1. As a job candidate, would you prefer your CV be reviewed by a machine or a human? Why?

2. As a job candidate, would you prefer to be interviewed by a robot or a human? Why?

I received a total of 20 responses.

And here are the results:

About half (50%) of the respondents preferred HUMANS for both questions.

 

About 25% preferred Machines to review their CVs but Humans to interview them.

 

5% preferred Machines for both.

 

The rest (20%) seemed non-committal (or their answers were not quite intelligible).

From the results of this straw poll, it seems most people still prefer to deal with Humans and not Robots.

I was actually hoping for more HR Professionals to respond and give their views, however only 3 out of the 20 who responded were from HR / Recruitment.

And the reason why I was hoping for more responses from the HR community is to understand what they themselves would prefer as candidates – by virtue of the fact that they are employees means they would be candidates too.

So I wanted to get a feel of what their own preferences were as candidates when they are looking for a job – would they want their own CVs to be reviewed and filtered by Robots or would they prefer Humans to review their CVs.

But what is clear from this Straw Poll is that most of us still want to deal and interact with real people.
And this is not at all surprising to me because we humans are basically social creatures.

We were built this way.

We need and sometimes crave social interactions – simply because we as homo-sapiens require that basic emotional connection with the parties we come into contact with.

Some of the respondents commented that they preferred Robots to review their CVs so as to eliminate bias.

But here’s my question:

How can you be sure Robots are not biased?

Robots run on algorithms.
Algorithms are programmed by people.
And you can be sure those programmers / algorithm developers have their own unconscious biases too.

And here’s the danger:

Most of us using these systems (aka Applicant Tracking Systems or ATS) do not question the validity of these algorithms. We take them as Gospel truths. We assume the algorithms and the filters these Robots apply in sieving out the CVs are not flawed and that they are correct.

So how sure are you the Robots are not biased?

(just think about the frequency and the number of patches and updates are required just for your PC to stay updated. If these systems are flawless, then they don’t need to be patched and/or updated at all)

Now don’t get me wrong.
I’m not against technology.
I’m all for it.

What I’m trying to point out here is that we need to be more discerning and more circumspect when we decide to rely wholly on technology to perform tasks where the algorithms have not yet been perfected – such as reviewing CVs and conducting job interviews.

Because if the algorithm is not perfect, and we automate it, all it means is that we commit to making the mistakes faster!

What do you think?
What’s your take on this?

About the Author

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is an Author, Facilitator, Consultant and a Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

Some say you should include your photo in your Resume; but some say don’t.
Some say you should include your Race / Religion; but some say never.
Some say to include your age and date-of-birth; but some never ever do that.

Yes, it can get quite confusing reading all of the different advice from different people all over the world. All you need to do is Google on what you should include in your Resume and you get an endless list of references and advice from so-called consultants and Resume gurus.

So what should you really do?
Should you include your age, gender, race and/or photo?

Here’s the answer: It Depends.

It depends on where you are located.
It depends on the prevailing economic conditions in which you are sending out your Resume.
It depends on which organisation you’re applying to.

Inlcuding a photo of yourself in your Resume is not encouraged in the western countries such as the US or some parts of Europe – as they say that a photo encourages bias.

Age, race and religion are no-nos in most western countries and Europe.

However most of these practices are not frowned upon here in many parts of Asia.
Here in Asia, Resume are sent out complete with photos, age, race and religion. (Some of you readers from the western countries would probably cringe in horror reading this).

It also depends on the circumstances you find yourself in sending out your Resume.
How so, you may ask? Let me explain.

Although it is said that you should not include your age in your Resume, the current economic circumstances may just require you to do so. If you are a worker who has just been retrenched, and you are already in your forties, it would make sense to include your age when submitting your Resumes to prospective employers.

And here’s the reason why:

You’d rather state your age up-front and get rejected by age-sensitive / age-biased employers at the Resume stage, rather than having to go through an interview with them and then get rejected because of your age. You would have wasted all your effort and the trip down to the prospective employer’s office. And worst still, you get your hopes up and then you get cold water thrown in your face – all just because they don’t want to hire a more mature worker like you.

I would rather you include your age – and all related details – down on your Resume, and present all of these details to the prospective employer upfront. So if the prospective employer is not ready to hire a more mature worker, you save yourself a wasted trip.

Whether you like it or not, and whether you admit it or not, ageism still exists. Excluding your age in your Resume does not mean you’re immune to ageism. The same goes for race and religion.

