Archive for Strategic Human Resources
Achieving organizational alignment is a strategic HR activity that can deliver significant benefits to an organization. Alignment is more than ideal state. It is imperative to ensure the organization is successful in getting all employees to move into the same direction, to achieve the vision of the organization.
Alignment is one of the power words in an organizational change consultant’s toolkit. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t use or refer to alignment.
Some years ago, I was a HR Director for a large manufacturing company and we had just completed a large acquisition, working through a strategic integration process, when I used the “alignment” word in my first integration workshop with the executive team. The MD reacted impolitely, and did not want to spend much time discussing alignment. Like many “consultants”, I decided to draw a picture of a triangle showing lack of alignment compared with perfect alignment on the whiteboard in the boardroom. However, he still felt there were more important business issues to discuss.
As result of the MD’s negative reaction, I decided to move onto other integration issues. First, one executive picked up on the issue of alignment, then another. It became very quickly obvious after a few hours, that the executive team needed to discuss and agree on how to achieve organizational alignment, as the company had two of everything – two cultures, two computer systems, two marketing strategies etc.
Creating organizational alignment is a process consisting of achieving alignment in two domains – alignment of values (how we work together) and alignment of goals (what we are trying to achieve).
Too often there is confusion and blurring of these concepts.
Goal Alignment
Staying with the graphic, goal alignment is clearly demarcating and defining the purpose (mission) and strategic goals of the organization. It is about framing the context, ensuring all employees clearly understand the strategic goals and initiatives within the organization.
This is dealing with the left-brain, and companies usually can get this right, with significant involvement and communication. In many ways, it is classical Management-by-Objectives, albeit with appropriate consultation and involvement of employees.
Alignment of Values
Values alignment is the process of understanding how we work together, and changing the way we understand and interpret the values of the organization. As a right-brain activity, we need to explore the emotions and non-rational processes that have an impact on our behavior and actions.
A great way of improving alignment is to identify firstly those things that we are doing right. If you can’t identify those, or only have a small number of items in this group, the challenge of alignment will be an almighty task.
Most companies tend to jump straight into the next group, which are those things we should stop doing, that are clearly inconsistent with the company’s agreed values. Usually, there is a high level of consistency in those things that are frustrating and holding the company back.
Lastly, there will be some things the company should be doing, but have not yet fully understood the need or sufficiently taken the time to understand the benefits. Usually, newcomers or outsiders are better at identifying and describing potential opportunities.
Achieving Alignment
Executives need to spend more time identifying and analyzing the misalignments in the business. By identifying these obstacles, managers can start the process of dismantling the blockages that prevent staff from achieving alignment.
Some of these blockages are lack of commitment – lacklustre leadership; poor communication – often confusing or inconsistent; insufficient involvement and participation by affected staff – not being consulted and engaged; and inadequate recognition – not taking time to reinforce and celebrate the successes.
Rather than using a static model to describe alignment, I would like to share with you an example from nature. In this video, we can observe the true alignment of starlings on Ot Moor, close to Oxford, United Kingdom.
We see an inspiring and incredible display of thousands and thousands of starlets. It shows how birds become part of groups, then larger flocks, until they merge and become part of a cohesive collective, truly aligned and all moving in the right direction.
Now just imagine if all the employees in your organization can do this, day after day.
It’s time to change your recruitment ads to be “gender smart”
Posted by: | CommentsMany organisations in Australia, particularly listed companies, are focusing on gender equity at board and executive levels. A gender balanced organisation is not just an outcome by achieving gender ratios, as there is also a need for a process to develop a more strategic approach.
Recent research by Roy Morgan Research highlighted specific gender differences for buyers of packaged alcohol. Female buyers are placing more importance on the service of staff, whereas male buyers are more influenced by lower prices.
The business implications are clear – females value service and males look for signs that advertise cheap beer.
In the world of recruitment, there is also a shift required to more gender smart recruitment advertising.
Changing your ads
Job advertisements on job boards would typically provide a brief paragraph with information about the company, followed by some description of the role, as well as some of the responsibilities attached to the vacant position. Some clues or filters would then be provided in terms of competencies that applicants should have, in order to be considered.
