By Mary Lloyd, CEO Mining Silver
Steve Juetten graciously invited me to write a piece for his blog for the Seattle Examiner. He posted it this morning. He’s a financial planner who”gets it” about the need to mesh financial planning with non-fiancial planning to have “retirement” be satisfying. I’m hoping Steve will do a guest piece here, but in the meantime, check out my guest post as well as the rest of his blog.
by Mary Lloyd, CEO, Mining Silver
When it comes to job performance, most of us would prefer to be in the dark. We see even the best critique of what we are doing for the company as criticism that isn’t fair or necessary. But there’s gold in getting that feedback. Knowing what you need to improve makes it a whole lot easier to work on it.
Younger workers want to believe they know it all when they’ve only had the chance to scrape the surface in terms of being good at the work they do. But older workers can get complacent just as easily. So anybody who wants to be really good at what they do (which is the best job insurance you can find) needs to have good systems in place for getting that feedback. There are three realms of information that you can use.
Formal Performance Reviews: Large companies have policies and procedures that require some kind of employee review, typically annually. Most of us dread these. Try not to. Even if your boss is awful at them–which is too often the case, they are a place to start. The trick is to not let that one feedback session be where you stop.
Take in what’s said, ask questions, and try to avoid the “yes but” reactions. Supervisors are not always right, but arguing about the quality of your performance is not the way to change his or her mind. To do that, you have to PERFORM differently.
So be sure you understand what you’re being told needs to change and then pursue additional information from other sources to confirm and expand on that. Make a plan for how you’re going to improve and have another conversation with your boss about your intentions. Then follow-through, even if you are the only one keeping track of it.
Ideally, a supervisor gives feedback on performance on an ongoing basis. If you are blessed with this kind of miracle, pay attention to what you’re being told. But if you are not being told anything, don’t assume all is well. Being good at what you do will make a huge difference in your job security; so take responsibility for it yourself.
Input from Peers, Clients, and Vendors: You work with a lot of people on your job. If you are paying attention, they are offering you feedback all day everyday. Did one of your clients call Shipping directly instead of asking you to figure out what’s going on as your job description indicates? Ask what made them feel that was a better way of doing it. Encourage your customers to give you feedback. Saying something like “I’m working on being sure I’m as accessible as my clients need. Have there been any problems with you on that?” will both give you important information and create a better bond with that client.
Getting gentle feedback all along about things you need to improve on avoids that “hammer over the head” of being let go because you weren’t pulling as much weight as you thought. Keep your ears open and follow up when you have the chance to learn what you could have done better.
And remember, it’s very comfortable to hear the nice things people see in you, but that’s not the feedback you really need.
Numbers, Ratings, and Reports: Every job has something that you can quanitify and those numbers can help you keep track of how well you’re doing. But be careful with this stuff. Looking onlyat sales figures (or some other trackable performance number) isn’t wise. But numbers have a quick, “snapshot” quality to them that makes them great for doing comparisons over time.
What dimensions of your job can you keep track of? Sales calls? Billable hours? Test scores of your students on what you taught them? Time between ordering and receiving the espresso drinks you create for customers? Find ways to measure what you are trying to improve though, rather than trying to use existing but irrelevant numbers. Keeping track of something will only help you improve if the number relates to that aspect of your performance.
Bottom line to all of it is this: Feedback on how to do you job better is far more important to your career than the “atta boys” we all love and seek. The best job insurance is to be good at what you do. And to do that, you have to learn where you need to improve.
There are ways. Lots of ways. Use them.
By Mary Lloyd, CEO, Mining Silver
Clips from a business speech: (about 13 minutes, but it covers a lot of ground)
Mary Lloyd will be discussing alternatives to the “Golden Years” version of retirement at:
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
206-366-3333
Saturday, July 11, at 6:30 PM
She will also be signing books.
Come! Ask questions, share concerns, or just hang out with some interesting people–and learn more about her book: Supercharged Retirement: Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love
By Mary Lloyd, CEO, Mining Silver
Getting the most out of what you have is definitely in vogue right now. When it comes to how you use your employees to get the work done, it should be on the top of the list all year every year. There’s more to effective use of human resources than just making sure everybody is working on something. If you pay attention to who can do what best, you can mentor, model, and cross pollinate at the same time you are making sure the work gets done.
