Archive for category Human Resource Management

What are you Addicted to?

May 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | No Comments

Why should addiction matter in business? It helps to appreciate what people are ‘excited’ by so you can understand and therefore work with them more effectively.

Let’s take a look,

Mostly addiction is about chemicals – Illicit drugs are the obvious ones, but the brain is ‘excited’ by all sorts of chemicals, Serotonin, Dopamine, Caffeine, Alcohol and Adrenaline to name a few. Some seem to last just a short time, while others may be longer lasting.

The power of these chemicals is often VERY strong (some more than others) and while in most instances these lead to positive outcomes, the opposite may also true. The upshot of the chemical addiction is the physical acts which come as part of that process.

Years back I worked with unemployed people on Job Search programs, occasionally I could get them ‘excited’ and in a ‘buzz’ about jobs and life in general and see their eyes light up. I would then joke about me giving them ‘free drugs’ (Serotonin, Dopamine etc.) just from having a chat, that generally gave them a chuckle. Some came in the next day with stories of telling their partner and or families that I had given them free drugs, we got a good laugh at the shocked responses they got. After that, all I had to do was say “more free drugs!”

With workers (and yourself) it would pay to know about the administration of these drugs to enable your team to be the best they can be.

So how do you cause these ‘chemicals’ to be released, the right ones at the right time to get the right result? Read more free business tips that’s how. Then implement a bunch of initiatives to get the ball rolling. Before long you could become the drug dealer of choice! If it worked really well, customers will arrive in droves and you will have more resumes from willing workers than you can ‘shake a stick at.’

Fixing People Problems

May 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning | No Comments

Ever noticed that things seem to go from good to bad, and then wondered if there is anything you could have done about it? Probably not something you can stop every time but perhaps limit its impact.

Let’s look at this in terms of staffing issues and how you might minimise ‘bad things’ happening.

So what sorts of ‘things’ am I talking about here?

Negative changes to:

Attitudes
Interest in the work
Interest in work mates
Interest in solving challenges (policies, procedures, politics, creative thinking to solve challenges).
Interest in themselves (self-esteem)
Enthusiasm to work
Quality of work
Interest in the company
Interest in the industry
Interest in customer services
Interest in their work space, facilities, equipment etc.

With this many things on this list (and probably a HEAP more) you can appreciate there are many variables which people can be affected by, some of these can be long term things The big question some of you will now be asking is what causes some of these things to happen, followed by what do I do about it?

Some Possible Causes:

Communication issues – Interpersonal – Intra-personal – Clarity of and or interpretation of the information
Leadership – Too much, too little, wrong sort (power and control)
Management – Too much, too little, wrong sort (micro managing – power and control)
Management fads – Things changing again, policies, procedures, values, beliefs… oh look we reinvented the wheel, lets go back to how things ere it was better… frustrating!
Too many chiefs – Who would you follow?
Wants to fly like an Eagle, but is hanging out with Turkeys
Frustrated by lack of – Progress – Systems – Planning – Politics – Idiots – Resources – Facilities
Work changes – Things got more techo but little or poor training was put in place – more things added to the list of things you are meant to be doing
You (the supervisor/leader) became a freak, time freak, detail freak, communication freak etc… all this simply FREAKS people out, stop doing that
Self-image – team image – High – low
Changes to personal tastes (e.g. once liked the industry and now not so much – liked the work environment and is now tired of it.)
Bullying etc…
No releif from constant work pressures
Made suggestions but nothing happens… or little if any recognition for suggestions or just being good at what they do
Politics in the business, got bad and never really recovered!
Departmental rivalry (more politics)
Travel too far to get to work
Personal situation has altered (break ups, divorces, family hassles) yours or theirs, yours can impact on them, their own is probably more direct
Drug issues (not enough – too much) you, them, others
Health issues

Clearly there are personal issues you as a boss or supervisor may not have much influence over, but the work issues should be able to be dealt with. Make a list of the items and check out to see if any of them can be tweaked to make things better. Over time you might find the range of things which would normally go from good to bad will reduce, a little prevention is better than a lot of fix ups.

Meditation in Business

May 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | 1 Comment

I recently saw some information on Mediation being used in schools. Where it’s been trialled they suggest the outcomes are very favourable, lower anxiety, less stress and calmer students. They go on to say the students have become more respectful, communicate better and have ‘less issues’ in the playground. I then took a look on heh web, it seems there are a bunch of businesses doing it “in the boardroom”.

Anyone who has done some meditation and have experienced the benefits will soon tell you this is nothing new. For me what could be new is using its benefits to enhance your business, less stress, less anxiety, less hassles, that can only mean less staff absenteeism, and therefore greater productivity. Couple that with “less issues in the play ground” and you could be on to a big winner!

The challenges would be to cause your business culture to alter enough to accept it, followed by which method to use, when it would be used and if the whole team started the day with a meditative session or not.

Once the initial questions have been pondered you might start out by offering an in house learning session with a mediation teacher who would give some simple short sharp options people could practice readily. Add a few links to articles on the web and perhaps a handout as a reminder they can pin up at their desk could be useful.

For those who think there could be issues with certain religious types not taking to a ‘new form of prayer’, set them straight by letting them know that very little meditation is related to religion and more to do with the science of holistic relaxation and better health.

Do a quick search on the net and find some simple strategies on how to do this, then follow up with your team every few weeks and discuss the benefits, issues etc to see how it works for your business. You might just get a pleasant surprise!

I get a picture of whole office spaces filled with cubicles of staff starting the day with 10 mins of chill time, following some basic steps to ‘Breathe in, breathe out and repeat…” all to aid the health and well being of all concerned. Perhaps all of this might add to the teams sense of belonging, connectedness, sense of achievement, a feeling of having a unified purpose and a sense of organisational integrity, all due to one simple process repeated daily… nice.

Do Your People Put In?

Apr 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning | No Comments

Do your people go the ‘extra mile’ and add greater value to your organisation? Well why not? Here are some clues to work from.

People will do more, if certain things happen, often these ‘things’ are not too much to consider in the scheme of things. Let’s take a look.

People put in when…

They can see the business is well led – People respect good leadership, clear decision making and planning is taking place and they know about it.
The business is secure – They know they have a solid income base and can see the products and services they provide are of value to the consumers. They also sense the future is rosy because of good planning, use of innovation and the profits not being squandered somehow.
They are respected – People who sense they are respected often go the extra mile, “You respect me – I respect you”. This happens from the leaders in the organisation and is infectious across all in the team.
Communication is clear, open and honest – Keep people in the dark for too long they may not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore keep them in the light, let them know what’s happening.
They know the business cares by… – They provide quality resources, tools, technology, good work environment, good systems, policies and procedures. This of course includes OHS as a given, not a ‘have to have’ add on.
Their work environment is stimulating – Comfortable, well maintained, safe, secure and interesting enough to keep them engaged in what they do.
The cultural values and beliefs provide a solid foundation – At the core of the business, the culture is driven by the values and beliefs, if your team know these have suitable guidelines to live by they will fit to and often exceed expectations, especially if these values and beliefs are spelled out and details provided of scenarios of the values and beliefs in action to serve as positive examples.
Sense they are part of the solution – Customers have wants and needs and if these can be met and the team feel as though they were a positive contributor to the solutions then the results can be the team feels they have a sense of purpose.

Now set to work and focus on each point as a matter of urgency so your people can be all they can be and set stunning examples for new team members. Your customers will love the people who go the extra mile and return with more cash more readily in the future. That can only spell one thing, more business success.

Did You ‘Value’ Your Business?

Apr 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In the past set of nine articles I have outlined some ways to look at the values your business operates with. Now it’s up to you to take each and develop some guidelines around each for how you want your team to operate. May I suggest you hand the list to your top people, give them a head start, tell them to develop some ideas and options and email them to you (compile the details in a group meeting). Then develop an organisation wide set of values, possible scenarios and situations around them.

Compile the guidelines into your master operating procedural documents, begin to live it, refer to it and explore all it has to offer.

Any future steps the organisation takes should be done in light of these core values, then over time these can be ‘tweaked’ to suit.

Now you are fired up to tackle this as a project (even you small business operator…) then here is a link you can email to your team to work with.

And another article on values to tie it all together

Now look at how you bring the various aspects of this together to create great results for your business by taking positive action.

Oh and while you are at it, get your team to explore any other values they think would be useful for your business, drop me a line to let me know via the comments for this post and I will take a look and consider adding them in.

Tags: accountability, adaptable, business, business mechanics, business success, communication, growth, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, passion, People!, Planning, respect, service, steve gray, tolerance, training, values

Adaptable

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Have you ever felt like you should have zigged when you should have zagged? More than likely! In business adaptability means the ability to alter direction in a heartbeat to be able to take on fresh challenges with ease and solve big problems hopefully before they arise.

Adaptable: We are able to take initiative and embrace projects and challenges with the guideline of “Improvise – Adapt – Overcome”

I like the ideas of ‘improvise – adapt – overcome’ I think it makes a neat mantra your teams could follow, and if you are brave enough you will provide a working environment where you trust your people to go the extra mile because they are following the mantra and have ‘nutted out a way forward’.

You know you have set up your team to value the idea of being adaptable, perhaps they might have to work varying hours while a team member is on holidays, or having to be part of a brainstorming team to come up with some fresh ideas. Perhaps it’s having to find solutions using creative approaches in a ‘blink’ and doing it with confidence and poise.

You know you can be adaptable too and value the word so highly you often find yourself having to be more adaptable than most, but then you treat that as a starting point to train others in how to be even more adaptable. Notice how you have to become more creative to be even more adaptable… How will you teach your people to value creativity and explore it with ease?

Quality

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Everyone wants to buy a quality product, they want a good quality of service, they want to see that you care about the quality you provide and value it yourself. After all it’s your business and quality should be a big hallmark right? So what do you do to ensure the quality controls are there and your team follow them, tweak them, create more of them?

