It’s a delicate balance.

Trust is important to today’s employees. In fact, 79% say that, aside from job role and salary, the most important thing in a job is being trusted to manage their own time and workload, including being trusted to use the Internet the way they want.

That’s according to recent survey of 1,200 employees and managers in the U.S. and Europe by security firm Clearswift.

The desire for independence extends to employees’ views on using sites like Facebook and Twitter at work — 62% of employees feel they should be allowed to access social networking sites at work.

And more than half (51%) of their managers agree.

Perhaps most surprisingly, 21% of employees said they would actually turn down a job if they felt the company’s web policies were too strict.

Experts recommend that organizations avoid strictly forbidding or physical blocking sites, instead relying on monitoring web use and working with managers to deal with productivity problems as they come up.

Also, periodically have your IT folks remind employees that their computer use is being watched. This can go a long way toward stopping problematic web browsing.

For the second year in a row the bailout investment company, which has so often been vilified for its exorbitant spending, salaries and bonuses, canceled its annual holiday party.

Shortly after the announcement, employees received a rambling voicemail with specific instructions regarding mandatory restrictions and regulations that would be in effect throughout the holiday season.

Among them:

• No private parties arranged for employees at any staff member’s home
• No unofficial, “departmental” parties held at local establishments or private homes, and
• Outside of work, employees can only socialize in “small” groups (defined as ”no larger than 11″) throughout the month of December.

It’s that last restriction that has so many people scratching their heads. But the reality is Goldman doesn’t want to be accused of encouraging “unofficial” holiday parties at downtown bars or social clubs as yet another way for bloggers to claim the company isn’t taking any real steps to curb spending. It’s a better-safe-than-sorry approach, but the question is are these restrictions:

1. A step Goldman Sachs should definitely be applauded for
2. Just another small way to distract people from the real issue, which is the obscene salaries and bonuses high-level execs at Goldman receive, or
3. Unnecessary steps that only serve to lower morale by forcing low-level employees to suffer for the careless actions of C-level execs?

We’d love to know what you think.

Source: “Goldman Employees Aren’t Allowed to Hang Out in Groups of 12 or More,” by Courtney Comstock, Gawker, 11/30/09

1. Boil the ocean: Used as a hyperbole like “reinvent the wheel” to suggest simplifying the process instead of trying to accomplish something revolutionary. Example: “We’re not trying to boil the ocean here, we just want to make a few changes.”
2. Going native: Describes what happens when a consultant or other outsider who has ties to the organization actually integrates themselves into the corporate culture, and – in so doing – loses the ability to look at situations objectively. It’s the corporate equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome. Example: “When we first hired Jerry to come in and suggest ways we could cut costs and increase profits, he had some great ideas. But ever since he’s gone native, he doesn’t want to suggest any cuts that might result in employees losing their jobs.”
3. Holistic: Adjective used to describe an initiative or move that will have a major impact on every facet of the organization. Example: ”The decision to upgrade our corporate e-mail server had a holistic effect.”
4. Greenfield instance: Refers to any change or uprgade that requires no training, customization or other complications (a greenfield is a project which lacks any constraints imposed by prior networks). Example: “Looks like we got lucky when we switched back-up servers. The whole thing went off without a hitch. Call it a Greenfield instance.”
5. Running parallel: Running a control and a test at the same time in order to test the results. Example: “We’ve partnered with Marketing on this and we’re running parallel to see if we can boost response rates.”
6. Strawman: A demo, first draft or initial proposal meant to initiate discussions and gain feedback on which direction a project should take. Example: “The copy I’m handing out is really just a Strawman document. I’d appreciate it if you could take a look and suggest some ways we can improve upon it.”
7. Talk to the dogs: Working out a problem or difficulty by brainstorming out loud or verbally reasoning it out with other employees. Example: “I think the best way to tackle this is to get everyone in one room and let the CEO talk to the dogs.”
8. Use case: Past history that proves an idea will work. Example: “If you look back over the past five years, you’ll find several use cases where we employed the same strategy to boost revenue.”
9. White paper: Authoritative documentation that explains how a process is supposed to be handled. Example: “Before you get started on this project, you’d be well advised to consult the white paper on running effective beta tests.”
10. Paradigm: The way a situation’s generally viewed or handled by an organization. Example: Transferring ownership of customer complaints from Sales to Service caused a brief paradigm shift, but we adjusted pretty quickly.”

Based on “12 Workplace Phrases You Probably Don’t Know,” By Christine Lambden and Casey Conner, Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, 4/24/09.

Click here for more fun workplace phrases.

The study, conducted in part by Psychology of Sales Reluctance authors George Dudley and Sharon Goodson, was based on interviews with over 1,000 sales execs across multiple industries.

The findings reinforced that while certain factors (i.e., effort, opportunity, experience, etc.) can definitely impact salespeople’s potential for success, personal accountability seems to play the largest role in whether or not a new recruit develops into a sales superstar. To wit:

• Low performers often fear their cold calls will be seen as pushy or intrusive, while top performers assume their calls are always welcome because they have information that can benefit the prospect’s business.
• Low performers generally feel there are only certain hours of the day when cold calls should be made, while high performers feel any time is the right time (assuming the correct adjustments are made for time zones and callbacks are scheduled effectively).
• Low performers blame poor results on factors that are out of their control, like non-receptive prospects, bad leads or poor market conditions. Top performers are the first ones to evaluate their own performance, as well as key metrics, to determine what needs to be adjusted and how to go about doing so.

The study also revealed the following about hiring new salespeople:

• While a lot of managers make hiring decisions based on traditional criteria (e.g., years of experience, relationship skills, ability to close, etc.), the biggest indication of whether a sales candidate has superstar potential is whether or not he/she has a natural enthusiasm and willingness to prospect and network as often as possible. The study showed that while other skills are important, they don’t have nearly as much bearing if the salesperson isn’t constantly looking for new ways to meet (and build relationships with) new prospects.
• Job candidates who are hired based solely on their years of prior sales experience don’t necessarily live up to expectations, due in large part to their unwillingness to learn a new system after having “done the job” for so long.

For more, check out The Psychology of Sales Reluctance by George Dudley and Sharon Goodson, Behavioral Science Research Press, 2009.