Every Friday we like to feature an online resource that will help you and your organization Maximize Possibility. We've got a great resource for you this week on a topic that is especially important during these trying economic times: HR Communication.
The Resource: Frank Roche's Know HR Blog
What It Covers: Frank's blog will take on just about any topic related to human resources and talent management -- after all, the name of his blog is Know HR. While Frank is a great source of info for all realms of the human resources world, I have found his blog especially insightful when it comes to the ever important issue of communication in the workplace.
Why You Should Check It Out: You might characterize Frank's blog as the Straight Talk Express of the human resources blogging community. He tells it like it is, calls them as he sees them, and doesn't pull any punches - which is something we could use a lot more of in the HR world. On top of this, Frank really knows his stuff and does an excellent job of providing useful and actionable advice.
Check out Frank's blog today for some a great HR learning experience!
Some Selected Posts From Frank's Blog That You Will Enjoy:
Your time is now!
But.... I hate to say it.
Sometimes I feel like saying, "Don't you wish you would have implemented the business strategy I suggested a year ago?"
I have actually said to just about all of my Clients... "If not now, when?"
Now is your time!
Recently I have had a couple of Clients say in effect, "I want my 18 months back! Knowing what I know now, I would have implemented your suggested strategies, Chris."
Amen. If only...
The reality is that the past is the past. Your time is now. Think about what you can do strategically in this down economy - not about what you did not do.
Metaphorically, your business strategy model is a ship or a boat on the water. Your profitability, your economic viability is the "water level".
The challenges that impede your business strategy from thriving (and sometimes surviving) in a bad economy are the hidden and not-so-hidden "rocks" in the river that can damage your ship.
Every business model has "rocks" under the water....
Perhaps your "rock" is a long-term employee who rather than adding value, destroys it. During good economic times, a "well-meaning" company can "hide" low or non-performers through their profitability.
Your time is now... Get your low and non-performers off your "ship". Do it now.
Perhaps your "rock" is a strategy that should have been upgraded a year ago but your team fought the change.
Your time is now. Make the change now and use the down economy as a strategic opportunity.
Let your team know the cost of the wrong strategy and energize them to make the strategy change happen quickly.
Your time is now!
In a struggling economy your "water level" or profitability may drop depending upon economic forces out of your control. However, there are always strategic business opportunities present - even in a recession or economic downturn. The "economic forces" you can control include the talent you have, your organization's culture, and your overall business strategy in a recession.
If one of your controllable economic forces are out of sync, an economic downturn will "magnify" the negative impacts of your past and current decisions or overall strategic weaknesses.
As your "water level" drops, your challenges (the rocks) expose themselves and become serious obstacles.
The biggest challenge is talent. People fall in love with their talent - both high and low performers. One of the biggest challenges that keeps my Clients from fully-implementing the strategies I suggest at times is their past talent decisions. Over the years, I have learned that a poor hiring decision must be dealt with immediately or the consequences will be severe during normal economic conditions and dire during an economic downturn.
With this current economic downturn, what are your "opportunity gaps" in your talent, strategy, and culture? What needs "shoring up"? What are you going to do about it?
Is your employee hiring strategy based on antiquated hiring processes such as gut instinct of the interviewer? If you have not benchmarked the job and are actively and strategically matching your talent, through strategic hiring assessments, you are exposing yourself to significant talent management risk.
Do you have low performers on your "ship" that need to be let go? Seriously ask yourself: "Would I hire Fred again?"
Your time is now. Get the low performers off your ship. Do it now.
Do you have employees fighting a cultural change that should have happened a year ago?
Your time is now! Make the transformation right now.
What recession business strategy improvements must be put into place right now in order to strengthen your economic viability?
What are you going to do to take action right now to improve your overall business model and thrive during this time of economic uncertainty?
Your time is now!
Take action RIGHT NOW before more damage is done.
Turn this economic downturn into a STRATEGIC BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Climb, Camp, or Quit - You Decide
Four Tips for Improving Employee Training and Development in a Down Economy
Four Tips for Hiring During a Recession
Change Your Game Before Someone Does For You
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership is hosting the latest Carnival of Human Resources.
Head over to his blog and check it out for a great collection of 25 leadership, human resources, and talent management posts!
Executive and leadership vision sharing is a critical and deeply-strategic leadership activity that simply does not get done often enough. In short, an executive must let their executive management team know where they are headed and the obstacles that must be overcome on the journey.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with executive management and middle management teams and organizations that have one thing in common. The executive (quite often the founder and or CEO) and their executive management team are not all on the same "page" strategically. The result is frustration, employee disengagement, anxiety, confusion, and ultimately - wasted time, energy, and money. The net effect is lost Possibility.
I believe this is a critical strategic opportunity that must be taken advantage of. The lack of a focused management vision statement is one of the biggest destroyers of Possibility I can identify. The good news... Executive vision-sharing is something that can be implemented quickly.
Following are the 5 most common reasons leaders and executives are not sharing their strategic vision statements with their executive management team.
- The executive does not realize the strategic significance of sharing their vision and the company's vision statement with their executive management team. This is very common reason I hear often.
- The executive assumes their executive management team already "gets the vision". It is often assumed that if everyone on the executive management team is coming in every day and doing their jobs that they must know what to do. They must know where the organization is headed strategically. Every executive management team member must know where the "bus" is going in order to prepare their own team for the future.
