Challenging HR: Tapping Top Talent in a Downturn.

HR professionals often are faced with the task of downsizing in one business unit and recruiting highly skilled professionals in another. They have to cope with an exponential increase in applicants for a much smaller number of open jobs, maintain morale in constantly shifting external and internal environments and help their organizations retain key employees. This must be done with reduced recruiting and HR staffs and slashed budgets, at a time when brand image is a critical success factor.

Today, more than ever, organizations must recruit and select the best talent where they have openings and upgrade talent in areas where it will advantage the business. Change in the business environment has happened so fast, many organizations have been slow to adjust and take action. In the current economic climate, it is necessary to take a step back and evaluate workforce plans, as well as talent acquisition processes and enabling technology and determine a strategy that works for the organization in the new recruiting reality.

A Fresh Approach

The biggest mistake an organization can make in this challenging environment is to let down markets drive its vision and shut down recruiting completely. Don't ignore reality. Take a well-planned, creative approach to workforce planning and talent acquisition.

When recruiting departments are faced with more work and fewer resources, build in efficiencies, maximize existing tools, eliminate waste from existing processes, innovate, manage vendor relationships and establish strategic partnerships.

Consider the following steps:

1. Re-evaluate recruitment marketing strategies.

Don't stop running ads and posting jobs, but do be strategic and take a planned approach. The market has shifted from a scarcity to an abundance of candidates in a very short time - adjust accordingly. Don't overspend or spend in the wrong areas. Now is a great time to be out in the market as the competition for talent is much lower. Take advantage of it.

Also, renegotiate existing vendor relationships; don't pay last year's rates this year. There will still be skill shortages and geographic recruiting gaps, so rewrite copy and spruce up the company's look. Speak in a genuine voice for the organization by working with the marketing department.

2. Leverage the hidden gold mine.

Arguably the most commonly overlooked tool in any organization is its existing database. A real gold mine of information, the resumes collected by recruiters and HR staff during the past few years should provide great leads on passive and active candidates. For instance, run a Boolean search on the company's internal ATS database.

3. Improve competitive insight.

Leverage candidate interviews to collect market data on competitors. Actively call leads and network to gain insight into their knowledge about competitors. As talent managers interview candidates from competitors, gather critical information to help position the company to win in the market.

4. Tap the current employee pool.

Take a fresh look at the existing employee pool. Which individuals shine in the downturn? Identify individuals who have been interested in gaining experience in other functional areas and who would be willing to wear two hats during difficult times.

For the right employees, the current climate might provide real opportunities to gain much needed and desired experience in another area. Strong employees will appreciate the opportunity for long-term career growth, and it will show them how much they are valued.

5. Maximize social networking in recruiting.

When used properly, social media networks are an effective tool. The time demand is surprisingly low. If an organization has limited time, choose one or two networks to try. One recommendation is LinkedIn, which is targeted to professionals and requires little maintenance.

6. Automate candidate contact, and employ well-designed self-service.

Tracking down candidates can be time-consuming and frustrating, not to mention costly. Be efficient. One of the easiest solutions is to work with a provider to automate the process. There are myriad tools and software options on the market. The most attractive are those that include auto-scheduling, online minimum qualification screening and telephony/video interviewing platforms. Talent leaders also will want to improve and perhaps automate selection tools to ensure they find those few best needles in the now huge haystack.

Many talent managers can relate to the challenge of responding to the growth in candidate calls to "check status" and a single candidate applying for multiple positions. Turn on auto e-mails. A recent Pinstripe survey showed that less than 20 percent of organizations use that functionality in their ATSs.

Books Are Fun Ltd., a Chicago-based subsidiary of Reader's Digest, and the world's leading display marketer of books and gifts, experienced the benefits of automation firsthand. To meet expansion goals and cover attrition rates, Books Are Fun recruits 250-300 independent sales representatives every year. Before automation, the company's six internal recruiters spent 70 percent of their time screening applicants.

"We knew that the most important part of the recruiting process is the late-stage conversation that we have with a candidate about the job as a lifestyle change rather than just another position," said David Hammond, vice president of sales recruitment. "We needed our internal folks to focus on these late-stage conversations. It was a waste of time for my staff to handle the screening process."

Books Are Fun outsourced the sourcing and screening process to an organization that was able to reduce costs and time to fill by streamlining candidate tracking; managing all recruitment marketing efforts including postings and active and passive candidate sourcing; and accessing additional resources, including community-based recruiting from libraries and organizations, franchise and sales-niche recruiting, various national and regional job boards and TRM contact searches.

7. Find the right candidates from the onset.

Many organizations put too many people through too far in their processes. Design talent acquisition, screening and selection processes carefully and stick with them. Screen people in - and out - early.

"In the past, Books Are Fun offered a contract to the first qualified candidate that appeared. Now we want to offer a contract to the most qualified candidates only," Hammond said. "Our new system generates enough volume of qualified candidates to provide us with real choices."

8. Review the funnel and revise processes.

An organization may have fewer openings, but now there will be more people applying, which will significantly increase the amount of time spent screening and responding to applicants. This can exhaust an HR team, particularly one that recently reduced staff, and could increase effective cost per hire.

Adopt a high-volume recruiting model to process a high volume of candidates in a time of low job requisitions. Technology enables the process in a candidate friendly way. Move online prequalifiers to the top of the funnel, and save the paid online screens and assessments for the spot where the funnel is slimmer.

Books Are Fun revised its process and brought about significant improvements, including a 45 percent decrease in costs, a decrease in time to fill from 52 to 42 days and clear recruiting metrics including weekly summaries, pipeline reports, hiring funnels and detailed process maps.

9. Protect the brand.

When an organization is one of a few that is hiring, and getting 500 resumes for every job posted, process change is necessary. Work with experts to ensure the company doesn't miss good people or alienate future prospects and customers. This is particularly important if an organization is a major consumer brand, and every applicant also is a consumer.

Be polite and respectful every time. Companies are not usually good at this, and HR will find it especially important to partner with marketing and hiring managers when everyone is being asked to do more with less.

Times are tough and the human resources function is on the frontlines of the battle. But remember, every downturn yields winners and losers. Some organizations will not merely weather this storm; they will seize the opportunity to emerge as a more efficient and successful.

Reference:
Sue Marks
[About the Author: Sue Marks is founder and CEO of Pinstripe Inc., an HR and recruitment process outsourcing firm serving large- and middle-market domestic clients, as well as the Global 5000.]

HR Management: All The Way To The Bottom-line!!!

Extraordinary leaders have the wherewithal to leave a resounding impact on the bottom-line...

• Corporate profitability is a function of leadership quality
• A leader’s ability to inspire and motivate others is the key differentiator between ordinary and extraordinary leaders
• Extraordinary leadership produces extraordinary results!

A recent research on leadership and its impact on bottom-line reveals that exceptional leaders can in fact double corporate profits! A bold and revolutionary finding as organisations would believe that to double profits they simply would have to place an extraordinary leader in the right place. While it may sound logical and simple to do, the whole idea of getting the extraordinary leader work towards doubling profits is complex.

Understanding how leaders can double profits and how organisations can develop such extraordinary talent is important for increasing an organisation’s leadership potential.

The Elusive Connection

The connection between stellar leadership performance and a dramatic increase in the bottom-line figures has been showed based on variables that lead one to believe that extraordinary leadership indeed translates into a robust bottom-line. The variables include:

• Employee morale and motivation
• Employee retention rate
• Employee turnover
• Employee productivity

It is relatively simple to infer these variables to learn the change in bottom-line figures since these variables are easily quantifiable and are dependent on the quality of leadership. Cross-referencing the statistical evidence obtained by measuring these variables organisations can measure their leadership impact. This apart, the impact of leadership on profits can also be measured by the employee-customer-profit chain. According to this principle, every five point increase in employee motivation resulted in 1.3 per cent increase in customer satisfaction levels which in turn translated into 0.5 per cent rise in the overall corporate productivity. Various surveys on different organisations have reinforced the truth of this principle and showed there is in fact a strong correlation between employee commitment and profitability.

Traditionally, organisational leadership is divided into three types - top 10 per cent, bottom 10 per cent and the middle 80 per cent. Research on leadership efficacy has suggested that 50 per cent of employees who are actively disengaged or want to quit their jobs report to the bottom 10 percent leaders. Seventy per cent of fully engaged employees report to the top ten per cent. Thus, leaders in the top ten per cent again figure among major contributors to the bottom-line as employee engagement translates to employee commitment and therefore employee productivity and profitability. While the statistics show the impact of effective leadership, they also bring out an important side of leadership. The survey revealed that employees reporting to the bottom and top ten per cent of leaders drew the same salary and benefits therefore showing that it is only the quality of leadership that made all the difference.

Leader extraordinaire

How can organisations develop extraordinary leaders? Developing exceptional leadership abilities would require organisations to identify the key competencies required for leaders to perform. To do so, organisations need to benchmark leadership that aims to build capabilities that would heighten organisational productivity and set up a performance standard that is competent yet sustainable. While every organisation will have its own set of leadership competencies, there are sixteen competencies that experts believe are “must -haves” for extraordinary leadership. Under the five different clusters of leadership behaviour each of these sixteen competencies are segmented.

The clusters include:

• Result-oriented approach
• Leading change
• Character and values
• Personal abilities and competence
• Interpersonal skills

Each of these clusters represents behaviours that would improve employee participation in the overall corporate growth story. For instance, leaders who are result-oriented keep employees motivated towards the goal by resulting in the desired output. Similarly, leaders who stress on change bring out the creative instincts in people by unlocking the organisations hidden innovation potential. Of the sixteen competencies, the ability of a leader to inspire others to perform is by far the most critical in driving leaders to the top two per cent. Leaders who inspire others to perform create better leaders for future as they help others realise their potential. The next logical question therefore would be how can organisations help leaders become more inspiring?

While there are some leaders who are naturally inspiring there are others who need to learn the art of inspiring others. The best approach to developing an inspiring personality is to focus on “companion” behaviours which complement the larger ambition of creating a motivated workforce. Companion behaviours are complimentary behaviours that indirectly help in bringing about the desired behaviour change. For developing inspirational leaders, experts recommend the following companion behaviours:

• Practice stretch goals
• Focus on developing others than-self
• Clarity in vision and thought
• Working as a part of a team
• Greater initiative
• Becoming a role model in every possible way

These companion behaviours will help leaders develop that one different competency that would result in their transition from the “ordinary” to the “extraordinary”, both in leadership success and profitability!

Reference:
The ManageMentor

HR Management: Talent Unification...

A single view of talent is what makes it an asset........

• Developing a unified talent management approach by breaking through talent management silos
• A performance-centric culture is important to get a clear view of talent as it is here that people, data and competencies coincide for increasing performance.

A disengaged employee translates to thirty percent productivity losses! An astounding figure considering that most leaders and managers wear a deadpan expression about the engagement figures in their organisation. A significant percentage of corporates do not indulge in exercises like engagement assessment and so have no clue about the percentage of employees fully engaged, nearly engaged and actively disengaged. This also reflects the level of efficiency of talent management efforts that one can expect from such organisations. So what is the fuss about “people – our greatest asset” all about? For most organisations they have taken this HR phrase and have horded “people” irrespective of whether they have talent or not!