Quality: What we do, we do well – We openly explore ways to improve at all levels – A commitment to personal and professional excellence – A commitment to great service at all levels – Aiming to be a highly professional team

It’s not just products, it’s so much more, the delivery, the service the sales presentation, the effectiveness of communication at all levels. It’s the way your business holds itself, it’s stance or posture, it says tot he market place ‘we are quality’.

If you have a quality system that relates to some standards of practice or certification you will have all manner of quality device in place to ensure every last check box is ticked and minimum standards are met. If you don’t have a quality system in place what can you do to create one? How will your people respond and use it, how will they help to develop it and how will you ensure it is being used at all times by those who count, everyone in your business!

Passion

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Perhaps you started out in business with a HUGE passion for what you do, for your industry, for your people, for your business and all the things that went with it. The bigger your business got the more your passion spread. You worked harder, faster, longer until… it started to fade.

Perhaps you were lucky and your passion is so infectious your team became mini clones of you and before you knew it the passion bug struck and they all got deeply passionate about the business and all it stands for. Wow! lucky you! Chances are though the passion may not last and preventing it from fading becomes an challenging task so ask lots of questions about it so you can impress upon your team the importance of it.

Passion: Committed in heart and mind to get great results we can all be proud of

How does passion show up in your business? How do your people respond to it when they see it? Is it different from your response? What can be done to keep a rising passion happen for the business to grow and be an exciting place to be for all?

Ask people about the passion they have for your business, from the customers to the staff, what gets them excited so much they are loyal followers and supporters of all the business does and is. Knowing more about the passion your business is built on probably should be your major quest, an illusive Holy Grail if you like. A secret notion, ‘potion’, concept, aspect, feature, benefit etc… it’s one or more of those which creates the passion.

Accountabilty

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Accountability fits well with other business values to help in building a virtuous organisation. An organisation which people tend to flock to and revere, an organisation they respect because of it’s positive values and they way they feel they are valued.

Accountability: If it is to be, it’s up to me – See something, Do something, take action to make things right – Think globally, act locally – Hold true to a high level duty of care.

Who is accountable in your business? Your immediate answer should be everyone… Each to their own degree of influence in their ‘part of the business’. Who is will ing to put their hand up and say ‘it’s my problem I caused it’… depending on the degree of the problem will probably depend on how much they put up their hand and take responsibility for the challenge.

It all comes down to a duty of care, to ourselves, our team, our customers, our business. To do that takes action, seeing things may not be right and taking action to set that thing right. What things are your people accountable for and what is your expectation of them when things go astray? Now ask how can we as a business explore what’s happening and how can we all be more accountable for what happens?

Integrity

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Integrity is a belief people have about your business, is it forthright, honest in it’s dealings, trustworthy or not.

How is it instilled in your business? how is it explored and developed? How do you do your part to ensure that from the top down integrity is a hallmark of all your business stands for?

Integrity: Consistency of honest working principles and beliefs – Build trust through our positive actions – Build our structural integrity to ensure sustained growth through a solid foundation – We build with a culture of mutual respect for all – Aim to be ecologically sustainable.

Honour, virtue, honesty, trust are all part of this one word and the values it represents. How does it show up in your organisation, what things communicate to people your business has integrity from the words and actions it uses to the physical aspects of the business (from signs, furniture and the actions of its team)?

Now take action to build the integrity by knowing all the small things in your organisation can be tweaked to increase the integrity people experience and believe in. What will you strengthen first?

Collaboration

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

Across all levels of your business collaboration takes place. Sometimes it’s putting two people together to work on a project, working with customers to get a good outcome to a service issue. Perhaps it’s liaising with external suppliers to get products and or services how you want them (on time up to quality and at a good price).

How do your people collaborate, and are they aware they do it, almost constantly in your business? Are they aware of how well they do or don’t do it?

Collaboration: Leverage collective genius – work cooperatively with others – Comply with all legal and statutory authorities – Explore ways to develop profitable business relationships.

Collaboration is like some sort of guideline, knowing the boundaries and exploring the lines and levels of communication so people can do what they do well. The more your people communicate in a collaborative manner the more chance you have of the organisation really exploring it’s strengths and abilities. over time weaknesses and poor skills will be replaced by a more positive approach.

Collaboration as a value is important to recognise and find ways to make it prosper and grow.

Tolerance

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

People tolerate each other, but to what degree? If you have customers who are ‘intolerable’ what are you doing to be able to handle them better, either as a goal to move away from them or ways to make their experience with your business better?

On the staffing side, how well do your people tolerate each other, perhaps they shouldn’t need to tolerate bad behaviour (bullying, harassment and such and should have ways to work positively with these kinds of issues.) But how do differing nationalities get on? and the difference in values people might have due to a range of personal beliefs and values.

Tolerance: Of others, their views, beliefs and values.

In business we have to deal with many things, handling differences is part and parcel of things and our ability to be flexible in our approach is probably key to making differences work.

Take a look at what people in your team tolerate from each other and customers. Do they handle the differences well or not. If not what can you do to show people there are differences and that they can simply be other peoples beliefs and values, they are not good or bad, just different. Then yo will have a great starting point to build from.

Respect

Apr 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Planning | No Comments

I see this as one of the biggest words in the dictionary, although only seven letters long. It can mean so much, be bandied about so frivolously and thrown at people when they least expect it. In business it can mean the difference between things happening or not, or people willingly following a great lead or not… you get the idea, it has an effect at all levels across all aspects of your business, the more you look the more you will see respect at work.

Respect: For each other, the people we serve and the environment – From the way we communicate to the way we act on all levels.

How then do you build respect? Explore it’s meaning to you and others in your organisation first, then look at ways of implementing high level respect. It could be better communication, from you as the business leader to to your team communicating with you. Then to the way everyone communicates with the customers.

How do your actions encourage respect, are you too laid back, not clear in your communication, not clear about your goals, the organisations goals, the way the team/s interact… and the list goes on.

If you value the notion of respect you will find more ways to make it happen for yourself and your team. May I suggest you make a BIG list of the ways respect shows up in an organisation and how these can be tweaked in your organisation to foster some growth. the bigger the respect gets the better chance you will have of creating a positively buoyant organisation, and that has got to be good for the longer term stability of the enterprise.

Your Customer Relationship Executive and Your Business

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from a previous article on Customer Relationship Executives I thought you might like a few more pointers to make the process of building this role easier, here goes.

Your business has become big enough to have a person in this role, other businesses of your type and stature have them and it seems to work for them. So how about your business? The decision has been made and someone has to implement it. What to do next?

You’re leading them so ask what you want them to do and how you will support them to do it. (make a list FAST!)
Get a budget sorted their wage and ancillary costs, the resources they will need on a basic level and then the resources needed for them to excel at what they do.
What sort of person would you IDEALLY like to select for the role. Think personality type, adaptability, flexibility, nimbility, stunning phone manner, highly courteous at all times to ALL other personality types and so much more (another list!)
Where will you position them so they can feel part of the team but have the privacy their role may require?
How will you support, coach, mentor and support them?
How will they be seen by other staff who might currently do a part of this role as part of their usual duties… How will they be seen by other staff in terms of importance within the business?
What access to the database will they have?
What I.T. support will they get?
What Admin support will they have?
How will you measure their performance?
What will your expectations be of them?
How often will you meet with them?
What other people will have to interact with them so they can get their job done?
What sort of position description have you put together, does it include enough detail? Does it leave scope for them to add to the role?
What training will they need – to start with and along the way?
Who will fill in while they are away? Will this fill in person be able to effectively fill the gap and continue in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way or will they need to work one on one with the existing person to make the transition seamless?

Notice how there are lots of questions, stop and ask yourself, how will I cope with all this as well as my existing workload… hmm hope you have your ‘skates on’!

How will you make sure they are not under too much pressure from ‘moaning customers’ and those who want to yell and scream?
What strategies will you use to keep them motivated and highly engaged in their job?
How will you include them in planning sessions, showing them the stats, having them measure the stats…
What control will they have over the various situations which may arise… Feeding back info to staff, dealing with difficult customers (what sorts of gifts can they send)?
What sort of ongoing ‘keep in touch program’ will you let them do, special occasion cards, reminder letters, promotional freebies and goodies.

Notice how what started out as ‘just another role in your business’ has become a major one, and the person has not started yet!

What limit will be set for their budget? Is it big enough or is it a bare minimum “we don’t know yet how big it should be, perhaps we should start out low and work up from there”?
What level of authority will they have? Can they go straight to HR to warn of another staff member who is causing service ‘issues’ or so they have to ‘go through you’?
Will you require them to work after hours at special customer events?
Will they require the ability to think outside the square or is that left for the Marketing Department only?
Do you want them to be loaded with ideas, or a person to ‘just do the job…’?

Okay you get the idea, this role is vital to your business, if you are not in a big enough position to have a person in this role perhaps there are a bunch of people who are in this ‘type of role’, if so how many of the above become applicable to them… Take a look at the organisations mission, vision, values, beliefs and ideals and see how highly customers are valued throughout that. Need to make changes?

So what is all this, a customer service initiative to cause customers to LOVE what your business does. Without this sort of thinking and action going on, your business just may as well fade into the sunset.

We Need a Customer Relationship Executive…

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

“Well team” Said the CEO excitedly “We need a Customer Relationship Executive and we need them now…” The rest of the team looked on knowingly and some slowly nodded in agreement.

One brave soul raised their hand and dared to ask “Why?” The CEO smiled widely and said “Glad you asked, you see other businesses in our industry have them, they say the sales have gone up because of that and the customer feedback has been very positive! We should do the same.”

There was little disagreement that day, a few minor questions, most leading to “what will they do?” The CEO responded with “Build customer relationships, short and long term. They will be busy chatting with people, getting feedback, feeding leads to the sales team etc.”