So do you need to include your photo, age, race and religion in your Resume when you’re applying for a new job?

It depends.

Ask employees what they want improved.
Ask what excites them.
Ask how you can help them do better.

These are all great ways to motivate employees, help improve employee retention and get employees happy about working in your organisation.

These are also great questions if you want to come across as a caring boss and enlightened manager.

I’ve been seeing articles after articles advising managers to conduct “Stay Interviews” and change the way they do employee performance appraisals by asking questions.

These are not bad approaches I must say. It is always good to approach employee performance appraisals by asking more questions and listening to what the employees themselves have to say.

Stay Interviews are also a great approach to employee retention and motivation.

In fact, in our organisations today, managers don’t ask their staff enough questions. Questions when asked in the right way and at the right time could bring about tremendous benefits to both the staff and the manager. The right questions can also spark creativity and innovation, and also help the manager keep their feel on the pulse of the organisation at large.

In our organisations today, managers don’t ask their staff enough questions

But here’s one huge downside to asking questions that most people don’t realise.

If you’re not ready to take action on the feedback, comments and suggestions you receive from your staff and employees, and you are just asking questions for the sake of asking questions, then don’t even start!

If you’re just asking questions because the consultants and coaches say so, then don’t be surprised if the entire approach backfires on you.

The fastest way to breed cynicism and demotivate your employees is to ask them for their opinions, comments and feedback just to brush them aside and do nothing.

The fastest way to destroy credibility and trust is to ask your employees for their inputs and then sit on them and/or ignore them.

The fastest way to breed cynicism and demotivate your employees is to ask them for their opinions, comments and feedback just to brush them aside and do nothing.

The fastest way to destroy credibility and trust is to ask your employees for their inputs and then sit on them.

So if you decide to take the new approach of asking your employees more questions, then be prepared to take action to address their concerns and implement their suggestions.

Otherwise if you’re not even sincere about taking action, then don’t even start.

About Steven Lock

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Facilitator, Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

So who should be leading a organisational culture change?

https://hbr.org/2016/11/hr-cant-change-company-culture-by-itself

The author of this Harvard Business Review article says it should be the busniess leaders’ responsibility. HR should be a “resource” for helping them achieve it.

Do you agree?

If you’ve been reading the news, you would know that 2017 will be an interesting year.

Some major industries, such as the Oil & Gas and Marine industries, are facing stronger than usual headwinds going into the new year. And throw in a mix of political uncertainties around the world and you have a potent mix of challenges ahead of us.

Many of us are just hunkering down to ride out this turbulent period and keeping our fingers crossed.

In any case, whether you are an employee, employer or a business owner, the challenges and uncertainties are real.

The road to success and better times has never been a bed of roses. However what really matters is how you take on the challenges; how you overcome the obstacles in front of you.

Never give up.

Know someone who is in need of an encouragement?
Send this to them.

Corporate careers can be all-encompassing and no matter how high you have climbed  the ladder, this line of work can be a constant struggle.  You work hard at your corporate job but the achievements that energised you to push for greater success no longer seem as rewarding.

After being trapped in the rat race of acquiring fame and fortune for the first half your life, you started to feel a sense of emptiness within you, and wonder what you should be doing next.  If you find yourself thinking “Is that all to life?”, be rest assured that you are not alone in feeling this way.

If you find yourself thinking “Is that all to life?”, be rest assured that you are not alone in feeling this way.

If money and achievement is the only yardstick with which you measure your life, you will always end up disappointed because the quest for more will be never-ending. But if you put meaning and purpose into the work you do, you will reclaim your life and find the joy you truly deserve.

The earlier you can make the transition to what Bob Buford, the author of Half Time, defined as the “second half” of life, the better off we will be.  The second half can be a time of revitalisation where life can be even more rewarding than the first half. But it is really not a matter of age but a matter of mindset and priority.  It is when you decide to move on, put the focus on family and relationships, and start living life according to your own agenda rather than other people’s agenda.

It is when you decide to move on, put the focus on family and relationships, and start living life according to your own agenda rather than other people’s agenda.

