Lone Eagles Soaring in the Clouds

"Lone eagles, soaring in the clouds, fly with silent, peaceful poise, While turkeys, in their earth-bound crowds, fill the atmosphere with noise."

Those words of scholar William Arthur Ward succinctly capture the different characteristics of two kinds of birds. But Ward is talking about more than just birds. He is telling us that we should admire and emulate the eagle, and that too many of us fit in too well among the "earth-bound crowds."

Nothing against turkeys, but Ward has a point. Yes, turkeys are the icons of a well-set Holiday table, but consider what that means: They get eaten, especially this time of year. So why not soar with the eagles? That's a good goal for both individuals and organizations, and it fits well with recognizing incompetence on the managerial team and doing something about it.

If you know you have some work to do with your Managers, here are some ideas for proceeding:

• Before you make your next managerial hire or promotion, make sure the person you are considering for a position of responsibility is management material. Some people can grow into the role, and some cannot. Scientific assessments such as ProfileXT and Profiles Performance Indicator provide insight that helps improve selection and team performance. Our clients have used one or both tools successfully, depending on their needs. Either way, these assessments work. They offer more validity than just guessing or following your instincts.

• If you already know you have managers who are not performing to your standards, take action sooner rather than later. Planning a course of action is good, but only if you execute the plan in a timely manner. If the person in charge of execution puts off corrective action week after week because he or the plan "is not ready," you have just discovered another ineffective leader in your organization. Leading often means going outside one's comfort zone to do what needs doing, and some managers need training to do this. Demonstrate to subordinates what action looks like. Show them that taking action is essential. Letting a poorly performing manager squeak by for an extended period can damage your organization.

• If you determine a manager cannot fit the role of leading others, you owe it to him or her, and to yourself, to find out how he can best serve. Look at what he was doing before management. What aspects of his previous performance prompted his promotion? Was he a strong salesman? An expert technician? Superb at customer service? If he showed strength in a prior position, your next step is to move him to the place he performs best with the message that you want both him and the company to succeed. If this employee adds value to the organization, you do not want to imply that he failed. Some people are just not management material, and chances are that your worker knows that as well as you do.

• Use your high performers as models for both current and future employees. Smart recruiters use PXT on the front end to make sure they are hiring people that look like the organization's top-performers. Creative workplaces find methods of spreading high performance around. Leaders put their high performers in teams to train others. They give them the responsibility of an important project and let them detail to the rest of the organization how they executed it. Show off anyone who does the job the right way. Remember: Praise in public, correct in private. Get to the point where you praise more than correct, and your job will be more enjoyable and certainly easier.

These ideas will put your organization on the flight path of soaring eagles. May their numbers increase.

Article written by: Profiles International, published with permission.

HR Recession Lessons

2009 will go down as a year to remember but for many businesses the memories may be painful ones. As we move from depths of the recession into the glimmer of a recovery we have an opportunity to reflect on valuable HR lessons learned and use those lessons to become more resilient, to survive and thrive despite the inevitable ups and downs of a complex global economy.

The most recent economic downturn is still too fresh for us to have the full benefit of 20/20 hindsight but this is the perfect moment to start to analyze what worked, what got us into trouble and how we can more effectively manage, train and deploy our human capital resources.

Some companies gain market share during a recession and even during the Great Depression Kellog, Proctor & Gamble and Chevrolet all managed to grow. Google and Amazon showed it could happen during the 2000-2001 recession and continue to be resilient and successful even in the current troubled economy. These large companies are not alone. Many small and midsize businesses also have demonstrated a winning business strategy can work even in the midst of a raging economic storm and a major key to success is a focused, efficient and engaged workforce

So what are some of the "first glance" HR lessons from the current recession?

• Head in the sand is not a winning strategy. Employees have powerful antennae that tell them when there is trouble in the company so don't let the elephant in the room go unacknowledged.


