Sex Still Matters
By Ron | March 5, 2010
Sex still matters; I guess. 78% of the jobs lost in this recession were held by the male sex while, at the same time, women’s wages rose 1.2% .
Roxanne Rivera wrote an article describing why women have fared better during these difficult times. She gave a variety of reasons for her opinion:
Women multitask and work harder than men because they feel that they have to. They do not measure their self worth by their jobs. They build stronger support networks, do business by relationshiops and aren’t aftaid to tighten their belts. Women lead by consensus and know how to strenghen their bench. They also are not afraid to ask for advice.
Wow. I know a lot of guys who lost their jobs and they aren’t faring well, but neither are the women.
Being in the Human Resources field for some time, I’ve gotten very weary of articles, books and other media that separate us more than unite us. I thought by now we would be blind to color, gender, and whatever else that makes us look different from others. Well, so much for this fantasy becoming a reality. What a shame.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
Dilbert Nails It Again
By Ron | February 26, 2010
Pointy Haired Boss to Junior Engineer: “Asok, the company isn’t growing, and no one is quitting in this economy. Your only hope for promotion is if a senior engineer dies.”
Dilbert to Wally with Asok listening in: “I joined a Gym.”
Asok screaming: “No-ooo!”
So….Human Resources – Are you listening? Dilbert should be required reading for all of us in the field. In this particular case, I’m reminded of…
compensation schemes that create numerous levels of job categories with slight changes in requirements and duties. Most of these levels are established to supply “promotional opportunities” to folks (not really promotions, just excuses to get more money for people outside the regular merit cycle).
what many line managers sometimes tell their employees that are not based on sound management principles (We in HR can only imagine)
I’m sure that there are other management and HR principles that apply here. My main point about Dilbert is that he is a great warning beacon for us so that we can challenge our HR policies and procedures and change them where appropriate.
Dilbert makes us laugh because we’ve seen it all before.
He also makes us cringe because of our part in it.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
How Your Company Can Become The Best Company To Work For
By Ron | February 20, 2010
If you study those companies who achieve the status of being “the best companies to work for,” there seems to be one common denominator: Culture. For example, Dreamworks is all about “collaboration and openness.” Qualcomm is about “where good people can do their best work.”
So, HR people – want to get to that “table?” I believe that we in Human Resources can make our major contribution to the business by enhancing the culture.
In my consulting business, my clients and I work hard at identifying what it is that makes their businesses special and we build a culture around that. For example, if the client wants a customer-focused culture, we…
1. Identify the customers
2. List all of the elements that would delight them
3. Describe the actions and behaviors that delight the customers
4. Share this information with the employees
5. Design the performance management system to reinforce the actions and behaviors
6. Train everyone
7. Managers walk the talk every single day
8. An internal customer service process is implemented
9. Progress is reviewed at the executive staff meeting weekly
10. Customers are surveyed to ensure that the customer-focus is working
Sounds simple. It is; it is just hard to do. It takes constant attention. As you know, our line managers have the tendency to get lost in the day-to-day problems and give short shrift to the strategic focus of their jobs. We, in HR, then become the nags of the company. Our CEO needs to be the nag, not us. And, that’s the subject of a different day.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
I Love You, Liz Ryan
By Ron | February 13, 2010
Yes, I do. I am smitten. I don’t even know her, but I know that I love her. Did you see her list of “The 10 Management Practices to Axe?” How can you not love her? Well, maybe not, if you are the perpetrator of such practices. Here is her list for your review…
1. Forced ranking. 2. Front-loaded recruiting systems. 3. Overdone policy manuals. 4. Social media thought police. 5. Rules that force us to lie. 6. Theft of miles (airline). 7. Jack-booted layoffs. 8. 360 degree feedback programs. 9. Mandatory performance review bell curves. 10. Timekeeping courtesy of Henry Ford.
Let’s see; I have participated in forced-ranking programs, 360 degree programs and performance review bell curves. Yes, I have been guilty. In my defense, I was only carrying out orders (didn’t the Nazi’s use this excuse?). At the time, I knew that there was something demeaning and wrong about these programs. At the time, it seemed like these tactics were a reasonable way to counter the problems that we saw in traditional performance appraisal and pay schemes. Instead they compounded the problems with more bureaucracy and de-humanization techniques.
I remember sitting in a room forcing managers to rank their employees. I recall that they argued with each other who had the worst employee. Yechhh. I remember telling a manager (who I knew hired great people and developed them further) that he had to have so many of them in performance categories below average. Yechhh. If you want, I can drudge up many stories like these. I shudder at these memories.
Professionals like Liz and Frank Roche (over at KnowHR) are around to remind us not to keep foisting these programs on our organizations and our people. I love you guys.
Topics: HR | No Comments »
Reinventing Yourself Can Be Profitable
By Ron | February 7, 2010
Smart enterprises don’t rest on their laurels or listen to their own propaganda. Too many times I have sat in staff meetings and heard executives talking to themselves and continue down that same old road instead of listening to their customers. Certain Starbucks stores recently started doing this….
What they found out was this – their customers were tired of the Starbucks cookie-cutter approach. People wanted a cup of coffee in their unique neighborhood setting. Many Starbucks operations have reinvented themselves and shed the sameness that we all have witnessed when we walked into a Starbucks.
