Now that you have hired the best seeds and seedlings in the form of talented personnel, reaping bumper-crop results will depend on many factors. Although you cannot control the storms, or even fully predict the weather in a changing economy, you do have power over the ways you cultivate and fertilize your talent.
Apples + Oranges = Fruit Salad
Many companies regard Development Planning as oranges and Performance Management as apples. Development planning occurs during executive sessions, but employees are graded on their performance in a lonely office. As a consequence, employees often don't have a clear picture of a company's true needs, while the planners have only a fuzzy image of the training activities they need to address. The first round of fertilizer is applied to making the commitment to connect these two areas. They need to grow alongside each other.
The Wisdom of "Know Thyself"
This ancient Greek philosophy can be put to good use in employee self-assessments. Employees are often tougher on themselves than they are on others. Implementing regular self-assessments has three immediate benefits: 1. It gives your employee a voice, 2. It gives managers a fresh perspective, and, 3. It lays the groundwork for useful communication to proceed. They make a good starter fertilizer for growing your talent.
Wisdom in Counsel of Others
Sometimes this goes by the trendy name of "360° Reviews," but whether you call it that or fall back on the old maxim that "Two heads are better than one," there is much to be gained by seeking the counsel of others. Collecting feedback from a variety of sources—customers, peers, subordinates and others, will allow a balanced picture to emerge for your talent management. Establishing a climate of evenhandedness leads to more fruitful talent management results.
Life Beyond the Carrot
Letting your employee see the "beyond" part is crucial in good talent management. Employees are usually given short-term and short-focused goals—the carrot. Giving them a view of the larger-context, higher level, goals lets them see how their work contributes to overall company success. That boosts morale and can become a self-perpetuating stimulus. It also allows creative employees to "bend to the sun" and produce some great ideas; a company's most creative talent often has difficulty with the team-player attitude because they view the world a little differently.
Reward
The old "Wanted" posters offered rewards dead or alive. In business, alive is better, but the lure of reward still stimulates achievement. Most often, rewards come in the form of pay-for-performance bonuses. Being entrusted with a perk like flex-time, having the prestige of a personal parking space, or receiving a simple "lunch is on me" invitation can also be incentives. The important quality that makes rewards work is that your employees perceive them as fair, consistent, and attainable with a little extra effort, lest you inadvertently generate fertilizer burn-out.
Effective talent management must go beyond writing reports and stuffing them into dusty personnel files; it must encourage people and stimulate growth.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Employee Happiness
A wise employer will grow happiness under his employees' feet, and it will bear fruit in productivity, loyalty, and possibly health care savings. Investing in happiness has the potential for a huge pay-off, and the up-front costs are usually small.
One of the best ways to give your office a sunnier disposition is to literally let the sun shine in. Natural lighting offers a spectrum of benefits ranging from reducing stress, to increasing alertness, to relieving eyestrain and headaches. If this isn't possible, the next best solution might be as simple as changing the old light bulb to one that copies nature more closely than standard fluorescent tube lighting.
Once you have sufficient lighting, adding live plants will help grow a happier environment. As a bonus, they clear the air too. A NASA study produced a list of the top fifteen houseplants for improving air quality. The top two are heartleaf and elephant leaf philodendrons, and all are easily available in flower shops and nurseries.
Dirt and grime are depressing, but there is a cleaning solution for that. A clean office is a happier office. That philosophy extends to the bathroom areas as well. It is also important to keep up with small maintenance jobs so drawers pull easily, hinges swing freely, and knobs don't come off in your hand.
People are happier when they know that they are being heard. Listening to your employees and then responding with thoughtful feedback can do wonders to boost morale. Being heard makes employees feel more secure, and good communication reduces tensions in the workplace. You can get your best answers for what makes an employee happy from your employees themselves.
One of the best ways to give your office a sunnier disposition is to literally let the sun shine in. Natural lighting offers a spectrum of benefits ranging from reducing stress, to increasing alertness, to relieving eyestrain and headaches. If this isn't possible, the next best solution might be as simple as changing the old light bulb to one that copies nature more closely than standard fluorescent tube lighting.
