Keep The Faith! - People Management

Key learnings:
Staying committed to corporate talent management in a downturn is the only way to ensure better future
In addition, setting up EAPs can help organisations address fears of lay-offs and job cuts and keep employee morale high

Premise

Hold ground and hang around! This is what Mc Donald’s, Caterpillar and Coca-Coal HR chiefs are telling their people. The three giants are not giving up yet on their talent management initiatives. When other corporate houses are packing up their talent plans, the trio is going all out to give their talent management initiatives a facelift.

According to Cynthia McCague, HR chief at Coca-Cola, there has been no change at all in their hiring intent. The company plans to stay course and do everything it can to hold and attract talent for future business needs. The soft drinks giant employs more than 90,000 employees and has a focused framework for employee development.

Ditto at McDonald’s. The company is going ahead with its million dollars programme for talent management. At Caterpillar too economic downturn has done little to dampen its talent plans The Company plans to spend a whopping USD1.5 billion for its training and talent management initiatives. The figures are staggering because of the changes happening around.

Lessons from corporate Gullivers

The talent management story at the world’s most celebrated corporations is surely worth admiring. However it is also worthwhile to spend time and mind in understanding how and what is it the companies are doing differently that is shielding them from the economic wrath.

An analysis of the talent management practices at the three corporations revealed that the three of them were doing the same. The little differences that figured were mainly because of the differences in their industry practices.

At McDonald’s...

McDonalds’ has had a cushy time despite the downturn, since the footfalls in the restaurants‘ global locations have only increased with recession; considering that restaurants offer affordable fast foods. Thus the rod was spared for restaurateurs. This apart the company stands out because of its relentless efforts to boost its workforce abilities, providing the best possible growth opportunities by aiming for talent management initiatives that strengthen employee engagement and also build commitment and loyalty. Further the company has also started certain talent management programmes at the stores with competent training and development initiatives. The Company has also started commitment surveys at the stores including the franchisee stores. This has helped the company learn about the way employees feel about serving for the fast food giant.

An interesting change witnessed by the McDonalds store managers is that since recession set in, the number of job applications at McDonalds has doubled. People are pouring in with their resumes like never before. “This is a mark of the relationship quality that we share with our employees,“ says Floersch, the HR chief at McDonalds.

At Coca-Cola...

Coca-Cola is shielded from the rough weather like McDonald’s.The company is doing rather well for itself while giving others “simple moments of pleasure”! Apart from the regular talent management initiatives, Coca-Cola has set up employee assistance posts (EAPs) to help employees address their fears and concerns about the future of the company and their growth in it. According to McCague, family and friends of employees talk about their concerns and help address their fears about people lain-off around them. The EAPs aim to ease the fears and concerns of the employees and their families by spending time with them and letting them know with exactness the real picture.

At Caterpillar. ..

No shield, yet there! Manufacturers of earth movers are not shaken by the tremours around it. The giant continues to stand tall and how! The company plans to infuse USD 1.5 billion in its talent management drive. The company is clear about keeping its workforce intact. Caterpillar announced a 35 per cent pay cut for senior executives and 15 percent pay cut for other employees but they discussed with the employees about pay cut before communicating their purpose to them.. According to Sid Banwart, the firm’s chief HR officer taking employees into confidence is the only way to move forward in a crisis.

The company has also rebuffed its internal employee development programme. When asked about poaching competitor talent Sid was blatant in stating the organisation relies heavily on its internal talent pool and therefore does not feel the need to look outside.

Final thoughts

The common denominator underlying the three success stories is their commitment to nurturing talent and believing in spirit that man and not machine is supreme. Leaders of the three corporations have also showed that talent management and employee recognition are not mechanical that can be turned on or off based on the external environment. Following it with great seriousness and sincerity since corporate success is all about winning people and not robots. Thus, organisations irrespective of the external environment should hold stead and stay committed to its people and make the most from the crisis!

Reference: TheManageMentor.

Training and Development - Conjured Learning

Simulations as more than learning tools

Key learnings:

1. Gaming simulations have carved a niche in training
2. But they also have the potential to move a little beyond that
   

Gaming will enable learning professionals to reinforce key learning ideas, deliver more attractive, engaging sessions and ensure higher retention levels is an irrefutable fact. Organisations are so satisfied with just this much that only few have exploited the true potential of gaming.

“Simulation games have more potential than what is currently being harnessed,” says an expert in gaming technology. The biggest discovery is using games to bolster business performance. In fact, once organisations understand the correlation between gaming and business performance, the final word in the learning world will be games!

Simulation games allow learning professionals to reproduce complex market, organisational and customer-service systems and conditions. As a result, learning interventions are better poised to support business performances. Read on to understand the link between simulation games as a learning tool and improved business performance.

Reasoning

The question, “Why simulations?” though answered a hundred times before, todayt in answering the same question, the objectives are to highlight:

1. Using simulation games is relevant in present times
2. How simulations boost business performance

The joys of simulation

Besides their high entertainment value, using simulation games can create knowledge. By modelling work-life conditions, they enable learners to understand:

1. Complex market functioning
2. Tactics that support improved business performance
3. Competencies and skills needed to achieve high performance
   

In short, simulation games, when well leveraged, give organisations a unique business advantage. Detailing reasons why simulation games should become a hot favourite, especially when increasing business performance is the key learning objective.

Generational preference:

With gamers representing an increasing chunk of the employees, short, intermittent online learning exposures will leave learners dissatisfied and disillusioned Simulation games offer modern learners what they expect - a wholesome online learning experience.

Equally important is for organisations to understand the importance that modern generations place on technology. To them, technologically non-savvy organisations have no future. As the head of a telecommunications company reiterates, “With the younger generation in particular, it is important to attract such employees with the kinds of technology they have come to expect, including simulation games and Web 2.0 capabilities” .

As well as to helping organisations cater to the learning needs of newer work generations, simulation games help attract and keep the young crowd! But these benefits are just the beginning.

Built-in learning:

Simulation games place learners in practical performance management situations. Here, learners play a central role in managing and controlling and gain practice in making the right moves. Learners also enjoy the luxury of making errors without suffering its outcomes. With rapidly changing trends, having learners return to classrooms or online sessions often is not possible. With this limitation, simulations provide a great learning platform and what is best is that learners are not getting short-changed in the bargain. On the contrary, they benefit more from the experience of being-in-the- moment. “Compared with traditional classroom learning, simulations help learners master content and new behaviours forty – seventy percent faster,” says an expert. Speeding learners to new learning competencies translates into quicker business results.

The differentiator

There are market simulations that allow learners to perform ‘what if’ analyses. By modelling cause and effect associations that exist in a particular market environment, these simulations allow learners to get a first-hand feel of complex market functions and human interactions. Simulations also make learners better assessors of real-life situations. Known as the ‘déjà vu factor’, a learner who has experienced something in a simulated meeting will immediately link it to what he is going through in real-time.

Simulations can also help business plans and organisational structures to enable employees to understand the complex web of their operations and functioning. Organisations have used such simulations to identify actions and interactions that act as obstacles or hamper functioning. Simulations have also helped them test the solutions. In fact, an emerging practice is using simulations for corrective and preventive measures. Customising all these simulations to the‘t’ will have the desirable impact.

As mentioned above, simulations can help gain critical skills and competencies even when individuals have had no prior experience in it. A railway company employed a cost-centre simulation solution to help their employees, who were engineers with no exposure to finance, gain financial management skills. By engaging those in complex role-playing and allowing them to plan and perform operational activities, the engineers felt as comfortable as their finance counterparts by the end of their training.

The benefits of simulation continue to charm organisations. But thinking of them as learning tools alone will prevent organisations from using them as part of performance management. Given the increasing complexities of the business world, speeding employees’ knowledge and competency gaming is a definite way to ensure better and quicker business results.

Ref: TheManageMentor.

