Workplace Wellness
Workplace wellness is a serious issue. With terms like "stress-related-illness" and "burnout" becoming household words, organizations are increasingly looking for ways to keep their workforce happy, healthy and productive. Up to now, most organizations tended to devalue the idea of laughter at work, seeing it as a distraction from getting the "real" job done. This attitude is also reinforced by the work ethic many of us were raised with: "No pain, no gain," "Work isn't supposed to be fun – it’s a serious business”.
However, we're starting to realize that all of this suffering is hurting us more. Not only that, but we're finding that it's actually counter-productive to the bottom-line results. And amazingly enough, this is confirmed by scientific research. A recent study conducted at financial institutions found that managers who facilitated the highest level of employee performance used humor the most often. Scientific data is also proving that laughter is an integral part of physical wellness. It has been found that laughing 200 times burns off the same amount of calories as 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Another study found that after a bout of laughter, blood pressure drops to a lower, healthier level than before the laughter began. Laughter also oxygenates your blood, thereby increasing energy level, relaxes your muscles and works out all your major internal systems like the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Furthermore, researchers are discovering that laughter also affects the immune system. Hence laughing makes people grow stronger, with the body's T-cells, natural killer cells and antibodies all showing signs of increased activity.
When You Need Humour ...
So what are the specific indicators that tell us we need to incorporate humor into our workplace? According to psychologists there are two major factors.The first is being placed in no-win situations. These include being expected to do a job but not having the necessary resources in terms of time, money, policies or people power. This can also include having to serve a difficult or overly demanding client base or boss, or having to enforce unpopular rules or regulations.
The second is the presence of unpredictable or uncontrollable stressors. These can take the form of regularly arising, but unpredictable, situations which adversely affect stress, workloads or scheduling. They can also include decisions made at other levels of the organization or government that affect your job but into which you have little or no input.
In situations where we have little or no control over our external circumstances, our only control lies in how we react to them. We can either choose to laugh or despair. In some ways, laughter is the only rational response to all of this since, in order to survive, we need to find a life-affirming way to cope. Being able to laugh about ourselves and our situation helps us release tension, regain our perspective, and accept that which we cannot change. Not only that, it also gives us the physical energy and resilience needed to survive.
As more and more groups realize the benefits of laughter, they are incorporating it into their wellness programs. What I have found from working with numerous organizations is that they are often full of very funny and resourceful people who just need to be given permission and encouragement to use their sense of humor on the job. Our "inner clown" is now our lifeline in these times of change and uncertainty. Giving him or her free rein not only results in healthier workplaces, but also increases bonding with the rest of the team. Remember, the group that plays together, stays together!
_Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
WHO ARE HR’s CUSTOMERS
What Customer?
For HR to become more effective as a function and as individual players, the most critical question to be resolved is often: Who is HR's customer? It's a question which rarely is asked because everyone assumes the answer is obvious. But when you ask different people in HR, you get different answers. It's no surprise that many of the actions that HR units initiate are confusing (or downright infuriating) to the organization. The question of who the real customer is, often the most difficult and the most impactful decision an HR professional can make. It's a classical double-blind problem. Most "don't know what they don't know." Most don't even realize they should be dealing with the question. What makes the question even more troublesome is that there's no right answer. There are competing right answers. It's a classical dilemma. You're damned if you pick one and damned if you pick the other. Picking either has opposite advantages and disadvantages. But you also can't avoid making the choice. To not choose consciously and to not communicate a choice clearly guarantees that an HR unit will get caught in paradoxical situations as illustrated throughout this story.
Stakeholders Vs customers:
The distinction between different types of stakeholders is also one which is often fuzzy and problematic for HR and other internal staff units, and contributes to the problems in the classification of HR’s customers. Globally stakeholders are divided into four categories. Customers, influencers, end-users and partners.
•Customers: A customer makes a buying decision (to use you or someone else) and negotiates a formal or informal "contract" with you, the service provider.
•End-users: An end-user (sometimes called a consumer) receives the service.
•Influencers: An influencer sets the parameters within which you can or must operate, but doesn't buy the service.
•Partners: A partner works with you to provide a service. With partners you have mutual need, common objectives and shared risk related to that service.
What makes it difficult is that sometimes different stakeholders in your marketplace switch roles for different projects or demands they're making. So HR has to be careful to know not only what the HR business strategy is, but what role they're in at the time and what your commitments to the stakeholders are in that role. Remember, all of them make demands, but only a trained HR leader in place at the time can sort out these issues, plan an appropriate response and know what the appropriate limits, possibilities and flexibilities need to be
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
For HR to become more effective as a function and as individual players, the most critical question to be resolved is often: Who is HR's customer? It's a question which rarely is asked because everyone assumes the answer is obvious. But when you ask different people in HR, you get different answers. It's no surprise that many of the actions that HR units initiate are confusing (or downright infuriating) to the organization. The question of who the real customer is, often the most difficult and the most impactful decision an HR professional can make. It's a classical double-blind problem. Most "don't know what they don't know." Most don't even realize they should be dealing with the question. What makes the question even more troublesome is that there's no right answer. There are competing right answers. It's a classical dilemma. You're damned if you pick one and damned if you pick the other. Picking either has opposite advantages and disadvantages. But you also can't avoid making the choice. To not choose consciously and to not communicate a choice clearly guarantees that an HR unit will get caught in paradoxical situations as illustrated throughout this story.
Stakeholders Vs customers:
The distinction between different types of stakeholders is also one which is often fuzzy and problematic for HR and other internal staff units, and contributes to the problems in the classification of HR’s customers. Globally stakeholders are divided into four categories. Customers, influencers, end-users and partners.
•Customers: A customer makes a buying decision (to use you or someone else) and negotiates a formal or informal "contract" with you, the service provider.
•End-users: An end-user (sometimes called a consumer) receives the service.
•Influencers: An influencer sets the parameters within which you can or must operate, but doesn't buy the service.
•Partners: A partner works with you to provide a service. With partners you have mutual need, common objectives and shared risk related to that service.
What makes it difficult is that sometimes different stakeholders in your marketplace switch roles for different projects or demands they're making. So HR has to be careful to know not only what the HR business strategy is, but what role they're in at the time and what your commitments to the stakeholders are in that role. Remember, all of them make demands, but only a trained HR leader in place at the time can sort out these issues, plan an appropriate response and know what the appropriate limits, possibilities and flexibilities need to be
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Making HR transformations deliver better value
Getting processes right
Process management is a key element of HR transformation. The HR function is process-intense, but basic inefficiencies in many of those processes, which range from payroll administration to employment law compliance, prevent HR from delivering full value. Companies who are successful at managing overhead costs have a significant advantage over their competitors. In general, organizations can simplify almost half of their HR activities into common processes. Redesigning and streamlining processes can be the most difficult job facing the function. One of the most effective approaches to process redesign is through activity-based costing that assesses each activity’s time and cost, as well as headcount and full time equivalent involvement. Such an approach pinpoints the likely causes of operational problems, quantifies what they cost and reveals how best to solve them. Understanding the details of process cost, process overlap and process effectiveness is at the heart of identifying the opportunities and areas where significant improvements can be made. HR processes are generally where the function connects with its internal customer, yet process re-engineering often gets little focus or direct investment. Only a third of respondents from an international survey indicated HR process change as a current tool for HR transformation.
Making governance explicit
Most HR leaders have not been challenged to think formally about governance issues, so they operate with they operate with an implicit (and, usually, imperfect) model. In those rare cases where HR governance is explicit, it’s usually synonymous with compliance. Unfortunately, this view of governance is limited and does not reflect the fact that managing human capital makes the HR function responsible for investments that, on average, account for 36 percent of operating revenues. HR governance is not a strategic objective, but a systematic approach to management that enables the function to achieve strategic and operational objectives. It, therefore, plays a very important role in the successful transformation of the HR function.
Delivering successful HR transformation
The initial task is to define the current state of HR delivery within the organization, and determine the existing business strategy and priorities. It’s then important to gain an insight into what the customers of the HR function, the line managers and employees, think of the services they receive and examine the state of HR processes, assessing whether they are efficient and standard across the organization or if they vary by business unit or country.
By applying various tools it’s possible to look at the existing technology, the current organizational structure and the company culture, and identify areas of improvement for HR. The next step is to design a new operating model – which may include outsourcing, service centers and new technology – which is configured to provide the best delivery model for the organization. Getting it right is worth the effort. Successful HR thought leaders, describe effective HR execution as “the difference between plans that become reality and those that go nowhere.” These HR leaders regularly connect HR strategy and execution as they firmly believe that, “value add of any HR initiative is the end-result of the quality of that effort, the acceptance of stakeholders and its execution.”
Business executives first, HR specialists second
In organizations globally the most respected HR leaders are business executives first and HR specialists second. They partner with and are confidants of their CEOs and leadership teams and often find themselves at the epicentre of corporate change, being given credit for bringing about the toughest of business transformations. These HR leaders are also being recruited by progressive domestic and global boards. Responding to the intense focus on complying with new corporate governance legislation and increasing investor scrutiny, boards are retooling to ensure they have the right mix of highly qualified specialists, including HR experts. The price of failing to make the connection between overall business strategy and HR strategy is high. There will always be an option for the organization to hand over the HR services to an outsourcing organization who can effectively transform the function and make it work at considerably less cost. But HR functions which grab the nettle – those that convince the business of the value of transformation, can recognize that skills and capabilities in HR can change if needed and can harness technology – will become effective strategic partners and make a positive contribution to the continuing success of the organization.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Process management is a key element of HR transformation. The HR function is process-intense, but basic inefficiencies in many of those processes, which range from payroll administration to employment law compliance, prevent HR from delivering full value. Companies who are successful at managing overhead costs have a significant advantage over their competitors. In general, organizations can simplify almost half of their HR activities into common processes. Redesigning and streamlining processes can be the most difficult job facing the function. One of the most effective approaches to process redesign is through activity-based costing that assesses each activity’s time and cost, as well as headcount and full time equivalent involvement. Such an approach pinpoints the likely causes of operational problems, quantifies what they cost and reveals how best to solve them. Understanding the details of process cost, process overlap and process effectiveness is at the heart of identifying the opportunities and areas where significant improvements can be made. HR processes are generally where the function connects with its internal customer, yet process re-engineering often gets little focus or direct investment. Only a third of respondents from an international survey indicated HR process change as a current tool for HR transformation.
Making governance explicit
Most HR leaders have not been challenged to think formally about governance issues, so they operate with they operate with an implicit (and, usually, imperfect) model. In those rare cases where HR governance is explicit, it’s usually synonymous with compliance. Unfortunately, this view of governance is limited and does not reflect the fact that managing human capital makes the HR function responsible for investments that, on average, account for 36 percent of operating revenues. HR governance is not a strategic objective, but a systematic approach to management that enables the function to achieve strategic and operational objectives. It, therefore, plays a very important role in the successful transformation of the HR function.
