Next In Line.

The January 31, 2011 issue of Newsweek had Steve Jobs on the cover with the following text “STEVE JOBS’S JOB: what should companies do when their genius founders duck out.” Although CEO Tim Cook is running Apple’s day to day operations,  Steve Jobs is still very much considered as its Yoda, despite alarming issues about his health. This predicament raises concerns about who will assume Steve’s job once he necessarily steps down. The cover story hounds many corporations today about super novas without a qualified shining star  to succeed them. Newsweek magazine called this “The Genius Dilemma.”

The Genius Dilemma

Filling in Steve Job’s shoes is a tall order and the company might just go along with him if his health worsens. This should serve as a good case study and an example for HR practitioners regarding Succession Planning. This process of determining the next in line for key positions is often overlooked until an unexpected and sometimes unwanted vacancy comes along.

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In this post, let’s cite some reasons that ails an organization to overlook this procedure:

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1. Nailing a person to a specific position.  An uninterrupted business operation or production requires a steady supply and proper utilization of four variables: Machine, Material, Method and lastly, Manpower.

For people involved in recruitment, the pressure to fill a vacant position means placing a warm body at the soonest possible time. The mandate to fill the vacancy at once, unintentionally leads to limiting the person to that position. Seldom is there time given within the hiring process to evaluate if the applicant has the skill or competence to be laterally or horizontally promoted in the future. I met an owner of a bus company who gave this advise to her HR department, she owns more than five hundred buses and employs more than a thousand people, she said “never hire a person who’s only qualified to do one job.”

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2. Treating Training As An Expense. Educator, lawyer and past president of Harvard University said: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Organizations often provide little or no training at all to their employees. Just like any other resources that a company may have, it’s always wise to invest in human resources. In this case, a company must invest by developing its existing talent. Deferring this investment is tantamount to preparing your employees to incompetently assume or perform a higher or existing position.

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3. Cultivating A  Messiah Complex Culture. The father of modern management, Peter Drucker said: “Beware the genius manager. Management is doing a very few simple things and doing them well.”  There are times that organizations stumble upon a highly motivated and intelligent employee who takes the cudgels to reform, energize and organize the company back to profitability or to some level that meets management’s expectations. In the short term, this employee’s contribution is vital but the organization should initiate a program that would duplicate the skill and competency of this employee on others. . Let’s keep in mind that there may only be one Messiah but He had apostles too.

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Last year I was interviewed applicants for the position of HR Manager. This person would be the second in command of the division that I headed so I was looking for someone whom I could easily  convey my ideas for the company. I also had other things in mind that I was looking for in an HR Manager such as someone who could replace me. I didn’t have any plans of leaving the company but looking for someone who could replace me meant this candidate would not only meet my standards but even surpass it. It  also meant another qualified person to pursue the best interest of the company. During this search, I always ended the interview by asking this question: “How long would it take you to replace me?”  It was quite an awkward question but I wanted to see how confident these applicants were of their skills to assume a higher responsibility. 

THE NEXT IN LINE.

Soon after I found one who came from the academe but had satisfactory exposure doing consultancy work with other companies. I’m glad that we got her because soon after she joined the company I had to make a choice of leaving the company for another endeavor.

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Until next time, let’s educate our minds.

Back In The High Life Again.

It’s been a little over three years since my last post on December 3, 2007 when I uploaded “Everything Has A Purpose. Everything.” This was before I joined a very dynamic telecoms company as their new manager for Human Resources. I thought that I would have the time then to share articles regarding HR but after numerous saved drafts that never saw the light of day I decided to place blogging in the back burner for the meantime.

But I’m glad to be back and I hope to continue writing at least  once every month.  My blog would still be faithful to its mission of “setting us free” by writing articles regarding relationships, the workplace, our country or anything that would leave lessons to educate our minds. Articles that would cause us to ask and pursue what our purpose is in this circle of life.

I’ll end by leaving you with this video that I found from You Tube of Steve Winwood singing his 1986 hit “Back In The High Life.”  I included below the song’s lyrics because you might want to sing along with it. This is an inspiring song that sings of renewing relationships, of successes earned and lessons learned.