This is particularly true in terms of the people who’ve been around for a while. As you get used to what people can do, it’s easy to take it for granted and have them keep doing that same thing all by themselves. For years. For decades.
Four bad things can happen when you use that approach:
Assigning everyone work exactly the same way is kind of like using a power saw without turning it on. It works a lot better if you see all of what they can do in the role as you assign work. If you have experienced employees and are not using them at least informally as coaches, mentors, and problem solving resources for workers with less experience, you’re literally wasting company payroll dollars.
And do more if you can. Consider redesigning the work so that you can get your experienced workers involved in addressing the tougher challenges more of the time. Get their input on new programs. A lot of what fails has failed before and could have succeeded with a more complete team. In some instances, it will be simple project involvement. But in others, actual job design changes might be warranted. Use that knowledge base and experience as fully as you can.
In a similar vein, it’s easy to assume that older workers are just waiting to retire and don’t want new challenges. And that they will want nothing to do with the company once they can start living “the Golden Years.” Over 70% of the 3000 baby boomers surveyed in 2005 (BEFORE the economic meltdown we are now facing) wanted to be able to work as part of their retirement. But the vast majority favored “cycling in and out of work.” Can you design some of the work that way? You might get it done more effectively if you do.
It may involve getting a retired professional involved on a project from time to time. It may mean enlisting experienced customer service retirees to sign on just for the peak season. It may mean letting an employee who’s a proven self-starter handle a specialized set of responsibilities from the road. I know a guy in Arizona who dispatches trucks for an outfit in Minnesota—from his extra bedroom.
You’ve spent a lot getting these people to the level of experience they currently claim. Just watching them walk out the door is nonsense. Letting them languish in less than challenging tasks when you have problems to solve is equally unenlightened. Explore what might work for them AND the Company. Think hard about just what—of the work they do now–HAS to be shaped they way it currently is. Make the effort to see if you can keep these people doing what they are good at in ways that both get the work done timely and prepare the next generation of workers in those slots as effectively as you can.
We need to change the prevailing yet disastrous assumption that older workers can’t work very well and aren’t interested in excelling. It’s a big fat lie. But there is truth to the notion that people perform to level expected of them. When you assume older workers are inept, disinterested and disengaged, they will comply with that expectation. And you will lose big time in how well you can get the work done.
By Mary Lloyd, CEO. Mining Silver
There’s an old story about a farmer in South Africa who sold his farm so he could become a diamond prospector. He never did find his mother load. But the guy who bought the farm, who was paying more attention to what was going on around him, did—in the creek bed that the would-be prospector had crossed every day he’d owned the farm. If you’re not paying attention, you can miss seeing treasure that you already have.
For many companies and the culture in general, this is true of older workers. They are a gold mine of experience, knowledge, and well-honed skills, yet we politely move them to the sidelines—and then out of the picture entirely and into “retirement” simply because they’ve reached a certain age. Why do we keep doing that?
I can hear the clamor of defense already. Older workers don’t want to work as hard. Older workers want to retire and are just treading water until they can leave. Older workers get sick more often. None of these things are true across the board. What’s even more important to realize is that even if they are true for your company, you may be causing them.
If senior employees aren’t offered new challenges, if their experience isn’t appreciated and relied on, if they aren’t given effective opportunities to learn new technology, you’re stacking the deck against the company—and them. Without positive challenges, appreciation, and a viable chance to learn, it’s hard to enjoy your work no matter how old you are. And when you don’t like your work, you think about leaving, especially if you can retire.
You may be applauding this exodus. It “makes room for fresh blood.” You’re reducing salary and benefits expenses. But that’s like using a gold mine for cold storage. You’re not really getting the best use out of what you have. And when you “throw them away” for younger workers, you lose a lot that the company needs to know.
Why not be smarter about how you use them?