Retention Strategy: Meaningful Motivation

Retaining and developing existing talent can be more important to an organization and less expensive than acquiring new talent.

Unfortunately, even if an organization already is focused on retention, chances are good it is following a misguided and expensive compensation approach. "Misguided" may seem like strong criticism, but while extrinsic rewards of money and benefits may cause a short-term burst of productivity, they often don't motivate. Further, they also contain the seed for demotivation long term because, once compensation is awarded, it becomes expected. So when revenues dictate that bonuses are smaller, people aren't just unmotivated, they are actually demotivated, making them less satisfied overall with their jobs and, subsequently, the organization.

This finding is at the heart of the work of Frederick Herzberg, who is known in organizational development circles as the father of modern motivation. Herzberg didn't say appropriate compensation isn't necessary. It is. In fact, Herzberg found that while the presence of certain basics such as good working conditions and an appropriate salary didn't motivate or increase job satisfaction, their absence contributed significantly to job dissatisfaction.

Herzberg's research makes it clear that monetary rewards don't motivate and don't compensate for ineffective management. Real motivation comes from work in the form of achievement, recognition, meaningful work, responsibility, advancement and growth.

Managers can't always change the work itself, but there are practical and simple steps they can take to provide a more motivating workplace and manage in a way that changes the relationships employees have with their work, their managers and their organizations.

Leverage the Power of Human Nature

Humans are natural problem solvers. We like to figure things out and determine how things should be done, especially when we're the ones doing them.

This is why when talent managers give people the opportunity to express their opinions and provide input into work processes, they enhance buy-in and ownership, effectively using human drive to an organization's advantage. People who feel ownership of their work are likely to find that work more meaningful than people who have no say in how things are done.

For example: The next time a talent leader assigns a project, make sure that leader knows that people clearly understand the desired end result and the parameters for the work and also provides the latitude for them to determine how they are going to achieve it. Recognizing this natural human drive to be a part of the solution is a critical first step to motivating people to do their best and enjoy doing it.

Manage Performance and Mentor People

Talent leaders also must recognize this human drive to problem solve in themselves, and then curb it. If a manager is focused on his group's performance, he or she will feel the need to provide answers and solve problems, making employees feel less necessary in the process.

The talent manager's most effective role is to empower and mentor. In this role, the leader will motivate people to do more, and performance will take care of itself. Plus, helping people realize they can perform job tasks with less help enables them grow personally and professionally while making the managers' job that much easier.

When a talent leader is compelled to provide answers, he or she should ask questions instead. Asking good questions is a great way to help people learn to problem solve and make good decisions. It gives people the opportunity to discover the answers for themselves, which gives their work meaning and provides the right environment for sustainable learning, adding to their personal skill set and growth, which also is great for the organization.

Focus on the Person, Not the Job

When talent managers make people feel like they care more about the work than the employees, it can promote feelings of insignificance. Conversely, an employee who feels his manager's concern for his well-being is more likely to experience the trust characteristic of high-performing teams and organizations.

Talent leaders should take time to get to know their employees. This will not only help to build trust, it will provide invaluable insight into what motivates them. Different things motivate different people. One person might be thrilled about new responsibilities as a project manager, while another might experience a greater sense of achievement when allowed to actually produce the desired end product.

In addition to being sensitive to individual role preferences, it pays to note the varying degrees of structure individuals need to be happy in those work roles. Some people need and prefer more direction and clarification than others. This is especially true in ambiguous or uncertain situations.

To assess individual need for structure, ask people to write down questions they have about their jobs. Someone with lots of questions probably needs more structure, while the person who has few questions almost certainly needs less.

Show Up When Things Are Going Well

Being the human problem solvers we are, it's natural for a manager to intervene more often when something is not working than when things are going smoothly. Unfortunately, in this type of environment, employees soon begin to fear every conversation with managers, viewing them as people who show up only when there's a problem.

Brain chemistry research shows this fear of criticism actually triggers the fight-or-flight response, bathing the brain in fear hormones that increase defensive behavior and actually inhibit learning. Talent managers that only talk to employees when something's wrong end up with defensive and withholding employees, and fewer opportunities to uncover the information they need to know about workers and their performance.

To avoid this common scenario, talent leaders should intentionally make time to recognize employees for what is working. Schedule regular meetings where people are invited to report their successes. This structured recognition date will prompt employees to look forward to seeing the talent manager, motivating them to share everything necessary about their performance, as well as how to mentor them and help them achieve even more.

Plus, in the process of learning what's working, the manager also will learn what's not working. But the interaction starts with attention on what the person is doing right, which creates an atmosphere in which people are more open to suggestion and learning can take place.

Publicly Recognize Great Performance

In addition to making time to let employees tout their own achievements in private, public recognition helps to reinforce a sense of accomplishment and accountability. When people are publicly recognized for a job well done, they experience that sense of achievement all over again, which makes them eager to get back to work and tackle the next problem even more skillfully.

When a manager sees good problem solving and decision making, he or she should acknowledge the success privately and in front of others. Timing is important, so don't wait for the annual awards banquet. Making public recognition spontaneous and frequent will motivate everyone, create an environment that supports and encourages ongoing learning, achievement and accountability for all. This motivational culture is good for the employee, the manager and the organization.

But when attempting to recognize and motivate employees to do better work, talent managers should ask: Will my actions contribute to the person's sense of achievement or recognition? Do they fit their individual preferences? Will my actions enable him or her to grow and be prepared to take on more responsibility? Do they make the work more meaningful?

If the answers to any of these questions is no, talent leaders should recognize that while they may make the person feel rewarded for a job well done, they probably won't achieve the long-term motivation they're looking for.


[About the Author: Chris Musselwhile, Ed.D., is president and CEO of Discovery Learning Inc. and author of Dangerous Opportunity: Making Change Work.]

Recruitment and Retention - Move It!

Internal job rotation has come of age… ......

Key learnings:

1. The second-generation internal movement systems are more strategic than the first- generation prorammes
2. The second-generation methods shun the legacy system of the past, and are more competitive in nature

Employee retention is one of the most critical concerns of corporate leaders, especially in times when ‘buying talent’ does not appear viable. Organisations are reeling under immense pressure to develop and hone the talent that they already have, opening up internal movement options like job rotation, stretch assignments and taking employees to newer levels.

Economic downturns present a good opportunity to reflect on an organisation’ s employee development and succession planning initiatives. Most organisations are facing talent woes as they have failed to get their retention act together by creating a promising development plan for their staff. However, the present downturn may well be the turning point for organisations working towards employee development and retention. Before organisations incorporate an internal movement strategy in their retention plans, it is important to ascertain the goals.

Objectives

The internal movement strategy can help organisations attain the following objectives:

Enhanced employability:

Internal job movements through job rotations and stretch assignments help increase the employability of workers. These initiatives giver workers the right kind of exposure and expand the scope of their expertise, resulting in both vertical and lateral growth .

Improved morale:

Internal movement makes the job more interesting and challenging, thereby enhancing employee engagement and morale. Employees also feel driven and motivated, as the new jobs test their abilities and help them realise their real potential.

Leadership development:

Job rotation is also used as an instrument for leadership development. When internal movement is planned and employees are moved up the corporate hierarchy, the intention is to develop potential leaders for future organisational requirements.

Better skills:

Internal movement helps employees build on their skills, as job rotation and stretch assignments require them to expand their kitty of skills.

To meet the demands of the new age, the internal movement systems too have undergone change.

The second-generation systems, as they are referred to, are pretty much the same as the first-generation internal movement systems; the difference, however, lies in the strategic component. While the first-generation systems are largely operational, the new generation systems are more strategic. In addition, there are other significant differences too. Understanding these differences will help organisations deploy their resources effectively.