Until next time, let’s educate our minds.

Back In The High Life Again lyrics
Songwriters: Winwood, Steve; Jennings, Will;

It used to seem to me
That my life ran on too fast
And I had to take it slowly
Just to make the good parts last

But when you’re born to run
It’s so hard to just slow down
So don’t be surprised to see me
Back in the bright part of town

I’ll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time
Will open up again
I’ll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched me once
Will smile and take me in

And I’ll drink and dance with one hand free
Let the world back into me
And oh I’ll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

Girl you used to be the best
To make life be life to me
And I hope that you’re still out there
And you’re like you used to be

We’ll have ourselves a time
And we’ll dance till the morning sun
And we’ll let the good times come in
And we won’t stop till we’re done

We’ll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time
Will open up again
We’ll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched us once
Will smile and take us in

And we’ll drink and dance with one hand free
And have the world so easily
And oh we’ll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

High life
High life
In the high life again

We’ll be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time
Will open up again
We’ll be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched us once
Will smile and take us in

And we’ll drink and dance with one hand free
And have the world so easily
And oh we’ll be a sight to see
Back in the high life again

Until next time, let’s educate our minds.

Everything Has A Purpose. Everything.

We often find ourselves struggling with the question “why?” It applies to every minute detail of our life but more often it becomes magnified when an event unexpectedly goes against or disrupts the kind of life that we’ve been accustomed to. These events are often called challenges and how we respond to these challenges determine the quality and direction of our lives.

Everything in life has a purpose. Everything.

It is our duty to determine the purpose of things that affect us but more than that it is our mission to go beyond these events and turn it to our advantage.

When the unexplainable happens we often tend to focus on the reason behind the event and, sad to say, we get trapped on it. Thinking about the whys and not about what we can do causes emotional, mental and spiritual wear and tear which saps the life out of us. As we stay trapped on this stage, opportunities pass by our way and in the end we miserably ask ourselves questions about what could have been.

Challenges are never unavoidable. They’re a part of life and it bites deep into the very marrow of life for those who have built their lives to avoid it. Prevention is indeed better than cure but in life it also helps to be prepared.

Maurice is a man whom I’ve met a long time ago. Amiable and easy to get along with. He has this gift of making people laugh. Really laugh. He even has this skill of making you laugh at yourself, at others and at the most unfortunate events without offending anyone.

Last month, I had the privilege of meeting Maurice again. He has developed his gift to entertain people by performing at kid’s parties as a clown, magician and puppeteer.How good is he? He’s so good that you can’t tell who’s doing the ventriloquism act, Maurice or the dummy beside him (I just have to put this in.)

The first time I heard about Maurice’s foray to the entertainment scene I immediately had to ask myself these two questions: First, how did he get into the scene? Making a profession out of entertaining people is not something that you just think of doing as a career. No matter  how funny and entertaining you think you are. Second, is he able to make a decent living out of it?

I soon received the answers. Right after his act, I was able to spend some time with him to ask these questions.

Maurice was a tag along for a group of puppetteers way way back. He was young and enthusiastic. One day, a church from a far away place asked them to perform for their Sunday school. The arrangement was that they would be picked up at a specific place and time to bring them to that church. But lo and behold, when Sunday came no one was there but Maurice. The pick-up vehicle was also behind schedule so when it arrived it had to leave at once to get to the place on time. Maurice was placed on a position whether to go ahead by himself or wait for his team to arrive. Waiting would mean a possible chance of missing the performance but going ahead alone may spell disaster just the same.

He decided to go ahead and the rest is history. 

Fourteen years have passed since he made that decision and he’s still entertaining children with his own brand of act. He has improved and progressed a lot.

Everything has a purpose. Everything.

The question is, what will you do about it? Maurice made a solitary decision that changed his life forever. He made the decision to perform by himself because he was prepared. Years of exposure coupled with eagerness to learn finally paid off. He never knew what would eventually turn out of it but when the time came he found himself prepared for the challenge. He paid his dues and when it was time to collect he received more than he expected.

By the way, about the second question, if you want to get Maurice you have to wait because he’s booked- solid up to February of 2008.

Until next time, let’s educate our minds.