Stealing Office Supplies

Most workers who help themselves to company supplies know they are doing wrong -- but they do it anyway. A lack of engagement and work/life balance may contribute to the reasons underlying the thefts.

Lock the supply-room door and hide the key. A new survey says that nearly 20 percent of American workers are pilfering company supplies.

The survey, conducted by Spherion, a Florida-based recruiting and staffing company, found that employees expropriate everything from pencils, pens and paper to BlackBerries and laptop computers.

Moreover, the study reported that only 22 percent of those who admitted filching office provisions felt guilt or remorse. Yet, three-quarters (74 percent) said they know that stealing from the company is wrong, a 5 percent increase from last year.

"Stealing office supplies is a great challenge because there is virtually no way to secure office supplies in an economic way," says Clinton Korver, co-author of Ethics For The Real World.

The most common supplies lifted by employees, according to the Spherion study, are pens, pencils and rulers (67 percent), paper and Post-Its (57 percent), and calculators, staplers and tape dispensers (11 percent).

While a tape dispenser here and a box of pens there may not seem like much, the number of employees swiping laptops, PDAs or cell phones has increased in the last year from 5 percent to 8 percent.

"I don't think people are malicious," says Aleicia Latimer, associate general counsel and human resources services manager for Florida-based AlphaStaff Group, Inc., a human resource outsourcing company.

Office supplies are "like a buffet," she says. "You take all you can because it is there for you."

Such theft is hardly a new phenomenon. Plundered supplies add up to billions of dollars a year in losses for small businesses, according to a 2006 Lawyers.com online survey performed by Harris Interactive.

So what can a human resource manager do to help curb office lifting? The short term answer is to step up security. Latimer suggests making people sign for each item they take or limit access to supplies by assigning a gatekeeper.

"People are less likely to take more than they need because they have to see someone face-to-face," she says.

It is also imperative that HR develop and enforce a policy for people caught poaching company stores.

"It gives people parameters," she says. "If someone does step over the line you can say, 'Here is the policy and you can't say you didn't know.' You can enforce your rules and regulations appropriately. But if you are going to discipline someone, you have to do it consistently."

Having a policy is important. But it won't solve office-supply theft alone. To significantly curb stealing, human resource leaders must delve deeper to understand why employees do it.

"I think the main reason people do this is because they feel that the company is doing well and making money and these are just supplies and do not cost a great deal to the bottom line," Latimer. "It is theft if you are not using it for work."

Certainly many employees don't equate personal use of office supplies with stealing. Others, however, know exactly what they are doing.

A 2006 Vault survey found that 60 percent of the employees who admitted stealing office supplies said they did so because they felt they were not fairly compensated for overtime.

A 2007 Harris Interactive survey for Deloitte & Touche found that "stress, long hours, and an inflexible schedule" contributed to employee bad behavior, including stealing office supplies.

That same study reported that 91 percent of the respondents said people were more likely to act ethically if they had a healthy work/life balance.

"It is important that the company says 'thank you' to its employees," Latimer says. "If employees feel valued and that they are part of the team, then if (stealing) is hurting the company, it is hurting them.

"If they feel like a cog in a wheel, then sure, 'you don't care about me and I don't care about you.' Being part of the team makes a difference," she says.

The Deloitte & Touche survey also noted that employees look to set the tone in the offices. They expect managers and supervisors to "live the values they preach" and maintain a "culture of ethics" in the office.

"Managers and supervisors need to reinforce the corporate culture," Latimer says.

"If there is a behavior you don't want exhibited in your staff, it is a behavior that you should not exhibit," she says. "It is very important for management to live up to the values of the corporate culture."

Achievement & Success : Do something and do it now

Ever felt like you were in a rut? That things were stalled or at a dead end? Have you ever felt helpless or powerless to change your situation? You're not alone. The bad news is that these emotions can have quite serious consequences to our happiness and quality of life. The good news is that there are some really effective techniques to turn these emotions around.
There are a lot of things you can do to change your state of mind, but none work faster or more effectively than just doing something different today than you did yesterday. Begin with small stuff. It's amazing how much of a difference you can create just by making a few small changes. For example, there's a large body of research indicating that changes in the colours, shapes and sounds around you can have immediate and profound effects on your mood. Happy and positive emotions can be stimulated with blue, green and pink colours; shapes that are curved (no sharp angles); lines that move upward from left to right; and sounds that are not too loud with higher pitches and fast rhythms. Energy and enthusiasm can be stimulated with orange and strong red colours, contrasting shapes and loud, strong rhythms. Even simple changes to your every day routines can begin to awaken a few neurons. Take lunch a half-hour earlier than usual. Rearrange the order in which you do things. Mess with your schedule a bit.