Delivering successful HR transformation
The initial task is to define the current state of HR delivery within the organization, and determine the existing business strategy and priorities. It’s then important to gain an insight into what the customers of the HR function, the line managers and employees, think of the services they receive and examine the state of HR processes, assessing whether they are efficient and standard across the organization or if they vary by business unit or country.
By applying various tools it’s possible to look at the existing technology, the current organizational structure and the company culture, and identify areas of improvement for HR. The next step is to design a new operating model – which may include outsourcing, service centers and new technology – which is configured to provide the best delivery model for the organization. Getting it right is worth the effort. Successful HR thought leaders, describe effective HR execution as “the difference between plans that become reality and those that go nowhere.” These HR leaders regularly connect HR strategy and execution as they firmly believe that, “value add of any HR initiative is the end-result of the quality of that effort, the acceptance of stakeholders and its execution.”
Business executives first, HR specialists second
In organizations globally the most respected HR leaders are business executives first and HR specialists second. They partner with and are confidants of their CEOs and leadership teams and often find themselves at the epicentre of corporate change, being given credit for bringing about the toughest of business transformations. These HR leaders are also being recruited by progressive domestic and global boards. Responding to the intense focus on complying with new corporate governance legislation and increasing investor scrutiny, boards are retooling to ensure they have the right mix of highly qualified specialists, including HR experts. The price of failing to make the connection between overall business strategy and HR strategy is high. There will always be an option for the organization to hand over the HR services to an outsourcing organization who can effectively transform the function and make it work at considerably less cost. But HR functions which grab the nettle – those that convince the business of the value of transformation, can recognize that skills and capabilities in HR can change if needed and can harness technology – will become effective strategic partners and make a positive contribution to the continuing success of the organization.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
HR Transformation- An operating model
In terms of driving effective transformation, the studied success-experience shows that the key to success or failure lies within the HR operating model. This is where HR strategy is put into action and the area which was universally identified by organizations as inhibiting progress. The key areas of the HR operating model are sourcing, infrastructure and governance.
Sourcing Strategy
The sourcing strategy provides the greatest opportunity to reposition the function entirely and get the most out of limited resources. The main options are:
insourcing – when all operational, technological and human capital functions are developed and maintained internally;
co-sourcing – involves a partnership with vendors to share responsibility for operational, technological and human capital functions and resources; and
outsourcing – where there is a contract with suppliers to provide all operational, technological and human capital functions and resources.
Global studies show that outsourcing HR activity happens almost everywhere, but current outsourcing decisions are rarely taken as a strategic view of sourcing. In recent years, maturing vendor capabilities and advancing technologies have expanded the breadth and depth of sourcing alternatives available in the marketplace. Determining the optimal sourcing mix for the organization requires HR to apply rigorous business analysis and decision protocols. An effective sourcing strategy will maximize the return on internal resources by concentrating investments on the areas of core competence and of highest strategic relevance to the organization. It will also enable organizations to take advantage of external suppliers' investments and specialized capabilities that are often prohibitively expensive to duplicate internally. Thirdly, it will provide a variable cost structure leading to the ability to scale service capacity to meet organizational needs – an essential requirement given the dynamic nature of today’s marketplace.
Technology and Transformation
Over the last few years, the HR function has invested a great deal of money into technology without realizing a return on the investment. Frequently, HR technology projects don’t deliver the expected results, and a key factor in this is a failure to define functional requirements clearly. By not rooting these requirements in a solid HR strategy, organizations spend too much money on ad hoc software purchases or, even worse, under-use expensive HR software suites by not implementing modules that could be of significant value. Within many organizations a large portion of purchased functionality in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) goes unused, ending up as shelfware – in other words, software modules are bought but not implemented. The modules most likely to be left on the shelf are those considered key to operational human capital management, including competency and career development, recruitment, performance management and succession planning.
Along with the right software, clean data and tight integration are critical success factors which are often overlooked. Key stakeholders must have access to accurate, consistent, integrated data which cannot happen unless HR and IT objectives are fully aligned. This successful alignment requires an understanding that changing technology alone will achieve little. Change starts to deliver its value only when supported by and integrated with other elements of the infrastructure – and when part of an explicit HR strategy.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Sourcing Strategy
The sourcing strategy provides the greatest opportunity to reposition the function entirely and get the most out of limited resources. The main options are:
insourcing – when all operational, technological and human capital functions are developed and maintained internally;
co-sourcing – involves a partnership with vendors to share responsibility for operational, technological and human capital functions and resources; and
outsourcing – where there is a contract with suppliers to provide all operational, technological and human capital functions and resources.
Global studies show that outsourcing HR activity happens almost everywhere, but current outsourcing decisions are rarely taken as a strategic view of sourcing. In recent years, maturing vendor capabilities and advancing technologies have expanded the breadth and depth of sourcing alternatives available in the marketplace. Determining the optimal sourcing mix for the organization requires HR to apply rigorous business analysis and decision protocols. An effective sourcing strategy will maximize the return on internal resources by concentrating investments on the areas of core competence and of highest strategic relevance to the organization. It will also enable organizations to take advantage of external suppliers' investments and specialized capabilities that are often prohibitively expensive to duplicate internally. Thirdly, it will provide a variable cost structure leading to the ability to scale service capacity to meet organizational needs – an essential requirement given the dynamic nature of today’s marketplace.
Technology and Transformation
Over the last few years, the HR function has invested a great deal of money into technology without realizing a return on the investment. Frequently, HR technology projects don’t deliver the expected results, and a key factor in this is a failure to define functional requirements clearly. By not rooting these requirements in a solid HR strategy, organizations spend too much money on ad hoc software purchases or, even worse, under-use expensive HR software suites by not implementing modules that could be of significant value. Within many organizations a large portion of purchased functionality in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) goes unused, ending up as shelfware – in other words, software modules are bought but not implemented. The modules most likely to be left on the shelf are those considered key to operational human capital management, including competency and career development, recruitment, performance management and succession planning.
Along with the right software, clean data and tight integration are critical success factors which are often overlooked. Key stakeholders must have access to accurate, consistent, integrated data which cannot happen unless HR and IT objectives are fully aligned. This successful alignment requires an understanding that changing technology alone will achieve little. Change starts to deliver its value only when supported by and integrated with other elements of the infrastructure – and when part of an explicit HR strategy.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Saturday, April 24, 2010
NEEDED HR TRANSFORMATION- FOR BETTER BOTTOMLINE
HR Transformation
The definition of HR transformation has evolved out of a number of perceived and real pressures on the HR function. The function is expected to support the business, provide the right direction for the people management strategy, and then execute the strategy. It also has to demonstrate an improvement in value, yet at the same time carry out cost-heavy administration. In response to these challenges, the transformation process that many companies have embarked on involves examining the HR strategy and how it supports the business strategy, and then changing the HR operating model to achieve optimum delivery. An international study across diverse industry verticals has revealed a remarkable consistency in the key drivers to HR transformation across the globe. The main driver was the need to align HR delivery with the organization’s business strategy. Second was the desire to transform both the perception and reality of HR as a high-cost, low-value function to a low-cost, high-value business partner. Through the transformation process, HR begins to move away from administration and towards a more value-added strategic role. The objective is to align the function with the organization’s goals, making it a strategic contributor that’s responsive to today’s dynamic business climate. Despite these good intentions, a recent CFO Research Services report suggests that while some progress has been made, nearly 60 percent of finance executives still view HR as more of a cost center than a strategic partner. HR is still primarily an administrative and compliance based function with almost 50 percent of its time being spent in these areas. Less than 15 percent of its time is spent on strategic, value-based interventions.
Aligning HR competencies with Strategic Necessities
Although four out of five HR functions globally have embarked on some form of transformation, they are yet to be credited with driving business outcomes. Global research shows that although HR function has strong competence in professional knowledge, team, interpersonal and leadership skills, it lacks competence in financial management, data management and technology. In short, it lacks the skills that are required to deliver the business credibility that HR transformation is seeking to address. Indeed, the skills of the HR function are seen as one of the major barriers to effective HR transformation. Together with inappropriate skills, the inability of the function to use technology effectively has often meant that significant business investments have been under-utilized. The function has also observed a general lack of business commitment for HR transformation both in terms of the need for HR to play a more strategic role and the confidence in its capacity to do so. In short, the function has neither the skills nor the infrastructure to deliver effective transformation and the business leadership is not always convinced of the need. To achieve stellar success HR function must attend to its business model needs and ensure that it is integrated with the business strategy more ‘tightly’. When properly aligned, each dimension of its roles flow predictably from one to another. More importantly, each dimension plays a critical role in formulating a comprehensive strategy – and, by extension, in maximizing business performance and bottom-line benefits.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
The definition of HR transformation has evolved out of a number of perceived and real pressures on the HR function. The function is expected to support the business, provide the right direction for the people management strategy, and then execute the strategy. It also has to demonstrate an improvement in value, yet at the same time carry out cost-heavy administration. In response to these challenges, the transformation process that many companies have embarked on involves examining the HR strategy and how it supports the business strategy, and then changing the HR operating model to achieve optimum delivery. An international study across diverse industry verticals has revealed a remarkable consistency in the key drivers to HR transformation across the globe. The main driver was the need to align HR delivery with the organization’s business strategy. Second was the desire to transform both the perception and reality of HR as a high-cost, low-value function to a low-cost, high-value business partner. Through the transformation process, HR begins to move away from administration and towards a more value-added strategic role. The objective is to align the function with the organization’s goals, making it a strategic contributor that’s responsive to today’s dynamic business climate. Despite these good intentions, a recent CFO Research Services report suggests that while some progress has been made, nearly 60 percent of finance executives still view HR as more of a cost center than a strategic partner. HR is still primarily an administrative and compliance based function with almost 50 percent of its time being spent in these areas. Less than 15 percent of its time is spent on strategic, value-based interventions.
Aligning HR competencies with Strategic Necessities
Although four out of five HR functions globally have embarked on some form of transformation, they are yet to be credited with driving business outcomes. Global research shows that although HR function has strong competence in professional knowledge, team, interpersonal and leadership skills, it lacks competence in financial management, data management and technology. In short, it lacks the skills that are required to deliver the business credibility that HR transformation is seeking to address. Indeed, the skills of the HR function are seen as one of the major barriers to effective HR transformation. Together with inappropriate skills, the inability of the function to use technology effectively has often meant that significant business investments have been under-utilized. The function has also observed a general lack of business commitment for HR transformation both in terms of the need for HR to play a more strategic role and the confidence in its capacity to do so. In short, the function has neither the skills nor the infrastructure to deliver effective transformation and the business leadership is not always convinced of the need. To achieve stellar success HR function must attend to its business model needs and ensure that it is integrated with the business strategy more ‘tightly’. When properly aligned, each dimension of its roles flow predictably from one to another. More importantly, each dimension plays a critical role in formulating a comprehensive strategy – and, by extension, in maximizing business performance and bottom-line benefits.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Smarter Employee Recognition
Useful Tips –Tried & Tested
You don't want to design a process in which managers "select" the people to receive recognition. This type of process will be viewed forever as "favoritism" or talked about as "it's your turn to get recognized this month." This is why processes that single out an individual, such as "Employee of the Month," are rarely effective. Here are tips that have been tried out successfully :
•If you attach recognition to "real" accomplishments and goal achievement as negotiated in a performance development meeting, you need to make sure the recognition meets the above stated requirements. Supervisors must also apply the criteria consistently, so some organizational oversight may be necessary. The challenge of individually negotiated goals is to make certain their accomplishment is viewed as similarly difficult by the organization for the process to be a success.