Despite the great advances we have made in technology, all that has happened today is that the same ads that used to be published in newspapers are now being replicated on job boards. As result, we have seen a massive increase in quantity, but quality has in fact deteriorated. Often ads would include some basic errors, and sometimes some grave ones.
Why Should I Apply?
These job ads are usually doing a reasonable job of providing limited information about the job, but usually fail to encourage the job seeker, particularly the passive job seeker that may just glance at an ad, that the recruiting company is offering a real career.
Often in job ads there is a discrepancy between what recruiting companies say and what they have done. This perception difference between external perception and internal reality is the driver for employer branding initiatives.
Lack of awareness
There is still a major lack of understanding or awareness of how job advertisements are demonstrating that the organisation was attractive to women and in what way. Recruiters would expect applicants to access the company’s web site, but not be thinking about how the organisation appears to women, when the board and executive team photo’s clearly highlights the lack of senior women leaders.
As an aside, there is ample opportunity with hyper links, to facilitate and influence this search process by directing prospective applicants to relevant information on the company’s web site.
Adapting the recruitment process
Gender balanced organisations have adapted their recruitment approach to include those themes that are the most likely to be of strong interest to women, focusing on flexibility, the culture, collaboration, and opportunities for development.
There needs to be an alignment and consistency of what the recruiting company is saying and what it is doing. Progressive organisations will always ensure that there is a person that applicants can talk to and discuss the role and potential opportunities in more detail, rather than directing applicants through the applicant tracking system, without any conversation.
Perhaps an example will better illustrate my point. Real estate agents have been very effective with advertising houses, using pictures and being able to tell a story. Now I am not suggesting that recruiters should apply the same creative license, but one thing real estate agents are doing well is to convince buyers that they are selling a home, not just a house.
This was really well illustrated by the popular Australian movie – The Castle. In this movie, the Kerrigan family is threatened by the compulsory acquisition of their family home, which is not just a house, but in their eyes – their castle filled with memories that can’t be replaced.
Telling a story
Writing a good job ad takes time, particularly we make the transition. Working with a HR team recently, we devoted half a day to finalise the ad for a role that was really difficult to fill. Every job advertisement should tell a story. It takes more than just a picture of a female.
Rather than using words such as challenge, drive, determination and results it may be more effective to use language such as opportunities, engage, contribution, partnership, team, relationships and outcomes. This is not about being politically correct, but to be more aware of the subtle messages we communicate to applicants.
A recent ad used some very effective descriptions:
- Make you feel like coming home
- Comfortable with relationship management
- Using your charms to influence outcomes
- Flair for effective leadership
Language is very powerful and unconscious bias may impact negatively on our ability to attract talented staff, particularly if a company is trying to attract and encourage more females to apply for certain roles. Gender smart organisations are aligning their HR systems and processes to achieve a better balance in talent management.
If you have any ideas or suggestions please share your views.
Using the HR Budget Process to Make the HR Function More Strategic
Posted by: | CommentsSoon, all across many companies in many countries, HR Directors will be completing the dreaded annual budget process. On such critical occasions, the experienced HR Director, as they look across the boardroom table, meeting the CEO and the CFO, typically will be mentally prepared for the sacrificial budget cuts that are customary.
Fundamentally, the HR budget is a great opportunity to reposition and reinforce the HR function as a strategic partner, by embracing the budget process to gain strong credibility from the executive team. A few months ago, I was coaching a HR Manager struggling to move into more strategic HR. When it emerged that she had no HR budget, one of the first action steps was developing a proper HR budget.
Early in my career, I was fortunate by being appointed as head of support services for a division, which included managing two accountants, HR staff and other support functions. Though I didn’t fully realise it at the time, I gained a strong understanding of the value of good annual budgeting. These lessons were reinforced through rigorous monthly variance analysis (anything over $1,000 or 10%) and reporting process, where I had to meet with all the department managers and present the division’s financials to the leadership team. Not only did I learn a lot about the business, but it also gave me great budgeting skills for more senior HR roles that followed.
HR Initiatives are projects
In one of his books in the early nineties, Tom Peters strongly recommended for organisations to adopt a project approach. He suggested that it was a much better way for companies to get things done, by changing into a results-based mind set. In fact, he went as far as defining project management as a premier skill for future managers.