Next, commit to yourself to take a new action every day. Make a list of things you've been putting off or neglecting - things you like to do, or need to do. Set up a schedule to do one of them every day, then make sure you do them. Once you've begun to create a little forward motion, you will begin to feel more motivated, stimulated and positive. It's a wonderful thing.

The secret to all of this, though, is to get the ball rolling. So do something now. Don't wait. Don't procrastinate. Don't find an excuse. Find something you can do in the next five minutes that's positive, and different than something you did yesterday. What do you have to lose?

Achievement & Success: Know your Priorities

One of the most common traits of very successful people, however you choose to define success, is that they have a very clear idea of what is important to them. They understand their priorities, and use them as their guidelines when making decisions. Because their actions are in line with their priorities, they tend to get greater enjoyment out of the things they do.

Most of us, unfortunately, haven't spent a lot of time reflecting on the things in life that are truly important to us. And because of this, we find ourselves doing things which may seem like a good idea at the time, but really end up compromising our success and our happiness. For example: Working long hours may seem like a great way to get ahead, but if family time is one of your fundamental priorities, the long hours will eventually just lead to resentment. Perhaps you stretch the truth occasionally to achieve a goal. But if integrity is a priority for you, the achievement may not bring you the happiness you hoped for. Reflecting on what your priorities really are is a great exercise if you're willing to invest the time. Sit down some evening and make a list of the things in life that are really important to you. Make sure the list comes from the heart - don't write down the things you somehow feel obligated to place as priorities.

This list can really be helpful in helping guide your decisions and actions.. The more the things you do begin to align with the things you feel are important, the greater your satisfaction and success.

... Art ... of . . . Communication ...

Listen without judgment. The key to good communication is listening well. Save your judging for later after you have heard and understood what was said.

Listen with the willingness to be swayed to the other person's opinion. No obligation to actually being swayed, but stay open to the option.

Listen without thinking about what you will say next. Take time before you respond.

Do not be invested in being right. Being right is not the point. If you must be right, you are not able to listen nor communicate because you have set up a barrier already. If you are always right that means the other person is always wrong. That cannot be true.

If your mind wanders, ask for repetition. We all are subject to distraction.. Try to stay focused.

In all cases repeat back what you heard and ask if it is correct.

Say it honestly, but with consideration for the listener's feelings. Be polite, respectful and sincere.

Understand and acknowledge that most things are not black or white, but somewhere in a gray area. Get comfortable with gray.

Have integrity and build trust. Don't say what you don't mean. Don't promise what you won't or can't fulfill. Follow through with any commitments you make.

Atlas of Learning

In ancient Greek mythology, the Titan Atlas held up the entire world on his shoulders. A modern-day Atlas in his own right, Jan Ginneberge, vice president of learning at Alcatel-Lucent University, supports his company's learning offerings around the world.

Most major companies today operate outside of the borders of their home countries on some level. Modern supply chains, international finance and offshore outsourcing labor arrangements offer increased speed, more cost-savings opportunities and greater market reach to enterprises of all kinds. Thus, despite the often unpredictable nature of doing so, the lure of growing the business by venturing overseas is too lucrative for most organizations to pass up.

But is is likely that few multinationals can claim to have the extensive global character of telecommunications provider Alcatel-Lucent. The company does about one-third of its business in Europe, one-third in North America and one-third throughout the rest of the world. Its values include respect for and embrace of all peoples and perspectives, and its corporate vision is simply: "Transforming the way the world communicates."

Alcatel-Lucent's workforce numbers 77,000 people worldwide. The global nature of the organization influences its approach to talent and how it's developed, said Jan Ginneberge, vice president of learning at Alcatel-Lucent University, who is responsible for all employee training, ranging from technology to managerial and leadership programs.

"If you're working in 130 countries and you have people from different nationalities, it's not only having a global presence, it's also having this distribution of nationalities," he explained. "If you look at the difference between us and other companies that have a global presence, you'll see that we have this global talent pool. We have 21 [corporate] universities across the globe, from Ottawa to Brazil and Sydney to Shanghai. This scope gives us enormous coverage. The distribution of our employees follows the distribution of our customers."

