How well do you know your people?

Are you sometimes surprised by how people respond differently to changing business environments? The American workplace is a fluid environment that is constantly changing and this is especially true of the combinations of people that need to work together. Today's managers have to make critical decisions in an ever changing, dynamic and culturally diverse workplace. This requires an in-depth knowledge of each person's strengths and weaknesses and guessing at this exponentially increases the risks to the business.

In most businesses this knowledge is accumulated over a long period of time through an expensive process of trial and error. One challenge with this is that the loss of the manager results in the loss of a tremendous amount of very expensive tribal knowledge. This is even more important when you consider the new hire. In this case the new person coming into the team is largely an unknown. Through the interview process we learned a little bit about them and expanded our knowledge with reference checking and some skill tests but in reality we know next to nothing about the real person. So the manager is faced with the job of fitting an unknown person into a poorly documented existing team. It is no wonder that this does not work sometimes.

While there is no substitution for a personal relationship with another person, you can rapidly gain a better perspective of another person through the use of psychometric assessments. This tool gives the manager a better understanding of the core characteristics of employees and improves their ability to make team decisions that work better. If your objective is to increase employee performance, improve employee communication, provide leadership training and development, reduce turnover, improve employee motivation, increase sales, or hire the right person this tool needs to be in your toolbox.

So what is a Psychometric Assessment? Simply stated it is a profile of the attributes of the person's personality. It helps you understand strengths, weaknesses, and values/perspective that person uses to make decisions. It advances your knowledge of the job match attributes of that person. We all know that different personality types perform at different levels depending on the challenge at hand. For example an entrepreneurial personality is not likely to be happy in a very structured and repetitive work place but they are incredibly valuable in new product development.

The areas measured by these assessments include: Learning Index, Verbal Skill, Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Ability, Numeric Reasoning, Energy Level, Assertiveness, Sociability, Manageability, Attitude, Decisiveness, Accommodating, Independence, and Objective Judgment. Beyond these measurements it also identifies their interests including Enterprising, Financial/Admin, People Service, Technical, Creative, and Mechanical.

As a business grows, eventually it becomes impossible to know everyone at a personal level. People have many facets to them and these assessments can help you discover things that could take years of working with the person. These tests are not perfect and there is no single answer to how to deal the diverse workforce of today but the more you information you have the better your decisions can be. The question you have to ask yourself is do you have the time to use trial and error or should you step up to something more scientific.

Stimulus Package More Than $...HR Changes Too

There have already been countless laundry lists published of the HR tasks generated by the new economic stimulus package. HR departments everywhere are scrambling to make the nuts and bolts changes needed to comply. Rather than focusing solely on the new tasks generated by the stimulus package it may be the perfect time to step back and look at the bigger HR picture and how your HR professionals can make a more significant contribution to the management team. The economic stimulus package is ultimately about jobs and a more viable economy. With so much on the table and at stake this may be the perfect opportunity for an HR stimulus as well.

The urgency of the current economic situation means we must move the conversation forward and make our HR professionals much more than masters of the HR task list. Your Human Resource professionals need to assume a far more critical role, strategic management partner. When the economy is good and things are humming smoothly it is easy to for companies to let HR to fall into the role of compliance cops or worse, the equivalent of the shovel and the dustpan at the end of the parade. HR has much more to offer and they will never face greater tests or have a better opportunity to demonstrate their skills, resources and capacity to be key members of the management team.

Business owners, managers and employees are all stakeholders in the economic recovery and it is time for all hands on deck. The moment has come to strip away the endless TV commentary and politics surrounding the Stimulus Package to focus on the day to day work we all must engage in. HR has long held that they deserve a seat at the management table and in the current business climate HR professionals will have a golden opportunity take a seat and assume a meaningful leadership role. This means you should expect your HR professionals must to forth innovative ideas on effective human capital deployment and employee engagement which will bolster business survivability and success. In short, they must demonstrate the ability to be less transactional and more transformational. Only then will HR become your strategic management partner.

Jason Corsello recently wrote an interesting piece on the Human Capitalist Blog summarizing some key points made by Tod Loofbourrow, Chairman of Authoria, when he spoke recently at the Strategic e-HR Conference. He was talking about HR executives that "get it" and laid out the first three qualities summarized below. Jason added the fourth point. These thought provoking ideas put forth by Tom Loofbourrow's and Jason Corsello are the perfect jumping off point to begin an HR stimulus conversation.

1. Business acumen. They have a true understanding of their own company, its business, the products and the industry it operates. Too many HR executives don't even know the products their company sells and at what price or margin.