LEVERAGE WHAT OLDER WORKERS KNOW AND CAN DO. The “old pro” who can calm the most irate customer should be the role model for new hires. She might make a great mentor or even a trainer. Even if she doesn’t want those roles, concrete examples of how she handles things make it much easier for younger workers to learn how to do the job right. And she just might perform even better for being noticed.
ADD A SEASONED PERSPECTIVE TO DEVELOPMENT TEAMS. Get your older talent involved with projects that will be enhanced by their viewpoint. What are you trying to do that might run into trouble for lack of a reality check? What needs to be linked carefully to what you are already doing to be a success? Cross-generational teams should be our “secret weapon” for business success. We think of them as battle grounds. Yes, there are generational differences. There always have been. Effective managers—both of companies and projects–capitalize on them.
USE WHAT SENIOR EMPLOYEES KNOW STRATEGICALLY. Too often, we tell older workers how valuable they are and then relegate them to work that doesn’t take advantage of it. This isn’t a matter of “making them feel good.” This is about getting the most bang for your payroll buck. Even so, higher motivation is a usual side effect. And that, in turn, leads to even better performance. From them. From the company.
TEACH TECH IN WAYS NON-GEEKS CAN LEARN. All too often, technical training for older workers is a geek speaking Greek and a jumbled effort to remember stuff that never did make sense. This is not the learner’s fault. This is bad teaching. But older workers are quick to belittle themselves about their inability to learn this stuff. So poorly designed training stays in place and needed skills remain unlearned. If you were teaching your Russian subsidiary how make widgets, would you do it in French?
STOP THINKING “40-HOUR WORKWEEK”. If a senior worker wants to throttle back, explore whether they can get the essential work done on a less-than-fulltime basis. Thinking of full retirement as the only alternative to a fulltime position makes as much sense as thinking the only place you can get to from Chicago is Cleveland. Explore the possibilities. If your company has a defined pension plan especially, include HR. You may create a part-time or project-based slot that gives you more than you would get from a fulltime new hire for less money.
What we are doing with older workers is a senseless waste—to the culture, the company, the person. Grab the competitive advantage by using them to their fullest potential. You will probably be amazed.
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Mary Lloyd is the author of Supercharged Retirement: Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love. She offers seminars on how you can create a meaningful retirement for yourself and consults to help your business attract and use retired talent well. She is also available as a speaker. For more insights on how to better use the talent of those in the last third of their lives go to => http://www.mining-silver.com.
By Mary Lloyd, CEO Mining Silver
On his 80th birthday, Hugh Hefner said “80 is the new 40.” In an article last summer, Sunset magazine proclaimed “100 is the new 70.” Author and CEO Bill Byham titled a 2007 business book 70: The New 50. The numbers are fun, but so far, it seems in terms of the way we see it as a culture, 50 is still “old.” We need to revisit that. We are shooting ourselves in the collective foot big time.
Webster’s lists nine different definitions of the word “old.” When we talk about “old” people, are we talking about “worn” or “experienced?” Our continued success as a society hinges on which we choose. Because 50 is not “worn” so much as polished. We are throwing away really good stuff–and then paying to keep it somewhere else.
Seventy percent of the physical problems we blame on aging are actually the result of lifestyle choices. It’s not your age that’s keeping you from doing that bike ride. It’s that you haven’t walked farther than from the couch to the refrigerator in the last five years. Excusing our bad habits with our birthdays is a downpayment on a long gloomy death spiral. Most of us are going to live to 80. Thirty years of assuming we can’t do what we want because we’re “old” is pretty tragic.
Businesses who assume 50 is “old” are squandering some of their best talent, too. Instead of helping the experienced workforce get comfortable with new technology, they look for ways to usher them out the door. Instead of building multi-generational teams that capitalize on the full range of talents and skills available, they shove the experience in some corner where the younger workers can’t learn from it. They literally watch needed expertise walk out the door into retirement without ever asking, “Any way we can get you to work for us on a more flexible basis?”
