Nine Shift

The Changing Workplace: Networks

Moving one's workplace organizational structure, and thinking, from a pyramid to a network is #3 of our Top 7 changes for a successful workplace in the 21st century.

This one is actually taking a bit longer than expected to make headway.  I have yet to see an Org Chart as a network rather than pyramid.  And Boomer managers certainly are resisting the new procedures and policies of the network, holding on to the last-century Org Chart as a pyramid.

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates has found the literature that demonstrates that a network is far more efficient and effective than a pyramid.  Decisions are made faster, and better, by the best people. Communication happens more quickly.  Problems are solved faster and better.  Thus the people are more productive, the organization more profitable (or efficient in the case of a government agency).

Maybe the network is taking over more surrepticiously than I know. What do you think? 

Kerry Flowers, head of leadership development programs at the California Franchise Tax Board, gave out 500 copies of NineShift to people in her agency attending the NineShift presentation there last month.

Big Business Screaming for Big Government Interference!

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates says conservative Republican big businessmen are screaming for big government interference - - to stop their new competition, the shareable economy.

Contrary to The New York Times columnist David Brooks assertion that peer to peer business prospects will mean less government regulation, Coates points out that currently big established business interests are hollering for the government to regulate a threat to their own interests, the shareable economy.

Brooks' faith that the shareable economy is regulating itself also caused her to remark, "That's what Ben Bernanke hoped the banks would do."   

It's hard to keep all these supposedly conservative big business messages straight. They don't want government to interfere with them. They DO want government to interfere with their competition. And they still want government to trust them that they can self regulate and take better care of society than government can. 

Big government camping site on a big government river in a big government forest.

 

Why is David Brooks So Clueless about AirBnB?

Maybe he just wants to justify to his managing editor that he's writing "original" ideas, but David Brooks' explanation of the shareable economy is so clueless he's competing with Gail Collins as the most hilarious OpEd columnist at The New York Times.

Brooks does not look at demographics, economics or technology in seeking to understand the shareable or peer to peer economy.  Brooks doesn't check out the evidence, doesn't apparently even talk with his Gen Y family members. And with this phenomenon being devoid of left-right political ideology, he resorts to some really weird and totally unfounded ideas.

No, the shareable economy has nothing to do with the recent recession or liberal arts degrees. AirBnB, Uber and other peer to peer businesses thrive because Gen Y values maximizing use of tangible goods and minimizing their cost, time and space. 

The rationale is part economic - - the need and desire to focus on intangibles and reduce "stuff" - - and part environmental and the need to save the world for their children.

None of this is about Republicans or Democrats. And none of it is about Brooks' final conclusion regarding government's role in the shareable economy (see my next post).

More of "the view from the canoe" this month.

Paul Krugman is Clueless on Infrastructure

No, no, not Paul Krugman! My aging fellow liberal is right on so many issues, and so wrong on the issue of infrastructure.

I cringe every time I hear the word infrastructure, because it almost is followed by the word "highways."

No, wasting billions and trillions on highways won't help our economy.  Gen Y clearly doesn't want highways.  They kill people. They destroy the environment.  You can't work and drive.  So Gen Y is moving to cities with light rail and trains. 

People who drive are LESS productive than people who work from home. Krugman wants seniors, young people and teleworkers to pay for other people to drive around aimlessly to the malls, but he doesn't want them to pay for us to travel productively, safely and environmentally on trains. 

Overall, VMT is down, not up, yet Krugman wants more highways as fewer people use them less often. And if we do drive more, the blood bath among older people on the road will be really bad.

Krugman's solution is at work in my home state of Wisconsin.  Here we have rejected trains and gone $6 billion into debt on highways. The results: 1)Wisconsin is 37th in job creation;  2) Last in new business start ups; and 3) most importantly, has a huge brain drain of young college educated people moving to other states with light rail and trains.  

 

The Changing Workplace: Telework

Telework is the silent revolution in the workplace.  Telecommuting keeps growing.  It's #2 in our top 7 list of workplace changes that need to take place for organizations to be successful in this century.

