Education vs. Experience: What does the job really need!

The debate about education vs. experience has been around for years.  As I re-read this week’s earlier blog, I want to make it clear that I am not advocating not getting a degree.  My family is filled with degrees, the higher education the better and it is certainly what we have ingrained in our children.  But I can’t help seeing everywhere I go the value of experienced people who may not have a degree being overlooked, and the value they can bring to organizations.

There is a unique opportunity, with the market providing a large pool of available candidates, with and without degrees for employers to explore all qualities of candidates including education, knowledge, skill set and experience to bring a valuable and much-needed balance of talent to your organization.

Let’s examine why employers prefer college degrees. Most often, they associate the following characteristics with people who have degrees (and more specifically, four-year degrees):

• A proven ability to analyze problems, conduct research and produce solutions
• A proven ability to learn complex, difficult subject matter
• Motivation and high energy
• High Intelligence
• Credible qualifications

While it’s difficult to argue that these characteristics are consistent with people who have earned a four-year degree, it’s easy to question whether or not these characteristics are exclusive to that group. This is the root of my confusion with employers as they define job requirements. There is nothing wrong with requiring a four-year degree if that’s what the job requires. But, if that requirement is based on a “that’s how it’s always been” mentality, or a personal bias, your company is probably missing out on a large pool of candidates.

The field of Quality Assurance for example is susceptible to this pitfall. The fact is that there is no accredited engineering program that produces a “Quality Assurance Engineer”. You can get a degree in many different engineering areas. However, you can’t get one in quality assurance engineering, at least not yet. Many of the job descriptions I see for “quality assurance” don’t justify the degree. The requirement is usually there because the position is within the software, technical or engineering department or because of a preconceived notion that only someone within technical degree can perform these duties. Much of the time, I believe the position could be renamed “Quality Assurance specialist” and be filled by someone with applicable experience and associated competencies.

Let’s examine the list of characteristics of experienced business professionals that typically aren’t found in college graduates without experience or limited experience. 

• Business insight
• Customer Following
• Industry Knowledge
• Demonstrated work Ethic
• Proven skill set
• Practical knowledge
• Applicable experience

• Effective interpersonal skills

So all I am saying is, take the time to properly identify and develop the required behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities before completing the job description. Ask yourself whether or not these required competencies can only be obtained through the process of earning a degree or if they can be acquired through experiences.  At minimum, you’ll learn more about the job requirements and better understand how you see this position fitting within your organization.

Education vs. Experience: The debate

I’ve drafted more job descriptions than I care to admit, and the majority of the time I beg the question “Is a degree required”?  Can experience make up for the lack of a college degree, or does formal education provide some value that experience does not? Is one more valuable than the other? Talk about a discussion that will have you chasing your tail! It’s truly a trap debate because the right answer is “it depends”.

When Captain Sullenberg lost both engines and had no power on his Airbus 320 airplane, he had to think fast.  Is it a valid argument that formal education alone could not have brought that plane down safely on the Hudson River?  Many would agree it was his many years of flying experience that allowed him to quickly assess the situation and react accordingly to bring the plane to a safe landing.  His success was the result of his level of experience.

Obviously, there are specific cases where the question is moot. If you’re looking for a surgeon, you’re probably seeking someone with the highest degree possible, plus A LOT of experience. However, the scope of positions that may or may not require a degree is broad and wide. This is true for most industries.

Frequently, the decision is based on company cultural or personal preferences. When preparing the position requisition, we want the ideal candidate, right?  Why would we settle for less? A candidate with a degree would fulfill this expectation, or would experience sufficiently outweigh the need for a degree, still resulting in an ideal outcome?  These are fair questions that may not be considered due to a number of factors including: Company hiring philosophies, personal biases or paradigms.  As a result, the hiring manager often justifies the decision to require a degree based on their experience.

Whether it’s a completely strategic discussion about your organization’s policies or a discussion involving a specific position and candidate, this issue continually resurfaces in organizations. And depending on what side of the fence you sit, this issue can be very personal and emotional. Regardless of your personal preference, my suggestion to you is to ponder some basic concepts to help you make a sound decision.

