Last time I talked about the importance of workforce planning, and how, when done effectively, it can give you a strategic advantage. Part of workforce planning is ensuring that you have clearly defined the key job roles (skills sets, experience, behaviors) that are needed to help you achieve your corporate goals and objectives.

Start by defining the work that needs to be done, and the skills and competencies required for that work. If you’re starting from scratch, you may want to use an employee who is currently doing the work successfully as a model to identify required skills, experience and behaviors, but remember that a job should be designed around the role requirements, not a particular person.

Once you’ve defined and designed the critical job roles to meet your needs today, spend some time thinking about skills/job roles you may need in the future.  This will be helpful in identifying skill gaps, and determining whether it makes more sense to hire for those skill gaps or to develop current employees to fill the gaps.

Once you’ve completed your job role designs, it’s time to create formal job descriptions. You may already have job descriptions, but these should be reviewed and updated at least annually, and whenever someone leaves. Each time someone leaves a role, consider whether you need to add or change responsibilities in that role based on future needs. Many organizations fail to periodically review job descriptions. Over time the job evolves with the changing organization and needs, and the job description ends up looking nothing like the actual role. This can present a problem in recruiting, hiring and performance management.

Remember when you are writing job descriptions, they should be as detailed as possible. This will help you recruit the right person for the job. It will also give you a legally defensible document, or ‘benchmark’ for performance management. Be sure your job descriptions include at least the following:

• Job title
• Job location
• A summary of the job objective/purpose
• Scope of responsibility
• Reporting relationships
• Qualifications required (experience, skills, competencies)
• Key functions and duties (including standards)
• Physical requirements of the job

If you need help defining job requirements or creating effective job descriptions, please contact me.

Effective workforce planning can give companies of any size a strategic advantage. Yet, according to Deloitte’s 2015 “Global Human Capital Trends” report, only 5% of HR professionals rank their workforce planning process as “excellent,” while nearly 60% call it “weak.” A third of those surveyed said their planning process is “adequate.”

With the improved economy, many companies are going through a growth spurt to meet the needs of increased demand in their markets. Too often I see this need for growth trigger a hiring frenzy, with little thought or planning to ensure that skill sets hired will meet future as well as current needs. There just isn’t time. Workforce planning forces us to take a step back and think about the needs of the future so that we can hire and develop strategically.

Workforce planning, as defined by businessdictionary.com, is the “systematic identification and analysis of what an organization is going to need in terms of the size, type, and quality of workforce to achieve its objectives. It determines what mix of experience, knowledge, and skills are required, and it sequences steps to get the right number of people in the right place at the right time.”

Workforce planning can include operational considerations such as work schedules and hours, distributing talent among divisions and departments, identifying functions no longer needed and reassigning workers, and maintaining employee engagement. The more strategic side of workforce planning looks at identifying skill sets needed as the company grows and changes, transferring company knowledge as employees leave, and defining recruitment strategy for future workforce needs. Specific policies and practices around promoting from within, career paths, and development can also be a part of it.

An effective workforce plan can ensure that you have talent in the pipeline when you have an immediate need. It can improve your bench strength by helping you identify and prepare future leaders. And it can help ensure that you are ready for future opportunities.

If you’d like to discuss how workforce planning can help you achieve your objectives, please contact me.

One of the biggest challenges as a leader is dealing with team conflict. Although research shows that the most effective teams are made up of individuals with different skill sets, experience, and personalities, these differences can often lead to conflict. As a leader, you have a great opportunity to turn that conflict into something magical, if you manage it well, or, as my colleagues Susan Clarke and CrisMarie Campbell of thrive! Coaching & Consulting (“The Team Doctors”) like to say, if you “use it, not defuse it.”

In my last blog I gave you some creative resources for leadership development. As a leader, it’s also important that you provide development opportunities for the individuals on your team and for your team as a unit. Susan and CrisMarie offer a 3-part coaching and team facilitation system that focuses on the smart and healthy side of the team and business. They work with you to improve the health of your team and thereby achieve smart business results.

How are you handling team conflict now? Are you providing opportunities for your team to talk it out and listen empathically to one another? To be “vulnerable and curious”? Or are you just dealing with it and hoping that your team will learn to get along?

