Experimental Leadership

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D. with Diane Olson, Ph.D.

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

In his book, Servant Leadership (1977) Robert Greenleaf wrote of England's George Fox, seventeenth century founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Early in his ministry Fox, an earnest seeker of truth, wrote in his journal:

"I had forsaken all priests. . . and those called the most experienced people; for I saw that there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me. . . I heard a voice which said, 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.'. . . And this I knew experimentally."

Greenleaf credited Fox's forty years of extraordinary leadership to the gift of knowing experimentally which led to ethical practice in all areas of his life. Fox's contributions included: a new commercial ethic, equal status of women, education for all, and opposition to slavery 100 years before the American Civil War.

Experimental leadership was largely absent during the industrial era which required conformity by obedient bureaucrats and technicians. For approximately 300 years, many people gave away their right to think for themselves in exchange for the illusion of security. Alienated from their inner lives (the source of experimental insight) many people treated others as objects.

For example, a senior manufacturing executive said to me, "I don't like people problems. I'm a machine kind of guy." The pain in the hearts of those who work for this manager reflects that belief. Like many other people in positions of power, this man doesn't understand he is connected to those around him, and what he does to them, he does to himself.

I hope he becomes aware of the enormity of his impact on others. I hope he comes to understand that no one has the right to harm another human spirit. I hope he comes to understand that true leaders never, ever turn on their followers. His good intentions for his company are not enough; he needs to be aware of the impact he has on others for those impacts are harmful to many people on and off the job and to his organization. I hope the employee who said, "I just want a decent leader to follow" will have his wish come true. The times we live in require more of leadership than this executive is providing.

We live in a world undergoing a transforming creative process, and the times are frightening. Fear of the unknown is a normal state. The threats to life as we've known it are real. The challenges are great. Within organizations, fear is rampant. People fear uncertainty, loss of their job, loss of status, loss of control. Men and women question whether they are competent to do what a changing world requires. Employees mistrust the competence of coworkers and managers. People doubt themselves.

Women and men fear additional work, and the impact of so much change on their families and health. People fear the loss of themselves to inauthenticity. Despite profound anxiety, most fear leaving organizations to pursue their dreams. Perhaps the greatest fear is of life itself. I believe the aspect of leadership needed most today is the courageous person who lives by ethical values and thinks independently; one who leads experimentally.

Experimental leaders do not identify with rigid schools of thought or specific groups whose boundaries they will have to defend and whose rules they will have to follow. They do not blindly follow the scientific method and are not new age thinkers. They will not conform to the academic worldview or the organizational development paradigm.

Experimental leaders are artists. Their meaning, direction, and inspiration come from their powerful vision, deep ethical foundation, and profound sense of purpose. They identify with life itself and understand life's natural creative process. These leaders form a symbiotic relationship with others evolving together to a higher consciousness and wisdom. They know experimentally what to do and have the courage to follow that course daily-regardless of what others do, say, or think.

Greenleaf asked, "Who is the enemy? Who holds back faster movement to a better world? Who is responsible for the mediocre performance of so many of our institutions?" It's not the evil, stupid, ignorant, or apathetic people nor the executive who doesn't like people problems.

If the world is transformed there will still be evil, stupid, ignorant, and apathetic people. The enemy is indifference. The enemy is those with power and responsibility who lack the courage and conviction to hold others accountable for their behavior. The enemy is the indifference of each of us when we fear to live authentically. We are not victims of poor leadership; we are its co-creators. We will not have a better world or better organizations without authentic and courageous leadership and followership.

We need to mentor and nurture the capability of knowing experimentally in today's leaders. More than technical knowledge, we need strong ethical leaders who will raise moral standards in a time when much of leadership is, Greenleaf wrote, "in the hands of the gross, the self-seeking, and the corrupt." We need courageous leaders at all levels who trust themselves and are not afraid to make a decision.

Leaders who tell the truth and stand up to injustice, mediocrity, and selfishness. Leaders who cast aside political correctness for truth and integrity, who judge behavior, and hold others accountable to live by the shared values that are indispensable in a community. In a living system, all are responsible and can influence life's dynamics. Each of us can choose to live experimentally and to lead.

Employee Retention Tip Poor Okay Good

by Charlie O. Trevor, Barry Gerhart, Ph.D. & John W. Boudreau, P

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

The voluntary departure of a high-performing employee, in whom the company has invested considerable training and who would be difficult and expensive to replace, can cause serious problems.