Integration and differentiation

While most second-generation strategies are an improvised version of the earlier strategies, and therefore, are integrated through a common framework, differences lie in the approach and execution. As mentioned above, the second-generation systems are more strategic, as compared to the earlier more operational systems. In addition, they are also:

1. Broader in their approach, and cater to a number of internal movement channels by creating attractive opportunities
2. More proactive in creating opportunities for growth, which is unlike the first generation systems that are largely reactive
3. More competitive, with better opportunities to nurture top talent, as compared to the first-generation programmes that are more of a legacy, lacking in quality

Job shifts can be temporary under the second-generation systems, unlike first-generation systems where job shifts are more like a permanent posting.

Understanding these differences will help HR leaders chart their course carefully. However, it is important to note that internal movements have to be deliberate, as they do not happen naturally.

The reason is simple: Most people hesitate to leave their comfort zones for something they are not sure of. Managers too fear losing their best men to jobs that may not suit them. In addition, HR policies too do not support random job movements. Despite the impediments, experts believe that leaders can leverage the potential of internal movement systems for boosting retention and development efforts.

Ref: TheManageMentor.

Improving returns on talent

How should companies approach and formulate a talent strategy focused on better returns.

Organisations have worked over the years towards efficiently managing and monitoring returns on capital and assets. This has been an important role for the CEO and top management in years of boom and downturns.

However, there remains a great deal of ambiguity over the idea of managing talent as an asset. While organisations commit huge investments in talent and incur heavy costs on it, rarely do CEOs have visibility on the returns on talent employed (ROTE).

Investments in talent

An organisation makes multiple investments in acquiring and utilising its talent effectively. These are:

Time and effort: The man-hours spent by HR managers and others in an organisation in recruiting and managing talent adds up to quite a lot. And this has a cost attached to it.

Operating costs: The largest human resource costs in a company are in the areas of recruitment, training, staff welfare, travel for HR-related processes and so on.

Overall employee costs: This is an aggregation of cost to the company (compensation and benefits) of all employees. These costs are a part of the profit and loss statement of companies and normally tend to increase over time.

These spends directly hit the bottom line of the company. In times of downturns, organisations look at cutting down these spends to reduce costs. Although obvious and intuitive, this approach to improve ROTE has limited benefits and could prove counterproductive in the long run. Considering that any recessionary or slow growth phase is likely to be followed by a phase of rapid growth and expansion, a reduction in talent investment has to strike a balance between short-term pressures and long-term imperatives.

An alternative approach

Companies’ top management have always, knowingly or unknowingly, strived towards improving returns from talent. Their concern and need is to find more comprehensive ways of doing so. But what comes in the way is the absence of a common understanding of what constitutes talent, what kind of returns to expect and what levers must be used to improve ROTE.

Talent constitutes not merely employee numbers but also their capabilities. Hence, ROTE may be defined as the value gained in terms of contribution to business results through effective utilisation of talent and its capabilities while optimally managing talent costs.

The concept of "talent value chain" provides a comprehensive model to view the processes through which talent is employed and utilised

An organisation’s strategic goals along with a well-defined organisational structure are the starting point of the talent value chain. Each link in the talent value chain is a talent lever. Specific actions and initiatives under these talent levers are identified and planned leading to development of a "talent strategy".

Like business strategy, talent strategy addresses the key challenges a company is facing and hence, necessitates a careful examination of business challenges and objectives. It also needs to be adapted and changed to suit changing business environments and goals. Such a talent strategy ensures optimal and appropriate utilisation of talent and hence leads to an improved ROTE.

However, an appropriate and well-articulated talent strategy is rarely found to exist in organisations and hence improved returns on talent seem to constantly elude them. Let us examine three different business scenarios to illustrate the approach that an organisation can use to develop its talent strategy.

Downturn/low growth: An organisation struggling with a downturn or slow growth in its industry is faced with the challenge of optimally managing its assets and costs. Such an organisation should, therefore, employ its talent levers in a manner such that they address this strategic challenge.

In workforce planning, the organisation’s focus should be on optimal utilisation of talent through re-deployment or reducing existing manpower. Similarly, recruitment should either be frozen or highly selective. High performing, valuable employees should be identified from the less productive ones based on performance differentiation. This would help identify both talent which the company must strive to retain and manpower which can be released without a significant impact on company productivity.

Rewards too can be selective. Only those who contribute significantly should be rewarded. Policies should be reviewed to enhance centralisation, wherever possible. Potential development and retention should be geared towards the best-performing talent. Thus, this approach helps improve ROTE through managing costs, optimal utilisation of talent and high involvement of top management.

Rapid growth: Any organisation operating in an environment of rapid growth will look to capture a large share of business. This obviously translates into a key strategic challenge — talent acquisition and development.

In such a scenario, talent strategy is not so much focused on differentiation, as in a downturn/low growth situation, but on the speed of ramp-up for building employee numbers, their skill development and retention across levels.

Rewards and benefits are liberal and aimed at retaining a large mass of the employee base to maintain high productivity levels and build capacity. High degree of delegation for decision-making is dispersed across the management hierarchy to provide control and authority at key positions in the organisation to facilitate quick turnarounds.

ROTE is enhanced through improved skill base availability, development of skills in line with business requirements, and building and maintaining talent capacity. Hence, the talent strategy and initiatives are geared towards enabling the firm to successfully meet growth targets.

Global expansion: As organisations grow and evolve, they are likely to look at global expansion for higher growth. In such a scenario, strategic objectives change dramatically. This necessitates the redesign of the organisation structure and roles and also needs a drastic shift in talent strategy.

The talent strategy in such a scenario is focused on shifting from known practices to redefining talent practices to make them relevant to a global, geographically dispersed entity. Hence, it will focus on redefining recruitment practices to successfully recruit in new geographies, establishing a new employment brand and company identity, adoption of global practices, global

standardisation of policies and practices and compliance. These become the key areas to improve ROTE in an international, multicultural context.

Formulating a talent strategy

A structured and sound methodology to formulate and deploy a talent strategy is described in figure 2. The initial phase is primarily to understand the strategic objectives and ensure that there is an appropriate organisation structure, with clearly-defined roles, to support the achievement of company goals.

This is followed by an assessment of the processes in each link of the talent value chain. During this phase, a company may discover a complete absence of a process or gaps in the processes. These constitute the areas of improvement or new initiatives which are necessary to achieve company objectives.

These improvement areas/new initiatives are then prioritised depending on the strategic challenges and goals of the company and the presence of supporting systems/processes. This leads to a talent strategy defining specific steps or initiatives along each link of the talent value chain (talent levers). Based on this, a detailed implementation schedule can be developed with specific initiatives and timelines.

This approach, while simple and easily implementable, can provide disproportionate returns on talent employed. It provides a framework that can be used to ensure that an organisation’s talent is aligned towards achieving its strategic objectives. With such alignment, companies can maximise their ROTE in any industry or economic scenario and gain an advantage over their competitors.

Reference: Business Standard ( Article by: Sona Rajesh & Amit Bajpayee)

Counselling at work place- The Resonance Way

The Resonance Way
“I no longer have the enthusiasm, energy or creativity I once had towards my work", says Indu Jain, Fashion Designer at L'haut, a garment manufacturer.

Like Indu, employees who once derived pleasure from their work, have begun to lose interest, energy and talent. Though such employees turn in mediocre performance, increased competition and globalisation demand excellence and continuous improvement.

“We direct our efforts to help employees renew and revive the way they once felt about their jobs ", says Ravi Menon, HR Manager, La Femme. This helps the company retain some of their best talent for competitive advantage. These efforts make an employee feel that the company values his past contributions, and wants him to have a fulfilling and positive attitude towards work.

Talk ' Resonance'.

'Resonance' or 'flow' refers to the state of mind where an individual employee is deeply involved with a task, overcomes obstacles effortlessly and finds the experience more satisfying than the result. For example, in a game of tennis, the player is more satisfied with the techniques he used to overcome his opponent's moves rather than actually winning.

Identify and Rediscover.