•People also like recognition that is random and that provides an element of surprise. If you thank a manufacturing group every time they make customer deliveries on time with a lunch, gradually the lunch becomes a "given" and no longer rewards. In an organization, the CEO traditionally bought lunch for all employees every Friday. Soon, he had employees coming to him asking to be reimbursed if they ate lunch outside the building on a Friday. His goal of team building turned into a "given" and he was disappointed.
•There is always room for employee reward and recognition activities that generally build positive morale in the work environment. In one company, there is a "smile team" that meets to schedule random, fun employee recognition events. They have decorated shop windows, with a prize to the best, for a holiday. They sponsor ice cream socials, picnics, the "boss" cooks day, and so on, to create a rewarding environment at work. Another company holds an annual costume wearing and judging along with a lunch potluck every major national festival.
Recognition Reality!
Prioritize recognition for people and you can ensure a positive, productive, innovative organizational climate. Recognize people to say “thank you” and to encourage more of the actions and thinking you believe will make your organization successful. People who feel appreciated are more positive about themselves and their ability to contribute. People with positive self-esteem are potentially your best employees. These beliefs about recognition are common among employers even if not commonly carried out. Why then is recognition so closely guarded in many organizations? Time is an often-stated reason and admittedly, recognition does take time. Employers also start out with all of the best intentions when they seek to recognize employee performance. They often find their efforts turn into an opportunity for employee complaining, jealousy, and dissatisfaction. With these experiences, many employers are hesitant to recognize people. HR needs to plan a recognition process that will "wow" the staff and "wow" management with its positive outcomes. A proactive ‘people aligned’ recognition philosophy that is periodically reviewed is essential.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
You don't want to design a process in which managers "select" the people to receive recognition. This type of process will be viewed forever as "favoritism" or talked about as "it's your turn to get recognized this month." This is why processes that single out an individual, such as "Employee of the Month," are rarely effective. Here are tips that have been tried out successfully :
•If you attach recognition to "real" accomplishments and goal achievement as negotiated in a performance development meeting, you need to make sure the recognition meets the above stated requirements. Supervisors must also apply the criteria consistently, so some organizational oversight may be necessary. The challenge of individually negotiated goals is to make certain their accomplishment is viewed as similarly difficult by the organization for the process to be a success.
•People also like recognition that is random and that provides an element of surprise. If you thank a manufacturing group every time they make customer deliveries on time with a lunch, gradually the lunch becomes a "given" and no longer rewards. In an organization, the CEO traditionally bought lunch for all employees every Friday. Soon, he had employees coming to him asking to be reimbursed if they ate lunch outside the building on a Friday. His goal of team building turned into a "given" and he was disappointed.
•There is always room for employee reward and recognition activities that generally build positive morale in the work environment. In one company, there is a "smile team" that meets to schedule random, fun employee recognition events. They have decorated shop windows, with a prize to the best, for a holiday. They sponsor ice cream socials, picnics, the "boss" cooks day, and so on, to create a rewarding environment at work. Another company holds an annual costume wearing and judging along with a lunch potluck every major national festival.
Recognition Reality!
Prioritize recognition for people and you can ensure a positive, productive, innovative organizational climate. Recognize people to say “thank you” and to encourage more of the actions and thinking you believe will make your organization successful. People who feel appreciated are more positive about themselves and their ability to contribute. People with positive self-esteem are potentially your best employees. These beliefs about recognition are common among employers even if not commonly carried out. Why then is recognition so closely guarded in many organizations? Time is an often-stated reason and admittedly, recognition does take time. Employers also start out with all of the best intentions when they seek to recognize employee performance. They often find their efforts turn into an opportunity for employee complaining, jealousy, and dissatisfaction. With these experiences, many employers are hesitant to recognize people. HR needs to plan a recognition process that will "wow" the staff and "wow" management with its positive outcomes. A proactive ‘people aligned’ recognition philosophy that is periodically reviewed is essential.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
BUSINESS CASE for EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION
Recognizing Recognition Needs
In today's turbulent, often chaotic, environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Employees willing harness their expertise and talents when they are motivated and receive consistent recognition. Yet in spite of the myriad of available theories and practices, managers often view recognition as something of a mystery. In part this is because individuals need recognition by different people and in different ways. In addition, these are times when de-layering and the flattening of hierarchies can create its won set of recognition challenges. The heart of recognition initiatives is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more we can expect what the organization really wants, namely: productivity, quality, and service….and the returns are also enormous, namely allowing employees to:
• achieve goals;
• gain a positive perspective;
• create the power to change;
• build self-esteem and capability
• manage their own development and help others with theirs
Recognition Necessities
Employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for the organization. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat. An effective employee recognition system is simple, immediate, and powerfully reinforcing. When you consider employee recognition processes, you need to develop recognition that is equally powerful for both the organization and the employee. You must address five important issues if you want the recognition you offer to be viewed as motivating and rewarding by your employees and important for the success of your organization. These are:
•You need to establish criteria for what performance or contribution constitutes rewardable behavior or actions.
•All employees must be eligible for the recognition.
•The recognition must supply the employer and employee with specific information about what behaviors or actions are being rewarded and recognized.
•Anyone who then performs at the level or standard stated in the criteria receives the reward.
•The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
In today's turbulent, often chaotic, environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Employees willing harness their expertise and talents when they are motivated and receive consistent recognition. Yet in spite of the myriad of available theories and practices, managers often view recognition as something of a mystery. In part this is because individuals need recognition by different people and in different ways. In addition, these are times when de-layering and the flattening of hierarchies can create its won set of recognition challenges. The heart of recognition initiatives is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more we can expect what the organization really wants, namely: productivity, quality, and service….and the returns are also enormous, namely allowing employees to:
• achieve goals;
• gain a positive perspective;
• create the power to change;
• build self-esteem and capability
• manage their own development and help others with theirs
Recognition Necessities
Employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for the organization. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat. An effective employee recognition system is simple, immediate, and powerfully reinforcing. When you consider employee recognition processes, you need to develop recognition that is equally powerful for both the organization and the employee. You must address five important issues if you want the recognition you offer to be viewed as motivating and rewarding by your employees and important for the success of your organization. These are:
•You need to establish criteria for what performance or contribution constitutes rewardable behavior or actions.
•All employees must be eligible for the recognition.
•The recognition must supply the employer and employee with specific information about what behaviors or actions are being rewarded and recognized.
•Anyone who then performs at the level or standard stated in the criteria receives the reward.
•The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Future Scenario Planning Do’s and Donts
Succeeding In Scenario Planning
Although it is important not to view scenarios as any kind of forecasting of the future, organizations that practice it do get better at spotting the driving forces that can change the industry, putting them a few steps ahead of those who don't see it coming. This is especially true of discontinuities. In many situations, the gaining of even a few months of extra lead-time to meet eventualities represents serious competitive advantage. Finally, it offers a significant contribution to transforming an organization into an alert, objective, focused distributor.
Scenario planning is based on the assumption that the end game vision and the strategic plan are flexible. Consequently, a robust flexible strategy that would perform well over different scenarios is essential. This is why it is important to identify specific action items for each scenario. These bullet pointed action items become the challenging factors to test the flexibility of the strategic plan.
a. Avoid Plots Which Follow the "Most Likely" Progression.
The idea behind scenario planning is to get beyond the standard forecasting done for typical strategic planning sessions. Therefore, it is imperative that participants "think outside the box." Wild scenarios can always be reined in after the original ideas are extracted from them, but mundane scenarios will always be mundane, and will not contribute to growth. Thinking outside the box in the simplest terms means that we should not start with today and work forward for our scenario. We need to look to the future and write the scenario as if we are already there.
b. Don't Allow "Probabilities" to be Assigned to Scenarios.
As soon as participants see probabilities assigned to their scenarios they will begin to think inside the box again. They will try to "win" by getting the highest score, which undoubtedly will be for the scenario closest to the "normal" progression. Defeat this by valuing all scenarios equally by not assigning values at all.
c. Be Creative with Scenario Names to Stimulate Imagination.
This entire concept is oriented to "outside the box" thinking. Therefore, every effort must be made to stimulate original and creative thought, both in the scenario creation process as well as the strategic planning process that follows it. Use of dramatic and creative names for scenarios will reinforce the creative thought process and add to the excitement.
d. Demand Ownership of the Scenarios.
Managers at every level MUST accept ownership of the scenario process and the scenarios that are generated by it. The final direction taken by the company may be far from the plots in the scenarios, but the final result will be crafted from the imagination and the findings in the scenarios.
e. Be Creative in Communicating Scenarios.
The scenarios created are the basis for the planning process. If they are dull and communicated poorly, the enthusiasm with which they were created will be lost to the strategic planning process. Relate the strategies in a creative fashion - as a TV news broadcast, a skit, or some other creative outlet.
Conclusion
Restructuring, cost cutting and operational efficiencies, the focus of the 80's and early 90's, have proven not to give lasting competitive differentiation. Companies today are turning back to strategic scenario planning to find their direction. Once again, it is imperative that they succeed at scenario planning. Scenario planning can be fun. Scenario planning encourages creativity and it will challenge managers to get beyond old paradigms. Use it as a platform to begin your strategic planning process. You may find it much easier to determine your "end game" once you've completed a day of scenario planning. Try it, you might like it. Besides, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Although it is important not to view scenarios as any kind of forecasting of the future, organizations that practice it do get better at spotting the driving forces that can change the industry, putting them a few steps ahead of those who don't see it coming. This is especially true of discontinuities. In many situations, the gaining of even a few months of extra lead-time to meet eventualities represents serious competitive advantage. Finally, it offers a significant contribution to transforming an organization into an alert, objective, focused distributor.
Scenario planning is based on the assumption that the end game vision and the strategic plan are flexible. Consequently, a robust flexible strategy that would perform well over different scenarios is essential. This is why it is important to identify specific action items for each scenario. These bullet pointed action items become the challenging factors to test the flexibility of the strategic plan.
a. Avoid Plots Which Follow the "Most Likely" Progression.
The idea behind scenario planning is to get beyond the standard forecasting done for typical strategic planning sessions. Therefore, it is imperative that participants "think outside the box." Wild scenarios can always be reined in after the original ideas are extracted from them, but mundane scenarios will always be mundane, and will not contribute to growth. Thinking outside the box in the simplest terms means that we should not start with today and work forward for our scenario. We need to look to the future and write the scenario as if we are already there.
b. Don't Allow "Probabilities" to be Assigned to Scenarios.
As soon as participants see probabilities assigned to their scenarios they will begin to think inside the box again. They will try to "win" by getting the highest score, which undoubtedly will be for the scenario closest to the "normal" progression. Defeat this by valuing all scenarios equally by not assigning values at all.
c. Be Creative with Scenario Names to Stimulate Imagination.