Under the current learning structure, all of these corporate universities report to Ginneberge, who is based at Alcatel-Lucent's headquarters in Paris. But most of them have a large degree of autonomy in terms of how they manage allotted resources and determine the development needs of employees and customers locally.

"On the one hand, we have initiatives where people in this function or that responsibility have mandatory training," Ginneberge said. "But all of our training is run in a self-service, subscription mode, where people subscribe to training online. It's essentially a decision made by employees and their managers, based on geography, function or initiative."

To deliver content to approximately 2,000 personnel around the world every day, the company relies on a combination of instructor-led training and e-learning. More than one-third of Alcatel-Lucent's employee development is delivered through virtual means, Ginneberge said.

"If you look at the hours spent in training by the employee population, a bit more than 35 percent is done online, be it individual learning or Web-conferencing format. We want to promote online learning. It has an impact on the cost of ownership, but it also has an impact on our reach. We can reach many more people through online learning because it's flexible, and we're a geographically dispersed organization."

It was not always this way. When the Belgium-educated Ginneberge first joined the organization in 1986, it was ITT. It became Alcatel shortly thereafter and grew rapidly throughout the 1990s via business expansion and a series of acquisitions. It merged with North American telecom firm Lucent Technologies in late 2006, thereby arriving at the current corporate structure.

Ginneberge himself cycled through a number of different roles in HR and talent development prior to becoming the head of Alcatel University earlier this decade.

"I have been in the same organization, but it's had different configurations," he said.

Not surprisingly, Ginneberge has faced a number of significant challenges in delivering learning as the company has grown. One of these was expanding the amount of online learning. In 2000, the company had just 7 percent of its employee-development programs online.

"We gradually moved more after building a single LMS at the former Alcatel," he said. "We were able to increase online learning to 12 percent. And just before the merger with Lucent, it was at about 22 percent. Everything was done in steps. That's our challenge: How do we include the new technologies and new ways of working in learning? We invest quite a lot to make sure people have what they need to work and learn.

"It's not just on the delivery side. The other challenges is on the receiving end. How do you get learners who are prepared to manage the times and locations of learning? That requires more discipline from learners in a classroom, who have already set a time and place aside for learning and nothing else."

Along with the constant challenge of growing e-learning, when the merger with Lucent was announced in 2006, Ginneberge was called upon to help lay the groundwork for the move. The biggest issue was time: Ginneberge and his team were tasked with bringing Alcatel's entire sales force up to speed on the new suite of products that would result.

"In two days, we trained 11,000 sales and sales support personnel on the new portfolio," he said. "That was a contribution that was very impactful."

Additionally, he moved new learning programs and processes into the unified organization. One of these is a structure of learning consultants who delve into the business to determine what learning needs exist.

"They go and listen to business issues and try to transfer them into learning solutions," Ginneberge said. "We have a contact matrix, and we're connecting with all the key players by function, region and business to make sure we get close to where their needs are. That's a key connecting point that's been proven very successful in a post-merger environment, where not everybody knows who's who. When you integrate teams, roles and responsibilities change."

Also, Ginneberge adapted an integrated talent development program for high-level employees at Alcatel for the merged company. This includes coaching, 360-degree evaluations, online business games and simulations. The efficacy of this initiative was measured by comparing a control group that wasn't developed and a group that was. Proportionally, the percentage of promotions was double in the developed group versus the undeveloped group.

Along with these formal metrics, the program has shown its value as a promotional tool for the learning organization.

"Having developed much of the talent promoted to executive level, we've got quite a number of relationships with leaders who've had a great experience with Alcatel-Lucent University," Ginneberge said. "That's clearly contributed to Alcatel-Lucent University as a brand inside the company."

At the moment, Ginneberge is focused on developing the key competencies needed to make the company run optimally and provide it with a competitive advantage. One of the proficiencies that has been identified as especially critical is project management.

"Let's say we're running large rollouts of wireless networks for customers, and one of those customers announces they'll be giving 3G service or have IPT (IP telephony] on their network," Ginneberge said. "If we want to avoid damaging the credibility of that customer, the project managers' skills in those areas are key. So now we have to qualify those project managers.

