Learning to Love Resignation

My clients are often hugely proud of their high retention rates and low turnover. They see it as a badge of honor and take it personally when one of their work 'family' resigns.

I always find it interesting as my clients entrepreneurs who all had successful careers where they honed their skills before they started their own enterprises, and it took a considerable amount of bravery for them to leave a secure job and branch out on their own.

It got me thinking about the way that organisations deal with resignations from effective productive employees and how a resignation from an awesome member of your team can be seen as a positive thing:

Development Opportunities –

Increasingly organisations have flatter structures and so less of a career path for employees, so a resignation means you can provide employees with an opportunity to develop within the organisation, rather than outside of it.

Innovation –

A resignation is an opportunity for you to review that person’s role, amend job descriptions and add additional skills that you may need in a changing marketplace.

Fresh Blood –

New employees come with new ideas and viewpoints, which is always useful in keeping your business fresh and relevant.

Identifying Single Points of Failure –

If an employee’s resignation means a vital task within your organisation will not get done, and no one else has the skills, knowledge or qualifications to carry them out, you have a problem and that needs to be addressed.

New Business Opportunities –

An ex-employee could become or bring you your next significant customer. Remember people buy people, often people use their network when they are looking for services or products.

Alumni Hiring –

Employees do return, sometimes as contractors rather than employees, but you do get someone who knows your business, has great skills and can hit the ground running on a project or piece of work.

If you’d like some support with talent management and succession planning for your organisation, get in touch here.

From Running to People Management

You don’t have to speak with me for long to know that I LOVE to run. It’s my favourite way to start my day, my ‘Me’ time, a place to reset, take in Gods handiwork and prepare for my day.

While I was running this morning mentally responding to a client’s employee issue (it’s where I do some of my best work!), I thought about how there are three key similarities between Running and People Management:

1.       Preparation

The night before I run, I get all my of my things ready for my run; clothes, trainers, playlist, charge my phone, watch and headphones. It is easy to be distracted from my run if I’m racing around trying to get my things together.

The same applies to People Management, you need to know; Who are you managing? What motivates them? What you want to communicate? How are you going to take them on your journey?

2.       Have Objectives

I always know how far I’m planning to run, which route I’m going to take, what pace I want to achieve and what time I need to be home, so I’m on schedule the rest of my day.

You should set focused measurable objectives, not just “Bring in more clients” but “Increase our client base by 10% in the next 60 days” and review and measure them regularly, not just on the objective due date.

3.       Be Adaptable

The weather can be one of the most challenging elements to runners. Some mornings, I need to grab my waterproofs and change my route from the trail to the road, other mornings I need my sunglasses, sunscreen and hat.

Do not be blinkered, there may be ideas that your staff have that you haven’t thought of or risks that need be addressed and mitigated. Always keep an open mind.

Need assistance managing your team or training your managers? We are launching our Management Fundamentals workshop as a self study course on the 1 November 2017,  join our waiting list here to get an exclusive bonus offer from us prior to formal launch. You can find out more about the Management Fundamentals self study course here.

Trying to find some extra hours in the day?

Have you heard this amazing statistic?

Small business CEO’s spend an average of 20% of their day on HR tasks

That's a day a week!

A lot of clients that I speak with cite being too busy as a reason why some essential HR things don’t get done, and the reason why they need Eden Mayers HR to whip them into shape!

The majority of their battles can be put down to one thing …

DELEGATING

Now HR is my business so I spend a lot of time on and with it, however I can relate when it comes to other elements of my business. I like numbers and data analysis but it’s the job of Daniel in my team! I do have a tendency to start some analysis and take a bunch of time working on it, then get frustrated and get shown how it’s really done (sometimes in moments) with fancy excel formulae and macros. The same applies to making changes to the website!

My business is my baby so I sometimes struggle to hand things over and then complain about a lack of time. Delegating is always a big thing in our Management and Leadership coaching programmes, so I thought I’d share a few tips to help you find those extra 4 hours in the day:

Play to your strengths

Know what you are good at and stick to it. When you started your business you were a team of one and had to get everything done, now you have the ability to buy in support either though outsourced providers (accountants, VA, social media, contractors) or employees. Get the right support in and give them the autonomy to deliver.