- The leader is concerned about the potential of breach of confidentiality. I often hear an executive say, if I share my strategic vision for the future, an executive management team member can take that information to a competitor and use it against us. While that may be true, the benefits of sharing the vision with the executive management team is typically far higher than the potential for disclosure of a "competitive secret". Besides, non-disclosure agreements do provide some measure of protection.
- The executive believes they have more important things to do than share their strategic short and long-term vision with the rest of the organization. There is nothing more important than ensuring your executive management team knows your vision and where your organization is headed.
- The leader does not share their executive management vision statement with their team often enough. The reality is an executive cannot over-communicate the vision of where their organization is going.
Review these five executive vision-sharing obstacles carefully. What is getting in your way?
What is this costing you? Get everyone on the same strategic "page".
What are you going to do about it? Do it now!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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The week of October 20th - October 26th was an especially good week for leadership, human resources, and talent management blog readers. We'd like to point you to five posts (plus a bonus pick!) that we found to be the best of the past this past week. Enjoy!
Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership: Seven Characteristics of Highly Effective Feedback - Providing effective feedback is an essential element of any good employee performance management program. Wally Bock provides seven suggestions for giving more productive feedback to those you lead.
Michelle Malay Carter, Mission Minded Management: Best Intentions Don't Equal Best Practices - Organizational systems are often created with the best of intentions. However, after numerous reviews, tweaks, committee meetings, and the like they are often warped and distorted beyond recognition. Michelle provides five critical questions to ask of your organization's systems and reminds us that best intentions do not equal best practices.
Peter Vajda, Slow Leadership Blog: Why do you Need to be Right? - Dr. Vajda takes a look at the "win-lose" mentality that is so prevalent in our society and examines the effects of one having to be "right" all the time.
Art Petty on Management: Weak Leadership at the Top Derails the Pursuit of Performance Excellence - Art takes an interesting look at a weak form of leadership that he describes at "Laissez-Faire Leadership" and how a lack of resolve can hinder an organization in pursuit of performance excellence.
Jon Ingham's Strategic Human Capital Management Blog: Would a ROWE get the Right Results? - Jon weighs in the results only work environment and questions whether ROWE really delivers the right results.
Bonus Pick: Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace has good news for all you HR folks out there looking for that coveted seat at the table - you may already have it! Steve reports that the economic and financial downturn has put HR practitioners in a position of critical business importance where they can prove their value to the organization and catch the eye of top executives. Check it out here...
A recent post by Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership - Is Passion a Reasonable Performance Expectation - really got me thinking about passion in the workplace.
From Dan's post...
As a leader, is it a fair and reasonable expectation to expect our employees to be passionate about their work? What if an employee's doing an adequate job, but does not give a @#%*? ... as a leader , I don't just want someone that's good enough at what they do; I want them to be good and love it. To me, it's that enthusiasm for the job that separates most "A" players from the rest of the "pack".
I agree with Dan here - passion frequently separates the "A" players from the rest of the pack. The million dollar question is how do we get our employees and team members to be passionate about their work? I do not think the answer is a workplace passion training program.
Passion is a "by-product" of many elements of work being in "alignment".
From my experiences I have found that passion for one's job typically originates in four areas:
- Work that is personally interesting - This makes pretty good intuitive sense. However, an interest or passion for a particular line of work or industry does not guarantee success in a job. I think Wally Bock sums it up best in a comment he left on Steve Roesler's blog: "The discussion so far seems to take as given that if you have a passion for something you will be good at it.
- Work that one is naturally skilled in - We all have a unique set of natural skills and abilities. This might be the ability to create beautiful things with our hands, an aptitude for quantitative analysis and problem-solving, or the ability to read and communicate with people to persuade them to see your point of view. Whatever it is that we are naturally skilled in, it makes good sense that if our job allows us to do the things we do best that we will be happier and more passionate about our work. Your HR Guy, Lance Huan seems to agree. After all, nobody wants to struggle to meet a minimum level of performance every day just to keep their job.
- Work that is personally rewarding - When the nature of one's job is in alignment with and rewards one's personal values, passion often follows. Good examples of this include a social work or nurse who truly and deeply cares about helping others. Another example... An engineer who places great value on the acquisition of new knowledge that comes from solving a complex problem. Yet another example... The sales representative who feels a great sense of reward and personal satisfaction after closing a big sale and taking home a big sales commission.
- Work that allows one to be his or herself - For many people who are "one person" at work and "another" at home... The bigger the difference, the greater the stress. There can be a number of reasons why this occurs. The single biggest reason people are different from who they are at home compared to at work is because their position does not match well with their natural behavioral style. Think of a research scientist who naturally enjoys frequent social interaction working a full day in a quiet laboratory with minimal human contact. Consider an individual who naturally prefers a steady and consistent workplace characterized by many rules and procedures working in a fast-paced, ever-changing entrepreneurial start-up where rules and procedures are often made up "on the fly".
These individuals will be constantly "bucking" their work environment and existing systems. As a result, sustainable passion is difficult to attain. On the other hand, when one's job allows a person to be "themselves" at work, passion for one's job is able to grow and thrive.
Over the years of consulting with Clients of all sizes and in a wide variety of industry from defense contracting to medicine, I have come to realize that true passion for one's job comes from the combination of all four factors listed above.