Gallup research shows that the number of engaged employees in the US has hovered around 32% for quite awhile now. A couple of factors that affect employee engagement are trust in management and opportunities to develop. You can increase employee trust and engagement by helping your team learn to turn conflict into creativity, which will ultimately help your team and the larger organization thrive!

Learn more about Susan and CrisMarie and the difference they’re making for teams and organizations by watching their TED talk here.

In my last couple of blogs I’ve talked about some of the important responsibilities of a leader – giving timely and effective feedback, setting goals and objectives, and coaching employees for performance and career development. Becoming effective in these and other leadership skills – creating a vision, championing change, inspiring, developing employees, etc. – does not happen overnight. It requires learning (lots of it!) through experience, mistakes, and both formal and informal leadership development.

The good news is that there are a variety of options available for leadership development, ranging from traditional classroom programs to newer, more experiential opportunities.  One such experiential opportunity is: “Unharness Your Leadership Potential – Maximize Your Executive Presence and Influence at Work.” This one-day leadership retreat, which incorporates horses (yes, you read that right) into the learning activities, is being offered Saturday, April 2, in Petaluma.  The retreat will be led by Executive Leadership Coach Jo Ilfeld, Ph.D, of Success Reboot, and Ashley Smith, who is certified in Equine Guided Education.

Jo Ilfeld

You will learn:

• How to increase your visibility and transmit more confidence – even in uncomfortable work situations
• How to influence others more effectively at work, whether or not you have direct authority
• Your go-to influence techniques and strategies and how well they’re working for you
• How to effect change at work, even in situations where so much feels out of your control
• How to successfully impact the productivity and performance of your work teams

To register or find out more, email jo@successreboot.com

Another couple of “outside the classroom” opportunities for leadership development are self-assessments and volunteering.  Becoming more self-aware is probably one of the most important steps in improving your effectiveness as a leader. When you understand how you behave in certain situations, and how others perceive your behaviors, you can begin to adapt those behaviors appropriately.  Gaining that insight will help you with communication, dealing with conflict, and motivating people in ways that are meaningful to them. There are a number of self-assessment tools on the market, such as Meyers-Briggs and LuminaLearning.  Volunteering to be on a Board or to take a leadership role in a professional organization, PTA or some other community organization is another way to develop leadership skills and experience. If you are not yet a leader in your regular job, but would like to get some experience and skills to progress along that path, this is an excellent way to get started.

“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” – Chinese proverb

One of your roles as a leader is to develop your employees. This includes giving regular feedback, providing opportunities that help them stretch and grow, and allowing them to learn from their mistakes.  It’s called coaching. And putting yourself in the role of coach (positive) instead of boss (often negative) will go a long way to improving employee engagement and, by extension, improving company performance.

A survey by Corporate Executive Board found that firms whose culture encourages open communication outperform peers by more than 270% in terms of 10-year total shareholder return.  Good coaching and an open, honest communication environment go hand in hand.

Key to an effective coaching process is the coaching conversation. This is where the leader (coach) does more asking than telling, and where the coach and coachee (employee) co-create a solution and next steps.  This model works for both performance coaching and career development. Although the content will be different, the basic structure is the same – two-way, honest communication resulting in clarity and specific next steps.

Performance conversations should happen as close to when the performance issue is observed as possible. Unlike wine, poor performance does not improve with age. And unless the employee is made aware of the issue, he/she may assume everything is OK. Give employees the opportunity to learn from mistakes and to improve. Career development conversations should be held on a regular basis.

Here’s how a performance coaching conversation might look:

1. Set the stage. Explain that the goal of the conversation is to provide feedback to help them improve.
2. Describe the issue. Be sure that the issue is something you have personally observed, not something you were told by others.  “I’ve observed that you came in late three times this week.”
3. Get them thinking. Ask, “What do you think the impact of your being late is?” “How could this have been avoided?”
4. Confirm expectations. “When do we need to be in the office and available for customer calls?”
5. Gain commitment. “What are the new behaviors you will practice?” “What are the benefits of those new behaviors?”
6. Follow up. If the behavior changes as promised, be sure to have another conversation where you give them positive feedback, including the positive impact of their actions. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been on time or even early for the past two weeks. We have consistently gotten orders out on time as a result. Thank you!”