Any thoughts of ‘why’ were soon quashed and so the HR department had a task, get one, and get them up and happening fast. The big thing that needed to be asked though was “What will they do specifically, how will we measure it and what will the budget be, what resources will they need…” Followed by “who will lead this role the sales manager, HR, Marketing or Service?”

Clarify the role, what exactly is expected of them
What will their limitations be (if they have to make a customer happy how far can they go? How much can they spend)
Did the other organisations who have an exec in this sort of role just have a natural sales high or was the measurement really objective
Who will coach, support and lead this person?
Where will they have their space, office etc…
Does the values of the organisation fit to having a person in this type of role, does the organisation REALLY love customers this much?
Is there a track record of customer complaints that this new role will ‘magically fix’?
Will someone take their place when they go on holidays?
Will they have a support admin person allocated to them to do the ‘hack work’
Will the marketing team work with this person to assist them to get STUNNING results
Will the I.T. department be able to offer suitable solutions for a database, email auto responders, web access or any other I.T. resources? Or will they throw their arms in the air and say… ERRGH! we are too busy already.

Now that those issues have been put on the table, it’s time to look deeper and make the role really work. After all adding a new staff member should add value to the organisation, right?

The Leviathan And The Fool.

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Your staff, the biggest asset in the business, but what if one of them goes astray, their attitude or their ego ‘gets in the way….’ (for some) or what if they just become blasé about things and their performance fades. Both viewpoints might be seen as troublesome, and for some the thought of ousting the employee looms large.

If your organisation has guidelines about these things then it should be fairly straight forward process, or if there are workplace laws, then you will have guidelines to follow.

Interestingly even though you may have suitable policies and procedures in place it does not mean happiness all round, in fact it can lead to bigger issues.

The simple answer is to follow the guidelines and be squeaky clean in how the ‘recalcitrant’ staff member is ousted. If push come to legal shove you will have done the right thing and the situation will blow over, however if you haven’t, watch out as it comes back to haunt you in ways you probably wish you hadn’t dreamt of.

To illustrate, may I provide a story? Thanks. Let’s go back to the start, a staff member works their way up through the ranks and gets to a position of ‘responsibility’. In the main rightly deserved, having garnered extra qualifications and skills along the way. They are lauded by some, lambasted by others who find their showiness to egotistical, their ability to “fall into the spotlight” too over the top. The organisation benefits but those who see the grandstanding as too much start to build a resentment.

Other staff find the spotlight this employee “positively shines on the organisation” too much, their performance against this ‘Leviathan’ is such they feel they can not compete. Perhaps they see the person in ‘Power” as a threat to their own ambitions and carefully retreat to plot a move… conniving politics in the workplace, not good, in fact the situation can quickly become untenable, but their own gains are what they see as paramount. They mount various challenges but are caught out by a more worthy opponent each time.

They plot a ‘fresh attack’when things change in the department. So far so smooth, now it’s hotting up. In a flurry of backstabbing, murmurs and innuendoes the once ‘relatively’ cohesive team becomes some form of fire breathing behemoth. In a nasty emotion filled flurry the good people in HR are dragged into the situation (kicking and screaming), the CEO or ‘other’ is also called in to the fray.

It turns out that the whole situation brewing over time has come to a head with the staff crying foul and calling for an end, but they have played the OHS trump card “We can’t work with ‘the Leviathan’ anymore”. With the weight of numbers and short term ‘at hand’ issues to be resolved the ‘political landscape’ has altered. Now the almighty Leviathan who has championed great causes is soon to become a slaughtered ‘sacred cow’. There is blood on the streets folks and it’s getting on too many hands, hands which at the start of the day were clean, manicured, personable, reasonable perhaps, are now becoming stained deeply.

The good team in HR along with the CEO or other, put their hands up to say stop, a quick exit for our ‘hero’ ensues. They stop the short term emotional ‘bun fight’ but have failed to use a fair and reasonable approach in implementing procedures and policies.

They stand with blood stained hands and gather their thoughts, thoughts like “what have we just done?” or “whoa, glad that’s over…” While our Leviathan leaves wounded and bleeding, he is smitten and vows revenge. Wo betide those who think they can cross the warrior, not fatally wound them and think that this is the end. In fact little do they realise this is probably just the beginning.

The stained hands do not wash clean, and the vague aroma of rotting blood soon becomes an infuriating stench, burning nostrils and causing bad memories to surface and tear at their emotions. Did they do the right thing? Did they fail in their ‘duty of care’. Did they act on emotion rather than logic…

In the harsh bright light of day, our Warrior will stand accused, the organisation will have a strong hand pointing at them with malice, revenge and intent. The organisation had better be in a clear factual position to defend their scurrilous actions or face a force so driven they will rue the day they slipped and went for a short term answer to what is clearly a long term situation.

This story should serve as a reminder, do not take the short term position on what could become a long term ‘thorn in their side’. Follow procedures good people and let a fair and reasonable approach ensue so those in positions of responsibility can stand with clear conscience on these matters, and not be watching their backs every step of the way.

What staff want

Jan 17

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

As a follow on from the series dealing with staffing issues this article explores what staff want, when you know that and provide it, then you will find it easier to keep them happy. Believe me it’s important.

Keeping people happy is one part of the whole business matrix… customers or staff, the common denominator is that they are all people.

To keep one person happy you might find their definition is built on getting a reasonable amount of work done in a standard working day, churning through mountains of meaningless paperwork. Meanwhile the next person is kept happy by having variety and not just being stuck in an office.

So what are the core things they want and how can you provide these for them?

Here’s my list.

A sense of belonging – Being valued by others, even in minor ways can help to build and maintain their workplace sense of esteem
A sense of achievement – Some will want to work their way up the corporate ladder, set goals and achieve them
Contributing and adding value – Beyond their basic agreement, work targets etc, they feel as though they have contributed to the whole business machine
A sense of purpose – It’s not a meaningless job, it has a role to play and they can clearly sense that
Organisational integrity – It’s about security, if they know the organisation has integrity they then have a foundation they can believe in and stand by. No integrity, the foundation can give way at anytime this leads to insecurity and can be a reason for staff turnover
Control – For some this can mean the security that comes from having some measure of control over their situation, it might be minor. For others they want the chance to take control of a department, or a division depending on their level of drive or motivation
They like be challenged – In ways which suit them, not you. For some it will be big challenges for others it will be meeting a small quota. It comes down to brain stimulus
They have a suitable work environment – Where it can be controlled, think about it you spend 8 or so hours a day in the business, do you want to spend 8 hours in a hovel or 8 hours in paradise… The choice is a no brainer right? So what’s your environment like? Sure paradise is a BIG step but making it better might only take a few tweaks and a small amount of cash. For those out on the road for instance in a company vehicle, is it clean neat and tidy, new, old, in good repair or a rust bucket. Oh and the Lunch room, a place to relax and unwind, or a stinking cesspool of yuck… (broken chairs etc.)
They have the right tools – Newish computer – Quiet keyboard – Suitable work chair – Effective other tools

Are there others? Probably, it’s up to you to find out. But armed with this as your starting point you can soon see the sorts of core things staff want. Go and chat with your staff and find out what their wants are.

Now you know what staff what, here’s an article on how you might explore this further.

Tags: business mechanics, business success, communication, employee recruitment, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, steve gray

Dealing with challenging staff 1

Jan 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

This article is an extension of a previous one on staffing issues.

You started to see the clues that a staff member was not quite in line with your expected range of behaviours – their efforts are slow, below quality, they resist some tasks etc. In general they become a pain to deal with and you really hope they just vanish one day and the problem is over.

However the reality is somewhat different, they hang around and keep on plodding hoping to keep on getting away with doing what they do, It’s almost as if no one notices them doing what they don’t do.

Your task is to now figure out what to do about it and do it fast so they don’t start to infect others with their attitude.

Your first step is probably underway, that is rewarding the behaviours you want “Well done with the x project…” but if things have slipped out of your grasp a little then the following should be of value.

Here’s how things generally go

They get annoyed with something
They develop some form of resistance as a result of their annoyance (ignore commands, put things off etc)
Things escalate because they believe nothing is going to change back to how it was or get better (they were comfortable with how things were) now you have resentment starting to build
Finally things build retaliation stage, the issue that has resulted in things getting to this stage spills over into them taking negative action, in extreme cases this can get VERY nasty (read workplace shooting…) On the lesser scale they will do tasks slowly, to a poor standard or avoid tasks and probably blame others

The first step is to evaluate the situation – What specifically do they do that is causing difficulties? Make a list and make it evidence based but avoid implicating others (it can get VERY messy if you do!)

Secondly – You need to figure out what may be causing this, here are some possibilities, note all of these can lead a person to be annoyed with the job or the company and therefore their attitude and efforts have strayed.

Their job changed at some stage and they did not like the change but may not have said so, or if they did say something their plea fell on deaf ears
They have been told off for not doing a good job, in a way which has annoyed them. The upshot is they have resented it and have now become resistant and are starting to retaliate
They see the system as being so slack they figure they can get away with anything so they push the boundaries
They are being bullied or harassed in some way (I hope it’s not by you…)
They feel they are undervalued
They have some personal issues – physical – emotional – psychological, which is impacting on their work
The work has become too challenging for them
The work is no longer challenging for them
Things change too often for them, the computer system, they type of work, etc
The work may not have altered but now they have to travel further to complete works now they become annoyed
The list can go on.

Time to do something…

Let’s face it something needs to happen to “stop the rot setting in”. If you have built a great relationship with your team, you will be intervening early, perhaps at the annoyance or resistance stage. If not you may have a harder task to handle.

Let’s work on this in my next article on this issue.

Dealing with challenging staff 2

Jan 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Leading on from the other post on this topic. You want to deal with the staff member who is causing some grief (or could be about to) how do you go about intervening to find out what you need to know. The big thing is to get them onside so they will want to chat to you about the issue with ease, the last thing you want is for them to later on suggest they were under some form of duress, caused by you in the questioning phase!