According to Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great”, people are not an asset, the right people are. So organisations need to keep its growth impetus by managing and detecting talent successfully. Employee retention, engagement, commitment and alignment are all fallouts of effective talent management. Organisations that hold a clear view of talent and understand what talent means to them can rest assure that their organisation is treading a safe path. Despite the awareness about how clear visibility about talent can propel organisational growth, employee retention continues to be a persistent itch.

Why do organisations fail to keep talent when they know the solution lies in preserving a single view of talent and following it to the hilt?

Haze and silos

Organisations fail mainly because of two reasons - they live in a talent haze that deprives them of a clear vision and secondly because organisations work in talent management silos. Talent management silos are independent units of the same function. In this case silos would represent independent units representing subfunctions like performance management, succession planning, hiring and retention, grouping them into silos that have little or no link with one another. Lack of integration results in multiple views on a given subject and therefore fails to muster the steam required to perform to its peak levels. Therefore, experts believe that organisations that wish to capitalise on the potential of talent management as a strategic business instrument should remove silos from within and create an environment of interdependence and integration.

How can leaders be sure of putting their talent to good use and not wasting them? An understanding of this is important for increasing employee potential. Leaders should therefore introspect and discover if:

• Top talent is working on projects that are strategic and growth-oriented
• Aligning of Individual goals and organisational objectives are not going out of sync
• Profiling the skill gaps and competency of candidates after every review.. Identifying performance improvement by recommending actionable development plans
• Axing the bottom ten percent at regular intervals to raise the quality of employees
• Managing talent is just another administrative exercise

If the answer to these apprehensions is a “yes” then the organisation is failing in its talent management efforts. However, for organisations that are doing everything right the opportunities are endless.

An understanding of what works best for talent management helps leaders focus on people, data and competencies. The trio together help leaders build a unified approach to talent management. With a single view on talent, organisations can overcome the hurdles erected by the “silos” culture.

The best methods

Following is an account of best practices in unified talent management approach:

• Get the right people for the right job, a mismatch here can hinder employees productivity
• Build a performance-centric culture by rewarding employees at every achievement and encouraging them to do better every time
• Try at unifying talent management practices
• Empower employees to take charge of their careers

Incorporating these basic practices will help organisations break free from the silos culture and take a clear view of talent. Organisations can then leverage their unified approach to talent management to align, engage, keep and develop talent in a way that creates a positive and resounding impact on the bottom-line.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Learning's Role in a Talent Management Strategy.

In every market segment, in every country, in every economy, companies are searching for talent. In 2008, the Adecco Institute surveyed more than 5,000 HR executives on topics including skill shortages, career management, knowledge management and lifelong learning. The research concluded that talent management will be the single most important focus of HR and learning and development moving forward.

Wikipedia defines talent management as "the process of developing and fostering new workers through on-boarding, developing and keeping current workers and attracting highly skilled workers at other companies to come to work for your company. Companies that are engaged in talent management (human capital management) are strategic and deliberate in how they source, attract, select, train, develop, promote and move employees through the organization."

By this definition, talent management can encompass a wide range of responsibilities, and learning plays a key role. An effective talent management strategy will consider exactly what that role will be, but first talent leaders must determine what value learning will play in the organization, and how in conjunction with talent management, it will be defined and handled.

Typically, ownership falls to the vice president of HR or the CLO. However, some companies are combining the roles and creating a vice president of talent management.

A Strong Foundation

An effective learning strategy will depend on a strong foundation of technology in support of enterprise- or department-wide talent management programs. To begin, make an inventory of existing software solutions.

In most cases, organizations approach this technology phase in one of two ways. They may have ERP applications that handle all talent management components, but may not be best-in-class in all areas. Or they may have an ERP outfitted with separate best-in-class applications to handle specialized components such as learning management and competency management.

In either case, the goal is the same. Make sure all the applications "talk to each other" and that the user interface is clean and simple. The best way to streamline the user interface is to use a portal that enables access to and interaction with all files, applications, content and people relevant to learning and talent management efforts.

Portals deliver highly personalized experiences that deliver talent management information to the end user based on applications, roles, workflows and other security permissions upon logging in. This single sign-on design prevents the user from having to log in to each application separately and delivers all functionalities in one standard interface.

Of the eight components that typically compose talent management - workforce planning, workforce acquisition, performance management, career development, succession planning, competency management, learning management and compensation management - learning plays a part in five - performance management, career development, succession planning, competency management and learning management.

Health benefits organization Cigna has been effectively leveraging integrated, end-to-end talent management practices for several years, including wrapping them into strategic business planning. Linking end-to-end talent management activities with strategic business planning is critical to ensure the talent required to lead the business proactively and in concert with forecasted changes in market context is in place and performing successfully.

Because learning is so essential to the success of its talent management strategies, Cigna has embraced it throughout the employee life cycle. As trite as it may sound, learning needs to be available anytime, anywhere - and in a variety of methods appropriate to organizational culture and individual employee learning styles.

Further, it is imperative an organization's leaders not only value learning, but they must promote traditional learning efforts and new delivery methods that marry learning to day-to-day task execution and business operations. Only when these objectives are met can learning agility be achieved and individuals be able to perform and produce in ways that benefit the organization, and the individual, most.

Refocus Learning and Development for Talent Management

Historically, learning and development organizations have consisted of functionally aligned teams that reactively focused on business unit requests. In a talent management strategy, the learning and development organization's responsibility must shift to align with the most critical strategic priorities of the company and workforce. The focus should now be on:

a) Integrating learning with work.

b) Determining current and future workforce learning needs.

c) Targeting all stakeholders.

d) Promoting on-demand learning that helps drive continuous learning and a high-performing culture.

This requires talent leaders to integrate learning with daily work tasks and often requires active coaching and frequent feedback from managers.

This leader-led learning is vital to the success of an organization because average workers will spend less than 10 percent of the time in a formal learning environment. Therefore, the majority of their learning will be informal and come from their managers and other leaders and employees, or through their own experiences on the job.

Learning's role is to coach while the managers teach, and managers can use their experiences to teach workers in ways that learning professionals only dream about. Employees today are eager to hear from successful executives about what works and doesn't work in their organizations and to hear answers to questions such as, "What are the best practices?" and, "What are the innovative things being done across the organization?"

When considering current and future workforce needs, learning and development professionals should help define competencies and pivotal roles. Competencies are the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform a specific job. Knowing these will help talent managers with everything from workforce planning and acquisition to succession and compensation planning.

Those who have been in the learning and development field for a long time may remember a similar effort was undertaken in the 1980s and early '90s called "job and task analysis." Leaders created large databases of skills and knowledge for numerous job positions and soon realized that, as quickly as job responsibilities changed, they did not have the budgets or the workforces to maintain comprehensive job and task analyses.

Today, competencies have replaced job and task analysis, and talent leaders are smarter in how they select and implement them. Best practices in competency management involve developing competencies for only a few select roles, typically leadership roles and specialized positions. Job-specific competencies should be confined to pivotal roles, jobs such as sales and customer service, for example, that directly touch the customer.

The number and types of competencies in a model will depend on the nature and complexity of work, along with the culture and values of the organization in which the work takes place. Typically, competencies are limited from five to 15; more than 15 becomes unmanageable.

Target All Stakeholders

Texas Instruments (TI) is preparing to roll out development blueprints: competency-based development recommendations applicable to every employee in the company. The organization identified core, critical capabilities for team member, team leader/manager, mid-level leader and senior-leader roles. Now development recommendations can be applied to any business unit, and they focus on learning through experiences with suggested relationships, coursework, assessment and feedback.

Within each of the four jobs, TI recognizes employees may be new to a role, in the role, preparing for a new role and/or high potential. The blueprints provide employees, managers and talent leaders with a variety of ideas for development with the intention to "meet each employee where they are.." Separately, specific development recommendations are given for each critical capability on each blueprint.

Promote Communication and On-Demand Learning

In organizations looking to leverage learning to improve talent management, a key strategy is to improve communications and culture. Improving communication is best achieved using Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis and forums. These strategies allow continual opportunities for learning and supplement formal learning events.

The learning and development piece of the talent organization can take the lead by incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into learning portals to foster collaboration. Employees can be encouraged to collaborate online before or after scheduled learning events. If successful, the learning portal can become the focal point to improve communication throughout the organization.

Improving communication is difficult enough inside the organization. When the boundaries expand outside the organization, learning and development can become a large part of the solution by extending the learning portal to external stakeholders. This allows a selected portion of the company's knowledge to become available outside the firewall, and employees and external stakeholders can communicate.

Some of the highest-ranking executives at companies such as Cisco, Oracle, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Boeing write periodic entries in their online blogs. Curious readers can learn about Oracle's Group Vice President Judson Althoff and his meetings with partners in Japan, India and New York City. Or they can get a video sneak peek from GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz at the vehicles GM will be launching during the North American International Auto Show. Through these blogs and videos, everyone can learn from industry masters by seeing how they view and react to current trends in their industries.

In these tough economic times, learning and talent organizations will be continuously tested to prove their value to the organization. As the talent management space potentially merges HR roles with those of learning and development, learning leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to cement the value of their skills for company leaders.

Because talent management will play such a critical role in organizational performance and competitiveness moving forward - and because so much of talent management is defined by learning and development - learning leaders are well-positioned to lead the charge to higher workforce performance.

Reference:
[About the Author: Don Duquette is executive vice president, learning solutions for General Physics Corp., a global performance improvement company.]

Tips to be an Effective HR Professional

In continuation to one of the older post 10 Tips for an Efffective HR Manager, I thought of adding few more to the list.
Working as an HR Professional, there are various things one should keep in mind. You must always ensure that you are doing your job effectively. Here are few of my tips which will help you in managing Human resources more effectively and efficiently:

1. Recruitment & Retention: Managing an HR unit has never been an easy task. If you are into HR management, you should be aware that the key to employing the right people for a company as well as retaining the useful and reliable people also relies on your ability of managing human resources well.To be an effective HR manager, you should focus more into hiring the best and most promising potential employees for the company as well as retaining the talent earlier hired. Being an HR professional your key to success will lie in how well you are able to balance the above two mentioned activites.


2. Treat everyone equally and with Respect : One of the important element that must be kept in mind while taking the role of an HR Manager is the treatment you will be giving to your people. Your role restricts you to be biased towards a particular individual and also expects that you respect people's feelings and emotions. Your treatment will be your stepping stone in taking the buyin of people at a later stage. Hence ensure that you treat your employees with due respect and equality.


3. Let your employees see you as a person and not their HR Manager: The image of an HR Manager has changed drastically over the last decade. Their role is not restricted to a mere personnel function in an organization, but gained an important strategic dimension in all decision making activities. People expect alot more from their HR Managers in terms of their engagement, productivity, performance and recognition. It is important for us to understand that our employees wants us to be more than an HR Manager. They want us to be more personal with them and help them to fight or solve any problem whether related to their profession or not.The role today requires an HR Manager to be more close to their employees to sense their pulse and


4. Work as a Team: Working with your fellow staff members as a Team is the key to success and your existence. Remember that people have capabilities which needs to be exploited so that they are more productive. As an HR Manager you need to identify these talents in your employees and align yourself to become a part of them. Team working hence holds a vital position in accomplishing any given task.


5. There's no substitute for a good attitude: “It is the attitude and not the aptitude That determines the altitude of a person”. That is what the fact remains. It always starts with a Big A, which makes the difference. While we get involved in our day-to-day affairs, we need to keep our Attitude as high as possible. There are various dimensions to the attitude. If we see in our professional and personal lives, we find people highly successful in managing their lives if they exhibit a right attitude. People, who tend to go towards negative situations, always get negative results in life.


