Survey: Developing Successful Global Leaders

The American Management Association (AMA), in conjunction with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), is conducting a study to examine leadership initiatives that organizations have taken to coordinate actions across global locations. We’re looking for your input on the topic. In return, you’ll receive the preliminary results report once available. Please take this survey now.

Estimated survey length: 5 minutes

You’ll receive: Preliminary results report

Survey closes: Wednesday, March 17

Receive a complimentary results report

In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of these valuable results, which otherwise are exclusive to i4cp members. Thank you for your participation.
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 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail- and How To See it Coming

Ten years ago – heck, five years ago – few people worked on teams with geographically dispersed members. Today, this is very common. Every manager needs or will need to learn how to manage and inspire team members they regularly see “live.”

Pal and witty guy Wayne Turmel (a.k.a. The Crank Middle Manager) has written this helpful white paper: 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail- and How To See it Coming. You can down load it for free by clicking on the link. A couple interesting quotes from the paper:

• “70% of managers above 1st-level supervisor now have at least one team member who is not co-located with them.”
• “Technology and online tools are great but they are effective only if they are used to create context and human connections. Mere data transfer will result in short-term time savings and long term communication problems of the project.”
• “A good project requires a mix of synchronous (people can talk at the same time) and asynchronous (people use them at different times) tools to be truly effective.”

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 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

10 Reasons for Executive Failure

A derailed executive is an previously-named high-potential employee who has reached the middle management level, only to find that there is little chance of future advancement (as previously thought) due to a misfit between job requirements and personal skills. Thus, the executive either plateaus or leaves the organization altogether. That is the original CCL studies definition. Sometimes the term also refers to leaders who experience big failures after reaching the executive spot and, more recently, those involved in ethical scandals.

Whatever your definition of a bad leader is, most have several of the following 10 leadership shortcomings:

Lack of energy/enthusiasm: OK so some people are less visibly enthusiastic than others, thanks to a personality trait called introversion. But there’s an effort to be made, no matter what your personality style, to covey and inspire energy and enthusiasm in your team. And there is NEVER an excuse for complaining. Either do it, change it, or leave it.

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 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

Just-in-time Talent

Technology has made it so that I can email you much more easily than I can call you. We can communicate virtually just as well as we can connect face-to-face. With the recession cut-backs, many companies have taken advantage of that. Workers have been treated as disposable. Cost-containment is important. It’s the most important part, in fact, if your business is struggling financially. But what is creating disposable workers doing to your company?

Temps, freelancers, contractors, and interim executives are easy to get rid of. What kind of culture is having temporary workers creating? First, the bright side…

You get better talent.
The more ’stable’ jobs are the ones that are sought after by high potentials seeking the executive track. Since there are fewer of these positions available, competition is increased, and you can be more selective. Yet, the temps, the contractors and consultants feel the competition as well, because you are their ‘client.’ You can hire experts when experts are needed and generalists where generalists are needed. Consequentially, the bar is increased and you have your pick.

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 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

The Five Domains of High Performance

Pick a leader – any successful leader. Then search Amazon and see how many books and other publications come up on that person. Abraham Lincoln? 83,642. Gandhi? 61,923. Even Barack Obama, who was widely introduced to the world just five years ago, has 8,670. People love studying successful people.

In the same way that many people have an insatiable appetite to study successful leaders, we in the business world tend to be fascinated with high-performance organizations. What are they like? What do they do differently? Is there a secret recipe that allows them to outperform their competition?

Of course, many books have been dedicated to this subject. From Tom Peters’s and Bob Waterman’s early 80’s best seller In Search of Excellence to Jim Collins’ Built to Last and Good to Great, there has been a succession of books that leaders and managers across the globe have devoured. Programs such as GE’s Six Sigma have trained countless people in how to achieve top performance and consultants have built entire practices around elements of high-performing companies.