Not only does the company lose a key player in the company's current success, the talent pool from which future company leaders will emerge has been reduced. According to a study, one key to keeping high-performing employees is quite simple: pay them what they are worth.

Cornell University researchers Charlie O. Trevor, a doctoral candidate, Barry Gerhart, Ph.D, (now at Vanderbilt University) and John Boudreau, Ph.D., examined the employment records of more than 5,000 employees of a single company in the petroleum industry who had been hired between 1983 and 1988 and who were either still employed or had voluntarily resigned as of January 1, 1990.

They were interested in the relationships and interactions among employee performance ratings, salary growth, promotions and tenure, specifically which of those factors make it easier or more desirable for employees to stay with the company or leave it.

Promotions, they found, increased turnover likelihood for low performers, presumably by providing them with much-needed visibility and legitimacy in the external job market. However, promotions had no effect on the turnover of high performers.

Because top performers already enjoy high marketability, this suggests, the researchers say, that promotions alone do little to reduce high performers' desire to take advantage of other offers.

High salary growth, on the other hand, while helping to retain all performers, most helped the company hold onto high performers. Because these top performers can more easily find alternative employment, their turnover is more highly dependent on satisfaction with their employment situation, which depends in part on salary growth.

Thus, the authors note, traditional merit pay systems, which are frequently criticized as insufficiently motivating top performers, may also be problematic by contributing to high performer turnover.

The bottom line, the researchers say, is clear: "Tomorrow's stars and perhaps even franchise players may be among today's few top performers; their retention, at least in part, appears to depend on paying them according to their performance."

Dual Career Couples - Facing the "Stress of Success" - How Families Cope Part II

by Beverly Baskin, Ed.S, MA, LPC, MCC, NCCC

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

Counselors can Help with Role Overload

As counselors, we can help the couple eliminate or emphasize the less critical roles and help the couple stop attempting too many things. The couple then redefines themselves in a more realistic manner. Dual career couples are usually using time management skills, but we can help them alter less successful time management tasks.

Introducing mind-body stress reduction also proves very helpful to many couples. This includes: exercise, sensible eating, and ensuring that internal energy is not depleted because of the great amount of externalizing in their dual roles. A counselor can suggest co-joint career counseling to observe how work and home can best be balanced based on individual needs and developmental needs of the couple.

Couples can define their own sense of equity within their relationship. The distribution of roles does not necessarily have to be equal. It can be different depending on peaks and valleys of the couples work schedules.

The couple's relationship can be compared to an ever-growing, flexible landscape, which has to be watered and taken care of and re-evaluated for growth and stagnation each season. Each person in the relationship has their own personal feeling of comfort that should be respected and/or negotiated with respect to the roles that they perform.

New Support Systems

If a problem cannot be negotiated within a family, the family often relies on its support system for help. Some friends and family who are not in the same position may seem hurt that the couple has no time for socializing. The couple can occasionally be encouraged to socialize individually with family and friends, freeing each spouse from some social obligations.

The couple can also share work-related friends and activities to develop a truly supportive social network. Very often families with small children can concentrate on two well-established friendships that involve whole families socializing with each other including children and even pets!

"I Need a Wife" Syndrome

Lack of support can also occur within the dual career couple's own relationship. This occurs because the dual career couple is very often highly cognitive and achievement oriented, very futuristic--not known for their "in the moment" thinking. Both spouses may feel a sense of insufficient caretaking. "There is often a lack of an unofficial second person to provide the back up nurturing, empathetic listening and emotional support." Hence, the "I Need a Wife" Syndrome that is expressed by both the man and the woman.

Work is an easy escape route from conflicts in relationship. Both parties receive recognition from their second "work family." Couples can use the lack of time together as a defense against intimacy. Counselors can teach couples emotional expressiveness by getting into their feelings in counseling sessions. The counselor can support the concept that the existence of marital or family problems should not be viewed as a failure behavior, but that we are only human. Short-term psycho-educational counseling will assist couples in planning emotional time together.

The Carters (1995) write about relearning courting skills, date nights, long weekends and "playtime." If lack of intimacy is based on avoidance of conflict, however, underlying issues need to be brought to the surface and resolved through more traditional therapy.

Competitive Feelings

Sometimes spouses may "keep score" as to promotions, whose career takes precedence, and even who makes more money. The counselor can reassure the couple that it is natural to have "spousal rivalry" and reassure them that couples do have competitive feelings, which often stem from childhood sibling rivalry. The couple can develop rituals or celebrations that mutually acknowledge the relationship's existence and importance. These celebrations also recognize the behind the scenes support of the other partner, so it is both of their successes.