6. Tough situations are an excellent time for learning: Challenges are the real testers of ones preserverance and attitude. It is in these situations that you will learn and come out heroically. Your learning starts when you make mistakes. It is said that if you aren't making mistakes you ain't growing.


7. Take time for yourself. (and your family): Your family has a very important role to play so that you can concentrate on your job. A good manager is one who knows how to keep a balance between his personal as well as professional life. He is responsible to the organization and has an equal important role to play at home.

Recruitment & Retention: How Socially Active Should We Be?

Real or hype? It’s for organisations to rethink the worth of social networking.

• Social networking has had a good run in the world of recruiting
• But does this mean it should be given more importance than other recruiting tools?

Recruiters have begun noticing the potential of social networking is stale news. What is new is that some are considering it the “ultimate solution” to sourcing and recruiting woes. A handful of recruiters may have earned their feathers by relying on social networking. But as recruiting professionals would agree, the success of few may not translate into the success for everyone. Before getting caught up in this hype, a question that organisations must ask is, “Is it the right time to ditch conventional approaches for social networking?” As desperate as recruiters are to hear a ‘yes’, it would be premature to confirm social networking’s status as ‘the panacea’. This week’s mailer discusses the merits of social networking trying to help recruiting professionals figure out its worth.

The nays have it!

Recruiters simply assume that getting connected to an online group will give them immediate and free access to a pool of talent. Another assumption is that online groups are homogenous. For instance, marketing professionals will link with those with similar backgrounds. As logical as these theories sound, getting connected to the right type and number of talent is not as simple. In fact, research has a different story to tell. Those who join social networks do so for two basic reasons:

• To keep their existing social connections alive: According to recent research, individuals socialise online mainly to uphold and strengthen their offline networks. In Korea where the number of heavy Internet users is high almost 85 per cent use social networking to remain connected with those they have offline associations with.
• To build their social capital: Social capital refers to the wealth individuals can extract from their online connections. Someone high on social capital can tap his online contacts for information, personal connections and form interest groups. Many individuals invest in social capital for their psychological welfare. In short, the main purpose of building social capital is not to find employment; at the most it is an incidental benefit.

Remaining guarded

“Members of online social networks are not so much networking as they are broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances,” says an Internet analyst. This tendency prevents individuals from exploiting the other possibilities of social networking. In another assessment of Internet use, analysts made the following observations:

• The sizes of individuals’ networks are seemingly small . While the average number of contacts a Facebook account holder has is 120, the average number of people he often interacts with is 10.
• Men respond to an average seven postings; women to ten
• Men often e-mail or chat with not more than 4 others; women with six
• An account holder’s ‘friends’ are seldom from the same profession or background
• Most account holders are protective about friends in their core group. And they have little or no influence over those others who are not part of their core network
• Since the basic purpose of joining social networks is to keep in touch with offline friends and acquaintances, information shared or exchanged is personal. Account holder profiles too seldom mention professional details and even if they do, those details are not enough to assess an individual’s professional competence.

These observations in themselves are reason enough to remain wary about social networking. But what probably builds a case against considering it the eventual solution are the challenges involved in using it as a recruiting tool.

Sketchy details:

Information on individuals on social networking sites seldom covers their professional qualifications and interests. At best, there might be a mention of where the individual works. Recruiters must then use what is available to shortlist candidates. There have been instances where recruiters have rejected individuals because photographs posted showed them partying, with drinks in their hands. Right now, the possibility of such rejections resulting in litigation is low. However, the likelihood of rejecting good candidates for invalid, flimsy reasons is high. As one Internet analyst says, “The real danger is that someone will exclude a candidate for no good reason”. The absences of adequate and proper candidate informations compel recruiters who use social networks to assume that, “Individual who party and drink may not be as right for the organisation as those who do not”. Such reasoning may not even appeal to the least logical of people!

Detail verification:

Let us assume a recruiter has shortlisted a handful of candidates based on what he has seen and read on a networking site. The challenge now is to verify information collected to assess the candidate’s background. Are there sources that recruiters can rely on to confirm what an individual has shared in his profile? Unfortunately there is nothing. The best bet would be to rely on LinkedIn where recruiters can form a woolly impression of a candidate’s worth based on his active connections and received recommendations.
Being more cautious about relying on social networking is recommended at this stage.
As convenient as it is to think of social networking as the panacea, it is not at this stage. As long as recruiters recognise this fact, social networking can work in their favour.

Reference:

The ManageMentor

Are people growing in your organization??

As soon as an employee joins an organization the cycle of growth and career development begins for him. Laying down a solid foundation in this respect right from the start of an employee’s career is resulting in creating ‘Individual Development Plans (IDP)’ for them. It’s the job of the HR Manager to help his people visualize a successful career in the future and that their decision of choosing them as their preferred employer was right.

Talking of the traditional approach adopted by organizations where people were merely given importance and career development, growth etc were topics least interesting for any company, times have changed and now organizations with the help of Human Resource department are taking the extra effort to draw up a development plan for the employee.

What is an Individual Development Plan (IDP)?

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is an organized approach to professional development activities and programs that are designed to improve the employee’s professional skills and the department’s productivity. This is a joint process, both in design and execution, in that managers are more familiar with the department’s future directions and the employee is more aware of specific, individual needs and aspirations.

The purpose of the IDP is to target competencies and skills to be developed for three purposes: for use in the employee’s current position, for growth within the employee’s current position, and for future career goals.

How IDPs are helpful for an employee?

• They provide direction to career development as they are not generic, but based on assessment of areas for improvement given the employee’s current role and perhaps the immediate future role.
• They are prepared jointly by the employees and their managers. Hence, there is a commitment on both sides to realize the plans.
• IDPs normally state what competencies are attempted to be built or what gaps are aimed to be closed and therefore, they help employees to build competence, confidence and comfort with their roles.
• IDPs focus on the strengths and developmental areas of an employee. It encourages the employee to look at ways to leverage on his/her strengths, document the same and write out action steps.
• It also looks at the developmental areas of the employee and encourages him/her to look at ways to move the needle on these through special assignments, focused training, executive development programs and coaching.

An individual development plan ensures a readily available framework for the individual to think about his/her inherent strengths and how best the same can be utilized given the myriad roles available.

For the motivation

While an IDP helps in career growth and mapping, it also acts like a motivational tool for the employees. It provides an inspiration to be better workers. It is a reassurance to an employee that the organization is interested in and committed to his/her development. An IDP is the first and a very important step in helping a person grow.

Developing the Individual Development Plan
The process involves the following steps:

1. Preparing an Individual Development Plan at the time of the employee’s evaluation.

2. Involving the employee in the design of the IDP.

3. Consider each area of the employee’s performance from the following perspectives and determine which should be developed in the upcoming evaluation period:

• Strengths that, if enhanced, will contribute to the overall mission of the organization and increase productivity.
• New skills that will be needed in the upcoming evaluation period.
• Areas of performance/skills that need to be improved.

4. Determine the appropriate learning methods and resources that will be needed for development.

5. Once the learning methods and resources have been selected, define the measures or criteria that will be used to determine if the targeted learning has been accomplished.

6. The supervisor and the employee sign the IDP to document mutual agreement with it and commitment to completing it. Clarify responsibilities with the employee.

7. Set up a reporting system so that the employee’s progress can be gauged at any time and adjustments can be made to the plan as needed.

In this process, employees identify their career growth themselves and Human Resource Department supports them to achieve it. With a self chosen and well defined career path in front of them, employees have just one effort to make it happen. This is by actually working on it and re-skilling themselves for the new role and challenges. The mere feeling that the entire organization is backing them to achieve their dream career definitely motivates the employees. Moreover, as the career path is chosen by employees themselves without any force, this very factor also motivates the employees to achieve something which is defined by none other than themselves.

In the end, I would say that IDP helps an employee to know his/her growth plan. So if you see your employee de-motivated, map out his/her success graph. You just might see a sky-rocketing change in their attitude and behaviour at workplace.

What’s your experience been with IDPs? Do you have any other tips to share?
Reference:

Young HR Manager

Performance Management: Talent Management Beyond Appraisals

Talent management is about assessment of performance and potential, not just annual appraisals...

• Effective talent management encompasses evaluation of both performance and potential
• Talent councils and talent matrix are important tools to keep tabs on the progress of talent management initiatives

Many organisations use the terms ‘talent management’ and ‘performance management’ interchangeably. This only reflects a lack of understanding. Organisations consider annual performance appraisals as the be-all and end-all of talent management. However, it would be worthwhile to note that performance management is just about performance evaluation, while talent management encompasses both performance evaluation and potential assessment. Further, talent management has the capacity to elevate an organisation’s position by incorporating processes that are innovative, forward-looking and strategic in nature. Thus, understanding this difference between performance management and talent management will help leaders and managers steer their efforts in the right direction.

Holistic development

Talent management and development is a complex process. It involves a number of sub-processes that are governed by an interesting interplay of factors, both internal and external. The process aims at maximising employee performance at the micro level, while expanding organisational reach at the macro level. Achieving talent management objectives can be challenging if organisations do not have clearly defined goals. Every organisation, therefore, must ascertain its talent management goals before setting out on the path of performance enhancement. Typically the goals should include:

• Identification and segmentation of employees on the basis of performance
• Focus on top talent
• Creation of opportunities for top talent to excel
• Creation of a high-performance work culture
• Focus on business development and growth

Each of these goals will help leaders achieve their talent management objectives of maximising employee performance, while creating growth opportunities for the organisation as a whole. Understanding how these goals are interlinked can help leaders frame a comprehensive plan of action.

At Amcor...

Amcor, the global packaging company, presents an excellent example of how organisations can benefit from a systematic and well-conceived talent management plan. The packaging giant follows a five-step approach to talent management. The approach covers a range of issues starting from establishing a talent council to identifying options for leadership succession. The following is a detailed account of the five-step process at Amcor:

Talent councils

At Amcor, talent councils complement the process of performance evaluation. The talent councils comprise top executives, VPs, and other functional heads, who keep a close vigil on employees pegged as future leadership talent. They also act as a surveillance body that re-assesses employee performance, thereby validating the results of the performance evaluation system. Talent councils, thus, take performance management one step beyond the traditional one-to-one assessment.

Performance management

Performance management is the most important component of an effective talent management system. At Amcor too, performance management holds the key to effective talent management. The company emphasises on the need for frequent performance assessment, as opposed to the traditional annual or biannual appraisal system. The packaging giant also uses the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) with embedded performance management functionality. An effective software platform can make talent management a whole lot simpler.

Potential evaluation

Talent management efforts can get wasted if organisations fail to evaluate employee potential for charting career graphs. Managers and leaders need to evaluate employee potential to ascertain if the identified candidate is fit to go through the development process. At Amcor, evaluation of potential is a serious business. The principal objective of the exercise is to identify future leadership talent by ascertaining the motivation levels, aptitude, commitment and cultural fit of the employees. Amcor conducts capability gap assessments to understand how far people are from where they should be. The assessment is aimed at sieving the not-so-competent lot, and work towards creating an effective succession plan for those deemed fit to take on future leadership roles.

Talent matrix

Charting a talent matrix that gives a graphic representation of employee performance and potential can help leaders get an insight into the progress of leadership development. In addition, the matrix also helps leaders and managers adjust their expectations in terms of future leadership capabilities.