Take the time to train

“By the time I tell them how to do it, I could have done it myself!” You have to invest time to free up time, this is the same thing I say to clients who are too busy to find time the hire the staff they need – chicken and egg! A full trained empowered employee, means freedom for you.

Block out your time

It is really easy to get distracted by the admin needed to run a business. Block your time, unless there is an emergency (or holiday) I do my admin on Fridays. I schedule in time to write blogs, call clients, record vlogs, do Facebook lives, as well as delivering to clients. It means my team know when I’m available and I know what I need to achieve during the day.

Change your location

People can’t asking you things if they can’t find you. I have a few local coffee shops and restaurants that I can escape to, put my phone on airplane mode and hook onto their wifi! I can get a days work completed in half the time, when I have no interruptions. I’m on a train for 3 hours tomorrow and I already have a work plan.

Try these time saving hacks and see if you find some extra time in your day to focus on the things that really matter.

When your Path is Rocky

We offer Career Coaching to both businesses and individuals – normally with our corporate clients we are working with their graduates or interns as they embark on their career, or experienced staff going through the uncertainty of a restructure. However, the individuals that we work with can be at any stage in their career, just starting, returning to the workforce after a career break, looking to change career or winding down to retirement.

I find these sessions really interesting and fulfilling as often the individual has a burning passion for something that they do (or used to do) in their spare time and never imagine that they could forge a career or start up a business in that area.

For example, I met with a lady who had an established career, she was on the management track, having gone through a management training programme with a large retailer. She then moved into local government management and had worked her way up to senior management. However, she had reached a ceiling, there was nowhere further of interest for her to go in local government and central government didn’t appeal.

When I reviewed her pre meeting questionnaire, I was amazed to see that she’d never pursued what she studied at university, even though I could see that she was volunteering in that sector. When I asked her about it, she said she would love to get paid for delivering that service, but when she graduated it was so hard to get into it, that she applied for the trainee management program at the retailer where she had a part time job during her studies and the rest was history. I could see her eyes light up at the idea of having a fulfilling career in an area that she was passionate in.

We looked at her ideal role and dream employers, we also looked a freelance options and created tailored CV’s, covering letters and prospecting messages. My lovely client was able to secure her ideal role, make a good living and get the work life balance she wanted by pursuing her passion. A year on, she is loving her role and mentoring others.

My coach always says “All of the things you have experienced, positive and negative, come together to make your life’s work”.

Here are a few tips to help you find your dream role or business:

• What do you LOVE to do?
• What do you DISLIKE doing?
• What do people often ask for your HELP with?
• What QUALIFICATIONS do you have?
• What SKILLS do you have?
• What does that little VOICE keep directing you towards?

Your ideal role is a combination of all of these elements. Take some time to sit and reflect, and you will find it!

Watch the Video on this subject here.

For help with your career planning you can find more details on our programme here.

When the team dynamic is tragic!

This week’s case study looks at resolving conflict using mediation.

I always say that the interesting thing about HR is working with people, it’s the interaction with individuals, learning about them and building relationships, then using that knowledge to influence, motivate, develop and exit them where necessary.

One of our clients contacted us, as they had a manager whose relationship with one of their team members had broken down to the point where they could not sit in the same room together. They asked us to come in and mediate with the pair as an outcome of a grievance, and see if their working relationship could be repaired, as they didn’t want to lose either person as they both had unique and hard to source skills.

We arranged a time to meet, laid down the ground rules for the discussion and began. It was soon established that some of their issues was due to cultural differences. The manager came from a country where disagreeing with your manager was not deemed as acceptable behaviour,  you were expected follow commands without questioning. The other individual came from a country where speaking your mind was expected and respected – Can you guess the countries?