• Rumors and fear are costly distractions and will eat time and resources if not addressed. The truth is seldom as awful as the collective imaginations of your employees who hear doom and gloom on the nightly news and project it into the workplace.


• Cutting your payroll too deeply can leave you without the talent necessary to respond to changing market conditions. If cuts are inevitable make them as strategically as possible because talent is expensive to acquire and train.


• Outsourcing can maintain the key HR functions while controlling costs and minimizing risks. HR related complaints and lawsuits rise in seemingly direct correlation to worsening economic conditions.


• Even in a tight job market talented employees have other options. If you cannot offer raises or other incentives to your superstars get creative about what you can offer. Your human capital investment may be your most valuable business asset when times are tough.


• Focus on the positive and encourage innovation. Everyone wants to be part of a winning team and your talent in the trenches may have the fresh ideas or vision your company needs to succeed in challenging economic times.


• The job market will improve sooner or later and employees will remember how they were treated during the difficult times. In many companies cutbacks were so extreme that the survivors are exhausted and unhappy. If your employees have been pushed to the breaking point and are poised to bolt at the first opportunity now is the time to begin rebuilding relationships.


• Employees will want to be rewarded for their efforts as the economy gets better. Employers should plan to evaluate compensation and benefits as the economy improves in order to remain competitive when the job market opens up again but not at the expense of rebuilding capital reserves.


• HR expertise is invaluable when addressing a complex and challenging employment landscape and bringing HR into the strategic process early can help avoid costly mistakes.
  
  HR will play a vital role in the transition from recession to recovery, especially in companies where the economic crisis has been severe and survival mode has meant putting out HR fires but left little time or attention to strategic HR. A good look back gives us an opportunity to assess and reevaluate as we formulate new strategies that incorporate the lessons learned.
  
  
  

Business Pandemic Planning

Imagine tomorrow morning you discover that 40% of your staff is out sick and the missing people are in clusters wiping out entire critical functions within your business for the NEXT 10 DAYS! How would you make sure that your business survives this very real situation? What would you do and who would you do it with? A well written policy can help your business survive.

In drafting that policy, it's important to keep in mind guidance just issued by the EEOC. That's right - as you develop your policy you have to keep in mind the ADA and other employment regulations.

The Society for Human Resource Management offers a number of practical tips to keep your business on track during this swine flu pandemic:

• Don't discriminate against people who might have H1N1 flu or have been exposed to the virus.
• Know your company's leave policies so that you can explain them to your employees. Apply them consistently to all of your employees.
• Identify critical functions and the skills needed to complete them.
• Inventory your employees' skills. Who has the skills to complete critical functions?
• Cross-train workers so more employees can complete more critical functions.
• Identify which workers can serve as substitutes for others.
• Keep an eye on absentee rates. If they appear to be rising, get ready to move your employees into their cross-trained roles. If any of those roles require certification or other preparation, make sure the cross-trained employees are up-to-date before moving into their new roles.
• Consider virtual meetings instead of face-to-face gatherings. Try to limit contact among employees to halt the spread of the virus.
• If possible, allow employees to work staggered shifts to reduce the number of people in the workplace. Allowing workers to commute outside of rush hour can also help reduce contact with potentially ill people on mass transit.
• Find out if you are authorized to make decisions about activating emergency plans.

If you have questions about your planning strategy and compliance YPP's HR professionals are available to assist.

The Holiday Office Party

Last year we joked about the grumpy HR Grinch, ready to shut down your rollicking good time this holiday season. You know, the anything goes office party where your employees leave their inhibitions at the door. The celebratory occasion that provides months of post party gossip.

This year, more employers are evaluating whether to even have that party and associated expense. We recommend that you reinvent the office party concept and try something new like a lunch event, group outing to an amusement park or volunteer activity with a local charity.

And the formal party isn't always what employees enjoy the most. At YPP, the CEO's have cooked lunch for our employees for the last several years, and that's been just as much fun as when we did more elaborate evening parties -and far less risky since we don't serve alcohol. We also treat everyone to the holiday show at our local theater, PCPA.