The aim is to have a staff member who is relaxed about you chatting with them, so you can keep them onside and willing to discuss issues rather than some adversarial situation they can get annoyed about.

Here are a few points to consider;

You are aiming to make an assessment not a judgement – There is a difference, assessing the situation means researching and working the facts, judging may well mean you could start off on an accusatory footing. Aim to get solid facts first.
Avoid cornering or accusing them – They may deny anything, then you will be in a harder place trying to get information as they withdraw and may start to lay blame or justify their position – Think about if you would like to be cornered and how you might respond
Keep things open and honest – You want them to feel as though they can readily and easily relate the information you want with no pressure, lies or any form of creative avoidance
Ask “Is it okay if we have a chat about work…” – This way you will have a good chance of getting their permission to chat about the issue/s. Avoid asking “So how’s work going” this can set them up to say “Ok… why” and then be on the defensive
Try the research method – “I’m chatting to a range of staff about things to do with the business, ideas for improvements, how people are going, that sort of thing. Can I do some research with you?” – This can give you permission to ask questions about the business and related info
Spend some time with them – This may not be suitable in every situation, but perhaps you can spend some time with them “on the road”, meet them on site, or perhaps sit with them for a while in their workspace (maybe chatting about a specific task to begin with.)
Make it happen fast – Once you have suggested you want to catch up, make sure you avoid dragging things on, this can cause unnecessary worry all round.
Take good notes – Leaving this part until later can be a trail fraught with danger, collect facts, not hearsay and allegations. Feel free to read back the details and see if they agree with what you jotted down. Consider asking them if they want a copy.

Now that you have set up the chance to have a chat, what will you say? Well it’s going to depend a bit on the angle you take I guess, personally I favour the research method.

Give them the chance to say nothing! – Somewhere in the opening questions if you can throw this in it can be very useful, “Feel free not to say anything if you wish, it’s up to you” this takes the pressure off straight away and allows them the option to avoid things, chances are they will actually switch on internally and answer practically any question you pose to them.
Begin with some easy things – “if they have a new vehicle, “So how’s the new vehicle going, one of the other guys is not sure about his…” or “This last six months has been really busy/quiet how has that been for you?”
Look for lead ins – They answer one question and it leads on to another that fits well to you finding out more, or causing them to open up more.
Stack questions – Putting together a bunch of questions in one hit can cause the person to start talking and not stop for a long while – basically you set their brain firing on a range of questions and they just start to respond. It could start like this…”We have been busy this past month don’t you think, It has been for me, and then the summer kicked in and we had those orders come from the retailers, do you think the upgrade to the computer helped with at or was it just me that thought it struggled, anyway… That’s not what I wanted to ask really… any how, what’s been happening in your area?” – With practice you can stack questions with ease and sit back for a while and get more than just yes’s or no’s to your key question/s
Work from their viewpoint – How do you see things… how do things feel for you… what do you believe is happening… Do things sound ok from your end? This works from an old American Indian saying of “Walk for a while in the other person’s Moccassions” this can then allow you to get their perspective and may lead you into more of the right questions and or give you some empathy for their viewpoint. It may also give you the real reason they are doing what they do, rather than some smoke screen cover up.
Small talk can be useful but… – For some people using small talk to lead in to a conversation is normal, easy and very useful, for others however it can be a slippery slide to disaster, with the other person smelling a rat very fast, putting them on the defensive. Know your people, so you can craft your approach to fit to their needs and situation, use small talk for those that do and avoid it for those that don’t use it.
What’s your biggest challenge and why? – Sit and listen carefully after you ask this one, and ask it only when you are sure you have a measure of trust with them. If they ask for clarification about the question “Personal or professional challenges?” then you are getting closer to the real question, it can get more specific after that as well and perhaps you can use that to your advantage to clarify more questions with details.
Feed it back to them – Sometimes you can read info back to people to clarify what was said, any points they disagree with you can modify to suit. This is the best time to clarify things while things are still fresh in both parties heads.
Ask them for answers – “Our chat has identified a bunch of things, if you could solve these challenges, what would you do?” Then sit and listen carefully, you may get some great answers to some big issues, but let them have the chance to respond. Often people will start out by saying “I don’t know…” Then launch into “Well what I would do is…” then take great notes as they unload.

Now you have some solid starting points for your intervention, hopefully you will get some great information to work with, their views, their reasons why or why not and the chance to provide some answers, hopefully all of which was done with minimal hassle and discomfort. Your next step will probably be to act on your findings, that could raise a whole bunch of other issues for us to explore another time.

Has all of this caught your interest? Well it should and to really get a handle on things consider this, what do your staff really want? find out in the next article, what staff want.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, communication, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, steve gray

How team training can fail

Nov 28

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People! | No Comments

As much as I love training people, I have to say most team based training seems to be an out and out fail. Here’s why…

Team exercises – Most people hate the ‘team building’ exercises, then they get into it and like it and then realise there was low ongoing value, but they had a break from work, they just tell the boss it was ok.
We are a team already – if there are challenges, forcing us to do something about it might just annoy us further. Perhaps HR should have hired decent new team members in the first place! It’s their fault. – Sometimes the way to change things is easier than having people out on a team building exercise, perhaps a series of chats from their ‘coach’ or team leader (same thing) is enough to find an elegant solution or raise awareness of issues.
Take me away – Taking me away for the weekend to a conference, seminar might seem nice and a big commitment from the company to show it cares, but if it’s my family time, forget it, I will probably just resent it for the first part of the event if not all of the event – Doing it in work time may look like I am getting out of work, but Most will figure that the work does not go away and it might just create more stress.
Spend the training $$ – I put down we need to do some team building exercises, because usually they are fun, and hey you’re the one allocating the training $$ and if we don’t spend it we lose it. If they are going to do training they want to have a good time and hey, if push comes to shove they might be able to justify it.
What team issues? – What else in the organisation might be causing the supposed ‘team issue’? Could it be a lack of Leadership, direction, adherence to Co guidelines etc… – There is an old saying that says “Resistance builds first, followed by resentment and finally retaliation” when things start to go astray start asking what’s causing people to become resistant to things in the first place? Then work on that, well before resentment leads to retaliation!
As a team leader, someone from ‘above’ says we need to do this, why wasn’t I consulted… – see resistance, resentment, and retaliation!
Does it pay? - A program scheduled over a number of sessions takes people out of a productive work environment and the $$ invested better come back in increased productivity fast. Chances are the $$ return will take a while no matter what the program time frame, even then there are no guarantees, so any benefit may fade over time, just in time for the next team building exercise!
Programs that create tight knit teams seem to adversely effect the productivity, what gives with that! – Simply put if people get on really well together they start to care on a deep level, before long they are a closely connected group, they worry together, laugh together, share lots of things together, how on earth do they find time to work!

Please understand I see training as a vital part of successful business operations, just that it needs to be relevant, useful and valued in general. If it annoys people and they can’t appreciate the value readily, you might do better to direct the training $$ into other areas.

Tags: buisness training fail, business, business mechanics, business success, communication, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, steve gray, team building, team fail, training

Staff… When do you know?

Oct 18

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | 2 Comments

You have a fine team of people working for you with you. You know each other fairly well, they do the right thing by the organisation, and you hope the organisation does good things by them too. Then one day things aren’t what you think they are, but it took you a while to notice. Perhaps it’s all of a sudden, perhaps it has taken a while to creep in, but you now have a challenge to face.

Perhaps there were some clues, lets run through a possible range.

They start taking more days off, they pull the usual excuses
They communicate less
They might seem grumpy
Their work is shoddy but has gone under the radar
Perhaps they are a bit short tempered these days…
Others start telling you about these things but you have been a bit busy to notice
They don’t take on new tasks like they used to
They find creative ways to avoid doing tasks, or they just avoid some tasks.
Younger staff are able to show them up, with ease

Over a bit more time something happens, something you maybe didn’t see coming, maybe something tragic.

Perhaps they just say they have had enough and move on, perhaps they just decide to go part time and start to fade off the radar.

But what’s really happening? It could be lots of things…

They have grown to hate the job
The job has changed – Technology – People – Systems
Taking on more than they used to be able to cope with in the job and it leads to mistakes
They have a death in the family and it hits them hard but they don’t let on
They are challenged by new things but this pushes them over the threshold just that bit too much
They have personal challenges
Mental health issues (minor – major)
Becoming overwhelmed by too many things which build up and take their toll. (Personal and professional).

It could be a range of other things too, I’m sure you will soon think of your own list.

The outcomes can be very serious, and often people will say “We didn’t see that coming” Hopefully however it’s not serious and they just need a break. Long service leave is one of those things which I believe is there for a very good reason and people need more than their annual holidays and the ‘personal health day off’

The challenge however is figuring out what to do for people in these situations and although it would be great to be able to prevent the situation happening in the first place, it’s not always that easy.

I’m sure many in smaller businesses will say “I hope it doesn’t happen in my business, I wouldn’t know how to deal with any of that.”

Dealing with it if it comes as a shock is tricky, but if it comes up as a regular ‘minor’ thing you might become a bit ‘ho hum, here we go again’. Lets hope you get to see it coming and sit down and have the time to think things over to see how you might assist your work colleague to make it through a challenging time.