In my next Blog I am going to share certain characteristics employers typically associate with someone who has a college degree as well as those characteristic that employers may be missing out on, when disregarding business success and work experience.

Maintaining a Great Culture

In 2009, Honest Tea was named a “Best Place to Work” by Bethesda Magazine, and this year, it was picked as a Winning Workplace by Inc. magazine.  Miri McDonald an expert on organizational development, recently spoke with Debra Schwartz who is the director of human resources for Honest Tea, a beverage company based in Bethesda, Md.  They spoke about Debra’s role in cultivating the company’s progressive culture. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.

What factors do you feel have contributed to winning these important awards?

Culture, which starts with hiring. The only way to maintain a culture is to hire the right people. Anyone we interview, no matter what position, is asked: “Why do you want this position and why do you want to work for Honest Tea?” The answer has to be creative, passionate and real for them to make it to the next round.

You are a member of Honest Tea’s executive team. Some companies don’t include the director of HR as part of their leadership. How do you think this decision has benefited Honest Tea? What do you say to companies that don’t include HR as part of the executive team?

HR belongs at the table for many reasons. HR brings an internal perspective and represents the employee’s view.  If you leave us out we cannot be the business’ advocate to the employees, we cannot explain all points of view.

What do you think are the top five trends for human resources over the next few years?

• Use creative models to add value. That means being creative with salaries, bonuses, and benefits without taking anything away from the employee. At the end of the day if we are not making money, then HR doesn’t exist.

• Position HR as customer service and internal marketing. HR is here to make the lives of employees easier and better.

• Make smart use of fringe benefits. This term has long been associated with company cars, lavish expense accounts and the like. The new trend is wellness-related benefits.

• Be limber. Don’t box yourself. As long as you’re not doing anything illegal or unethical, it’s OK to break the rules and bend with the business to make employees happy. Happy employees lead to even more loyal customers.

• Remember the personal follow-up. Employees like to know that their company cares about them. Whether someone is new or has been there a long time, a personal touch such as a call, e-mail, or short interaction to ask how they are, and what is going on in their lives goes a long way in building relationships.

I am proud to say that Honest Tea is ahead of the pack and already making strides in these areas.

What other advice do you have for human resource professionals that strive to make their companies a better place to work?

It is HR’s job to take care of the employees, their needs and their families’ needs so that the employee can take care of the business and customer. Listen, really listen to their needs and wants, and adjust accordingly.

Potential candidates may have the experience, education and skill set to do the job, but what do you include in your hiring practices to ensure your next hire will be a representation of your organizational culture?

Coaching vs. Counseling

When you think about the word coach, many of us get the image of a sports coach leading a team to improve and win the game. This is not unlike how the term is used in the business world. A manager becomes a coach when they not only lead their team but provide an environment that supports constant learning, development, and performance improvement. A coach is interested in the performance of their business and understands that to continue to achieve great results, the development of his/her employees is key.  While a coach is always striving to obtain consistent performance improvement from each employee on their team, there are situations where coaching the right behaviors is not the right approach.  Not all employees are equally skilled or equally motivated. For those employees who choose not to perform a different approach is needed. The key word is choice, because these employees are making a choice not to perform within expectations, our approach also needs to be adjusted to target the behavior that is being seen. This situation is when a manager needs to change their approach from one of a coach to one of a counselor.

While a coach strives to provide tools and resources to help already motivated employees to improve upon their skills and achieve a performance improvement, when a manager must provide counseling there isn’t a skill issue but a will issue. Counseling an employee reflects that the employee is making a choice not to perform or to meet the set expectations and is a more directive conversation in regards to the immediate need for a course correction. In these performance Counseling discussions the manager doesn’t provide resources for the employee to focus on performance improvement, he/she outlines the issue and the expectation of immediate behavior change. For example:

The manager meets with a team member who just finished working on a presentation for a new customer.  Having met with this employee several times the manager recognizes the improvements made with each new presentation.  The manager acknowledges the hard work and improvements.  The manager also asks questions and/or provides thought-provoking comments and suggestions to continue to improve upon a good quality presentation, but also to continue coaching this employee becoming better each time. 

