD and they've been flooding my inbox.

I've removed the organizational information to comply with my policy of not promoting specific supplier companies, but I'm sure that if you're really desperate to know which company put this out, a simple Google search would do the trick.

Save Your Employees from the Dark Side – Human Resource Lessons Learned from Star Wars

(PRWEB) June 20, 2005 -- Through George Lucas’ storytelling, filmgoers have come to know Darth Vader as the epitome of evil. But as viewers learn from the latest Star Wars trilogy, underneath that intimidating exterior beats the heart of a man whose turn to the dark side was largely a result of his frustration with his former employer.

What if the Jedi had an effective human resource program? Perhaps we would have seen Anakin chatting with Yoda over intergalactic eggnog at the Jedi holiday party, rather than Darth Vader bowing to the evil emperor in Revenge of the Sith.

So where did the Jedi’s HR program go wrong? At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be a problem. After all, the Jedi offer an excellent training program for new employees, surely making them one of the galaxy’s employers of choice. Where else can you learn how to wield your very own lightsaber and do Jedi Mind Tricks? They don’t offer that type of training even at Microsoft.

Concerned for employees’ futures, wise companies are.

In Revenge of the Sith, we see that Anakin, now a Jedi Knight, has become one of the Jedi’s “star employees.” However, even though Jedi Knight is a highly respectable title, Anakin is unhappy regarding his entry level status. He desperately wants to be promoted to Jedi Master believing that this new title would bring him the respect that he feels he deserves. What Anakin doesn’t seem to understand is that each Jedi Master has years of solid experience and knowledge of The Force under his or her belt. As a result of this disconnect, Anakin becomes increasingly frustrated and considers another job offer.

“A career progression program could have helped in this situation,” explained Michael Maciekowich, national director, XX company. “Building career paths lets employees know that they are moving forward within an organization, giving them a sense of direction. Anakin would have realized that the Jedi cared about his career growth, and that the promotion to Jedi Master was an attainable goal, had there been a clear career progression program in place.”

Communicate you must.

As the story unfolds, we see that there is also a serious lack of communication between Anakin and the Jedi’s upper management, the Jedi Council. In fact, Anakin reveals to his wife that he feels lost and doesn’t believe that the Jedi Council trusts him.

“The Council could have considered a first impression survey, which is given to employees within their first few months of employment. This is a crucial time to provide integration into the corporate culture, encourage open communication, and let new employees know that you value their feedback,” said Jennifer C. Loftus, SPHR, CCP, CBP, GRP, national director, XX company.

Offer great benefits, you should.

One major reason why Anakin eventually turns to the Dark Side is because he believes that they offer better “benefits” (and we don’t mean a good dental plan). The confused, young Jedi is concerned that he is going to lose someone close to him due to medical reasons, and believes that his new position will offer him the “ultimate” in healthcare insurance. As he quickly learns, however, his new employer wasn’t exactly truthful about the health coverage.

Perhaps the Jedi weren’t clearly communicating their own benefit plan to Anakin. Increased communication and attention to employee feedback could have helped in this situation as well.

“When choosing from the vast array of benefit offerings, it is important for HR professionals to analyze their employees' needs. The Jedi Council should have asked their employees what standard and voluntary benefits would be of most value to them and work to make those benefits available,” explained Loftus.

It may be too late for Anakin / Darth Vader, but it’s not too late to save your own employees from the Dark Side. Remember, you don’t need The Force to make your team happy, just solid HR programs.