While business professionals want to learn more about high-performance organizations in the hopes that they can apply some of the secret sauce to their own organization, many of the companies profiled within the pages of the aforementioned books were unable to sustain high performance. In fact, the number is about half. While much has been written on the subject, the truth is that the ingredients to high performance remain something of a mystery.

Part of the reason is the definition – what exactly do we mean by high performance? Is there a difference between simply surviving (which was the fate of some of the companies profiled in Built to Last, for example) and performing well over a long period? Do we mean companies which outperform others in their own industry or across industries? Over how long a time period does an organization need to perform exceptionally well in order to be considered a “high performer”? And which measures, financial or otherwise, are the best ones to use?

Over the last three decades, i4cp researchers have looked at various ways to define high performance and the traits that separate the consistently top organizations from the rest. Through that time, we have come to recognize high-performing organizations as ones that consistently outperform most of their competitors in four primary areas:

• Revenue growth
• Market share
• Profitability
• Customer satisfaction

And, over the years, our research team has examined well over 100 different core human capital areas and tried to determine the differences between high-performing and low-performing organizations. The research has clearly shown that no single ingredient guarantees organizational success. Rather, high performance is like a delicate entrée – based on a staple of core ingredients any one of which, if left out or of inferior quality, will ruin the entire item.

The Five Domains of High Performance

Our research has shown that there are five basic ingredients which separate higher performers from their lower-performing counterparts:

1. Their strategies are more consistent, clearly communicated and well thought out. They are more likely than other companies to say that their philosophies are consistent with their strategies and their performance measurements mirror their strategies.
2. Leadership is clear, fair and talent-oriented. Those leaders are more likely to promote the best people for the job, to make sure performance expectations are well known and consistent with the strategy, and to be committed to developing their people.
3. There is a commitment to the right talent within the organization, and while employees are treated as unique individuals, the organization takes a holistic approach to managing and making decisions based on data-driven information. This begins with a strategic approach to workforce planning. It entails looking at the organization from an outside-in perspective that identifies the business model components and areas that drive value and then determines what the organization needs.
4. The culture is strong in all the right ways, and employees are more likely to think the organization is a good place to work. Employees not only adapt well to change, they embrace it. High performers also emphasize a readiness to meet new challenges and are committed to innovation.
5. They are more likely to have a strong market focus and go above and beyond for their customers. They are organized internally around what’s best for the customer, they think hard about customers’ future and long-term needs, and their strategy is based on customer data. And they are more likely to see customer information as the most important factor for developing new products and services.

While these five domains – Strategy, Leadership, Talent, Culture and Market – may seem a bit broad or even obvious, the separation our research has shown between high and low performers in these domains is startling. For example, in a just-released study on high performance by i4cp, the following graph depicts this separation:

These findings, along with previous studies, have convinced us to target our research on discovering the best ways for companies to boost their performance in these five domains and the numerous sub-domains within. We’re convinced that companies that focus on excelling in these areas are cooking up a surefire recipe for long-term success.

i4cp’s 4-Part Recommendation:

1. Take stock to determine where your organization stands in these five areas, and be honest – even the best performing companies aren’t always superb in each area. To get an objective view, survey the workforce on these domains as well as use other assessment tools.
2. Once you’ve determined your areas of strength and weakness, make sure senior management is involved in improving on the weak areas while not taking the eye off of the strengths; in tough economies it can be easy to stop focusing on core areas that the company has excelled in. Don’t forget to investigate the practices of other organizations that are excelling in your areas of weakness; it’s amazing how some very simple and inexpensive ideas can make a huge difference in closing the gap.
3. Although companies should focus on the specific tactics for boosting their performance in each of these five areas, it’s important to align the five areas as a whole. Each domain feeds off the others, and ignoring one is like leaving a key ingredient out of a culinary masterpiece.
4. Although these efforts should continue indefinitely to sustain performance over time, organizations should also do regular reevaluations of their progress so they can make course corrections as needed.