Essentially what this boils down to - and it will come as no surprise to regular readers of this talent management blog - is how well an individual fits the job. In my years of consulting I have yet to come across an employee who is both passionate for their job and performs at a high level that is not a great fit for the job. However, I have seen many cases of individuals who are high-performers but lack passion (right skills and behaviors, but lack of interest and value in the work) and cases of individuals who are passionate for their work but do not perform well (the right values and interest in the work, but wrong skills and behaviors).
The key is to bring it all into alignment - Personal Interests, Skills, Behaviors, and Values. Improve these employee engagement factors and Possibility will be enhanced in your organization.
Getting back to Dan's original question - "Is passion a reasonable performance expectation?" I think I have an answer. For employees, "no" and for managers, "yes". Please allow me to clarify...
You cannot force an individual to be anything or anyone other than what and who they already are. However, you can help an individual better understand who they are and ensure that they are placed in a position that naturally fits them. This is ultimately the responsibility of the manager. While I do feel that some of the burden does fall on the employee or job candidate to accurately represent themselves at work and during the hiring process, ultimately it is the managers in an organization that hire and place people in jobs.
There are a number of excellent tools available to managers to ensure that they place the right people in the right "seats" on the "bus". Ignorance is not an excuse.
What should you do if you want to improve employee engagement? If you are really serious about improving employee engagement, do not water your money and their time sending them to a training program. Most employee engagement training is what we call "trainertainment". This type of training which is all-too-common makes employee team members feel good for a day or two or a week, but the underlying employee engagement problems are still there.
They just go away during the "trainertainment".
Instead, spend time and resources getting to know and understand who your current and future team members really are. Learn their preferred behavioral style, their personal values that motivate their behavior, and what their natural talents are. Most importantly, make a serious effort to truly understand what is needed for success in the positions you manage and make sure hte people in these positions are a good fit for the work they perform every day.
Improve these four employee engagement factors and employee morale, employee performance, and employee turnover will all improve.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Every Friday we like to feature an online resource that will help you and your organization Maximize Possibility. We've got a great resource this week from one of my favorite bloggers on optimizing your organizational systems and its talent.
The resource: Mission Minded Management by Michelle Malay Carter
What it covers: Michelle writes highly engaging post on a variety of human resources and talent management posts. Her specialty is looking at how organizations can better create and modify their organizational systems to allow its employees to be as effective and productive as possible.
In her own words, Michelle describes her blog:
"Until emphasis is placed on creating people systems that enable productive work, organizations will continue to get in the way of their employees.
This blog is dedicated to creating awareness surrounding a total system approach to managerial leadership, talent management, and organizational design that will unleash the full potential of employees.
Let’s stop trying to change employees to suit the organization. Instead, let’s focus on designing an organization that has reliable systems in place to align employee capabilities, gifts, and interests with the work that needs to be done."
Why you should check it out: Michelle is a true ace when it comes to aligning an individual's skills and talents within an organization's systems and has a real eye for organizational dysfunctions that hinder its employees from reaching their full potential. Her keen eye for maximizing organizational potential truly shines in her writing and I always leave her blog feeling enlightened and armed with new ideas to maximize the potential in my own organization as well as in the companies I have the privilege of working with.
Michelle also has a great attitude towards people and their desire to do their best while at work. She ends every blog with her following mantra: I'm OK. You're OK. Let's fix the system.
Well said Michelle, well said.
So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to Michelle's blog and be sure to put her on your regular reading list!
A few posts that you will enjoy from Michelle's Mission Minded Management:
Living in the Upper Midwest and in North Dakota in particular, there are not a lot of professional sports teams to choose from to cheer for.p As a result the majority of people in my home state cheer for Minnesota's professional sports teams - the Vikings (football), Twins (baseball), Timberwolves (basketball) and the Wild (hockey).
While I am not an avid football fan, I have always considered the Minnesota Vikings to be "my" professional football team.p
If you ask anyone what it's like to be a Vikings fan, they will likely tell you that it isn't always easy.p This season has been no exception.p Despite being 3-4 on the season and in the thick of things in the NFC's Northern Division, the 2008 season has been full of trials, tribulations, and disappointments for the Vikings and their fans.p
The focal point for much of the Vikings struggles has been centered around its head coach Brad Childress who, now in his third season as head coach, hasn't been able to get things to click for a very talented Vikings team and has a fan approval rating of only 13%.p Displeasure with Childress' coaching style and leadership has become especially vocal as of late as fans were heard cheering "Fire Childress, Fire Childress" at a home game against the Detroit Lions two weeks ago in spite of a Vikings' victory over the winless Detroit Lions.p
Last night I tuned into the local news and waited patiently for coverage of the regular day-after press conference with Vikings head coach Brad Childress.p Given the Vikings' loss to the Chicago Bears (despite scoring 41 points) and coach Childress' lack of job security I expected to see the "blame game" on full display amid ever increasing cries for Childress' termination.p
Instead what I witnessed was a shocking display of personal accountability.p Rather than blame others for mistakes made on the field - and there were certainly many - Childress took full responsibility for the Vikings' loss and their disappointing season.p
"There is no one in this building who is happy with the standard we are playing at right now.... Ultimately it all comes back to be.p I'm not going to blame the loss on any other coach or player. I'm the one with the wins and losses behind my record.p It's not the special teams guys... it always comes back to me with wins and losses."