HR needs to identify if employees ever experienced ' resonance' during their careers. Ask employees about their experiences at work or with any other activity. Ask open-ended questions like how an employee felt when he received the award for the ' best performer of the year.'

Identify and Recreate.

To prevent boredom and monotony at work, employees are eager to pursue hobbies and interests. At times, this can be given more priority and thus effect an individual's concentration at work.

Revisit a dream.

Dreams and personal aspirations play significantly influence an individual's performance at work. People tend to work better to fulfil personal aspirations rather than duty or obligation. However, obstacles like ill health or circumstances often prevent the realisation of a dream.

People who were successful and were excellent performers may never have had a dream to work towards. Despite success and fame, such employees never have anything more to look forward to. They do not put in the time, energy and talent that they once used to. Resonance makes them reflect on work and how they can make it more meaningful.

Reference: TheManageMentor

Talent Acquisition: Quality of Hire and Passive Candidates Reign Supreme

The growing shortage of desired skills is compounded by an increasingly competitive global marketplace and an uncertain economy - all of which combine to force organizations to get more from the same, or less. It's critical that organizations find and lure best-fit talent and increase workforce productivity and retention. While each of these has pre- and post-hire implications, they also can be impacted by an organization's talent acquisition strategy. However, according to recent data from Aberdeen Group, the ability to identify and attract top talent continues to challenge most organizations.

The Shortage and Misalignment of Skills

Aberdeen Group's July benchmark report, "Talent Acquisition Strategies: Employer Branding and Quality of Hire Take Center Stage," revealed the two predominant factors driving talent acquisition at more than 80 percent of organizations surveyed revolves around the competition for skills, the limited supply of skills or both.

In addition to these external pressures, organizations face internal struggles when it comes to effective talent acquisition. Some 46 percent of all organizations - including 56 percent of those that achieved Aberdeen's best-in-class designation (top 20 percent) - cited workforce planning as their top challenge.

The second-highest ranked internal talent acquisition challenge facing best-in-class organizations focuses on the organization's ability to identify, recruit and validate better hires. In fact, 41 percent of best-in-class organizations cite quality of hire as an internal talent acquisition challenge, compared to only 23 percent that rank ability to reach ideal job candidates and time to fill job vacancies as key internal challenges. Laggard organizations (bottom 30 percent) place relatively equal weight on quality of hire, reaching ideal candidates and filling vacancies in a timely fashion.

Best-in-Class Talent Acquisition Strategies

To overcome the aforementioned macro pressures and internal organizational challenges, best-in-class organizations look longer term and focus on enhancing their employer brands, engaging and attracting passive candidates and targeting those who are best fit for their organizations and available job roles.

Best-in-class organizations distinguish themselves in talent acquisition through a mix of processes and technologies that force organizational collaboration, engage existing workers and target their collective efforts on what matters most to the organization. These work collectively to enable best-in-class organizations to achieve extraordinarily average year-over-year performance gains against the key performance indicators.

Key Differentiator: Recruiting Passive Candidates

Aberdeen's research shows talent acquisition in 2009 will be as much internal as it is external to the organization. But both must focus on heightening the organization's employer brand.

Internal strategies will focus on identifying and developing high-potential workers to fill anticipated higher-level vacancies. Best-in-class organizations place greater emphasis on career development, leadership training and flexible work environments to be more attractive to potential hires and more caring of existing staff. Some 68 percent of best-in-class organizations cite promoting career development and professional growth opportunities in recruiting campaigns as a top priority.

Progress against development plans for individuals designated high potential will be measured against the organization's needs to determine if, or when, the position must be filled externally.

External strategies will focus on finding and engaging talented professionals who are not actively seeking new employment. Passive job seekers are not easy to locate, but they represent an important part of a successful talent acquisition strategy. Aberdeen's research found 62 percent of best-in-class organizations are focused on creating or improving a data repository of desirable active and passive job candidates - versus only 46 percent and 35 percent of industry average (middle 50 percent) and laggard companies, respectively.

Whether internally or externally focused, an organization's talent acquisition strategy must create or validate candidates' and employees' perceptions of the organization as a great place to work. Fifty-three percent of best-in-class organizations focus on having corporate marketing and recruiting work together to improve employment branding. An additional 30 percent of best-in-class plan to have this collaboration in place during the next year. The importance of an internal talent acquisition strategy focused on making existing employees feel positive about the organization is highlighted by the following statistics:

a) Employee referrals are cited by all organizations - and 82 percent of best in class - as the top source to find desirable talent.

b) Some 74 percent of best-in-class organizations rank employee contacts and networks in their top three ways to recruit passive candidates, followed by attending conferences, industry events or tradeshows (60 percent) and visiting social networking sites (30 percent).

Best-in-class organizations are more aggressive at communicating job openings and job-role needs to current staff, and 79 percent are more likely to use the corporate Web to showcase the company's culture and opportunities.

Key Differentiator: Collaboration Between Recruiters and Hiring Managers

Collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers is critical to ensure they get the right candidates within an agreed-to time frame. This collaboration is in place at 89 percent of best-in-class organizations, resulting in a mutual understanding of expectations around the process, skills, attributes and attitudes in a desired candidate.

Aberdeen's research revealed a significant disconnect between human resources professionals and the hiring managers they serve. Non-HR managers are more likely than their HR counterparts to rank quality of hire as a critical success metric for talent acquisition. The same data also shows HR professionals are more likely than non-HR managers to rank time to hire as a critical success metric.

While HR and non-HR managers place relatively equal weight on the importance of overall hiring manager satisfaction, the difference in priority they place on quality of hire, quality of candidate and time to fill suggests a lack of understanding on what it takes to satisfy a hiring manager.

The importance of this collaboration is more pronounced when considering that organizations plan to increase hiring managers' involvement in the recruitment process. For example, 48 percent of best-in-class organizations get line managers involved in candidate follow-up calls, but some 75 percent plan to do so within the next year. Only 32 percent of best-in-class organizations train hiring managers on passive recruiting, but an additional 41 percent plan to do so during the next 12 months.

Key Differentiator: Measuring and Validating Quality of Hire

Seventy-four percent of best-in-class organizations said they have an "understanding of which applicant sources provide the best quality job candidates," compared to only 52 percent of lagged organizations.

When asked for the top four indicators their organizations uses to determine quality of hire, best-in-class organizations' responses focused on two areas: how quickly new employees got up to a desired level of competence and how long they lasted in their role during the first 12 months of employment.

To measure the quality of recent hires, organizations need to have processes in place to determine what level of performance the new employee should be at in three-month, six-month and nine-month time frames; to measure the candidate against those milestones; and to evaluate any performance gaps that need to be addressed. How well an organization can measure new hires job performance and use that information to improve the recruiting process plays a major role in a successful talent acquisition program.

Yet, according to Aberdeen's research, organizations ability to clearly articulate what quality of hire actually is still has a long way to go. Research revealed that quality of hire at most organizations is based largely on loose definitions. In fact, establishing "clearly defined metrics pertaining to quality of hire" is the most common plan related to talent acquisition that organizations will put in place in the next 12 months.

Recommendations

1. Gain clarity on skills gaps. Clearly define the common behaviors and skills of the organization's top performers or key contributors. Use this or the organization's core values as a general competency framework to identify skills gaps. This enables an organization to ascertain where gaps can be filled internally and which require more targeted recruiting efforts.

2. Seek feedback. New hires should be interviewed after the job offer to obtain feedback on the recruiting and hiring process. Make improvements as needed.

3. Define success metrics. Clearly defined metrics should be in place to measure the success of talent acquisition efforts. These metrics should be agreed on by HR and hiring managers and should address the organization's specific business issues.

4. Involve hiring managers. Hiring managers and recruiters need to be trained to use new technologies to find passive job candidates. Such workers can be a vital source of talent and expertise but have traditionally been invisible in recruiting efforts.