However you choose to celebrate the holidays with your employees this year, we want you to have a bright and "HR Safe" holiday season. We have a few tips to help our employers avoid the biggest holiday party danger zones, alcohol and sexual harassment.

The following tips were prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor, Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace in an attempt to assist employers in minimizing negative consequences of alcohol consumption at their holiday parties.

Be honest with employees. Make sure your employees know your workplace substance abuse policy and that the policy addresses the use of alcoholic beverages in any work-related situation and office social function.

Post the policy. Use every communication vehicle to make sure your employees know the policy. Prior to an office party, use break room bulletin boards, office e-mail and paycheck envelopes to communicate your policy and concerns.

Make sure employees know when to say when. If you do serve alcohol at an office event, make sure all employees know that they are welcome to attend and have a good time, but they are expected to act responsibly.

Make it the office party of choice. Make sure there are plenty of non-alcoholic beverages available.

Eat...and be merry! Avoid serving lots of salty, greasy or sweet foods which tend to make people thirsty. Serve foods rich in starch and protein which stay in the stomach longer and slow down the absorption of alcohol in the bloodstream.

Designate party managers. Remind managers that even at the office party, they may need to implement the company's alcohol and substance abuse policy.

Arrange alternative transportation. Anticipate the need for alternative transportation for all party goers and make special transportation arrangements in advance of the party. Encourage all employees to make use of the alternative transportation if they consume any alcohol.

Serve none for the road. Stop serving alcohol before the party officially ends. Employers are encouraged to review their company policies regarding alcohol consumption and furthermore, to enforce their policies at all company celebrations.

Sexual Harassment
With or without too much alcohol a holiday party can become the opportunity for sexual harassment claims. As a California employer you must know that State law forbids sexual harassment under FEHA and Government Code section 12940.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) enforces FEHA law and has found sexual harassment to include:

Verbal harassment, such as epithets, derogatory comments, or slurs;

Physical harassment, such as assault or physical interference with movement or work; and

Visual harassment, such as derogatory cartoons, drawings, or posters.
As an employer what can you do to help minimize the risk? The following tips can help you avoid holiday party harassment liability:

Remind employees beforehand that their liability for sexual harassment applies at all times, including during the party.

Make sure your supervisors' sexual harassment training is up to date, and you may want to redistribute the company's sexual harassment and substance abuse policies to everyone a week or so before the party.

If you know or suspect someone in your organization is putting you at risk for a sexual harassment claim take steps now to address it now, don't wait until it is too late.

YPP HR Managers can help you in planning an "HR Safe" holiday celebration. We want you to enjoy the season knowing you have done everything possible to avoid a post holiday legal hangover.

How poor managers threaten us

What have ineffective managers contributed to organizations around the world? No list would be complete without these "gifts" from those who manage poorly:

• The 80-hour work week
• Discouragement of initiative, creative thinking and risk-taking
• Massive turnover
• Ultimate failure of the organization

This is the story of business that gets repeated, often in scandalously public ways, year after year. One spectacular collapse of a poorly run company earlier this decade included a customer service vice-president who did not exist, even though his name appeared at the bottom of the company's form letters. The business received so many complaints from customers that it made up the name so that no one had to deal one-on-one with dissatisfied people.

Although poor management is the standard operating procedure at many places - and although poorly managed companies often seem to thrive - believing that they will prevail is like believing a house of straw can survive 150-mph winds. Unless the builder erected the straw house underground or reinforced it with steel, it cannot withstand a storm. So goes the poorly managed company.

We are devoting this issue of Profiles Advantage to the subject of incompetent managers because they are so prevalent and so destructive. A new Profiles International report, "Eight Signs of Incompetent Managers," notes that 40 percent of workers believe they have bad bosses. Yet organizations often manage to survive for years or even decades even though they are poorly run.