2. Analytical mindset. They think in numbers not emotions. They leverage data to make decisions and measure their business proactively.

3. Accountability. They are willing to make hard, critical decisions independently and will to put their proverbial “ass on the line”. Accountability also means they have a favorable reputation within the organization and can garner support throughout.

4. They know what they don't know. This really means they know the right questions to ask and surround themselves with smart people, experts and knowledge.

And I would like to suggest another point for inclusion on the list:

5. They see HR as a fully vested member of the management team. They have a thorough understanding where HR fits in big picture of the management puzzle and understand why HR is vital to the success of the company.

So how do management and HR make such a dramatic shift and change the dynamic of HR as usual? In the next few months we will examine each of the areas on this list and discuss what owners, managers and HR professionals can do to more fully integrate HR into the management team.

The Untapped Potential of HR

Another CEO that I respect stated; "There is no doubt of the potential of HR to move my business forward; what is in doubt is the ability of HR to live up to that potential." While this is stinging comment about the HR profession it is a reasonably fair comment. HR rarely lives up to its potential because the potential is almost unlimited. HR is part of the team that hires, retains, and develops the staff that is the next generation of the business. HR is responsible for a wide range of challenges involving the management of the human capital of the business, while being in charge of very little and having extremely limited authority in most businesses. HR's potential impact is nothing less than the future of the business and HR, by design, must negotiate with other managers to accomplish the decisions that must be made.

The role of HR is to maximize the effectiveness and organization of your staff. This was elegantly put forward by the book "From Good to Great". In this business classic the author expresses a goal of "Getting the right people on the bus" and putting them in the "Right Seat". This is the potential of HR and the task is inherently difficult because every person put on the bus and every change in business strategy changes the right fit for the next seat. Proper assessment of your employees, contractors, and partners is critical to these bus decisions.

HR is a never ending stream of investigations, recommendations, negotiations, and decisions intended to assemble the best team. The problem, as every executive knows, is that there are a thousand ways to build a business, and not all people you build it with are the same. Right now our businesses are facing a very difficult economic period and it is time for many businesses to take roll call on the bus and assess the fitness of the team. This is where HR professionals can be a great asset to your management team.

HR's role is to manage the complexities of job match and to establish policy that provides a fair system for managing the unavoidable conflicts that happen in every organization. Some degree of personality conflict is actually good for a business and certainly we need diversity when we are trying to solve complex business issues. With diversity comes conflict and competition and when managed properly these are assets not liabilities. A strong HR can contribute as a natural third party that brings the diversity together and helps focus it on the business objectives.
As we lead our organizations through this difficult economic period we need to make sure we have the right people on the bus, and HR should take a lead role in validating this. We need to deploy the best tools we have for staff assessments, examine group dynamics, and professional development plans. We need to be asking the tough questions like:

Do we have people that have been over promoted?

Do we have people that need to be promoted?

Do we have technical experts in leadership roles rather than creating innovation in the organization?

Do we have leaders in technical roles?

Do the styles of the various leaders fit together as a well balanced team?

Do we need every position that is authorized?

Are salaries in line with the current market?

Do we have obtainable and clearly expressed goals for each position?

Are goals across the organization aligned with each other?

Are bonuses and incentives designed for maximum advancement of the business?

Are policies and procedures updated for changes in technology and staffing?

Do we have effective team practices in place?

Are people properly motivated?

These are tough introspective questions about your business but those that answer and then address these issues will be the ones talking about how they flourished during the 2009 recession. In the current economic condition some are going extremely defensive cutting every expense in sight and going to into extreme defensive mode. While others are taking advantage of their competitor's defensive position to gain market share. Which strategy is right for your business depends on who is on the bus and where you are going? It is time for the HR profession to step up and help their organizations facilitate this discussion.

Author: Sandra Dickerson Esq., Co-CEO, Your People Professionals

POP QUIZ: What Kind of Leader Are YOU?

Take our quiz to find out what kind of leader you are. Keep in mind that leadership qualities can change depending on your role, your manager's leadership style, and your employees' differences. Also, you might use a combination of several styles depending on your team's personality, the type of role you have, and the work issues you face. This quiz only suggests how you might respond to important decisions that you might face on a regular basis.

1. You have two days to make a big decision. You:

A. Decide without input from peers, subordinates or team members.

B. Depend on your veteran employees to make the decision, knowing they will make the right one.

C. Quickly convene a meeting with your team members and make your decision based on the prevailing attitude you hear.

D. Prefer to leave the decision to a subordinate, then take credit if it's a good one and stay silent if it does not work.