5. Focus on internal and external employer brand. The entire organization should work together to collectively brand the company a best place to work. Recruiting should be seen as an enterprise-wide function, not the role of human resources.

Ref: Kevin Martin
[About the Author: Kevin Martin is vice president and principal analyst of human capital management for Aberdeen Group.]

Manage, Motivate and Retain Great Staff

Have you ever wondered what is takes to create a dynamic,motivated, high-functioning child care team? If you've answered yes, you are not alone. My office receives emails from all over the world from child care leaders who are on a mission; a mission to figure out the key elements in managing, motivating, and retaining great staff. Some of the leaders I've consulted with have spent their entire professional career trying to figure out the answer to this question. Some admit to giving up because the challenges involved in creating a dynamic, motivated team are exhausting.

The wonderful news is that there is a specific plan of action that you can implement immediately to help you manage, motivate, and retain great staff. This plan of action is not a quick fix, but rather a long-term solution to the motivational challenges child care leaders face (including the four case scenarios presented at the beginning of this article). Before I share with you this transformational plan of action, let me ask you:

If you could motivate your staff to do 5 things this year, whatwould they be? Would you like your staff to function as a dynamic team? Would you like your staff to communicate more constructively with each other, their leaders and the parents? Would you like your staff to refrain from destructive communication such as gossip? Would you like your staff to come to work full of energy and excitement about the lives that they're about to impact? Would you like your staff to resolve conflicts and issues on their own? Would you like your staff to value the contribution each individual staff member can make in accomplishing new team goals? Rest assured,whatever it is that you would like to accomplish, the following5-step plan of action will help you.

Let's begin this journey in learning what it takes to manage,motivate and retain great staff with step 1 of your motivational plan of action. The 5 steps I'm sharing this week are the foundation of my Leadership Retreats.

Step 1: Possess a strong, positive belief in your team. This is acritically important first step. Without a positive belief, thereis no hope, without hope there is no vision of the greatness you can accomplish within your program. When a program lacks a vision, it also lacks motivation.

As crucial as this step is, it can be one of the toughest toimplement. Why? Well, it all boils down to the thoughts you, the leader, think and the actions you take as an end result. So it starts with you and what you truly believe about your team. That's right -- what you believe and what you feel - not just what you say to appease others.

Do you possess a strong, positive belief in your team? When Iconsult with leaders about the changes they would like to see happening in their working and learning environments some have stated: "Good luck in working with my staff -- they're just really not capable of accomplishing much." I've also heard worse comments than this, but I think you get the idea.

It may be a true perception that one's team is simply not capable of accomplishing much, it's still not the thought or the vision that a leader who would like to create a motivated, dynamic, high-functioning team should hang on to. A leader must create a vision beyond present circumstances and help team members aspire to it. And if current team members are not on board and don't share your vision, it may be time to seek employees who do.

To help you develop your vision, imagine for a moment that your staff functions as a dynamic team. Imagine that everyone is a team player. Imagine that each employee is motivated. What does that mean to you personally and professionally? Many leaders share with me that if their staff was more motivated and functioned as a team, their stress levels would be reduced. The parents and children would be happier. Positive word of mouth advertising would spread far and fast. Your program will be the program where parents want to send their children and where top-notch child care professionalswant to work. You will have more time and funds available to invest in what you value most. You and your staff will experience less burnout.

Visualize this several times each day. Visualize that you and your team have more energy as the workday ends and visualize everyone returning to work with smiles on their faces. It's a great start.

Step 2: Create an environment where direct and open communication is a priority.

During leadership retreats we spend hours talking about this step because it's such an important element in creating a positive, productive and dynamic environment for working and learning. With each organization I work with, I find that when direct and open communication does not exist, gossip and other destructive communication patterns persist.

There are three main components from a leadership perspective in creating an environment where direct and open communication is a priority. They include getting direct and open communication, giving direct and open communication, and facilitating direct and open communication among staff.

As crucial as each of these three components are, there are communication barriers present in many child care programs preventing leaders from getting it, giving it, and facilitating it. It's very important to realize that when communication barriers are present they most often lead to turnover and unmotivated staff. Thus an important step in managing, motivating and retaining great staff is to identify what communication barriers are present in your working and learning environment and then put a workable plan of action in place to break them down.

Step 3: Challenge your team.

Help your staff understand your vision, your program's mission statement and how their efforts contribute to the big picture. Many times staff members simply focus on their immediate responsibilities as opposed to a broad-spectrum view of what they can accomplish within your program and in the child care profession. When this happens staff may be reluctant to do more than their fair share of the work. They may feel unimportant and undervalued.

A major element of this step is to help your staff understand their role in making the big picture happen through extending their focus beyond their immediate responsibilities. Help them focus daily on how: their successes will make a positive impact on the lives of the children, the parents, the community and your child care program.

Another important element is to coach your staff to set and achieve new goals; goals that will help them truly become a top-notch child care professional.

Before we move on to step 4, it's important to understand that the steps presented in this plan of action are cumulative, beginning with step 1. The common mistake many leaders make in implementing their plan of action is to implement step 4 or step 5 before implementing step 1 and step 2. To achieve optimal results from implementing this plan of action, it's important to implement the steps in order 1 through 5. Steps 1 and 2 are the toughest, yet the most important.

Step 4: Appreciate your staff.

Most child care leaders are very good at offering gifts to express their appreciation to their staff. However, please be aware that there are staff appreciation pitfalls that must be avoided to make your staff appreciation efforts effective. Staff appreciation pitfalls include routine appreciation, general appreciation, and undeserved appreciation. Additionally, if you have not put into practice steps 1 and 2, your appreciation efforts can be very ineffective.

When your staff appreciation methods are ineffective and pitfalls are present, you may hear staff complain about the type of cake they got for their birthday and how another co-worker got something better than they did. One leader shared with me how she purchased beautiful gifts for each staff person. Unfortunately, all she got in return were complaints.

Step 5: Make working for your program fun.

Find ways to make the mundane, stressful tasks fun. Incorporate fun into your staff meetings. Use music to transition from the end of the day craziness to an energizing, informative staff meeting. Incorporate a humorous attitude in your dealings with staff and parents. Of course this doesn't mean make fun of others but lighten up a bit.

When you're ready to implement this step, facilitate a fun team building activity with your staff. The objective is to list all the tasks that are mundane or stressful and then brainstorm with your staff on how to make them more fun.

Make a point in ending the day by helping each staff member leave with a smile. Here's what one teacher told me how she ends her day with a smile. "One of the things that keeps me motivated to stay in the teaching profession is all the humorous moments I encounter through the day. When my workday comes to an end, I reflect on all the funny stuff. Then I laugh and end my day with a huge smile on my face and I bring home a smile and share my humorous moments with my family so they can all end their day with a smile."

Wow! What a great thing -- to end the day with a smile. Not utter exhaustion and stress limits pushed to the max, but a smile to relish in and share with our loved ones. Smiles and laughter - two things that children naturally share and pass on to others. And boy, don't you love it when they do!

In addition to the 5 steps presented in this article, there are two important elements that go hand in hand with each step. They are coaching and modeling. It's important to view yourself as your team's coach. Often leaders in the child care profession can easily be mistaken for another stressed out member of the staff. You have to rise above personal issues and focus on facts, benefits, and solutions in order to help your team accomplish great things.

Modeling the behaviors that you would like your team to display on a daily basis is just as important. If you're constantly showing up late for work and meetings, don't be surprised if your team follows suit. Undoubtedly, you set the protocol for how your staff behaves.

Implement this step-by-step plan of action, model the behaviors you would like your team to display and coach your team to accomplish great things and your child care program will be the program with a motivated, dynamic, high-functioning team.

Ref: Julie Bartkus

Rewards & Recognition: Time to Pay Up...And Fast

Given today's economic and demographic challenges, HR practitioners will be narrowing the focus of recognition while expanding the scope.The nation is in an economic downturn that experts believe will be with us for the next few years, if not longer. No matter the industry or the region of the country, more and more companies are being forced to do more with less.

