What is a Leader's Primary Role?

When will the current leaders realize that their primary role and responsibility is to develop their people?  In other words,  developing the future leaders of the company should be the one skill set that carries the most weight with any performance evaluation.  For a People Development process to succeed, it must be totally supported by the Board of Directors and Senior Leadership Team.

The key to any succession planning process or high potential development tract is the fact that all involved have a complete understanding of the design for the outcome.  The goal should be a stable of future leaders that can assume a more advanced role if needed to do so tomorrow. With warmer weather around the corner a great example is Baseball Season starting; it is similar to creating all-star utility infielders.  Multi-positional players that have the talent to assume any position when needed.  That's the design of the final three positions on any major league team.

What comes first, the Culture or the Strategy

Well, which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The HR professional is starting to ask themselves a
similar question; “which comes first, the development of the culture or the development of the strategy.

Culture is defined as a blend of attitudes, behaviors, actions and beliefs that flourishes with a clear set of
values and norms that actively guide the way an organization operates. I like to say that it is the taste,
smell and feel we can when we come in contact with the organization. This is the origin for the term,
“a fun place to work”. The culture does define the work environment to both the internal and external
customer. Many believe that culture is the environment in which your strategy and your brand lives
or dies. I, like many others, believe that creating the appropriate culture is one of the most important
factors in determine future success.

It has been almost a decade since we feverously created our vision and mission statements. In the
majority of organizations, you will usually find the mission and/or vision statements hanging on the
walls and they probably have not been revised in over ten years. Vision, to me, is the dream of the
organization usually provided by the leadership team. It is a view of what they would like the company
to look like in the future. The Mission Statement on the other hand should be the reason each and
every employee wants to come to work and exhibit a high achieving performance on a daily basis.

We used to break the mission down into purpose. Now, many organizations are translating the purpose
into core values or statements of excellence. This is where the organization needs to associate the
values with the culture. Make sure the values and culture reflect the same meaning to everyone that
enters the building. The culture has to be genuine.

How to Plan for the Future of Your Business with the Help of Employees

The opportunity to change the structure of the company toward a more versatile or bureaucratic structure can now be determined by your management team. The importance of the way your employees perceive your company and the way they think it should be, cannot be denied. These gaps between the actual and the ideal should be given special attention, and can provide your management team with ideas that can be developed and expanded in strategic planning sessions. Assessments can provide a most valuable tool that puts the management team on notice and causes them to consider change within the organization. These changes may never be apparent without this assessment, because it is unbiased, confidential, and provides a comprehensive diagnosis of an organization.

This is certainly needed in our highly competitive environment. Isn't it about time you got your camera out and took a snapshot of your company?

Leadership Doesn't Just Happen: Lead by Intention

When people compliment your success, do you talk about luck rather than purpose? Maybe you should remember chemist Louis Pastuer's assertion that "chance favors the prepared mind." People don't rise to the top by accident. It takes intention to become a great leader. Here are some secrets that can help you out in front:

• Broaden Your Mind. Management consultant Peter Drucker studies a new subject each summer randing from science in Acient Chine to Russian literature. Inspire out-of-the-box thinking and recapture the joy of learning by takinga class in an off-the-wall subject.


• Toot Your Horn. You don't need to become a braggart but you do need to be able to describe your strengths to others who might help further your career. Review your training and experience and pick out the traits you feel are most valuable. You'll find it easier to get the hang of touting your attributes without embarrassment if you practice describing them as if you were talking about a third person.


• Make a Stretch. Rather than waiting for opportunity to knock, ask your supervisor what you should do to prepare for a job two grades above your current position. Be honest in explaining that you're ambitious and want to build skills for a long-range future.


• Face the Music. You'll never be a strong leader until you conquer the fear of giving presentations. Take a public speaking course or join a local Toastmasters chapter. Once you get into the habit of speaking in a non-threatening environment, it will be easier to take the stage when it really counts.


• Find an Example. Look for leadership models in your company, your industry, in public life - or even in works of fiction. Learn all you can about these individuals and emulate their styles or incorporate some of their strong traits into your own style. After all, it's easier to lead if others think you fit the part.


• Take a Chance. Find projects that will take you out of your comfort zone. As First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "You must do the things you think you can not do."

- Adapted from "7 Ways to Lead," by Harriet Rubin

Leadership Modeling in the Ethics Dept.