Talent tagging

The ultimate goal of any talent management initiative is to create a robust talent pipeline that makes succession smooth and effective. Thus, top talent at Amcor is tagged for future leadership roles, indicating the intended succession plan clearly. Organisations like Amcor that align talent management efforts with a validated succession plan keep their staff motivated and inspired to move to the top block.

Talent management is a business imperative and organisations that integrate talent management with a comprehensive human resources management strategy will only gain from their efforts. In addition, aligning performance management initiatives with the larger talent management strategy will help organisations elevate their growth plans.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Outsourcing the Learning Function.

A senior consultant with Alsbridge plc, a global advisory firm, writes about ways to ensure a productive outcome when outsourcing the learning function.

As companies' learning functions gain importance and learning-management systems are implemented and integrated with other HR systems, the administrative burden and support effort increases also.

The prospect of huge savings has therefore started to attract companies to outsource the learning function as a whole, or at least parts of it. And they are right. The learning function is an ideal candidate for outsourcing -- it involves mainly low-value administrative work and does not add any value to a company's bottom line.

Adding to this are constantly shrinking budgets and the pressure on chief learning officers to do more with less.

Many companies have already freed themselves of the administrative work and handed over learning-support processes to specialist providers enabling them to free up existing resources and use them in a more value-adding strategic role. The idea behind it is to be as lean and efficient as possible.

The need to reduce costs, focus on core competencies, increase strategy focus and the benefit of planning costs that are normally highly unpredictable drives companies to evaluate the outsourcing option.

Companies with an in-house learning function are typically much less efficient and effective compared to companies that have made training their core competence.

According to Bersin & Associates, the learning industry research and advisory services company based in Oakland, Calif., companies that have recently implemented a learning-management system and that have in-house training spend an average of $392 per learner, compared to $328 for companies that outsource.

Through standardization of processes, an outsourcing supplier is able to create economies of scale enabling the client to focus on strategic HR processes and other core business and to reduce technical staff significantly.

Bersin research shows that companies that outsource their technology platforms only are already able to reduce their technical staff by nearly half, compared to companies with internally managed systems.

Having outsourced the technology to an external partner ensures that the company is up to date with the newest technology and reduces disruption during software upgrades.

Some software companies upgrade their products every three to six months, which always involves significant effort. Usually a team of some five technical consultants are involved for four to six weeks. It's good to pass this responsibility on to external providers.

Some providers offer their LMS as Software as a Service (SaaS) which provides the benefit of faster implementation times and seamless upgrades compared to traditional LMS providers.

Apart from the technology and support related to it, typical processes that can be outsourced are:

1. Development of curricula and courses on a worldwide level and sharing same content between countries;

2. Handling of help-desk phone calls from inquiring learners;

3. Devising certification tests;

4. System support and hosting;

5. Data administration;

6. Learning facilities management; and

7. Learning content-management systems.

BPO vendors and HR professionals caution that this type of outsourcing is not for everyone and its success depends largely on a company's driving force, its industry, the type of training it conducts and how the process is managed.

The recent growth in this market has encouraged several outsourcing providers to increase their service portfolio and add learning as a new product.

How do companies choose the right partner and ensure a successful outcome?

Before starting the selection process it is important to determine if your company is suitable and ready to outsource the learning function. It helps to think about the costs in the short and long term to maintain this function. How will the company's vision and strategy affect this?

Secondly, it is important for a company to understand the exact business motivations --why outsource the learning function?

The first question that needs to be answered is whether it is sufficient to look for a partner that specializes in learning and therefore has deep industry knowledge and best practice, or is the strategic aim to bundle learning with other HR process such as performance management?

In addition, depending on the industry you are in, it might be worth looking for specialist providers that have in-depth understanding of your particular industry as well as the learning industry.

Other questions that will need to be answered are: Where exactly will the value come from? Reduced administrative costs? Reduced FTEs? Increased quality? What is the geographical scope (local, regional, global)? Languages involved? Training delivery strategy: Push or pull? Answering these questions will reduce choice and help decide on the right partner.

Once you have constructed a strong business case, you will have to choose the potential partners that will be invited to submit their answers during the selection process.

Many of the suppliers' service offerings are very similar or at least sound the same. It may be good to get advice from a specialized sourcing company who understands the often subtle differences between each provider's offerings.

Preparing for the selection phase will take some effort. Try to understand exactly what you are trying to outsource and what your service expectations are.

Get learners (internal or external) to help define the services that you want to outsource. Everyone will have a different view as to what is involved, depending on how they use the current processes (i.e., member of staff, contractor and administrator).

Staff with little or no computer access might require a telephony service to book training, and staff in a production plant might benefit from hot-spots with touch screens and extra large buttons to be able to access the system while wearing their gloves.

Start the selection process by sending a Request for Information to no more than five possible partners. This should include an executive summary of the services you are looking to outsource.

After having evaluated the answers and reduced the number of possible suppliers to no more than two or three partners, send them a more detailed Request for Proposal. This should include the detailed description of the processes, volumetrics regarding each process, a contractual framework, a pricing template, and your service and responsibility expectations.

Also explain your current learning landscape in more detail and whether you'd expect them to take over existing supplier services. At this stage, make sure that you know when existing contracts run out and what exit clauses are contractually agreed.

Design a systems blueprint that you can include in the RFP identifying exactly where the interface with other HR and finance systems will be. After all, the LMS will have to receive information such as new starters and leavers and back charging to appropriate cost centers will be required.

Be very open with the possible partners and provide them with the opportunity to ask questions either face-to-face or at least during a phone call. After all, you want them to send you their best answer.

When it comes to contracting, you should start planning early. Find a specialist that can advise you during this phase. This should not take longer than three to six months, depending on the scope of processes involved. As HR data will most probably be handled by the supplier, it is important to make sure that the contact provides for the kind of care required to handle such data.

During implementation it is important to think about the retained organization. Typically they will be involved with managing the relationship with the service provider. Other activities may include facilities management, aligning learning to the overall business strategy, information systems interfaces and data migration, tier one help desk services, etc.

The project can be considered a success as soon as nobody realizes that the process has been outsourced.

Additionally, as the catalog can be streamlined and be aligned to the business strategy, this project will also have a visible, positive effect on the bottom line of the company. A successful learning outsourcing project is possibly the only situation in which the love for learning and the love for money will actually meet.

Reference:
Matthias Krueger
[About the Author: Matthias Krueger is a senior consultant with Alsbridge plc, a global advisory firm with headquarters in London and Dallas that provides unbiased advice and assistance on outsourcing, shared services and offshoring.]

People Management: Simply Engaging

Simple measures can make a big difference to employee engagement and organisational performance...

• Gender, hierarchy, culture and industry have a great impact on employee engagement


• Employee engagement is best ensured through job satisfaction resulting from contribution

Employee engagement is essential for corporate survival. The significance of a committed and engaged staff can not be undermined.

Employee engagement represents the extent of emotional affiliation that employees have with their jobs. It is difficult to quantify engagement levels in terms of numbers. Nevertheless, it is important to measure it. An important factor in measuring employee engagement is the cultural bearing of the organisation. The meaning of employee engagement varies with geography, and depends to a large extent on the cultural disposition of the organisation. The corporate definition for engagement varies widely from country to country. In India, employee engagement is an emotional subject, encompassing elements like loyalty and commitment. Further, in the context of Indian companies, employee engagement is tangible, and can be quantified by the years of association with the company.

Along with different definitions, countries also have different sets of motivating factors. What motivates an Indian may not motivate an American and vice versa. Hence, understanding the interplay of various factors that result in employee engagement or disengagement can help leaders craft a successful strategy.

Engaging dimensions

Employee engagement is best described as the degree of alignment between job satisfaction and job contribution. When employees feel that their contribution is adding value to the job, it results in job satisfaction, which in turn leads to greater employee engagement. Hence, using these two parameters to ascertain the level of engagement can help leaders get a better insight to steer their efforts.

According to Business World – Anexi BlessingWhite survey on employee engagement, employee satisfaction and contribution combine in five different ways. They are:

• Fully engaged
• Nearly engaged
• Honeymooners and hamsters
• Crash and burn
• Disengaged

Each of these categories represents the level of employee engagement in the given job. The fully engaged category includes workers who are extremely satisfied with their jobs and contribution to the organisation. The nearly engaged section includes workers who score high on the contribution front, but give a few points a miss on the satisfaction component. The honeymooners and hamsters include those who are new to the job and show great drive to stick around. The crash and burn category includes workers whose contributions always fall short, thereby resulting in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. The disengaged category, as the word suggests, comprises the disinterested lot, who figure on the underperformers list. In the context of Indian companies, 34 percent of employees are fully engaged, 29 percent nearly engaged and 13 percent are disengaged.

This segmentation of employees on the basis of their engagement levels can help leaders chalk out a better people management strategy. Employee engagement is a dynamic function and is affected deeply by the changes in the external environment. Thus, apart from employee behaviour and individual aspirations, there are other factors that have to be considered for a thorough understanding of the way engagement expresses itself.

Key determinants

Employee engagement, as mentioned earlier, depends on a large number of factors. In addition to an employee’s personal aspirations and cultural moorings, critical factors like gender, hierarchical status and the industry also influence engagement levels. The BW-Anexi survey revealed that men are 10 percent more engaged than women, and 6 percent less disengaged. Further, engagement also increased as one moved up the hierarchy. Those at the lower hierarchical levels showed less engagement, while those at the top exhibited maximum engagement. The difference in the levels of engagement was also evident across industries. In case of research-driven industries like pharmaceuticals, employee engagement was found to be low, while the engagement levels were high in service-oriented industries. Thus, it is evident that employee engagement depends on a number of parameters.

As mentioned earlier, job satisfaction and employee contribution are the two key components of employee engagement. However, understanding each of these, and the factors that lie within, is important to get a clear perspective of the interplay and dynamics of employee engagement and its components. According to the survey, job satisfaction is influenced by the following factors:

• Career development opportunities and training efforts (30 percent)
• Challenging work (19 percent)
• Better opportunities to leverage one’s strengths (29 percent)

Employee contribution, on the other hand, was found to be greatly influenced by:

• Development and training (26 percent)
• Effective feedback at regular intervals (25 percent)
• Clarity of goals and a clear understanding of what the individual is required to do and why (22 percent)

The aforementioned factors represent the Indian sentiment, but are also consistent with the global opinion about factors influencing satisfaction and contribution.

Final thoughts...

While employee engagement is a dynamic function and is dependent on a number of factors, it surely can be managed by incorporating certain basic measures. However, before doing so, leaders and managers must be sensitised to the various factors influencing engagement and steer their efforts to ensure perfect alignment.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Strategic HRM: The Will and The Way!

The test of corporate wherewithal comes when everything else looks blurred…

• Operating dynamic determines an organisation’s ‘will to compete’ in a threatening environment
• There are a number critical functions and generators/blockers that shape the operating dynamic

Ask any layman about the factors that contribute to organisational success, and the chances are that he will begin with strategy and finish with people. Moving further, when the same question is put to a person with knowledge and exposure to the corporate way of functioning, he too would mention the same factors, but in a different sequence. The most interesting finding from this ‘survey’ is that people tend to attribute organisational success to factors that are tangible, but miss out on intangible ones, thereby underplaying the role of critical performance drivers like ‘will to compete’ and ‘will to survive’.