This entire concept is oriented to "outside the box" thinking. Therefore, every effort must be made to stimulate original and creative thought, both in the scenario creation process as well as the strategic planning process that follows it. Use of dramatic and creative names for scenarios will reinforce the creative thought process and add to the excitement.
d. Demand Ownership of the Scenarios.
Managers at every level MUST accept ownership of the scenario process and the scenarios that are generated by it. The final direction taken by the company may be far from the plots in the scenarios, but the final result will be crafted from the imagination and the findings in the scenarios.
e. Be Creative in Communicating Scenarios.
The scenarios created are the basis for the planning process. If they are dull and communicated poorly, the enthusiasm with which they were created will be lost to the strategic planning process. Relate the strategies in a creative fashion - as a TV news broadcast, a skit, or some other creative outlet.
Conclusion
Restructuring, cost cutting and operational efficiencies, the focus of the 80's and early 90's, have proven not to give lasting competitive differentiation. Companies today are turning back to strategic scenario planning to find their direction. Once again, it is imperative that they succeed at scenario planning. Scenario planning can be fun. Scenario planning encourages creativity and it will challenge managers to get beyond old paradigms. Use it as a platform to begin your strategic planning process. You may find it much easier to determine your "end game" once you've completed a day of scenario planning. Try it, you might like it. Besides, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Monday, April 19, 2010
Future Scenario Planning Success Steps Unveiled
Get Set Go!
Step1: Uncovering the decision
Management has to understand its choices. For this it has to know, what will be “on the agenda”. So in the first step these strategic decisions that might have to be made in the future have to be uncovered. This is done by asking the right questions related to the mission and business purpose of a company such as: where is our industry going? What is the path of development of our industry ? What events might influence it and will force us to change ? Under which circumstances might we become incredible successful, under which circumstances will the company be at risk ? It takes persistent work to penetrate the internal mental defences of human beings. Therefore this task includes examination of existing mind-sets of managers, so that prejudices and assumptions become obvious, and careful thinking whether those mind-sets would keep these managers from seeing the right future. The best way is to begin with important decisions that have to be made anyway and then built out to the environment. This step also should include an identification of the key factors of the business system influencing the success or failure of the decision.
Step2: Information-hunting and –gathering
To create scenarios, stories, that resonate in some ways with what people already know and leads them from that to question their assumption of how they see the world, observations from the real world must be built into the story. The scenario process thus involves research – skilled hunting and gathering of information. This is practiced both narrowly – to pursue facts needed for a specific scenario – and broadly – to educate the scenario planner, so that he is able to pose more significant questions. Flexibility of perspective is critical in doing it. The scenario planner has to simultaneously focus on what matters in a given decision situation, but keep awareness open for the unexpected. Because some research subjects emerge again and again in the work of a scenario planner, some planners recommend to move along these typical topics during research before looking for others. Such typical topics are: science and technology developments; perception-shaping events, that shape or change the perception of the public; new ideas that emerge in the “fringes” (that means not in the mainstream) and are spreading further.
Step3: Identifying the driving forces of a scenario
The first task in building the scenario itself is to look for driving forces of the macro-environment that influence the key factors identified earlier. For example government regulations might influence them. But beside government regulations, there are many less obvious external factors as well. Identifying and assessing these fundamental factors is both the starting point and one of the objectives of the scenario method. Driving forces are the elements that move the plot of a scenario, that determines the story’s outcome. Driving forces often seem obvious to one person and hidden to another. Therefore the identification of driving forces should be done in a team, by brainstorming together. By looking on such driving forces, it is helpful to run through this common list of categories of driving forces: social forces/demographic developments, technological developments, economic developments and events, political developments and events, environmental developments. Normally, companies have little control over driving forces. Their leverage for dealing with them comes from recognizing them, and understanding their effect.
Step4: Uncover the predetermined elements
Predetermined elements are developments and logics that work in scenarios without being dependent on any particular chain of events. That means, a predetermined elements is something, that seems certain, no matter which scenario come to pass. For example the most commonly recognized predetermined element is demographics, because it is changing so slowly. Identifying such elements is a tremendous confidence builder in strategic decision making. Managers can commit to some policies and feel sure about them. There are several useful strategies for looking for predetermined elements. For example you could look for slow-changing phenomena like the growth of populations or the building of physical infrastructure. You could look for constrained situation, where companies, nations or even individuals have, at least for a certain time, no choices.
Step5: Identify critical uncertainties
In every plan critical uncertainties exist. Scenario planners seek them to prepare for them. Critical uncertainties are often related to predetermined elements. You find them by questioning your assumptions about predetermines elements and chains of predetermined elements. So critical uncertainties are the variables in scenario planning and are the basis to create different scenarios in parallel. One method to identify the most important critical uncertainties is, to rank key factors and driving forces on the basis of two criteria: first, the degree of importance for the success of the focal issue or decision identified in step one; second, the degree of uncertainty surrounding those factors and trends. The point is to identify the two or three factors that are most important and most uncertain. These factors are forming then the basis for the different scenarios, because the goal is to end up with just a few scenarios whose difference makes a difference to decision-makers.
Step6: Composing scenarios
To explain the future, scenarios describe how the driving forces might plausibly behave, based on assumption of predetermined elements and critical uncertainties. To describe the different scenarios, their plots, you use the uncertainties that have seemed so important. So driving forces, predetermined elements, and critical uncertainties give structure to the exploration of the future. To create the scenario stories, the plot lines, the recommendation is, to bring a team together that is aware of the decision that is considered. Each member of the scenario planning team has done his or her research. Then they sit together talking and developing ideas in response to the questions: What are the driving forces? What we feel is uncertain? What is inevitable? How about this or that scenario? The goal is to select plot lines that lead to different choices for the original decision. The challenge is to identify the plots that best captures the dynamics of the situation and communicates the point effectively. The scenario planner’s task is then; to define the forces inside and outside the company, and analyze which plots they fit. Having gathered the variations that are possible, the scenario planner would select five or six variations that fit the case. Eventually he or she narrow and combine those into two or three fully detailed descriptions of what might happen – the scenarios.
Step7: Analysis of implications of the decisions according to scenarios
Once the scenarios have been developed in some detail, then it is time to return to the decision identified in step one. How does the decision look in each scenario? What vulnerabilities have been revealed? Is the decision or strategy robust across all scenarios, or does it look good in only one or two of the scenarios? If a decision looks good in only one of several scenarios, then it qualifies as a high-risk gamble, especially if the company has little control over the likelihood of the required scenario coming to pass. The question what should be discussed then by management is how the strategy should be adapted to make it more robust if the desired scenario shows signs of not happening.
Step8: Selection of leading indicators and signposts
It is important to know as soon as possible which of several scenarios is closest to the course of history as it actually unfolds. For that, as soon as the different scenarios have been finished and their implication for the decision determined, then a few indicators should be selected, to monitor the strategy or decision in an ongoing way. Monitoring these indicators will allow a company to know what the future holds for a given industry and how that future is likely to affect strategies and decisions in the industry. If the scenarios have been carefully developed, then the scenarios will be able to translate movements of few key indicators into an orderly set of industry-specific implications. The logical coherence that was built into the scenario will allow logical implications of leading indicators to be drawn out of the scenarios.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Step1: Uncovering the decision
Management has to understand its choices. For this it has to know, what will be “on the agenda”. So in the first step these strategic decisions that might have to be made in the future have to be uncovered. This is done by asking the right questions related to the mission and business purpose of a company such as: where is our industry going? What is the path of development of our industry ? What events might influence it and will force us to change ? Under which circumstances might we become incredible successful, under which circumstances will the company be at risk ? It takes persistent work to penetrate the internal mental defences of human beings. Therefore this task includes examination of existing mind-sets of managers, so that prejudices and assumptions become obvious, and careful thinking whether those mind-sets would keep these managers from seeing the right future. The best way is to begin with important decisions that have to be made anyway and then built out to the environment. This step also should include an identification of the key factors of the business system influencing the success or failure of the decision.
Step2: Information-hunting and –gathering
To create scenarios, stories, that resonate in some ways with what people already know and leads them from that to question their assumption of how they see the world, observations from the real world must be built into the story. The scenario process thus involves research – skilled hunting and gathering of information. This is practiced both narrowly – to pursue facts needed for a specific scenario – and broadly – to educate the scenario planner, so that he is able to pose more significant questions. Flexibility of perspective is critical in doing it. The scenario planner has to simultaneously focus on what matters in a given decision situation, but keep awareness open for the unexpected. Because some research subjects emerge again and again in the work of a scenario planner, some planners recommend to move along these typical topics during research before looking for others. Such typical topics are: science and technology developments; perception-shaping events, that shape or change the perception of the public; new ideas that emerge in the “fringes” (that means not in the mainstream) and are spreading further.
Step3: Identifying the driving forces of a scenario
The first task in building the scenario itself is to look for driving forces of the macro-environment that influence the key factors identified earlier. For example government regulations might influence them. But beside government regulations, there are many less obvious external factors as well. Identifying and assessing these fundamental factors is both the starting point and one of the objectives of the scenario method. Driving forces are the elements that move the plot of a scenario, that determines the story’s outcome. Driving forces often seem obvious to one person and hidden to another. Therefore the identification of driving forces should be done in a team, by brainstorming together. By looking on such driving forces, it is helpful to run through this common list of categories of driving forces: social forces/demographic developments, technological developments, economic developments and events, political developments and events, environmental developments. Normally, companies have little control over driving forces. Their leverage for dealing with them comes from recognizing them, and understanding their effect.
Step4: Uncover the predetermined elements
Predetermined elements are developments and logics that work in scenarios without being dependent on any particular chain of events. That means, a predetermined elements is something, that seems certain, no matter which scenario come to pass. For example the most commonly recognized predetermined element is demographics, because it is changing so slowly. Identifying such elements is a tremendous confidence builder in strategic decision making. Managers can commit to some policies and feel sure about them. There are several useful strategies for looking for predetermined elements. For example you could look for slow-changing phenomena like the growth of populations or the building of physical infrastructure. You could look for constrained situation, where companies, nations or even individuals have, at least for a certain time, no choices.
Step5: Identify critical uncertainties
In every plan critical uncertainties exist. Scenario planners seek them to prepare for them. Critical uncertainties are often related to predetermined elements. You find them by questioning your assumptions about predetermines elements and chains of predetermined elements. So critical uncertainties are the variables in scenario planning and are the basis to create different scenarios in parallel. One method to identify the most important critical uncertainties is, to rank key factors and driving forces on the basis of two criteria: first, the degree of importance for the success of the focal issue or decision identified in step one; second, the degree of uncertainty surrounding those factors and trends. The point is to identify the two or three factors that are most important and most uncertain. These factors are forming then the basis for the different scenarios, because the goal is to end up with just a few scenarios whose difference makes a difference to decision-makers.
