ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601190092
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Working it Out
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
Q: Many of my employees didn't finish high school. They should take the GED exam. What's involved in helping them meet this goal?
A: General Educational Development review courses are positive experiences. Instructors understand the problems GED students encountered in formal school settings. Their main goal is to help students prepare for and pass the eight-hour exam.
Dot Hayes, supervisor of adult and continuing education with Roanoke City Schools, says several arrangements can be made for GED review. Regional employers can arrange to bring instructors on site where employees extend their work day to attend class. The employer covers the cost of the instructor.
Employers with too few employees to justify on-site instruction can refer employees to Hayes (853-2151) or to Roanoke County School's Department of Adult and Continuing Education (857-5040). Classes offered by both localities mean both day and night classes are offered at several sites.
With federal funding, the city program is free. Roanoke County's class has a fee to cover textbooks. The exam fee is $25.
The first class meeting is devoted to testing to determine the students' grade levels. Those who haven't yet learned to read test at the 0-4 level. Level 4-8 is pre-GED; 9-12 is GED level. While pre-GED tests find some ready for the test with no classwork, programs are available for all levels.
Hayes finds that earning a GED "makes an excellent employee. They recognize their employers have invested in them. They're so pleased their employers care."
Hayes also finds that employees become more attuned to what happens in their work environment, from safety issues to "better understanding and comprehending instructions."
Your encouragement and sponsorship will be great motivators. The return on investment should be very high.
Q: Our projects are over-budget and management is unhappy. I've worked the numbers and don't see any way to bring things in on budget. How do I keep from taking all the blame?
A: Refuse to see problems in simple terms. Instead, consider several angles before handling the problem. The first, suggested by Gerald M. Weinberg in "The Secrets of Consulting," is your definition of the problem.
Weinberg says that "attaching an emotionally charged label to direct attention away from one aspect of a situation is called The Misdirection Method." In this case, the label "overrun" assumes the budget was correct. The "underfunded" label assumes work was done as efficiently as possible.
Labels result in steering us away from understanding problems. Managers don't look "at their contribution to the problem" when they speak of cost overruns. Staff, using the term underfunded, throw "attention off them and onto management."
Rather than protecting positions, review projects with a critical eye. The real problem is likely a combination of several factors.
Once you've identified contributing factors, talk with your supervisor. Refrain from using summarizing terms like "underfunded." Instead, explain what you perceive to be the real problem.
Your insights will defuse the current situation, lead to better handling of future projects and demonstrate your ability to untangle complex problems.
Q: In staff meetings, we've been told to "think outside the box." Without more direction than that, I can't seem to get there.
A. In his book, "A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative," Roger von Oech writes that because we don't often have to be creative, we develop mental locks that prevent creative thinking.
Von Oech identifies several "mental locks" to thinking creatively. He believes that because we want the "right answer," we tend to "follow the rules, dismiss ideas that aren't logical, entertain only practical ideas, avoid considering things not in our area of expertise or responsibility and we avoid ambiguity."
Thinking outside the box requires creativity - transcending traditional ideas to create new ones.
A beginning step is to ask "why?" Consider every aspect of the business and ask "why do we do it that way?" Follow each question with "what other ways could we do that?"
Your answers should range from ideas so impractical you'll laugh to solid ideas you can't believe haven't before been considered. You'll find some routines that need to be eliminated and, you may find, some new directions for the business.
Try the "why" exercise in short bursts - in the shower and commuting to work. A few minutes every day unlocks the box.
Camille Wright Miller, an organizational behavior sociologist who works in Lexington, answers questions from our readers about workplace issues. Please send them to her in care of The Roanoke Times, Business News Department, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
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