It is important that managers are role models for the employee when it comes to ethics.

Why? It is important because ethics in the workplace can affect an employee’s productivity.

It has now been statistically collaborated that business ethics can improve productivity. In an article published in the July 7^th issue of HR Magazine, Volume 52, titled, “Corporate Ethics Affects Employee Productivity, a survey of almost 2000 employees, showed that 73 percent of all employees have witnessed unethical behavior while on the job. It was also reported that thirty six percent of the respondents reported unethical behavior negatively affected their job performance. Forty three percent of those surveyed reported that they would personally get involved with resolving the situation while forty eight percent stated that they would get their management team involved with providing a solution to the problem.

Leadership and Management Development courses that focus on performance enhancement and improved productivity are incorporating business ethics modules or content into their curriculum. The role of a leader has always been centered on integrity, honesty, hard work, and fairness. It is important to the employee that their manager exhibits ethical behaviors in the workplace. So important, in fact, that those employees need ethical leaders to be productive. Leadership means influence and when managers understand that their behavior and the behavior of others can have a major impact on performance, productivity will continue to climb.

Employee involvement, motivation, and their commitment to the mission, vision, and purpose in any company centers is enhanced by their leaders’ ethical behavior.

So now, I'd like you to share: As a leader in your company, what are you doing to be a role model for your workers?

Richard Hohmann
Senior Business Development Strategist
Innovative Leadership
609.390.2830

The Battle Cry for Employee Engagement

I had read an article written by Chris and Mel Wildermuth, titled the 10 M’s of Employee Engagement (Training and Development, January 2008). The subtitle noted that Workplace Learning and Performance Professionals need to be engagement champions. The article demonstrated 10 M’s of engagement to help create engagement-friendly organizations. It appears that consultants and the management experts have turned this engagement crisis into a movement and should be uttering a battle cry much like “Remember the Alamo”. It seems we are losing the battle of employee engagement and have the American worker is now totally apathetic in their jobs. Also, it appears that we are fighting for our lives to keep engagement strongly entrenched as a core value of any company or organization. It is now our responsibility to make sure that our employees, leaders, and customers are engaged. But wait, hasn’t that been our responsibility for decades?

Whose responsibility is it to do that? Is it the Human Relations or Resources Manager responsibility? OR is it the CEO and the senior executive team that should do that? Like the article noted in the previous paragraph, it starts with an “M” or “MM”, which of course stands for manager or middle manager. The most critical ingredient for employee engagement is the front-line manager. It has been reported that a 5% increase in employee engagement results in a 2.5% increase in growth. In this era of “do more with less”, the employee who freely gives that extra effort if most valued by their manager.

It’s time for HR Professionals to march directly into the C-Suite and state that they need to train and develop their front-line managers and tell them that these people are the most important component of our plan for sustained growth. We must get our managers to connect the dots between strategy, culture, performance, and motivation. These front-line managers are the future leaders of the company and they will make the difference in the future of the company.

We have to allow our front line managers to:

• Be responsible for employee development and talent management


• Be able to challenge the employee’s abilities and teach them the skills to expand their strengths


• Be able to communicate openly providing clarification for the employee


• Be goal-oriented and provide focus on their contribution to the overall success of the organization by coupling the outcome to the strategy

The skills and competencies of the front-line manager will provide the sustained growth and innovation need in this highly competitive marketplace. Communication, forward thinking, prioritization, and other skills must be learned and applied in the workplace by managers if we can expect to improve employee engagement. Employees need a manager who is willing to provide an “open” communication platform that includes feedback in a timely fashion, candid discussion on performance and appropriate behavior, a willingness to clarify expectations and use metrics to measure results, and to include the employee in the awareness and planning stages for the company’s vision.

We have to get away from telling the employee what they have to do, but why the company’s success is so dependent on them performing at the highest level of commitment. Train and motivate the manager, and the employee will be part of the team.

Join us May 19 12-1pm for a Lunch N Learn on Employee Motivation. Registration is free and we provide lunch. More Info.

Developing a Performance Management Culture

What are the most important factors in regard to the development of a Performance Management culture?