What I heard was so far from what I had expected to hear that I actually had to hit rewind on my DVR to make sure I wasn't mistaken.p
I wasn't.p Here is a guy who most NFL "gurus" will tell you won't have a head coaching job next season actually standing up and taking full responsibility for his team's loss the day before and their disappointing performance so far this season.p With all the blame that could have been dished up after the disappointing 41-48 loss, Childress took the heat and essentially said, "The buck stops here."p
I couldn't help but wonder if Brad Childress had read John Miller's book - QBQ! The Question Behind the Question - on the short plane ride home from Chicago.p
While the remainder of the Vikings' season is still very much in question, I must say that I have hope for the Purple and Gold if for no other reason than Brad Childress' courageous display of personal accountability in the face of such adversity.p It took guts and that is what the Vikings need right now.p
What is the leadership culture like in your organization?p Is there a "the buck stops here" mentality of personal accountability or does the "blame game" rule the roost when challenges and disappointments strike?p
If your organization's culture is characterized by blame, procrastination, and victim thinking I strongly recommend that you purchase John Miller's landmark book on personal accountability - QBQ! The Question Behind the Question.p It has changed my life and I promise it will change the way you look at yours!
Now Go Maximize Possibility!
Other posts that will be of interest to you...
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention.p Bring Chris in today!
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With all the great posts on leadership, talent management, and human resources this past week, I thought I would save you some time and point you to the blog posts that I found to be the best of the best for the week of October 13th - October 19th, 2008.
Enjoy!
Bob Sutton, Work Matters: Layoffs and Creativity: Are you Expelling the Innovators? - In light of the current economic downturn, Bob Sutton takes a look at the rising number of layoffs and RIFs and challenges you to ask yourself who you are letting go. Are you expelling the innovators and creative types in your organization because they do not think and act like everyone else?
Lance Huan, Your HR Guy: 25 Ideas for Employees and Employers in the Financial Crisis - Your favorite HR guy, Lance Huan, has scoured the 'net for the best articles and posts to help employees and employers during this current financial crisis. Check out his post for a collection of 50 great links to help you during these troubling times.
Ellen Kirton, Effortless HR: Commissions Should Produce the Right Sales - Ellen from the Effortless HR Blog takes us to the fascinating world of employee compensation and asks if our current commission plans are producing the right kind of sales.
Dan McCarthy, Great Leadership: 10 "Off the Job" Leadership Development Opportunities - Dan reminds us that great leaders aren't developed strictly in the workplace and provides us with 10 "off the job" opportunities to develop our skills as leaders.
Frank Roche, Know HR: Annual Performance Reviews Don't Work - Managers and employees alike have a distain for annual performance reviews. Frank provides a great example of why the annual review doesn't work for managing and improving one's performance.
Every Friday we like to feature an online resource that will help you and your organization Maximize Possibility. We've got a great resource on leadership development for you today!
The resource: Great Leadership - Dan McCarthy's Leadership Development Blog
What it covers: As its name would suggest, Dan's blog covers leadership and leadership development topics ranging from recruiting and hiring the best talent, thoughtful advice for new leaders and managers, succession planning, mentoring, communication, and everything else related to leadership.
Dan also hosts the monthly Carnival of Leadership Development which offers up a great collection of blog posts and resources for leaders to learn from.
Why you should check it out: Since I discovered Dan's blog about six months ago he has quickly become one of my favorite bloggers and is, in my humble opinion, the preeminent blogger for all things leadership. Dan's posts are very down to earth and offer solid and practical leadership advice that you can immediately put to use.
I also love the fact that Dan has over 20 years of professional experience in leadership and management development and that he practices what he preaches serving as the manager of leadership and management development for his organization.
Bottom line: Dan knows his stuff when it comes to developing great leaders and he has a genuine desire to share his knowledge and experience to help you be the best leader possible.
What are you waiting for? Head on over and check out Dan's blog now!
A few posts you will enjoy from Dan's Blog:
One of the biggest pieces of advice that I can give any organization is to carefully review their Job Mismatch Problem and do something proactive to solve it. I see examples of The Job Mismatch Problem every day - in good economic times and bad.
I see the Job Mismatch Problem in both well-run and poorly-managed companies alike. The Job Mismatch Problem is everywhere!
It is during difficult economic times like now that you find out what you and your talent are made of.
How is your employee performance?
No... I mean really. How is your talent performing?
How well does each team member fit the job? Do you know if they fit the job or are you guessing?
Do your employees know what is expected of them to do the job well? Do you use employee scorecards to measure performance?
Are your employees held accountable to do what it takes to do the job well? Is employee accountability an important value in your organization?
Are you in love with your talent? Do you love your talent too much? Be careful... If you are not carefully reviewing your business model - particularly your talent and the contribution made - you should be.
Review your employee performance before you have to.
The main question you need to ask about each team member is simply, "Is this particular team member adding more value than they cost?"
If the answer is, "no", you had best do something about it as quickly as you possibly can.
Your Job Mismatch Problem is costing you, your organization, and the economy a LOT more than you may have ever thought. 