Occupational Mobility

Most experts agree that there is no easy solution when it relates to occupational moves. Wives seem to be less willing to relocate because of family considerations, but I have personally seen that the opposite is also true. Forty percent of trailing spouses are men.

Many career service organizations perform spouse relocation services. Organizations find companies and recruiters for trailing spouses and help the whole family adjust to new careers, schools for children, and family life in a new geographic location. BBCS performs those services in New Jersey.

Other couples choose commuter marriages, where both partners work in different cities and see each other on the weekends. I have personally seen three of these marriages end in divorce and the authors suggest that people speak to many couples in commuter marriages before they make the final decision as to whether to choose that option.

How Corporations are Responding to Work and Family Issues

Large corporations are very cognizant of the fact that a large number of their professional work force will be women in the year 2000, so they have made significant adjustments. Some of those adjustments include: Dress down Fridays, telecommuting (working from home with fax and modem) job sharing, flextime hours, and parenting support groups.

A significant number of workplaces have child care facilities on site or within their industrial park. The largest "family-friendly" employers in New Jersey are Motorola, Eddie Bauer, Merrill Lynch, Du Pont, Cigna, and Lucent Technologies. Employee Relations Departments are "feminizing the workplace." Concessions are made mainly for working moms. Men subtly are told to adhere to their traditional role expectations in the workplace...that is...career comes first. I hope that the Men's Movement will bring these issues to the forefront.

Themes are Emerging

The themes that are emerging in dual-career marriages are that men experience a certain amount of career freedom because of the wife's substantial income. Men said they were able to take more risks regarding their own career. Men and Women supported each other's work priorities in peak workloads.

Couples re-evaluated the equity relationship periodically and made appropriate changes. Both partners felt that the marriage was exciting and fresh because of increased individual independence, and couple companionship and partnership. Women noted that the marriage had an empowering quality. Each person could literally survive without the other, financially. Husband and wife were in the marriage because they both wanted to be there. Each spouse was considered on equal footing with the other.

Dual Career Couples - Facing the "Stress of Success" - How Families Cope Part I

by Beverly Baskin, Ed.S, MA, LPC, MCC, NCCC

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

The past several decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the way we view American Families. These changes are in terms of the way we view relationships and in the way we integrate career and family issues to obtain a satisfying and economically prosperous life.

In 1950, the typical family structure consisted of a full-time working father, who was the sole wage earner, and a stay-at-home mom. Today, less than 3% of the population fit that stereotype. Donald Super was truly ahead of his time when he wrote that people face a multitude of decisions in their roles as parents, workers, learners, and leisure participants. This construct has never been more critical than in the work force 2000, and it is truly related to life planning issues for both men and women.

Statistics

By the year 2000, 80% of the work force will be comprised of dual-earner couples. Twelve percent + of working adults are single mothers and fathers or displaced mothers. By the year 2000, women will represent 60% of the work force --a majority.

When it comes to relocating because of a promotion or a job change, couples will very often be faced with a dual career dilemma - his move or hers? (Stoltz-Loike, 1992). Actually, the term "dual-career couple" is an offshoot of the phrase "dual earner couple." In the dual career family or couple, wives are more career oriented rather than simply holding jobs, as in many cases of dual earner couples. Currently women and men ages 25 through 29 are equally likely to have four plus years of college, which I find very exciting.

In dual career couples, there is a higher commitment, higher level of training, and accumulated experience in their careers. Money is rarely the only motivation. Both husband and wife seek steady advancement and psychological, as well as financial satisfaction.

In her book, Marion Stoltz-Loike (1992) asks the question "Who is the dual career couple? Are they a pair of young professionals with much money to spend and little desire to be restricted by responsibility or are they a pair of haggard, overworked partners who have no time for themselves or one another?"

In younger dual career couples, there are several other factors that have been noted as these couples increasingly seek assistance from counselors in negotiating the particular stressors that arise from the dual-career lifestyle: Both spouses are typically more self reliant and self sufficient. They often have one child, but rarely more than two. Usually they do not have their children until the wives are established in their careers.

These couples are higher educated and have higher incomes than dual earners. Dual career women are more likely than women in traditional marriages to have had mothers who were employed when they were children. I find the last fact very interesting, because we are actually the professional role models for our daughters. Years ago, if someone's mom was a working mom, her daughter wanted to be a housewife because she felt she missed her mom being at home. Now women's roles are emerging differently with new commitment and interest in career as well as commitment to families.