The second half of life is a new and distinct life stage that requires careful planning and preparation. Before you ditch your corporate life on impulse, here are 3 ways to help you get ready for the exciting journey ahead:

Ask the hard questions

This is a time of reflection and you need to have a clear idea  where you want the second half of your life to go.  To help his readers plan for the journey ahead, Buford gives a few questions in his book for readers to think about:

• What is my area of expertise?
• What type of activities do I want to get involved in?
• What are the most important things to me?
• What memories do I want to leave behind for people to remember me by after I die?
• What characteristics does my ideal life have?

In answering these questions, you need to be as honest with yourself as possible. The manner you live the second half of your life is a matter of choice but clarity is important at this critical juncture, as it will be easy for you to lose your rudder on the journey.

The manner you live the second half of your life is a matter of choice but clarity is important at this critical juncture…

Learn from others

We all know that the fastest way to succeed is to learn from the experience of others, especially those who have walked the journey before us. As far as possible, you should avoid learning things yourself the hard way.

One easy way to learn from other people’s experience is to read. Reading allows you to learn from many people that you otherwise have limited access to.  Through books written on relevant topics, you have virtually unlimited access to their experiences.

Another way is to actively seek out others who have said goodbye to their corporate life in pursuit of a more meaningful passion. Find out from them what works and what doesn’t. Seek their advice on how they managed to start from ground zero to living the second half of their lives.  Ask questions on how they planned for their transition, what are the pitfalls to avoid, how to manage risks, etc.

…actively seek out others who have said goodbye to their corporate life in pursuit of a more meaningful passion

Build a support network

No man is an island.  One of the best ways to feel more in control of your life is to develop a strong network of friends and associates you can count on for support. Research has shown that having a strong personal support network can help us cope with many sources of stress.

We need others to help us move out of our comfort zone, possibly through a difficult transition too.  The stress that you will face when you exit from the corporate system that you have been so familiar with to enter a brand new world cannot be underestimated.

Do not be surprised if the networks you used to have while you were in the corporate world vaporised after you have made the transition.  Hence it is important that you work on expanding your network by reaching out to others and developing new friendships. Attending networking events before making the transition will be a good way to meet many people on one occasion.

If we were to live our best second half of life, to embrace these years and flourish, we need to change our mindset, rebalance our priorities, and take action to get ready for the journey ahead.  The second half of life presents us with the opportunity to develop wisdom and character. It is also a time for us to impact lives and contribute back to our community in meaningful ways to make our world a better place. The choice is always ours.

The second half of life presents us with the opportunity to develop wisdom and character. It is also a time for us to impact lives and contribute back to our community in meaningful ways to make our world a better place. The choice is always ours.

About the Contributor

Kok Hwa left his corporate job a baker’s dozen years ago and is now living the second-half of his life as a Publisher, Coach and Learning Facilitator. He has coached hundreds of authors to publish and market their books through his work at Candid Creation Publishing.

He enjoys nurturing and extracting the potential book out of every aspiring author and helping them become game changers in their niche.

Join him and other authors/speakers at his upcoming community event “Changing Passions, Changing Lives” where they will share with you their personal journeys moving corporate life to a life of significance.

Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/cpcl2016

Is Leadership so elusive that we need so many books, articles and workshops just to teach us how to be a good leader?

The truth is, great leadership boils down to just a few very fundamental truths. Practice these fundamental truths and you will not go wrong as a leader. Practice these fundamental truths and you will be seen and regarded as a good leader.

So what are these fundamental truths?

1. Appreciate

Show genuine appreciation for the work that your people do. Appreciation has to be genuine; otherwise you will come across as fake and condescending. One of the fastest ways to damage the working relationship with your people is to fake appreciation. Most of your people will be able to smell a rat from a mile away if you try to be patronizing towards them.

2. Encourage and Motivate

Your appreciation for their work needs to extend into encouragement and motivation. Encourage your people to do even better work. Encourage them to do more with less. Challenge them to achieve higher goals.

So how do you do it?
First ensure that you say something nice about the work that person has done. Now, this has to be 100% genuine. As mentioned above in point #1, your people will be able to smell a rat from a mile away if you are being patronizing.

Next, tell the person you would like to see him/her continue doing even better on the assignment. Set stretch goals. The stretch goals are meant to stretch that person – not break that person.

3. Listen more than you talk

Most leaders like to talk. And that’s a fact. Look around and you will notice leaders always like to talk. They want to get their points across; they want to impose their ideas on you; they want to get buy-in for their strategies and plans; they want to bulldoze their way; they just love talking.

