The rise and fall of…everything

There is Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, over and over again, at least in the part of the world where I live. It is an illustration of life itself. Birth, growth, maturity, ageing, death. Over and over again. No, I am not a believer of reincarnation, but I do believe that we transfer not only by our genes a lot of information to our new generations, but a lot of knowledge and social rules as well.
This curve of life is also valid for companies and organisations: birth, growth, maturity – and then the descend towards the final fall. Nothing keeps on for eternity – which of course is also true for our sun and for our planet as well.
But some people act as they do not care about this. They are not thinking or acting ahead, trying to prolong life, making the ageing process somewhat slower. They go on as they were teenagers, still believing that everything will just continue in a climb, upwards. Then, one day, they wake up to a reality that is not always so very nice.
The strategy of thinking means that you´d better think of the curve, from a historical point of view, looking backwards – to a more visionary future. What will be the case of your case in the coming five, ten, fifteen, twenty years?

Professionalism or what?

School of Aviation at Lund University in Sweden has recently leased a pack of psychological pilot trainee selection tests from a newborn consultant company. These tests have never been checked and become corrected in Scandinavia, which means that there are no valid norm tables and there are no statistical findings of the tests’ reliability or validity. So, how come that this governmental ruled School of Aviation makes such a business contract? May it have something to do with the fact that the manager of recruitment and selection at the school is heavily involved as a subconsultant at the newborn company?
The School of Aviation has so far had a very good reputation. But this may decline rapidly if this kind of purchase will show up as a dirty business. Hello there, back to a full scale professionalism, please!

Youngsters of our time

Sweden is in the very top of all countries in the world where young people (between 20-35 years of age) openly state that they prefer individuality prior to collectivistic ideals. They are prepared to take responsibility of their own, but they don´t want to be responsible to others. Their primary goals in their life is to make a lot of money, to have fun, also at work, to experience a lot of exciting events, to live with a lot of variations, a lot of choices and a lot of possibilities. They are not loyal to anyone or anything if it is not up to their taste.
In short: they are really spoilt.
But, at this moment, we are very close to the end of the road, where these kinds of dreams have been possible to bring into some realities. And we are standing in the doorway of a new era with new demands and new requirements. New attitudes and new values are going to replace the old ones. And it is not going to be easier. The waking up will not be so very funny as most of the youngsters will find out that their dreams were nothing else than…dreams.

Employing employees of your own…

… is a very, very difficult part of a recruitment process. The reason is that your own employees are supposed to become your co-workers, and the border between a co-worker and a friend is very thin. Hopefully the new employee will turn up as a reallly nice guy, the one that is easy to chitchat with over the lunch table, beside the requirement that he or she is supposed to do a very good job of course. So, how to perform an employment interview with Mr. or Ms. Nice Guy? I have heard and witnessed a lot of stories about interviews that have not actually worked as real interviews. It has been a sort of small talk due to the fact that Mr. or Ms. Nice Guy immediately gave such a good impression of themselves. And why invest too much energy in checking things up, and why try to force any doors when the outside looks…nice?
And then, after some time, a couple of months or after a year or so there are suddenly other things turning up. What the heck? Oh, if I had known this from the very start I would never, ever, had invited him or her.
I know the feelings of such a situation. I have my own experiences about such dreadful events.
The learning is: do not ever act negligently in a recruitment process, particularly not when you plan to employ people in your own company.

Psychologists, tests – and surgeons!

Just imagine that you suffer from a severe disease that has forced you to turn to a surgeon. The surgeon examines your body, informing you that you have to undergo a surgical operation. You become quite scared and ask the doctor about the risks. Could anything go wrong?
The doctor says that nothing will go wrong because he uses only the very best surgical knives and other instruments that are to be found on the market. You can rely on my knives, says the surgeon.
Then you look at the doctor’s hands. They tremble. On his nose is a pair of glasses with very heavy lenses. Has he any problems with his eyesight? And what about his trembling hands?
Now over to the psychologist. He is going to perform an investigation regarding your capacities and your personality because you have applied to a pilot trainee position in The Big Company. You ask humbly the psychologist if there is any risk about this investigation. Could it go wrong? Could he really make a very accurate prediction of your abilities for pilot training?
“You do not have to be worried about that”, says the psychologist, who by the way is called Professor.
“I use very good test instruments. Based upon my tests I can get an exact picture of you as a person”, he claims.
Then you experience the tiny smell of alcohol in the room, and looking at one of the bookshelves, in the dark corner, you see a small bottle of whisky. The psychologist, who is called Professor, is suddenly looking around the room, mumbling loudly. “Oh, I just have to find my glasses. Otherwise I cannot see…”. “But, Professor”, you say, “you are already wearing your glasses. They are there, on your nose.”
“Oh, yes. Yes of course”, the psychologist says, giggling and laughing. “Yes they are on my nose…”
And he bends over some papers on his table, trying his best to read. “Yes, yes”, he says, “and this is the first test. A very good one. I think.”
The moral of this story is: Never trust any instruments such as knives or tests or whatever. They are just tools. And in the hands of a not so very experienced or not so very skilful man or woman, may he or she be called Professor or not, they can of course be of no value at all.
Be careful out there…