According to Jim and Jane Carter, in their book, He Works, She Works (1995), the number one conflict faced by women in dual career families is role conflict. Actually, women are used to multiple roles. Taking on multiple responsibilities in connection with others traditionally gave us our power and our feeling of self worth. However women are so often in a situation of giving precedence to one role, either wife or mother or their career that causing great stress. It is referred to as role conflict, which results in role overload.

In contrast, married men may be given more leniency by society in their gender socialization to identify with work and family roles without trading one off against the other. The Carters feel that the number one conflict among male clients in dual career marriages is the lack of nurturing that they receive from their wife or significant other because their partner is not fulfilling the "feminine" part of their marriage or couples contract. There are expectations of intimacy that were supposed to continue after work and children.

I agree with the importance of these female and male conflicts and frequently experience it with my couple clients in their counseling sessions, and in my own life as a wife, mother, and career professional. The same conflicts were also validated in my presentation when I asked what counselors felt were the major issues in dual career families for both men and women. Both sexes responded with similar answers.

Here is the crux of the situation. Dual career couples have been proven to be the among the most successful marriages, yet also have the highest rate of divorce in the United States (Carter, J.& J.,1995). We, as counselors, can help reframe and restructure specific stressors facing Dual Career Couples.

Stressors encompass the following areas: Society's expectations and socialization of gender and changing sex roles; clarifying values of each couple; finding new support systems congruent with dual career family lifestyles; re-establishing the couples dependency needs and needs for nurturing within the marriage, aside from the external gratification they are both receiving from their work; working with conflicts related to power and competition, and helping the couple make educated decisions regarding occupational mobility.

Use of an Integrated Approach

Marion Stoltz-Loike (1992) writes that counselors can use a variety of theories when assisting with counseling interventions. An integrated counseling perspective incorporates approaches from career counseling, developmental psychology, couple and marriage counseling and, of course, gender psychology. Couples are counseled in individual sessions and co-joint sessions. It is very important for counselors to show the couple that societal stressors, rather than the actual marriage are where many problems lie.

Re-evaluate Gender Roles

Couples need to reevaluate their sex roles and integrate new notions of masculinity and femininity within the marriage. Career issues largely remain women's issues. Gender and feminist theory challenge those societal beliefs regarding gender socialization and how women have to choose one role over another. In counseling, couples learn to incorporate some positive opposite sex characteristics while accommodating losses of certain same sex role characteristics.

Counselors need to be coaches in helping couples to discover insights and a heightened sense of control to decrease the amount of personal guilt and blame. Counseling interventions prompt the couples to explore seeking outside help to make adjustments with work setting, child care assistance, cleaning help, parental leaves, alternative work schedules or relocation assistance.

Teamwork as a Spiritual Value

For many people in the workplace, work is not a "calling" but a means to an end. Here is one thoughtful woman's reflection on the challenge of making her job have value and meaning without becoming worn down by her work experience.

Once a month or so, I get together with a friend who is a retired pastor, to work on a personal study. (We just finished Primary Speech by Ann and Barry Ulanov.) At one point, she was doing some interim work for a church that was looking for a full-time pastor. My friend expressed her deep satisfaction at being able to do that which she loves and feels "called" to do. She asked me what it was like to be in a job where that is not the case. I am the office manager for a lumberyard, and I also manage "accounts payable".

For many people in the workplace, work is not a "calling" but a means to an end. There are many reasons why we stay where we are: lack of education to get something better, fear of risking change, inability to go back to school because of family commitments, laziness to go back to school and get a different degree, loyalty to the people one works for and with, the desire to be productive – but not the need to have money to live ( a second income in a two-income family). The reasons are probably as varied as the people who hold them. The bottom line, however is that we choose to stay in the job.

The challenge then becomes to make the experience of being within that particular job have value and meaning rather than allow oneself to be worn down by the experience.

For example: Is teamwork a spiritual value? Of course it is! Teamwork is a thing of beauty when it is done well. It has the capacity to bring satisfaction to our efforts and learning to our minds and hearts. And always there is the challenge of learning to get along with all different kinds of people. People who hold different values make life challenging and interesting. It is a challenge to learn to be open to others, and yet hold your own ground when it is essential to do so. It is a challenge to strive to do one’s best when others on the team simply want to get the task done –well or not. The conflicts and tensions that are produced are the stuff of real spirituality – can I accept and work with the person who consistently half completes a task and leaves others to clean up? This is the place to be very clear and very intentional about what I want to accomplish in my interactions with this person.

