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Dear Workforce How Do We Capitalize–and Recognize–Intellectual Capital

Dear Discouraged:

You clearly have a few issues to consider here that revolve around recognizing the individual’s problem-solving skills and willingness to contribute his expertise.

The first step is getting the right stakeholders together to discuss the issue. This group should involve some key business leaders or managers, as well as a human resources partner. Use this situation to review your organization’s overall ability to manage and effectively share employees’ knowledge and expertise. Doing so positions the conversation in a positive light and avoids pointing fingers at managers who fail to recognize an individual’s contributions.

Positioning the conversation in this light is positive versus pointing out the failure of some mangers and leaders to recognize an individual’s valued contributions.

Questions to address to develop a solution

  1. Does the organization currently have formal or informally designated subject matter experts (SMEs) whom people rely on as “go to” players for deep technical expertise?

  2. If there is no formal program or designation of SMEs, consider this: Is your organization at risk in terms of highly qualified experts leaving the business, taking with them valued knowledge that is difficult to replace?

  3. Which types of technical knowledge and expertise are most highly valued? Who has this knowledge and how often does the organization rely on it?

  4. Is it imperative that you designate SMEs/technical experts in key areas, functions and levels across the business?

  5. Does your employee competency model reference deep technical expertise—and willingness to share it—as a valued behavior? If not, can this be added so that contributions are recognized in the performance management process, for example?

  6. How do you foster improved collaboration and knowledge sharing through recognition?

  7. What are the required leadership behaviors to support a collaborative environment and recognize effort and valuable contributions?

Finally, it should be stated that recognition for individuals who play the technical-expert role (as described in the question) doesn’t necessarily saddle your organization with financial or other costs. Simple recognition tools (such as designating the individual as an SME, inviting him/her to coach others, or inviting the employee to present their ideas or solution to company leadership) go a long way to ensuring the person doesn’t walk to a competitor—and take expertise your organization relies on to make important decisions.

SOURCE: Garrett Sheridan, managing partner, Axiom Consulting Partners, Chicago, June 18, 2008.

LEARN MORE: Please read about strategies on formalizing approaches to cross-training for key employees.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce What Are Some Techniques to Hire People Whose Personal Values Best Fit Our Company

Dear Fixated:

 

You are correct: The cultural fit between employee and the organization is an extremely important consideration. We have all had a job for which we had the skills and experience but were just not a “good fit.” Such situations often result in poor employee performance and/or turnover, both of which are costly for the employer.

During a down economy, employees who are a poor fit are way less likely to jump ship–and while this may reduce turnover, it also may perpetuate lower performance that eventually shows up in the bottom line.

So what steps can you take to ensure you hire employees whose values and interests jibe with the company? First of all, it is critical for your company to clearly understand its own culture. This requires a bit of soul searching.

This effort can be complex if yours is a larger company with many divisions and geographic locations. Each group within the organization may take on its own unique culture. In your search for a cultural identity, look at the enduring and stable things that the company values as a whole—and identify meaningful differences in these values across various branches or divisions.

Organizational culture has been studied by many different groups and has been defined in many different ways. Industrial psychologists have conducted decades of research aimed at defining organizational culture, the result being a set of relatively stable “work values” that define the aspects of work that are meaningful to an organization, based on the values of the individuals who constitute it.

Some of the most useful work has been performed by Jennifer Chatman, whose Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) identifies the following major dimensions:

• Innovation

• Stability

• Orientation toward people (fair and supportive)

• Orientation toward outcomes (results-oriented, achievement-oriented)

• Easygoing vs. aggressive

• Attention to detail

• Team orientation

The OCP uses these dimensions to measure fit via the following process:

First of all, a baseline for the organization’s culture is established. This is done by having members of the organization make ratings based on their opinions regarding which of the above dimensions they feel are most and least characteristic of the organization. These ratings are then aggregated to provide a profile that defines the organization’s culture in terms of these dimensions.

Second, an individual’s “personal value profile” is created. This process involves having individuals rank their own personal values (using the dimensions listed above) in terms of their most and least preferred work environment.

Finally, the individual’s ranking of the above work values is compared with the aggregate values profile created by the organization to summarize its culture. This comparison process yields detailed information about the overlap between the values of an organization (or one of its many groups) and those of an individual. These outcomes provide a data-based estimate of the fit between an individual and the group or organization.