Once you have sufficient lighting, adding live plants will help grow a happier environment. As a bonus, they clear the air too. A NASA study produced a list of the top fifteen houseplants for improving air quality. The top two are heartleaf and elephant leaf philodendrons, and all are easily available in flower shops and nurseries.
Dirt and grime are depressing, but there is a cleaning solution for that. A clean office is a happier office. That philosophy extends to the bathroom areas as well. It is also important to keep up with small maintenance jobs so drawers pull easily, hinges swing freely, and knobs don't come off in your hand.
People are happier when they know that they are being heard. Listening to your employees and then responding with thoughtful feedback can do wonders to boost morale. Being heard makes employees feel more secure, and good communication reduces tensions in the workplace. You can get your best answers for what makes an employee happy from your employees themselves.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Time Management
It seems to be a universal truth that people are always running short on time. During the French Revolution, their government tried to fix this by making a calendar of ten-day weeks. How much more work could you get done if you had only three weekends per month? Their new clock also divided days into ten hours of a hundred minutes each. Working a four-hour shift then would be like working for more than 9½ of our standard hours. Unsurprisingly, their revolutionary calendar was abandoned within 13 years.
If today's businessmen and women need extra time, the only way to get more is by recovering what is currently being wasted. The Communication Briefings Newsletter has identified the five biggest time wasters in business. Do any of these pertain to you?
1. Poor prioritizing. If this is a tough area for you, make daily lists of what needs to be done and by when. Don't forget to schedule some cushion time to allow for unforeseeable accidents and opportunities.
2. Fear of delegating. Thinking that it is easier to do a routine task yourself is being short-sighted. Taking the time to properly train an employee now will pay off in big time savings in the future.
3. Not saying "No." You can't do it all. If you have trouble knowing when to say no, revisit your lists of priorities. If a request will take time away from achieving your priority list, you should probably say, "Sorry, I can't."
4. Being tethered to the phone. Clients like the personal touch of reaching a real person. Can some calls be delegated to others? Record a nice intro for your voicemail and use it when you need to work without interruptions.
5. Procrastination. If you procrastinate, you are human, but it's also human to focus on what we don't like. Focusing on the end result instead helps considerably in overcoming procrastination. If the task seems overwhelming, do it one step at a time.
If you have done all this and are still coming up short, consider buying extra administrative time by contracting with a PEO.
If today's businessmen and women need extra time, the only way to get more is by recovering what is currently being wasted. The Communication Briefings Newsletter has identified the five biggest time wasters in business. Do any of these pertain to you?
1. Poor prioritizing. If this is a tough area for you, make daily lists of what needs to be done and by when. Don't forget to schedule some cushion time to allow for unforeseeable accidents and opportunities.
2. Fear of delegating. Thinking that it is easier to do a routine task yourself is being short-sighted. Taking the time to properly train an employee now will pay off in big time savings in the future.
3. Not saying "No." You can't do it all. If you have trouble knowing when to say no, revisit your lists of priorities. If a request will take time away from achieving your priority list, you should probably say, "Sorry, I can't."
4. Being tethered to the phone. Clients like the personal touch of reaching a real person. Can some calls be delegated to others? Record a nice intro for your voicemail and use it when you need to work without interruptions.
5. Procrastination. If you procrastinate, you are human, but it's also human to focus on what we don't like. Focusing on the end result instead helps considerably in overcoming procrastination. If the task seems overwhelming, do it one step at a time.
If you have done all this and are still coming up short, consider buying extra administrative time by contracting with a PEO.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Starting a Business in the Right Frame of Mind
What is the difference between an entrepreneur and a business owner?
That is not a riddle that will regale your friends. If you were looking for a snappy answer like, 'A business owner is a slave to his business and an entrepreneur is in the business of turning his employees into slaves,' then keep looking. The joke was only half-right. A few business owners might be a slave to their business, but the true distinction is a person's mindset.
