HRCleanUp

Managerial Competencies

I'm working on a project for a pharmaceutical company.  Our goal is to improve outcomes when a manager goes out into the field with his or her employee.  It seem like, in the culture today, the reps purposely pack the manager's time so that there is no "downtime" at all during the day.  The rep picks up the manager from the airport and then whisks him or her around town--visiting people who already like the rep (and the product).  Then, they do it again the next day.  At the end of day two, both of them check the experience off the list and the rep drives the manager back to the airport.  They shake hands and that ends the event.

There are no developmental conversations occurring.

What are you doing to ensure that your managers are having deep developmental conversations with their employees?  Do you just assume that they are happening or do you assume that they aren't?  Have you inspected this at any level within your company? 

As we get more Millennials/GenY workers in the workplace, these conversations will be a critical retention factor.  This generation is one of almost constant instantaneous feedback.  Are your managers ready to respond to that need?  If not, I suggest you start thinking about a culture shift.

The Wheels on the Bus

I had coffee this morning with my good friend Kevin.  Kevin is a benefits broker and is really well connected in the HR Community.  We had a great conversation about employee fit and he shared this analogy with me that I want to share with you.

What if your company was contained within a big yellow school bus?

The CEO is the driver.

Everyone else is a passenger.

You have a defined capacity and you need to have the right person in every seat--Sales, IT, HR, Customer Service, Finance--you know the drill.  How can you be sure that everyone on the bus is in the right seat? 

Stay with me.

Are there people who need to get off of the bus?

Are there people who need to switch seats?

Are there people you need to bring on-board the bus?

If you are going to reach your destination, you have to have the right people on the bus and the right people need to be doing the right things.  Talent Insight Group can help you with your permission slips!

Don't let this happen to you! 

People Problems?

My good friend and collegue Shama Hyder invited me to "guest blog" on her brilliant marketing site "After The Launch".  I thought I'd share my post with all of my readers as well.  Enjoy!

January is always a time of reflection and resolve.  Every year we pause and we plan and we always make resolutions---some spoken and some silent.  What will 2008 hold for you and for your business?  If you are like most people, you’re hoping that 2008 will bring you increased revenue, entrée into new markets, and the “deal of a lifetime”.  As you put together your marketing plan I’d also encourage you to put together a solid people plan.

People plan?

What are you doing about people planning in 2008?  If you are going to meet your goals and objectives, do you have the right people on the proverbial bus?  In today’s hypercompetitive business world, having the right people in place is the key to achieving your sales goals and the right people include everyone in your company.  If you are struggling with sales I’ll bet that you are also struggling in other areas.  No two parts of the organization work in a vacuum—everything is interrelated.  So, you must have the right people in all of your positions.

How do I find/hire/coach the right people?

Let’s start by asking three fundamental questions:

1.       Who is doing what and who is doing it really well?

2.       What kinds of people do we need in place in order to get to our 2008 goals?

3.       What are our gaps?

I’m a big fan of information and I specialize in employee assessments.  I think that they are the critical missing piece in most people plans.  By using job matching technology, we can assure that we put the right people in the right jobs.  Imagine going to work and knowing that all of your employees actually “fit” the jobs that they are doing.  Lining up thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests are what turn “average” performers into superior employees.  For new hires, we can benchmark them against our current top performers.  For our incumbents, we can coach them based on specific success factors and traits.   And the best part, this type of assessing is legal, proven, and easy to implement and it doesn’t break the bank.

Let 2008 be your year to get your people plan in order.  You can achieve amazing results when everyone is on the bus and everyone is headed in the right direction—towards success.

Jay's Featured on HR Crossing!

 

I was recently interviwed by Employement Crossing.  It was a lot of fun and got me reflecting on how I got to where I am today.  I think it would have been impossible without some of my fantastic mentors.  Here is a "clip" of the interview.  If you want to read all if it, click on the link at the bottom of the page.

HR Star

Managing Partner at Talent Insight Group: Jay Hargis

By Robin Salisian

''My official job title is Managing Partner. I could also call myself CEO, but I liked the sound of Managing Partner better,'' says Talent Insight Group's creator Jay Hargis. And when you run your own company like Hargis does, assigning titles is just one of the many perks. He even jokes that wearing bunny slippers to work is an enjoyable aspect of his job.

"[But] actually," he continues in all seriousness, "what I enjoy most is hearing from my clients that the tools and advice that I gave them has made improvements in their business results.

Check out the entire interview!

Can You Outsource Firing People?