As you can imagine, this information can be very useful for helping organizations make all kinds of important decisions. Perhaps the most important is within the hiring process. The work values that underlie cultural fit are relatively stable and enduring within individuals, so hiring people and trying to change their values does not often prove to be an easy task.

There are a number of different “fit” inventories available from pre-employment assessment companies, and it makes sense to look into these. When doing so, make sure to ask for the technical documentation that will demonstrate the measure has been created and evaluated using the proper scientific techniques.

SOURCE: Charles A. Handler, Rocket-Hire, New Orleans, August 13, 2009

LEARN MORE: Post-hire introductory periods provide a way to ensure people’s behaviors, attitudes and attributes actually dovetail with those of a company.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce We Use the SMART Format For Setting Goals. Which Appraisal System Best Suits Us?

Dear Smarter:

The first step in your appraisal system should be to establish goals, and to make them “SMART.” The acronym stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

In construction, the organizational structure is typically based upon projects. Therefore, a company’s performance management system usually follows the project framework. Because each project has its own goals—including revenue, budget and timelines—you will likely want to develop goals on a project-by-project basis. It is the job of management to align the overall project goals, the manager goals and the individual goals to bring the project home on time and on budget.

Your company should make the overall project-based goals clearly visible to the members of each project team. Within the project, individuals should then be assigned specific responsibility to do their part to achieve the overall project goals.

Writing SMART goals

One special consideration in a project-based business is that the timing of performance feedback and goal setting typically follows the timeline of the projects. And because a project may wrap up at any time during the year, when people are reassigned from one project to the next, they usually must also update their goals.

Specific goals:

• Are concise.

• State a clearly observable result.

• Identify a specific reference point from which to track progress.

Measurable goals:

• Quantify the expected result (includes number, percentage and frequency).

• Describe the criteria by which the result will be evaluated.

Attainable goals are:

• Challenging, but within reach of the person doing the work.

• Have a realistic time frame.

• Do not present unrealistic barriers to achievement.

Relevant goals are:

• Aligned across the company from individual goals through higher goals and strategies.

• Integrate the company’s values into the objectives.

Time-bound goals:

• Identify the expected deadline for completion.

• Identify the frequency or duration of the project.

SOURCE: Patsy Svare, managing director, Chatfield Group, Glenview, Illinois

LEARN MORE: It can be helpful to remember the role that job analysis can play in defining roles and responsibilities.

Workforce Management Online, March 2011 — Register Now!

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Dear Workforce How Do We Cope When Human Resources Is the Problem?

Dear On Edge:

Bullying is both a potential cause and classic warning sign of physical violence. Most federal agencies include policies that address this. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management specifically prohibits “not only acts of physical violence, but harassment, intimidation and other disruptive behavior” in its workplace.

Make it your task to advocate for the development of a policy designed to prevent workplace violence at your company. Get senior management to commit to the policy.

Drafting a policy is one thing, but you also must ensure that it is effectively communicated–and reiterated–to all personnel. Perhaps emphasize the policy, and the reasons for its existence, during violence-prevention or code-of-conduct training sessions.

Third, ensure that the policy is consistently enforced. Here you will need the active participation of the human resources staff and the management team. It may very well entail changing your organizational culture. Management training sessions that clearly convey the devastating consequences of all forms of (and precursors to) violence, including bullying, should help.

If changing your corporate culture proves impossible, however, then at least offer employees some assertiveness training. That should help them learn to stand up to organizational bullies.

SOURCE: Don and Sheryl Grimme, coauthors, The New Manager’s Took Kit.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce How Do I Become an Influential Leader

Dear Confounded:

Your first step should be to demonstrate that there is a quality problem. Gather your data, do your analysis and prepare a report on the scope of the problem. The report might include items such as: frequency of errors, the impact on delivery/completion, the costs to identify and correct the errors, and any post-product/sales-support costs that result directly from the lack of quality.

(Caution: These are examples; you would be wise to come up with metrics more meaningful for your product. Keep in mind that cost is always a good one to include.)

It is not enough just to identify a problem. You’ll gain a lot more traction in your organization if you prepare a plan of action to address the problem, with some metrics showing reductions in costs and/or time spent fixing bugs, among other things.