It is critical for HR to define as many processes as specific projects, be it the 360-feedback review; the annual pay review; the development of a new leadership program; or a new coaching program. As a practising consultant, it is very helpful to understand the broad budget for a project, as it is difficult to design and develop a Rolls Royce HR project with a Toyota budget.
Clearly, by using business strategy to identify the people drivers and HR initiatives that will support delivery of the strategy, is the best starting point for developing your HR budget.
Develop a partnership with the CFO
Many line managers rely on an accountant to provide them with financial support, including budgeting and monthly reporting. HR should also have an accountant that supports the HR function. In addition, the HR Director should develop a close partnership with the CFO, to ensure there is a close working relationship. In most companies, other than capital-intensive industries, employee costs make up the majority of fixed costs. I always invited the CFO to join me when I reviewed annual pay increases with the CEO, and in reciprocal fashion I was invited to attend budget presentations, which gave me a great overview of the business, but more importantly, an opportunity to ensure that all HR initiatives are clearly aligned with business strategies.
Encourage team ownership
I am a strong believer and supporter that every HR team member should own some line items in the HR budget. For the HR Administrator, it could be stationary budget, or coordinating travel and accommodation. Specific budget sign-off authority helps the team to review the budget on a monthly basis, by reporting on variances, as well being involved in budgeting and approving all expenditure for their specific costing codes. It also develops their financial and business skills.
Encourage clarity on people costs
It is tempting to exclude some people related expenses and leave it up to individual line managers to include in their departmental budgets. Some companies have very different approaches. I won’t try to get into the benefits or disadvantages of different ways of including or excluding costs, as often it is viewed more as a control issue, rather than a clear understanding of achieving better visibility and coordination. Still, I think it is inconsistent for a company to adopt a strong employer branding philosophy, only then to leave it up to individual managers to decide how much they would budget for recruitment advertising, at the risk of using inappropriate advertising for certain roles. My personal view is that all recruitment costs should reside with the HR function, as it is primary function of HR to ensure the organisation attracts the right people into the business. Get that right and many of the other people issues become secondary.
Be courageous and absorb the real people costs
Again, the CFO and the CEO would benefit from visibility of understand the total investment for staff development in a coordinated learning budget, for example. Some years ago I witnessed a number of managers simply excluding various approved corporate programs, due to repeated budget cuts. The inconsistency that resulted was a major concern for the national service provider, as well as those managers that wanted to retain the program but succumbed to their budget review cuts. A much better solution was for these company wide costs to be absorbed by the HR Department, despite concerns about ownership and control.
Provide value to the business
One of the companies I worked for, a contracting business, had an internal invoicing system, which meant all HR costs had to be recharged to a business unit. Every interview I did, every assessment I conducted, every reference check I completed, was charged to the hiring manager’s budget, subject to proper sign-off and acceptance. This was a great way to learn how to provide real value to internal customers. As a consultant, you will quickly discover that real customers only pay when they believe they have received real value. HR should often reflect on whether the business would really be willing to pay good money for some of their services. If not, those are the first services that should be reviewed during a budget exercise.
After saving a company $3 million a year in WorkCover premiums, through a best practice injury management program, I negotiated some people investments with the CEO in other areas. The credibility of the HR function is significantly improved when you can demonstrate real savings and value.
Embrace the budget process
If you are ready to review your budget process, to build closer relationships with the CFO, to define as many HR initiatives and services as projects – if you are keen to adopt a more effective commercial budget process and to deliver real value to the business – then you are ready to take a seat at the executive table as a respected contributor.
Building HR Credibility by Avoiding HR Speak
Posted by: | CommentsThe issue of HR speak is a real challenge, as it significantly impacts on the credibility of the HR function. It has become endemic to find a maelstrom of confusing terminology that does little to improve the practice of people management, and much to mystify managers and confuse employees, as well as damaging the credibility of HR.
Unfortunately, the by-product of too many consultants (speaking as a practicing consultant) is the temptation to develop a new definition or approach, just to differentiate, but adding another layer of complexity. Really good consultants don’t need to expound confusing terminology.
Perception of the HR function
A number of years ago, the Production Manager stormed into my office with the accusation – “Why are you HR people all the same?” I refrained from any defensive retaliation and asked him to elaborate. He explained that he was concerned that we were changing the performance review format. “What was wrong with the old one?” There was a decision by Head Office to change the format, and clearly the communication should have been better. After our discussion, I gained an enduring lesson for the future. Ensure that line managers can see the value of what you are doing in HR. Ideally, involve them in the process as much as you can. The best mid-year review process I ever developed was done in conjunction with a line manager and the HR team.