Step6: Composing scenarios
To explain the future, scenarios describe how the driving forces might plausibly behave, based on assumption of predetermined elements and critical uncertainties. To describe the different scenarios, their plots, you use the uncertainties that have seemed so important. So driving forces, predetermined elements, and critical uncertainties give structure to the exploration of the future. To create the scenario stories, the plot lines, the recommendation is, to bring a team together that is aware of the decision that is considered. Each member of the scenario planning team has done his or her research. Then they sit together talking and developing ideas in response to the questions: What are the driving forces? What we feel is uncertain? What is inevitable? How about this or that scenario? The goal is to select plot lines that lead to different choices for the original decision. The challenge is to identify the plots that best captures the dynamics of the situation and communicates the point effectively. The scenario planner’s task is then; to define the forces inside and outside the company, and analyze which plots they fit. Having gathered the variations that are possible, the scenario planner would select five or six variations that fit the case. Eventually he or she narrow and combine those into two or three fully detailed descriptions of what might happen – the scenarios.
Step7: Analysis of implications of the decisions according to scenarios
Once the scenarios have been developed in some detail, then it is time to return to the decision identified in step one. How does the decision look in each scenario? What vulnerabilities have been revealed? Is the decision or strategy robust across all scenarios, or does it look good in only one or two of the scenarios? If a decision looks good in only one of several scenarios, then it qualifies as a high-risk gamble, especially if the company has little control over the likelihood of the required scenario coming to pass. The question what should be discussed then by management is how the strategy should be adapted to make it more robust if the desired scenario shows signs of not happening.
Step8: Selection of leading indicators and signposts
It is important to know as soon as possible which of several scenarios is closest to the course of history as it actually unfolds. For that, as soon as the different scenarios have been finished and their implication for the decision determined, then a few indicators should be selected, to monitor the strategy or decision in an ongoing way. Monitoring these indicators will allow a company to know what the future holds for a given industry and how that future is likely to affect strategies and decisions in the industry. If the scenarios have been carefully developed, then the scenarios will be able to translate movements of few key indicators into an orderly set of industry-specific implications. The logical coherence that was built into the scenario will allow logical implications of leading indicators to be drawn out of the scenarios.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Saturday, April 17, 2010
FUTURE SCENARIO PLANNING : A POWERFUL MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR STRATEGIZING
Fast Forward to Future
As technological change accelerates, as business volatility grows, and as markets go global, it has become more important than ever for executives to have some grasp of the future. Attempts to forecast accurately have become increasingly futile due to accelerating technological progress, faster cultural change, and unexpected competition emerging outside an industry’s traditional borders. Instead of reacting to this uncertainty by ignoring the future, strategists are using different methods for anticipating and proactively preparing for events yet to unfold. These methods for modeling, simulating, forecasting, and planning for possible futures both protect your business from major changes and allow you to exploit opportunities. Those that prosper under changed conditions are either lucky or planned for the future by applying scenario planning to prepare strategically for the future. Scenarios and other systematic ways of thinking about the future play a vital role in strategic thinking for gaining insight into business futures. These futures tools need to build on and inform your strategic thinking. Scenario planning yields far more value when performed at the appropriate level of detail, when conducted iteratively, and when it feeds into and is fed by an organization’s strategy and innovation processes.
Scenario Planning To The Rescue
Scenario planning is a creative method of examining possible futures and building the one that is desired while taking into account what could happen and how it would affect the overall business plan. A major advantage of using scenarios to set up strategic planning is to gain ideas and insights that would be missed by using the traditional projection process. It is also a method of forcing the planning team to look at more than the "desired" outcome and, therefore, be prepared for or even aggressively plan for, events out of the ordinary.
The purpose of scenario planning is not to imminently decide which scenario is correct. It looks at each plausible future scenario and examine how prepared your company is for the potential change and consequences. Ideally you should try to establish markers or milestones that may occur in each scenario that would alert you to which scenario is actually unfolding. By knowing in advance due to these pre-determined benchmarks, you put yourself ahead of your competition in not only reacting to the events but actually having an outline of a plan in place to take advantage of the situation
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
As technological change accelerates, as business volatility grows, and as markets go global, it has become more important than ever for executives to have some grasp of the future. Attempts to forecast accurately have become increasingly futile due to accelerating technological progress, faster cultural change, and unexpected competition emerging outside an industry’s traditional borders. Instead of reacting to this uncertainty by ignoring the future, strategists are using different methods for anticipating and proactively preparing for events yet to unfold. These methods for modeling, simulating, forecasting, and planning for possible futures both protect your business from major changes and allow you to exploit opportunities. Those that prosper under changed conditions are either lucky or planned for the future by applying scenario planning to prepare strategically for the future. Scenarios and other systematic ways of thinking about the future play a vital role in strategic thinking for gaining insight into business futures. These futures tools need to build on and inform your strategic thinking. Scenario planning yields far more value when performed at the appropriate level of detail, when conducted iteratively, and when it feeds into and is fed by an organization’s strategy and innovation processes.
Scenario Planning To The Rescue
Scenario planning is a creative method of examining possible futures and building the one that is desired while taking into account what could happen and how it would affect the overall business plan. A major advantage of using scenarios to set up strategic planning is to gain ideas and insights that would be missed by using the traditional projection process. It is also a method of forcing the planning team to look at more than the "desired" outcome and, therefore, be prepared for or even aggressively plan for, events out of the ordinary.
The purpose of scenario planning is not to imminently decide which scenario is correct. It looks at each plausible future scenario and examine how prepared your company is for the potential change and consequences. Ideally you should try to establish markers or milestones that may occur in each scenario that would alert you to which scenario is actually unfolding. By knowing in advance due to these pre-determined benchmarks, you put yourself ahead of your competition in not only reacting to the events but actually having an outline of a plan in place to take advantage of the situation
Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Friday, April 16, 2010
Sustaining Higher Happiness Quotient by spreading cheer
Each and every living being has within them the seed or potential to become a fully enlightened being and to realize its full potential. What we need to do now is to be able to achieve it … this is something that only human beings can do. Animals can gather resources, defeat their enemies, and protect their families, but they can neither understand nor engage in the enlightened path. It would be a great shame if we were to use our human life only to achieve what animals can also achieve, and thereby waste this unique opportunity to become a source of benefit for all living beings.
After having indulged our self-cherishing for so many lives, now is the time to realize that it simply does not work. Now is the time to switch the object of our cherishing from yourself to all living beings. Countless enlightened beings have discovered that by abandoning self-cherishing and cherishing others they came to experience true peace and happiness. If we practice the methods they taught, there is no reason why we should not be able to do the same. We cannot expect to change our mind overnight, but through patiently and consistently practicing the instructions on cherishing others, while at the same time accumulating merit, purifying negativity, and receiving blessings, we can gradually replace our ordinary self-cherishing attitude with the sublime attitude of cherishing all living beings. Here are some simple steps to achieving all this and more:
1: Gradually develop the capacity to be "centered."
The "center" or the "centered self" has to be built through conscious effort. We have to learn to go there and "center" or calm ourselves. How can we do this? Through efforts to relax and detach yourself from a constantly active mind and from demanding emotions, you can find some peace. With practice, you can get better at withdrawing from the stress (while becoming an even keener observer). Several other steps will help you do this.
2: Use determinism to increase your acceptance of what is happening
By understanding that there are causes for everything that happens, we can start to focus more on observing the true causes and less on some emotional reaction, such as "ain't it awful," "that should never have happened," etc. We can relax because we know the outcome was lawful (unless we witnessed a miracle). This accepting attitude gives us a certain freedom--a toleration of whatever happens. We may, of course, have a preference about what happens, and if the desired behavior occurs, we are happy, but if something else happens, we can be equally happy; because we accept reality (laws) and we learned some important information about the laws of behavior. The freedom from being right or winning and just focusing on observing and learning is a great relief.
3: Give up trying to control everything, loosen up.
Whether you understand it or not, the world is unfolding as it should. Woldwide philosophies advocate acceptance or "going with the flow of the river." Going upstream is very hard and probably isn't the right direction anyway. Focus on learning to control your own life within a little bubble, don't worry much about changing the course of great rivers.
4: With practice you can learn to have a detached, calm, accepting attitude. That is peace of mind.
Peace of mind includes more than inner calm, it is accepting oneself, others, and the world. It is being sensitive to being off center, i.e. things beginning to go wrong, and doing something about the problems right away. It is a wonderful mental state, but no one can achieve it all the time.
Spread Happiness All-around!
We can sometimes help others by providing them with money or better material conditions, but we should remember that the greatest benefit we can give is to help them overcome their delusions and find true, lasting happiness within. Through technological progress and by organizing society in fairer, more humane ways, we can certainly help to improve people's lives in some respects; but whatever we do will inevitably have some unwanted side effects. The best we can hope for is to provide people with conditions that bring some temporary respite from problems and difficulties, but we cannot give them true, lasting happiness. This is because the real cause of happiness is inner peace, which can be found only within the mind, not in external conditions.
Our real purpose in attaining the permanent inner peace of enlightenment is to help others do the same. Just as the only way to solve our own problems is to find inner peace, so the only way to help others to solve theirs is to encourage them to engage in spiritual practice and discover their own inner peace. This way of benefiting others is by far the best; yet we can do this effectively only if we first work on our own mind. There is little benefit in telling people how important it is to overcome their delusions if we are unable to control our own. However, if through training our mind we succeed in pacifying - or even completely eliminating - our own anger, for example, we can certainly help others to control theirs. Then our advice will not be mere words, but will have behind it the power of personal experience.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
After having indulged our self-cherishing for so many lives, now is the time to realize that it simply does not work. Now is the time to switch the object of our cherishing from yourself to all living beings. Countless enlightened beings have discovered that by abandoning self-cherishing and cherishing others they came to experience true peace and happiness. If we practice the methods they taught, there is no reason why we should not be able to do the same. We cannot expect to change our mind overnight, but through patiently and consistently practicing the instructions on cherishing others, while at the same time accumulating merit, purifying negativity, and receiving blessings, we can gradually replace our ordinary self-cherishing attitude with the sublime attitude of cherishing all living beings. Here are some simple steps to achieving all this and more:
1: Gradually develop the capacity to be "centered."
The "center" or the "centered self" has to be built through conscious effort. We have to learn to go there and "center" or calm ourselves. How can we do this? Through efforts to relax and detach yourself from a constantly active mind and from demanding emotions, you can find some peace. With practice, you can get better at withdrawing from the stress (while becoming an even keener observer). Several other steps will help you do this.
2: Use determinism to increase your acceptance of what is happening
By understanding that there are causes for everything that happens, we can start to focus more on observing the true causes and less on some emotional reaction, such as "ain't it awful," "that should never have happened," etc. We can relax because we know the outcome was lawful (unless we witnessed a miracle). This accepting attitude gives us a certain freedom--a toleration of whatever happens. We may, of course, have a preference about what happens, and if the desired behavior occurs, we are happy, but if something else happens, we can be equally happy; because we accept reality (laws) and we learned some important information about the laws of behavior. The freedom from being right or winning and just focusing on observing and learning is a great relief.
3: Give up trying to control everything, loosen up.