View a recording of Thursday’s webinar, The Five Domains of High-Performance Organizations.
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 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

The effect of mentoring on the job performance and social status of mentors in China

In this study, we examine how mentoring benefits mentors as well as how team cohesiveness affects mentoring relationships and resulting benefits. We followed 512 formal mentors in a Chinese manufacturing firm for six months and collected data in three phases and from three sources. The findings reveal that the amount of mentoring provided is positively related to mentors’ in-role job performance and social status. These relationships were fully mediated by mentors’ personal learning and social interaction quality, respectively. Team cohesiveness, however, did not moderate these relationships. Our empirical findings have implications for understanding how mentors’ careers can benefit from being a mentor.

 Sourced from: Latest Issue of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

5 reasons why HR is the New Cool Kid

Recently, I came across an article from Fast Company written in 2007 entitled “Why We Hate HR” stating many reasons why Human Resources functions are ineffective at driving ethics, business strategy and the culture of an organization. Some points raised that were proof of this: HR people, at a Las Vegas HR conference, held education in communication at a higher value then Law, Business and Strategy. Even stating that the function did what was organizationally expedient rather then what actions were more valuable to the business. While there were many statements that were listed, one quote summarized many of the points in the article best by saying, “most HR organizations have ghettoized themselves literally to the brink of obsolescence…” ouch. A Big Lebowski ouch.

So here we are almost three years later and what has changed about the function or the people within it. I think a lot. At least from what I am seeing. While this article and those within other areas of business may find HR obsolete. I believe that this is a time where HR, HRD, OD and all the other acronyms you can list has started to see a rise in the times. In my personal opinion, I feel that HR has never been given it’s just do. But you have to get over that and suck it up because; as Tom Hanks would say there’s no crying in baseball.

Even while many of us within are doing what is needed to provide value and access, I believe that in the past, the business world has never allowed or given permission for us to be effective. It may be as if it has subconsciously set HR up for failure. Even with this past, I feel that we have the potential to be needed now more than ever. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Building the Company Brand – An employee experiences all of HR. They are often interviewed, on-boarded; take part in performance reviews and disciplinary hearings with us present. There is no doubt that with as many people that are unemployed there will be damage to a company’s brand during the off-boarding process as well. You see this person being let go is not just an employee but may have been customer and referrer of your products and services. The negative feelings at departure could turn into negativity towards the company and a severely bad attitude toward its reputation as well. When I hear negative comments about a company, I most often times hear it in context or in direct connection to HR. While HR may not have been the cause of that employee’s unemployment, they are definitely a part of that employees experience at departure. We can be the next big game-changer of the perception of that employee and all in the future. If anything, there is a possibility that we can help turn around that person’s idea and perception of the company.
2. Re-Acquisition and Retention of Talent – “Gatekeeper” is often a word closely associated with HR. Within the recruiting cycle we source, attract and can even grant entrance to key positions within the company. With the unemployment rate reaching 9.5% as of October 2009 there are more people, talented and educated, that have been downsized. Many of these individuals are not only looking for security, but also the opportunity to help create value to the bottom line within the company. Regardless of industry, we are positioned to help the business and its managers understand who is out there and how to attract them. We, as HR, also have the potential to help management understand what it takes to develop and retain this talent so they can become a dedicated force that helps to build commitment to the company and marketers of its products and services.
3. Strategy, New Ideas and Approaches – Just under the surface, a new crop of HR professionals are molding and changing the landscape as we know it. All across the landscape in articles, un-conferences, on internet radio, blogs, tweets and in the marketing of HR, professionals are speaking up, being open and honest about the direction of the field and where we need to be as it relates to the effectiveness of the employees.
4. Law and Benefits – Let’s face it, who knows better about how new employment law, benefits and legislation changes affect the employee and business. They need us in order to assess and evaluate what options are best available. Well maybe they don’t but maybe they do!
5. Good HR can improve performance – Read the article!