"We asked ourselves, 'How can we get the right capabilities and credibility in the company to run these large integration and IT transformation projects?' We started with a project-manager qualification track to have certified project managers and project directors who could move into the market. The first layer is PMI (Project Management Institute), but we have an internal accreditation mechanism, where we review their accomplishments, qualify them and screen them."

In addition to competencies, Ginneberge aims to improve the accessibility of learning for Alcatel-Lucent's global population of employees and customers.

"The tagline of Alcatel-Lucent is, 'Because the world is always on,'" he said. "We're going for an 'always on' learning environment for our employees. That's what we're actively working on for the second half of 2008."

This objective isn't all that surprising for an organization that places so much emphasis on having an international nature.

"The fact that we are multinational, multicultural and multilingual is very much appreciated by our customers and employees," Ginneberge said. "This mix of employees clearly brings the assets of seeing things in a different way and looking for alternatives. This global environment gives us a way of working that's different from a local company, but it's addictive. If people work for truly global companies, they want to stay in global companies."

DECENTRALISATION, EMPOWERMENT AND MANAGEMENT/ADMINISTRATON

1)Decentralization refers to a structured organizational process , including organization design, that encourages decision making closer to the actual place/context/customer, This will help lead to quicker decision making and hence customers can be satisfied/served better and quicker. Delegation of authority/responsibility is a facilitating tool for decentralization to succeed.

Empowerment refers more to the creation of an organizational environment, including design of structure-policies on rewards and recognition etc, which motivates/inspires individual and teams to 'take charge' of the problem ownership/decision making/influencing process, in order to deliver superior service to the customer and other stake holders. Empowerment is not 'empowering others' but about individuals 'empowering themselves' to act.
2) A Group normally refers to a formation, which has come together not necessarily through a structured process but due to common interests etc.

A team is normally a group of people formed together, through a process, for achieving a set purpose and the team could be disbanded after that.

In that sense, a team refers to a more formal group formation

3) Management, normally, refers to the optimization of resources towards an agreed goal/target/result. Great management is about doing the things right and also doing the right things.

Administration, normally, refers to a process where a process/system/policy/procedure is 'administered'- meaning ensuring that the process/system/policy etc is followed and there is no/minimum deviation.

Goal Setting Powerful Written Goals In 7 Easy Steps! by Gene Donohue

• The car is packed and you're ready to go, your first ever cross-country trip. From the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the rolling hills of San Francisco, you're going to see it all.
  You put the car in gear and off you go. First stop, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
  A little while into the trip you need to check the map because you've reached an intersection you're not familiar with. You panic for a moment because you realize you've forgotten your map.
  But you say the heck with it because you know where you're going. You take a right, change the radio station and keep on going. Unfortunately, you never reach your destination.
  Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about where we want to go, but we don't have a map to get there.
  What is a map? In essence, the written word.
  What is the difference between a dream and a goal? Once again, the written word.
  Goal setting however is more than simply scribbling down some ideas on a piece of paper. Our goals need to be complete and focused, much like a road map, and that is the purpose behind the rest of this article.
  If you follow the 7 goal setting steps I've outlined in this article you will be well on your way to becoming an expert in building the road maps to your goals.
  1. Make sure the goal you are working for is something you really want, not just something that sounds good.
  I remember when I started taking baseball umpiring more seriously. I began to set my sites on the NCAA Division 1 level. Why? I knew there was no way I could get onto the road to the major leagues, so the next best thing was the highest college level. Pretty cool, right. Wrong.
  Sure, when I was talking to people about my umpiring goals it sounded pretty good, and many people were quite impressed. Fortunately I began to see through my own charade.
  I have been involved in youth sports for a long time. I've coached, I've been the President of leagues, I've been a treasurer and I'm currently an Assistant State Commissioner for Cal Ripken Baseball. Youth sports is where I belong, it is where my heart belongs, not on some college diamond where the only thing at stake is a high draft spot.
  When setting goals it is very important to remember that your goals must be consistent with your values.
  2. A goal can not contradict any of your other goals.
  For example, you can't buy a $750,000 house if your income goal is only $50,000 per year. This is called non-integrated thinking and will sabotage all of the hard work you put into your goals. Non-integrated thinking can also hamper your everyday thoughts as well. We should continually strive to eliminate contradictory ideas from our thinking.
  3. Develop goals in the 6 areas of life:
  