However employees are happiest when they feel free to contribute their ideas and to take initiative. If your people hesitate in contributing ideas, then perhaps it is because you are talking too much and not listening enough. Perhaps you’re not giving your people a chance to voice their opinions, make comments and suggestions.

Shut-up and let your people do the talking. Because when your people start talking more, you will get to learn more about them, their difficulties, their challenges, their aspirations, their shortcomings, their strengths and their frustrations.

About the Author

STEVEN LOCK is a Speaker, Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him two decades of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

He is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. This model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach. Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the Author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is also the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been featured on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital and other publications. His comments on Team Collaboration was quoted in the Spring 2014 Edition of the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven holds a Master of Business (Information Technology) from Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. He is a certified DISC & MBTI® (Step I & II) practitioner.

Recently Steven was invited as a guest speaker to share about his CAAP(R) High Performance Model with over 600 delegates at the Vietnam HR Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City.

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.” ~ Hesoid, 700 BC

Strawberry Generation.

Millennials.

Generation Y.

These terms are commonly used to describe the generation born between 1980 and 2000.

We’ve heard lots of horror stories about these Gen Ys and Millennials and the Internet is full of articles and stories about them. In fact, I have heard first-hand horror stories about Gen Y workers in our workforce.

But seriously, are they any different from the rest of us? If yes, then what and how are they different from the rest of us Gen Xers and Baby Boomers?

Comparing Gen Xers with Millennials

To begin with, I belong to Generation X. So you probably can guess my age.

As far as I can recall, when I was in my twenties, I had very similar experiences as today’s Millennials. Unkind and disparaging comments were made against my generation. It was not uncommon to hear comments about how my generation was a useless generation compared to my parent’s generation and the one before.

Some of the comments passed by the previous generation included remarks such as “These youngsters are so useless” or “These youngsters don’t know what they want in life” or “Life is too good for these young people”. Or worse, we were just “good-for-nothings”.

The problem I see with these comparisons of people of my Generation with those of the previous generation is that it is not a fair comparison at all. It is not an apple-to-apple comparison.

Comparisons of people of my Generation with those of the previous generation is that it is not a fair comparison at all. It is not an apple-to-apple comparison.

What I Really Cared About When I Was in my 20s

Truth be told, when I was in my twenties, I had no clue what I wanted to be. I had no clue what I was good at. And I had no clue what I should do for the rest of my life.

But after I started working, I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. I wanted to achieve more than what my parents achieved. I wanted to be promoted as quickly as possible, and I wanted to earn higher salaries every year. I too, wanted that dream job, that dream home and that dream car.

I would think of different ways to climb the corporate ladder and achieve what I wanted. And if I couldn’t get what I wanted in the current organisation, I would look for opportunities in other organisations that would give me the chance of moving up the corporate ladder faster. I was always on the look-out for a short-cut to success.

So I never stayed in one job for more than 3 years. It wasn’t until I was in my early thirties that I started to mellow down and stayed on a job for 13 years.

So how is this so different from the current Generation Y?
They too want to get promoted. They too want higher salaries. They too want to be recognised.

The fact is, inter-generational comparisons are not doing all of us any favours. It only highlights the biasness we have against the Millennials.

The fact is, inter-generational comparisons are not doing all of us any favours. It only highlights the biasness we have against the Millennials.

It isn’t a Fair Comparison

In most cases, when we compare ourselves with the younger generation, we are not doing justice to them and to ourselves. How do we compare a 40+ year old Generation Xer with a 20+ year old Millennial? How do we reconcile values of a 40+ year old with that of a 20+ Millennial?

When I was in my 20s, ALL that mattered to me were status, salary and a lifestyle that others would envy. I wanted a nice home. I wanted to drive the coolest car. I wanted to go on long holidays. And I wanted that senior job title.

Now that I’m in my 40s, my values are entirely different from what they were when I was in my 20s. I no longer crave for recognition. I no longer care what type of homes others live in or what cars they drive. And I don’t give a hoot about what others think of me.

What matters to me now are a happy home and family; to spend quality time with good friends over a meal or a great conversation; to enjoy life’s journey for whatever its worth.

When I was in my 20s, ALL that mattered to me were status, salary and a lifestyle that others would envy. I wanted a nice home.

What Your Parent’s Generation Said about YOU

Now if you are a Generation Xer, think back to your younger days — when you were in your 20s.
What were your priorities back then?

What were those years like? What were your values? What was your aim in life? What did you really care about? What did you really want to do?