Psychosomatic effects part 2

For many reasons I happen to believe that there is a correlation between human experiences and certain reactions in our parts of our body. There is a very old knowledge about this embedded in our language. For example: you can “swallow your annoyance”, which means that you really strain your stomach and your intestines. Sorrow is connected to feelings in your heart. Trouble is often felt as headache. Guilt is often placed upon your shoulders and your back will slowly feel as it will be bent.
Problems with your sight may be connected with events or incidents of a kind that makes you wish that you would not have seen what you saw. Problems with your hearing could very well be an effect of things happening to you that you wish that you had not heard.
Your body parts reacts on events happening to you.
Am I exaggerating my reasonings about this?
I do not think so.
I remember an academic dissertation many years ago. A researcher found that mental patients very seldom suffered from serious diseases such as cancer. Instead they went totally mad. They acted out instead of just containing all conflicting feelings.
How about you? Are you aware of your own reaction patterns?
By the way I have to do something about my eyesight. It is not that good anymore.

Psychosomatic effects

We have got a problem. I have got a problem. We, all of us, are normally and quite common confronted with situations that automatically lead to frustrations and anger. Well, we are now and then, but not that often, confronted with events making us quite content, even happy and filled by lust. But I would say that frustrations are more frequent. Frustrations and anger may occur as an effect of ignorance, often combined with silence, total silence.
Hello, someone there? Did you hear/read what I said? Hello?…..Nope, no one there.
There are two doors out from this room of frustration.
The first one leads to actions: writings, talking to people, getting things out of the chest.
The other leads to somatic disorders. Silence leads to your own silence. You try to keep still. You swallow. Once more…swallow. Down into your stomach.
But it is not as food. It is not so very nutritious.
In the long run it will harm you, not only your stomach but in other parts as well.
And one day, when you go to your doctor he will provide you with some pills. Or suggest a surgery.
But it does not solve the basic problem. Because the basic problem was not a somatic one.
I know how it works. A lot of time I have tried to reach out for serious discussions, but mostly I am met with silence.
But please do not pity me. I have tools to work things out.
I feel fine.

Using psychological tests as screenout tools

Sometimes there are many candidates appearing on the scene when an attractive position is advertised. Some companies prefer then to call for consultants to assist in the selection process, and now and then there is a solution named screening out of the many, leaving few only for a deeper investigation. This screenout is normally based on the results of psychological test instruments only. I think that this is OK, but only on condition that the tests used are developed and well evaluated during several years. It takes a long time to construct and to do a good enough research work in order to find out if the tests are reliable and valid enough for the purpose.
But I happen to know that young, eager consultant companies could step forward, claiming that they have tests that are, as they say, based on scientific data – and then they are allowed to use their not proven tests for the screening. And I happen to know that there are sometimes companies or institutions that buy or lease tests from such young and hungry companies hoping that they anyhow are good enough.
From a professional point of view – this is a shame. It is very likely that several very good and suitable candidates will become screened out due to the fact that the tests are not yet validated.
But, in this world, money or special personal relations are the directors of decisions, and regrettably not always acts of responsibility, good judgement and professionalism. It is a shame!

What?! Did I not make it?

The result from the aptitude assessments may sometimes come as a shocking surprise.
They did not want me. They said a clear cut no (without even a thanks). They turned me down.
For what reasons?
On exactly what data did they come to their final results?
There are still recruitment and selection staff that prefer to say nothing at all about the negative results. They stick to the No answer only. Some people in the selection business hide behind the concept “time limit”, meaning that they have no time and no space to provide the candidates with proper information about the results.
But I do not think that it is a matter of lack of time and space. There are most certainly other reasons behind the silence. One of the reasons may be that there is not always so very easy to come up with a proper feedback. It is sometimes very difficult. Better then to just keep low, saying nothing at all, but the No answer.
The astonishment will stay in your face: They did not want me – why?
(Just for the sake of it: this is not about me. I have not appeared as a candidate. But I know some guys who have.)

Hunting on the market

Looking for customers? Looking for opportunities? Looking for an even better career development?
Well, you can always try to upgrade your merits in a way that looks impressive – by those who never check your real background anyhow.
I have met several eager, almost desperat, hunters on the market. Some of them have printed “Senior…and the title” on their business cards, even though they are just beginners in the field. Others have published a home page on the Internet, in which they exaggarate information about their experiences hoping to make everything look more than it is. Just as an example: as soon as they have had the luck of getting one customer only they write that they have customers (in plural), and as soon they have reached a possible new customer by a phone call they say that they are in serious discussions with ….whoever they are.
As hunters they shoot from the hip trying to get some new customers on the hook.
Yes, I have met several of them. I have said it before: you´d better open up your critical mind. Don´t just buy what you read or what you hear. You may risk to become cheated – all the way.
By the way I call myself Senior Psychologist, but I am doing this because I really am a senior old man, having worked within my field during….well, it is around 47 years by now.
But watch out for young, desperat hunters! They are not always to rely on.