Remember – all actions have rewards and consequences, both personally, for the other person, and for the other team members. Do I think that God is concerned about this? I consistently come away with the feeling that God is right in the middle of it, concerned about how I can learn to create a condition where love (my definition: “The desire to do good to others”) is found.

Does that mean that I don’t do the tough "calling on the carpet" response? Absolutely not. Love here is no wishy-washy ideal but a careful calling to craft a response born out of spiritual maturity and responsibility to do the best for the whole as well as for the individual and oneself.

Any Job Is An Honorable Job

by Teresa Proudlove

Jobs Vacancy, Employment, Employment Jobs

Seeing your job as an honorable job, adds more meaning and peace to your life. Also, seeing the honor in what you do now, creates an ideal foundation upon which a career change can be built.

At fifteen, my first job was that of a waitress at a local truck stop. One day, back then, I happened to meet the elementary principal of my past. She mentioned she had heard I was working part time and wondered at what.

Shamefacedly I mumbled, "Oh, I am just a waitress." That wise, old, stern headmistress said to me, "Teresa, any job is an honorable job. Don't you ever forget it!" And I never have.

Of course, seeing the honor in our job is not always an easy task.

Societal Values Demean our Work & Worth

Our societal values make it difficult to honor so-called menial jobs. Our sick societal values esteem big bank accounts, fancy houses, new cars, extended paid vacations, prestigious jobs, beautiful, youthful looks, and perfectly cloned behaviors. These societal values wring the worth from the vast majority of hard-working folk.

Create your own values by looking for the honor and worth in your work now. Any honest day's work is honorable and worthy. Finding the honor and goodness in everything you do builds dignity and honor within you. Even if you wanted to career change but instead returned to the field you had hoped to leave, remember, there is huge honor and courage in this. Taking care of your family and responsibilities does not mean you are a failure. It means you are a responsible, caring human being.

If you cannot find any worth in your current job, that lack of worth will likely haunt your career change. Before jumping jobs, seeking fulfillment elsewhere, consider your current job as sacred work.

Your Job as Sacred Work

Monastic writers have described their day-to-day, menial work as the path to holiness. Your job is much more than a means to pay bills. Try envisioning your job as your ministry.

I have a very health conscious, spiritual friend who, at this moment in her life, sells lottery tickets, liquor and cigarettes in a liquor store to help pay her bills. Rather than bitterly resent her position, she has made it her ministry to create a positive atmosphere, giving kindness and care to every human being that passes through those doors. Not surprisingly, wonderful little miracles occur often. (And yes, she is also doing the groundwork to create new employment.)

Rarely are things what they seem to be on the surface. In every relationship, in every job, and in every life experience there is much more going on than meets the eye.

"The three foundations of spirituality: hearth as altar, work as worship and service as sacrament." -- A Compilation of Triads, Volume I, John F. Wright

We are always being called to see the bigger picture and to grow nearer to our soul. To find more meaning within the work you do now, query your soul as to the larger view.

Ask Your Soul

Try sitting quietly for awhile. Practice letting go of passing thoughts while lightly noticing your breath coming in and going out. Relax your body and mind. Ask your soul, "What is my work really about. What work am I really doing here?"

When I had grown weary of facilitating the same career assessment program for nine years, I sat and asked my soul this same question. Within the whisper of my small, still voice I heard the truth, "You are bringing light and hope to people."

The work I was doing was not about self assessment tools or job search but about bringing light and hope to people. From that day onward the program was no longer repetitive for me and as I gained more depth and meaning in my work, so did the program.

When we see our work as sacred and honorable, we feel good about what we are doing and who we are. This goodness spins off into our family, workplace and ultimately the world. This also, builds an ideal foundation for career change, if we so desire. From honoring ourselves and our current work we can then successfully begin taking small steps towards change.

The Leader’s Longing

By Richard Barrett

Jobs Vacancy, Employment, Employment Jobs

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your passion. I want to see your courage I want to experience your spirit I want to know that you care about creativity.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your caring. I want to see your love I want to experience your compassion I want to know that you are working for the common good.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your openness. I want to see your trust I want to experience your honesty I want to know that you will always speak the truth.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your commitment. I want to see your engagement I want to experience your hope I want to know that you will do what is necessary to get the job done.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your authenticity. I want to see your tears I want to experience your joy I want to know that you will never hide who you are.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to feel your yearning. I want to see your searching I want to experience your longing I want to know that you will never stop learning.

I don’t care who you are. Or, what you do. When I walk into your organization I want to experience you.