And most of all, what did your parent’s generation say about you and your generation?

I would go out on a limb to say that they said very similar things about you and your generation, as we do the younger generation today. I’m sure they experienced similar frustrations as you do now with the younger generation.

I would go out on a limb to say that they said very similar things about you and your generation, as we do the younger generation today.

Are There Any Differences At All?

Now I wouldn’t say that we were exactly the same as the Millennials when we were in our 20s. There are definitely differences between a 20-something Millennial and the 20-something you years back.

The good old 1970’s are not the same as the rolling 1990’s.

So what are the differences?

For starters, we never had iPhones and iPads back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. And we sure didn’t have WhatsApp and Telegram. The 20-somethings today prefer to text their friends than to have a face-to-face conversation. They prefer to “Google” than to go to the library to do research. And they prefer to shop online than to make their way to a bricks-and-mortar store in Orchard Road.

In addition, economic life cycles are getting shorter and shorter. And so are the expectations of the younger generation. Gen Xers may have expected a promotion every couple of years, but a Millennial today would expect a promotion every year or so. (Yes, I know some who expect to be promoted just 2 months into their new jobs, but these are more the exception than the norm. And I would venture to say that these are the ones who stick out like a sore thumb attracting the unkind comments levied against the entire generation of Millennials.)

The Secret to Engaging Millennials

The fact is most Millennials are still quite sensible. They know what is realistic and what isn’t. I have hired and worked with 20-somethings before and they were a fantastic bunch of people. They gave me no problems and we all enjoyed a great working relationship for many years.

And the secret to that great working relationship was because I took care of their career paths. I took pains to plan their career paths and to help them move forward in their careers. I gave them opportunities to discover their strengths and to shine. I gave them the space to make mistakes and to grow in their jobs. And I gave them the opportunity to learn new things on the job.

Now ask yourself: When you were in your 20s, did you wish your boss would do all of these things for you? To look out for you? To help you progress in your career? To take care of your professional development?

If your answer is yes to any of the above, then what is so different about you and the 20-something Millennials of today?

When you were in your 20s, did you wish your boss would do all of these things for you? To look out for you? To help you progress in your career? To take care of your professional development?

What the Research Shows

Research after research have shown that generational differences are greatly over-hyped. As Bruce N. Pfau said in a recent Harvard Business Review article: “Part of the reason is the proliferation of poor ‘research’ or overreaching and invalid conclusions based on otherwise valid facts. The most glaring examples of faulty research are ‘studies’ of Millennials that lack comparisons to any control groups of other workers or young people of other generations… in addition, it is also more attention-grabbing to talk about differences among groups and changes in the workplace than it is to report on how alike they are.” (Harvard Business Review, April 2016, “What Do Millennials Really Want at Work? The Same Things the Rest of Us Do”)

And in a paper by Profs Brent Roberts, Grant Edmonds and Emily Grijalva, they concluded that the differences between generations is “an aging phenomenon, and not a historical phenomenon”. In other words, we are unconsciously comparing two generations of completely different age groups, and completely different values. And that leads to a seriously flawed conclusion about the two generations.

In the words of Roberts, Edmonds and Grijalva, “The fact that one can find complaints about the younger generation being more narcissistic going back to Hesiod helps make the point that every generation is Generation Me. That is, until they grow up.”

Conclusion

So perhaps the next time you are tempted to point your finger at a Millennial and accuse them of being frivolous, shallow, and irresponsible, it might do well for you to remember that you are probably looking at them through your own pair of coloured lenses.

Author Bio

Steven Lock is the Founder of FutureTHINK! Training & Consultancy LLP. He is a Trainer, Author and a Leadership Coach. Steven brings with him 20 years of corporate experience.

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

Steven is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. The model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach.

Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”

• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been interviewed twice on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital, LinkedIn and other publications.

His comment on Team Collaboration has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven is certified in MBTI® (Step I & II) & DiSC® Personality instruments.

Our conventional wisdom about teams are about to change radically because everything we previously knew, or thought we knew, about team work have all been quite incomplete.

What would you say makes a cohesive, effective and high performing team?

I’m sure most of us would start to think about the following:

– Clearly defined goals
– Strong, charismatic leader
– Competent team members
– Personality types
– Skills
– Educational background

But are these the be-all and end-all for a high performing team?