2. What do employees want most from their jobs?

A. Feeling valued

B. Less stress

C. Being part of a team

D. Shared vision and values

3. Your team misses a deadline. You:

A. Take responsibility, then immediately finish the project yourself.

B. Appoint one or two people on the team to get the project finished by a new deadline they set themselves.

C. Find out why the team missed the deadline and ask for suggestions about what the next step should be, then set a new deadline.

D. Yell at team members, tell the group at large to fix the problem, then stride away.

4. When you have an idea you believe is good for the company, you:

A. Float it immediately to higher-ups in your organization who can make it happen.

B. Ask highly trusted members of your team to research and test the idea and get back to you with their thoughts, then forget about it.

C. Present your idea at a team meeting and seek opinions before deciding what to do next.

D. It's not your job to have ideas.

5. When a trusted team member is late for three meetings in a row and is evasive with you about the reason, you:

A. Tell the employee privately that you expect punctuality and insist that the tardiness not occur again.

B. Ask human resources to find out what is going on, but request no report back to you.

C. Seek out the advice of several trusted peers.

D. Confront the employee in a public setting and ask in a loud voice why he or she keeps missing work.

6. Budget concerns mean there will be no raises in the new fiscal year. You:

A. Discuss the issue with no one, but write and distribute an internal memo instructing people with questions to see you.

B. Tell your veteran team members there will be no raises, and let them inform employees the way they see fit.

C. Convene a meeting of team members, break the news and allow questions. Then ask them for ideas on how to tell everyone else and what your organization can offer instead of raises.

D. You never plan raises in your budget anyway, so it doesn't matter.

If you answered mostly A: A is for autocratic leadership. Although you get the job done efficiently, you tend to be a bit inflexible and this could build resentment among employees, giving you results that will prevent your organization's growth (lack of development and high turnover).

Light-bulb moment: Develop some of your trusted subordinates by teaching them what you do so well, and you won't have to work such long hours. You might even enjoy work more!

If you answered mostly B: B is for benign, or laissez-faire leadership. Your style works best when people are old hands at their jobs, and your employees appreciate you for putting your trust in them. However, be sure to designate specifically who is responsible for which projects or they may not get done.

Light-bulb moment: Set firm deadlines and check along the way to make sure you get what you expect. Also, schedule dates for reports to come directly to you in the form (written or oral) that makes sense for you and the team.

If you answered mostly C: C is for collaborative leadership. It's a nice way to make team members feel useful and a good development tool. It also cuts down on cutthroat competition if everyone has an equal say.

Light-bulb moment: If you are a leader who thrives on quick decisions, or if your organization requires them, find a way to compromise between you-think and group-think.

If you answered mostly D: Your employees probably do not trust you. Do you trust yourself?

Light-bulb moment: One of the first things you can do is to lay a strong foundation by treating others the way you wish to be treated. If you want the responsibility of leading, develop your interpersonal skills in leadership training courses.

"Business is a combination of war and sport." - Andre Maurois, French Author

Who is your Chief Performance Officer?

This week Barack Obama appointed a Chief Performance Officer for the Federal Government, focused on assessing the performance of government programs and finding opportunities to reduce waste and eliminate low-performing investments. So who is the Chief Performance Officer in a business?

We have been studying this issue and I wrote about this topic several years ago in CLO Magazine, so lets revisit this issue in today's economy. My thesis is that that strong Human Resources and L&D leaders have the opportunity to play this role in a highly strategic way.

Let us look at the three "owners" of performance in a business:

1. Business Leaders own operational business performance.

Unlike the Federal Government, where program managers are really "spenders," in our companies the people who spend money are held directly accountable for results. The VP of Sales has a sales quota, the VP of Manufacturing has a production and quality quota, and the VP of Customer Service has a customer satisfaction and rate of response quota.

2. Finance Leaders own financial monitoring and budgeting.

In most companies the CFO or Finance organization monitors spending, headcount, and expenses. Their job is not to drive performance, per-se, but rather to monitor financial performance and give the business and HR leaders the information they need to quickly realign resources when things are not going well.

For example, when Starbucks realized its business was slowing last Fall, the CFO quickly announced a slowdown in sales, store traffic, and other information - this information was then used by retail operations and staffing to cut or reduce hiring and close strategic locations. Ultimately the work of improving performance goes back to the business leaders.