Last week, in my HRIS course at Suffolk University, we discussed the outsourcing of human resources.  We talked about the many shades of gray that exist in terms of outsourcing both people and technology.  It really is amazing when you think about the vast array of people and services that can be outsourced--everything from the applicant tracking technology to the administration of benefits and everything in between.

Fast forward to today...today I read in the November issue of Inc Magazine that many companies are now using consultants to fire employees.  The idea here is that no one likes to actually terminate someone--it's messy and it's not fun.  So the answer...let the consultant do it for you.

At first I was a bit repulsed at the idea, then I warmed up to it and then I re-thought it once more.  I thought about the times that I've had to terminate someone.  It would have been great if I could have offloaded the experience but, in fact, I'm glad that I did it and I'm glad that I did it on my own.  It seems that we all like to hire and most of us hate to fire.  That means that we tend to keep poor performers around for too long of a time--putting our companies in real jeopardy.  Can you really afford to have people working for you that shouldn't be there?  People that are disruptive, have prolonged lousy attitudes, or can't seem to do the job need to find other work.

In my work with assessment testing, I partner with companies to ensure that the talent that comes in the door is the absolute best fit that we can find.  We strive to align skills, attitudes, and culture.  Its a big challenge and assessments help.  Unfortunately, a few poor hires will always slip through even the most rigorous selection process. 

So if you can do it, let your non-performers go.  If you can do it yourself, good for you! If you need a consultant, hey, that's OK, too.

A Definition of Leadership

I got to spend a couple of hours on an airplane over the past couple of days. I always use that time to catch up on my "throwaway" reading. You know, the pile of magazines/articles that you keep meaning to get to. I find airplanes are the greatest place to read that stuff. 

In any event, in one of my "throwaway" articles, someone wrote about leadership and the concept that a a real leader is someone who is savvy without being jaded.

Brilliant!

I think that defines a great leader to a tee.  The great leader understands the organization and the market.  They know what's going on and they are still willing to coach and mentor others.  The savvy leader will help others steer the shark infested  waters.  The savvy leader looks out for her team...helping to insure their collective success.  The savvy leader is an optimist and not a jaded pessimist. 

And you know what, we can actually figure out some of these individual leadership traits by using assessment testing.  We can get to core leadership traits to help organizations define what they need in their leaders and what skills and traits potential leaders are bringing to the table. 

Coaching as a Stategy for Retention

Yesterday morning, at 7:30 a.m., I went to a NEHRA program called "Stop the Talent Drain  Coaching as a  Strategy for Retention" .  The program was presented by Mark J. Campbell and it was terrific.  His program focused on retention strategies for identified High Potential employees.  Of course there is spill over to all employees but he has a point, we really need to make sure that we're growing and retaining our top performers.

He didn't say it but studies have shown that top performers out perform "average" performers by at least 34%!  You can view more details about how much more productive top vs. average vs. poor on my website.

But I digress...The session focused on Coaching and Mentoring.  NOT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS! I'm getting to a point where I think we need drastic change in the performance appraisal game but I won't tackle that one today.  If you have suggestions, however, let me know.  Anyway, we discussed the power of 360 feedback, year over year, and how it can have bottom line ROI for your organization.  It allows the manager to see, and I quote Mark "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" with their direct reports being the most honest!

In addition, a good coach can bring about double-digit productivity increases! 

Using assessment tools to coach and mentor seem to be common sense.  Why aren't more organizations using them?  When the cost of replacing a person is at least 25% of their annual salary, doesn't it make more sense to just coach, reward, and grow them?  If you are blaming budget for your lack of development of your most important revenue generating asset then you are not thinking strategically.

The Heart of People's Happiness

The Career Journal posted an article titled "What is at the heart of people's happiness".  The title, and the article, got me thinking about what I do every day.  I focus on how, by hiring and coaching employees, business leaders can improve their bottom line business results.  What I sometimes forget to pontificate is the fact that employees who "fit" their jobs (thinking style, behavioral traits, and career interests) are almost always happier than those who are in jobs that don't "fit".  Think about it...have you ever had one of those jobs that just doesn't seem to fit?  How happy were you?  Chances are good that the job sucked your life energy from you.  Your heath and your personal relationships probably suffered, and to top it all off, it probably wasn't a secret from your boss.

I don't think anyone starts off at a new job planning on doing a bad job or planning to be unhappy.  It evolves over time.  But, if we start with job fit, we're solving half of the battle up-front.  Finding the spot where your skills and interest intersect with a business need is a blissful place. My work with assessment testing helps to find (and define) that intersection.

It's not easy but it works well.  If you are a job seeker and you are asked to take an assessment, do so with an open and honest attitude.  If you are an employer and you are not doing anything more than reading the resume and doing a traditional interview--then you are missing 1/3 of required information for making a great hire.  Consider changing your process.  You won't be sorry.  Fit is the key for both better business success but also employee happiness. 

