I was surprised to hear a senior HR Manager suggesting to a company CEO that all he needs is an HR Manager to look after HR operations. The CEO was advised that he does not need a strategic thinking HR Director. This is often a short-sighted occurrence in HR and other company functions.
We often think that HR is simply an operational or administrative function in an organization. A finely tuned HR Operations can make a big difference in the work environment of a company. I would agree to.
However, as leaders, we need to take care of the business both today and prepare it for a better future. HR plays a critical role in preparing the company for a better future. HR, in its best form, is a strategic business partner that is part of the strategic planning process.
Let me break it down into simple steps:
1. A business strategy will always have additional two components. It will have a change management component since strategic initiatives will always incur a change in the company. Second, strategic initiatives will most likely have an HR component.
2. The strategically thinking HR Director can extract the HR requirements from a business strategy. This is then turned into HR initiatives or projects that are aligned to the respective business projects.
3. These HR projects are then implemented together with the respective business projects.
People related questions that usually arise in business strategies are:
1. What competencies do we need to develop or acquire for the new strategies?
2. What competencies do we need to look for in hiring people?
3. What changes to our goal-setting process do we need to consider with the new strategies?
4. What do we do with team members who are not able to take on the new roles or competencies required by the business strategy?
5. How does a successful adaptation to the new role affect people’s career paths and promotability?
6. What communication activities do we need to roll-out to explain the people related initiatives resulting from the business strategy?
There are a number of people related activities that are needed to be taken into consideration when mapping business strategies to the people agenda.
That is one side of the HR Strategic thinking coin. The second side is what best HR practices are currently being used by successful companies? How can we adapt them to suit our company culture and status quo? How do we roll out the customized version? How do we time the roll-out and who is accountable for the different components of the project?
HR Operations takes a look at the current HR Work. At best, it also tries to improve the current way of work in HR. HR Operations looks after today’s HR activities.
HR Strategic thinking takes into account aligning the people agenda to the business strategy. It also seeks to implement best HR management practices in the workplace. HR Strategy looks after HR and the business in the near future.
Both HR Operations and HR Strategic thinking is needed for a successful business.
In the 1930’s, the typical company listed in the S&P stay in this elite list of companies for an average of 90 years. Today, that lifespan has shortened tremendously to 18 years. The difference in company durability is shocking. It is very clear that companies must adopt, change, transform. Failing to do so means it is only a matter of time before another company takes on your market and customers.
70% of company transformations fail. That’s a huge percentage of failure.
Most companies forget that organisational transformation is not about the transforming the company processes & policies. It’s not about simply engaging employees with the flavour of the month program. Organizational transformation is never easy. It is never a straight line. Organizational transformation cannot be taken for granted. Organizational transformation cannot start from the bottom.
Transforming organisations is all about transforming people. Transforming people is about transforming behaviours. Transforming behaviours means transforming mindsets and defining a clear purpose. Transformation is about sustained change and not compliance.
Transforming organisation is about igniting people potentials and aligning their behaviours.
If you are ready to implement a sustained transformation program in your company, join us on Dec 4 and 5. Let us show you how to do it.
Too often, I hear people claiming how busy they are. Often times, important activities or deliverables are missed because of how busy people claim to be. So called ‘busy’ people seemingly cannot find time to do the important things in their life, things that truly matter.
If you pay attention to people who are successful or are truly happy, you will hear that when something is important to them they will make time for it. Successful and happy people make time for what is important. How often will you witness the grade school graduation of your child? How about the school play where he plays the ‘tree’ in one of the scenes? Despite playing the role of a tree, he anxiously looks for your smiling and proud face in the audience.
These people make the time for really important company projects. They make time for these initiatives because they know the value it brings the company. Successful people do not necessarily join all projects since that would be silly. They find the right projects to participate in and make the time for it.
Truly successful people make the time to work out and try stay fit. They make time to read a book and feed their mind. They make time to call their parents and ask them how they are doing. They make time for family dinners. They make time to bond with their children. They make time on what matters most.