Recent Research
Recent research by Macquarie University suggests that the majority (sixty percent) of line managers actually believe and think that the HR function limits their ability to achieve business goals. This is a shocking state of affairs! As a manager told me recently, HR only tells me what I can’t do, yet what I need is some options on what I can do. The result is that HR is often seen as administrative compliance function, rather than as a strategic function.
HR still needs to build their credibility. There is a significant dichotomy in the perceptions of line managers and HR managers – which only really crystallized for me personally, when I was a line manager for three years, having to manage two divisions with 500 customers, as well as dealing with all the Finance and HR issues.
Lost in translation
Many HR Managers operate in the dark, so like the person looking for their lost keys under a lamppost, not because they lost it there, but because the light is better, we concentrate on peripheral issues that are flawed in design and susceptible to rejection.
Perhaps a good example will better illustrate my point. All organisations should have position descriptions, as role design and the allocation of responsibilities are at the heart of the organisational structure. During my involvement with various companies, I have discovered a long list of possible names, for essentially, the same document. Some of these descriptions include: Position Success Profile, Role Competency Profile, Job Description, Role Expectation Profile. I am sure readers could add to the list.
Admittedly, there has been a shift away from traditional job descriptions to a more blended approach of defining the role outputs and the required competencies, but the question remains – do we really need so many different descriptions for the same thing?
There is an almost unlimited level of creativity in creating new job titles, undoubtedly the fall-out from our confused approach to standard HR practices. Another example is the different descriptions for the HR function. We have all seen the shift from Personnel to HR, but from there it has become open season – Human Capital; People, Learning and Performance; Organisation Development; People and Culture – the combinations are confusing both internally and externally.
Effective ways to build credibility
The role of HR has never been more challenging, as we enter into this new era where HR is seen as a true business partner. It is only by clarifying and validating the role of HR, that we can also identify and measure the contribution of the HR function.
HR should discourage and refrain from the temptation to change terminology for the sake of terminology, especially in terms of employee communication and discussions with managers. Flavour of the month only stimulates inconsistency.
As a consultant, my first priority is to fully understand the needs and challenges of my clients, before I can provide them with sound advice. Only by first understanding, and then by meeting the core needs of the business and line managers, can HR create and establish a solid foundation to build on.
Let me use a final example. When you order a main course in a restaurant, you are more likely to order a tempting dessert if you were satisfied with your main meal. There is a real risk that HR may be too focused on added value projects, which are more challenging, and satisfying, rather than first delivering on the real needs of the business.
HR can and should deliver value across the business. There is much work still to do.
Social Media and HR – Building Employee Engagement
Posted by: | CommentsSocial Media has become an integral part of the way we live and work. It is hard to imagine that it is only twenty years since the Internet was created. According to Nielsen research, social network traffic grew by 43% from June 2009 to June 2010. Social network activity now dwarfs online games, email and search as the number one activity. Every single day more people are also now turning to their social networks, as the preferred way to find jobs.
Managers need to realise that social media is much more than Facebook or LinkedIn. There is also a level of skepticism and confusion about the value of social media. A communications manager recently told me that she was one of the first people to get a Twitter account, after attending a conference in New York. Currently she still has no active account, and perhaps due to her confusing initial experience, is now a social media skeptic.
The astronomical growth of social media has created new ways for companies and candidates to connect online. In the late seventies, the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie used Hynek’s scale of three types of encounters: sightings; observations of UFO’s; and human observation of animate beings.
Similarly, the involvement of Human Resources with the phenomena of Social Media can best be described and summarized at three distinct levels or types of encounters: compliance; sourcing; and engagement.
Level 1 –Compliance
Legal firms are frequently running workshops, as a number of employers are still working on an effective social media policy. Companies are struggling with dealing with how social networking sites may impact on their workplace, as well as trying to understand the laws and other factors that may impact their approach to social networking.
From a compliance perspective, companies may be concerned about the distractions of social media at work, and the consequences of privacy, bullying, and harassment issues that can follow.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently released their Social Media Policy, only to experience a massive backswing from employees and unions reacting angrily.