Consumers are buying fewer products and services and putting off nonessential purchases. Capital expenditures by businesses are being reined in and, in some cases, cut altogether. Every expense is being scrutinized, because savings go right to the bottom line.

Organizations are changing their business strategies to align with the new marketplace realities. In the "old days," when customers requested "better, cheaper, and faster," companies would respond with "pick two." Today, it's a business requirement for these same companies to accomplish all three.

There has been an unexpected positive consequence of this new reality: A greater number of business leaders outside human resources better understand that customers buy products from companies, but form relationships with people.

And it's these same people -- the employees -- who have the ability to create and enhance the kind of customer loyalty and retention required for survival in today's rocky economic times. Most CEOs understand how the Pareto Principal relates to their bottom line -- 80 percent of sales come from 20 percent of the customers.

More of these same senior leaders realize a new truth; that 80 percent of business outcomes can be directly traced to the efforts of 20 percent of the employees. These "A & B players" and "high performers" are being counted on more than ever to meet and exceed customer expectation.

Narrowing the Focus

The ultimate goal of reward-and-recognition approaches is to find, keep and motivate employees through a variety of organizational interventions. These can include tangible and intangible rewards, cash compensation, benefits, recognition approaches and employee-involvement and motivation strategies. But when it comes to allocating resources to fund these rewards programs in 2009, companies will need to narrow the focus while, at the same time, expand the scope of recognition.

All employees want to be rewarded for their performance, no matter how much, or how little, they actually contribute to the success of their organization. But "C" players (who can make up as much as 75 percent of the employee base) often do acceptable -- or minimally expectable -- work and are often happy to have and keep their job, let alone receive additional rewards.

Pay-for-performance requires companies to differentiate between their superstars and their under-performers. And based on recent national research on employee satisfaction, engagement and retention, most companies have a long way to go.

According to the 2008-09 Employee Hold'em National Workforce Engagement Benchmark, 50 percent of self-identified "superstar" employees are fully engaged with their organizations. These hard-working employees are ready, willing and able to go above and beyond customer requirements and plan to stay with the company if they're offered a little more money to go somewhere else.

Why? Because they are more likely to believe they are fairly rewarded and recognized for their contributions to the company's success, feel that excellent performance gets rewarded in their organization and believe their manager ensures the best employees receive the greatest rewards. Another study recently conducted by Leadership IQ indicated that 47 percent of high performers are actively looking for new jobs by posting and submitting their resumes and even going on job interviews. Companies need to "pay up" with alternative forms of rewards and recognition.

Finding Alternatives

Employers cannot afford to lose their best workers, who get the job done on time, on target and on budget. The best workers are given the toughest assignments because they have shown an ability to get the job done. They work on the hardest accounts due to their abilities in handling difficult clients. And they're often asked to "learn on the job" due to their ability to swim while others sink.

How do most companies reward these vital resources, these assets with feet? By giving them a performance increase that is only 2 percent or 3 percent bigger than the marginal employee sitting in the cubicle next to them received. Seniority pay, merit pay, incentive pay, team-based pay, skill-based pay and outcomes-oriented pay just don't cut it, especially when companies can barely afford their cost-of-living increases.

That's why more and more companies are going to be looking at alternatives to compensation and spot bonuses to reward their best and most dependable workers. Providing training and development, work/life balance and opportunities for advancement are three of the effective rewards for today's and tomorrow's hardest-working employees.

Going forward, consider this: You should be training the best employees so they can leave, or else they'll leave. That's right. Train them so they can leave, or else they'll leave. They're going to leave anyway. The average employee has 13 to 15 jobs over the course of his or her career, seven by the time they are 30 years of age.

However, when companies provide training and development opportunities on a consistent basis, these superstars will stay longer, work harder and recommend the organization as a great place to work. And aren't those exactly the kinds of behaviors that a pay-for-performance system is supposed to elicit from top employees?

Whether it's a result of the expectations of their managers or the demands they put on themselves, high performers in an organization know through experience that they won't be working only 40 hours in a week. They show up when they are needed, and stay until the job is completed. They're willing to give up some personal time in order to satisfy the needs of the job. But they expect payback as well.

Managers who want to keep their top performers retained and engaged will need to recognize the importance of their personal and family life and be flexible when the pendulum swings to the family side of the question. Managers will need to ensure that top performers are given the freedom to balance work and family responsibilities without hindering their career progression. And they'll need to be sensitive to the needs and problems of these employees when they arise.

Employees will continue to want the ability to move up and move over or they're going to move out. Many front-line supervisors and managers are reticent to let their best employees transfer to another division or department. The reason is understandable; the supervisor's performance review (and pay) is often based on the productivity or throughput of their direct reports.

More and more companies will be training their supervisors to be "engagement agents" for these top performers, providing career mentors throughout their employment. In the past, companies have pigeon-holed their best employees into the jobs they were "hired to do." When half of these workers are open to job offers from other companies, or are actively looking for them, this practice has to end. It's time to pay up. And fast.

Expanding the Scope

And finally, a few words about expanding the scope of recognition. Believe it or not, many companies still think about recognition in terms of the anniversary card hand-signed and delivered by the senior executive, the "five-year pin" given out at the annual awards luncheon or the gift catalogue the 10-year employee chooses from as acknowledgment of his or her continued tenure. Granted, these are worthwhile endeavors that all employees share in, even the three-quarters who are "C" players in the typical organization.

So, how are the best companies taking this one step further? They're doing it by recognizing the importance of daily satisfaction and ethics, diversity and safety. Companies that understand employees quit a boss and not a company are working hard to ensure that employees have a good relationship with their immediate supervisor. They're attracting talent by making certain there is a good fit between the applicant's skills and interests, and their job. And they are making sure that each job provides a feeling of personal accomplishment.

Today, companies better understand the critical nature of ensuring an ethical environment for their workers. Employees are less willing to cut ethical corners for short-term profits or modest improvements in a company's stock price. They are less willing to look the other way regarding issues of favoritism or unfair treatment of employees.

And today, providing a safe and secure workplace is no longer a "nice to have," but is more like a standard table stake in poker. Employees understand that, although compliance and ethics may lead you to the same place, compliance is based on things you have to do, while ethics are things you want to do. The difference in one verb makes all the difference in the world.

The year 2009 is going to be a difficult one for an increasing number of businesses. Decreasing revenues, shrinking profits, pressure from shareholders and competition from new and emerging markets are going to test the mettle of even the most solid companies.

Companies must continue to narrow the focus of their rewards programs to target the employees they count on most while expanding them beyond the typical merit-pay and spot-bonus programs many used to rely on. And by recognizing the importance of daily satisfaction and ethics to all employees, companies can improve the performance of all employees.

It's the old Fram Oil Filter commercial, with a twist: "Pay me now or pay up later."You make the choice ... or your employees will make it for you.

Ref: Marc Drizin
[About the Author: Marc Drizin is founder and chief instigator of Noblesville, Ind.-based Employee Hold'em, which provides talent-retention solutions and corporate training services. He is the author of Workforce Engagement: Strategies to Attract, Motivate, and Retain Talent, and a second book, Employee Engagement Fundamentals: A Guide for Managers and Supervisors. ]

The Benefits of Talent-Pool Succession Plans

In most organizations, HR professionals and executives readily admit they need to better understand the potential talent in their companies and do a better job of rewarding competent, loyal leaders. Succession planning, when integrated into the overall employee performance and talent management strategy, can provide organizations with valuable insight into their leadership pipelines. But a well-managed succession planning process should seek to not only prime leaders for the future, but reward them today as part of a bigger drive for retention.

There are many approaches to succession planning. One of the more common has been the org-chart replacement model in which employees are groomed for a specific position. Ideally, however, succession planning should focus on developing people rather than merely naming them as replacements.