With the economics of today, more candidates understand the importance of contributing to a company. Yet at the same time more and more individuals are not only wanting a great career with growth opportunities, but also a work life balance with the knowledge that a company will not only let them be a functioning employee but also a fully functioning individual. When it comes down to it, good HR is good business. These are just a few of the many reasons why I know Human Resource people are the new cool kids in town. Let’s not just show everyone how cool we are; let’s make them all see just how cool of an asset have been and will be in the future.

 Sourced from: HRM Today Featured Posts

Performance Reviews are not just about meeting goals

There is much emphasis placed on organizations being able to adequately assess the individual performance of employees so as to ensure that organizational goals have been achieved. This has been commonly done through periodic reviews conducted with employees to assess whether they have met their goals for that period. There is more to performance reviews than to just assess whether their goals have been met; there is additional potential for organizations to assess how the goals were met, what were the barriers to achieving those goals, as well as whether improvements could be made.

Performance reviews also provide the opportunity for management to assess the process that was undertaken by the employees to see whether the course of action taken to achieve the goal was effective. This can be very enlightening as management gets a clearer perspective regarding the operational concerns involved while obtaining feedback from employees regarding any potential barriers that are present or even suggestions about how things can be improved.

For the employees, this is an additional forum where they are able to provide relevant input for the organization and it can be motivating when they see that management is interested in what they have to say as well as implementing some of the suggestions that they have provided. This ensures greater buy-in and commitment among employees as they are able to contribute to the process.

Why do Performance Reviews at Work?

Performance reviews are critical to the overall welfare of the organization and should be viewed as a highly valuable and positive experience for both the organization and the employee. This is not always the case as most people have a negative perspective when considering performance reviews. Nevertheless, when conducted in the proper manner, performance reviews have the potential to be valuable tools for organizations to improve its performance and effectiveness as well as for providing a forum to develop employees.

Performance reviews can motivate employees to do better and raises their self-esteem. They can act as forums to build upon the employer/employee relationship and to strengthen it so as to foster improved commitment between both parties. It has been demonstrated that there is a strong desire among employees to know how they are performing as well as hot their supervisor perceives them. Performance reviews provide the opportunity to give the appropriate recognition and praise to the employee’s work contributions, allows the organization to further develop the employee, provide on-going feedback to reward good performance and also to resolve any performance issues.

Therefore, it is important for organizations to recognize the utility of conducting performance reviews and promote it as a critical management activity. Time and effort should be spent on developing, implementing and maintaining properly designed performance reviews. The benefits for the organization and the employees will far outweigh the investment in time, cost and effort. For organizations without the time or expertise to design their own appraisal systems, or those wishing to ensure they use a highly validated performance framework, we suggest the Saville Consulting Performance 360 System.

Setting SMART goals in Performance Appraisal

It is important during the planning stage of performance appraisals that both the employee and the employer establish SMART goals. SMART goals is a term coined by Blanchard in 1985 in “Leadership and the One Minute Leader”. The SMART acronym refers to – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

Specific goals need to answer the “who, what, where, when, which and why” of the objectives being set. Essentially, it needs to address the subjects involved, the tasks that need to be completed, the location where the tasks are carried out, the timeframe needed, the requirements and barriers as well as reasons for the objective. Goals are more easily accomplished when they are specific.

The goals also need to be measurable, by establishing timelines and criteria with which to assess your progress. With such measures in place, the progress of the goal can be measured and tracked, ensuring that the goal is achieved. The satisfaction from monitoring the progress made and reaching certain milestones can be very motivating.

Attainable goals act as motivators to obtaining the necessary skills and information needed to complete the objectives. When an individual perceives a goal to be attainable, they will strive to take the necessary steps to achieve it.

Goals need to be realistic in that they must be objectives that the employee must be willing and able to achieve. These are goals that the individual would perceive themselves as having the capability to complete as well as having the motivation to work towards to.

Finally, timely refers to establishing timelines by which the individual is aiming to complete the goal. Having such time anchors, the individual has established the boundaries of achieving their goals and will strive to achieve it within the agreed timeframe.