We have been working with companies for over five years focusing on the performance and productivity of their management team and staff. It really boils down to the following ten factors:

1. I have a complete understanding of the definition of my role and responsibilities associated with the assigned job position.
2. The work environment has given me all the tools that I need to be a high achiever in the job position.
3. I have a complete understanding of the workplace expectations outlined by my immediate supervisor.
4. I have a complete understanding of the strategy (Vision, Mission, and Purpose) of the company and know what makes a difference in the marketplace with our customer.
5. I have the information and metrics to monitor my progress toward my goals.
6. I am aware of the market conditions and financial stability of the company at all times.
7. I find the performance appraisal process in my company the most effective means to self-evaluate myself and measure my progress toward my goals.
8. My supervisor is available to discuss any work related concern.
9. People at my company are interested in my career development.
10. I am willing to accept responsibility for my actions and be held accountable for my results. I understand that my compensation should be based on results, both the company’s and mine.
    
    If your employee can attest to the previous statements, then you should have a Performance based culture.
    
    I find it hard to believe that the management teams of companies cannot deliver on those ten criteria. Is it that we don’t know how to have this culture or our supervisor is just not holding us accountable?

What Do Workers Need?

We are starting to focus on the “bottom of the barrel”. In the majority of companies, we have not integrated our business strategies into the culture of our workforce and are not challenging people to learn the skills that will enable them to lead our company long after the disappearance of the baby boomers.

Globally, we are struggling to acquire the employees we need. The demand for workers in the emerging markets like China is outpacing the supply of talent in those areas. The exodus of the “boomers” in the US coupled with the downsizing that occurred in the last fifteen years has left us with a void in talent that is now needed to fill key management positions.

We have not developed the talent that will provide the skills that we will need to achieve our business goals. Linking talent to strategy is something that we must focus on now, not in the future. Companies must focus on their best employees and make sure we give them what they want. We can no longer afford to spend the majority of our time bringing up the “bottom of the barrel”. The top performers in most companies want opportunities for personal development, feedback and positive discipline, and the ability to work with a mentor/coach in a non-threatening environment.

We have to re-energize the “boomers” to become the best teachers of experience and get the younger workers to become the teachers of technology so that the end product will be a high achieving workforce. We have focus on changing behaviors and learn to measure the change…..isn’t that what Human Resources all about?

The Search For Talent - What Happens After the Boomers?

What are our real people challenges? Starting in three years, “Boomers” will be retiring at a 10 million clip per year for the next ten years. Many will continue to work but will work only where and when they want to work. This will leave us with a lot of part-time employees that require flex-time as a benefit. We will be at their scheduling mercy. The Department of Labor has been forecasting a major labor shortage of young people to fill the ranks. So, where are we going to search for talent?

In an interview The Conference Board of Canada conducted with leading management guru, Dave Ulrich, he emphasized that the 21st century will belong to human resources and to organizational capabilities. I agree with him as did the Conference Board of Canada. For the first time in the history of management, it is the human mind that is the primary creator of value. The quality of people and their engagement will be critical factors to both corporate and small business vitality and survival.

Companies must start building their leadership pipeline by formulating a developmental plan for its people. Leadership must be considered a role rather than a function, and individuals within a company must be called upon to exercise leadership within their spheres of influence internally. Succession planning by position and defining the importance of that position to the overall success of the company is a must. What is your succession plan for the future development of your company? What does it look like?

No market is more competitive than ours for employees. No market is more competitive than ours for management talent. In a tight labor market, like the one in which we are about to enter, a strong employment brand identity must be present. You will have to capture a larger portion of the employee mindshare by setting your company apart from the competition by branding your attractiveness to engagement. You will have to make sure that your employees are engaged and that they understand the real purpose of the organization. In our management development courses, we talk about “connecting the dots” for all employees within the company. Managers must exhibit the ways and means to motivate employees to become engaged and make sure at the same time they are connected to the mission and vision of the company. It is even more important that they understand the purpose. We need to provide an environment where the rate of learning exceeds the rate of change. Not an easy task even for the high achieving manager.

This culture of engagement and purpose can be achieved if we hire the “right person” for this culture. As business owners, we need to develop a Hiring and Selection Process that both demonstrates the flavor of our company in terms of a “brand” that attracts the candidate that is the “right person” for the position. What does your Hiring and Selection Process look like? Are you fitting the candidate to the job or the job to the candidate? You better get ready soon because us “Boomers” are coming and the fit needs to be right.

Author: Richard J. Hohmann Jr.
P:(609) 390-2830

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