After all, time is finite. You don’t find time to do something that is important. You make the time.
Are you an optimist? A Stanford research shows that students perform better in math exams when they have a positive attitude towards math. The researchers showed data linking positive attitude to performance. The researchers said that “Having a positive attitude acts directly on your memory and learning system.”
In my life, I have never encountered a truly successful pessimist. Some pessimists may seem to be successful but if you dig deep down, their success was not a result of their effort. It could have been a result of DNA (inheritance) or luck (married to wealth). If you have the chance to watch Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or any other great leader speak you will notice that they are literally oozing with positive energy. They look at problems as challenges to conquer. They do not allow failure to take over their minds. They do not bicker or complain.
How do you foster a positive mindset? Well, you can start with the following:
1. Foster a strong relationship with God. A strong relationship with our maker always produces hope. There is always hope that there is nothing impossible with God.
2. Stay away from negative people. They tend to ‘drain’ your positive energy. They dump their woes of the world on you. They would complain about everything from their boss to the traffic situation, spouse and neighbor. Well ‘misery loves company.’ They want others to be as miserable as them.
3. Read biographies of successful people. There are few things as inspirational and positive than a successful life that started in adversity.
4. Always keep your eye on the benefits or value of what you are doing. Does your work glorify the provider of your blessings? Does your work glorify God?
5. Keep your mind occupied with learning new things. Do not dwell on negative news from nay-sayers. News sells by sensationalizing and scaring its readers.
Do you want to make the best out of your life? Do you want to share the resulting blessings with your love ones, family, friends, and colleagues? Start with having a positive mind.
Another interesting read from my daily Bible reading.
The first churches were started by a bunch of common men and women who loved Jesus and loved seeing people meet Jesus. Their success wasn’t based on their position or their training, but on their passion.
Attitudes are contagious. One thing I love about the team I serve with is that being around them and discussing church, ministry and life in general, stirs my passion for what I do.
If you read through the book of Acts, Paul had a team of people who worked with him to try and accomplish a vision that was larger than he could have ever imagined. Any great leader knows you cannot persevere without great people.
An excellent leader will always persevere because they are not trying to do what they are doing alone. They’ve built a team with people who understand they are valued, their opinions are not only welcomed but necessary, and the goal is the advancement of an organization—not the attention of an individual.
You know you have the right team when you don’t just love the work you do, you love the people you do it with. You know you have the right team when problems do not belong to “me” but rather they belong to “we!” You know you have the right team when the people you lead love you and the organization too much to allow team members to make a ridiculous decision.
The right team will refuse to allow personal preferences to dictate decisions and will embrace uncomfortable conversations. The right team will bring people in when making a decision that directly impacts their area, understanding that this does not slow down the process, but speeds it up, because people are way more likely to buy into a decision when they’ve had input.
What’s Next:
Do you have the right people around you? People who would stick with you no matter what the circumstances?
Is there anything about your attitude that you don’t want to pass to your team? What steps can you take this week to set the tone for the people you lead?
We have no other talent pool to take from. We have no other pool to select successors for key positions in your company. In the next few years, we will only have the Millennial pool to pick and develop talent from.
When it comes to Generation Y or Millennials, we have three choices:
1. We Villainize them. We choose to brand them as the corporate enemy refusing or incapable of doing things our way.
2. We Tolerate them. We choose to treat them as a necessary evil.
3. We Engage them. We adjust and develop them to be future leaders and managers.
Frankly, if we were to make sure that our company survives and even thrives after the Baby Boomers and Gen-X have left, then we only have option #3.
It is not easy and that is exactly why we developed a management development program called ‘Understanding and Managing Millennials”. The program, designed for supervisors and managers, is a combination of a one day classroom lecture with a 30 day on the job assignment and mentoring.
If your company has such Millennial challenges, then please have your assistant reach out to us. We will be more than happy to drop by and discuss the matter with you.
We also encourage you to read the article below.