• Family and Home
• Financial and Career
• Spiritual and Ethical
• Physical and Health
• Social and Cultural
• Mental and Educational

Setting goals in each area of life will ensure a more balanced life as you begin to examine and change the fundamentals of everyday living. Setting goals in each area of life also helps in eliminating the non-integrated thinking we talked about in the 2nd step.
4. Write your goal in the positive instead of the negative.
Work for what you want, not for what you want to leave behind. Part of the reason why we write down and examine our goals is to create a set of instructions for our subconscious mind to carry out. Your subconscious mind is a very efficient tool, it can not determine right from wrong and it does not judge. It's only function is to carry out its instructions. The more positive instructions you give it, the more positive results you will get.
Thinking positively in everyday life will also help in your growth as a human being. Don't limit it to goal setting.
5. Write your goal out in complete detail.
Instead of writing "A new home," write "A 4,000 square foot contemporary with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a view of the mountain on 20 acres of land.
Once again we are giving the subconscious mind a detailed set of instructions to work on. The more information you give it, the more clear the final outcome becomes. The more precise the outcome, the more efficient the subconscious mind can become.
Can you close your eyes and visualize the home I described above? Walk around the house. Stand on the porch off the master bedroom and see the fog lifting off the mountain. Look down at the garden full of tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers. And off to the right is the other garden full of a mums, carnations and roses. Can you see it? So can your subconscious mind.
6. By all means, make sure your goal is high enough.
Shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll still be in the stars. Earlier I talked about my umpiring goals and how making it to the top level of college umpiring did not mix with my values. Some of you might be saying that I'm not setting my goals high enough. Not so. I still have very high goals for my umpiring career at the youth level. My ultimate goal is to be chosen to umpire a Babe Ruth World Series and to do so as a crew chief. If I never make it, everything I do to reach that goal will make me a better umpire and a better person. If I make it, but don't go as a crew chief, then I am still among the top youth umpires in the nation. Shoot for the moon!
7. This is the most important, write down your goals.
Writing down your goals creates the roadmap to your success. Although just the act of writing them down can set the process in motion, it is also extremely important to review your goals frequently. Remember, the more focused you are on your goals the more likely you are to accomplish them.
Sometimes we realize we have to revise a goal as circumstances and other goals change, much like I did with my umpiring. If you need to change a goal do not consider it a failure, consider it a victory as you had the insight to realize something was different.

So your goals are written down.
Now what?
First of all, unless someone is critical to helping you achieve your goal(s), do not freely share your goals with others. The negative attitude from friends, family and neighbors can drag you down quickly. It's very important that your self-talk (the thoughts in your head) are positive.
Reviewing your goals daily is a crucial part of your success and must become part of your routine. Each morning when you wake up read your list of goals that are written in the positive. Visualize the completed goal, see the new home, smell the leather seats in your new car, feel the cold hard cash in your hands. Then each night, right before you go to bed, repeat the process. This process will start both your subconscious and conscious mind on working towards the goal. This will also begin to replace any of the negative self-talk you may have and replace it with positive self-talk.
Every time you make a decision during the day, ask yourself this question, "Does it take me closer to, or further from my goal." If the answer is "closer to," then you've made the right decision. If the answer is "further from," well, you know what to do.
If you follow this process everyday you will be on your way to achieving unlimited success in every aspect of your life.

The difference between a goal and a dream is the written word.