Project Aristotle

In 2012, Google embarked on an initiative – code-named Aristotle – to study hundreds of Google’s teams and figure out why some teams stumbled while others soared.

As we all know, Google loves data. And that is exactly what they did. They combed through half a century of academic studies on how teams worked. They also studied 180 different teams within Google and collected a huge amount of data. Amongst some of the data they collected include insights into the following questions:

– Did team mates socialise outside of office hours?
– Were the best teams made up of people with the same interests?
– Did they have the same hobbies?
– Were they of similar educational backgrounds?
– Was it better for all teammates to be outgoing or for all of them to be shy?

They also wanted to know why teams stuck together and if gender balance had any influence on the success of a team.

But no matter how they arranged the data, they were not able to identify any useful patterns that would indicate why a team did really well.

However in their research, they kept coming across research by psychologists and sociologists that focused on “Group Norms”. Norms are the traditions, behavioural standards, and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather. One team may be comfortable with being more confrontational. While others may be comfortable with giving every team member equal airtime for them to voice their comments, concerns and feedback.

Group Norms

After studying over a 100 groups for over a year, Project Aristotle’s researchers concluded that understanding and influencing group norms were the keys to improving Google’s teams.

Group norms include unwritten rules about how each team member should behave and how each team member disagreed with one another. Some groups may be comfortable with a more confrontational style while others may thrive on a more civilised and polite way of disagreeing with another team member.

This is sometimes known as Team Culture. It is the way each member on the team interacts with each other, and how each member treats other members on the team. At this juncture, I would like to point out that there is a difference between Organisational Culture and Team Culture.

Organisational Culture refers to the over-arching culture within the organisation at large. Team Culture refers to the team norms and culture within the team (or function or department).

Psychological Safety

As the researchers continued their studies, they noticed TWO behaviours that all good teams had in common.

1. Equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking

First, is the “equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking”. This gobbledygook simply means whether each team member is given more or less equal airtime to talk and voice their opinions. They found that as long as everyone got a chance to talk, the team did well.

2. High average social sensitivity

Second, all good teams had high “average social sensitivity”. What this simply means is that team members were skilled at intuiting how others felt based on their tone of voice, their expressions and other non-verbal cues. Research shows that the more successful teams seemed to know when someone was feeling upset or left out.

Psychologists sometimes call these two behaviours “psychological safety”. Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson, defines psychological safety as “shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

In other words, it is a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up. Such a climate is underscored by a strong sense of interpersonal trust and mutual respect, and this in turn, encourages everyone on the team to be themselves.

Were there other important behaviours or norms that would encourage good teamwork? The answer is yes. Things like setting clear goals and creating a culture of dependability were important.

However Google’s study indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work.

Workplace FEAR

Clearly, the primary reason for under-performance in teams everywhere is this thing called FEAR.

All you have to do is look around you in your office. Are people comfortable speaking up in-front of the boss? Do most people keep quiet during meetings when the big boss is present? Is the office generally very quiet all day, with very few people talking and interacting – because they are afraid of who might hear what they are saying? And when you conduct team meetings, and you invite feedback, suggestions and comments, do most of your team members say they have no comments and just keep quiet?

Well, these may be signs and symptoms that FEAR has a strangle-hold on your team.

And this directly contributes to sub-par team performance.

Conclusion

If you want your teams to reach their full potential, you need to foster a High Trust–Low Fear environment because people communicate and perform best when they feel safe and trusted around their leaders. Create a “psychologically safe” environment for everyone on the team.

It is only with a psychologically safe environment that you can foster the meeting of minds, incubate great ideas, and establish a crucible of performance excellence.

NOTE: If you are confident that you will still have a job 5, 10 years down the road; or if you are not worried about the future of work, then you don’t need to read this article.

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you would have noticed the number of Mergers, Acquisitions and retrenchments have increased in recent times. This has led to more job redundancies in the last several years. By the looks of it, this trend probably isn’t going to slow down any time soon, especially with the poor economic outlook for 2016 coupled with the tanking Oil & Gas industry. The question is: How will these affect the future of work?

In fact, some experts are predicting that the jobs of today, as we know them, will undergo fundamental changes by the year 2020.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The experts are calling this tectonic shift the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This presents a challenge of displacement – where jobs and the nature of work will undergo fundamental changes.

As economies and organisations continue to consolidate and shrink, the number of jobs available will also shrink. And this implies that those jobs that can be replaced today will be replaced by machines, automation and robots.

