Competency and Performance Solutions

• IBS Diversity Awards Criteria

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, International Business 1 Comment

  Draft Selection Guidelines

  Written by Glynis Ross-Munro, for use by the International Business Summit
  

  The Selection Committee for the International Business Summit Diversity Awards uses the following criteria as a basis in the evaluation process of all nominations.

  Preamble:

  Human differences have been a source of misunderstanding, miscommunication, lack of trust and collaboration, or outright conflict since the beginning of recorded history.

  We live in an age of complexity, diversity and globalization. Organizations and their home communities prosper when they have the ability to understand, accept and benefit from difference, and to collaborate and communicate across many diversity factors.

  Diversity is defined in a broadest sense by IBS. The bi-national Chambers of Commerce and Trade Associations primarily bring the resource of (a) bi-national life experience and (b) new or wider connectedness to the West Central Florida economy. Continue reading »

  

• Gender Diversity Creates Wealth: Norway and (now) Sweden use the science.

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, Innovation and Entrepreneurship No Comments

  Ansgar Gabrielsen, a male Norwegian businessman and politician, is an expert on the details of a 2007 Catalyst study, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance & Women’s Representation on Boards,

  Gabrielsen’s focus has not been on gender equality. His interest is in “the fact that diversity is a value in itself, that it creates wealth.” He is part of a movement has led to a law that requires all listed Norwegian companies to have at least 40% of women on their boards.

  Despite much outcry about the law, research findings show that companies with the highest representation of women on their top management teams perform better financially than groups with the lowest female representation. The Norwegians have therefore made diversification mandatory, on the basis that  increased profits can be, and are, achieved through diverse boards, and that a company’s primary responsibility is to act in the best interests of its shareholders by maximizing profits.

  Continue reading »

  

  Tags: Boards, Collaboration, diversity, management, Norway, profitability, women

• Company Security meets Managing Millennials

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, Innovation and Entrepreneurship No Comments

  Third Prize: A self-sustaining system for monitoring your corporate information security and privacy on the Internet.

  Second Prize: Engaged staff, increased retention, teamwork and trust.

  First Prize: A long-term, company-wide culture of awareness of the importance of respecting and protecting corporate information. Employee-driven emphasis on its role in trust-based business relationships, legal obligations to business partners, competitive advantage etc.

  In CPS’s Managing Millennials workshop, we suggest many ways to give your Generation Ys some variety in their work, to engage their interest and loyalty, and to offer some outlet for their creative minds, as they focus on routine tasks. Most of these suggestions leverage their technological and generational-specific skills, for the well-being of the organization.

  Continue reading »

  

  Tags: confidentiality, corporate security, Culture, engagement, Generation Y, innovation, leaks, milliennials, ning, retention, security, social networking, technology

• Cross-Generational Communication: The Woman Advocate

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Organizational Development 1 Comment

  The following article, by Glynis Ross-Munro, was published in the Summer 2009 edition of The Woman Advocate, Vol. 14, No. 4,by the American Bar Association. Copyright is shared with the author.

  Glynis is President of Competency and Performance Solutions, a Tampa-based consultancy that assists firms with generational differences, collaborative thinking skills, culture and inclusiveness. She has been married to a lawyer for 33 years.

  The success of a legal team depends on collaboration and teamwork. In the current workplace, that means solid communication between four generations of professional and support staff, clients, business partners, witnesses and others. This is no easy task. Continue reading »

  

  Tags: Boomers, communication, Culture, Generation Jones, Generation X, Generation Y, generations, Matures, Millennials, Traditionals

• International Business Summit 2010

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, International Business No Comments

  The 2010 International Business Summit will be held at Higgins Hall (cnr Hillsborough and Himes) on Thursday, 11 March, 2010, beginning at 9 a.m. (Registration: 8.30 a.m.)

  IBS is in its fourth year, as an annual event that brings together the diverse communities of Tampa Bay to build economic prosperity for the Tampa Bay/Suncoast area. It is organized by the Bi-national Chambers of Commerce and Trade Associations, including the British, Caribbean, Chinese, French, Hispanic, Indo, Philippine, Scandinavian-Baltic, Swedish, etc. Please see www.ibsummit.org.