Some people try to set up a business by the book. They educate themselves about the service or product. They find the financing. They doggedly dot their i's and cross their t's. They hustle for clients. But without the entrepreneurial mindset, they struggle.
Let's look at a hypothetical illustration:
Sam likes his work, he even excels at it. He has a knack for doing what he does and gets paid a respectable $69K a year for doing it. What Sam doesn't like so much is his boss. When a big project comes through, his boss expects Sam to work extra hours without extra compensation and then takes all the glory for himself. Sam's mindset becomes, "I don't need this; I can start my own company and pay myself for my work." So he does. He snags a few clients from his current accounts, finds several more though his connections, hires a couple of professionals to join him and trains them the way he wants. Things start off fine enough, but after awhile a few cracks develop. Some of the customers are late in making payments and Sam is now having to handle those collections himself. He is also having to do the bulk of new sales because he doesn't trust his employees to close a deal. He hires new employees to get some relief, but is so busy trying to stop new cracks that he never seems to find time to train them thoroughly. In short, he is being spread too thin. Swamped beneath all the income, outgo, ordering, shipping, receiving, filing, reporting and processing, Sam is one unhappy business owner. He never latched on to an entrepreneurial mindset.
How would an entrepreneurial frame-of-mind have managed things differently?
Sam may own the business now, but he never stopped working for his company; he still works for a company, just a different one. An entrepreneur will work on his company, building it with structured systems the way a mason would build with bricks. Instead of doing the essential but assignable tasks himself, he'd have spent more time training his employees how to do those tasks. Instead of micromanaging his employees, he'd trust them to be responsible tor handling the routine aspects of the business. Instead of working harder for more hours, the entrepreneurial approach is to look for ways to work more efficiently. The entrepreneurial mindset is open to seeking help, whereas Sam's attitude was to do it "all by myself."
Ownership is having a set of legal documents on file. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. The entrepreneurial lifestyle orders the day such that time is the treasured commodity and money is a tool. The entrepreneur understands that the old saying Time is money is often a fallacy. Sometimes money can be used to buy more time.
One means that many entrepreneurs have used to buy more time is by selecting a professional employer organization (PEO) company to handle some of the administrative burdens. A start-up business may find it's better to contract with a PEO to handle the preparation of the payroll, to administer benefits plans, and to reduce other legal liabilities.
That is not a riddle that will regale your friends. If you were looking for a snappy answer like, 'A business owner is a slave to his business and an entrepreneur is in the business of turning his employees into slaves,' then keep looking. The joke was only half-right. A few business owners might be a slave to their business, but the true distinction is a person's mindset.
Some people try to set up a business by the book. They educate themselves about the service or product. They find the financing. They doggedly dot their i's and cross their t's. They hustle for clients. But without the entrepreneurial mindset, they struggle.
Let's look at a hypothetical illustration:
Sam likes his work, he even excels at it. He has a knack for doing what he does and gets paid a respectable $69K a year for doing it. What Sam doesn't like so much is his boss. When a big project comes through, his boss expects Sam to work extra hours without extra compensation and then takes all the glory for himself. Sam's mindset becomes, "I don't need this; I can start my own company and pay myself for my work." So he does. He snags a few clients from his current accounts, finds several more though his connections, hires a couple of professionals to join him and trains them the way he wants. Things start off fine enough, but after awhile a few cracks develop. Some of the customers are late in making payments and Sam is now having to handle those collections himself. He is also having to do the bulk of new sales because he doesn't trust his employees to close a deal. He hires new employees to get some relief, but is so busy trying to stop new cracks that he never seems to find time to train them thoroughly. In short, he is being spread too thin. Swamped beneath all the income, outgo, ordering, shipping, receiving, filing, reporting and processing, Sam is one unhappy business owner. He never latched on to an entrepreneurial mindset.
How would an entrepreneurial frame-of-mind have managed things differently?