HUMOR AT WORK

Humor is essential at workplace, but not many are lucky to have it. In this article we are trying to suggest some pointers that can help an employee add that much-needed witty dynamism at work.
Surfing the internet will tell the employee that this trend of working just for the sake of money with disgust in heart when it comes to the work environment is one of the leading causes of attrition. But what is the solution for this? Today, even the Human Resources Department of almost all organizations takes note of the humor factor within the workplace. It’s not that in every office an employee will be allowed to play pranks on co-workers. But the fact is that humor is an important ingredient of success at the workplace. This cannot be negated. In an organization employees try do everything with a touch of humor. For example, even when CEO sends out a message, he usually uses a funny anecdote to convey it. This brings the much-needed smile on employees faces.. Almost every organization has employee initiatives that guarantee some humor in an otherwise formal work environment. In some firms they have yearly talent hunt contests, cricket and football matches and an annual party that ensures humor levels don’t slide down and making the work environment ‘wanted’.
Is there a way to usher some fun and happiness around at the workplace? Well, there is no definitive answer to this as it depends on who the employee is as a person. Humor that works in the workplace has a lot to do with attitude. Employees should be able to see humor in everyday situations. It means taking everything and everyone not quite so seriously all the time. It means having the confidence to laugh at self.
A humorous employee will always find a quiet corner in office where he can laugh about the pompousness and idiosyncrasies of superiors, and for his colleagues that is real breather. But someone like BT, who works with an investment consultant, says his music is his savior at work. It helps to stay alert and concentrate. Because his job demands a high level of concentration, all other distractions are a strict ‘no’. He further confesses that he has actually managed to smuggle at least a dozen CDs into his workplace which his micromanaging boss is yet to find out.
For others who are not music buffs like B suggests subscription to a comic strip, online games, constructive Internet surfing (some really interesting stuff) and blogging, desk Yoga, reading e-books and e-paper among others.
A humorless office is like a dark room with no window. It is true that humor is essential in every aspect of life it is a must at the workplace. It is widely believed that people with a sense of humor at their jobs, compared to those who have little or no sense of humor. Studies have shown that happy workers are more productive. Humor could help employees release tension and relax for a while. What’s more? Employees who enjoy interacting with their co-workers aren’t as likely to be distracted or absent from work. All said done while office humor is recommended but the employees must not for get of achieving their tasks as per specified schedules.
The funny Side

• Suggests that your department have a bulletin board, where employees can share funny cartoon, photographs, anecdotes, amusing advertisements, and bumper stickers. And don’t let the enthusiasm take a nosedive after the first few months.
• Use humor to break the ice when you’re presiding a meeting or to make your point during a discussion Remember, a good sense of humor and skilled communication always go hand in hand.
• Give your co-workers funny cards and gag gifts for special occasions.
• Send “Humor grams’, when you want to express appreciation. Instead of a verbal compliment, send a humorous card to the concerned person, or create a “humor gram” by writing a note and attaching a relevant cartoon.

Learning To Train

Over the last decade, training has acquired a significant position in the world of competitive business. Also in the field of social development across the developed and developing countries a great amount of importance is now being given to training. As considerable emphasis is placed on human relations the scope of training is no longer restricted to developing knowledge and competencies. In fact it has now become a crucial element in providing a sound basis for modern day management. Having recognized the role of training in enhancing productivity and improving organizational functioning, many organizations, business houses, and industries have established their own in-house training departments. The business is no longer based on local environment but it is today a total global scenario. At the macro level training has become the overall national strategy for human resource development. This has enabled the growth scenario which has contributed to the economic and social progress. A lot of developing countries are enhancing their presence in the field of training to ensure the availability of young energetic and skillful workforce.

The present scenario is an urgent need for well qualified and trained trainers in the business sector. As the demand for skilled labor is on the rise so is the demand for well qualified trainers increasing. Under the given circumstances it has been found that a lot of people are deployed from their busy schedules to provide training and facilitate learning to the new trainees. Increased recognition for trainings has led to the emergence of a large number of training agencies across the spectrum. Entrepreneurs have emerged as consultants to provide and facilitate learning processes. There is today a great opportunity for all to jump the bandwagon and grow with this large consortium of training facilitators.

Training and education are both growth oriented and directed at the individual. The aim is to develop in an individual the ability and skill to face complexities of life along with the challenges. As life becomes more complicated and knotty one looks at all possible avenues to scale the ladder of growth and success. There is no dearth of definitions of trainings some of which have already been discussed in the seminar. “The aim of training is to develop potential knowledge and skills of the trainees to carry out defined tasks and responsibilities. As trainers, we are responsible for the learners learning more than imparting knowledge and ensuring that what has been learned is value addition in the job scenario. It is like a direct ration on the return on investment (ROI).

In the fast paced and highly competitive world of today, learning - knowledge, skill, attitude & experience – has acquired a new meaning and value. Learning is common to all human beings, regardless of where they live and what they pursue. Learning is a natural phenomena and we all have a desire and urge which drives us into the motions of learning processes which may be expressed or unexpressed. Learning starts soon after birth and continues unabated till death. The course that learning takes will defer from one to another as each is dependant on various factors like needs, opportunities, ability, circumstances etc. Learning therefore is a continuous process and one should never shy away from accepting a challenge towards this growth. Learning happens through structured and unstructured activities. In educational institutions, the setting is relatively formal and the activities more structured. On the other hand, the socialization process that occurs in a family setting can be viewed as along continuous process though the environment is informal and the activities are not necessarily structured. A considerable amount of learning also takes place through peer groups and other social relationships that an individual establishes and nurtures.
"The first step in life is the most important one, so take it now."