Wired magazine’s April issue includes an article about taking your job on the road–in your RV. It wasnt written for “old” people. But it sure looks like a good marriage of “retirement” and staunching the experience drain. The irony of the current business mindset is that while companies continue to assume that experienced workers want traditional retirement, they are creating flexible work arrangements to attract Gen Y workers as their replacements. The “new kids” want to work when they want wherever they want, responsible only for the end result rather than showing up every day. It’s called ROWE–results only work environment. To offer such options to new, inexperienced workers–who probably won’t reach the level of productivity the older workers have for ten years or maybe much longer–and NOT offer it as an alternative to retirement is painfully short-sighted.
As a business, there may also be room to retain the experience you already paid to develop in creative ways that take less than a full time salary to accomplish. This is a tight labor market, yes. But it’s also the perfect opportunity to try some things while the pace is a little slower. How can you marry new technology with old savvy to get the best bang for your labor buck?
And then there is the little matter of government entitlements. When someone retires, they go on everybody else’s payroll, via FICA taxes. Social Security comes out of our collective wallets, not “the government’s.” So when we expect people to be “old” and to retire around 62, we buy in on taking care of them, in terms of Social Security checks, for an average of about 18 years.
Most people retire in good health. They are still capable of doing great work on something in which they believe, particularly if it’s a customized arrangement. Instead, the invisible wall of ageism goes up around them. The culture assumes they are washed up, worn out, and useless. We pay them to “get out of the way” when they weren’t in the way in the first place. And once they’ve retired, we make re-entry into the labor market, even if highly qualified, damn near impossible. It’s like we are afraid “old” is contagious.
And it doesn’t stop there. Once people start being “old,” they buy in on the stereotype. They need more medical attention. Much of it wouldn’t be necessary if these capable people could remain engaged. But when the only person who’ll talk to you is your doctor, you talk to your doctor. Once Medicare is part of that person’s setup, we are all pay the bill.
We need to revisit when “old” starts. I’m voting for somewhere around 95 or maybe 98. Many of us can keep going all the way to the day we die if we just have the opportunity. People over 50 have a lot left to offer and a lot left to do. As a culture, we need to give them the chance.
By Mary Lloyd — CEO, Mining Silver
A lot of us are lamenting our lost retirement. It’s real. This is not just a momentary hiccup in our financial planning for what’s “supposed” to come next. This is the Titanic in terms of retirement plans.
People survived the Titanic. We can survive this. It’s not just a matter of getting used to the idea of living a diminished later life though. We need a whole new direction. And that is a very good thing.
I’m not going to bother you with how you working longer benefits the nation and brings you more money. I’m not going to remind you that staying employed usually means better health care coverage. Here are five other reasons why staying in the workforce is better.
Not retiring is better for your physical health. People who continue to work stay healthier than people who retire to a life of leisure. Working gives you a sense of purpose. And purpose is good for you.
In a study of 900 aging religious, those with a strong sense of purpose lived life to the end with no sign of Alzheimer’s disease even though posthumous brain studies found the lesions characteristic of it. A study of 12,460 middle-aged Hungarians found those who believed their lives had meaning had lower rates of both cancer and heart disease. A retirement of drifting from thing to thing at leisure isn’t an automatic ticket to good health.
Not retiring maintains your emotional health. Work is one of the best sources of self-esteem available. If you are good enough at something to get paid to do it, that’s strong evidence of your worth. Most of us don’t realize that’s important until after we let go of it. Then we struggle to figure out why we are feeling “empty.” We need to work. If not for pay, then in some other context.
Not retiring means you don’t have to hang onto a job you hate. If you are going to work for a long time and don’t plan to rely on your current company’s benefits for retirement, it makes perfect sense to find a better job, no matter how old you are. But it’s tempting to tolerate a bad job fit or a boss that is literally making you sick in the name of “making it to retirement.”
If your job sucks and you’re going to have to work for as long as you live, for heaven’s sake go out and find one you like. It might take some time to pull it off, but you still won’t be there as long as if you hung on until you could retire.
Not retiring gives you more room to find your dream job. Let’s face it. When it comes to work, it takes most of us some time to figure out what we like. I know at lot more now than I did when I was forty. As you learn what lights your fire, you can move toward that kind of work IF you aren’t telling yourself that you’ll be “done” soon and into the retirement thing.