The manager kept speaking over their staff member during the mediation process, every time they expressed their feelings, to the point that we had to adjourn the meeting to calm the staff member and reiterate the ground rules to the manager. After an hour and a half of clearing the air, we established the foundation for their working relationship going forward. We followed up with each individual at 1, 4 and 8 weeks post the mediation session and the relationship was much improved. They would never be friends, but had found some common ground and a language to communicate in.

Here are some tips for mediation:

• Both parties must be open to the process.
• Set ground rules.
• Remember you are there to facilitate only.
• Do not take sides.
• Compromise is the key.
• Listen actively – without interruption.
• You can adjourn if the meeting is getting heated.
• It may take more than one meeting to find a resolution.
• Not every situation can be solved by mediation.

Watch our managing directors Facebook live on the mediation here.

While mediation is not a guaranteed solution for conflict and can be time consuming. It gives you an insight into individuals and may help highlight some action that needs to be taken within your organisation to build better working relationships both internally and externally with clients. For details on how we can support you, click here.

You're not a Coach!

A big part of developing your leadership skills, is learning how to coach, mentor and influence individuals. So I guess your question is what’s the difference and why is it important?

Well …

Coaching is … generally task or objective related, helping an individual to do something specific and once that has been completed the relationship normally ends.

Mentoring is … generally long term and future driven. They work best when the mentor isn’t directly responsible for the mentee.

Influencing is … the ability to effect the character, development or behaviour of an individual.

Now I believe that the key skills that links all of these together are LISTENING and EMPATHY.

To influence, coach and mentor you need to understand the other persons, likes, dislikes, aspirations, hopes, fears and learning style. Then package your advice and instruction accordingly.

You have to ask questions and then really listen and engage, then respond in an authentic way. It’s pointless saying “I’ve been there” when you haven’t. The idea is to use questions to help the other person come up with the solution, rather than just telling them. It takes time to build your skill at having this type of conversation without getting frustrated.

Good questions to ask include:

• What could the best outcome be?
• What part of what you just said could be an assumption?
• If I were in your shoes and asked you that question, what would you say?
• What are the positive outcomes of this negative situation?
• What would you try now if you knew you could not fail?
• When will you start?
• What are you waiting for?
• And?

This week, when your team comes to you with issues, try asking questions instead of just giving the answer (where appropriate) and see what happens. Let us know in the comment’s below. You can find our Vlog on Coaching here.

To find out more about the services we offer and book a discovery call, click here.

Happy coaching and mentoring!

Putting Your Talent Management Strategy into Action

This is the last in our series on Talent Management.

Week One – We discussed the Importance of having a Talent Management Strategy and the benefit it can add to your business.

Week Two – We started creating your Talent Management Strategy, by identifying your Talent.

Week Three – We looked at the types of interventions needed to engage with your Talent and get them to where you need them to be, to grow and develop your business.

This week, it’s about putting your plan into action.

It’s easy when business is busy to focus on the here and now, delivering to your clients, making sales and ensuring that the day to day stuff happens. But only focusing on the here and now, will not get your business to grow and scale.

Remember that a wise man (Benjamin Franklin) said

“If you Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”

It’s hard to losing a vital member of your team for a day a month, let alone more, and it may seem risky but you will reap the benefits.

The way to get your plan to work is to plan your activities and communication plan so that interventions are well spaced and allow for business as usual activities to continue.

You can provide training and staff engagement activities in 1-3 hour modules, so that they can be undertaken, first thing in the morning, at lunchtime or at the end of the day, to limit interruption.

Also, if there is essential training that all members of staff need to undertake, do it in batches, and consider train the trainer courses, so that you can deliver the training

The important is that you are communicating and engaging regularly with staff and that they know there is a plan and where they sit within it.

If you implement these steps, you will have a more engaged and motivated workforce, with reduced turnover.

A basic example plan, can be found here, it's main use is to ensure that you have a timeline that you can stick too, with not too many interventions happening at once. Once this plan has been agreed, it can be broken down into a gantt chart, to keep track of progress and critical delivery dates.

Creating an Effective Talent Management Plan – Part 2

Last week we spoke about the data you need to gather to ascertain who your ‘Talent’ is.

