HRviews

Sometimes you decide to let the year end and only worry about the new one when it comes. This was my choice this time…I have been exploring HR trends and things to be mindful of throughout 2011. However, at the dawn of the New Year I realized that most of the predicted trends are probably going to take second place in priority and only a handful will most likely prevail throughout 2012, a year that is expected to be rather difficult.

The shift comes from the fact that more than 80% of organizations have undergone a major restructuring effort, and it’s not over. (as per the Corporate Leadership Council).  Businesses are faced with a dilemmatic situation in which they have to pay attention to both the economic crisis and also their employees. This becomes the number one challenge in 2012 and the question is: will business leaders and HR manage to find solutions to address this? On the one hand, the economic crisis will impose its own risks and limitations and with that in mind, on the other hand, organizations need to find creative ways to maximize employee performance and to focus on retaining and supporting talent.

It might so be that in the next year organizations will hire less, the training and education budgets will be somewhat downsized or temporarily frozen, organizations will focus more on transformation, on how to manage effectively and basically how to do more with less. Although in any crisis situation, the sense of emergency and panic might persist at first, most likely, strategic organizations will find the right model to pull them through this transformation. And as we have seen in the last few years, most success comes from knowing how to blend human change and organization change in the same bowl, rather than one following the other.

Opening The Harvard Business Review (Nov Edition) and seeing pages filled with Sarah Morris’ paintings was refreshing….wait, no, confusing. What does art have to do with business? Well, HBR tackled a great topic in this edition: “How great companies think differently”.  The overall thought is that great companies, instead of being mere money generating machines, combine financial and social logic to build enduring success. These enterprises intend to accomplish societal purposes and also provide meaningful livelihoods  for those who work in them.
Connecting art with business could be ultimately a way of trying to be different. Art teaches us to find more meaning in what’s around us, to be more innovative. Sarah Morris’ busy imagery is  metaphor for the challenges that institutions and individuals face trying to find their spot in society.

Some tips and advice from Gina Cajucom from Insight Coaching and Consulting…and a real life example. :)

Personal Leadership – Taking Charge of Your Career

Good reads are meant to be shared. Here is one of them: The Rules of Management by Richard Templar. When I go to people’s offices I like to quickly browse through their books on display. This particular book caught my attention right away, although the title is not quite a catcher. After the first few sentences I realized it is a must read. Richard Templar is a brilliant writer, direct, realistic and above all an experienced manager. Instead of rewording his thoughts, I have decided to list some of his rules.

Excerpts from The Rules of Management (Richard Templar)

As a manager you are expected to be a lot of things. A tower of strength, a leader, a innovator, a magician (conjuring up pay raises, resources, and extra staff at the drop of a hat), a kindly uncle/aunt, a shoulder to cry on, a dynamic motivator, a stern but fair judge, a diplomat, a politician, a financial wizard (no, this is quite different from being a magician), a protector, a savior and a saint.

The mistake a lot of managers make is to think they are managing people… Make the people successful and you have the successful manager… But unfortunately this is a myth and we need to see that the real role of the manager is to manage processes rather than people.

People can manage themselves if you let them. What you need to be concentrating on is the real job of management — the strategy. The team is merely a means to fulfilling that end.

The good manager is managing change, the process, strategy, progress and balance. In all of this we might well need our ‘people’, but we also may not. We can’t ignore the people of course, but we should be handing over as much self-management to them as we possibly can.

#1: Get them emotionally involved

“Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”- Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic

You manage people. People who are paid to do a job. But if it is ‘just a job’ to them, you’ll never get their best… It isyou that has to inspire them, lead them, motivate them, challenge them, get them emotionally involved.You have to get them to see the relevance of what they are doing, how it makes an impact on people’s lives, how they provide for the needs of other human beings, how they can reach out and touch people by what they do at work. Get them convinced — because it is true of course — that what they do makes a difference.

#2: Know what a team is and how it works

“Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ‘em to play together is the hard part.” – Casey Stengel, former manager, New York Yankees

A team isn’t a collection of people. It is an organization with its own dynamics, qualities and conventions. Without knowing these things you will flounder. Knowing them, you can work your team to achieve greatness…a team is a group where all the members focus on a collective target.A team doesn’t pull together well when each individual member focuses on their own target.

#3: Set realistic targets — no, really realistic

“Let’s make a dent in the universe.” — Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple

When I say realistic, I don’t say lower or easy-to-achieve targets. I say realistic. That might mean taxing. It might mean a struggle. It might mean your team has to redouble its efforts, work harder, longer, brighter. But Rule 3 says realistic and that means achievable, within your grasp. And yes, you might have to stretch a bit. Realistic means you know what your team is capable of and what is expected of it by your bosses.

#4: Hold effective meetings — no, really effective

“The ideas that come out of most brainstorming sessions are usually superficial, trivial, and not very original. They are rarely useful. The process, however, seems to make uncreative people feel that they are making innovative contributions and that others are

#13: Be very, very good at finding the right people

“The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from medddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt, US President (1901-9)

#18: Keep track of everything you do and say

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

#33: Be ready to say yes

“Silicon Valley has developed a ‘genius’ business model. You find a genius. You build a business around them.” — Gordon Bell and Heidi Mason, ‘The Care and Feeding of ”Intrapreneurs”‘

#34: Train them to bring you solutions, not problems

“Bring me solutions, not problems.” — Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister (1979-90)

#62: Adopt minimalism as a management style

Minimalism means not issuing lengthy reports. It means not issuing memos every 20 minutes. It means keeping rules to the minimum and letting people get on with their jobs.

It means mission statements that make sense, are clear and easy to understand and are simple. It means management where managers use professionals and let them get on with their tasks in peace and quiet. It means managers who are secure in themselves and don’t need to score points, bully or interfere. Minimalist management is all about getting more by doing less. Yes, sure you have to be the boss, but it’s more like steering a big ship — the tiniest touch of the wheel is enough.

There is an old Chinese saying: ‘Govern a country the same way you cook small fish,’ ie. don’t keep fiddling with them or they fall apart. Manage a department, team or company in pretty much the same way — gently, discreetly, unobtrusively. Better to be understated than too obvious.

#66: Be creative

The good manager keeps a store cupboard full of creative techniques so that when they get stuck, when the team gets stuck — and you and they will from time to time — you have something to fall back on.

#71: Go home

“Many managers follow the notion of busy fools and confuse hard work with long hours. They think they work 15-hour days and forget their children’s names, they must be bloody good managers. The best sales managers I worked with never once worked beyond 5.30pm.” — Caspian Woods,From Acorns — How to build your brilliant business from scratch.