SOURCE: Carl Norcross holds a master’s degree in human resources and has more than 20 years’ experience leading HR departments. He has worked for several midsize and Fortune 500 firms, including GRID Systems, Colorado Memory Systems and Nortel Networks.

LEARN MORE: Companies across all sectors are wrestling with the issue of manager training.

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Dear Workforce How Do We Revive Employee Morale and Make Our Workplace Enjoyable?

Dear Down in the Dumps:

Following a brutal 2009, your organization is not the only one that forgot how to have fun. To rebuild some team spirit, you need to do something fun, either on- or off-site.

An important aspect of any work group is a chance to build cohesion among attendees. Activities should be integrated throughout the meeting that give participants a chance to meet and interact with different individuals on a variety of tasks and activities pertinent to the goals of the group—or just to add a break or variety to the workplace.

Some activities provide an opportunity to learn more about co-workers, while others function to move discussion forward, drive decision-making or identify follow-on actions. Since most professionals tend to be pretty active in their jobs, it is often difficult for them to simply sit for long periods of time without being more engaged in the discussion.

You can easily build such participation activities with your work group and encourage a little fun along the way. Here’s a sampling of participation activities I find to be of value that could get you started in the course of meetings and discussions at work:

Break the ice. Give each attendee a blank index card with five items on it (e.g., a person’s hobbies, hometown, favorite sports team, favorite food, vacation preference) and ask them to find someone else in the room who shares their preference for each item. As an alternative activity, ask each person to find out one unique thing about five different people in the group. Have people report on the most unusual items people learned about others in the group.

Drive team discussions. Have group members “number off” so that you end up with groups of five to six members. For example: “All No. 1s meet over here; No. 2s meet there,” and so on. Give each group an item to discuss pertinent to the meeting. Topics could include ideas on how to grow your business in a tight economy, cut costs in operations or similar themes. Ask people to brainstorm and select the best ideas, then report to the larger group. Collect ideas from each group, have them typed up, and distribute to everyone.

Live in a fish bowl. Forget PowerPoint slides. Instead, have a “fish bowl” discussion in which two or more participants discuss an issue, problem or pending decision facing the company. Have the presenters sit in a small circle of chairs in the midst of the group. Any other group attendees can enter the discussion by tapping an individual in the “fish bowl” and taking their place. Once all points of view seem to have been expressed, summarize the discussion and move to action items necessary for finalizing any decisions.

Take a fast break. Have all attendees stand and face to the left. Ask each person to grab the person in front of them and knead their shoulders. After a couple of minutes, ask everyone to face to the right and return the favor.

Use billboard rankings. List ideas generated during discussion on a flipchart. Allow each person in attendance to vote for a preferred strategy by sticking Post-It notes on the flipchart.

Use polling preferences. Similarly, allow each attendee to rank the ideas on a sliding scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest score and 1 the lowest. Regardless of the results, allow participants to share comments, especially if there is disagreement on items that seem to have the strongest consensus.

End with a bang. At the end of the meeting, bring a bag of balloons of various colors and distribute one to each participant along with a small piece of paper. Ask each participant to write a message on the paper to be inserted into the balloon on topics such as “Something I promise to do as a result of this meeting.” Ask everyone to insert the paper into the balloon and blow it up. At a common signal, have the balloons tossed and ask each person to grab a new balloon. Have participants pop their balloon and read aloud the message they received.

SOURCE: Bob Nelson, Nelson Motivation Inc., San Diego, January 29, 2010

LEARN MORE: Read how healthy work environments are being imperiled by global economic recession.

Workforce Management Online, March 2010 — Register Now!

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce How Do I Develop a Needs-Analysis Template

Dear Internalizing:

Underpinning training with a needs analysis ensures that you will see real value from the time and money you spend. Think of a needs analysis as a blueprint for getting the results you want out of a training initiative.

Two types of information should intersect: 1) information about the job, and 2) information about the individual employee. In other words, look at what it takes to perform a job effectively and consider it in light of an individual’s ability to perform.

Part one involves conducting a thorough job analysis or study of each of the jobs in question. Here’s where you determine the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies required to perform the job. It’s also where you pinpoint specific employee goals.