Companies need to design a policy framework on social networking sites, which also require education of employees on how to use social media sites in a meaningful way.
Level 2 – Sourcing
A recent survey (The Jobvite Survey: Job Seeker Nation 2010) highlighted that proactive career managers (defined as currently employed and open to a new job but are not actively seeking one) have a very social profile: Facebook (67%), Twitter (28%) and LinkedIn (28%). They are well connected with 52% having more than 50 contacts on Facebook.
Younger professionals are using the benefits of technology to build their networks faster, by generating more referrals online, as compared to previous generations that are still preferring more traditional methods.
Companies, such as Microsoft, have developed effective recruitment strategies to ensure they manage their online and offline presence to remain an employer of choice. This includes creating a supporting environment for recruits and utilising employee networks to reach those candidates that are not active job seekers.
Increasingly, Australian companies, such as Fosters (@FostersCareers), are building strong talent management teams, adept at using LinkedIn and other social media tools to attract top talent, inviting potential employees to learn more about a career with their business. Recruiters are often online for a period, with “Ask and Expert” segment, to answer any questions that applicants may have.
Level 3 – Engagement
Social networking sites can be great tools for attraction, recruitment, communication, connection and engagement. Social media has also created new business opportunities – a recent internet survey confirmed that 68% of users found LinkedIn the most valuable tool.
Internal social groups can be connected and engaged through the effective use of social media. Social media is a critical part of communication and collaboration technologies that can help to make people more productive. Clearly there is an opportunity for employees to share ideas, replacing the old style suggestion boxes with a more interactive process, which is being used by many forums to collect views from users.
An example is Salesforce.com which is using a Twitter-like product and calling the employees that are using it the “Chatterati”. These employees are getting their jobs done by using these tools, which creates value for the organization.
VicRoads are using Yammer, an internal “twitter” bringing together all of a company’s employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network. According to Judith Pettitt, Executive Director People Services and Internal Communications, more than 20% of their 3,000 employees are engaged in providing valuable shared knowledge on various business topics. It has been especially helpful in organisational problem solving and in ‘seeding’ ideas.
VicRoads has also supported a recent blog project where all staff were able to make improvement suggestions on line, comment on others suggestions and get feedback from the Corporate Leadership Team on implementing the proposals .Using contemporary communication tools makes such a difference to the immediate needs of staff to share their knowledge and effectively engage with each other.
Embracing the future
Companies need to embrace social media with the same vigour that the internet and websites are today an intrinsic part of the communication within a company. Often it is about making a start. The HR department is the custodian of employee communication. By developing social media strategically, the HR department can apply social media tools in an integrated way where they have real meaning.
Managers often feel a lack of control, particularly when a major change process is taking place. Rather than trying to control the process with zealous compliance, leaders need to embrace social media and encourage employees to use it meaningfully to improve engagement.
Companies are responding to the growing interest and investment in social media applications, to support the attraction and retention of talent. A few companies are taking a leadership position as visionaries by embedding social media as an integral part of their employee engagement strategy.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of HR’s Journey to Becoming a Strategic Function
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past few decades the Human Resources discipline have matured into a fully-fledged corporate function. From a traditional Personnel function providing largely an administrative service, to today’s more strategic People & Culture function, it is true that Human Resources have become an integral part to any organization.
The Good
In many organizations the role of HR Business Partner has been created, to provide a trusted advisory service to specific departments. Reporting lines may be direct to the Head of that Business Unit, or functionally direct to the HR Director. Regardless of reporting hierarchy, there is a close connection with the business and the specific needs and requirements of for example, the Sales and Marketing group, which needs different incentive schemes compared to the Operations group.
Cost is always an issue in any business, and during a very difficult cost reduction drive some years ago, I had to review the HR structure. The business suddenly faced major cost pressures as result of the Asian Crisis in 1997. All departments had to implement headcount reductions across-the-board.
During my discussion with the Business Unit Manager, I advised him that we might need to consolidate the HR support, which would result in making the HR Business Partner role redundant. The executive looked at me and without hesitation responded that he would rather make an extra production person redundant, than having reduced HR support and advice. This executive truly valued HR as a real business partner!