It is critical that you carefully think about the true costs of your Job Mismatch Problem. The costs of hiring the wrong person for the job go far beyond turnover costs. From my experience, the benefits of reducing the Job Mismatch Problem include:
- Reduce Employee Turnover Costs - Select the right employee and you will reduce your employee turnover costs. Conventional wisdom suggests that the cost of employee turnover is 1.5 to 3 times the annual salary. Make a bad hiring decision and if you are lucky, all you will lose is the traditional turnover costs associated with hiring an employee who did not work out. If you are unlucky, your poor hiring decision stays a while and the two following benefits are never realized.
- Reduce Management Costs - Hire the right person and you will not waste management resources managing the unmanageable. When you hire the wrong person, your management costs go through the roof. Take a moment and ask yourself... How much time have you spent in the last week thinking about employee team members who are not doing their job well or need closer supervision? This time spent managing employees who are a Job Mismatch is a huge drain on the effectiveness of your leadership and organizational effectiveness. Add this number up and figure out your management costs related to managing Job Mismatches.
- Improve Employee Productivity - Select the best employee and you will improve your employee productivity. From my experience, the bottom 20 percent "low performer" produces approximately 10 to 25 percent of that of a top 20 percent high performer. Think for a moment. What if you had a employee selection and hiring program that enabled you to minimize your Job Mismatch Problem related to your worst mismatches? Take a moment and review your employee productivity metrics.
What can you do?
Strongly consider Job Match Testing.
Read the Ten Ways To Dramatically Improve New Hire Employee Performance
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
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There were a lot of great blog posts this past week on the topics of leadership, talent management, and human resource management. We'd like to point you to five posts that we consider to be the best of the best for the week of October 6th - October 12th 2008.
Dan McCarthy, Great Leadership: Is "Passion" a Reasonable Performance Expectation? Leadership Guru Dan McCarthy takes a look at the ever important issue of passion at work and ponders if passion for one's job is a reasonable performance expectation.
Tim Sanders, Sanders Says: Let's Get Back to Work on Creating Customer Value - Tim Sanders is one of my favorite bloggers -- His posts are always dead on, and this one is no exception. Tim's post challenges us to stop worrying about the economic meltdown and start focusing on what is really important to our businesses - creating and building Customer value.
Ann Bares, Compensation Force: Hey Leaders! Communication is CRITICAL in Tough Times! Ann reports findings from a recent study on the level of communication between leaders and their employees about the impact the recent financial crisis is having on the health of their organizations. Ann's conclusions are clear: Leaders need to communicate better during times of economic distress! She goes on to offer a handful of suggestions for providing this critical communication to employees.
John Agno, The Leadership Blog: Your Leadership Legacy - An existential John Agno challenges us as leaders to take a look at our own leadership development and identify those defining moments that helped us grow into the leaders we are today. John suggests that we take a close look at these defining moments and use them to better develop the leaders who will replace us in the future.
Jen Barnes, The HR Wench: Stop Coddling Your Employees - Jen shares one of her biggest management and HR gripes: coddling your employees. Instead of coddling your employees' every move, Jen suggests establishing clear and consistent boundaries and treating your employees like the rational and capable people they truly are.
Every Friday we like to feature a powerful online resource that will help you and your organization Maximize Possibility. We have a fantastic resource for you today.
The Resource: Jack and Suzy Welch's website The Welch Way. Get his book, "Winning". Powerful.
What it Covers: Jack Welch's Blog and Fundamental Principles.
Why You Should Read it: Jack Welch's Fundamental Principles are just that... Fundamental Principles.
Go to Jack and Suzy Welch's The Welch Way and check it out for yourself.
I am confident that you will find their blog to be a great resource to help you on your quest to Maximize Possibility!
A Few Posts You Might Enjoy From Jack and Suzy Welch's Blog:
See you next Friday for another great featured Possibility Maximization resource!
I am excited! Wait. How can I possibly be excited during an economic downturn?
In times like these, I believe one needs to be looking for opportunities and right now there is serious talent acquisition potential in this economic downturn.
Remember, a slow economy is often a strategic opportunity in disguise...
Your time is NOW!
Think about what I am about to say carefully.
Now is your Time. While most everyone is panicking, now is your opportunity to build your talent base like no other. Now is your time to "cherry pick" the best talent available.
Ever see Dead Poet's Society? (whisper) Carpe Diem...
I say, "Carpe Talent!"
The economy is in a shambles. Businesses are laying off low quality and quality talent and guess what? Layoffs spell talent acquisition opportunity for you. Now is your time! What will you do with this RARE employee recruiting opportunity to add quality talent to your talent pool?
Let me set the talent management strategy "stage" for you.
The fact is that most businesses have little or NO CLUE about the true potential of their employees.
Most companies mismanage their talent - especially companies with an HR department in charge of talent management. The result is most companies have significant Job Mismatch Problems because they:
- Have mismatched employee talent that should not be in their company.
- Do not know the true potential of their employee talent.
- Do not to coach nor know how to coach their employees properly.
- Have employees in the wrong jobs.
The smart talent management strategy is to seize the talent. Strategic companies are laying off their low performers who are truly a poor job fit and doing everything they possibly can to retain and acquire additional top performers. This is a rare phenomenon, however. Why? The fact is if you went into a typical company and asked two questions:
- Who are your top performers?
