Change of Work - Visionairies arise from Crisis

From Ralfs Junge's blog entry: "Der Wandel der Arbeit – Visionäre in der Krise"

It was easy to recruit, back in the days. Well, everything was better back in the days. Employers offered incentives like a company car, cell phones (both, for private use also), and company pension plans. In some branches this workes today, still. The larger part of young professionals however, is rather imaterial expectations. It is about self-realization and finding the purpose in one's own work.  

While taking a time out from the job I travelled to Lisboa. I wanted to know what expectations young people have regarding their job. Especially in context to the current financial crisis. So I met with some of the youths, quite a lot of them were entrepreneurs. 

I met Lina and João from Daring Project, an associatation of young entrepreneurs, who are eager to create a new and sustaining concept of and for work. Important to them is the high degree of liberty as well as job-security. Just like in Germany the goal is to fulfill a purpose and have fun. You see, the Portuguese generation of young professionals is not too different from the German one. 

However, with their visions and project the young Portugueses want to cause a general change. The individuum is supposed to be at first place. It is about the question: How do I want to work and by that what can I/we do for our country? Every employee, no matter if self-employed or hired, should be conscious about doing his/her own part for the country. And do so, too.

Both see a great chance within the crisis. A chance to create (the) change. Of course, both know, there is a risk attached. However, this is much better than doing nothing. "We got to wake up and help rebuilding. We have the opportunity to create our own future. We should use that opportunity", Lina and João both agree.

I miss the visionary attitude here. We are driven by numbers by now - KPI's and revenue got to be right. But for creativity abnd visions the time is missing. Don't get me wrong, without profitable revenue a company cannot exist. We cannot lose ourselves in dreams, I am aware of that. Yet, we should find a proper and healthy balance, and manage a new and better work quality. This, too, is an incentive. Even a very important incentive for gaining new employees.

Ralf Junge

Part-Time over Full-Time for better time

So the other day I came across this video below, check it out:



The hosts say the average working time in Ol' Germany was 30 hours a week (and I assume they have just seen the numbers provided by the state department for statistics, cause I sure know most are working way more *winkwink*). The dutch accordingly actually work 4 days a week on average with the same pensum of approx 50 hours a week. And they don't call them workoholics?!

But for all intents and purposes working past six hours without an essential break. The body and primarily the brain - and there goes my science-fable - decreases its ability to focus rapidly once the maximum span of attention payed and worked reached or when the break seems so far away. Hypothecally making us then a toddler with the attention span of 15 minutes. This just can result in nonsense and mistakes at work can't it?!

So why not voluntarily work only 30 hours in the first place? Well, your bank account will thank you - not. Our payment system is a mess. There I said it. We get payed a certain amount based on 40 hours assuming we truely are spending it all to our holy employer and are as productive as Einstein's theory of relativity allows. That most of us actually lose ourselves in work rather than in freetime we would have 10 hours more a week when 30 hours a week job taken is another phenomenon. And this has nothing to do with being from the so called Generation Y, X, Z or whatever. Honestly, though, I endorse being payed for commitment and the productive ideas given and created for the employer than for being there at least the amount of hours mentioned in the working contract. Isn't that much better for the interdependent success?

What do you think?

The Five Most Important Things

Translated from Ralf Junge'es blog entry "Die fünf wichtigsten Dinge"

What if your company´s employées come to work each day with a bright smile and are embracing their job because it gives them the feeling of accomplishment and fulfills them? - Unrealistic! Yer, I thought so, too.

Lately I have looked more intensively into the subject of Corporate Culture and Leadership and I came upon this interesting book named  "The Big Five for Life" by John Strelecky. If you did read his book, you wouldn't find the intial question of mine less unrealistic as it appears. More likely it is a question of the Coporate Culture after all. 

Strelecky describes a leadership principle which aims to accomplish a balance between personal aims of Life and Job - these aims are the "Big Five". The idea goes back to having Safaris in Africa which are only titled successful when the five infamous animals of the wild were really seen - Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo. As there are also the five most important things man has on his personal bucket list. The accomplishment of those are ones own benchmark for success and realization. The Big Five serve the compliance of the "Purpose for Existing (PE)" which every person and company should define in the first place. The better the employée's PE fits to the company's the higher the likelihood of a long and fulfilling employer-employée-relationship for both parties. 

For that matter a Corporate Culture has to develop in which well qualified people are hired who will have receive the freedom to figure out how to work successfully - again for both sides.

As written in the book, talented "people don't need somebody monitoring their behavior."  They don't work that well because they are monitored, but because they can identify themselves with their work and like their job.

When recruting new employées already, Human Resources Decider have keep an eye on the matter if the preferred candidate fits to the Corporate Culture, not if the candidate fits the profile of the vacant position in each detail. If employées find fulfillment and accomplishment in their Job, the risk of psychological diseases such as Burn-Out Syndrome is reduced and more energy and creativity is put in as effordt by the employée.

Nothing hinders a project more than a person who has the wrong job or is notoriously unhappy.   

„The Big Five for Life“  is a very interesting book which certainly contents some impulses and much food for thought in regard to the own Corporate Culture and ones own Leadership. It nudges to question a few things - the own way to work, leadership and certainly the own path to self-realization.

RJ

Work-Life-Balance was yesterday - today we embrace Work-Life-Choice

Translated from Ralf Junge's blog entry: Work-Life-Balance war gestern – wir leben heute die Work-Life-Choice

Last week the Online Start-Up Twago announced the resignation of its founder and Managing Director, Gunnar Berning. (Twago is an online project tool bringing Companies and Freelancer together by offering posted projects and profiles of Freelancer.)  At this juncture the differing views of the Managing Board as well as the Investors regarding expansions have been the crucial reason for this decision. More interesting, and shocking also, I found the news about the lay-off of another twenty to thirty employées along Bernings leaving. Considering of Twago only having sixty employées in total this is a very drastic decision.

However, this is what a job at a Start-Up often entails. At least, here in Berlin, the founder city Germany´s, it is not something of rarity. Primarily a young firm represents itself as IN, dynamic and innovative. Self-realization, flat hierarchies, responsibilty and promotion prospects are embraced vocabularies in terms of Start-Up's. It is true, naturally. The authority given is inviting much. Certainly, one can take a lot of responsibility within a short time already. That is surely a great feature on the résumé, also.

Start-Ups, nevertheless, are forefeiting their good image. More often you can hear about harsh working conditions. But why is that? In contrast to bigger companies and combines working hours in Start-Ups are significantly higher which leads back to the shortage of resources, such as work force, as well as missing structures. It feels like working without a break when being employed at a Start-Up company. Yes, it brings great responsibility to be taken, yet, a private life is often something not to even think of having. There is no Work-Life-Balance. It is more likely a Work-Life-Choice. Salaries come substantially smaller than in big and established companies. 

You might ask, why would one work at a Start-Up then anyways?! Well, everybody applying and being hired at a Start-Up usually know exactly what they are engaging in, which is why it is called Work-Life-Choice in the first place. Thus a conscious decision pro such working conditions.

It is everything BUT a boring office job with structured daily schedules and detailed processes and structures to encounter. The real charme lays in being constantly confronted with challenges anew and having the chance to create and frame the firm actively. And this most often within a young team and a great corporate culture which is based on team spirit and a great potion of motivation.

RJ