Next, take a look at each individual’s performance relative to job requirements. The best way to collect this data is to use a special form designed for highlighting individual training needs for a specific job. There are other ways of collecting this data, including performance appraisals, but be aware that the information may no longer be relevant, accurate or up-to-date.

To make it relevant and effective, aneeds-analysis form should document a set of ideal performance benchmarks for the person. These benchmarks should spring from your analysis of the specific job. That way, you’ll know what to expect once the employee is fully trained. Put another way, you’ll have documentation of the employee’s expected performance level.

Also, make sure the form includes room to document each employee’s present performance or ability level relative to job requirements. Looking at each of these pieces of information side by side gives a snapshot of the type oftraining needed by each employee.

Comparing this data is important on several levels. For instance, although the form provides information on individual training needs, it also could help identify wider skills gaps in your organization. Use the information to develop (or purchase) training programs that have a broad-based impact.

SOURCE: Charles A. Handler, Ph.D., PHR,Rocket-Hire, New Orleans, July 26, 2004.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce What Should We Consider Before Implementing a System of Multirater Feedback?

Dear Resistant to Change:

You are right to be cautious. The profession is littered with failure stories of ill-conceived 360-degree feedback. Lack of clarity of purpose, too little planning, too much data entry, too little focus on organizational change and communication—these are the common pitfalls that will sink a 360 initiative. These risks are especially high in a culture of traditionalism that is averse to change.

But when carefully planned and executed, and with the right goals and systems in place, 360-degree feedback can be highly effective in your leadership development process—even in a slow-to-change environment. The following is a summary of leading practices that can serve as a guide:

1. Link your 360-degree strategy and process to corporate strategy and goals. Understand which corporate-level measures you hope to affect in rolling out the new process. Is it to increase innovation? Drive growth in new markets? Is it to expand and better manage the leadership pipeline to increase internal promotions or drive growth from within? Communicate the initiative in a way that ties the process to corporate goals and strategies. Traditionalist culture is best transformed when business impact is clearly articulated.

2. Determine whether the 360-degree process is a developmental or a performance measurement process. Do not try to have it be both. You cannot accomplish both in one process. More and more companies are moving toward viewing 360-degree feedback as a purely developmental process. Development-focused reviews yield better, more honest feedback and reduce the level of fear and resistance to the process.

3. Position it as part of a broader leadership planning and performance management process. It is one element of many that enable the organization to manage its talent pipeline.

4. Don’t view 360-degree feedback as a panacea to measuring leadership performance. It can be a crucial element, but it won’t suffice on its own. Consider implementing a talent assessment process in conjunction with a development-focused 360-degree process. Many organizations today find that the performance management process doesn’t provide the information they need about leaders (or any critical role for that matter) to properly develop and plan for the future. To address this, they are putting into place content-rich assessments designed specifically for critical talent. Talent assessment processes include information such as leadership behaviors/competencies, learning agility, risk of turnover, readiness for next position and so on.

5. If the primary goal is to gather feedback to build individual development plans, think about who you want to include: Matrix reporting relationships, team/project members and customers/partners are often the most insightful raters in a 360 initiative.

6. Leverage technology.The sheer number of people involved and volume of documents to be combined and reconciled makes an automated system a necessity.

SOURCE: Heidi Spirgi, president, Knowledge Infusion, Danville, California

LEARN MORE: For additional insight on the value of ongoing feedback, please read “Are First-Time Managers Really Better Off With Training?”

Workforce Management Online, October 2010 — Register Now!

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Dear Workforce How Has the Recession Affected the Types of Benefits That Organizations Are Providing to Employees?

Dear Beneficial Results:

Not surprisingly, the global recession impacted the scope and availability of employee reward and benefit programs around the world. Results from Towers Watson & Co.s’s Global Workforce Study, a 2010 survey of more than 20,000 employees in 22 countries, showed that some of the most common changes included the reduction or elimination of bonuses and pay increases, along with cuts in health care benefits.

How have employers and employees responded since weathering the worst of the recession? Employers now face a context in which employees seek greater security. Employees rate a secure and stable position as the most important element in their preferred work situation. Consistent with this desire for security, employees are also more risk-averse since the recession, especially regarding health care benefits. A 2010 U.S. survey of attitudes toward retirement conducted by Towers Watson, for example, shows that employees are willing to see more taken out of their paychecks in exchange for greater predictability in health care costs. Employees say they even opt for lower bonus and pay increases in favor of more retirement benefits and predictable health care costs.