The Bad
In a number of organizations I have been invited to assist them in upgrading the HR function, usually by transforming HR from a compliance-driven and administrative department to a more strategic function building and improving organizational capability.
Invariable, in these companies, the HR function is severely understaffed. Often the HR Manager is eager to move to more value-adding functions, but are overloaded with a variety of operational tasks, and unsurprisingly doing work that should be the responsibility of the line manager.
Very early in my career I worked for a large drilling and engineering company. On site was a garage servicing trucks and I was requested to recruit a mechanic. After the usual recruitment process, I discussed the shortlist with the manager. He abdicated responsibility of further interviews and asked me to make an offer to the best candidate. A few days later I checked in with him to see how the new mechanic was doing, only to be presented with a new recruitment requisition, as he didn’t like the person and his services were terminated. Needless to say, he became very involved in the new recruitment process.
There needs to be a clear understanding between the roles and responsibilities of HR and line managers. Too often, it is not clear who is involved and their specific responsibility.
The Ugly
Unfortunately, in some organizations, it is a sad reality that the HR function is not held in high regard. In some cases, it may well be that line managers are feeling exposed and vulnerable, as HR is involved with cases such as harassment and bullying. But sometimes, HR has mutated, rather than evolved, to be viewed as a scary and fearful compliance police, or as I affectionately refer to as “The Jailers”.
Some years ago a company without any HR department engaged me as an Organizational Change Consultant. The business was engaging in some M&A activity and wanted to establish a new retail business. I was more than intrigued to find that the HR department of 10 (well staffed for the size of the business) was replaced by an outsourced HR service.
After a few weeks, as I started to develop deeper relationships with managers, I started to hear stories about the HR department:
- Staff would be given increases by the HR department without their manager’s involvement
- Employees would be sent on training courses and the manager would only know about it due the absence of the employee.
There were other horror stories and this was a classic case of HR becoming a fiefdom and absorbed with their own projects and priorities.
Strategic HR function
There have been a lot of good changes in HR, as the function has become more professional. For the HR function to truly strategic and viewed as a real business partner the following three conditions must exist:
1. Alignment – the HR function needs to understand and be connected closely with the business, rather than trying to implement HR programs. HR is not a P&L function, but a support and advisory function assisting managers to improve and develop organizational capability.
2. Business-focused – There are no HR strategies, only business strategies with HR implications. HR is only strategic when the various HR initiatives contribute to successful implementation and achievement of the overall business strategy.
3. Clarity – the HR function needs to develop a clear and agreed framework of the roles to be conducted by line managers and HR professionals. Too often, there is only custom and practice, which results after a few years of staff changes in role confusion. Having a matrix that clearly defines roles and responsibilities also assist line managers to better understand the value and contribution of the HR function.
How To Increase Employee Engagement by 50%
Posted by: | CommentsGood people management is not difficult. However, research confirms that the large majority of employees are disengaged and increasingly cynical about the commitment of their employer to provide a great place to work. According to recent research conducted by employee engagement consultants Infogroup, Australia is placed seventh globally in terms of employee engagement, narrowly behind the United States and Germany. The research surveyed the views of 9,300 employees across the globe.
Some years ago I worked for a large manufacturing company, with the typical entry points where all staff had to clock in for their next shift. As is usual, staff would change into their work clothes and store their personal belongings in their locker. One of the production managers would often remark that it was such a shame that staff are leaving their initiative locked away as well, as they change into human robots, going through another boring twelve hour shift.
There are five highly effective strategies that can be adopted by any manager to significantly increase employee engagement by more than fifty percent. This article provides a brief overview on each of these strategies.
Role Clarity
Most employees go to work to do their best, though somehow it seems as if employers are making it as difficult as possible for an employee to do their job well. It all starts with having a clear job description of what is expected from them. Every manager has their specific expectations and standards, which needs to be shared with every new employee, or whenever there are any substantial changes. Employees are not mind readers and managers need to discuss and explore with employees what is expected of them. The key here is to focus on outputs or outcomes, not tasks or activities, as employees will become more engaged if they understand what is required, but have the opportunity to decide the best way to achieve the desired outcome.