11 Tips for Managing Millennials BY SUSAN M. HEATHFIELD
The millennials joining your workforce now are employees born between 1980 and 2000, or 1981 and 1999, depending on the source. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people.
Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. Millennial employees work well with diverse coworkers.
They grew up in an environment in which diverse children were the norm.
Millennials have a can-do attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently—even daily and certainly weekly. Millennials want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world.
They seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers, but expect that you will draw out and respect their ideas. Millennials seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom. Used to balancing many activities such as teams, friends, and philanthropic activities, millennials want flexibility in scheduling and a life away from work.
Millennials need to see where their career is going and they want to know exactly what they need to do to get there. Millennials await their next challenge—and there better be a next challenge.
Millennials are the most connected generation in history and they will network right out of their current workplace if these diverse needs are not met. Computer experts, millennials are connected all over the world by email, instant messages, text messages, and the internet. Job searching, business contacts, and friends are just a couple of key taps away.
Know this because it really matters to millennials.
11 Tips for Millennial Management
1. Provide structure. Reports have monthly due dates. Jobs have fairly regular hours. Certain activities are scheduled every day. Meetings have agendas and minutes. Goals are clearly stated and progress is assessed. Define assignments and success factors. Millennials don’t need to be boxed in but they do need banks on their pond.
2. Provide leadership and guidance. Millennials want to look up to you, learn from you, and receive daily feedback from you. They want in on the whole picture and to know the scoop. Plan to spend a lot of time teaching and coaching and be aware of this commitment to millennials when you hire them. They deserve and want your very best investment of time in their success.
3. Encourage the millennial’s self-assuredness, “can-do” attitude, and positive personal self-image. Millennials are ready to take on the world. Their parents told them they can do it—and they can. Encourage—don’t squash them or contain them. They’re always looking to provide input and ideas. Encourage them to voice their thoughts and opinions.
4. Take advantage of the millennial’s comfort level with teams. Encourage them to join teams and provide a work environment that stresses teamwork. They are used to working in groups and teams. In contrast to the lone ranger attitude of earlier generations, millennials actually believe a team can accomplish more and better—they’ve experienced team success. Not just related to age, watch who joins the volleyball match at the company picnic. Millennials gather in groups and play on teams; you can also mentor, coach, and train your millennials as a team.
5. Listen to the millennial employee. Your millennial employees are used to loving parents who have scheduled their lives around the activities and events of their children. These young adults have ideas and opinions and don’t take kindly to having their thoughts ignored. After all, they had the best listening, the most child-centric audience in history.
6. Millennial employees are up for a challenge and change. Boring is bad. They seek ever-changing tasks within their work. What’s happening next is their mantra. Don’t bore them, ignore them, or trivialize their contribution.
7. Millennial employees are multi-taskers on a scale you’ve never seen before. Multiple tasks don’t phase them. Talk on the phone while doing email and answering multiple instant messages—yes! This is a way of life. In fact, without many different tasks and goals to pursue within the week, the millennials will likely experience boredom.
8. Take advantage of your millennial employee’s computer, cell phone, and electronic literacy. Are you a Boomer or even an early Gen-Xer? The electronic capabilities of these employees are amazing. You have a salesman in China? How’s the trip going? Old timers call and leave a message in his hotel room. Or, you can have your millennial text message him in his meeting for an immediate response. The world is wide, if not yet deep, for your millennial employees.
9. Capitalize on the millennial’s affinity for networking. Not just comfortable with teams and group activities, your millennial employee likes to network around the world electronically. Keep this in mind because they are able to post their resume electronically as well on web job boards viewed by millions of employers. They intermingle on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn and rate your company at Glassdoor.com. Sought after employees, they are loyal, but they keep their options open—always.
10. Provide a life-work balanced workplace. Your millennials are used to cramming their lives with multiple activities. They may play on sports teams, walk for multiple causes, spend time as fans at company sports leagues, and spend lots of time with family and friends. They work hard, but they are not into the sixty hour work weeks defined by the Baby Boomers. Home, family, spending time with the children and families, are priorities. Don’t lose sight of this. Balance and multiple activities are important to these millennial employees. Ignore this at your peril.
