Is there a more recognizable set of lyrics then those from one of the most popular songs ever written by Simon and Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson”?
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
(A nation turns its lonely eyes to you )
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)
We appear to be a nation in search of a leader we can look up to, whether it be in sports, politics, or business, as so many people did of Joe DiMaggio. Even going back to the 1970s, those of us old enough to remember still recall the leadership showed by Lee Iaccoca, the former head of Chrysler, who helped the company through some very though times by securing government loans and even agreeing to take an annual salary of one dollar.
Now, when I watch television, pick up the newspaper, or read something online about a misstep at a particular organization, whether it is a corporation, non-profit, politician, or public sector entity, I shake my head and ask myself, where has the leadership gone in this country? Our new President is doing his best to lead by example, but what will it take to develop a new set of leaders in this country and how are we going to achieve that goal?
The problem is too many organizations are cutting back on critical training needs. We keep hearing, “the training budget is being cut,” or “It’s not in the budget at all.”
There is a widely held view that training is “soft” and it doesn’t provide any real return to an organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Think about this:
· No money for supervisor training, diversity training, sexual harassment or discrimination training?
· Can’t afford to send someone to learn about the alphabet soup of laws and regulations affecting employees like ADA, FLSA, FMLA, OSHA, and many, many more?
· Can’t retain someone because there is no career development plan, succession plan, or his or her boss is dysfunctional?
Why do we still see corporations as the lead story in the newspaper, online, or on television under negative publicity? It costs those companies tens of millions of dollars in revenue fighting the negative publicity.
It is still hard to believe that we see adverse court decisions being issued because of discrimination or harassment convictions that it costs corporations millions, or worse yet.
At some point, one hopes the light bulb will go off and executives will realize that training isn’t “soft” at all and that a sound training program is one of the smartest investments an organization can make.
The perception of training is all wrong. It can’t be viewed as a luxury item for organizations to use only when times are good. If you think about the examples I have used, you would agree it is one of the wisest investments an organization can make in its employees. Would a corporation ever think about not investing its cash reserves, or not having the necessary D&O liability coverage? Would any organization want to see its best and brightest people leave because they cannot get the support needed to nurture and grow the people who work for them?
Organizations have never needed training more. There are way too many managers who fly off the handle at the smallest thing and berate their co-workers or subordinates. There are too many analytic types that barely show any emotion and who their co-workers or subordinates barely know are alive.
It is time we teach the proper balance between emotion and process, how to get organized in your day to day work activities, make a meeting on time, accept others who are different than us, communicate better, put together a business plan, conduct a meeting so people aren’t nodding off or reading their BlackBerrys, and most importantly, how to inspire others to be great.
Until organizations commit to these goals, we are going to keep hearing about the dysfunctional organization.
There is the view that leaders are born and cannot be taught. Sure, there are a few people so gifted that they don’t need any training, but the bulk of managers learn their skills from people they worked for and all that does is perpetuate a lot of very poor management skills and habits. Leaders learn to lead by being taught or mentored, not by happenstance.
It is time for the private and public sector organizations to wake up. Let’s not keep having our nation turn its lonely eyes to someone who doesn’t exist any longer. There is no Joltin’ Joe to save us.
We appear to be a nation in search of a leader we can look up to, whether it be in sports, politics, or business, as so many people did of Joe DiMaggio. Even going back to the 1970s, those of us old enough to remember still recall the leadership showed by Lee Iaccoca, the former head of Chrysler, who helped the company through some very though times by securing government loans and even agreeing to take an annual salary of one dollar.
Now, when I watch television, pick up the newspaper, or read something online about a misstep at a particular organization, whether it is a corporation, non-profit, politician, or public sector entity, I shake my head and ask myself, where has the leadership gone in this country? Our new President is doing his best to lead by example, but what will it take to develop a new set of leaders in this country and how are we going to achieve that goal?
The problem is too many organizations are cutting back on critical training needs. We keep hearing, “the training budget is being cut,” or “It’s not in the budget at all.”
There is a widely held view that training is “soft” and it doesn’t provide any real return to an organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Think about this:
· No money for supervisor training, diversity training, sexual harassment or discrimination training?
· Can’t afford to send someone to learn about the alphabet soup of laws and regulations affecting employees like ADA, FLSA, FMLA, OSHA, and many, many more?
· Can’t retain someone because there is no career development plan, succession plan, or his or her boss is dysfunctional?
Why do we still see corporations as the lead story in the newspaper, online, or on television under negative publicity? It costs those companies tens of millions of dollars in revenue fighting the negative publicity.
It is still hard to believe that we see adverse court decisions being issued because of discrimination or harassment convictions that it costs corporations millions, or worse yet.
At some point, one hopes the light bulb will go off and executives will realize that training isn’t “soft” at all and that a sound training program is one of the smartest investments an organization can make.
The perception of training is all wrong. It can’t be viewed as a luxury item for organizations to use only when times are good. If you think about the examples I have used, you would agree it is one of the wisest investments an organization can make in its employees. Would a corporation ever think about not investing its cash reserves, or not having the necessary D&O liability coverage? Would any organization want to see its best and brightest people leave because they cannot get the support needed to nurture and grow the people who work for them?
Organizations have never needed training more. There are way too many managers who fly off the handle at the smallest thing and berate their co-workers or subordinates. There are too many analytic types that barely show any emotion and who their co-workers or subordinates barely know are alive.
It is time we teach the proper balance between emotion and process, how to get organized in your day to day work activities, make a meeting on time, accept others who are different than us, communicate better, put together a business plan, conduct a meeting so people aren’t nodding off or reading their BlackBerrys, and most importantly, how to inspire others to be great.
Until organizations commit to these goals, we are going to keep hearing about the dysfunctional organization.
There is the view that leaders are born and cannot be taught. Sure, there are a few people so gifted that they don’t need any training, but the bulk of managers learn their skills from people they worked for and all that does is perpetuate a lot of very poor management skills and habits. Leaders learn to lead by being taught or mentored, not by happenstance.
It is time for the private and public sector organizations to wake up. Let’s not keep having our nation turn its lonely eyes to someone who doesn’t exist any longer. There is no Joltin’ Joe to save us.
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