Recently, a group of experts at Davos spoke about the Future of Work. They listed the top 10 skills that will be in demand come 2020.

Emotional Intelligence No Longer Good to Have

You will notice skills such as critical thinking and creativity have been pushed into the top 3 positions. One skill that has made the list for 2020 is Emotional Intelligence (E.I). Emotional Intelligence wasn’t even in the top 10 skills in 2015. This indicates that emotional intelligence is becoming a very important skill in the future of our work. Unfortunately many people and organisations shun talking about Emotional Intelligence because many still think that E.I. is too soft and mushy for the real business world.

The New VUCA World

Some years ago, the US Military coined a term called VUCA. It stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. They use this term to describe the world that we live in today – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

And in order for us to even survive in this VUCA world, we need to learn how to adapt, adjust and accommodate. It is no longer business as usual.

Interestingly, Charles Darwin, famously known as the “Father of Evolution” wrote many decades ago:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Alvin Toffler an author and futurist, who wrote the books “Future Shock” and “Third Wave” seems to agree with Darwin when he said:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Both Darwin and Toffler could not have been more correct. In a world of constant change and evolution, and in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, it is only those who adopt a beginner’s mind – to question, to learn, to unlearn and relearn – that will enable us to advance, progress and to improve – and deal with the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous future.

Will You Still Have A Job in 2020?

If your current job involves Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving and Creativity, then it looks like you’re on the right track.

However if your current job doesn’t involve much Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking and Creativity, and you do not want to be caught off-guard, you might want to seriously consider doing something about it today.

The year 2020 isn’t very far off – it’s just 4 years away. So perhaps it is an opportune time to re-evaluate the work that you do.

Some of the questions that you might wish to ask yourself as you re-evaluate your work include:

1. How will my current work be impacted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
2. How will my current work be transformed by 2020?
3. Can my job be taken over by machines, automation and/or robots?
4. What can I do to include critical thinking, creativity and problem solving skills as part of my work?
5. What will I do if I’m not able to expand the scope of my work to include the above 3 skills?

The Future of Work : What It Means For Employers

What does this mean for employers like yourself?

As the nature of work undergo fundamental changes, job requirements and job descriptions will have to change. You will be increasingly looking for the top 10 skills listed above in 2020.

In today’s highly complex and constantly changing business environment, hiring based solely on attitude is simply no longer sufficient. The kind of talent we should be looking for to survive and thrive in our VUCA world is one that is flexible and able to adapt to the constantly changing environment. And this means we need to look for people who are able to handle complex problems, creative and think critically — all which are required for an uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.

The bottom-line is this: You need to hire people who are agile. In other words, you need people who are able to adapt, adjust and accommodate. And to find people like this would require you, as the employer, to approach interviewing and selection from a whole new perspective.

So what are you doing to ensure you hire only the right people for your organisation and be ready for the Future of Work?

To find out more about how you can select people with agility, click here.

About the Author

Steven is passionate about helping organisations transform their teams into high performing teams. He does that by first helping organisations identify and hire the right people, and then training their leaders and managers on how to manage and lead their people to achieve peak performance consistently.

He is the developer of The CAAP® High Performance Model. This model focuses on Culture (cultural fit), Attitude, Aptitude and Personality dimensions of their employees and job candidates. It is a highly practical, effective and proven approach. Steven believes that for organizations to be truly successful and perform at their highest levels, they need to shift their mind-sets to having the RIGHT people on-board – and not necessarily the best or the brightest.

Steven is the Author of two books:

• “Hiring for Performance: The CAAP® Model to Hiring and Building High-Performance Teams.”
• “The Right Talent: The Agility-Focused Interviewing Approach to Hiring the Right Candidate Every Time.”

He is also the developer of The Leadership STYLE Report that is based on Dr. Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership styles.

Steven has been featured on MediaCorp’s live radio show The Breakfast Club on 938FM, and has contributed numerous articles to Singapore Business Review, ST Recruit, SHRI Human Capital and other publications. His comments on Team Collaboration was quoted in the Spring 2014 Edition of the Harvard Business Review OnPoint Magazine.

Steven holds a Master of Business (Information Technology) from Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. He is a certified DISC & MBTI® (Step I & II) practitioner.

Recently Steven was invited as a guest speaker to share about his CAAP(R) High Performance Model with over 600 delegates at the Vietnam HR Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City.