Whether you understand it or not, the world is unfolding as it should. Woldwide philosophies advocate acceptance or "going with the flow of the river." Going upstream is very hard and probably isn't the right direction anyway. Focus on learning to control your own life within a little bubble, don't worry much about changing the course of great rivers.
4: With practice you can learn to have a detached, calm, accepting attitude. That is peace of mind.
Peace of mind includes more than inner calm, it is accepting oneself, others, and the world. It is being sensitive to being off center, i.e. things beginning to go wrong, and doing something about the problems right away. It is a wonderful mental state, but no one can achieve it all the time.
Spread Happiness All-around!
We can sometimes help others by providing them with money or better material conditions, but we should remember that the greatest benefit we can give is to help them overcome their delusions and find true, lasting happiness within. Through technological progress and by organizing society in fairer, more humane ways, we can certainly help to improve people's lives in some respects; but whatever we do will inevitably have some unwanted side effects. The best we can hope for is to provide people with conditions that bring some temporary respite from problems and difficulties, but we cannot give them true, lasting happiness. This is because the real cause of happiness is inner peace, which can be found only within the mind, not in external conditions.
Our real purpose in attaining the permanent inner peace of enlightenment is to help others do the same. Just as the only way to solve our own problems is to find inner peace, so the only way to help others to solve theirs is to encourage them to engage in spiritual practice and discover their own inner peace. This way of benefiting others is by far the best; yet we can do this effectively only if we first work on our own mind. There is little benefit in telling people how important it is to overcome their delusions if we are unable to control our own. However, if through training our mind we succeed in pacifying - or even completely eliminating - our own anger, for example, we can certainly help others to control theirs. Then our advice will not be mere words, but will have behind it the power of personal experience.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Thursday, April 15, 2010
ITS EASY BEING HAPPY!
What’s Happiness ?
Many people would say, "I just want to be happy." It is a worthy goal but few people know what’s happiness and how to find it. Some would say they want to have a good education and an interesting career. Others would say they want a loving spouse and a nice family. Others want a career, a family, good health, good friends, a nice house, expensive cars, good relationships, and enough money to take an extended vacation each year and to be comfortable. What would you say you need to be happy? According to worldwide research, all happiness and suffering depend upon the mind, and so if we want to avoid suffering and find true happiness we need to understand how our mind works and use that understanding to bring our mind under control. Happiness and stress are states of mind and so their main causes are not to be found outside the mind. When things go wrong in our life and we encounter difficult situations we tend to regard the situation itself as the problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience come from the side of the mind. If we were to respond to difficult situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be problems for us; indeed we may even come to regard them as challenges or opportunities for growth and development. Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be free from problems we must learn to control our mind.
Obstacles To Happiness
Since we all have within us our own source of peace and happiness, we may wonder why it is so hard to maintain a continually peaceful and joyful mind. This is because of the delusions that so often crowd our mind. Delusions are distorted ways of looking at yourself, other people, and the world around us - like a distorted mirror they reflect a distorted world. The deluded mind of hatred, for example, views other people as intrinsically bad, but there is no such thing as an intrinsically bad person. It is the deluded mind of attachment that projects all kinds of pleasurable qualities onto its objects of desire and then relates to them as if they really did possess those qualities.
All delusions function like this, projecting onto the world their own distorted version of reality and then relating to this projection as if it were true. When our mind is under the influence of delusions we are out of touch with reality and are not seeing things as they really are. Since our mind is under the control of at least subtle forms of delusion all the time, it is not surprising that our lives are so often filled with frustration. It is as if we are continually chasing mirages, only to be disappointed when they do not give us the satisfaction for which we had hoped. Therefore, if we want to transform our life and be free from delusions by learning to transform our mind.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Many people would say, "I just want to be happy." It is a worthy goal but few people know what’s happiness and how to find it. Some would say they want to have a good education and an interesting career. Others would say they want a loving spouse and a nice family. Others want a career, a family, good health, good friends, a nice house, expensive cars, good relationships, and enough money to take an extended vacation each year and to be comfortable. What would you say you need to be happy? According to worldwide research, all happiness and suffering depend upon the mind, and so if we want to avoid suffering and find true happiness we need to understand how our mind works and use that understanding to bring our mind under control. Happiness and stress are states of mind and so their main causes are not to be found outside the mind. When things go wrong in our life and we encounter difficult situations we tend to regard the situation itself as the problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience come from the side of the mind. If we were to respond to difficult situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be problems for us; indeed we may even come to regard them as challenges or opportunities for growth and development. Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be free from problems we must learn to control our mind.
Obstacles To Happiness
Since we all have within us our own source of peace and happiness, we may wonder why it is so hard to maintain a continually peaceful and joyful mind. This is because of the delusions that so often crowd our mind. Delusions are distorted ways of looking at yourself, other people, and the world around us - like a distorted mirror they reflect a distorted world. The deluded mind of hatred, for example, views other people as intrinsically bad, but there is no such thing as an intrinsically bad person. It is the deluded mind of attachment that projects all kinds of pleasurable qualities onto its objects of desire and then relates to them as if they really did possess those qualities.
All delusions function like this, projecting onto the world their own distorted version of reality and then relating to this projection as if it were true. When our mind is under the influence of delusions we are out of touch with reality and are not seeing things as they really are. Since our mind is under the control of at least subtle forms of delusion all the time, it is not surprising that our lives are so often filled with frustration. It is as if we are continually chasing mirages, only to be disappointed when they do not give us the satisfaction for which we had hoped. Therefore, if we want to transform our life and be free from delusions by learning to transform our mind.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
People-Trust’ Rules For Organizations
What’s Trust?
Trust. You know when you have it; you know when you don’t. Yet, what is trust and how is trust usefully defined for the workplace? Can you build trust when it doesn’t exist? How do you maintain and build upon the trust you may currently have in your work place? These are important questions for today’s rapidly changing world. Trust forms the foundation for effective communication, employee retention, and employee motivation and contribution of discretionary energy, the extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. When trust exists in an organization or in a relationship, almost everything else is easier and more comfortable to achieve. Experts define trust as, “the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something.” They have developed a model of trust that includes three components and call trust a construct because it is “constructed” of three components: “the capacity for trusting, the perception of competence, and the perception of intentions.”
Thinking about trust as made up of the interaction and existence of these three components makes “trust” easier to understand. The capacity for trusting means that your total life experiences have developed your current capacity and willingness to risk trusting others.
The perception of competence is made up of your perception of your ability and the ability of others with whom you work to perform competently at whatever is needed in your current situation.
The perception of intentions is your perception that the actions, words, direction, mission, or decisions are motivated by mutually-serving rather than self-serving motives.
Why is Trust Critical
There is a direct correlation between how employees view their company and how customers and stockholders view it. Once leadership has lost the confidence of their employees, that negative energy has a measurable impact on the messages employees -- and especially front-line employees -- deliver to customers, the community at large, and stockholders. Executives must take an active role in leading the discussion about trust in their organizations. This is not something to be left to Human Resources or Public Relations. And it has to be more than platitudes on a wall. Also trust is the basis for much of the environment people want to create in their work place. Trust is the necessary precursor for:
•feeling able to rely upon a person,
•cooperating with and experiencing teamwork with a group,
•taking thoughtful risks, and
•experiencing believable communication.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Trust. You know when you have it; you know when you don’t. Yet, what is trust and how is trust usefully defined for the workplace? Can you build trust when it doesn’t exist? How do you maintain and build upon the trust you may currently have in your work place? These are important questions for today’s rapidly changing world. Trust forms the foundation for effective communication, employee retention, and employee motivation and contribution of discretionary energy, the extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. When trust exists in an organization or in a relationship, almost everything else is easier and more comfortable to achieve. Experts define trust as, “the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something.” They have developed a model of trust that includes three components and call trust a construct because it is “constructed” of three components: “the capacity for trusting, the perception of competence, and the perception of intentions.”
Thinking about trust as made up of the interaction and existence of these three components makes “trust” easier to understand. The capacity for trusting means that your total life experiences have developed your current capacity and willingness to risk trusting others.
The perception of competence is made up of your perception of your ability and the ability of others with whom you work to perform competently at whatever is needed in your current situation.
The perception of intentions is your perception that the actions, words, direction, mission, or decisions are motivated by mutually-serving rather than self-serving motives.
Why is Trust Critical
There is a direct correlation between how employees view their company and how customers and stockholders view it. Once leadership has lost the confidence of their employees, that negative energy has a measurable impact on the messages employees -- and especially front-line employees -- deliver to customers, the community at large, and stockholders. Executives must take an active role in leading the discussion about trust in their organizations. This is not something to be left to Human Resources or Public Relations. And it has to be more than platitudes on a wall. Also trust is the basis for much of the environment people want to create in their work place. Trust is the necessary precursor for:
•feeling able to rely upon a person,
•cooperating with and experiencing teamwork with a group,
•taking thoughtful risks, and
•experiencing believable communication.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Promoting Organizational Values Framework
Organizations need to build and promote a ‘shared values framework’. This is a practical means to help organizations establish an appropriate management system by measuring where they are on the path to excellence, helping them to understand the gaps, and then identify solutions. This approach recognizes that stakeholder needs are met through processes. Value based process improvement is at the heart of any organizational development and it is through processes that the talents of people can be released, which in turn produces better performance. Improvement in performance can be achieved by involving people in the continuous improvement of the processes they work in.
Spreading Values-Popularity/Consensus
Using the work and insights from different value alignment sessions held across the organization, volunteers from these sessions should meet to reach consensus on the values and for developing value statements for each of these prioritized values. These volunteers will then draft value statements that are shared with all staff for feedback and refinement. Staff then discusses the draft value statements during organization-wide meetings, wherever possible. This total group then adopts organizational values by consensus vote when the organization believes their value statements are complete. Following the Values Alignment sessions and consensus agreement on the values, the leaders with staff, will:
- communicate & discuss the mission & organizational values frequently with staff members
-establish organizational goals that are grounded in the identified values;
- model personal work behaviours, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction that reflect the values;
-translate the values into expectations, priorities, and behaviours with colleagues, reporting staff, and self;
-link participation in the adoption of the values and the behaviours that result, to regular performance feedback and the performance development process;
-reward and recognize staff members whose actions and accomplishments reflect the values in action within the organization;
-hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with these values; and
-meet periodically to talk about how the group is doing via living the identified values.
To check whether the values have permeated sufficiently the following must occur:
-People demonstrate and model the values in action in their personal work behaviours, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.
-Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
-Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively created the values and the value statements.
-Rewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.
-Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
-Adoption of the values and the behaviours that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.