Focus on the positive – They might just see the negative (maybe you too), but perhaps they are missing the good things about the job, their skills and abilities perhaps explore these along the way
You work with them to make a list of the things which bother them in the workplace then develop a plan of action to assist them to overcome the challenges, one by one
You chat a bit more in depth with them about personal issues and discuss what they might see as possible solutions (start out by asking if they want a solution…. you could be surprised!)
Brainstorm with them or their team to come up with ideas
Cut them some slack – But ask RU okay? At some stage to monitor the situation
Give them a fresh challenge which has some fun in it, or you know they really enjoy that type of challenge
Refer them to someone professional who will willingly chat to them in a way they feel comfortable
Give them a ‘work break’ perhaps it’s a time off work at work, where they get pampered during work time at work’s expense, just because you can… It may be you send them to play golf that day. Pick something you know they love to do and let them do it (not as a reward, but as a break from usual duties, a chance to cool off perhaps).
Tell them to take their long service leave - They may well need it if they have been just working for work sake.
Do a training audit and send them to be better trained in an area they need help with

There’s a whole lot more I am sure you can add. One things for sure though, make sure you can identify when it’s going to happen, preferably before it happens so you can plan to deal with it in a way which keeps everyone happy. Here’s a lead on article to help you go the next step.

Tags: long service leave, mental health, steve gray, your staff and you

Making your staff pay…

Aug 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | 2 Comments

What your employees earn for the organisation needs to be more than what you pay them, but how much? There are costs to cover having employees, so it makes sense to earn more than just what they cost the organisation.

In some organisations they seem to have no idea how much value their people add to the organisation, so lets have a think about the issue.

Let’s look at a range of costs and how it all adds up (their wages while they are on holidays and wages for a person who may replace them, as well as superannuation, insurance etc).

How much?

If we work on a figure of $800 per week that’s nearly $42,000 pa. Here are the ‘hidden costs’.

- 4 weeks wages for a fill in employee while the other is on holidays $6,400

- 1 week personal leave $800

- Superannuation @ 9% pa $3,700

- Workers compensation Insurance $300

- Payroll tax @ 5% $2,100

- Training and development or uniforms and ‘tools’ $2,500

- Incentives and bonuses $1,500

- Accumulated P/A savings to cover 10 yr long service leave $960

- Accumulated P/A savings to cover the other worker on 10 yr leave $960

TOTAL: $19,220

That’s just under half of the annual wage so they need to be earning the organisation a total of AT LEAST $61,200 to pay their way and cover their costs.

Let’s break it down further, on average it’s suggested out of a whole year people only work 220 days so that makes it $324 per day or $40.45 per hour. If you take into account ‘slack or down time’ (it’s raining, they are waiting for supplies, not feeling too well, angry at the boss for spending time reading business articles.) then that figure could readily go up.

For some of our readers they will know this hourly figure intimately and they will have their employees earning solidly above the basic level so they know they can cover longer term costs and thrive readily.

The thing is though, now you have some starting points to work with how will you change things in your business to make sure your business covers its costs, makes a profit and you come out smiling with lower stress levels?

Your culture is showing… so who looks after it?

Jul 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 4 Comments

In your business, the culture is determined by a number of things, but getting it to develop and not go sour is vital… So who looks after it?

If you are a small business then you’re the person handing it (along with everything else) but if you have a HR person then they should be poised to provide services in this area.

Often people see the HR function as, recruit – select – payroll – rostering – ohs – industrial relations. Clearly however there is more and loosely put it’s about staff well being – Training and development, induction programs, skills updates, policies and procedures, performance management and lastly our topic, working the culture – In short the internal relationships and the things that make them go well.

So the HR team looks after the culture… (ask about that next time you interview a person for a role in HR and see their response…) But what is ‘it’ that they have to tweak to make it work?

Basically it’s about behaviour adjustment, (to match to the organisations culture) but before that happens the HR team need to figure out if anything needs to be adjusted (an ecology check), assessing the current situation and looking for ‘gaps’ or areas of ‘risk’ which are or could become an issue, they need to understand and figure out ways to develop internal relationships so they can know the who, how, why, what and where of what needs adjusting.

Then they need to plan ways to tweak the culture so it’s healthier and can stay that way. If you look at organizational culture in this way, your team should be able to develop a sure fire development plan which is based not just on developing role based skills and abilities but enhancing the philosophical, intellectual and emotional intelligence of the team too. E.g. a leader may need to have more ‘people’ skills to be more effective in their role, so a program which allows better ‘reading’ of people and explore what makes them tick, might be useful, yet not something which may be directly business related when you look for courses or workshops to develop these skills.

If the first step is an assessment of the team culture, the second step is developing a program which explores and develops all relevant aspects of the analysis.

Perhaps the program is a series of information sheets – a revamp of the organization’s value statement – a new section in the induction program – and or new Key Performance Indicators – or a more personal development based approach to training and development. Let’s not forget it may also be an adjustment to the physical aspects of the business, colours, furnishings and the like can have a huge bearing on how staff perceive a business and therefore relate and respond to the environment.

Whatever approach you take to the notion of developing your business culture, you should give it due concern, the positive flow on effects can make a big difference to the way things happen in your business.

Remember this little statement… (thanks Tom P)

Excellence, always! If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when?

Business culture – Some more points

Jul 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | 3 Comments

Your team fits to the culture of the organisation, some because they have to (mortgages and other commitments), some because they want to (they love the job no matter what their commitments are).

Your aim as a business person should be to make the workplace culture brilliant so the team WANT to be there and readily go the extra mile because it’s the right thing to do, not because things are a have to…

It’s a lot about creating an environment where people get things to feel right, where they get a ‘sense’ that things are good. Let’s start with that.

Your team has a sense of…

Belonging – In the work you do and the team you are part of, if you belong you will feel a greater sense of esteem, people like to be with people they like and if they readily fit because they were chosen not just for their skills and abilities but also for their team fit then all the better.
Connectedness – To the people they work with, to the culture of the organisation, to the customers and the overall service and product the organisation provides. It can also take in the broader community with support for groups who do broader works in the community to assist others (Good corporate citizenship).
Achievement – A sense of achievement can be a great boost to all. In your organisation what gets measured and how do the staff know ‘where they are at’ in the scheme of things, are they meeting quotas? Are they being valued for input? Do they feel like they are part of a team who wants to achieve more… All of these are vital and it’s up to you to see that the team can have a sense of achievement. Stuck for ways to measure this? Just ask the team you will soon get a bunch of ideas for things to measure.
Contribution and value adding – Do you or your organisation value the contributions of your team? Do the team readily put ideas forward for your consideration? What do you have in place to get the ideas going in your workplace… a suggestion box might seem like a great start but really you might have to ‘kick start’ a few idea development sessions to brainstorm options… but don’t let it stop there!
Purpose – What is the purpose of your organisation? Those mission and vision statements along with value statements and the like can be a great bonus to people fitting to the purpose of your organisation – It’s probably a great interview question to ask “What do you know about our organisational purpose?”
Being valued by others – Do others value the people in the team, their contribution, their personality fit, their communication style? If not why not and what can be done to alter that?
Organisational integrity – The structural integrity of the organisation is a big factor to people feeling secure and stable in the business. If the business is stable then the team will feel it too and before you know it they will ‘go deeper’ and look at other internal organisational issues (often subconsciously) from the processes to cause things to flow in the organisation to the robustness of systems and hierarchies and connections. It’s a big area to explore… Just like you should not build a business on a poor physical foundation so to the psychological and philosophical foundations they have to work with.
Leadership – No lead, no direction, from the people to the plans and strategies they have in place to achieve more and create even greater security for all in the team.
Safety – Last but certainly not least. If the above points add to a sense of safety that’s great, but the physical side of safety is VITAL and will assist the above points to come together, esp these days with a greater focus on softer issues, such as workplace bullying and its prevention.
Security – The organisation provides a profitable income for itself and the team are aware they are part of a sustainable and solid organisation which is able to ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ various challenges it may face along the way. Physical security is clearly an issue as well so the team can feel comfortable in the knowledge harm is either eliminated or minimised.

Did you think that business culture was not important? Hope fully now you realise how it’s EVERYTHING in your organisation, without it you may as well throw money out the window, it’s quicker than watching a business fail a long slow death simply because your team had a sense of things not going quite how they should…

Tags: business, business culture, business success, communication, culture, HR, hr leadership, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, training, your business culture

Your business culture needs work

Jun 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 3 Comments

When you want a new staff member to ‘fit in’ you generally go for a good culture fit when you interview them. Usually this means the recruits actions and thoughts fit well with the rest of the team and the way they do things, their patterns of behaviour. It makes sense to do that, however what if you want things to change in your organisation… perhaps more growth, explore new markets, push some boundaries. Then things might be different.

Consider the role of a senior member of staff, perhaps a person in a strategic planning or Human Resource Development role. Your aim may well be to push some boundaries and open the playing field up to new ideas and options. In that case you may want a person with a different approach or cultural fit to the rest. This then raises questions about the type of cultural differences and skill sets you might want to have with this type of recruit.

How will you decide what culture and skill sets you require? That depends on the role and how much of a ‘shift’ you want to create in the system. Clearly if you go for a person who is totally different in their interests, values and beliefs to the rest of the team, you may end up with a situation where the gap between your current culture and your ‘imposed’ one is too great to sustain for any length of time. I liken it to a bridge trying to span a distance which is too great for the structure to hold for long, eventually it fails.

Your new cultural direction should consider the following points.

The change should be different enough from the existing situation but still maintain structural integrity.
Creative approaches or not? – if the existing culture requires stimulus to get it moving then a more creative skill set can do just that.
If the growth pattern of the enterprise is stagnant then a more profit driven or sales oriented person can add value.
Managing the change might need extra effort on the part of the HR dept, supervisors and team leaders to oversee the new direction.
Is this culture re-shuffle a part of an ongoing strategic plan? – If so it will probably fit with a core value of innovation. With that underpinning the new approach, the team should see the benefits this will bring for the longer term.
Although a different cultural fit might be the main aim it doesn’t mean the core organisational values need to be ignored, in fact they are probably going to be strengthened by this new approach as terms such as respect – innovation and service get a bigger airing and may be explored at a deeper level.

Like anything changes to a business need to take into consideration various factors before being implemented but the above cultural development points might be a good starting point to consider.

Inspire the Team

May 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People! | 1 Comment

Are you inspiring your people?