11. Provide a fun, employee-centered workplace. Millennials want to enjoy their work. They want to enjoy their workplace. They want to make friends in their workplace. Worry if your millennial employees aren’t laughing, going out with workplace friends for lunch, and helping plan the next company event or committee. Help your long-term employees make room for the millennials.
By internet research counts, 75,000,000 millennials are joining the workforce—in 2015 they became the majority of your workers. These are desirable employees. Make your millennial employees happy in a fun, yet structured setting, and you are building the foundation for the superior workforce you desire. You are developing the workforce of your future.
As always, when characterizing a particular group of employees based on age, or any other special characteristic, some employees will fit this description; some employees will fit a part of this description; some employees will not fit this description at all.
Yet, if you heed these tips, you will steer your organization forward, more times than not, with a positive approach to managing your millennial employees.
Entering the workplace can be intimidating for a first timer. Often, a new millennial employee would not know where to begin his or her journey. This is particularly worse if the company does not have a structured on-boarding program.
The first thing you ask for on your first day at work is for the on-boarding program. For the first time employees, the on-boarding program is a set of activities designed to get a newly hired person to quickly be productive in the workplace. This can include a brief background of the company, the key leaders, critical HR policies and procedures, walk-through on where to get information when needed, tour of the office and so on.
After the on-boarding has been accomplished, the very first question you ask your manager for is your latest job profile or job description. You need to read this very carefully as it narrates your job and the activities it entails. You need to clearly know what is expected from you. A former Citibank executive used to tell us “In order to do a good job, you first need to understand what is expected from you. Do not guess.” Ask your manager what he or she expects from you.
Start observing which of your colleagues actually deliver on their commitment and which ones are simply full of lip service. You need to stay away from the nay sayers or negative ones. These people will drain your energy with their negative vibes. Make sure you keep close to the high potential ones and get their help when needed.
Do not forget to dive into and understand your KPI’s and goals. You need to know how your performance will be measured at the end of the year. You need to understand what your goals are and plan how to reach them. Your ability to work as a team and deliver your goals has a big influence on your career in the company. It will also influence your pay scale and bonus.
Make sure you try and get along with everyone. At this point you will be feeling your way around the workplace and the last thing you need is someone who dislikes you. Let me make it very clear right now – no matter how bright you may think you are, you cannot win in the workplace if you are alone.
There you have it. Please feel free to pass this on to your friends and colleagues.
If there is one thing that a first-time manager or leader needs to comprehend deep in their heart is that we are only as good as our people. Jack Welch, one of the best management gurus, rightfully said that 80% of a great manager’s job is people.
A great manager spends most of his/her time interviewing and screening candidates, mentoring high potential employees, providing performance feedback, developing people, motivating the team, understanding their needs, providing them the necessary information to perform their jobs.
It is quite unfortunate that today’s managers and leaders do not spend enough time on people. Their lack of attention and focus on developing their people creates a vicious circle. Since they do not spend time developing their people, they end up doing their direct reports job. When they do their direct reports job, their direct reports do not develop. When their direct reports stagnate, they cannot perform as expected. Since they cannot perform as expected, their boss (you) end up doing their jobs and back to square one again.
We often think that doing the job of our employee is faster than taking the time developing our direct reports to do the tasks. We think that if we delegate the work, they will probably do a bad job and we will end-up re-doing the work. Our false logic dictates that if this is the case then we might as well save time and do the job myself.
Great managers think long term. Great leaders think about sustainable solutions and not just band aids. When we spend time and a lot of effort developing our direct reports, we are investing in a better future for us and the company. Eventually, our direct reports will do such a great job that we can set them on auto-pilot. This will allow us the time to do what we should be doing, leading and developing our people.
You and your company cannot go wrong when you focus on your people agenda 0 selecting, developing and promoting the right people.
Too many companies have untrained leaders that fail. 