Agreed Goals
Most jobs incorporate a long list of requirements. Some of these actions include daily actions, others weekly or monthly outputs, and others may be more project based or one-off assignments. Having a clear and agreed list goals is a very powerful way to hold employees accountable, provided they have been involved in developing the list of goals, which also makes it easier to get agreement. Too often, managers confuse KPIs or target measurements with goals that encapsulate the key priorities for the business, creating a strong alignment and making it more meaningful for the employee to see how they contribute to the business.
Regular Feedback
We all enjoy feedback, hearing that we are on track and doing a good job. Feedback should always be timely and regular, rather than creating a list which is only discussed every quarter or annually. Most managers dread giving feedback as they are used to a very formal process, rather than using role clarity and agreed goals as signposts that guide the feedback process, taking away the risk of becoming a very subjective discussion.
Learning Plan
Personal growth is often top of the list of motivators, reinforcing how all employees, and in particular Gen Y employees highly value any investment by their manager and the company to develop their skills and make them more employable. Having a highly developed structure of the role and how the employee is performing ensures that any training and development is of mutual benefit.
Career Discussion
No employee wants to be in a dead-end job, without any prospects of career progression. Once the employee has proved their performance and competence in their current role, it is essential to discuss how the learning plan is assisting the employee to be appointed into their next role, where role clarity kick-start the next cycle, in a virtuous cycle of employee engagement. The opportunity to rotate staff into other roles often creates new enthusiasm and also adds fresh skills, providing the employee with new career opportunities.
Increasing employee engagement is a major HR strategy for most organisations, and critical to make the employer a preferred employer of choice. If manager can nurture, develop and recognise the talents of employees, employees will be highly engaged and more likely to be retained. By using these five strategies, companies have been able to significantly increase their levels of employee engagement, by more than fifty percent, through better people management.
How LinkedIn Can Help Your Job Search
Posted by: | CommentsLinkedIn is one of the best business networking sites around to help anyone searching for a new job opportunity to maximise their job search. An extraordinary large number of people are already using this site – far more so than other business networking sites that I know of.
It is easy to regard LinkedIn as another distraction, but it can in fact be a very sophisticated relationship management and effective job search tool. By understanding how you can use LinkedIn to differentiate yourself, you can increase your job search effectiveness exponentially. A core ingredient of any job search is to develop and enhance your personal brand.
About a year ago I started to develop my own website, with some blogging and other social media initiatives to develop my own personal brand. When I started, I would get less than 20,000 hits when I searched for my name. Today, it is almost reaching the half-million mark.
Most people have a shortage of time, so be economical with your profile building and first get it right on LinkedIn. At a later stage, you can easily clone the profile and update other sites, such as Plaxo, Xing, Naymz, Ecademy, to name a few.
1. Picture – most people use a picture. Unfortunately many miss the opportunity and use an obscure picture hiding behind a ski mask. Using a picture that presents you in an authentic way is the best choice. The absence of a photo raises more questions and is not the best way of building your personal brand.
2. Headline – though you get 120 characters, think of a compelling headline – highlight the typical position title you are aiming for and add some flavour to make you stand out from other candidates. Think of it as a by-line that will catch the eye without being over the top, but may be a typical key word.
3. Profile – the summary section provides you with an opportunity to provide a snapshot of your career. Here is an opportunity for some of your style and personality to shine through, by adding a story about your experience and skills. It is very important that this is consistent with your resume; otherwise you can expect some difficult questions during an interview.
4. Getting Connected – building connections is an on-going process. After networking and meeting new contacts, LinkedIn is a great way of adding them to your network and staying in touch. As you continue to network and connect with others, your contacts will increase as well.
5. Groups – by joining selected groups, you can easily expand the reach of your network. One of the main advantages of groups is the ability to send emails to people in your group. This is useful to make contact with relevant people and engage in further communication.
6. Personal Invitations – though LinkedIn saves you time with a standard invite, always add some personal comments to make it more compelling for your business contacts to respond to your invitations. Try and introduce your contacts to others, as a way of sharing information. Quality of contacts are important and it is best to only invite people that you have connected with either in person or through phone/email.
7. Companies – this is a great new feature and you can include your target companies, as a way of keeping track of any departures or appointments. Doing research on a company prior to your interview has just become a lot easier.
8. Jobs – I have left the most obvious for last. In the jobs section LinkedIn will display potential jobs that you may be interested in. You can also request an introduction through one of your existing contacts. The difference here is that you can connect jobs and contacts – leveraging your relationships and exponentially enhancing your job search.