-People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with the values.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Spreading Values-Popularity/Consensus
Using the work and insights from different value alignment sessions held across the organization, volunteers from these sessions should meet to reach consensus on the values and for developing value statements for each of these prioritized values. These volunteers will then draft value statements that are shared with all staff for feedback and refinement. Staff then discusses the draft value statements during organization-wide meetings, wherever possible. This total group then adopts organizational values by consensus vote when the organization believes their value statements are complete. Following the Values Alignment sessions and consensus agreement on the values, the leaders with staff, will:
- communicate & discuss the mission & organizational values frequently with staff members
-establish organizational goals that are grounded in the identified values;
- model personal work behaviours, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction that reflect the values;
-translate the values into expectations, priorities, and behaviours with colleagues, reporting staff, and self;
-link participation in the adoption of the values and the behaviours that result, to regular performance feedback and the performance development process;
-reward and recognize staff members whose actions and accomplishments reflect the values in action within the organization;
-hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with these values; and
-meet periodically to talk about how the group is doing via living the identified values.
To check whether the values have permeated sufficiently the following must occur:
-People demonstrate and model the values in action in their personal work behaviours, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction.
-Organizational values help each person establish priorities in their daily work life.
-Values guide every decision that is made once the organization has cooperatively created the values and the value statements.
-Rewards and recognition within the organization are structured to recognize those people whose work embodies the values the organization embraced.
-Organizational goals are grounded in the identified values.
-Adoption of the values and the behaviours that result is recognized in regular performance feedback.
-People hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with the values.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Working with Others Who Are Negative
If the negativity emanates from an individual, we can:
•Inform the employee about the negative impact her negativity is having on co-workers and the department. Use specific examples that describe behaviours the employee can do something about.
•Avoid becoming defensive. Don’t take the employee’s negative words or attitude personally.
•Focus on creating solutions. Don’t focus on everything that is wrong and negative; focus instead on creating options for positive morale. If the person is unwilling to hold this discussion, and you feel you have fairly heard her out, end the discussion.
•Focus on the positive aspects and contributions the individual brings to the work setting, not the negativity. Help the employee build her self-image and capacity to contribute.
•Compliment the individual any time you hear a positive statement or contribution rather than negativity from her.
If none of the above is working and the employee’s negativity is impacting productivity, workplace harmony, and department members’ attitudes and morale, deal with the negativity as you would any other performance issue.
Recognize Your Potential Part in the Negativity Cycle
•Recognize that you are human and occasionally experience situations in which you must uphold decisions you don't entirely support. You don't want to contribute to the negativity by your words, actions, non-verbal behaviour, or voice. Yet, you want to act authentically so you are trustworthy and credible.
•Know yourself well enough to recognize internally when you are becoming negative.
•Become aware of work situations in which you typically find yourself becoming defensive or negative. Because you are aware of them, try to recognize when you are reacting and avoid your typical negative reaction. (Some people figure out exactly how to get you going and push your "hot buttons" deliberately, so to speak.)
•Take a time-out or walk away by yourself when you have dealt with a stressful situation.
•Spend some time alone thinking every day about the positive aspects of your work and life. You don't want to spend all of your time on negative thinking. If there is nothing positive to think about, examine the life you are choosing to create.
•Treat yourself with care. Don't beat yourself up or second-guess yourself over decisions or mistakes. You are human. You learn; you grow. Focus on the big picture; don't get bogged down in the day-to-day.
>>> Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
•Inform the employee about the negative impact her negativity is having on co-workers and the department. Use specific examples that describe behaviours the employee can do something about.
•Avoid becoming defensive. Don’t take the employee’s negative words or attitude personally.
•Focus on creating solutions. Don’t focus on everything that is wrong and negative; focus instead on creating options for positive morale. If the person is unwilling to hold this discussion, and you feel you have fairly heard her out, end the discussion.
•Focus on the positive aspects and contributions the individual brings to the work setting, not the negativity. Help the employee build her self-image and capacity to contribute.
•Compliment the individual any time you hear a positive statement or contribution rather than negativity from her.
If none of the above is working and the employee’s negativity is impacting productivity, workplace harmony, and department members’ attitudes and morale, deal with the negativity as you would any other performance issue.
Recognize Your Potential Part in the Negativity Cycle
•Recognize that you are human and occasionally experience situations in which you must uphold decisions you don't entirely support. You don't want to contribute to the negativity by your words, actions, non-verbal behaviour, or voice. Yet, you want to act authentically so you are trustworthy and credible.
•Know yourself well enough to recognize internally when you are becoming negative.
•Become aware of work situations in which you typically find yourself becoming defensive or negative. Because you are aware of them, try to recognize when you are reacting and avoid your typical negative reaction. (Some people figure out exactly how to get you going and push your "hot buttons" deliberately, so to speak.)
•Take a time-out or walk away by yourself when you have dealt with a stressful situation.
•Spend some time alone thinking every day about the positive aspects of your work and life. You don't want to spend all of your time on negative thinking. If there is nothing positive to think about, examine the life you are choosing to create.
•Treat yourself with care. Don't beat yourself up or second-guess yourself over decisions or mistakes. You are human. You learn; you grow. Focus on the big picture; don't get bogged down in the day-to-day.
>>> Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Friday, April 9, 2010
Building & Harnessing a Mentoring Culture
Everyone Needs Mentoring
What does it take to develop your people? It takes more than sending someone to a training class. It takes more than hard work on the part of your employees. What development takes are people – from the CEO’s office to the mailroom – people who are willing to listen and to help their colleagues. Development takes coaches; it takes guide; it takes advocates. We need to recognize that there are people in every organization — whether they’re men or women, minorities, or people who grew up without any business role-models in their lives — who don’t know how to react in various work situations. And it’s our responsibility to teach them. Organizations are only as successful as the men and women who make them work. So, if we care about our organizations and our people, we have to share our knowledge of the organizational culture; we have to share our wisdom; we have to mentor. Development depends on mentors. It is hard to make it without a mentor and it takes too much time without a mentor. Good mentoring is unbiased, objective support that identifies the qualities and abilities in other people and develops them; it identifies which hurdles are hard to get over and finds ways to get over or circumvent them when appropriate. Whether you are the mentor or the 'mentee', using the mentoring forum can be hugely rewarding. At last! Lots more companies are waking up to this fact that people can't always 'do it' alone. They need support, guidance and nurturing. To help with this, organizations are institutionalizing a mentoring culture.
Mentoring Is a Strategic Business Imperative
Today, in our love affair with what’s new, what’s cutting edge, and what’s technologically cool, it’s easy to forget that knowledge also comes with experience. It may require a few hours of e-training or a semester-long course to learn how an energy pump operates, but it takes years and years of experience to recognize the sounds of a pump that is not operating properly. The only way to shorten that learning cycle is to have someone with more experience help to accelerate learning. Companies need to recruit and retain mature employees because of respect for their knowledge. The best companies today will help their organizations transform the way they think about all of their employees. Each person brings different knowledge to the organization. Each generation brings something different and valuable to your organizational operations. Younger employees routinely tell us of their disenchantment with their companies as they describe the onerous demands (and opportunities) placed on them by managers who may have confidence in their abilities, but lack the time or skills to help them succeed. Faced with frustration and afraid that they will fail, many of these younger employees move on and look for a more supportive business environment. In fact, the average 30 - 44 year old has changed up to 5-6 times! Most businesses could use their more experienced staff, who have deep knowledge, impressive networks, and broad-based business experience, to buffer younger employees against frustration, focus on their career paths, and find places to acquire the skills-based knowledge necessary to succeed through a strategic mentoring plan.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
What does it take to develop your people? It takes more than sending someone to a training class. It takes more than hard work on the part of your employees. What development takes are people – from the CEO’s office to the mailroom – people who are willing to listen and to help their colleagues. Development takes coaches; it takes guide; it takes advocates. We need to recognize that there are people in every organization — whether they’re men or women, minorities, or people who grew up without any business role-models in their lives — who don’t know how to react in various work situations. And it’s our responsibility to teach them. Organizations are only as successful as the men and women who make them work. So, if we care about our organizations and our people, we have to share our knowledge of the organizational culture; we have to share our wisdom; we have to mentor. Development depends on mentors. It is hard to make it without a mentor and it takes too much time without a mentor. Good mentoring is unbiased, objective support that identifies the qualities and abilities in other people and develops them; it identifies which hurdles are hard to get over and finds ways to get over or circumvent them when appropriate. Whether you are the mentor or the 'mentee', using the mentoring forum can be hugely rewarding. At last! Lots more companies are waking up to this fact that people can't always 'do it' alone. They need support, guidance and nurturing. To help with this, organizations are institutionalizing a mentoring culture.
Mentoring Is a Strategic Business Imperative
Today, in our love affair with what’s new, what’s cutting edge, and what’s technologically cool, it’s easy to forget that knowledge also comes with experience. It may require a few hours of e-training or a semester-long course to learn how an energy pump operates, but it takes years and years of experience to recognize the sounds of a pump that is not operating properly. The only way to shorten that learning cycle is to have someone with more experience help to accelerate learning. Companies need to recruit and retain mature employees because of respect for their knowledge. The best companies today will help their organizations transform the way they think about all of their employees. Each person brings different knowledge to the organization. Each generation brings something different and valuable to your organizational operations. Younger employees routinely tell us of their disenchantment with their companies as they describe the onerous demands (and opportunities) placed on them by managers who may have confidence in their abilities, but lack the time or skills to help them succeed. Faced with frustration and afraid that they will fail, many of these younger employees move on and look for a more supportive business environment. In fact, the average 30 - 44 year old has changed up to 5-6 times! Most businesses could use their more experienced staff, who have deep knowledge, impressive networks, and broad-based business experience, to buffer younger employees against frustration, focus on their career paths, and find places to acquire the skills-based knowledge necessary to succeed through a strategic mentoring plan.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
ALL YOU HAVE IS YOUR INTEGRITY: WHY LEAVE IT TO CHANCE
Right Vs Wrong
Everyone knows right from wrong. Right? Wrong. People disagree about the definition of right and wrong all the time. That is why the topic of business ethics is currently front and center in the media and in office break rooms. And, as our world becomes more complex, sometimes the right answer, the one that meets the needs of the most stakeholders: employees, customers, potential employees, and board members, lies somewhere in the middle. We encounter tricky ‘middle path situations’ in almost all organizations. Are these "bad people" or "good people" making questionable ethical choices? Do they even consider whether the choices they are making are ethical? So, before we relegate the subject of business ethics to the touchy-feely, head-in-the-clouds worlds of philosophy, religion, or academia, consider the potential positive impact on your organization of a working code of business ethics.
Institutionalizing Code of Business Ethics
Developing a code of business ethics will not stop unethical behavior but it will give people something to think about, a measurement against which to assess their behavior. We can develop a written code of business ethics that guides the decision making and actions of all of your stakeholders. Our reputation and track record for ethical behavior and integrity are vital for establishing the trust that is the basis for all successful relationships we sustain including those with our customers, employees, community and stock holders. Once we have developed your code of business ethics, the critical component in making it an effective tool is using the code, daily, if possible. Develop a universally applicable code of ethics and make it live in your organization by organizing interactive challenge sessions across the organization at all levels. We then should use the document as a measurement or guideline for all actions and decisions in the company. After all, the organization’s reputation and integrity are too important to leave to chance.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Everyone knows right from wrong. Right? Wrong. People disagree about the definition of right and wrong all the time. That is why the topic of business ethics is currently front and center in the media and in office break rooms. And, as our world becomes more complex, sometimes the right answer, the one that meets the needs of the most stakeholders: employees, customers, potential employees, and board members, lies somewhere in the middle. We encounter tricky ‘middle path situations’ in almost all organizations. Are these "bad people" or "good people" making questionable ethical choices? Do they even consider whether the choices they are making are ethical? So, before we relegate the subject of business ethics to the touchy-feely, head-in-the-clouds worlds of philosophy, religion, or academia, consider the potential positive impact on your organization of a working code of business ethics.