Some 85% of Gen Y want to telework between 30% and 70% of the time.Boomers, in general, do not support telework and hinder its expansion. The biggest reason why telework is not increasing more is managerial resistance, and Boomers today are more likely to be managers than Gen Xers and Gen Yers.

No doubt, telework is still growing.  Earlier this year telework was first cited as one of the reasons why Americans are driving fewer miles than in the past.  As soon as the tide turns in Boomer retirements, we predict telework will increase even more than it has increased already in the past 20 years. 

Here's a question for those of you in colleges doing workforce development and training:  if your organization has not adopted 21st Century workplace strategies, how can you train other organizations in them? 

It's time for work organizations to cross the bridge to the 21st century.  Photo of Trout River in northern Wisconsin.

 

I Like It When Julie Talks Black

One of the best things about being married to a civil rights leader is when she talks black.

Yesterday she was talking with our African American foster son, Sammie, and they often get into it, much to my amusement.

Sammie was telling Julie how UPS had a package to deliver and they couldn't find his house.  Julie replied that he should "tell Mr. PS, the police know where I'm at, what's your problem?"   Much laughter in the house.  Thanks to Sammie for bringing that joy into my life.

Great blue heron seen on a canoe ride last week.

The Changing Workplace: Flextime

With Boomers retiring soon and the workplace needs of Gen Y very different, flextime is #1 of #7 new workplace changes.

Managers need to understand and then acquire the skills to develop flextime policies and administer them. From our big NineShift presentation for 400 supervisors and managers of the California Franchise Tax Board. 

My Aunt Tillie, one of the first three employees and the first female treasurer of SC Johnson Wax, wrote that SC Johnson 100 years ago gave his employees Saturday afternoon off.  When he did it, it was quite innovative.  It became part of a new concept, a "weekend," that most everyone enjoyed and experienced in the last century.

In this century, flextime is essential.  People need to be able to work when they are most productive, from the location/s in which they are most productive, during the weeks and months that make business sense, and balanced by family and leisure time that actually re-energize and make possible creative thinking in the workplace.

Weekends will disappear. Getting emails about work while off work will probably be illegal. The last century hourly and salary work classifications will be replaced by a multitude of work situations, including contract, temporary, part time, and more.  

Writing while on vacation up north. After one week, have seen wolf pup, bear, otters, beaver, muskrat, eagles, loons, porcupine, wild turkeys, great blue herons, sand hill cranes, turtles.

Republicans Surrender on Gay Marriage

The son of Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker served as a legal witness to a family member's gay marriage last week. Coming from and about a leading Tea Party family, it signals the Republican surrender to Gen Y on the issue of gay marriage.  Here's the story.

There are a whole host of nonpolitical issues that Republicans have made political issues in their vain attempt to go back to the last century.  A nonpolitical issue is an issue - - no doubt about that - - but an issue that has no logical or legitimate political party divide.

Other nonpolitical issues that Republicans and Democrats will both be on the same side by 2020:  trains, highway funding, Internet access, health care, marijuana laws, taxing intangibles, and more.

There are some great legitimate political issues Republicans and Democrats should be arguing about, but gay marriage is not one.  While it certainly means the Republican party taking another step closer to the White House, it's nice to see the Republicans waking up on this one.

Library WiFi: Three 21st Century Issues

Libraries are arguing over how the federal government funds WiFi in public libraries. It's 3 21st Century issues wrapped into one.  Here's the story.

Issue #1.  Space versus People
  Maybe the most interesting issue is whether WiFi funding should be allocated by the square footage of libraries, OR by how many users each library serves.  The square foot argument seems pretty last century to me.

Issue #2. Suburbs versus Cities
   Suburbs have larger libraries, and fewer people, so they will get more money than city libraries. It's probably time to stop favoring suburbs, especially now that they are in decline.

Issue #3. Government allocation of public resources
   How is the government allocating public resources - - for an elite rich, or for the mass general public? In this case, the "public resources" are both government money, but also air space, another publicly owned resource.  It's how much public libraries get versus how little we give to public libraries.