- Who has the potential to be a top performer with training, employee coaching, and encouragement?
The answer to the first question - "Who are your top performers?" may be answered with some degree of accuracy. Actually, the accuracy of identifying your top performers without a Job Benchmark and strong Personality Profile tool is limited.
You may know the "signs" of a top performer but do you know the signs of a future top performer that with a little training, a little employee coaching, and a little encouragement could be your next superstar? You cannot know who your future superstars are with accuracy unless you are comparing their Personality Profile to the Job Benchmark.
Let me be frank. Most managers think they know who their top performers are but the fact is - most high performers are really not true high performers. Yes. It is a fact. I have seen it again and again as I compare company after company's "high performers" to a customized Job Benchmark and clearly see that there is no way that particular employee truly is a top performer.
Why do most companies think they know who their top performers are? Simply... Human bias. Another reason why... Talent supply and demand. The reality is that top performers are often difficult to obtain. Therefore in the absence of true top performers, many companies are actually mis-labeling their mid-level performers as top performers. Many companies are settling for "good enough".
Think about that. How many of your top performers are actually mid-level performers?
Think about your competition. Do they have more true top performers than you? If they do... You are in trouble. How serious are you about being the best?
The answer to the second question - "Who has the potential to be a top performer with training, coaching, and encouragement?" would typically be answered with minimal clarity.
Why?
Simply because most companies have a really lousy employee selection strategy AND a really lousy talent management strategy. Most companies use a "gut feeling" to make employee selection and hiring decisions. Most companies use a "gut feeling" to measure the needs of the job.
Sorry... While the "gut" is often correct in times of danger - in employee selection, promotion, and talent management overall, the "gut" does a horrific job.
What can you do to seize the day, "seize the talent", and recruit and retain the best employees to work for your organization?
- Benchmark the Job - Meaning know what specific Behaviors, Values, and Personal Attributes are necessary to do the job well.
- Match the right person to the job via comparison of a solid pre-employment personality profile against the Job Benchmark.
- Identify weaker areas of each team member's profile and develop a customized coaching plan.
- Set expectations with each team member regarding what exactly is expected of them in order to meet and exceed expectations.
- Share the mission, vision, and guiding values of the organization. Share how they specifically can live the mission, vision, and guiding values.
- Share the mission of the immediate team. Share how they specifically can live the team's mission.
- Manage Performance via a solid software scorecard process to ensure each team member knows what is expected of them and is delivering results.
- Understand how each team member likes to receive their praise.
- Set bullet-proof expectations of Personal Accountability.
- Ensure each employee team member is managed by a competent manager who is being held accountable to their own employee scorecard.
- Now that you have the right talent in the right "seats" of your "bus" it is critically important that you hold each employee team member accountable to their performance scorecard.
Your greatest asset is your talent. Get your talent strategy ready right now for the rich future coming. If you have talent that does not fit your needs, it is time to replace them with current and potential high performers.
NOW is your rare opportunity to recruit and retain the best employees and the talent that will take your company to new heights during the next economic boom. What goes up comes down. This economic recession will bottom out.
NOW is your time. Seize the day. Seize the talent.
See you on the other side!
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
Lately, I am being asked by Clients, how does one manage employee headcount in an economic downturn?
The answer is, "Manage your organizational headcount the same – regardless of economic downturn or prosperity."
The management of employee headcount requires that each team member's contributions are understood and reconciled against their economic cost or burden. In other words, if an employee team member is not creating as much or more benefit than they are costing, help them seek employment elsewhere.
Ever wonder why there are layoffs during an economic downturn? The short answer is economics. A more emotional answer… Quite often people allow economic inefficiencies to continue during good times that become economic liabilities during an economic downturn.
Perhaps you are seeking a more "scientific" answer… During an economic downturn, a phenomenon described as "Creative Destruction" is particularly evident. Coined by a famous economist by name of Joseph Schumpeter, "Creative Destruction", describes the reallocation of resources toward their next best use.
In other words, if a resource is not bringing an appropriate return on investment, "Creative Destruction" removes that economic resource and reallocates it to its next best use.
Think of your business model. Are you aware of any team members who are not "paying their way" or not covering their salary and support through their daily work activities? I bet you can. Do not worry… You are not alone.
But... You better do something about it right now.
Think of it this way… Let's say "Fred", a low performer, is making $35,000 a year but only brings in $25,000 in benefit to the company. If the company is aware of this inefficiency, Fred may be laid off and a new employee hired who has the potential to deliver more than $35,000 salary in benefit to the company.
The problem with this thought process is that the employer often economically looks the other way when a "Fred situation" becomes evident. Why do they do so? For many reasons... A popular reason would be because Fred has been a "good long-term employee" and "loyalty should be rewarded".
The reality is that this type of loyalty is actually quite costly to an organization and the team members it employs. This type of loyalty actually has the potential to seriously impede a company's economic viability.
The reality is during economic "good times" someone is paying for Fred's short-comings. That $10,000 shortfall or difference must come from somewhere. Where does it typically come from? Economic profits.
During economic good times, a company can potentially survive having several "Freds" on the team. As long as there is enough economic profit that can cover this inefficiency, the Freds of the world will have a job. That is… Until there is an economic downturn.
Now we have an economic downturn.
