Older-Worker (Seasoned Employees) Benefits

In March I shared an article with 10 reasons older-workers may be of benefit to your small business, especially in these tough economic times. Today, I'd like to focus on the fact that older-workers are more likely to understand recessions - such as we currently are experiencing.

Older workers have been through recessions before - specifically the oil crisis of the 1970, the recession of the early 80s and the tech bubble burst of the late 1990s, to mention but a few of the worst. We have seen how businesses bounce back and move forward better than before. We mostly remember our parents and grandparents talk of the Great Depression... even though we did not always act on that information, then. Older-workers bring a steady perspective to a jumpy workplace, and are a good balance to a lot of the younger workers hired in recent years.

Finally for today, older-workers tend to be more reliable and loyal. Contrary to common belief, with careful screening, older-workers are often much less prone to sick leave and time away from work for any reason. The work ethic of the past years still exists... if you look carefully at their past work records. In all things, past performance is still the best predictor of future performance.

Give it some thought. Check it out. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Dr. Bill - I love to share, I hope you do to! ;-)

8 Pitfalls when Managing Change

A number of years ago, John Kotter outlined eight mistakes that organizations make when trying to change - are these still valid? What do you think?

1. Allowing too much complacenty.
2. Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition.
3. Underestimating the power of vision.
4. Under-communicating the vision by a factor of 10 (or 100 or even 1,000).
5. Permitting obstacles to block the new vision.
6. Failing to create short-term wins.
7. Declaring victory too soon.
8. Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture.

My experience has been that these are timeless. What has been your experience?

Dr. Bill - I love to share, I hope you do to! ;-)

Take Charge!

"Create a Business Plan for improve your career focus and priorities" - this was the lead of an article I published in "Minority Engineer" in the Winter of 1996. The concepts presented then are just as true and useful today - especially in the current business climate. Whether you are currently employed (or unemployed), starting a new business, or thinking of starting a new small business, the idea of using the Business Plan approach is a very good way to get and keep on track for your future.

The following quote was the caption of a photo accompanying the article: "In order to maximize your career plan, you must make each individual decision based on your experience and the best information and research you can gather." This is still true, thirteen years later.

A sidebar provided these elements for Your Business Plan:
Title Page
Executive Summary
Background Description
Market Analysis
Describe Your Services
Marketing Plan
Training and Development Plan
Salary Expectations
Financial Statements and Projections
Balance Between Personal Life and Career

These will all be expanded in future notes. What are your thoughts? Would this work for you?

Dr. Bill - I love to share, I hope you do to! ;-)