3. Strategic HR and L&D Leaders create Processes and Systems to drive performance.

When done well, strategic HR or L&D leaders (often the CLO, or VP of OD) actually know more about why performance suffers than many other leaders. They have the tools and visibility to understand where weak leadership, low engagement, mis-alignment, or skills-gaps are holding the organization back.

In addition, the tools of talent management (performance management, goal alignment, leadership and supervisory development, succession management, total rewards) are powerful levers over performance. Our research clearly shows that these "people processes" really matter.

How People Processes drive Performance

Consider some of our research findings over the years. Organizations with a strong "learning culture" are 12-15% more profitable over a 10 year period than those without such a learning culture (The High Impact Learning Organization®, 2008). Organizations with strong competency-based performance management processes drive higher revenue growth and profitability by industry (The Role of Competencies in Driving Financial Performance, 2007).

Consider the impact of people on expense and resource allocation. The typical business spends 60-70% of its total expenses on payroll, and of course employees make decisions every day about where to spend money. When people are unproductive or misaligned, vast amounts of money are wasted.

Finally consider the importance of decision-making in an organziation. Every day virtually every employee makes decisions about what to do, how to behave, how to deal with customer or internal problems, and how to share or interact with others. These individual decisions (like tiny little economies in the macro-economy) make up the lifeblood of organizational performance. When the people side of the business is not managed, dysfunctional and unproductive decisions are being made all the time.

Building the "People Performance Model"

I would suggest that one of the most strategic things you can do as an HR or L&D leaders is to build your organization's "People Performance Model." Essentially this means uncovering the "secret sauce" which makes your organization perform. Let me give you an example.

This week I had the opportunity to talk with the Chief Talent Officer of Lowes. He told me that after a year of research among thousands of stores they found that the #1 driver of retail store financial performance is employee engagement. This is not a glib or simple conclusion. Similar research by Gallup (The Human Sigma), found that retail stores with high employee commitment levels generate 3.4X the return of stores with low employee commitment levels. In fact, this research found that retail employee engagement has a bigger factor on customer retention than satisfaction with the products themselves.

So in the case of Lowes, where the Chief Talent Officer analyzed store performance in detail, the company has now decomposed the level of engagement into three driving factors: employee-manager relationship, job fit and career opportunity, and total rewards. These findings are not rocket-science, but in the case of Lowes the correlation analysis is so strong that the company can go into each store, measure these three engagement elements, and predict how well a store will perform.
Lowes also found something else. There are two pivotal job roles which drive these three engagement indexes: the store manager and store sales manager. The store manager is a real manager; the store sales manager is actually an individual contributor who one would consider a strong "influencer" of in-store employee engagement.

This work is what one could call the "People Model" or "People Performance Model."
What Lowes can now do is filter all their HR and L&D investments against this model. In their case the Chief Talent Officer is looking at the company's leadership develpment programs with a strong focus on what it takes to help store managers better coach, align, and communicate with employees. In this case the solution involves a very specialized, highly customized supervisory development program.

Why HR or L&D Leaders are so Important

I would argue that you, as a strong HR or L&D leader, must lead this type of effort. You, as an HR or L&D professional, best understand the way that performance management, leadership, rewards, learning, and systems fit together to drive high performing teams and organizations. By working with your leadership, you also have the closest understanding of your company's "secret sauce."

As I will be presenting at IMPACT 2009® this year, our latest research clearly shows that organizations which implement high-performing learning cultures, strong talent management strategies, and build a true "people plan" drive much higher long term (5-10 year) financial performance than those which have weaker or less mature people strategies. If you are an HR or L&D leader, you should rethink your role as the "Chief Performance Officer." Rather than just "implement HR programs," focus on understanding the core people model in your organization:

What are the critical roles that drive success? What is the profile of a high-performer in your organization? What cultural and leadership elements drive success? Why do people fail in your organization? How can you use this information to build HR and L&D processes which build, reinforce, and improve these factors?

If you think about your role in this way, I can guarantee that you will become a "Chief Performance Officer" - and such a focus will improve your career, your impact, and your organization's success.

About This Analyst

Josh Bersin writes on the ever-changing landscape of business-driven learning and talent management. His favorite topics include strategic talent management, creating high-impact learning organizations, and how organizations drive business change and competitive advantage through talent strategy and technology.

The Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA):

On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), for an effective date of January 1, 2009. The Act updated the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide broader protections (at the federal level). The Act is intended to strengthen the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act by clarifying several Supreme Court decisions. This new legislation allows more American workers to qualify as disabled under the new guidelines.

