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Helping employees gain a positive perspective of
their workplace and employer -- how to tap the hidden needs and fears
of each employee, then translating these needs into training and educational
programs, is a critical need. Leaders have to lead -- with a vision,
a mission, a purpose, and some concrete steps that must be taken to
make these a reality. Further, there should be in place a corporate
communications program to support the corporate vision.
The links below highlight some of the leadership and communications
issues faced by HR professionals:
Building a Positive, Motivational Environment
The leaders need to be out there with the people leading by example,
not by words alone. They must "walk the talk." Good performance
must be recognized. Failures must be critiqued. Feedback must be frequent,
specific and to the point -- critiquing the action and result -- not
the person.
Employee awareness of competitive and market conditions is necessary
and it is best if the people can get involved in gaining this via customer
visits, shopping trips, field surveys, etc., and then bring the findings
back to communicate to their peers.
People want to work in a place that has meaning and a worthy purpose
and they want to be part of the success, then they want to be recognized
and share in the rewards for it. That is just fair and right!
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Communications
Few companies communicate enough with their employees. The communications
must take multiple forms. Face to face with supervisors is best. Top
management must both write and speak to employees -- in person -- about
how they are doing, market conditions, etc. Feedback sessions in which
all levels of working people get to give information to their management
and receive feedback on what was done as a result of their input are
valuable communications tools.
Newsletters, especially accompanied by letters to the home, are good
because it gets families involved. Pictures of employees in newsletters
make them more effective because they are more often shared and read.
Surveys of opinions, attitudes or morale are valuable, but be prepared
to take action on the findings -- and be sure to communicate the findings
and actions planned or the response will grow increasingly meaningless.
Listen hard -- few executives really know what goes on in a plant or
office at the lowest level where the most employees work. Practice MBWA
(Management By Walking Around) and be visible, openly approachable,
and remember the first two questions when confronted with a problem
or suggestion by an employee:
- Have you told your supervisor about that and what did s/he say?
- What would you do about that if you were I?
It works!
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Bureaucracy
"Bigger is not better -- better is better." Or so says John
Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems. He adds, "The fast will beat the
slow, and bigness slows you down!"
Bureaucracy comes from the need to manage large size combined with the
command and control mentality. Large, multi-level businesses patterned
themselves after either the military or the Catholic Church -- both
large bureaucratic organizations where speed is secondary to conformity
and coordination. That is not the business world of the 21st century!
As a company grows (and especially in these days of mergers and consolidations),
it leads to too many policies and too much time spent on actions to
enforce them. As companies keep on merging and get bigger, this gets
worse. After the policy manual grows to something the size of the New
York City telephone book, it is time to throw it out and start over.
Put in place policies as necessary to:
- Protect the assets of the corporation
- Define where legal compliance issues are necessary
- Document critical business processes (such as capital appropriations
and hiring or firing of people), with emphasis on how few approval
signatures are required for action.
Decentralization of authority, consistent with responsibility for results,
is a good model. Get the decisions closest to where first hand knowledge
of the situation exists -- and then grant authority to make the decision
there as well.
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Social Problems
Community and social problems -- the breakdown of family units, number
of single working parent or two-working-parent households, have placed
many of what are rightfully family responsibilities on schools and employers.
The challenge of HR executives is to return them to the appropriate
unit -- the family -- when possible, with positive, selective intervention.
Until or unless that can be done, HR departments become "surrogate
parents" with all of the duties and responsibilities that go with
such a daunting job. Teaching young employees about values, attendance,
responsibility, etc., is tough -- but falls back on the principles of
leadership, ethics, and doing the right thing, all the while communicating
exhaustively the "whys and wherefores."
Employee training and employer-supported education can help. Supporting
social services in the community is another avenue for help. Employee
Assistance Programs, which are available to employees on a confidential
basis, is a good step. All of the above and more will not remedy the
social ills of a country -- but all of it will help employers cope with
problems that society bestows on them.
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