To simplify what happens during an economic downturn we can rely on basic economic forces called "supply and demand". When demand decreases, price comes down (everything else equal). When supply increases, price comes down (everything else equal). Assuming that one or both of these basic economic forces are at work during an economic downturn, the potential for economic profit decreases quickly. As economic profit decreases the ability to subsidize or compensate low performers like Fred diminishes greatly. In fact, the mere existence of "Freds" in an organization can actually bring the entire business model down to its knees.
The potential of a moral debate presents itself. Some might say, "What about Fred's family?" Others might say, "What about the families of those who are performing?"
As the natural progression of an economic downturn continues an economic "cleansing" occurs. As this economic cleansing progresses, the business model is eventually forced to reconcile any and all inefficiencies that previously were allowed to exist.
Another question presents itself… "What can be done during good times to avoid "Creative Destruction" of this nature in the first place?"
The answer is simple. Always be aware of each team member's contribution. Always reconcile a team member's contribution against their compensation. When a team member's contribution to the business model is less than their compensation, corrective action must be put into place immediately. That corrective action involves reallocating the resource internally to the next best use or letting the low performer go to seek employment elsewhere.
Ultimately, how should a person manage organizational headcount in an economic downturn? The answer is simple. Manage headcount in an economic downturn the same way one should during economic good times. Make sure that the contributions of each team member, team, department, and company are economically more valuable than the cost of buying them. When the costs are higher than the benefits, then one must remove the inefficiencies as quickly as possible.
To fail to do so is to put the team, department, and business model into serious economic risk. That is a moral obligation.
If to date, you have not managed your headcount in this manner, it is vital that you perform a "contribution audit" to understand the value of each team member's contributions. Reconcile those contributions against their economic costs. Identify inefficiencies where the contributions of a team member are lower than the costs, fix them quickly or help them seek employment elsewhere. It is better to do it now while you have choices than later when you may not have as many options.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
With all the bad news I am hearing in the economy today, it is easy to get sidetracked by negativity.
Going negative may be entertaining for a moment, but it does not serve me. A negative attitude will not help me accomplish my long-term objectives.
Negativity may be demonstrated through negative thoughts, reduced productivity, playing victim, whining, complaining, blaming, and overall - getting stuck in a rut. A negative attitude is infectious and must be avoided in order to accomplish long-term goals.
While I cannot change the past nor control the actions of others, I can control what I think, do, and say.
I can choose Personal Accountability through the questions I ask myself and my team members.
Instead of asking, "Why is this happening? It is so unfair!" Ask, "What can I do to make the most of this project, today, and this situation.
I can model a positive mindset and Personal Accountability - both are infectious. As a result, my Personal Brand will "shine" through my leadership.
Count your blessings. I am grateful for all that I have now and will have.
Plant seeds of Possibility Maximization. Focus on what can be done rather than what cannot be done.
Focus on what I can do.
The Leadership Development Carnival #4 by Dan McCarthy is up. I just checked it out for myself and can assure you that it is well worth your time to check it out. This Leadership Development Carnival is in honor of National Bosses Day.
Click here and head on over to Dan's blog and check out the latest Leadership Development Carnival!
As has come to be expected, there were a lot of great posts out there in the leadership, talent management, and human resources blogosphere this past week. For your convenience we have culled through them all and identified five of the best for the week of September 29th through October 5th, 2008.
Lance Huan, Your HR Guy: It Doesn't Take Courage to Stand up for Your Beliefs - Our favorite HR guy, Lance Huan, reminds us that when it comes to being an HR pro and adding value to your organization, it doesn't take courage to stand up for your beliefs. Rather, Lance says, it's a matter of doing the job you are paid to do!
Nina Simosko, Slow Leadership Blog: Whenever You Can, Tell it Like it is - Nina takes on what Jack Welch describes as business's "dirty little secret" - the fundamental lack of candor in business - and reminds us that it is better to be respected and not like than to be liked and not respected... even if it hurts sometimes.
Cathy Baniewicz, Effortless HR Blog : Political Discussions in the Workplace - Danger Zone - With the national political elections only a month away, Effortless HR's Cathy Baniewicz offers some reminders for dealing with political discussions in the workplace to ensure they do not negatively impact employee performance and morale.
Ann Bares, Compensation Force: Should Prime Working Hours be used as a Retail Sales Reward? - Compensation and benefits expert Ann takes an interesting look at a recent Knowledge @ Wharton HR article examining a sort of reward program Ann Taylor retail stores where retail sales reps are rewarded with prime hours based on their sales performance.
Bob Sutton, Work Matters: Management by Getting Out of the Way - The great Bob Sutton takes a look at leadership styles, groupthink, and why sometimes the best way to manage others and avoid stifling creativity and new ideas is to get out of your employee's way.
Bonus Pick: The Business Pundit's Drea put up a great post where she outlines her 401-Keg Plan that provides some much needed comic relieve in these tough financial and economic times.
Every Friday we like to feature a great resource that will help you and your organization Maximize Possibility. We've got a great one for you today, so let's get right to it!
The Resource: Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog
What it Covers: Wally covers just about every business topic that is important to leaders at all levels of an organization. Be it giving better employee feedback, developing the leaders in your organization, engendering organization trust, or developing a holistic succession plan Wally takes it on and offers blazing insight into the topic. Whether you are an aspiring leader, mid-level manager, or a member of the C-Suite, Wally's blog has something of value for you.