Admit When You Are Wrong

I recently bought a new printer from HP.  I thought you might enjoy reading my letter to the CEO about my experience.  I'll let you know the results.  BTW, I can't say enough good things about my experience with Geek Squad and my Geek Squad Agent, Clive Jaffe.

------------------------------

Dear Mr. Hurd

I have to admit that I am very surprised that I need to write this letter.  But, in a nutshell, I need to express my extreme dissatisfaction with a recent HP transaction regarding my new HP L7780 OfficeJet Pro printer.

As a home-based business executive, I needed a high speed, high volume color printer.  In doing extensive research, the L7780 came up as my solution.  I purchased the machine at my local MicroCenter in Cambridge, Massachusetts for $499.00.  I got home, set up the machine via the USB Cable and was happy that it printed.

I then decided that I wanted to use the wireless capability that was predominantly advertised on the box, and enthusiastically highlighted by the salesperson and bumped the price of the printer well over another $159.00.  After following the step-by-step instructions, I was unable to get the machine to print in a wireless mode.  So, I called technical support (case #7342648796).

After spending multiple hours on the phone with technical support, I grew tired and frustrated so I decided to invest in Geek Squad to come and install it for me at a cost of $159.00 for a house call.  My Geek Squad agent didn’t seem to think it would be too hard to do this.  He also spent several hours on the phone with technical support.  At the end of the call, he and the tech support agent decided that there was a problem with the machine itself and the decision was made that it should be exchanged.  The agent gave me my own HP QA Representative named Paul who was going to help me by calling me the next day to help me figure out what to do with the printer.

Paul called and he had me take the machine back to MicroCenter.  So, back to MicroCenter I went to exchange the printer.  I got the new one home and it wouldn’t power up at all.  I called Paul back at 877-917-4380 then used x09-4027 (QA ID 6300851421) and told him about this issue on his voice mail.  He never bothered to call me back.

Back to MicroCenter.  I had to prove to them that the machine wouldn’t power up.  Then they exchanged it for a third machine.

I then paid to have Geek Squad come out again to install the wireless capability.  He then had to place another call to technical support when, to the Geek Squad agent’s surprise, it wouldn’t connect to the network.  It was at that point that the technical representative admitted that there was an issue with the wireless capability of the printer and that “they” were working on a fix.

So that means that there was nothing wrong with my first printer.

Why wouldn’t you admit that there was a problem in the first place and that you were actively working on a fix?  That would have prevented HOURS of aggravation on both our parts.  Your call center agents time was wasted trying to get me to hook-the printer to the router with the Ethernet cord (which, in my mind is a wire). 

To say that I am disappointed would be to understate my feelings.  The hours of aggravation you caused and the out-of-pocket expense that I incurred are unacceptable.  If your technical representative had come clean at my first phone call I would have said “fine, let me know when the fix is available” and that would have been the end of it.  Because your agent didn’t come clean, I was forced to call for in-home technical support, returned two printers, and at the end of the day, I still can’t print wirelessly.

In exchange for my aggravation, I would like a $300.00 credit to be used towards HP Ink for my non-wireless printer.  I think that is just compensation for a ridiculous problem that should have never happened in the first place.

And shame on you for not instructing your technical support to come clean with the issue in the first place. 

Regards,

Jay B. Hargis

Enclosure:  Geek Squad Report

Harry Potter and what's up with Ron Weasley

OK, I'm halfway through Harry Potter and Ron Weasley just up and left Poor Harry and Hermione alone, in  a tent, in the woods desperately trying to escape Voldamort.  What happened to teamwork and sticking together?  Ron just up and apperated leaving Harry and Hermione to fend for themselves. 

I really do hope that Ron comes back or has something up his sleeve (pun intended)--I can't imagine leaving my friends to wage a battle without me.

So, that got me thinking...how often do we leave our managers alone to fight the battle with little or no support?  We tell them to "stay within budget", "give your people 2% raises and tell them to like it", and the ever popular "rank your people--now lay off the bottom 10%".  All fun managerial activities.  Why does anyone actually want to be in management?  Front-line managers are the core of our businesses yet we treat them like unwelcome guests at a party when they need something or when they fail.  Making sure that manager's are well equipped both mentally and supported professionally is something that almost all organizations can do a better job with.

So, the next time you see a manager that works for you, ask them "how are you doing?" and "do you have the resources to do your job?"--you'll be amazed at the answers you get.  Then, if things are not right, do something about it.

Oh, and Ron Weasley...you had better show up in a later chapter.