Are they waiting for you to inspire them? Did you aim to inspire before they even started with your company…

Imagine a new employee getting a letter and a gift before starting with a new company… This way you can set up a positive position with that person before they start. The gift? A simple congratulations gift, flowers, a congratulation helium balloon etc, delivered to their home.

Then when they start, how will you wow them then… A great office environment, a well set up workspace, a warm welcome, allocating their start day in 12 months time as an anniversary “day off” for them (then every year after that)

What about existing workers, how do you inspire them so they feel truly valued? Random morning teas, small gift vouchers to mark great project milestones and completions.

Think about other ways you can do things to keep them interested, motivated and productive. The worker retention and greater morale these few activities can create is generally very profitable and well worth the investment of time and effort. Of course you need to make sure this kind of activity can be kept up – if your organisation is big enough to have a HR Dept, put them in charge of it. Either way inspiring your team should be a task which you make a top priority in good times and bad.

How happy are your employees?

May 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | 2 Comments

How happy are your employees?

They turn up, they do the tasks, but how happy are they? Some of you are now asking “why should I care?” as long as they turn up and do the tasks…

Well a happy team will generally do things more effectively and with greater interest. If they are more at ease then they will probably be more alert and less stressed. Now does it make sense… So what can you do to assist them to be happier?

Survey them – Every few months or so develop a simple survey to measure how they are going in the happiness stakes at work – and loosely at home, you don’t need to pry too deeply but imagine if things are down at home, then it can impact the work situation, what will you ask them? well try doing an internet search for staff surveys and make a list of questions from there.

Do a Maslow – Dr Maslow came up with a list of needs people have in a range of situations, but the workplace is a great place to use it. Do a search on his list and then use it as a guide to measure with – It can be a very useful way to set up an induction program, or anytime a person moves to a new position or division and things change. It can give you a view into what sorts of things should be in place for this person to perform well. According to Maslow you should be aiming to get your people to a ‘self actualised’ position, this way they are in the best position to add great value to your organisation.

Is your workplace a brilliant place to be? – Take a look, is it a great place or a dump or somewhere in-between? Now figure out what can be done and when. It’s a great way to start forward strategic planning. When profit gets to x level you can update a few things, and continue on from there bit by bit until you get the organisation up to a great standard. As a one off big spend it might cost a lot, but in stages it can be a lot easier to handle. It could be developed by adding a question or two in the initial survey.

Keep on tweaking the list! – Use this list as a guide to improving your business and keep on tweaking it see if over time the results are showing up.

Snowed under…

May 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

In business, when you get snowed under, that’s when the cracks start to show in your systems. It can be easy to remember a few dates, times and the details of what needs to be done, then when one too many things get stacked on top, the details fade, followed by any loyalty you may have earned with customers. This is one of the many reasons businesses go through up and down cylces of ‘boom and bust’.

So how do you create a system which is bullet proof and others can follow it if you are not able to carry on with the task. A system which helps you keep your sanity and your customers loyalty as well. Try these.

Regularly test the system with your customers – if the cracks are going to appear they will probably show up when you least expect it when the customers want you the most.
Keep others in the loop when you update to the system – It’s great to have a good system but if others on your team don’t know about the changes, how can they use it to their advantage? And did you work with them to tweak it?
Think about what cracks first – Is it you who does not handle the pressure, or others? Is it the system? (old technology may not handle what you want it to). Is it the way you record information to keep the system up to date? (Paper based first – computer updates later – or directly into the system? Either way you need to be able to identify what the challenge is and then explore ways to adjust it to suit.
Are things in a logical sequence or all over the place? – following steps is just that a logical one after the other process, sure there may be a side track here and there, but in the main it’s only a short side step. Put things in order to keep the process flowing as best you can.
Take action – all of the above are action steps but when will you do them, can they be implemented slowly or do they all need to be done at the same time? Make sure you set time to make the system work more effectively for you it may require some time sacrifice up front but the saving further on will be well worth it.
Fire, aim, ready! – Yes it’s out of order, but often business is like that, we have to react to things which are thrown at us at a moments notice so we may not have the ability to get ready, then aim… Sometimes the process can work out well with this approach as you can set a process in action, and tweak things to get the aim right as they progress.

Go on, try these out and see what happens. You might just keep your sanity in place a bit longer and build that all important customer loyalty while you are at it. Oh and don’t forget the sense of accomplishment you will feel when you have knocked things into place and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Here’s to employee success…

May 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

You hire people to be part of your team, what do you expect from them, how will they ‘put in’ and why will they excel? Three great questions to explore.

Firstly you select a new staff member, all the basic boxes are ticked for skills and ability, and hopefully you have interviewed enough and asked enough questions to figure out if there is a ‘cultural fit’ to your team.

On starting out the new recruit will have some basic needs, and you will have the intrepid task of setting some guidelines and expectations. Somewhere in here is a happy medium perhaps where both feel comfortable.

If things work out and they are happy, you should also be happy with their performance and expectations should rise along with productivity over time.

It’s tough all round when a new person starts with an organisation, so much to learn, names and things to remember new tasks to learn. In all it’s a bit daunting for both young and old alike.

But how about excelling? What will cause them to take off in the role and give their all to put in a top effort for the organisation, to earn trust and develop a solid niche as a valued team member?

Simply put, it’s lots of things and here are just a few.

When they feel at ease – About the job, the organisation, the tasks they have to do regularly and the support they have in the team. If any of these are lacking the ill at ease feeling can translate to mistakes, undue stress and annoyance. all of these can lead to a poor output. It can also come down to bad or ineffective training.
When the systems are good – If they feel the system is difficult or is in a mess then they can feel like they can follow a routine. This is important in the starting phase of any job, an example would be if the team has a range of different ways of doing things, it can get confusing and daunting to remember which one to use.
When the culture is suitable – Like it or not your organisation will have a culture of its own. A culture is simply a pattern of behaviours generally applied to the interaction and communication between the staff, and staff to customers. Often it’s about subtleties and many minor things which can make your team different to others in a similar organisation.
When they get the tools needed to do the job well – Wrong tools, slow tools, bad tools all round! From an outdated computer to a badly presented company vehicle, or an office environment which is poorly fitted out and seems cheap. all of these and more can add up and the new recruit might not want to blame their tools but have little choice at times.

All of these (and more) are factors which can prevent or slow the new recruit down in being able to excel in their role. So how to fix these and get off to a great stunning start?

Get set up for the new recruit early – Have a chat with your team about the environment they will work in, is it good, great, exceptional, if not why not and what can be done to make it right? What about the ‘tools’ they will use, are they in great condition and up to the task.
Get the training right – People learn in different ways at differing speeds so be flexible in your approach to the new recruit and give them the best start you can. Make sure you have back up information after the training they can refer to and not just a buddy (it may take them a while to connect with the buddy). Does the training cover the key performance points the recruit will have to meet at the end of the probation period (better to not have BAD surprises at the end of the period!)
Start them off easily – Ease them into a role, perhaps they start late in the first week, or come in late for the first few days and leave early create a low stress environment. Or perhaps have them work with a buddy to watch how they do things a few times during the first week or two to pick up on key points and details.
Be open to mistakes and learning opportunities – This goes with the training aspect but can happen in other areas too. Let them know you really mean it’s OK to make mistakes, cover ups and longer term challenges can show up if they hide mistakes and don’t learn.
Review how things are going – Have a list of things you can chat to them about and tick them off as you go. Make sure they really do get the OHS side of things and that they are settling in to who’s who in the zoo! Remember you thought they might be a good cultural fit, but are they really?
ASK! – What can you do to make their working time and environment better, and listen carefully. You might not be able to supply some of the things straight away but over time they might be doable. And ask about any other things which could be a negative impact on them, other people’s habits, attitudes and methods. Then while you are at it, ask “How’s my leadership style? to hard, too soft…” but avoid pushing it like you are fishing for compliments!
Provide opportunities – flexible time arrangements, a few hours worked extra here can translate to a few hours off somewhere else (Not always possible but it can be a great thing if it’s not abused.) Be on the lookout for things which could be a great opportunity for the employee, more training, articles from journals and magazines which are useful to them. There are many more options, but these are just a few starters.

If your organisation really values it’s number one assets (people) you will ensure that from day one these points are in place to give your team the edge. If they feel valued then your organisation will reap the reward of increased morale and a improved profitability over time.

New Leadership Book – Leadership Excellence

May 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People! | 2 Comments

Released recently on Amazon here’s an e book with a leadership twist, it’s a how to manual so you can develop the skills of an excellent leader.

Ok I wrote it, so lets get that out of the way… (awkward moment) but hey If I don’t tell people how will they know? Here’s the link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XTTUMS

Or for those without a kIndle to view it on, you can also get it here in a variety of formats to suit your needs from Smashwords, great for ipad and iphone users.

I hope you enjoy it…

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, communication, hr leadership, Leadership, leadership excellence, People!, recruitment, steve gray, success, training

Staff Development More than Just Incentives

Dec 21

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | No Comments

Many organisations do their best to encourage staff to be all they can be and develop them to be all they can be, well they hope that’s the case, yet despite all their best efforts things can go astray. Staff may develop skills, but their ability to stay motivated or develop a better attitude towards the job may fade fast. Lets take a look and try to figure out some of the issues which might cause these important things to fade…

Poor procedures and policies – We create a system of policies and procedures which might be too complex when they don’t have to be, or not enough of them, suddenly “holes” appear and things “fall through”. An employee may well find this frustrating and all the incentives and development can come undone fast.
Knowledge development – Great to provide incentives to staff, but without giving them the right knowledge to be able to tackle tasks effectively you might be setting them up to fail, or at worst struggle. People often look for the path of least resistance and end up finding that path elsewhere. if you train people make sure it fits for their tasks and needs.
Incentives – What if you created the wrong incentives… What if your people don’t like the goals set at some deep level… What if your planning looks great for you, but not for the organisation and the staff know it… What if the incentives put in place are too short term to hold the employees interest… All useful questions, now you need to figure out what to alter to make things work.
Lousy tools – Here’s the task now go and do it, “But where are the right tools to do it?” your team just might give up before things have started, a bad sign. Do anything to make sure they get the right tools and training to make the task happen effectively.