With this premise at its core, the talent-pool approach to succession planning recently has emerged as a best practice that establishes a larger number of employees for promotion. This larger group is more likely to stay loyal and possess skills that are easily aligned with the organization's strategic plan.

In this model, high-potential candidates are placed in talent pools and then receive development -which may include specific types of training and education - in preparation for possible promotion. The organization commits to helping these individuals prepare to qualify for greater responsibilities, but ultimately, it is up to the individuals to perform well in their jobs while simultaneously equipping themselves to meet the new challenges of more senior positions.

The talent-pool approach to succession planning can be a great first step in rewarding loyal leaders, as they are not promised a specific position, but rather are recognized over time for their skills development, day-to-day performance and ongoing achievements. This approach provides a powerful tool set talent managers can use to recognize key leadership candidates and plan long-term bench strength.

Further, with talent pool-based succession planning, organizations are better able to get an ongoing snapshot of their workforces' potential and areas of retention risk while creating a larger pool of capable employees poised to take on leadership positions.

Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP) - an Albany-based, nonprofit, individual practice association HMO - introduced talent pool - based succession planning linked to its employee performance management to better address its strategic plans. With this approach, CDPHP can cultivate the necessary skills and competencies in high-potential employees by focusing on career and development planning.

The organization began the process by asking five questions to gauge which of their managers were at high risk to leave the organization and which were high potential. Of the organization's 100 managers, approximately 77 were rated as high potential. From there, three talent pools within management levels - entry, mid and executive - were identified. CDPHP is taking steps to reward the 77 high potentials by building a customized development plan for each manager.

As in the CDPHP example, by moving beyond the org-chart replacement methodology and working closely with high-potential leaders, talent managers can take development and succession planning to the next level. Organizations also are better equipped to manage retention risk and build employee loyalty.

For future leaders and the organizations that need them, opportunities that go beyond regular succession planning processes - such as highly individualized leadership training geared to their specific competencies or interests - will go a long way to build a robust, long-term talent pipeline.

Ref: Sean Conrad

Coping with Resignations - HR practices

With the current recession growing in intensity by the day, no one will question an organisation for laying off employees. Another instance when no questions are asked is when employees retire and leave a company. But eyebrows are definitely raised when employees leave on their own accord. Then, an organisation's human resource policies come under the scanner, their managers under the microscope and their recruiters under cloud!

Even when employees leave for personal or 'uncommon' valid reasons, the organisation will face some flak if the number of individuals resigning in a given month or week is large. An organisation can no longer afford to ignore how the job market or job seekers react to mass resignations. Therefore, it is becoming important for organisations to manage resignations in a way that it does not harm their employer brand.

The impact

When an employee resigns, those left behind are affected in different ways. Here are some typical reactions:

• If an employee resigns because of feeling redundant, others begin to question their role in the organisation. This triggers a feeling of job insecurity.
• If an employee resigns before the appraisal results are out, those left behind grow skeptical about HR policies.
• If more than a few top performers leave for personal reasons, their team members feel uneasy about their worth.
• When a senior employee leaves in the middle of an assignment or project, employees grow wary of the top management.
• When a C-level executive leaves all of a sudden, the message sent across the organisation is that all is not well. If such resignations happen in the wake of an economic crisis, retaining employees, especially top performers will become the biggest challenge.
  

Managing the exit

Regardless of how well an employee has been treated or how long he has served, no manager is a mind-reader to forecast when the employee will resign. As long as managers are prepared mentally for this contingency, they will not be caught off-guard. If the news is sudden, a surprised manager can mismanage the employee's exit and those who are left behind.

A great advantage of a resignation is that employees serve a notice period. This gives an organisation time to calm nerves, address apprehensions and most importantly ensure undisrupted functioning. This time period should also give surprised managers time to collect themselves to better manage the exit! However, a better way to manage employee resignations is to be proactive than reactive.

Managing the lower rung

Managing team members and mid to lower levels resignations is definitely easier. This however, does not mean that the job can be left to when the employee resigns. Here too, given the possible aftermath of a resignation, managers need to be proactive. In short, regardless of which cadre the employee resigns from, managers must take the following measures:

Knowledge sharing and cross-functional training:

All seniors should be made in-charge of passing on their experience and expertise to their juniors. The whole process should be 'informally' formal to ensure that while employees enjoy the learning experience they also take the initiative seriously. For instance, each team should conduct a meeting each week to hear a senior speak for an hour on a project he just worked on. Additionally, cross-functional exposure is a must to ensure work does not stall. The additional benefits of cross functional training include:

• Work continues when a team member is absent
• Work quality is not affected when a new employee is inducted. Assistance from other members helps the new employee get over teething issues.
  

Keep your eyes open: A manager should always be looking for replacements within a team. He should also have an action plan for dividing an employee's responsibilities in case it takes longer to find a replacement. A smart manager has a list of successors for every role. Even if these successors do not match the job requirements exactly, having an internal person with an aptitude for the task is better than recruiting a new comer.

Exit interview: This interview should be conducted the minute an employee resigns to figure out why he is leaving. This gives an organisation a chance to mend or bend things before others leave for the same reason. For instance, if an employee is leaving for better perks, offering those who are behind a better deal can prevent further resignations.

A manager's smartness in managing resignations has a huge impact on retention. Being caught unawares when practically everyone recruited is a rolling stone will reflect poorly on any organisation.

Ref: TheManageMentor

Villain-in-Chief! - People Management

Nothing frustrates a worker more than a bad boss!

Bad bosses are difficult and can make work treacherous for others. They are not a rarity, but are quite common in organisations. Their presence is hard to ignore and even harder to dodge. As one works hard to climb the corporate ladder, bad bosses can prove to be stumbling blocks to an otherwise smooth rise.

What can one do to establish a cordial working equation with a bad boss? While the victims of a bad boss know that they are working under one, they still fail to understand his/her behavioural nuances. They do not analyse the psychological make up of their boss and end up being victimised. If the subordinates of a bad boss want to stay in the job, they have to be smart enough to understand the mental makeup of their boss, since without a clear understanding of the reasons behind the boss's tantrums the victimised subordinates could get unduly stressed.

Bad vs. bully To begin with, it is important that victims understand that a 'bad boss' is different from a 'bully boss'. Bad bosses are not bullies. They are simply bad and gravely annoying. They tend to attack a person's self-esteem and pride in subtle ways, thereby alienating him from the team. They also tend to play favourites and always create unhealthy competition between team members. They do not aim to build cohesive and productive teams, but focus on preserving their command and control over teams, irrespective of the means. They also tend to get vindictive and personal with their subordinates, and take criticism as an assault on their credibility as a person. There are more such attributes of a bad boss. An understanding of these will help workers stay wary of them. It also enables bosses to introspect and assess for themselves their credibility as a boss.

There is no consensus on the attributes that define a bad boss. Every person will have different definitions of good and bad, and therefore it is difficult to pin point the characteristics of a bad boss. However, there has been extensive study on the subject which shows that while there may be differences in the fine print the larger picture looks the same. The common attributes of a bad boss brought out by these studies are:

• Bad bosses typically love ego massaging. They like people who are always in agreement with them and can get extremely cranky if subjected to criticism even if it is constructive.
• Bad bosses use ineffective means of communication. They tend to give deadlines in a very casual way and at times fail to follow up themselves. This may prove to be detrimental to the subordinates' work output.
• Bad bosses tend to go overboard with their criticism and punishment for people they do not like. They do not consider the option of soft and positive talking, and instead become unnecessarily aggressive to prove their point. Use of disproportionate disciplinary measures is common among bad bosses.
• Bad bosses do not give subordinates an opportunity to explain their point, and issue verdicts based solely on their perception.
• Bad bosses do not miss an opportunity to blame subordinates, while recognising contribution only after a lot of effort by the staff.