There are people in their eighties who attribute their good health to the fact that they have to work. A local lawyer is 99 and still goes to the office. But not all day every day. That’s a piece of the dream job, too. Maybe yours can be done from home or in alternate weeks, or using a WiFi connection from Maui. If you know you’re going to have to work forever, finding something you love is essential. Also more exciting.
Not retiring reduces your vulnerability Not working can leave you vulnerable a lot of ways. You’re vulnerable to becoming isolated. You’re vulnerable to having your income streams dry up. You’re vulnerable to having way too much time on your hands if you lose a spouse or companion prematurely.
It’s easier to get a few more hours–or take on a second job for a while–if you’re already employed. People need people and the work setting is full of them.
The biggest lie of the traditional approach is that retirees are privileged to not be able to work. That’s not how it started and not why it continues. It’s a quiet, effective application of ageism. “Here’s some money. Now get out of the way.” Nobody cares what you do and if you do it after you retire. You’ve rendered yourself irrelevant. BAD plan!
Instead, find a way to work that’s fun. Work at something you believe in. And find a workstyle and employer that make you feel you have a life not just a job. Retirement is a bad alternative. Find what you love and thrive at it instead.
Below are some thoughts on this question from Bold Retirement: Mining Your Own Silver for a Rich Life.
Is the next step simply not working? Or do you want to redesign your life so it contains everything you want in the proportions you prefer personally? Are you looking for a rocking chair or a launching pad? A nap or an adventure?
… The Harvard management professor and corporate guru Rosabeth Moss Kanter noted that those now on the brink of retiring are not likely to make this transition quietly as a group. “Having been told from birth about their own significance, they aren’t going to feel less significant simply because they’ve hit a career ceiling called retirement age.” She cites research done by Met Life and Civic Ventures where the majority of the Americans between 50 and 70 who were asked said they wanted to benefit their communities in some way with what they do with their time and/or for a living at this point in their lives. This is only one of the differences between our venerated image of “the golden years” and the reality of what they will be like once the baby boom steps into them.
… But this is a new paradigm and the answer is still in the works. For the time being, those of us asking are going to have to figure it out for ourselves. And since, by this point in our lives, we are all incredibly unique, the answers aren’t going to be the same for all of us. That will be true even when the resources and roadmaps needed to do this smoothly are in place—which they aren’t yet.
These answers are probably not going to be easy to figure out for you specifically either. Why should they be? You might be looking at as much as forty or fifty per cent of your total life span in what remains. What do you want to do with all that? What is important to get done? And how do you want to go about it? How do you LIKE to do things?
These are the more important questions about retirement. The point at which you are well enough off to give up a regular job and rely on the sources of income you’ve secured that don’t require your hours and days is not really “retirement.” It’s just another graduation—like high school and college. Congratulations! You have met all the requirements to be allowed to move on to the next level of life. Like all graduations, this involves a commencement. A beginning.
… “Retiring” provides the chance to exit the current work situation gracefully—usually with at least a partial financial safety net–and begin again, reconnecting with “calling” as the compass for charting a new course.
… For many of us, this phase of our lives will involve more than one “career” and more than one direction, perhaps even simultaneously. … It is also the time of our lives where we owe it to society to model balance in how we go about that. The years are silver because we do good things for others, but they are also silver because we have designed a sterling quality lifestyle for ourselves. We do what we want, but that includes doing good.
For many, that “good” is likely to be on a paid basis. People who get paid to do things tend to have more clout and more credibility than those acting as volunteers. “Work” also provides a better framework for focus and goal setting. But it won’t look like the work we are leaving.
…This is the time to create beautiful lives. Meaningful lives in terms of our own uniqueness. Lives that give those still trudging along in standard career mode inspiration to keep going. It is not about giving up work. It’s about working at what we want, at what we think is important and therefore worth doing. It is also about shaping the work we choose so it doesn’t exclude the other things we want in our lives.
From Bold Retirement: Mining Yor Own SIlver for a Rich Life, pages 6 to 9.