There are three major changes to the current Americans with Disabilities Act. The new law:

1. Prohibits employers and courts from considering the effects of mitigating measures, with the exception of ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses, when determining whether an employee has a disability. Not considering mitigating measures means that an employee will be evaluated without regard to hearing aids, medications, prosthetic devices and other measures they might use to manage their impairments.

2. Expands the list of major life activities in which an employee may be limited. The non-exhaustive list will now include caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. For the first time, major life activities include the operation of major bodily functions, including functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine and reproductive functions. The larger list of activities is intended to encourage the courts to interpret the ADA more broadly to ensure that employees who need the law's protections will be covered by the same statute.

3. Broadens the "regarded as" part of the statute's definition of disability. Specifically, the new act requires an individual to prove they were discriminated against because of an actual or perceived impairment, even if the impairment does not limit or is not perceived to limit a major life activity. Previously, employees were required to demonstrate that actual or perceived impairment was believed to be substantially limiting. The Act also states that employers are not required to reasonably accommodate an individual who is "regarded as" disabled.

So what does this new federal legislation mean for the small business employer in California? Not as much as you may think.

The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in California, which applies to employers with 5 or more employees, requires that an employer provide reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities. California law also prohibits discrimination against a person based on a medical condition. A "medical condition includes any health related to or associated with a diagnosis of cancer, or a record or history of cancer, as well as an individual's genetic characteristics". In a California Court of Appeal, it was held that the FEHA does require reasonable accommodation in a "regarded as" situation.

FEHA remains as strict as the newly amended federal ADA, and may be even stricter in some regards. However, any time there is publicity about employment laws, remember that your employees hear or read it also, and your exposure to lawsuits increases. It's important to be aware of your ADA obligations and be alert to possible ADA triggers such as:

• candidate screening: including a question on your application that asks if an applicant has a disability
  
• employee absences: frequent absences or absences for long periods of time
  
• performance issues: a sudden change in productivity or quality of work
  
• behavioral change: inability to focus, inconsistency with job tasks, inability to work with others
  
• employee termination: your employee resigns and then rescinds their resignation, or resigns for personal reasons.
  

As always, stay alert and if you need clarity or have questions contact your Human Resources representative or legal counsel.

Don't Let Economic Stress Become an Employment Lawsuit

None of us can be certain of what to expect in these turbulent economic times but we can be certain most of us will see increased workplace challenges. HR professionals and the labor law community are being advised to anticipate significant increases in work related complaints and lawsuits as the fallout from the current economic downturn continues.

In this volatile business climate employees are anxious to alleviate their economic and emotional pain and an employer may become the focus of employee frustration and anger. The result may be a financially and emotionally draining lawsuit at a time when every business resource is already stretched too thin. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported 2007 as having the highest volume of incoming private sector discrimination charge filings since 2002 and the largest annual increase since the early 1990's. We can only imagine what the final tally for 2008 and beyond will be given the rapid deterioration in overall economic conditions. Employers who believe this won't happen to them can be seriously wrong; former employees who find their unemployment benefits ending, savings gone and no other job prospects in sight have significant motivation to look for a lawsuit.

Lawsuits can run the gamut from age discrimination to harassment. In a volatile economic climate employers must be extra vigilant to ensure legally compliant employment practices are in place and enforced. Managers and supervisors must be educated on legal employment practices and held accountable for maintaining sound HR practices.

Workforce reductions are a particularly difficult issue and employers often make serious legal mistakes which leave them vulnerable to wrongful termination suits. Some simple advance planning and careful management of the termination process can make all the difference in terms of legal liability.

If a workforce reduction becomes necessary the following steps are critically important:

1. Determine the criteria to be used to establish who will be laid off and be certain it is consistently applied. Carefully evaluate whether your criteria have a disparate impact on protected categories before you implement your plan. If there is any question call on a professional to do an objective evaluation.
2. If you are basing reductions on merit be certain your selection process can withstand scrutiny. Nothing spells lawsuit faster than laying off someone for poor performance when their performance reviews have been positive. This is also not a time to try to rewrite history so be sure if you have a performance appraisal process in place it gives an accurate picture of an employee's performance.
3. Document the workforce reduction process and educate your managers on the process and their responsibilities.
4. Be honest with employees during the process and avoid making promises or sugar coating the truth.
5. Always treat laid off employees with dignity.
6. If at all possible have more than one person present during the termination and document it.

Maintaining solid HR practices during difficult economic times is the key to preventing difficult and costly legal challenges.