Will, like in the case of individual performance, plays a critical role in determining business success. However, in the context of organisational performance, the will to compete is expressed in terms of operating dynamic. The term can be best described as the “resultant leadership that remains after all forces--negative and positive--are accounted for”. In the case of organisations where the resultant leadership is positive, the will to compete and survive is high. Such organisations will be in a better position in many respects, than those where the resultant leadership is negative. Understanding how organisations can build positive resultant leadership levels and create for themselves an environment that helps succeed in tough times and flourish in good times is important to sustain growth.

Operating dynamic

Operating dynamic works at the macro level, impacting the enterprise at large. It is beyond any one individual, be it the CEO or a supervisor. It represents the collective pulse of the organisation and needs to be understood by leaders before taking up new and change-driven tasks. Operating dynamic comprises a number of organisational forces that determine its impact. Of these, there are 15 forces that are most critical to business success. These forces are further classified into critical functions and generators/blockers, depending on their impact.

Critical functions

• Talent management
• Performance strategy
• Customer responsiveness
• Profitable growth orientation
• Lean operations
• Innovation and creativity

These functions reflect the operating dynamic of organisations and indicate its future growth trajectory. These six critical functions are key performance drivers. They work towards enhancing overall staff productivity. These functions are highly flexible and can be changed by the management. After identifying the critical functions, leaders also need to identify the generators/blockers that would help in the execution of these functions.

Generators/blockers

• Corporate decision-making capability
• Corporate assertiveness
• Leadership accountability
• Transparency
• Adaptability
• Commitment and devotion of management
• Accountability and responsibility
• Effectiveness and leadership efficacy
• Internal competition

While the critical functions represent the intangible balance sheet of corporate performance, the generators and blockers represent the growth and loss index that is akin to the profit and loss statement.

Scaling operating dynamic
Having determined the various forces that indicate the state of the operating dynamic in an organisation, how do leaders measure them? The task is challenging since quantifying ‘soft’ issues is difficult. Nonetheless, experts have arrived at a solution that translates employee perceptions about the types of forces at work within an organisation into quantifiable parameters. The measurement framework is based on the fact that perception is reality, when organisational working is concerned. Worker perceptions seldom go wrong. Hence, processing the feedback through a template that is more like a balance sheet, and converting the perceptions into performance-linked changes, can help leaders arrive at a convincing case for operating dynamic.

After arriving at a clear consensus about the operating dynamic state within the organisation, leaders can identify areas that need change, and work to accomplish it. CEO involvement, however, is critical for achieving the desired result, since delegation and task distribution is the corner office prerogative.

The operating dynamic approach, thus, assures leaders that the ‘will to compete’ can be nurtured and developed.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Turning the Tables: Smart Questions to Ask the Interviewer.

Many job seekers have been taught that interview success depends solely on their ability to answer the questions put to them in an impressively professional and knowledgeable manner. However, while the answers you offer up will play a big part in determining how you come across in an interview, they're really only one piece of the puzzle. In fact, some job search experts say that the questions that you pose in an interview can be equally important in helping you make a positive first impression.

A Two-Way Street

Although the hiring manager clearly has the upper hand in most interview situations, that doesn't mean that he or she should be the only one asking questions. According to Tony Beshara, author of Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions that Will Get You the Job, the best interviews are more like lively back-and-forth discussions than one-way interrogations.

By preparing and posing a few pointed questions of your own over the course of the interview, you'll be able to accomplish two important tasks. First, you'll highlight your ability to think on your feet, respond to emerging situations, and analyze information quickly. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the right questions will allow you to get a better sense of what it's like to work for the company - and help you figure out if the position is right for you.

What Should You Ask?

The questions you pose to the hiring manager should include queries you have prepared in advance of the interview, as well as follow-ups relating to topics that come up over the course of the discussion itself. Use these tips and techniques to craft questions that will help you succeed in your next interview.

1. Avoid the obvious.
Although you can definitely boost your profile by posing the right kind of questions, not every query will score points. Don't ask questions to which you already know the answer, or that you should have been able to find out on your own with a little pre-interview research.

2. Involve the interviewer.
Rather than focusing solely on the company as a whole, personalize your questions by targeting the interviewer's experience with the team. Ask the hiring manager to recount favorite experiences or to discuss the company's main strengths and challenges.

3. Delve deeper.
Try to formulate in-depth questions that showcase your analytical ability. Take the information the interviewer provides and use it as a jumping-off point to move towards a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. Rather than responding with surface-level questions, kick things up a notch, focusing on more complex queries that begin with words such as "how" or "why".

4. Put a positive spin on things.
Even when you're asking pointed questions, there's no need to submit your interviewer to the third degree. It's important to come across as enthusiastic and optimistic about the position and the company's prospects, even when you're digging deep for more information. If the company is facing tough market conditions or stiff competition, ask about these challenges in a way that conveys your confidence in the organization's ability to thrive in even the grimmest of circumstances.

5. End with a call to action.
After you've put a number of in-depth, intelligent questions to your interviewer, your last question should always focus on the next steps in the hiring process. Ask about the schedule for making a decision, or whether you can provide any additional information. It's always to your advantage to leave the interview with a clear understanding of what comes next, so take this opportunity to ask a few questions about the way that the process will unfold.

By posing a few questions of your own in your next interview, you can showcase your analytical skills and uncover new insights about the company and the position. If you want to land your dream job, all you have to do is ask!!!

Reference:
Michelle Vessel

Responsible HR: Creating the Best Job in the World.

Employees want to have the ‘Best Job in the World’? As a responsible HR Manager there’ no reason why we can’t make the jobs of our workforce the ‘Best in the World’. Here’s how the Human Resource department can add value and definitely can do about making people love what they do.

Making the Job Right:

The first step that must be taken by an HR Manager is to find a job that matches the employees skills, interests and values. The second is taking control of the job description, to whatever extent possible and appropriate. As organizations change, jobs can evolve. As time in the job wears on, employees who are in tune with the organization’s needs, can volunteer for tasks that align with their interests and skills, and move out of roles that are less enjoyable. In order to have the best job, employees need to excel at their job. Proactively taking initiatives and challenges, continuously learning, thinking out-of-the-box and performing with focus and commitment makes the job truly incredible.

Creating the Dream Job:

HR Managers have a huge role to play in helping individuals attain their ‘dream jobs’. An HR Manager plays a very important role in creating the best job for an employee, mainly by providing an atmosphere for learning, creating a work place that the employee likes to work in and a work environment that rewards and recognizes employee performance. It starts with a strong ‘onboarding’ process, where the HR Manager effectively shares the organisation’s vision and mission and explains its goals clearly. This ensures that a new employee feels welcome, is charged up and hits the ground running with clear direction.

Role of HR in creating the ‘Best Job’:

1. HR Manager create an environment which gives the employees an opportunity to give their 100 percent.
2. Think of ways which makes the job more exciting.
3. The HR Manager must recognize the employee’s true passions - concepts like knowledge or technology, job functions or skills.
4. HR must make a record of tasks where an employee did something best at the workplace.
5. HR Manager must make a note of the projects where the employee really enjoyed.
6. List down all the accomplishments of the employee and create a mentoring program where employees can talk to people whose advise they value, people who have worked with them, and who have watched them in action.
7. Finally, if an employee is already doing something he/she loves, HR Manager makes it rewarding by aligning them to the goals of the organization, contributing more than what is expected, and giving them every opportunity to learn.

Reference:

Young HR Manager

Human Resources: Employee Management in Slowdown.

In this tough economic environment it becomes vital for HR Managers to set clear goals and expectations for their employees; and provide them with appropriate feedback. Hence, there is a need for employee involvement and a creative appraisal system to be introduced by the HR department.

This year the global economic meltdown that affected almost every industry, forced HR managers to be creative and make some major amendments in their policies. Even the performance appraisal systems were restructured and rewritten.

In today’s stressful economy, HR managers have a major responsibility in handling the annual appraisal system. When everyone’s worried about what the future holds, it’s very difficult to discuss employee expectations for the upcoming year. It’s a challenge for many HR Managers to devise a methodology to be adopted during these tough times and to keep employees motivated and engaged for the forthcoming year. With several companies resorting to measures like retrenchment, pay cuts, etc., many employees feel that appraisals, this year, may not hold any significance.

Therefore, one significant question that needs to be addressed by HR Managers is how to conduct and execute robust appraisal system during these turbulent times and more importantly, how can employees derive learnings out of it and add value to the process, irrespective of what the future of the turbulent economy holds?

Some of the ways in which we as HR managers can tackle such situations are mentioned below:

1. Devising an Effective communication strategy among employees:

Performance appraisal is important at all times, but becomes even more important during tough times. With the growing level of uncertainty and anxiety, the need for effective communication with employees becomes vital as does ongoing feedback. Communication minimizes rumors, which if not managed properly, can lead to grave consequences. The HR need to share with employees of his/her strengths and also jot down employee contribution. Non-performers need to be told exactly where they are lacking and should be given timelines to improve on their performance.

2. Career Planning for the Employee:

Many employees feel that the economic situation should not be a deterrent to the performance management system of any organization. A performance appraisal is a critical aspect of any employee’s career growth. As an HR Manager you should take it very seriously and it’s an effective tool for career planning. An appraisal process should provide a clear understanding of the employee’s and the company’s expectations from the Human Resource department, tasks that the HR is doing well and areas where it needs some improvement and a clear path for growth in the current assignments and beyond.

3. Sharing of true financials of the company with the employees:

Though the situation is not good, employees still expect the same methodology of appraisals to be adopted even if the rewards and upgrades may be few and far between. The employees expect the organization to be as honest as possible and let them know of its true financial health and how much it has been affected by the global meltdown.

4. Making Performance Management System valuable for both:

What is it that can make an appraisal valuable for the employee and the employer? Contrary to popular belief, an employee’s contribution can go a long way in making an appraisal valuable at all times. The HR Manager must ensure that his/her employees and their managers are in alignment to the goals and expectations. The measurement criteria and key milestones should be clear, well understood and agreed to, by both the parties. Moreover, the HR Manager must share feedback regarding the employee to make him understand his/her skill sets better and to further develop his/her capabilities. The employee should also be open to learning additional skills to add more value to the organization. An employee should be open to feedback and ask for help, in case needed, to improve the gaps in performance. This will help & add value to the process.

5. Developing an environment of faith and trust:

It is very essential for employees to have faith in their respective managers. Since employees lead the shop floor, their inputs on improvements in processes, suggestions on better cost management, increasing productivity and understanding their frustrations and personal challenges can all help the HR Manager to keep their morale high and increase profitability.

The employee by being honest about their aspirations and asking questions about what more they need to do at this critical juncture, can contribute to the appraisal process and make it more valuable. There is a lot pressure on the Human Resource department & organizations to conduct effective appraisals that keep employees motivated when times are tough. But, with a little effort from the employee’s side, the whole process can be made more valuable and great results could be expected. Proper communication must be ensured by the HR Managers so that employees are aware of the situation and they have faith in the management.

Reference:
Young HR Manager

Organisational Behaviour:Getting employees to up their etiquette quotient…

• Some behavioural standards are best complied with when not stated
• This, however, does not mean managements sit back and relax

Employee behavioural norms cannot always be stated. Some etiquette elements are implicit, and remain so because of the dynamics of a fast-evolving business world. The HR, probably, has a reason for not stating too much. Imagine the pressure on an employee who has too much stated protocol to stomach. However, employees now having email, political and cubicle etiquette added to their behavioural conduct does not mean the HR should ‘spare the rod’.