How does this happen? First, many of them likely provide important goods and services, something that a majority of the population needs or wants.

Second, if they are about to miss important deadlines, they are well versed in reactionary management. They throw more people and hours at a problem, forcing others to bear the burden of poor management.

Third, they reward poor managers for finishing the project on deadline. This ensures that nothing changes and sends the message to other workers - some of whom put in 20-hour workdays to help finish poorly managed projects on time, that:

a. Planning is not necessary or perhaps not even something the boss wants.

b. Poor performance is not only acceptable, we reward it.

c. Creative thinking is not welcome, even when the project is foundering

d. If you complain or offer ideas different from the boss's, you will not fit in.

e. If you don't like the way things are, here's the door.

Sadly, people who might offer courageous solutions and a brighter future to a troubled business either fall in lockstep with poor management, or they do leave. And when poor operation causes high turnover, we have a perfect storm. Because in most areas of commerce, there is too much competition for poorly managed organizations to survive.

Their failure might occur in stages, so that it's not all that evident. But it will happen, as surely as the house of straw will blow away in a hurricane.

Top leaders who are paying attention to detail will want to act quickly if they see any of these symptoms of incompetence:

• Managers discourage decision-making by failing to make decisions themselves, or refusing to own up to a decision if it might result in criticism.
• They prevent the completion of tasks because they give no one the responsibility to do things; often, they try to do too much themselves because they don't want to give control of a project to someone who might do it worse - or better.
• They react to problems instead of thinking ahead and planning. Projects are late; new initiatives are non-existent.
• Since they do not engage anyone, there is no team play. Communication is rarely face-to-face. They don't value people, or if they do, don't know how to show it.
• They don't often improve because they fail to see problems in themselves and problems they create.

Leading the managers is not easy, but it's not impossible, either. It requires paying attention to the big picture and, sometimes, to the details. This is the kind of foundation work that ensures an organization will stand up even to gale-force winds.

Contributed by: Jim Sirbasku, CEO, Profiles International

YPP Book Club

Having really enjoying Keith McFarland's last book, The Breakthrough Company, I was looking forward to reading his newest one, Bounce. It's a very quick read, but tells a strong story.

There have been some mixed opinions about McFarland's choice of style for this book. He uses a fable to tell the story of a CEO whose company is facing serious challenges, including the loss of a major client, a key employee quitting and the corporate entity demanding significant budget cuts. Through a friendship with an ex-Army Ranger, the CEO learns valuable lessons he implements to help his company "bounce" and turn itself around. His choice is very effective. While he could certainly detail his research from seven years of studying the performance of thousands of companies and more years consulting for businesses, the fable lets him wind that research and experience into a strong story.

The military insight from the Ranger started from the observation that in many companies that begin disintegrating, everyone becomes focused on blame and excuses, and so often are not able to recover. His analogy of these companies is a Christmas ornament - when they're dropped, they simply fall apart. Those that can use that downturn as an opportunity to reassess and improve or reinvent, can reintegrate themselves and benefit substantially from it.

The book contains 6 principles that are interdependent and create increasing levels of bounce. As the fable CEO applied these principles, he was able to engage his employees in an in-depth analysis of why there were failing and identify opportunities they had been overlooking.

Even if your company isn't disintegrating, you can apply these principles for a process of improvement and growth. YPP has been engaged this year in an in-depth revision of our strategic plan and we have begun applying some of the principles of this book in that process. For example, principle 3 is to "manage the mental factors" and includes involving people in thinking through issues and involving outsiders. We are doing both of these this year. We have staff evaluating processes and services to help identify ways we can improve efficiency and we have re-engaged a group of trusted advisors. We encourage you to see how these principles can be applied in your business.