Often staff are disinterested because WE set them up to fail, although we had the best intensions at the time. WE need to ensure things are in alignment, the goals, the processes and procedures, the policies, the skills development the incentives and tools so the staff can be all they can be with ease.

Lets reward the right behaviours with the right set of devices so the team wants to remain with the organisation in a way which keeps the ball rolling for all concerned, after all happy staff are often far more productive staff.

What’s next, the fourth instalment

Dec 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | No Comments

In this final part of the new recruit guidelines I wanted to focus on the probation period guidelines. it’s a very important part of the whole process but one which is often dismally left out of the process. Here is what I said in the initial article in this series.

Probation period guidelines – Start and in three months we will assess how you have gone. Assess what and how? Is anyone in your organisation clearly responsible for figuring out what and how to assess, are they qualified to do so to some regulatory standard?

Many organisations have a three month probation period while others have six months and others none at all. If you want to build in cooling off period where either party can part ways, it is wise to ensure you and they fully understand the process and the criteria they will be assessed on.

These days there are plenty of people with workplace assessment qualifications who should be able to map out the criteria for measurement and the ways to assess the recruit against those criteria.

Depending on the role will depend on the specifics of operational effectiveness they will have to attain, the skills they will have to demonstrate and the level of cultural fit they will attain.

At a minimum level the OHS standards will be addressed and I would like to think a solid appreciation of the values and beliefs of the organisation as well as practical job skills and abilities would be very wise.

The aim being to ensure the person being assessed has clear criteria to work to, as well as a full appreciation of how they will be assessed and the evidence or types of evidence which will be sued to do all this.

May I suggest a clearly set out set of criteria in a bunch of areas, OHS, job skills, Cultural fit, Communication skills, Technical skills (IT etc). and then build the assessable parts within each section. Perhaps they will have to show an understanding of the terminology or intention of the parts of each section as well as demonstrate with clear evidence they have achieved that level of skill.

Whatever the end product make sure it is clear to all parties and people assessing the person have the ability to do it based on great evidence and clear guidelines for all.

Now you have a new recruit with correct training, who has met the criteria for assessment, feels welcome in the organisation and is settling in to the role with ease and a degree of comfort. You on the other hand have the peace of mind in knowing you did all you could to make the process as easy as possible to ensure the new recruit is a brilliant fit and are assured of their ongoing success… Let’s hope so!

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, business women, communication, creativity, employee recruitment, hr leadership, innovation, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, training, workplace safety

What’s next, the third instalment

Dec 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | 1 Comment

Last time we looked at the training area in the new recruits process, now lets check out the expectations put on them, and how to deal with that, in the initial article I said…

High Expectations – The HR dept say this person is a great fit for the organisation on SO MANY levels, yet no one in the dept they are going into knows anything about them except some here-say rumor… Truth is the person is a bit average in the start up phase and people in the dept are “non plussed” with the new recruit, some people just need time to shine and figure out where everything is and how things happen. How were the skills the person had in a previous position “Mapped” across to this new role. What if they had used a much older piece of software in the past and the version or type you have is VERY different to what they are used to…

Your new recruit starts and the place is a buzz with excitement, people want to meet them, people want to avoid them, people need to help them or not. It’s all about people and the fit to the organisation, yet on so many levels there are issues with how things come together and the expectations some in the team may have about the new recruit.

In the initial phase the new person might struggle to get up to speed, despite reassurances from many in the organisation, yet the person may well be highly trained and have a resume bristling with qualifications. In the initial phase then it should be vital to ensure they have the support they need without prejudice or hassle, this way they can grow into the role at their pace. For some that will be fast and for others painfully slow perhaps, you role is to make sure it happens in the best way possible.

Others in your team will need to know about the new person and why they were chosen so they can make fair assessments and not base a person on day one performance and here-say from others in the team, rumours are rarely objective.

You will have talked to the team about how they have certain skills and how these can be traced across or mapped, to suit their new role. You will assure them this person meets a range of positive criteria and proved at interview they should be well and truly capable of fitting in, and doing an effective job in the new role.

You will also outline any training or other support they need to allow them to make the best of the probation period and explore the role and the organisation fully.

Now every one knows about the new recruit a welcome party will ensure they are able to fit in and be supported in positive and solid ways by all the team.

In our next part in this series lets look at the guidelines for their probation period and ensuring they are clearly assessed to meet the criteria.

Tags: Burning Business Bridges, business, business mechanics, business success, communication, creativity, employee recruitment, hr leadership, innovation, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, training, workplace safety

What’s next, the second instalment

Dec 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | No Comments

This is the second part of the four part series on dealing with new recruits, this time we focus on training. Here’s what I said in the initial article.

Lousy training – Tough, though I know your training people are possibly doing what they can, given tough challenges or are just not that suited to training new employees, they might have a stronger focus on I.T. or a some Leadership program, they can be spread thin. After all did anyone tell the Training area to prepare something for the new recruit?

When it comes to training some are of the opinion “If you picked a new recruit, pick one already trained…” nice thought but there are things your organisation will do differently to others so they might need to know how your team look after OHS issues, and about the versions of software you use. as well as looking at the values and beliefs in the organisation.

I can only hope your organisation has a great training program in place for all sorts of things and not a lousy one as I hinted at in the opening section. So that being the case your training team will have this area all handled for you when you let them know the new recruit is about to start.

The training team won’t tell you “Oh the OHS (or other) training doesn’t run for another 3 weeks.” They will have a positive stop gap measure like an online training option, or at the very least a handout on OHS expectations and guidelines to give the recruit early in the process (before they start perhaps.)
The training team will have put together something for the new recruit on the values and beliefs of the organisation, knowing full well the value of a great cultural fit and how this can happen using foundation organisational philosophies.
The training team will have mapped out a schedule of what training is happening and what the recruit needs to do to ensure their training needs are met and especially in the area of the induction program and it’s time frame. They will be well and truly focussed on the recruits success in the organisation and not just for the recruitment phase either.

The new recruit, even by this early stage, will be suitably impressed with how things are going, they feel included and are valued in the organisation and are trained to succeed.

In the next phase your Leadership and communication skills come to the fore as you make sure all the team know about the recruit and a bit about how they will fit in. Join me then as weexplore the expectations of the new recruit.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business success, business women, creativity, employee recruitment, hr leadership, innovation, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Planning, recruitment, Risk Management, training, women in business, workplace safety

What next, the first instalment

Dec 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning | No Comments

Following on from my previous article outlining four areas to work on when employing a new recruit. Today lets focus on the Induction Program.

Previously I said…

Induction program – How do people learn about the nitty gritty’s in your organisation, the policies, procedures, OHS, who’s who and what about the culture of the organisation? Has anyone looked at the existing “program.” for a while? Is it relevant, suitable, useful…

So the recruit has been offered a position, you set the start date, it’s 3 – 4 weeks away due to their other commitments, all is well. You set the wheels in motion to get things sorted, a spot in an office, supervisor is informed, HR are organising their part and so on… but when was the last time it was looked at and how effective is all that? and why does it have to take so long to seemingly get them started?

Here are some thoughts on what might be a more ideal way to go.

Send them info on the organisation the minute they say yes – Things like an operations manual, who they will be working with and the structure of that area – an outline of how the probation period will be assessed – an outline of the OHS guidelines for the organisation – a company video – a signup form for HR legal requirements like superannuation etc.
Their workspace – Is it suitable, is it sorted, do they have all they need to do the job, does it meet OHS standards.
Their supervisor – Who is it and what do they need to know about the new recruit, will they need some training or coaching on how to work with a new team member?
The HR teams role – What do HR do to make the recruit fit in? Do they control all of these points? Do they look after all the details or… Find out sooner rather than later.
Team mates – They will probably know within an instant of a new person being recruited, such is the power of the grapevine. But what do they really know about the person, how will they respond, how do they act, what part do they play in welcoming the new person. the list could go on.
Buddy system – Some like a buddy system approach others don’t, but if the new recruit has a buddy make sure the buddy knows the expectations and is allocated time to assist the recruit with all that’s necessary.

There, now you have wrestled a few things into place you induction program is starting to take shape. Here’s hoping the new person loves the approach the organisation is taking and wants to stay and be a vital part of your team.

Next time lets go a step further in the process so the recruits journey is a smooth one.

Tags: business, business success, creativity, employee recruitment, HR, hr leadership, innovation, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, steve gray, training, workplace safety

Congratulations on the job, what next…

Dec 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, Risk Management | 4 Comments

You have selected an employee for a new position in your organisation. Congratulations! All good yeah.. now sit back and watch as it all turns to mud…

Sorry I think in that last line I was being a little bit cynical… Clearly things won’t turn to mud in all organisations, but in quite a few I think it will and here’s why.

- Poor induction program.

- Lousy training.

- High expectations.

- Tricky probation period guidelines.

Yet these things can clearly be overcome. Firstly however you have to objectively measure the four things which could fail.

Induction program – How do people learn about the nitty gritty’s in your organisation, the policies, procedures, OHS, who’s who and what about the culture of the organisation? Has anyone looked at the existing “program.” for a while? Is it relevant, suitable, useful…
Lousy training – Tough, though I know your training people are possibly doing what they can, given tough challenges or are just not that suited to training new employees, they might have a stronger focus on I.T. or a some Leadership program, they can be spread thin. After all did anyone tell the Training area to prepare something for the new recruit?
High Expectations – The HR dept say this person is a great fit for the organisation on SO MANY levels, yet no one in the dept they are going into knows anything about them except some here-say rumor… Truth is the person is a bit average in the start up phase and people in the dept are “non plussed” with the new recruit, some people just need time to shine and figure out where everything is and how things happen. How were the skills the person had in a previous position “Mapped” across to this new role. What if they had used a much older piece of software in the past and the version or type you have is VERY different to what they are used to…
Probation period guidelines – Start and in three months we will assess how you have gone. Assess what and how? Is anyone in your organisation clearly responsible for figuring out what and how to assess, are they qualified to do so to some regulatory standard?