Stretched To Success

Stretch assignments are the answer to effective succession planning

Key learnings:

• Stretch assignments allow employees with leadership potential to ease into leadership roles by exposing them to an array of roles and responsibilities
  
• Organisations too get to test the potential of their leadership candidates
  Stretch assignment is an effective succession planning indulgence. Yet, this initiative has not got the status it deserves.

Stretch assignments are about getting employees with leadership or learning potential to expand their competencies and skills to newer, wider levels. By definition, "a Stretch assignment is one that requires a worker to take a leap beyond his comfort zone and, in the process, pick up new skills". So, with so much good to offer, why is it that most organisations are still unenthused about 'stretching' their talent? This week's mailer looks to build a strong business case for stretch assignments in the hope that revisiting its benefits will revive this initiative.

Unpopular?
A common opinion is that stretch assignments look good only on paper. Agreed such assignments are tedious to plan and execute. However, as a learning professional says, "Such assignments are more complicated organisationally than merely clicking a box in an LMS- but leadership development is a process". This rationale definitely justifies indulging in stretch assignments. After all, making leaders out of ordinary employees is not a day's job.
However, there is a valid concern that since stretch assignments are planned over months and sometimes even years, an employee might attrite mid-way leaving their succession planning in a limbo. Experts opine that this is a risk worth taking. They also believe that well-executed stretch assignments make employees feel valued and needed, giving them little reason to leave. A string of benefits Introspection: Leadership candidates in any case enjoy special treatment in terms of additional training, constant coaching or mentoring and regular feedback. As effective as these upskilling initiatives are, none of them truly assists an individual in believing in himself as a leader. However, sharing certain leadership responsibilities and challenging one's existing competencies and skills levels give an individual a true picture of his leadership potential. That aside, the minute leadership candidates become part of stretch assignments, they know they are in the 'leadership' limelight. This in itself can be quite a reassuring feeling.

Realistic feedback:

The feedback that is shared during stretch assignments is based on things actually said and done. This makes the feedback realistic. Additionally, an individual can relate to such feedback easily. Although training programmes do a good job in giving feedback based on role-plays and simulations, nothing can substitute feedback given on dabbling in real assignments.

Self-assessment:

Although individuals with leadership potential are the ones who qualify for stretch assignments, the extent to which they can take on leadership roles and the situations in which they can lead will surface during stretch assignments. Organisations know of leaders who have changed their career lines after stretch assignments.

Cost-effective:

When well-designed and executed stretch assignments provide a financial advantage, organisations get to use individuals in leadership roles without the associated costs of training and compensation. So while individuals benefit from their exposure to different developmental projects, the organisation benefits from their contribution. An organisation also gets to try out different individuals in different roles internally and this can lead to lesser recruiting expenditure as well.
While these benefits should help gather a momentum in favour of stretch assignments, their low popularity is a concern. This is especially so as most organisations are struggling to kick-start effective succession planning initiatives. Some genuine concerns for not being overly enthused about stretch assignments include:
The easy way out Organisations find it easier to push leadership candidates into training or mentoring programmes than to design separate stretch assignments for each one of them. Also, to run effective stretch assignments, organisations must have certain models and templates in place. This too is a deterrent in some cases. The good news is that these templates and models are easy to design and deploy. Moreover, once they are in place, subsequent stretch assignments can practically run on automation!

Creating buy-in:

Lack of senior leadership support is why most stretch assignments fail to see the light of the day. In most cases, it is the length of the initiative that scares the management from subscribing to it. However, once senior leaders see the value and implications of stretch assignments, their support will be more than willing. Sharing stretch assignment success stories and highlighting its benefits and talking about its cost-effectiveness can help create buy-in.

These concerns are definitely not unfounded, but the good news is, that neither are they overwhelming! Stretch assignments are a wonderful way of giving potential leaders a feel of what their roles and responsibilities would be; it also gives an organisation an opportunity to see whether they have chosen their potential leaders well. With so much in the offing, it is time organisations take that much - needed stretch!