Institutionalizing Code of Business Ethics
Developing a code of business ethics will not stop unethical behavior but it will give people something to think about, a measurement against which to assess their behavior. We can develop a written code of business ethics that guides the decision making and actions of all of your stakeholders. Our reputation and track record for ethical behavior and integrity are vital for establishing the trust that is the basis for all successful relationships we sustain including those with our customers, employees, community and stock holders. Once we have developed your code of business ethics, the critical component in making it an effective tool is using the code, daily, if possible. Develop a universally applicable code of ethics and make it live in your organization by organizing interactive challenge sessions across the organization at all levels. We then should use the document as a measurement or guideline for all actions and decisions in the company. After all, the organization’s reputation and integrity are too important to leave to chance.
-Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
BUILDING AN ORGANISATION BASED ON VALUES
Why Identify and Establish Values?
Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so that everyone understands and can contribute. Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an individual’s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. Thus value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions which are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization. The following are examples of values… competency, individuality, equality, integrity, empathy…. Once defined, values impact every aspect of your organization. We must support and nurture this impact or identifying values will have been a wasted exercise. People will feel fooled and misled unless they see the impact of the exercise within your organization. Values form the foundation for everything that happens in our workplace - the leader’s values permeate the organisation. We naturally hire people who share our values. Whatever we value, will largely govern the actions of our workforce. If we value and care about the people in our organization, we will pay for health insurance, employee recreation, and provide regular raises and bonuses for dedicated staff. If we value equality and a sense of family, we will wipe out the physical trappings of power, status, and inequality such as executive parking places and offices that grow larger by a foot with every promotion.
Whatever You Value Is What You Live in Your Organization
Most of us work in organizations that have already operated for many years. The values, and the subsequent culture created by those values, are in place, for better or worse. If we are generally happy with our work environment, we undoubtedly selected an organization with values congruent with our own. If you're not, watch out for a disconnect between - what you value and the actions of different people in your organization. As HR professionals, we will want to influence our larger organization to identify its core values, and make them the foundation for its interactions with its employees, customers, and suppliers. Minimally, we will want to work within our own HR organization to identify a strategic framework for serving the customers that is firmly value-based.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Effective organizations identify and develop a clear, concise and shared meaning of values/beliefs, priorities, and direction so that everyone understands and can contribute. Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an individual’s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. Thus value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions which are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization. The following are examples of values… competency, individuality, equality, integrity, empathy…. Once defined, values impact every aspect of your organization. We must support and nurture this impact or identifying values will have been a wasted exercise. People will feel fooled and misled unless they see the impact of the exercise within your organization. Values form the foundation for everything that happens in our workplace - the leader’s values permeate the organisation. We naturally hire people who share our values. Whatever we value, will largely govern the actions of our workforce. If we value and care about the people in our organization, we will pay for health insurance, employee recreation, and provide regular raises and bonuses for dedicated staff. If we value equality and a sense of family, we will wipe out the physical trappings of power, status, and inequality such as executive parking places and offices that grow larger by a foot with every promotion.
Whatever You Value Is What You Live in Your Organization
Most of us work in organizations that have already operated for many years. The values, and the subsequent culture created by those values, are in place, for better or worse. If we are generally happy with our work environment, we undoubtedly selected an organization with values congruent with our own. If you're not, watch out for a disconnect between - what you value and the actions of different people in your organization. As HR professionals, we will want to influence our larger organization to identify its core values, and make them the foundation for its interactions with its employees, customers, and suppliers. Minimally, we will want to work within our own HR organization to identify a strategic framework for serving the customers that is firmly value-based.
- Anshumali Saxena www.soilindia.net
Friday, April 2, 2010
Importance of HR Governance
Historically HR leaders have not been challenged to think formally about functional governance issues. By "functional governance" we mean applying an approach to governance that focuses on performance (results) as well as conformance (compliance) to key support functions (HR, Finance, Technology). However recent corporate scandals like Enron have made all corporate and functional executives much more aware of their personal and legal accountabilities. In the few instances where HR governance has been made explicit, it is usually synonymous with compliance and does not address the central issue - improving leadership and management of a function that invests an average of 36 per cent of operating revenue in remuneration, retirement, training and other human capital programmes.
With over a third of company revenue at stake, it's time for CEOs to expand their focus from compliance-driven corporate governance to the far more productive and profitable issue of functional governance. In this article, I shall explore the potential performance enhancement opportunities achievable with improved HR Governance.
What is HR Governance?
HR Governance is the act of leading the HR function and managing related investments to:
•optimise performance of the organisation's human capital assets;
•define stakeholders and their expectations;
•fulfil fiduciary and financial responsibilities;
•mitigate enterprise HR risk;
•align the function's priorities with those of the business; and
•assist HR executive decision making.
It's important to note that while corporate governance is treated as a strategic objective to attain, HR governance is not. HR Governance is a systematic approach to management that enables the function to achieve strategic and operational objectives and performance outcomes.
Why does HR Governance matter?
HR Governance can have a measurable impact on your business by improving productivity and helping to drive organisational change. Some of the benefits of establishing a workable HR governance structure are:
•clear reporting structures
•role clarity and value-adding HR activities and decisions at each level of the organisation
•logical decision making boundaries and controls
•integration and alignment with business priorities
•clarity around an organisation's tolerance of duplicative activities
•transparency of process and resultant employee trust/commitment
•demonstrable evidence of HR's value to the business.
The issue for every organisation is to have assurance that, given its own unique context, its governance processes will reduce operational and legal risk while enhancing its ability to deliver strong performance.
- anshumali.saxena@soilindia.net
With over a third of company revenue at stake, it's time for CEOs to expand their focus from compliance-driven corporate governance to the far more productive and profitable issue of functional governance. In this article, I shall explore the potential performance enhancement opportunities achievable with improved HR Governance.
What is HR Governance?
HR Governance is the act of leading the HR function and managing related investments to:
•optimise performance of the organisation's human capital assets;
•define stakeholders and their expectations;
•fulfil fiduciary and financial responsibilities;
•mitigate enterprise HR risk;
•align the function's priorities with those of the business; and
•assist HR executive decision making.
It's important to note that while corporate governance is treated as a strategic objective to attain, HR governance is not. HR Governance is a systematic approach to management that enables the function to achieve strategic and operational objectives and performance outcomes.
Why does HR Governance matter?
HR Governance can have a measurable impact on your business by improving productivity and helping to drive organisational change. Some of the benefits of establishing a workable HR governance structure are:
•clear reporting structures
•role clarity and value-adding HR activities and decisions at each level of the organisation
•logical decision making boundaries and controls
•integration and alignment with business priorities
•clarity around an organisation's tolerance of duplicative activities
•transparency of process and resultant employee trust/commitment
•demonstrable evidence of HR's value to the business.
The issue for every organisation is to have assurance that, given its own unique context, its governance processes will reduce operational and legal risk while enhancing its ability to deliver strong performance.
- anshumali.saxena@soilindia.net
Leadership necessities for Organizational Agility
As successful leaders we need to ensure that our organization can attract and retain resilient, agile, nimble, adaptive people. Beyond managing change, a proactive HR can help the current employees develop this capacity. It calls for concerted efforts to transform the work environment, organization, and climate that enables HR to deliver the workforce needed for the future. However in many organizations, existing HR systems are major impediments to creating agile workforces. For the most part, HR systems are designed to reduce variability and to standardize behavior, not to promote flexibility and adaptive behavior.
This move toward agility has created a new role for the HR function as HR organizations tend to become smaller. Hiring criteria and processes need to be altered to reflect agile attributes. Additionally job descriptions and compensation systems need to be re-designed to pay relatively more for enterprise-wide results and relatively less for individual outcomes. The HR department needs to create an organization that constantly builds its capacity through building the capacity of the people it employs.
The Agile Work Environment
Multiple layers of management that separate people from information, customers, and the ability to make knowledgeable decisions slow down an organization…hence they do not find place in the new agile reality. Neither will people who want to do one job, make limited decisions, take no risks, and pass each challenge to their supervisor. Direction and focus, in this agile work environment, is provided by leaders who drive and communicate the organization’s strategic vision throughout the workplace, daily, incessantly, and consistently while allowing individuals internalize this vision and perform their work to maximize its attainment. There are mainly three critical characteristics of the nimble organization:
•Hire only the agile -When staffing the organization for nimbleness,80% of the resources should be directed toward hiring people already prone towards the desired attributes, and then training and coaching them to expand their capabilities even more. No more than 20 percent of the resources should be allocated to assisting those who say they are willing to work against their own instincts and biases and try to develop completely new propensities… to become nimble and resilient.
•Spread resilience - when change is introduced, it is typically better handled by resilient people. It is better integrated by people who are used to constant change and who are not taken by surprise by the announcement or request.
•Build a core competency around handling ambiguity - People who handle change most effectively recognize that change can be scary, perhaps unpleasant, and that it always requires something different from them. Despite this, they continue to rise to the occasion and effectively perform their job responsibilities.
_ anshumali.saxena@soilindia.net
This move toward agility has created a new role for the HR function as HR organizations tend to become smaller. Hiring criteria and processes need to be altered to reflect agile attributes. Additionally job descriptions and compensation systems need to be re-designed to pay relatively more for enterprise-wide results and relatively less for individual outcomes. The HR department needs to create an organization that constantly builds its capacity through building the capacity of the people it employs.
The Agile Work Environment
Multiple layers of management that separate people from information, customers, and the ability to make knowledgeable decisions slow down an organization…hence they do not find place in the new agile reality. Neither will people who want to do one job, make limited decisions, take no risks, and pass each challenge to their supervisor. Direction and focus, in this agile work environment, is provided by leaders who drive and communicate the organization’s strategic vision throughout the workplace, daily, incessantly, and consistently while allowing individuals internalize this vision and perform their work to maximize its attainment. There are mainly three critical characteristics of the nimble organization:
•Hire only the agile -When staffing the organization for nimbleness,80% of the resources should be directed toward hiring people already prone towards the desired attributes, and then training and coaching them to expand their capabilities even more. No more than 20 percent of the resources should be allocated to assisting those who say they are willing to work against their own instincts and biases and try to develop completely new propensities… to become nimble and resilient.
•Spread resilience - when change is introduced, it is typically better handled by resilient people. It is better integrated by people who are used to constant change and who are not taken by surprise by the announcement or request.
•Build a core competency around handling ambiguity - People who handle change most effectively recognize that change can be scary, perhaps unpleasant, and that it always requires something different from them. Despite this, they continue to rise to the occasion and effectively perform their job responsibilities.
_ anshumali.saxena@soilindia.net
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