Talent resolutions for the New Year

Human resources processes, human capital management and workforce productivity all sound so complex and demanding, with so many moving parts to manage. There are employee handbooks and policies to worry about. There are rules and regulations. How is the management to know what to do with the employee base? Although there are certainly some things that are required by the law, here are three guiding principles that will get you far. Make them your New Year’s resolutions, if you are not already following them.

1. Don’t compromise on talent

Decide what kind of talent will get you where you want to be. Understand what drives performance in your business. Be as specific as you can. Don’t add any unnecessary criteria to narrow your talent pool to choose from. Then go after it. When you hire, don’t bring in anyone else except those who meet your standards. When you promote internally, be just as selective.

2. Hold people accountable

If you want a high-performance culture, accountability is a basic cornerstone of it. The building blocks are so simple, yet seem to be so hard to put into practice. Set clear goals. Set clear expectations for behaviors. Create an environment for open feedback and teach everyone to give feedback to each other. Give both positive and constructive feedback. Track results on an on-going basis. Correct performance as soon as it starts veering off track. Celebrate successes.

3. Invest in your people

Investment in people has significantly higher ROI than investment in capital equipment. People learn, grow and develop. Make the investment purposeful and intentional. Invest time in your people by having weekly meetings with managers, communication meetings by the leaders and also by having career dialogues annually. Invest in mentoring, coaching and training. Plan career ladders and growth opportunities. Most importantly, pay attention to your people. Treat them as individuals, all with a valuable contribution to make.

With these three resolutions, you can’t go wrong.

###

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to Forte Consulting RSS Feed. Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved. SVPGMGDX8TEC

12 days of Christmas to employee engagement

Photo credit: Esa Pursiheimo

 

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my dream job gave to me…

Clear expectations

Tools, data, funding

Way to play my best

Praise and recognition

Good and caring boss

Mentoring and coaching

Mission I am proud of

Community of trust!

Teammates I look up to

Real friends at work

Encouragement

And a path to learn and grow

Seasons greetings to all my blog readers!

To recall the melody of the original song: 12 Days of Christmas

To recall the lyrics of the original song: 12 Days of Christmas

To refer to Gallup’s Q12 employee engagement survey questions.

###

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to Forte Consulting RSS Feed. Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved. SVPGMGDX8TEC

Good intentions gone wrong

I was shopping at my neighborhood grocery store and happened to make an impulse purchase for a Christmas present. As I was standing in the line, I noticed a sign that advertised free gift wrapping and was thrilled: The gift was large and lumpy, and I was not looking forward to wrestling with it. I would be happy to delegate it to someone more talented. Little did I know that I was going to enter a gift wrapping nightmare as a result of typical performance management failures.

Missing process and communication

I didn’t have much time, so I wanted to make sure I was going to the right place. As I was at the check-out desk, I asked the associate about the offer. Her answer: “Ummm… What gift wrapping?” I pointed at the sign glued to her post, and she hesitantly pointed me to Customer Service.

Missing talent and skills

As I walked towards the Customer Service, I asked another associate about the gift wrapping. He knew to point me to the department that was in charge of wrapping, and walked with me. Unfortunately, nobody was there. The lights were off, although I could see a couple of rolls of gift paper. The associate started paging people. The first person who got there assured me that I wouldn’t want him to wrap my gift. More people were paged. Eventually they found two young ladies who were up to the challenge.

Missing tools and resources

The eager associates asked for my preference for the wrapping paper, and I was looking forward to a fast resolution. I had already waited 15 minutes and was starting to get second thoughts. Not so fast! There were no scissors or tape at the gift wrapping station. The other associate was ready to rip a product from the shelf to produce scissors for the transaction. After a frantic search through the drawers, we were ready to make some progress.

Hooray, after almost half an hour, I had my gift wrapped. The employees were doing everything they could with their positive attitude and creativity to compensate for the corporate blunders. I can’t say my experience was truly positive. I ended up being the guinea pig to trigger some process improvement in their gift wrapping offer. If their company culture works, the employees will bring up input and ideas to improve the customer experience. Everything that went wrong was very simple to prevent:

• Communicate the process and expectations to your employees.
• Ensure you have the right people with right skills in place.
• Provide tools and resources for success.

Are you ready to make your employees successful?

###

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to Forte Consulting RSS Feed. Copyright 2010 Liisa Pursiheimo-Marcks, all rights reserved. SVPGMGDX8TEC

Why do we want motivated employees and how do we get them?

Managers talk about wanting a “better attitude” among their employees. What they specifically want is higher discretionary effort that leads to higher productivity and better customer loyalty. Motivated employees also want to stay with the organization, thus improving retention and creating a better work environment for the rest of the workforce; a positive ripple effect. That’s a concrete business result and not just an attitude. So how do we get motivated employees?

Often motivation is categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the inner drive that compels people to achieve. It comes from within and can’t be controlled from outside. Extrinsic motivation can be influenced by rewards and punishment. This impact tends to be tied to the continuous flow of goodies. There is research that indicates that extrinsic rewards may decrease intrinsic motivation. In other words, if you are not careful, your sticks and carrots strategy may diminish your employees’ innate love for their work.

Many extrinsic motivators fall under a category that is also called hygiene factors. Frederik Herzberg created a two-factor theory that divides certain factors in the workplace into two categories: Motivators and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors, such as pay and working conditions can only be dissatisfiers. You have to pay enough attention to them, but you can’t rely on them to motivate employees. Motivators are factors like challenging work and recognition that can get you further on your path to getting motivated employees.

Intrinsic motivation includes the highest levels from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization. As employees have a chance to stretch their limits and increase their skills in challenging work, they have opportunities to enter the most fulfilling human experience called Flow. Opportunities to grow and learn are high on the list to increase employee motivation.

Some people have more inner drive than others. If you want motivated employees, look for them in your selection process. There are different drives that motivate people: achievement, power and affiliation, and each have their advantage.  You can also probe for intrinsic drive with good interview questions.

In addition to the work itself, employees are motivated by being part of the work community. Facilitating meaningful connections at work increases employee motivation. Connecting them emotionally to the job and the organization is a powerful way to get them engaged. According to a CLC study, increased emotional commitment can lead to up to 55.9% higher discretionary effort.

Goal setting is also a way to motivate achievement. We are all familiar with SMART goals. Motivation is highest, when the goal is challenging, yet achievable. It also has to be specific enough to be worth pursuing.

Go after motivated employees to go after business results.