Employers Facing Social Media Policy Challenges

"Social media is content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies..." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Social media has expanded exponentially in recent years, leaving many businesses and their employees in uncharted territory. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, Instant Messaging... and countless others means of humans interacting electronically. People are interacting in ways that did not even exist until very recently and creating serious challenges for businesses and their employees because there are no established guidelines, no one-size-fits-all policy and no slow down in sight. It isn't just Gen Y either. My 80 year old mother regularly communicates with friends and family on Facebook so don't assume your employees aren't there or in countless other places in cyberspace.

Not very long ago if companies added computer, internet and email usage policies to their handbooks they could be pretty confident that their risk was minimized even if not completely eliminated. If the policies were properly communicated and enforced, in conjunction with solid non-disclosure rules, most employees would not breach company security, disclose proprietary information or waste their work hours playing video poker. With the addition of some basic monitoring of employee computer usage, a good firewall and sometimes more sophisticated surveillance it was relatively easy to control the electronic flow of information into and out of the company. Ah, the good old days.

Now, completely new electronic communication methods are leaving business owners and managers befuddled and frustrated in their attempts to address them in the work setting. Social media is a constantly moving target. It has incredible potential as a business development tool but also a much darker side. The potential to destroy reputations, put proprietary information in the wrong hands, and create legal and ethical complications create new challenges for businesses.

Challenging, yes, but as this new technology evolves it is possible to establish a workable Social Media Policy to help you take advantage of the upside and manage the downside of this technological evolution reshaping how we communicate and do business. Each business will need to design a policy based on their unique corporate culture.

So what exactly is a Social Media Policy? A review of more than 100 published policies showed that while they are very diverse, there are repeated themes such as common sense, good judgment, responsibility, confidentiality and staying within legal parameters. The other thing found was a tacit recognition of First Amendment free speech rights, carefully balanced against the rights of companies to protect their reputations and proprietary information.

This is a relatively new field of study but there is a large body of information already published, indicative of the vital importance this issue is taking on in the business community. A recent About.com article on developing social media policies quoted Shama Kabani, author of the Zen of Social Media Marketing and her 10 steps to developing a Social Media Policy, which are as follows:

• Decide where your company stands with respect to their desired relationship with social media. You also need to decide where you stand relative to monitoring employee use of social media too.
  
  
• Determine what constitutes social media.
  
  
• As with any offline or online content written, used, received, developed or saved in company owned electronics provided to employees, clarify who owns what.
  
  
• Keep confidential and proprietary information private. Respect the privacy rights of other employees and your customers.
  
  
• Decide who is responsible for managing and participating in social media.
  
  
• Establish ground rules for employee participation in social media.
  
  
• While your employees probably already exercise good common sense while participating online, your social media policy must specifically address examples of taboo topics.
  
  
• Create a system for monitoring the social media sphere.
  
  
• Make training easily available for employees who want to participate in social media.
  

One of the other real risks inherent in social media is the instant nature of communication. Once the button is pushed the message is out there and it cannot be retrieved. As we all know, Google has a very long memory. Regularly review your policy and maintain an ongoing dialogue with employees so they know what the policy contains and what the consequences for violating the policy will be. It may be that there are already inadvertent policy violations you will need to address. For instance if your company has a policy that only human resources can give references and employees in your company are using sites like LinkedIn you may need to evaluate those LinkedIn recommendations within the context of your current policy.

Although there is no single policy that covers every conceivable issue, the Social Media Policy developed by IBM and published on their web site http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html offers a good look at the issues to be considered. IBM has more than a little experience in addressing the consequences of technology innovations and while they encourage employee use of social media technology they have also developed a very comprehensive policy to ensure employees follow company guidelines.

It truly isn't a question of whether or not you need a Social Media Policy because if you have employees and they have access to computers, cell phones or other electronic communication devices you will be faced with these issues sooner or later. The question is really one of what to include and how much monitoring you are willing or able to ensure the policy works for you and your employees.

YPP can assist you with developing your social media policy, so contact your YPP HR Manager or sales@ypp.com.