Sam may own the business now, but he never stopped working for his company; he still works for a company, just a different one. An entrepreneur will work on his company, building it with structured systems the way a mason would build with bricks. Instead of doing the essential but assignable tasks himself, he'd have spent more time training his employees how to do those tasks. Instead of micromanaging his employees, he'd trust them to be responsible tor handling the routine aspects of the business. Instead of working harder for more hours, the entrepreneurial approach is to look for ways to work more efficiently. The entrepreneurial mindset is open to seeking help, whereas Sam's attitude was to do it "all by myself."
Ownership is having a set of legal documents on file. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. The entrepreneurial lifestyle orders the day such that time is the treasured commodity and money is a tool. The entrepreneur understands that the old saying Time is money is often a fallacy. Sometimes money can be used to buy more time.
One means that many entrepreneurs have used to buy more time is by selecting a professional employer organization (PEO) company to handle some of the administrative burdens. A start-up business may find it's better to contract with a PEO to handle the preparation of the payroll, to administer benefits plans, and to reduce other legal liabilities.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Avoiding Gullibility
Gullibility is a fact of life. As a baby you heard about gullibility in your nursery tales. Remember the wolf that was masquerading as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother? Gullibility pervades our heroic epics. Remember how the citizens of Troy thought that the big wooden horse was a magnificent present? Gullibility is infused in our holiday traditions—or did you never believe in Santa? PT Barnum, who coined the phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute," entertained millions with his circus. Even academic institutions that ought to know better were conned for years by the Piltdown man, a paleontological "missing link" in evolution that turned out to be, not a mistake, but an intentional hoax.
Gullibility may offer you a secret satisfaction when you see it in an enemy—they call that schadenfreude, if you believe me—but otherwise, being gullible is a trait to be avoided. It is to be especially avoided in business decisions where money changes hands and deals are built on trust.
You know that con men and back-stabbing schemers are out there. Many are very good at duping chumps. How do you avoid becoming their next victim?
At the top of the list is "Don't make impulsive decisions." Give yourself a little time to think things through. The old sleep-on-it advice is good because it gives you the opportunity to view a situation from a fresh perspective.
Next, do some fact checking. The Internet and modern business tools make this easier than ever. Entire websites like snopes.com, factcheck.org, and TruthOrFiction.com, and the popular TV show Myth Busters have all emphasized the importance of doing a little research.
Know Thyself. Socrates said it and it stands as some of the best advice ever given. The best hedges against gullibility grow atop the realization of your own weaknesses.
Paired with knowing your limitations is planning the defensive strategies to deal with and counteract them. In Stephen Greenspan's book, Annals of Gullibility, he calls this working up a "repertoire of disengagement tactics."
Practice social intelligence. A few people are naturally gifted, for others, social intelligence can be learned. A series of books is available that helps teach social cues even to autistic children; if a kid with a learning challenge can do it, you really have no excuse.
Be cautious in your networking. Build a special network of people who have proven themselves trustworthy and who will look out for your best interests.
Gullibility may offer you a secret satisfaction when you see it in an enemy—they call that schadenfreude, if you believe me—but otherwise, being gullible is a trait to be avoided. It is to be especially avoided in business decisions where money changes hands and deals are built on trust.
You know that con men and back-stabbing schemers are out there. Many are very good at duping chumps. How do you avoid becoming their next victim?
At the top of the list is "Don't make impulsive decisions." Give yourself a little time to think things through. The old sleep-on-it advice is good because it gives you the opportunity to view a situation from a fresh perspective.
Next, do some fact checking. The Internet and modern business tools make this easier than ever. Entire websites like snopes.com, factcheck.org, and TruthOrFiction.com, and the popular TV show Myth Busters have all emphasized the importance of doing a little research.
Know Thyself. Socrates said it and it stands as some of the best advice ever given. The best hedges against gullibility grow atop the realization of your own weaknesses.