The latest to make it to the list of behavioural norms are such restrictions that are best complied with when implicit. Although stating them would not do any harm, as the cliché goes, “some things are better left unsaid!” And in the case of behavioural norms, some things are best followed when not stipulated.

While looking into the latest behavioural norms, this week’s mailer also suggest ways by which they can become a part of routine behaviour.

Facebook face-off

Employees must keep their professional image intact. So, sharing family picnic and weekend party photographs with everyone is definitely not a good idea. An employee once posted his uncensored honeymoon photographs for all to see! While he became the butt of all jokes for months, what was worse is his influence took a bashing! Maintaining separate list of workplace friends and acquaintances is a must.

Creating different lists limits what visitors can view. Such online segregation is encouraged at workplaces when seniors themselves are strict about maintaining an online distance. An equally effective way of conveying expected behaviour is when the top guys share only a certain genre of photographs with everyone. For instance, when an employee observes that his boss has posted photographs of the trade fair he visited and the convention he last attended, it definitely sends across a message.

Dining don’ts

Space constraints and timelines do not allow employees to take dedicated lunch breaks. Employees, more often than not, end up eating at their desks. Therefore, smelly, greasy and messy food should be avoided. However, in countries like India, pungent food and food that needs to be eaten with fingers is normal. Employees must appreciate that one man’s aroma is another man’s foul smell! Also, using one’s fingers to eat while working at something is definitely inconvenient. In offices where customers and stakeholders are regular visitors, employees with their fingers in the lunch box and the office reeking of food will certainly be uninviting.

Socialising standards

Strong workplace relationships are great. But managers are actually not too thrilled about employees getting together or partying after work. The fear is that familiarity after work hours encourages employees to gang up. Such teaming can affect regular functioning. There have been instances where employees have revealed too much or bad mouthed colleagues under the influence of alcohol.

After-work meetings also become hotbeds for rumours and gossips. Being subtle about expectations rarely works in preventing employees to limit their socialising with colleagues. This is when managers and supervisors should voice their disapproval openly.

Customised costumes

Telling adults how to dress is a touchy issue. Although strict dress codes prevent employees from experimenting too much with their dressing, getting employees to comply with a prescribed dress code is a huge challenge in organisations that do not have uniforms. There have been instances of how otherwise conservative dressers have turned up in glitzy or revealing outfits for client meetings and conventions outside office. Keeping an eye on what employees wear outside the office during work hours is not possible. The only option is to reinforce constantly the importance of dressing professionally whenever employees represent the organisation. Such reinforcement can come in the form of:

• Constant reminders: Regular talks about the importance of dressing professionally convey how serious the organisation is about its dress code.
• Leading by example: Seniors should be particular about sticking to the dress code. The CEO and the management team of a company that allows denims and tees on Fridays, wear formals on all other days. Seeing their seniors well-dressed always checks employees from being audacious dressers!

Getting employees to update constantly their workplace etiquette quotient is easier said than done. The trick lies in making actions a part of routine behaviour without imposing or stating behavioural expectations.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Top 15 Salary Negotiation Tips

Irrespective of whether you are a novice or a seasoned pro, whether you love the art of salary negotiation or dread it, the truth is - you need to know salary negotiation tactics and how to avoid disaster to obtain the offer you deserve and that coveted job. From the moment you make initial contact with any company or organization you wish to work with, you are in negotiation. You may not be discussing money openly, but you are making a permanent imprint on the minds of the hiring authorities. Throughout your job search you need to seriously consider several questions about your financial value and future income. What, for example, are you worth? How much should you be paid for your work. How can you best demonstrate your value to an employer?

Salary negotiation is something at which HR Managers managers are usually a lot more proficient than the people they hire are. Here are my Top 15 Salary Negotiation Tips which will help you to bargain for a better deal.

1. Never discuss on the salary part until there is an offer on the table. You are in the strongest negotiating position as soon as the offer is made. Delay discussing salary until you've been offered the position.

2. Know your value. You must know how you can contribute to the organization. Establish this in the mind of the HR and hiring manager. Make a list of what you have to offer. Know what you have to offer the future employer. Make a list of your skills, abilities, talents, and knowledge. Be prepared to show your employer what capability you bring to their company. Make sure you have some firm basis for added compensation, i.e., skills, abilities, and value to the company.

3. Prepare well. If you are ready and well prepared, you'll be confident and poised for success. Maximize on your past experience. Understand what you have achieved. Bring your past experiences to the table as a tool when negotiating for your salary.

4. Know your market. Prior to going into employment negotiations, you must know the average salary paid for similar positions with other organizations in your geographical area. Understand your geographical area strengths and weaknesses. Salary ranges vary dramatically across the nation and even from rural to urban areas.

5. If possible try to get the salary range that the company you're interviewing with will pay or what former employees were earning.

6. Define your personal needs and requirements before going into negotiations.

7. Also keep in mind the fringes and perks, such as Incentive plans, Leave Policies, health benefits, pension plans, and so on as the “total” salary package. How badly does this job need to be filled? Find out what you are worth to the employer and how badly (or not) they need to fill this position with a qualified candidate. This gives you more negotiating power.

8. Salary negotiations must be win-win negotiations. If they’re not, everybody loses in the end.

9. Be Flexible; don’t get hung up on trivial issues, and always seek compromise when possible. Anticipate objections and prepare effective answers to these objections.

10. Don’t be afraid to negotiate out of fear of losing the offer. Most employers expect you to negotiate as long as you negotiate in a fair and reasonable manner. Always negotiate in a way that reflects your personality, character, and work ethic. Remain within your comfort zone.

11. Never lose control. Remain enthusiastic and upbeat even if the negotiations get a little hot. This might be your first test under fire. Play hardball only if you’re willing to walk away from, or lose, the deal.

12. Be sure to get the offer and final agreement in writing. You should feel comfortable asking the employer for 24 to 48 hours to think about the deal if you need time to think it over.

13. Never link salary to personal needs or problems. Compensation should always be linked to your value.

14. Listen carefully and pay close attention. Your goals will most likely be different from the goals of the employer. Try to understand the employer’s point of view. Then plan a strategy to meet both the employer’s concerns and your needs. For instance, the firm’s main focus might be “base salary.” Yours might be “total earning potential.” So a win-win solution might be to negotiate a lower base salary but a higher commission or bonus structure.

15. Understand your leverage. Know if you are in a position of strength or weakness and negotiate intelligently based on your personal situation. End salary negotiations on a friendly and cheerful note.

Reference:
Young HR Manager

Stopping May Not Be an Option.

People live a lot longer than they used to. If you leave a CEO or other senior management role in your 60s, as most do - if your finances permit it in our current economy - you may have 20 or more good years ahead of you. Today, when people have the ambition, drive and energy to achieve great success in any field, it is unlikely that it will just stop when they change or leave a job.

I have never in my life met a successful CEO who was lazy. CEOs, like you, are incredibly hard-working and ambitious. And in spite some grumbling about how tough the job is, the great chief executives I know love their work. Thus, it stands to reason that unless you are about to die or you are infirm, when you make a career transition, your drive is not going to just go away.

You may even think you want to rest and relax, but according to the "retired" CEOs I have met, that desire won't last long. You will need an outlet to express yourself. The prospects of sleeping late, living on the beach, improving golf scores, going on cruises and playing all day hold almost no allure for the great leaders I have known.

Along with rest and relaxation, another favorite myth for the retiree is the ability to spend lots of quality time with the family. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, senior leaders likely have been working continuously for years, usually for decades. For better or worse, their families have been able to survive without them at home. It's a mistake to delude oneself into believing family members now want you around all of the time. For those who are married, retirement may be the spouse's greatest nightmare!

One top military officer shared his experience. "My wife said that she was looking forward to spending lots of time with me. One day, after a few months of retirement, I was in the kitchen alphabetizing the cans. To my amazement, she didn't really seem to care if baked beans should be filed under BA for baked or BE for beans. On the contrary, she reminded me that this was not the military, that I was not her officer and that it was time for me to find something else to do since I was driving her crazy."

Another former CEO laughed as he remembered his retirement. "My kids were grown up and living their own lives. They quickly grew tired of my visits. My wife got so tired of me she got a job in a dress store, just to get out of the house. One day I was watching TV by myself, and a delivery guy came to drop off a package. It was his last stop, so I invited him in for a cup of coffee, and we had a very interesting conversation about life.

"After he left I thought, 'What a great conversation. That was the highlight of my week.' Then I looked into the mirror. I hadn't shaved for three days. I had been watching junk on TV. Then I realized what I had just said: 'The highlight of my week was having a cup of coffee with the delivery guy.' As a CEO, I may have had some bad weeks, but I never had a week so boring that coffee with delivery people was a highlight. I got a job the next day."

As you slow down to hand off the baton of leadership to your successor, whether you are the CEO or the executive vice president of human resources, you should have less to do at work. Let your successor start running the place. And I have an important suggestion: Use this time to start planning something exciting to do with the rest of your life. You will probably have too much drive and ambition to be a successful retiree.

You may be thinking: "If I announce my successor in advance, isn't there a danger that I will just become a lame duck?"

Almost every executive goes through this dialogue as part of the challenge of slowing down. This fear often results from postponement of the announcement until the last minute, and inhibits what could otherwise be a much smoother transition process.

When it is approaching time to leave, face reality. You will become a lame duck! Attention will shift to your successor. His or her vision for the future of the company will mean more than yours. If you disapprove of executive team members' ideas, they will just wait it our and resell the same ideas to your successor. People will start sucking up to him or her in the same way they used to suck up to you.

Make peace with being a lame duck before it actually happens. Be a happy and productive lame duck. Coach your successor behind the scenes. Build that person's confidence, and begin the transfer of power before you have to. Your life, your successors' life and the lives of the executive team members will be a lot better.

Reference:
Marshall Goldsmith, Ph.D.
[About the Author: Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior. He is the author or co-editor of 22 books, including The Wall Street Journal No. 1 business best-seller What Got You Here Won't Get You There.]

Training and Development: Manoeuvring Learnscapes!!!

• The rules of the game are different in the new learnscape, but traditional instructors hold their place; only the roles have changed
• The new age learning framework is more community-based and less individual-oriented

eLearning may have sounded alarm bells for learning professionals as most advocates of elearning have based the business case for web-based learning on the premise that it would help save labour costs. However, the good news for learning professionals is that the machine will not replace man; elearning will only place learning professionals in different roles and capacities.

eLearning took the corporate world by storm and people began making prophecies of how the learning function will be dominated by technology, making humans redundant. However, a decade down the line, one can see that while elearning has certainly changed the fabric of corporate learning, it has not hurt professionals in the learning space. However, the profile of learning professionals has undergone a dramatic change. They are more tech-savvy now and highly inclined to the new ways of doing business.

The new look

The learning landscape has undergone a sea change. What is most interesting about this change is that companies are willing to embrace new learning methodologies, not because it saves on labour, but because it is more convenient and user-friendly, and enhances efficiency of employees. In addition, organisations have also realised that employees are willing to learn, and their aversion or resistance to learning is only when learning is thrust upon them. They are committed learners when the learning is justified and in reference to the right context.Thus, with this as the premise for new age learning tools, organisations have adopted many new ‘learnscapes’, where the instructors find for themselves better and more interesting roles. Wiki gardeners, learning stewards, performance consultants and connectors are some of the most interesting and challenging roles for instructors. While there are no strict guidelines for assigning these roles, they certainly present instructors and learners with new opportunities in today’s digital habitat.