The manager meets with a team member who just finished working on a presentation for a new customer.  Having met with this employee several times the manager recognizes this employee uses the same template each time and during several past meetings the manager has had to address spelling errors and obvious customer related information not changed from the last presentation.  At this point it becomes a counseling session.  The manager must clearly define the expectations related to presentations going forward.  The manager must also detail what happens if the expectations are not met within a specific timeframe.

Creating a Culture of Engagement: The Human Resource Leader’s New Strategic Role

Tom Roth, President of Global Solutions Group, Wilson Learning, Edina, Minn. was the presenter at this year’s SHRM annual conference.  His session was titled Creating a Culture of Engagement: The Human Resources Leader’s New Strategic Role.   He focused on the intimate connection between employee satisfaction and engagement and customer satisfaction and retention.   For all Company’s and especially in tough times it’s critical to acquire new customers while keeping the old ones coming back. But to build loyalty, companies need to engage their customers with great experiences. This requires a high level of employee commitment to customers and the company.

 Quick hits from the session

• There are five keys to employee engagement. They include the quality of the relationship with your manager, meaningful work, development opportunities, cooperation with coworkers, and the level of trust at work. Speaking of trust…
• High levels of distrust are causing a rift between employer/employee. Mr. Roth quoted some research showing the high level of distrust/disconnect between employees and employers. The gist of it? A high percentage of people don’t think leaders laid off workers due to economy, but they did to it due to ulterior motives.
• The real definition of culture. The stock definition of culture involves the shared beliefs and behaviors of a group. The business application of that is the set of behavioral patterns in the workplace that is encouraged by leadership. That gets us around to corporate values statements and places a strong responsibility on leaders to encourage the behaviors that support their value system.
• What problems do executives see with engagement? Mr. Roth said that a major issue for the C-suite is the lack of consistency in how organizational leaders are approaching engagement. Another problem is that they want to work on engaging employees, but they don’t know how to make it happen.
• Tell your own story. One of the exercises in the session required participants to think of the person in their lives who embodies the “ideal” leader. Participants shared some of the qualities about that person that makes them such a powerful figure to them.
• What sort of culture do effective leaders create? Leaders establish a culture that places emphasis on the elements of opportunity, personal accountability, validation, inclusion, and community.

The Service Profit Chain is a simple proven philosophy that sets businesses apart.  If you take care of your employees they in turn will be good to your customers, which will drive customer satisfaction, retention and new business.

More on Coaching vs. Management

This article was written for the Atlanta Society of Human Resources by Jules Ciotta, Motivation Communications Associates

Since it goes along with my philosophy I thought I would share it with my readers.

“Be a coach, not a manager” may sound like good advice, but what does it mean in terms of your day-to-day interactions with people? Take a look at this checklist of coaching behaviors to see which technique you already practice, and which you can add to your coaching skills toolbox:

• Don’t give answers. Ask questions that encourage creative thinking but don’t do your employees’ thinking for them by telling them what to do.
• Focus on great performance. Don’t let employees stay satisfied with average results. Help them get to know what great performance looks like and feels like through personal examples and experience.
• Focus on customers. Talk to customers (internal or external) to find out what great performance looks like from their point of view.
• Raise expectations. When someone achieves a victory, celebrate it. Then raise the bar a little higher. Always look ahead to how much better the person can perform.
• Link the present with the future. Help your people see the connection between their current tasks and their long-term personal and professional goals.
• Create internal measures. Don’t be the sole judge of success or failure. Work with employees to develop standards that will help them measure and recognize their own success.
• Identify areas for improvement. Help employees target and strengthen skills they need to improve.
• Remember the human factor. Help employees identify and strive for their own personal and professional goals. Your goal isn’t to turn employees into efficient machines, but to help them realize their potential.
• Go through the process yourself. Work with a coach of your own to get a full understanding of what good coaching feels like.