What a great lesson to learn for all of us. Individuals such as Madonna have been reinventing themselves successfuly for years. How about the Human Resources department? I’m sure that most HR organizations can use a facelift, or at least, a botox injection in the old epidermis. Many people in our community have been recommending some serious changes in the last few years and I’m not talking about just changing the labels – “Staffing” to “Talent Acquisition” etc.
Maybe we should take a tip from Starbucks and ask our customers…
Topics: HR | 2 Comments »
The Tenth Step To Great Management
By Ron | January 30, 2010
The 10th step is to – Provide Customer Service. No… it is to provide “over-the-top” customer service. We all love to have great customer service ourselves, but rarely get it. When we do, we are usually a little surprised, but immensely grateful. One more time, here is what I have told my clients to do:
Do extensive research on what would make your customers say, “Wow!” You need to make your competitors obsolete by how you are going to treat your customers. Once you get the data, indoctrinate every employee in how to provide “it.” Do not, I mean, do not stop at your sales and marketing force – everyone in your organization should be serving the customer either directly or indirectly. When every person working for you has the new approach emblazoned in their minds and hearts, you just may have your secret weapon.
You can only get to this point by constantly reinforcing and recognizing the new behaviors. Do not by shy; repeat the mantra over and over again. Walk the talk. Show how it’s done by your own behavior. Let your people see how you are treating the customer differently. Include the new customer service values into the performance appraisal system. And….do not hesitate to say good-bye to those employees who just don’t get it.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
The Ninth Step To Great Management
By Ron | January 24, 2010
The 9th Step is: Performance Management. Okay, you have executed Steps 1-8, but not all of your employees are performing up to par. What do you do? Here is what I have told my clients in a nutshell:
Get your new employees off on the right start from the get-go by establishing performance standards upfront and then, keeping them on track through continual coaching. As Ken Blanchard said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
When an employee’s performance falters or bad work habits become a problem, it is important that these issues are addressed quickly and effectively.
As basic as all this sounds, my observation is that most organizations fail at truly managing their employees performance. Managers either are not skilled at working with their employees to reach their full potential or they are fearful of confrontations. Human Resources doesn’t always help either. Too many times, they are supplying useless performance appraisal systems and forms and turning the whole thing into a bureaucratic nightmare for the line managers. Another problem is leaving the “bad apple” on the payroll too long.
Topics: HR | 2 Comments »
Eighth Step To Great Management
By Ron | January 17, 2010
The 8th step to Great Management is – Managing Goals and Projects.
Regarding this important step, here is what I’ve told my clients: Your Business Plan which we worked on (2nd Step to Great Management) must be kept alive. To have a “living plan,” you must keep it in front of your staff all the time. This Plan should drive Goals and Projects. In addition, your people should have personal goals.
By now we all know how to set goals by using the SMART acronym. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reachable and Time-bound).
If our Business Plan states that we want to increase market share by 3% this year, employees must have individual goals to accomplish this. Examples are…Create Marketing Penetration Plan by the end of February to increase market share by at least 3% or, Call on 30 potential customers each month to obtain business away from out competitors – at least 3%, etc.
Staying on top of progress towards goal completion is an important part of the management role called “control.” The trick of good management is to follow-up to ensure things are on track without seeming to be “micro-managing.” Reviewing high level goals at the executive staff meeting is essential.
Projects are large work chunks that need to be managed and coordinated. Most companies aren’t very skilled at managing projects because Project Managers don’t usually have all of the required skills to do the job. They must have tremendous influential skills in order to manage people who ordinarily don’t report to them. They also must be well-organized, assertive and determined.
Setting Goals and managing Projects based on a Living Business Plan is an essential part to running a successful operation.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
The Seventh Step To Great Management
By Ron | January 10, 2010
Motivating employees is the 7th step to great management and the one that most managers get wrong. They get it wrong because they come from their own heads, not their employees. I have worked with countless managers who set up “carrot-dangling” systems to “motivate” their people. They bribed their people through bonus programs, promises for promotions/salary increases, prizes, awards, etc. They failed to understand that motivation is an inside job.
I’ve touched on this subject so many times in this blog, I’ll just summarize by saying – every employee is different. Every employee is motivated by their own needs. Our job of management is to know these needs and play to them, mostly, by designing the job to meet them.
There is not a “one-size fits all” program to motivate people. We in Human Resources should refrain from creating or supporting such a program. Unfortunately, I think that HR has been party to this problem in the past.
Topics: HR | 2 Comments »
The Sixth Step To Great Management
By Ron | January 5, 2010
The 6th step to great management is – Communicating with Purpose. I personally think this is the key to leadership. Managers should be totally aware of their effect on people. Employees take their cue of what is important to their managers by what they say and do. Even the questions are important. Here is what I’ve told my managers…
Think beforehand of what you want to get across to your people. Use the Hewlett Packard technique of “managing by wandering around.” If you think that your employees aren’t paying enough attention to the customers, focus on that. Ask questions of them, like, “What do you need from me to help you satisfy our customers?” Another way of “communicating with purpose” is to continuously stress the vision and/or mission of the company to the employees.
Use every communication venue to “communicate with purpose.” Take every opportunity to pound your message in your emails, meetings and 1X1’s. Mediocre managers deal with facts and figures. Great managers engage their employees through hooking the heart because employees need a sense of purpose in the process of doing their work.
Topics: HR | No Comments »
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