Lastly, technology is a great enabler. It works while you are busy with other things, creating touch points. Ultimately, it is not just about how who you know, but also who knows you. LinkedIn is a great way of helping you with your job search.
Using Social Media Strategically to Find Top Talent
Posted by: | CommentsCompanies will be able to attract top talent more effectively by leveraging social media using four key strategies. Though many companies are keen to explore social media, there is an underlying wariness as policies are trying to control the flow of information. This article provides an overview of social media and the potential application to attract top talent.
Underneath the iceberg of vacant jobs being advertised on job boards and newspapers, a strong invisible current of talent is ingeniously using social media to identify and strategize their next career moves. Prior to the popular rise and rise of social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the talent sourcing process was limited to a linear process – where a vacancy is filled in transactional fashion, embedded in a perpetual recruitment environment of sourcing in new talent.
The advent of job boards have resulted in a significant shift away from print media, but compounded the overload of thousands of job boards, with job aggregator sites promising candidates to identify vacant roles. Though the cost of recruitment has been reduced, the process remained reactive.
Integrating Technologies
The convergence of a number of technologies and the establishment of a talent pipeline has created the opportunity to develop relationships with talented candidates through an effective just-in-time recruitment model.
LinkedIn is the preferred social networking site from a business perspective, with more than 72 million users across the world. In Australia about 25% of all employed people are using LinkedIn. Users can create a brief profile with recommendations, making it easy for recruiters to search for talent.
Facebook is by far the most popular social media site, with more than 300 million users. Most professionals demarcate their social media presence, with limited access to Facebook restricted to friends and family, with a dash of business added for interest, though Facebook offers a level of granularity to separate friends and business contacts. Companies are increasingly using Facebook to create a social media presence. A weekly email report provides HR recruiters with statistics to track a summary of activities by fans.
Twitter is being used by a large number of companies to post job openings, though smart employers are also using it to share interesting news and to strengthen their employment brand. By using a tool like Tweetdeck, companies can easily monitor channels and track activity.
Companies can use creative ways to find talent through social media, by running competitions, surveys, blogs and email updates. The importance of reputation management cannot be overemphasized and a high level of authenticity needs to exist. Most companies will have a Social Media policy that determines the flow of information, with Internal Communication often reporting to HR, though there is a strong connection with Marketing departments.
Though some companies tend to use social media as just another distribution channel, a strategic sourcing strategy provides the challenge and opportunity to connect with potential future employees in ways exponentially more effective than reactive recruiting for job postings.
Building a Talent Pipeline
Companies can and should use social media to find top talent, by building a talent pipeline:
- Leveraging LinkedIn to create a company network with alumni employees, staying in touch as these ex-employees have an excellent understanding of the business. Alumni should be able to register for events, finding about jobs and connecting with others. The boomerang effect extends beyond savings in recruitment costs, as alumni can move to customer organizations, or become ambassadors through their extended networks.
- Engaging interested fans through Facebook and LinkedIn to track the company and maintain a watching brief about interesting company news and developments. Companies can enhance their employer brand by positive influencing interested applicants through regular updates.
- Integrating the various social media in a deliberate and authentic fashion. By adopting a consistency in the information flow to potential future employees, companies can engage and connect with passive applicants in more meaningful ways that develop positive talent relationships.
- Investing in technology rather than just banking the cost savings of recruitment without third party recruiters (TPRs). Using a good applicant tracking system (ATS) is not enough, as companies need to invest in resources such a researcher or social media recruiter, in order to maximize the benefits of social media to attract top talent.
Looking ahead to future talent needs
With the advent of technology, top talent are empowered to research their target company beyond annual reports to a level of detail where they will research the profiles of their future manager and the interviewer.
Companies need to invest and explore how they can tap into social media to find and attract top talent, long before they need to fill a specific role, rather than fighting fires by being stuck in a transactional recruitment system, where they are to busy to plant the seeds so they can enjoy the harvest.
Social media is much more than just another channel and by integrating it with the overall employer branding strategy, companies can attract top talent that can grow with the company.
Know your destination and find your next role
Posted by: | CommentsYou need a clear picture of your ideal next role, which you need to be able to describe succinctly to your networking contacts and recruiters.