Paired with knowing your limitations is planning the defensive strategies to deal with and counteract them. In Stephen Greenspan's book, Annals of Gullibility, he calls this working up a "repertoire of disengagement tactics."
Practice social intelligence. A few people are naturally gifted, for others, social intelligence can be learned. A series of books is available that helps teach social cues even to autistic children; if a kid with a learning challenge can do it, you really have no excuse.
Be cautious in your networking. Build a special network of people who have proven themselves trustworthy and who will look out for your best interests.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Character: The Key to Making Your Business Stand Out
In the classrooms across America, we call it character education. In the business world, it is more likely to be labeled ethics. Either way, one of the hallmarks of a civilized society is its values system.
Stories from the dawn of civilization are almost always morality tales. Ancient Greece, a pinnacle of culture, produced Aesop's Fables where every story had a moral teaching. Beowulf, the earliest tome of Anglo-Saxon culture, emphasizes loyalty and honor. Stories of the Incas taught that those who obeyed their moral codes—do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy—would earn reward.
An old tale from Asia tells of a man whose one good deed was to spare a spider's life. Later, after the man died and was being tortured in hell, the spider spun a silver thread to return the favor and help him escape. As the man was climbing the thread to safety, he noticed that others were climbing up after him. Fearful that this added weight might break the thread, he began kicking them off, but as he did this, he lost his balance and fell back into the pit of hell.
The point is that on every continent, across different cultures and spans of time, ethics count. Good and evil have just rewards. Having identified such a universal truth, it just makes sense that applying the concept to business would be a way to lead your company to success as well.
Indeed, beyond the folklore, hard modern statistics bear that out. Trickery and chicanery are a flash-in-the pan sensation and the key to longevity in business is to steadily work on improving ethical customer relations and good service.
Character Traits and Values that will build trust and make your business stand out from the rest:
• Loyalty. Using the difficult times to demonstrate commitment to the customers you serve will build trust.
• Reliability. Being reliable in providing the good or service your customers are paying for will gain their trust.
• Truthfulness. A good definition of truthfulness is earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts. This foundation of integrity creates trust.
• Sincerity. Sincerity starts with telling the truth and takes it the next step by showing an eagerness to do the right thing. Trust is built when clients and customers see your transparent motive and your sincere desire to do the right thing.
• Courtesy. Courtesy is more than simply being polite. It's also being attentive to your customers and gaining their respect by respecting them.
• Diligence. Seeing each task through all the way to the end is that way to accomplish goals.
• Accessibility. Knowing that you will "be there" builds trust.
• Persuasiveness with Truth. Being able to guide your clients and customers with truth and wisdom will build relationships.
• Enthusiasm. In a world of woes and criticism, customers will seek out the hope they see in your enthusiasm.
There is an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness. – George Washington
Stories from the dawn of civilization are almost always morality tales. Ancient Greece, a pinnacle of culture, produced Aesop's Fables where every story had a moral teaching. Beowulf, the earliest tome of Anglo-Saxon culture, emphasizes loyalty and honor. Stories of the Incas taught that those who obeyed their moral codes—do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy—would earn reward.
An old tale from Asia tells of a man whose one good deed was to spare a spider's life. Later, after the man died and was being tortured in hell, the spider spun a silver thread to return the favor and help him escape. As the man was climbing the thread to safety, he noticed that others were climbing up after him. Fearful that this added weight might break the thread, he began kicking them off, but as he did this, he lost his balance and fell back into the pit of hell.
The point is that on every continent, across different cultures and spans of time, ethics count. Good and evil have just rewards. Having identified such a universal truth, it just makes sense that applying the concept to business would be a way to lead your company to success as well.
Indeed, beyond the folklore, hard modern statistics bear that out. Trickery and chicanery are a flash-in-the pan sensation and the key to longevity in business is to steadily work on improving ethical customer relations and good service.
Character Traits and Values that will build trust and make your business stand out from the rest:
• Loyalty. Using the difficult times to demonstrate commitment to the customers you serve will build trust.