The rules governing the functioning of learnscapes are completely different from those dictating the old training and learning format. Today’s learning delivery method is more informal and community-based. The roles too are community-based, where employees exchange information in a community format. This new found community is termed the ‘digital habitat’, and houses many instructors in various capacities.

Action!

The following is an account of the various roles in today’s digital habitat:

Technology steward

Technology stewards are experienced people with expertise in gauging the technology needs of the industry or community they operate in. They also have the right technological exposure to lead the change and bring about the technological overhaul with ease.

On a macro level, technology stewards take the community vision forward by incorporating the right type of tools and technological platforms. In addition, technology stewards are also tasked to:

• Ensure that people in the community are crewed on the new technological additions
• Maintain continuity in the process
• Lead technology experimentation and innovation

Learnscape architect

Learnscape architects are leaders who lead the technological changes in the learning space. They are not technocrats, but real leaders who visualise the impact of the new technology on the learning environment. They champion the need to incorporate changes by providing the right infrastructure to support the initiative. In addition, the onus of monitoring progress and measuring success lies with the learnscape architect.

Producer

Producers are leaders who manage contributions from participants. They encourage participants to come up with their own ideas and use their discretion to approve it. They also filter ideas that they believe will not fit in the larger scheme of things.

Moderator

Moderators monitor the flow of information through learning conduits. They also help in maintaining the trustworthiness of the process by clarifying doubts expressed by participants.

Blogger

Bloggers bring issues of importance to the fore. They report information that is worthy of being shared, and acted upon in certain cases. They create the right environment for information exchange, and expression of views and ideas.

With the changes in the learning landscape, the roles continue to evolve and redefine themselves. Each of these roles is critical to accomplishing elearning objectives, and therefore, must be incorporated in appropriate spots in the learning cycle.

The onus of establishing proper learning culture, however, lies with the entire staff. Establishing the right pace for learning and pulling the right levers of change are important for accomplishing the desired learning objectives. Traditional instructors will continue to play a significant role in the new picture, as they know by experience the real pulse of the learner!

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Performance Management: Tough times

What not to do when the times are tough…

• Business heads too are human, and prone to committing errors
• They need to avoid certain mistakes to be able to survive tough times

Often, it is what you don’t do that impacts success, rather than what you do. Quite a few business heads have undone their good work with a few slip-ups here and there. Unfortunately, the condition of the economy hasn’t supported them. Mistakes that could have easily been ignored in good times appear bigger and uglier during a recession. Expecting the top brass to be error-free is both unfair and unrealistic. But there are certain mistakes that must be avoided to survive the tough times. Here is what business heads must be wary of:

Look before you leap

Difficult times compel individuals to take difficult actions. But what is tough to fathom is why those actions appear more desperate than deliberate. In this downturn too, managements have made quite a few impulsive and copycat decisions, which they will regret once the economy bounces back. Decisions have to be made diligently, particularly during tough times. Right from evaluating the source of information to a critical analysis of the worth of the decision, due-diligence should be the guiding principle.

Power corrupts

When in trouble, the more the number of friends and advisors one has the better the chances of surviving. Even though everyone agrees that networking, both social and professional, can help bail out individuals, business heads are chary of networking with their rank and file. Although the reverse should be the case, managements become more guarded and cloistered when times turn bad. Here is what can help correct the mistake:

• Involve everyone, right from a shop-floor worker to a C-level executive, in generating ieas, innovative methods and short-cuts
• Continue to delegate as before
• Be transparent

Also, do what US President Barack Obama does! Obama’s team hosts discussions on the internet to invite suggestions and opinions from different people. In addition to generating ideas, the responses enable them to evaluate public sentiments.

Hasty decisions

“No one ever downsized their way to greatness,” says a business analyst. Yet, most belt-tightening initiatives have been so severe that the possibility of bouncing back to normalcy when the economy rolls out is bleak. In trimming flab, organisations have cut so deep that some of the muscle has also been hacked. Getting back top performers, who have been treated poorly, is almost impossible. Another equally hasty action is implementing strict recruitment freezes.

A downturn is an excellent time to pick up good talent at competitive wages. Once this opportunity is lost, the ugly practice of poaching, and paying through one’s nose, will return! Also, in organisations where layoffs have been extensive, those who stay will be grateful only for a few days! Soon employees will realise that they must now shoulder the workload of those laid off. Their disappointment and dissent will be just the beginning of troubles to follow! An effective way out is to try different alternatives to laying off.

Expansion

With organisations reducing the numbers on their rolls, meeting the needs of customers will be a huge task. So, however tempted managements may be to pick up the competitors’ ‘uncared for’ customers, a downturn is not an opportune time to expand business. With fewer employees, there is no guarantee that customers, who shifted loyalty because they have been treated poorly, will receive any better treatment. Moreover, expecting teams with reduced manpower to be enthused about new business is irrational. A better way would be to treat existing customers with extra care. When customers stand testimony to how well an organisation took care of them despite the downturn, there can be no better advertising than that.

Do what can be done

The ‘more with less’ frenzy is such that managements stretch their fewer resources over heavy tasks without recognising that every work team will have only limited elasticity. A business consultant observes, “I have found that much of the ‘more’ is work that provides no value at the end of the day.” Business heads must scrutinise every task and determine its ROI, and only those with good returns should be retained, refitted into the workflow and delegated. Moreover, an employee performing five meaningful tasks will not feel as overworked as someone handling fewer, but non-contributory tasks.

Everyone makes mistakes, even business heads. But making the above-mentioned ones is more than a slip-up.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Google unravels the formula behind its invincible team..

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Stanford graduates hit it off together when they plunged into their own Internet business close to their campus. Physically, the start up was a garage makeover, with free washer, dryer, shower and refrigerator being the only attractions of the job. Susan Wojcicki, who later became the company’s director of product management, owned the garage. Subsequently, a toaster oven and candy and snacks kiosks were added. All these little gestures helped the Page and Sergey duo to make a business triumph.

Click on the link below to Buy Google Story:

The Larry and Sergey business feat is better known as Google, a powerful multi-billion dollar Internet search engine that satiates Internet users curiosity quotients. Today, the two young computer science graduates enjoy a celebrity status and offer advice on almost all news programmes while actively participating in high profile events like the World Economic Forum. The MIT technology Review Magazine described Larry Page as the “young innovator who will create the future.”

The Google differentiation

A thorough analysis of Google’s business success points to one feature that sets Google apart from the other players in cyberspace. It is the people policies at the company. Despite its success, the company has kept intact its values and principles. The corporate culture at Google is a replica of its culture in its infancy. The washer, dryer, and shower facilities are still very much a part of the benefits Google offers to its employees. The company went all out to help Susan Wojcicki when she was attending to her new born. Apart from the maternity leave, the company provided Susan and her family free meals till the baby was one week old. This is not all. In the past five years, the company has loaded its benefits package with more and more attractive options.

Larry and Sergey’s garage values have taken them a long way. Within just a year, Google added 500 employees to its workforce of 200 in the year 2002. Hiring therefore has become a long drawn process with over 1000 resumes waiting to be screened everyday by its 20 member filtering team.

HR as a function is of special interest both to Larry and Sergey. Both participate actively in all its projects. Every Wednesday the twosome meets up with Stacy Sullivan the Director HR, to discuss the hiring process in terms of the time it consumes, candidate difficulties etc. In addition, the duo offer suggestions to improvise the existing HR practices. For instance, Sergey suggested a hiring process that was purely based on resumes to save on the interview time. A pilot study is in progress, the results of which have been satisfactory so far.

What is in its culture?

If one comes across a well-dressed executive with a formal mein and body language in the company premises, one can be sure that he is a only visitor at Google. At Google formality and convention are alien. Candidates who behave and think conventionally are total misfits in the organisation. However, this does not by any means suggest indiscipline.

The company’s need for employees who are flexible and unconventional is evident right from its interview sessions. The interview room usually has different seating arrangements ranging from a leather-upholstered chair to a beanbag. A candidate who prefers the beanbag (unconventional preference for an interview) interests the panel members. At Google, interviewers also look for candidates who believe in their thinking capabilities rather than depending on the team for inputs. This apart, Stacy Sullivan and her team make an effort to keep in regular touch with the top management professors for updates on their best students. This helps them in identifying the best of the talent and making them a part of their invincible team.

Interestingly the duo passionately believe that it is the effort one puts in workforce management that gives companies their competitive edge more than their products.

Benefiting benefits

Employees are covered under their health and 401(k) benefits policy right from day one of their service. New employees are entitled to a three-week long vacation in the first year of their service. Google does not believe in sick leave, if an employee is sick, he simply stays at home. The physician is available on site twice a week, and employees enjoy free breakfast, lunch and dinner for the time they are sick.

In addition, the company has an array of benefits. These include:

Corporate sponsored childcare
Google has a corporate membership with Heads Up, a childcare and tuition centre. Google employees are given priority in the waitlist allowing faster enrollment in the programme. In addition, Google pays 5 per cent of the programme fees.

Concern
This counselling unit assists employees with legal and personal issues, apart from providing guidance in their financial matters.

Dental care
Employees at Google enjoy the benefits of dental hygienist just inches away from their desks. The dental clinic facilities are made available to the employees on a regular basis in a parking garage with state-of –the art facilities.

Physical fitness
Google brings gym to work. The company has an on-site gym with facilities that cater to a range of fitness requirements. Right from weight training to light exercises, the equipment is all there.

Maternity and paternity leave
The company pays its employees 75 per cent of their salary in the first 3 months of maternity leave. Even while on leave employees are entitled to receive health, vision and dental care plans. In addition, $50 per day is given to employees to spend on meals-on-wheels for the first two weeks after delivery.

At Google, it’s ‘like mom, like dad ’. The male members are entitled to a two weeks fully paid leave to spend time with the new born.

Massage
Google employees resort to its on-site massage facility for relieving stress.

Marching ahead
Equipped with its innovative and creative people practices, Google is all set to take over the top slot in the cyberspace. Despite its expansion and “big corporate” status, the company has made a deliberate attempt to maintain the small company feel that provides employees a certain degree of comfort. Unlike its product that puts an end to the most difficult of searches, Google continues to search for talent with an obsessive commitment to perfection.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

Training and its impact on Performance...

Higher business performance and productivity levels are markers for successful performance management. The use of training to improve performance holds massive appeal for HR managers and so the ineffectiveness of training workshops is a letdown for any manager.

Practically, organisations that aim at improving productivity invariably improve employee skills.

On a lighter note “ You need to ask participants if the programmes helped them perform their jobs better and how. And, you need to find out from supervisors if your training programme has helped achieve their units business goals.”

Unfortunately, there seems to be no explicit answer to this.

So how can managers determine the real impact of training?

In modern times managements are speculating about the ROI on training programmes in the form of improved performances. In short they are trying to translate training into bottom and top-line performance improvements. A number of organisations have analysed the ROI on training programmes. Quantifiably only the technological training sessions like e- learning have been considered. The real challenge of gauging business improvements through training sessions has still been elusive.

Accenture has developed the Accenture Learning Return On Investments methodology to help companies disclose the importance of their training programmes.