Be alongside, in front of, or close behind…..But never absent.

One of the benefits experienced by new managers is having a group of people to call on to get things done.

One of the challenges experienced by new managers is having a group of people to call on to get things done.

There is no role that is more challenging than managing people, at any level. One of the traps, though, is a mistaken sense of what delegation is all about.

Helping people perform means you have to spend time focusing on the people who do the task, not just the task.

• Who needs help?
• How much?
• How much is too much?
• How often do you need to follow up to see how things are going?
• When you follow up, what do you really need to do to be helpful? (It may be to get out of the way, explain how to do something in detail, or something in between).

Invest in your people, don’t just use them.

We agonize over how to invest our earnings so that we reap personal financial growth.

When we delegate are we asking, “How can I invest in this person during this task in order to benefit all of us over the long run?”

Or is the question “What can this person do for me?”

Each question leads to very different outcomes. One is personal and organizational growth. The other is a sense of using and being used.

Be alongside, in front of, or close behind…..But never absent.

No one is successful alone. However, it’s really easy and incredibly common to fail by thinking we can do it alone.

So the best managers I know live out a model that clearly shares responsibility. They provide direction and support; their people ask questions easily as a result of the “we’re in this together” atmosphere.

Exit interview downside, What to do?

Exit interviews are a helpful tool to understand more about why employees leave your company.  However, too often employees are not candid during the exit interview.  The major reason is they do not trust that the information will not get back to their direct boss, especially if the boss is the reason they are leaving.  Employees enjoy good benefits, and competitive wages, but often give that up to get away from an overbearing or ineffective manager.   Exit Interviews become mini survey’s and employees only provide the information they need to.

Senior leaders should consider two processes.  The first is to have exit interviews conducted by an impartial entity.  Your HR person may be the best in the industry, but if poor management goes unnoticed or excuses have been made for a certain managers style or approach,  employees lose confidence in HR, management and the process.  Separating employees may view an outsider more trust worthy and provide information they otherwise wouldn’t.  If provided with specific information and suggestions senior managers can begin to look into issues that may be unseen in a busy daily operation.  This process may also identify areas where management training is needed. 

The second recommendation and to me the more important one is for senior managers to engage employees through “skip level” one on one’s or roundtable meetings.  These are performed on a regular basis and not just when someone is resigning or there is an issue.  If designed and executed properly these types of communication processes can offer a wealth of knowledge about your organization as well as alert you to possible issues and training needs, before they become a problem.  Warning: These types of meetings can  never become  a form of punishment for employees or managers.  It also can’t be a session for the CEO or senior leader to become defensive.  This is about gathering information and determining what the needs of the organization are from someone other than your direct reports.  As you gather this information on a regular basis and act upon those areas you can, the process gains credibility and positive ideas become the focus.

Boss or Leader?

Although your position as a manager, supervisor, team lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals.  Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position or role and you develop Leadership by influencing people to do great things.

Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition of Leadership is stated as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”  Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith stated that, “Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.”

Leadership words to live by:

• “I admit I made a mistake.”
•  ”You did a good job.”
•  ”What is your opinion.”
•  ”If you please.”
• “Thank you,”
• “We”

Employee Motivation

I am often asked by organizational leaders “How do I keep my employees motivated”.  My answer is always the same.  Sure, I believe having a competitive salary, great benefits  and a few perks helps  keep employees satisfied.  But to truly have an employee feel motivated they need to feel challenged in their jobs.  They need to feel that what they do in their jobs is contributing to the success of the company, the project or the department (depending on the employee level) and most importantly they want to be recognized for their contributions. This doesn’t necessarily mean a reward.  It means the their leadership truly values what they do and demonstrates it in their actions and words.

 There is no standard set of practices and incentives to engage and motivate employees. Each person is an individual with a different set of  motivations and drivers. Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, identifies three broad levers to drive motivation — autonomy, mastery and purpose. Those drivers can be particularly important for top performers.  Leaders first must understand what value means to their employees, then it becomes a little easier to reward.