Once you have identified your talent you need to engage with them, so they know you think they are awesome and that they have a career path within your organisation. Then you need to provide them with the tools and opportunities that they need to achieve their full potential.

Here are the things that you need to put into place:

Engagement Activities:

Communication Plan - How do share information with your top performers?

Events – Lunchtime learning's, Audience with the CEO, Invited Speakers, Leadership event

Awards – Unsung Hero, Team Player, Volunteer of the Year

Training and Development Plan:

As part of your review process, both formal performance appraisals and regular 1-2-1’s you ought to be identifying any training needs. You need to add into those the training for the skills that you need your staff to have going forward.

This should be documented and agreed with the individuals.

Mentoring Scheme

A lot can be gained by having a mentoring program. A mentor should not be a manager of the individual, their role is to help them achieve their aspirations, NOT focus on their current tasks and responsibilities. Open doors for them, share knowledge and introduce them to some movers and shakers.

Opportunities to work on cross functional projects

Project work helps staff to develop their skills in negotiating, communication, time management, stakeholder management and more, all that will benefit you when they return to their regular role.

Sabbaticals

Time off to travel or volunteer can add to an employee’s skill-set. Also, from a well-being point of view, a break from work can prevent a resignation.

Secondments

Secondments to other departments within your organisation or externally, provides a new perspective and an opportunity to learn from how others work.

There is a requirement for both a time and resource investment, but it is a lot cheaper than having to hire and will definitely pump fresh life into your employees. You don’t have to do everything a once, but a plan with specific timelines, that are communicated with your talent, lets them know that you are thinking of them.

Let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments section below.

Next week, we will look at how you implement your plan.

Creating an Effective Talent Management Strategy – Part 1

In my last blog I explained why having a Talent Management Strategy was important and the value that it can bring to your business.

The CIPD definition of Talent is:

"Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential".

The first task is identifying your talent, by doing the following:

• Identify what skills and expertise your organisation currently needs – Do you have the right skills to keep your clients happy, or enough people with those skills for smooth delivery?
• Identify what skills and knowledge are needed to achieve your medium to long terms business plans – Are you planning to expand? Or Diversify? Is there new technology on the horizon?
• Identify those individuals currently making a signification contribution to your organisation (especially those who have a unique skill, what I call a single point of failure) – don’t just look at your senior team, look throughout your organisation
• Identify those with Potential to make a significant contribution to your organisation in the future – Who is displaying the values and ethos of your business, Who has shown their ability and desire to be great?

Depending on the size of your organisation, these tasks may take a while.

Stick to reviewing staff identified based on their current skills and knowledge, and their ability to develop into the skilled individuals that you will need for the future, not your gut.

The Vlog on this subject, can be found here.

Next week, we’ll look at part two of creating your Talent Management Plan.

Let us know how you get along and if you have any questions the comments section below

What is Talent Management and Why is it Important?

At one of the Corporate Consultancies that I used to work for, there was a period of staff reduction, following 5 years of rapid growth. Restructures with the insecurity of job losses are always stressful, and so we spent a long time working out the strategy for change. How to communicate with staff and what support to give to those who would be displaced. We ran the programme well, and at the end of the process, achieved our goal and reached our savings target.

However, in the 6 months following the restructure we received resignations from a large number of highly valued, well performing staff. When we attempted to retain these individuals, the feedback we received was that they didn’t feel secure in their role and that they didn’t feel valued or invested in. They certainly hadn’t realised that they were considered part of the top 10% of the Company.

This company DID NOT have a Talent Management Strategy! They didn’t invest in ensuring that their top performers were happy and motivated.

So, What is Talent Management?

The CIPD describes Talent Management as ‘the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles’

3 key reasons why Talent Management is key:

• Staff turnover will be reduced
• Client delivery will be improved
• Your organisation becomes a ‘employer of choice’

The Vlog on this subject, can be found here. Let us know how you motivate and retain your top talent in the comments section below.

Next week, we will cover how to start creating your Talent Management Strategy.