  IBS provides three tracks for education (the Collaboration, Diversity and Prosperity tracks) and is relevant to both local and international businesses. Continue reading »

  

  Tags: BABC, Caribbean American, Chinese American, Collaboration, diversity, FRAMCO, Indo Chamber, International Business Summit 2010, Philippine Chamber, Properity, Scandinavian Baltic, Swedish American, Tampa Bay

• American Pie – Deep-Level Mining in US Business Culture

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, Innovation and Entrepreneurship No Comments

  Culture (I tell participants) is like an iceberg. You see the part that sticks up about the water, but below the surface is the real bulk. The thing you are most likely to crash into is that unseen, unsuspected mass.

  The aquatic metaphor is also apt. We swim in our culture, so like fish we do not notice it. It is the water that surrounds us, and we cease to analyze it. It is simply the environment in which we live.

  The other common image of culture is the onion. Our daily lives are framed by layers upon layers of  unseen assumptions and mind-sets. Because we have no other way of conceptualizing our world, we see it through our ‘normal’ perspective, seldom imagining different interpretations, until some rather dramatic event gives us new eyes. Or until we choose to study a subject like Anthropology, to help us see that many things are hiding, in plain sight, right in front of us.
  Continue reading »

  

  Tags: Add new tag, competitiveness, Culture, CultureGPS, ethics, Hofstede, new econnomy, Trompenaars, wealth

• The “Dumbest Generation”?

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations, Learning & Development No Comments

  As GenY specialists, we have to comment on Mark Bauerlein’s new book, “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)”.

  The Emory University Professor presents his figures showing a decline in US adult literacy (40% of high-school grads in 1992; only 31% in 2003) and the many areas where young Americans lack knowledge, such as geographic, historical and political cluelessness.

  Bauerlein is even more annoyed because his Gen-Yers are unapologetic about their ignorance. They dismiss the idea that they should have more facts in their heads, and call it a pre-Google and pre-wiki anachronism.

  CPS’s position is that Bauerlein has a good case, and is also completely wrong. Gen Y has massive skills gaps in some areas, but is the smartest generation ever in others. Continue reading »

  

  Tags: Add new tag, bauerlein, dumbest generation, fluid intelligence, Generation Y, internationally competitive

• A Millennial Story

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations No Comments

  CPS hears both sides of the “Managing the Millennials” debate.  www.ManagingTheMillennials.com/survey brings us many candid snapshots of the world of work from the GenY perspective, to add to our research, focus groups, interviews and workshop-based knowledge. Our one VP is, of course, a Millennial too.

  CPS now has permission to publish a highly entertaining MiIllennial’s perspective. Paul exemplifies many of the characteristics of the 21st century GenY knowledge worker: massive technical knowledge, a graduate education, and a history of entrepreneurship. Born in Tampa, he is an experienced, multi-lingual global traveler and married to a physics PhD student.  Enjoy!

  Then go on www.glassdoor.com (or something similar) and see whether your organization also needs to think seriously about collaborative management, collaborative thinking, and the competitive and innovative edge your Millennials bring to the table.. Continue reading »

  

  Tags: collaborative management, collaborative thinking, competitive edge, Generation Y, humor, innovation, IT project management, management, Millennials, programmers

• Understanding America

  Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations 2 Comments

  America is largely a nation of immigrants, but soon people settle into their new culture and become… well … Americans.

  They know the rules, how things get done, what works and what doesn’t. They know what to say and what not to say. Then when the new guys arrive, it is not difficult to forget that they (or their parents, or grandparents) were also once cultural illiterates, struggling to understand America and her seemingly-incomprehensible ways.

  Continue reading »

  

  Tags: cultural fluency, cultural literacy

• Can you tell the generation from the writing?

  Business Thinking and Writing, Differentness, Diversity, Culture, Generations 1 Comment

  You’re dealing with a client, co-worker, outsource project team member or supplier, and need to guess more about his/her thought style to work more effectively together.

  You can guess a client’s or remote colleague’s generation from their writing, and give them appropriate service or packaged data.

  Mature/Traditional: No emoticons. The writer thinks smiley faces are unprofessional and signs of lazy writing. You’ll tend to see longer, more complex sentences, and spelling is really good. Paragraphing is usually excellent, with careful punctuation. Continue reading »

  

  Tags: Boomers, business writing, emoticons, Generation X, Generation Y, Matures, Traditionals

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