Bad behaviour of the boss can be very demoralising for subordinates and can take its toll on both their professional and emotional stability. Apart from changing jobs, the only other way to handle bad bosses is to understand the reasons behind such behaviour and work towards making adjustments to accommodate the negative elements.

Corporate psychologists recommend the following approaches to tackle a bad boss:

• Communicate: Subordinates should talk to the boss about the way they feel when subjected to bad behaviour. They also should communicate their intentions in order to clear the bad air between them.
• Choose a mentor: Subordinates should choose a mentor for themselves who can help them with their problems and show the 'right way' of doing things. The mentor should be neutral and in the good books of the boss.
• Apprise the HR team: Subordinates should apprise the HR team about their relations with the boss if the problems get serious.
• In case there is a credibility problem and the HR team and the boss's boss do not trust the subordinate, then the victimised subordinate must gather support from other victimised colleagues and present a united front.
• Seek transfer: In the worst case scenario, internal transfer must be sought by the subordinate.

The aforementioned approaches can help workers tackle their difficult bosses better. However, the onus of establishing a working professional relationship, irrespective of the differences, lies both with the boss and the subordinate. Unless both show tolerance and settle contentious issues between them the relationship only stands to lose, sabotaging individual as well as departmental performance.

Ref: TheManageMentor

Talent Preservation

The party seems to be over in the context of global economic boom. Recession has set in, and for companies there is no escape from the tweak.

A natural reaction in such tough times has been cost-cutting, and the human resources department figures first on the chopping list. Corporates have frozen their recruitment budgets almost instantly and are seeking ways to cut on numbers. While employees are at the receiving end, for organisations there is little else to do to help the situation—if they don’t retrench, others on board too will perish!

Though it is difficult for many companies to maintain the existing staff, leveraging the talent onboard and using it to maximise corporate efficiency can be one of the best bail out plans against recessionary blues. The situation is very complex from a recruiter’s perspective too. The need to have a better talent is at its peak, while the resources have run out. In addition, the target group of passive job seekers too is not willing to shift jobs when everything seems so uncertain. All these factors have turned the recruitment scene dismal, and the focus is only on retention.

Loyalty at a premium When the chips are down the chance to bounce back lies in the perspective of the decision-maker. Recession is as natural to the economy as boom time, and it is the perspective of corporate leaders that matters most in such testing times. While cutting costs is important, diluting internal talent resources and barricading flow of creativity can stifle organisational growth. The way a company treats its employees amidst gloom and doom impacts the loyalty quotient. Employers who harness internal talent in times of economic downturn can hope to see an army of loyal employees standing by them, while those who axe talent and get fidgety with employees fail to earn loyalty. It would not be wrong to assume that employers who show greater loyalty towards their employees during critical times would be better poised to claim a greater market share in fair weather.

Recruitment enthusiasts may argue that even in an economic downswing, it would be worthwhile to keep the talent pipeline active. However, corporate strategists say focussing on existing talent is more important. People with foresight and ability to plan ahead agree that preserving the best talent in critical times will save the agony of employee turnover in future.

More tactical, less strategic When it is tough time strategies dictate the course and tactics help ride over it. It is the tactical abilities of leaders that help weather the storm. Hence, leaders and managers have to think ahead in time and leverage the resources available to them. Apart from working towards maintaining optimism at the workplace, leaders have to be concerned over what the employees are thinking about the organisation’s take on the crisis.

Fear is the most dominant feeling in such times, and onus of alleviating fear and pessimism lies with the leaders. Corporate leaders should ensure that employees feel secure and reassured of their jobs. Respecting people’s feelings and giving them their due in critical times is what sets employers apart. Many companies boast of their “zero layoff” record, as they believe it is their approach in tough times that has seen them rank high on the list of most preferred employers.

The example of US steel major Nucor Steel shows how companies that believe in guarding employee interests go the extra mile to save them the agony of a layoff. Nucor Steel has cut on executive perks, and reduced the number of working days instead of laying off staff. Making choices that are more ethical than profitable have proven to be rewarding.

The onus of providing the organisation with the best talent crop lies with human resources professionals. When the going gets tough and vacancies shrink, the responsibility to make a difference and keep the existing talent motivated and inspired also lies with them. HR leaders who understand this go out and prove HR’s worth as a tactical asset.

*Reference: TheManageMentor

When the chips are down, employee retention becomes a nightmare…

The global economy is caught in a downdraft. Organisations are finding hard to maintain worker strength. While employers are helpless, employees are anxious and disgruntled. The agony is higher in organisations that depend on global demand and supply. In the midst of economic gloom and excessive employee turnover, poor retention can result in collateral damage. In such times “onboarding”, as an employee retention technique, assumes great relevance.

Onboarding is a part of the orientation process that prepares employees for their new jobs. Today organisations are speeding up the process. Leaders believe that organisations which create an inspiring work environment by providing the right orientation to employees are more likely to forge lasting ties, as compared to those that do not indulge in onboarding and orientation programmes.

First impression

Onboarding is one of the most defining employment experiences as it gives new recruits a taste of the culture, values and general environment of the organisation, apart from providing other job-related inputs. It is a familiarisation exercise that is aimed at making employees aware of the corporate practices, job position and their respective roles. Some may argue that there is nothing strategic about this ‘mundane’ formality. However, for those who believe it can make all the difference to employee morale and retention, it does make all the difference.

From an employee’s perspective, onboarding programmes help them connect with their colleagues better and begin on a more personal note. Employees who had received only filled up forms indicating their benefits and options will never know the advantages of undergoing a well structured onboarding programme. Organisations that are still undecided on the need for a formal onboarding programme, should consider its benefits against the harm that its absence might cause.

Organisations that have decided in favour of onboarding programmes cite three reasons for their change of mind. They are:

• Onboarding helps employees connect better with the environment and makes them feel a part of the organisation. Interaction with senior leaders and managers helps new recruits understand the management’s concept of an “ideal culture”. It also shows them the part they are expected to play in the larger scheme of things.
  
• Onboarding familiarises new recruits with the corporate culture and practices. While the unwritten rules are learnt over a period of time, the inked policies and cultural practices can be learnt quickly; and the sooner they are learnt the better.
  
• Onboarding also enables employees to get on with the job at the earliest. Effective orientation clears many doubts and apprehensions in the minds of new recruits. It provides employees with the much needed momentum to start their work with the right attitude.
  

Effective onboarding

Having understood the significance of onboarding programmes, one needs to identify the factors that help frame an effective onboarding exercise. While every organisation has its own set of procedures and policies, certain measures are relevant universally. In the context of onboarding, the following guideline will help organisations frame an effective programme

Make it fun and interactive:

Conducting the onboarding exercise in a manner that makes the experience enjoyable is important. Leaders can include team-based games to orient employees. Such games help create instant rapport. While this may not be practical for individual employees, it can be practised while recruiting on a large scale. In addition to having team-based games, interactive presentations and an informal atmosphere can make the experience relaxing and fun.

Spread over a few months:

While onboarding typically suggests orientation for new recruits, the real impact can be felt when the programme is carried on for some months. A number of initiatives can be introduced to help employees get the real feel of the job and a holistic work experience. After the highly focussed first week, the programme can be stretched over a few months to include job rotation, inter-functional job postings and other such issues.

Involve managers:

Onboarding programmes become doubly effective if recruitment managers stay with the process. Their detachment often results in employees who are not as much equipped for job as those who have had their managers involved with onboarding totally.

Mentoring and coaching

New recruits should be provided with coaching and mentoring from the very start of their stint. Mentors must ensure that the new recruit is on the right track and has his feet firmly on the ground. Mentors also need to clear doubts and apprehensions. In addition, formal coaching must be provided to help the new recruit get an insight into the practices in his functional domain, competitor practices and other work-related issues.

Onboarding has often been trivialised. However, in view of the current economic slowdown where organisations are grappling for survival, investing in people on board can help sail through the rough weather!

*Reference: themanagementor