• Reliability. Being reliable in providing the good or service your customers are paying for will gain their trust.
• Truthfulness. A good definition of truthfulness is earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts. This foundation of integrity creates trust.
• Sincerity. Sincerity starts with telling the truth and takes it the next step by showing an eagerness to do the right thing. Trust is built when clients and customers see your transparent motive and your sincere desire to do the right thing.
• Courtesy. Courtesy is more than simply being polite. It's also being attentive to your customers and gaining their respect by respecting them.
• Diligence. Seeing each task through all the way to the end is that way to accomplish goals.
• Accessibility. Knowing that you will "be there" builds trust.
• Persuasiveness with Truth. Being able to guide your clients and customers with truth and wisdom will build relationships.
• Enthusiasm. In a world of woes and criticism, customers will seek out the hope they see in your enthusiasm.
There is an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness. – George Washington
Friday, April 2, 2010
Could You Benefit by Using a PEO?
To fully answer that question, you'll first need to know exactly what a PEO is and what it does. The PEO acronym stands for Professional Employer Organization. It serves as a Human Resources department for small and mid-size businesses, but it won't do your staffing for you. It goes beyond being a payroll service by assuming many of the liabilities for government compliance. PEOs can make it possible for small and mid-size businesses to offer retirement and medical benefits similar to the big corporations.
Many growing businesses start considering the benefits of a PEO when they realize that they need relief from all the administrative details of keeping the company going. Using a PEO to help with administrative functions is a lot like being able to purchase efficiency for the nuts and bolts of your company because the HR functions are outsourced.
One benefit of using a PEO is that you don't have to worry about keeping up with changing government rules. You pay the PEO to do that, and because they serve other businesses as well, it is more efficient than having to reinvent your own wheel. This can extend to work-related laws, unemployment claims, safety procedures, and even anti-drug use policies.
Another benefit of using a PEO is that they offer comprehensive payroll services. Beyond the basic bookkeeping and issuing of checks, they can also cover such things as payroll taxes and paperwork, garnishments, W2 and 1099 filing, and verification of an employee's work status.
A full-service PEO can offer your business additional services as needed. They can assist with pre-employment background checks, drug testing, applicant reviews, termination assistance, help in preparing job descriptions and employee performance appraisals, and needs analysis. An all-inclusive contract with a PEO will include access to training and other business resources and support.
The benefits offered by a PEO are clear. It frees that average company to become more productive in the use of time and resources. The companiy's primary focus can be centered on producing goods, delivering services and generating income. For a small business owner or the management team of a mid-size business, this means that the HR paperwork and compliance issues are far less of a distraction and you can get down to work.
Many growing businesses start considering the benefits of a PEO when they realize that they need relief from all the administrative details of keeping the company going. Using a PEO to help with administrative functions is a lot like being able to purchase efficiency for the nuts and bolts of your company because the HR functions are outsourced.
One benefit of using a PEO is that you don't have to worry about keeping up with changing government rules. You pay the PEO to do that, and because they serve other businesses as well, it is more efficient than having to reinvent your own wheel. This can extend to work-related laws, unemployment claims, safety procedures, and even anti-drug use policies.
Another benefit of using a PEO is that they offer comprehensive payroll services. Beyond the basic bookkeeping and issuing of checks, they can also cover such things as payroll taxes and paperwork, garnishments, W2 and 1099 filing, and verification of an employee's work status.
A full-service PEO can offer your business additional services as needed. They can assist with pre-employment background checks, drug testing, applicant reviews, termination assistance, help in preparing job descriptions and employee performance appraisals, and needs analysis. An all-inclusive contract with a PEO will include access to training and other business resources and support.
The benefits offered by a PEO are clear. It frees that average company to become more productive in the use of time and resources. The companiy's primary focus can be centered on producing goods, delivering services and generating income. For a small business owner or the management team of a mid-size business, this means that the HR paperwork and compliance issues are far less of a distraction and you can get down to work.
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