All of these aspects can be challenging to negotiate, and like many people in businesses, they realise they need the new staff member too late and before long everyone is too busy to address any of the above.

Time to take stock and get ready for the new recruit. Now I have created a bunch of points to ponder, in the next few articles lets take each one and develop it further.

Tags: business, business grump, business mechanics, business success, creativity, employee recruitment, hr leadership, innovation, lateral thinking, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, training, workplace safety

Who’s in… Who’s out? Your business politics.

Sep 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People! | 1 Comment

In your business you will have politics (if you don’t like politics get out of business…) it’s all about who jostles for what position, who has power, who wants what and does what.

Politics is great, as long as it has positive aims and ideas (Check out your mission vision and values, it should reflect these.) Where it goes wrong is when people get a little off centre and the positive aims and ideals get shoved off the agenda (not officially, nor formally) but the various thoughts, discussions and notions taking place have “Hidden agendas” happening.

In the end the negativity connected with this level of “philosophical thought process” ends up down the drain. People get hurt, egos get fractured, casualties can be seen from the front to the back door in a “trail of blood” (more in theory than in reality).

I figure the aim of a leader, manager supervisory type is to curtail the pain before it begins. Let’s take a look at some of the issues you might explore:

Is there an “Inner Sanctum”? - This is a group on the “inside” outsiders can not penetrate, even though your values and ideals purport to provide a “fair go” for all. The upshot might be great ideas are not getting past the barrier created by this, your loss… Take a look and see if there is any, then plot to break it down.
How transparent is the organisation? – From providing financials showing the state of play in the org, through to clear systems aiming to support your team (rather than your team feeling unsure about a system and how it works). Making things more transparent shows you are willing to chat about things and let the team know they are a part of the “organism” you have created.
What communication does not take place? – Things not discussed are things missed which perhaps should have been chatted about. Ask what are the things the staff chat about… Now take a look at what’s not being said. e.g. if they talk a lot about their favourite team sport but not about the how well the manager is doing, then in the background they could be stabbing them in the back.
How are they chatting? - These days email, SMS and the like means the backchat can be happening but you don’t know about it. I know “no news is good news”, and “You never hear good things about yourself” while these are interesting clichés, they are not always true and do you want to live your life by clichés?. Oh and avoid trying to cut out texting at work and private emails, they will do it anyway after hours or at lunch on their smart-phones. The aim, to allow them to do it with the aim of it being constructive.
How are they anyway? – The people on the “outer” that is, one or two casual chats will be met with a degree of scepticism “what do they want?” rather than an open conversation where they tell all. Your aim is to have all of your team “Onside” so it’s up to you to build an open and trusting relationship so they can feel comfortable sharing with you in a way which means you will not “rat” on them or use it against them. Keep your chats light and breezy, show you care and remember details (names, places and the like as reference points) and chat about them not so much about you! (that’s a gem!)

In time you can build an organisation which can stand on it’s own feet, knowing the right people are supporting everyone to be their best. Not a team of “Cronies” who aim to create more “Jobs for the boys” and exclude information and ideas. It will take work, it will take a critical eye, it will take you out of your comfort zone, hopefully the end product will be great for all concerned.

Tags: business, business mechanics, business women, have fun in business, hr leadership, People!, politics, small business marketing

How To Make Employees More Productive

Aug 27

Posted by Michael Crooks in Human Resource Management, Leadership, Planning, The Board Room, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

Most companies are extremely aware of their external markets such as clients, customers, distributor networks and even vendors. But many fail to realize that employees make up an internal market. There are plenty of organizations that bend over backwards to get feedback and input from customers and clients. Far fewer work as hard to get feedback and input from employees. I sincerely believe that any organization that doesn’t view its employees as an internal market is shortsighted. And if you think the majority of your employees are happy campers – I’ve got news for you.

In a report released January 5, 2010 by The Conference Board based on a survey of 5000 U.S. households, only 45 percent of those surveyed said they are satisfied with their jobs. 55 percent are not satisfied with their jobs! According to Lynn Franco, director of the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board, “The downward trend in job satisfaction could spell trouble for the overall engagement of U.S. employees and ultimately employee productivity.”

What the report doesn’t tell us is WHY 55 percent of employees are dissatisfied. And while specific reasons for dissatisfaction vary by company, job and employee, I believe it can pretty much be summed up as a disconnect between those in the ivory tower and those in the trenches.

One of the best books I ever read on management and problem-solving is an 80 page book called, “I Know It When I See It” by John Guaspari. In the book, the Boss demoralized his employees by telling them that the key to increasing the quality of their product is to, “Try Harder! Do Better!” It had the same effect as unfunded government mandates – no one was given the information, tools or ability to accomplish the edict. What followed was employee frustration, job dissatisfaction and further loss of market share.

If your company is large enough, consider an undercover operation to include the top echelon. In disguise either shop your company or get a job with your company. See first-hand what affect your policies and directives are having on those who must deliver your product or service. In smaller companies, I encourage bosses and managers to get out of the back room. Run the cash register. Load some trucks. Ride and work the route. Stock some shelves.

The easiest dollar made is from a happy, repeat customer. But that’s a lot harder to achieve when employees’ are hampered by decisions based solely on numbers made by people sitting behind desks who are out of touch with reality.

Tags: employee happiness, employee satisfaction, Michael Crooks

More Training to Win – Creating levels

Aug 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Planning | No Comments

When a person starts in your business they start at some level, the bottom, the top or somewhere in between.

Generally it will be at some lower level and will hopefully want to “climb the ladder of success” you provide. For some this will mean a ladder governed by rising pay increments, for others it will be the attainment of various levels of skill achievement perhaps leading to a new title (from assistant to manager etc.)

My suggestion is you figure out a pathway for your staff no matter where they come into the business, so they can clearly follow the path and attain the sense of achievement which goes with it.

There are various examples throughout history of how organisations have used this to their advantage, the main one is the military, where you work up from a “private” to Corporal, Sargeant, and so on. Along the way you have to “prove yourself” to be worthy of the role and the new responsibilities that may bring.

Because of the history of this sort of hierarchy, many people are ingrained to this way of working, so in business we can use this to our advantage.

For some businesses a formal approach is taken, and for others a more casual approach can make the approach far more fun and engaging for that type of employee and business. lets take an example of a business which does a lot of business to business sales.

Because the business is sales focussed the team has to either be supporting the sales team or be part of the sales team. therefore they might create a structure like this.

Support Crew – Starting role in the business – probably in admin there can be a range of levels in this category to take in stores and warehousing.
Sales Support Agent – These people work with the sales team as the sales support team, making the calls, tracking client contacts etc.
Sales Agent – The new sales person starts here, the apprentice if you like to the sales executive.
Sales Executive – The actual sales person, experience and able to lead the sales agents.
Sales Coach – You could call this a sales manager role.

As you can see the aim is to provide a start and end point, in time the end point might alter depending on what the organisation is able to offer and how it develops.

By creating these sorts of levels in your business you can now develop the sorts of specific tasks you want people at each level to do.

Top Tips for Probation Periods at Work

Aug 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People! | 5 Comments

Many organisations offer a probation period for new staff and it seems 3 months is often the norm, so what might some of the challenges be, and how would you overcome them? I hope to answer these questions for you, BEFORE you get into a potential minefield with an employee or potential new recruit.

Know…

What you want them to do… It’s one thing to get a new person and say “probation period”, and watch them “try to do their best”, but what do you expect them to know and be able to do in that time? Make a great list of the tasks, values and beliefs they should know as starting points of creating a solid plan of action for training the employee. Ask other in your organisation to have input so it can be a great outline using collective intelligence, not just your ideas.
When you want them to do it by...Then make a loose plan of action showing start and end dates for the probation period. When they start let them know the dates and diarise these for your reference.
What level or standard you require… It’s okay to say the person has learnt something and they are competent, but for a long term employee you probably want more than just the ability to do a task, but you probably want them to be able to do it to a set level consistently, therefore you are now looking for proficiency rather than just the basic ability to do something. Sure measure the fact they have been shown “how to do a task” and they can do it, but go the step further and have them record how often they have done something. At the end of the probation period you should be able to see key areas done x number of times and then you can ask about standards of performance.
They have a reliable Buddy... This is a person they can relate to and a go to for information, in fact it might be a few people they can call on for info. Train the buddy in how to listen, ask questions, and assess performance against set criteria. Make sure they don’t judge the person because they ask too many “dumb questions”.
You have a clear disputes process... It’s one thing to have a plan of action, dates for things to happen by, but what if there is a dispute? please have a clear process to handle this with, otherwise you may find a minor step into a minefield has instantly become a hop skip and a jump into one!
There should be no time extensions… Okay if they have to be away (due to a death in the family or some such event…) the end date might alter, but the time frame should remain solid, three months is three months. If you believe they are not able to come up to the set standard set for the tasks set, then a clear line needs to be drawn about the minimum level they need to attain in that time frame. It can get frustrating for the employee to hear “We are extending the probation period.” at the end of the time it’s the end, wither in or out, if it’s not clear it’s the employers fault, not the employee.
To get results YOU have to take action… You have to set the dates, create the checklist, do the research, train the person… Not them, so set great guidelines and then you can expect great results to follow.

I hope all these points are of value and give you great starting points to work from. Let us know int he comments how you go!

Tags: business, business success, HR, hr leadership, Leadership, People!, Risk Management, training

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