Why You Should Read it: Wally is a prolific blogger and a fountain of knowledge and experience who posts nearly every day of the week. Even with this frequency of posting on his blog you will never find a "fluff" post that does not provide value to you as a business professional.
Wally is a frequent commenter on other bloggers post and frequently creates a lively debate among bloggers that helps to foster an outstanding learning environment that benefits all those involved.
Steve Roesler of All Thing Workplace once remarked that Wally "lobbed a wrench" in the comment section of one of his post. Meaning -- Wally's insight will hit you across the face like a wrench and get you to look at a situation in a way you might never before thought of. That's the way Wally "brings it" on his blog: blunt, hard hitting, and always insightful -- pretty much everything you could ask for from a business blogger.
Head on over to Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog and check it out for yourself. I'm sure you'll find his blog to be a great resource to help you on your quest to Maximize Possibility!
A Few Posts You Might Enjoy From Wally's Blog:
Be sure to tune in next Friday for another great featured reading resource!
Economics is a science that is like all other "sciences"... Economics is always at work whether you are paying attention to it or not. In economics and in business, there are variable and fixed costs.
- Variable costs are those costs that vary based on production.
- Fixed costs are those costs that are one-time in nature.
Over the long-run, all costs are variable. An excellent example of a variable cost is labor. A natural and extremely sound business strategy will be to maximize the Return on Investment of your variable cost called "labor".
What are you doing to maximize your employee performance or your Return on Investment on your labor investment? Following are Ten Ways To Improve New Hire Employee Performance.
- Benchmark the Job
- Match the right person to the job via comparison of the pre-employment personality profile against the Job Benchmark.
- Identify weaker areas of each team member's profile and develop a customized coaching plan.
- Set expectations with each team member regarding what exactly is expected of them in order to meet and exceed expectations.
- Share the mission, vision, and guiding values of the organization. Share how they specifically can live the mission, vision, and guiding values.
- Share the mission of the immediate team. Share how they specifically can live the team's mission.
- Manage Performance via a solid software scorecard process to ensure each team member knows what is expected of them and is delivering results.
- Understand how each team member likes to receive their praise.
- Set bullet-proof expectations of Personal Accountability.
- Ensure each employee team member is managed by a competent manager who is being held accountable to their own employee scorecard.
Once you have made the employee hiring decision, the next step is to put your new hire through a solid new hire onboarding program. These ten steps are a powerful way to kick up your new hire onboarding process.
Now that you have the right talent in the right "seats" of your "bus" it is critically important that you hold each employee team member accountable to their performance scorecard.
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
We get a lot of calls from senior executives seeking Customer Service Training for their company.
The call often comes from a CEO or their admin assistant or another C-level executive.
What is fascinating is that they are typically calling as a REACTION to a Customer Experience Failure. "We need someone to come in to do some Customer Service Training... ASAP!" is the typical reaction to a Customer Service Failure.
We naturally ask "When were you hoping to implement this?" The response is typically, "Customer Service is a core value of our company. This is really important... When can you come out?" is the next question.
Whoa. Slow down. Customer Service Training while likely necessary is very likely the wrong strategy to begin with... In fact, Customer Service Training is likely the WRONG medicine altogether.
Why? Three reasons.
First... Right Talent / Right Touch Points / Right Culture - If you do not have the right talent in a culture of personal accountability, doing the right things (Touch Points) at the right times, no Customer Service Training Program is going to help you. Period. Exclamation point! Customer Service Training for your employee team members who do not "get it" and will never understand, nor use, nor embrace, nor believe in the purpose of the Customer Experience IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!
Second... Employee Engagement must be high in order to effectively deliver the desired Customer Experience. Again... The Right Talent is critical! While universal Customer Service Training can help (only somewhat) by raising awareness overall, the reality is different teams, departments, divisions, and locations ALWAYS have different Customer Service problems contributing to the Customer Experience Issue.
Therefore, the Customer Service "medicine" must be customized to the team, department, division, and location. If you do not customize your Customer Experience initiative, your team members will "smell it" and say, "One size fits all training again? This is another wasted effort. Why engage? Why care?"
Third... Inconsistent Customer Experiences will further upset your Customers. Some team members will run with the Customer Service Training. To these team members, the Customer Service Training Program will be a "breath of fresh air". They will come back to their daily activities energized and will actually deliver the desired Customer Service Experience. Other team members (who do not fit job well) will be operating as "business as usual".
The result will be inconsistent Customer Service Engagements. Your Customer will "smell" that your organization really does not care about them and commoditize your offerings or take their business elsewhere.
Therefore... Resist the urge to waste perfectly good training dollars to improve something that will not be improved through traditional Customer Service Training. After all... Most Customer Service Training is what we call "Trainertainment". The trainer feels good. The employee team member feels good. The boss checks the "box" saying, "We solved the Customer Service Problem - We sent everyone to training."
If you are truly serious about improving your Customer Experience, then address the root issues causing the Customer Service problems in the first place. Those root issues are found in the following key "ingredients" of your Customer Experience.
The Right People doing the Right Things at the Right Times.
The Right People / The Right Systems / The Right Culture
Now go Maximize Possibility!
Other blog posts you may be interested in:
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
1-866-988-RAIN