Concrete substantiation

The imminent ROI calculations on learning have been a complex task. Hence, many organisations are skeptical about these enterprise-level advantages. A comprehensive analysis of training investments is vast. Innumerable factors like employee self-esteem, information sharing and employee associations and teamwork need to be considered.

The Accenture Learning ROI methodology states three substantial components, recruitment, productivity, and performance that highlight the importance of training programmes.

Recruitment:

Opportunities for growth are the pre-requisites for any fresher. A survey of the outgoing students carried out by the National Association of Colleges and Employers revealed that ‘training opportunities were among the top three things that people consider when deciding where they want to work (the others being the opportunity for advancement and a good benefits package). ‘

Learning prospects are the primary motives for joining an organisation.

Productivity:

The impact of training on performance is an understated concept. A review of 63,000 professionals by Accenture unveiled certain facts:

77 percent of the respondents believed that training information was relevant to their work.
53 percent alleged a noteworthy increase in productivity
85 percent were sure of a reasonable expansion in skills

Retention:

A study of 31,000 employees revealed that employees who undertake training are successful because

Of fair compensation practices
They wish to maintain long-term associations with the organisation
Of the great atmosphere at the workplace

It has been observed that right from recruitment to retention training augments employee participation and performance.

The Impact of training

A model developed by Accenture researchers, and statistics professors at the University of Chicago determined employee contributions over a period of time within the organisation. For instance the performance of the sales executives can be determined by looking at the sales achieved, and the performance of customer care professionals by the number calls attended and queries solved. By plotting the data, the model stated that higher the employee access to training higher the contributions and vice-versa.

The Financial benefits

More than a quarter million of employee records comprising details like cost incurred for training, related bill rates, and the total time amount spent on the programme were thoroughly examined. A detailed examination and correlation of cost and benefits analysis showed that on an average the professionals who underwent training

Are 17 percent more dynamic
Perform at higher levels
Continue with the organisations for longer periods
At Accenture, the yearly per person net profit of the training sessions is $25,324. That is on an average the 50,000 employees capitulate an organisation wide earnings of $1.26 billion on training.

Remarking on the method, Marvin Zonis, professor-University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, said, “Accenture has broken new ground in the measurement of some of the so-called ‘softer’ factors that are known to have a great impact on a company’s financial performance. By bringing rigour to an area that many have thought would be impossible to measure, Accenture has made a convincing case for maintaining high levels of training investment, even in tough economic conditions.”

Another case in point

The railways are using an integrated approach to improve performance. The right mix of imparting training, upgrading technology and transforming employee behaviour is vital to boost productivity.

Challenge for railways
Rail companies face distinct challenges like wide-ranging coverage, dependability and travellers’ well being. However, with changing times, adaptability to new situations is a must. The top management should ascertain a culture that fosters creativity and adaptability. For example, supervisors may need added support to display entrepreneurial enterprise. Something new for station personnel can be customer care, something that goes beyond ticketing and scheduling.

Performance solutions
Employees who are given the right application tools perform better. Yet, there is the factor of motivation that needs to be addressed over time.

Traditionally, both the employees and the management viewed training as a module that had to be addressed. Period. Today, organisations want the desired benefits that training programmes offer.

Learning cycles
Apart from technological training, the emphasis is on ‘soft skills’ that helps employees survive in the tough competitive world. Timely and well-deserving rewards and a conducive environment for learning motivate employees tremendously. Every employee carries information that has little or more value in his field of work. Initiating discussions, informal meetings is a highly value adding activity.

Executive training, employee development, change management, mentoring and transcendental leadership motivate employees.

To conclude, training and learning sessions should be conducted in the right set-up, under the right circumstances. Integrating technology and human capital gives a broader perspective and this ensures success in a volatile economy.
Improving human performance is not easy, and not always speedy. However, the right efforts will guide us to astonishing results.

Reference:
The ManageMentor

10 Tips for an Efffective HR Manager.

Here are few of my tips/suggestions for becoming an Effective HR Manager and a source of inspiration for others.

Tip No. 1
Be Patient
People often approach HR Manager in the case of an emergency or if they would like to share their grievances. They want somebody to listen to them and help them solve their issues or problems. I completely agree that there are times when we don’t have solutions to every problem. However, as an HR professional our role becomes that of an agony aunt who lends her ears patiently and fully responds to their questions. This helps in building faith and confidence among people and eventually lead to winning their hearts.

Tip No. 2
Be Consistent Always.
One thing that people seem to value the most in their HR Managers is consistency & knowing where they stand. Employees specially don’t like HR Managers who are moody & unapproachable. Of course, if you’re going to be consistent, it would be better to be approachable all the time rather than prickly all the time.

Tip No. 3
Don’t have your favourites.
This is linked to Tip 2. Treat everyone the same, don’t have favourites. Or, more specifically, don’t be perceived as having favourites. Perception is reality, as they say. This is particularly true in management, when the people you manage may interpret your actions is ways which surprise you. You need to be particularly careful to be seen to be treating everyone equally. For example, when allocating work, allowing time off.

Tip No. 4
Don’t shout, swear, or have tantrums.
Just because you’re an HR Manager, it doesn’t mean you’re no longer a human being. You will still have frustrations and things will tax your patience. But you need to manage your emotions. When you’re an HR Manager, people are watching your behaviour. They expect you to be a role model in many ways ( see Tip 5 }. And they want you to behave consistently ( see Tip 2 ). One of the sacrifices you make when you’re an HR Manager is that you can’t just behave exactly as you want, you’ve got to think about the impression you’re making on other people.

Tip No 5
Treat People Equally.
Be a role model for the behaviour you want from others. I’ve worked with two types of HR Managers. One type saw it as a responsibility, they were the ones who would turn up early and leave late when necessary, who would always be there when difficult things had to be done. They lead by example, they showed the behaviour they expected from others. The other type seemed to think that, now they were HR managers, they had ” made it “. In other words, they could pass on all the pressure ( and the unwanted tasks ) to other people. If you want the people who work for you to behave in a certain way, model that behaviour yourself.

Tip No. 6
Don’t join in Gossip.
Like it or not, if you’re an HR Manager, you represent the organisation you work for. You’re a leader, a role model ( as I mentioned above ). People don’t expect to see you joining in gossip ( and certainly not starting it ). If you hear other people gossiping, about the organisation or about the people in it, don’t join in and don’t encourage it. Be as open as you can with people, let them know what’s going on and what’s planned so there’s less space for gossip. But it will still happen, it’s pretty much human nature, just don’t be a part of it.

Tip No. 7
Similarly, don’t criticise other people publicly.
There are times, as an HR Manager, when you should keep your opinions to yourself. Never criticise someone who works for you in front of their colleagues. You may be tempted to let people know if you actually agree with their comments, but in the long run it tends to undermine your authority and respect.

Tip No. 8
Show Respect for others
Since I’ve mentioned respect, as a general approach, go for being respected rather than liked. Respect other people’s thoughts and opinions and in return you will gain their respect. Most people I’ve come across prefer to work for someone they respect. They don’t necessarily have to like their bosses but they do need to respect them in order for everyone to work together well. How do you get respect? By doing some of the things I’ve already mentioned - be consistent, treat people fairly and equally, show that you’re prepared to behave the way you want others to behave, etc.

Tip No. 9
Don’t try to be ” one of the gang “.
This is one of the hardest things for a new HR Manager to work out, how to walk that line between being ” friendly ” and being ” the boss “. As I’ve said, aim to be respected first. People are looking for a lead from you, they know you’re the HR Manager and not ” one of the gang “. They expect certain things from you. Of course you should be friendly and approachable but accept you’re not just one of the team, you’re a leader.

Tip No. 10
Don’t be too Emotional
One of the things that I have noticed often is that HR Managers tend to be emotional at the time of decision making. They sometimes keeps human concerns over the organizational goals. I don’t disagree that as an HR manager you should’nt be sympathetic towards your people however keep in mind that we work in an environment where proper balance needs to be maintained between the organizational objectives and people’s expectations. Tackling situations or issues emotionally might lead to wrong decision making.

Reference:
Young HR Manager

People Management: The Coach Effect!!!

Effective coaching can help maintain optimum performance, even in adversity…

• The frame of reference in which coaching is imparted plays a critical role in determining its impact
• Outside-in coaching is largely knowledge-centric and increases coach-dependency
• Inside-out coaching is more talent-centric and focusses on bringing out what is already present

Close analysis will reveal that “what is not right” dominates all workplace discussions among professionals across levels. This constant bickering and perpetual state of dissatisfaction merges well into the background when things have their sunny side up. However, these discussions suddenly become serious as the background changes and the economic crisis makes it look more threatening than ever before. Employees begin to watch every word they speak and fear its repercussions. The most worrying impact of it in an economic crisis is that workers begin to succumb to their own prophecies of what is ‘not right’ and how things ‘should have been’. The more negative they think the worse the situation gets, and in turn, their individual performance gets affected adversely. The vicious cycle of non-purposeful criticism leading to poor performance, followed by more criticism, is hard to break. Hence, workers and leaders have to be aware of the seriousness of their idle criticism in testing times like the current downturn.

Understanding why idle criticism can be threatening in a downturn is important for leaders. Employees giving their best is crucial during a crisis. However, employees tend to be at their worst in such times because of self-induced pessimism. Thus, it is important that leaders position themselves strategically to counter employee pessimism and create an environment that is more inspiring and performance-driven. One way of doing it is to offer coaching to employees to clear doubts and apprehensions, and equip them adequately with necessary guidance to perform well during tough times.

Destructive distractions

Coaching, if practised seriously, has the power to convince people to give their best even when everything around looks doomed. The power of coaching lies in the coach’s ability to cut distractions and help workers focus on what promises to be the salvage point for survival. Distractions are very harmful, especially those that focus on the negative aspects of a given situation. Indulging in discussions that hover on negativity can deplete employee performance and impact overall organisational productivity. In tough economic times, dwindling productivity is a nightmare, and therefore, leaders should work towards circumventing situations that may lead to further depletion in employee morale and performance levels.

Informal coaching

Coaching, as we all relate to it, is largely formal and takes place at a pre-determined time and place. However, experts believe that in times like today, when pessimism dominates the workspace, coaching has to be a day-to-day affair. Leaders and managers can influence the thinking of people around them. However, the framework or context in which coaching takes place determines its efficacy.

Coaching also depends to a large extent on the perception of the coach. The coach is like a doctor who prescribes treatment after analysing symptoms. For instance, if the coach believes that those being coached need external inputs for improving performance and the attitude towards work, then he is likely to provide the same by way of functional training workshops and some counselling. However, if the coach believes that they have the right potential to perform, and only need the right push and inspiration, he would then help them realise their real potential through motivation.

In the former “outside-in” approach, knowledge from external sources, mainly the coach, helps performance improvement. In this approach, the coached are dependent completely upon the coach for betterment. Further, there is a significant loss of self-belief, confidence, drive and focus. The coach, however, can help them overcome these.

The exact opposite of the “outside-in” approach is the “inside-out” approach, where the coach believes that those receiving coaching are competent enough to survive the competition and only need ‘a reason’ to perform. Thus, the coach here helps them realise their own potential.

Understanding the source of agony from an employee’s perspective is important for a coach. The need for coaching is immense in today’s stressful times, where employees are caught between their own shortcomings and the employer’s inability to keep them secure in their fold.

Reference:
The Managementor