Organizations, which face rising costs and more constrained resources, are responding with more creative options. This trend is evident in health care programs. A Towers Watson study of 588 employers completed in January 2011 revealed that organizations are expanding the use of incentives for employees to participate in workplace health programs. Employers are also increasingly using social media technologies to spread the message about such programs.

In addition, reward programs are increasingly segmented. For example, many employers are choosing to customize reward and recognition programs for employees in critical roles that directly drive business success, such as customer service staff or research-and-development teams. Such segmentation allows employers to better control total spending on rewards while targeting populahealtions that they cannot afford to lose.

Still other employers are expanding the notion of reward and benefits to include learning opportunities and effective work environments. For example, many health care organizations are supporting employee efforts to meet requirements for job-specific certifications, directing resources toward programs that further employee development in key roles.

Post-recession, some realities surrounding rewards and benefits remain. Defined benefit plans are more often cited as a reason to join an organization than are defined contribution plans. Pension programs are among the top factors that would entice employees to join another organization. The competitiveness of pay and benefit programs is a top driver of employees’ intentions to stay with their current employers. Far from disappearing in a post-recession economy, benefit and reward programs remain an important component of human capital strategies, and employers are responding with increased creativity in efforts to hold the line on costs without risking employee retention and engagement.

SOURCE: Patrick Kulesa, Towers Watson & Co., New York

LEARN MORE: Rewarding employees goes beyond pay and benefits, especially in a tight economy.

Workforce Management Online, July 2011 — Register Now!

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Dear Workforce How Should We Conduct Performance-Appraisal ‘Calibration’ Meetings With Managers?

Dear Managing to Succeed:

Every organization has nuances within its performance management system, such as the use of rating scales, competencies, weighting, overall rating and so on. Therefore, here are some general guidelines and tips. Many clients find these helpful when incorporating “calibration” meetings into their performance management process.

Calibrating across individuals is often important as well to ensure consistency in the use of the ratings. The approach that works best is to conduct calibration meetings in which managers reach agreement on how the ratings are applied to roles with similar job expectations. For example, trying to calibrate nurses with accountants would be an exercise in futility. Thus, it is wise to first aim for intradepartment calibration and, once achieved, to strive for interdepartment calibration.

In preparation for a calibration meeting, a manager should complete the following for each employee: all performance data, individual ratings for each goal and competency, and a proposed overall rating. Appraisal conversations should not be held until after the calibration meeting. During the calibration meeting, the managers then review the proposed overall ratings and reach consensus. An effective ground rule for the meeting is that the manager must agree to change the rating; it should not be forced on the manager.

Let’s assume your overall rating uses a five-point scale, with five being the highest rating. To make the meeting most efficient, begin with the individuals whose proposed rating is five. Each manager who has proposed a five gives rationale for the rating. Other managers may ask questions and introduce additional performance data, provided they have firsthand knowledge of the individual being discussed. Once all individuals rated to be at level five are discussed, their managers are asked if they want to change any ratings. Other managers may indicate that one or more of their employees deserves a five rating as well, and they are given an opportunity to provide rationale. Once all discussion is complete, the group reaches consensus on that group of individuals.

Discussion then moves to the individuals rated at one, and follows a similar structure, until the managers reach a consensus. Once that group is completed, discussion moves to the individuals rated at four, and then the individuals rated at two. For individuals rated at three, do a quick check to see if any manager believes an individual should be given a different rating. Once all groups are considered, a final check for consensus can be completed.

Calibration meeting tips:

• Begin the performance management cycle with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound) objectives.

• Confirm understanding of what “meets expectations” means; this is the goal.

• Rely on the data to determine level of performance.

• Remain objective; avoid the “halos/horns” effect.

• Secure an impartial meeting facilitator.

When the process is conducted in a fair manner, managers not only walk away with confidence in their ratings, but also have a strong group understanding of how to apply the ratings in the future.

SOURCE: Linda Miller, Development Dimensions International, Pittsburgh

LEARN MORE: Managers sometimes need reinforcement to complete timely performance reviews.

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