Remember that, as a coach, you need to be providing regular feedback for both performance and career development. Catch your employees being good, and let them know how much you appreciate them. Praise them when they turn around a performance issue. When they come to you with a work issue, avoid the temptation to tell them how to solve it. Ask good questions to help them come up with a solution. “What have you tried so far?” “What’s another approach that might work that you haven’t tried yet?” “How have you handled something like this in the past?” “What was the outcome?”

If you’d like to learn more about giving effective feedback, please contact me about my one-hour performance feedback training.

In my last blog, I talked about the annual performance review process and how many companies are taking a hard look at whether their process is contributing to improved performance, or is just a long and painful experience that everyone suffers through once a year.

One company that made a pretty significant change as a result of their analysis is Adobe.  In an interview last year with Business Insider, Donna Morris, Adobe Senior Vice President, People and Places, described how, in 2012, Adobe abolished the annual review in favor of more regular, informal “check-ins.”

In the Adobe process, managers and employees meet at the beginning of the year to mutually outline expectations for the year.  This clarifies for both the manager and employee what the employee is being held accountable for.  Managers have regularly scheduled one-on-ones with employees to provide feedback throughout the year. In addition, employees may also receive feedback from peers and other partners across the company.

The process is based on the premise that “the more people receive recognition of what they’re doing in real time, that directs their performance — whether that be constructive criticism or feedback that reinforces what somebody is already doing.”

Morris suggests that “people should have the courage to disrupt a process that might no longer be providing the company with value.”

Have you taken a hard look at your performance review process lately? Are you giving your employees feedback only once a year or (worse) not at all?

Employees need to feel challenged and recognized.  If you’ve been doing the same old, same old, when it comes to your performance review process, I highly recommend that you consider “disrupting the process” to create a feedback strategy that is simpler, more real time, and more effective.

If you need help with this, please feel free to contact me.

The annual performance review may soon be a thing of the past. At least in its present state.

Employees and managers alike have long held a dim view of the process as something that takes up a lot of time and adds minimal value. And those feelings are backed up by statistics. In Deloitte’s 2015 Global Human Capital Trends report, nearly half of those surveyed said they thought their process was “weak” in demonstrating an effective use of time. Only 10% of those surveyed characterized their process as excellent in “driving engagement and high performance.” The balance were evenly split between “weak” and “adequate” to describe the effectiveness of their process.

Although there has been a lot of talk over the past several years about the need to change the way we do performance management, it hasn’t necessarily been a priority. It looks like that is changing. According to the Deloitte study, the importance of performance management rose significantly in 2015 with “75% of respondents rating it as an “important” or “very important” issue, up from 68% the previous year.” Further, “89% of respondents recently changed their performance management process or plan to change it within 18 months.”

So why the impetus on changing performance management now? Employee Engagement.  With Gallup reporting that US employee engagement is stuck at 32%, companies need to find a more meaningful and, yes, engaging way to manage and improve employee performance. This means simplifying the process. Providing regular feedback versus (or in addition to) an annual review. Recognizing strengths rather than just focusing on weaknesses. Giving employees opportunities to develop those strengths and work on a career path. Making the process forward-looking rather than backward-looking. Training managers to be coaches not evaluators.

Certainly goals and objectives still need to be a part of it. Goals should be agile, and individual goals should be tied to company goals so employees can see how what they do ties to the overall success of the organization.  Managers/coaches should meet regularly with employees to assess progress and (here’s the agile part) revise goals as needed.

If you are ready to review and change your performance management process, I’d love to work with you. Please contact me at michelle@connecttohr.com.

Factions of the Service Employees International Union have filed two ballot measures that would increase California’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. As of January 1, the state minimum wage is currently $10 per hour. The measures, both proposed for the November 8, 2016 election, would increase the minimum wage incrementally, one arriving at $15 per hour by 2021 and the other arriving at $15 per hour by 2020.

A similar measure was approved by San Francisco voters 77% to 23% on the November 4, 2014 election ballot. The measure raises the minimum wage in San Francisco to $13 per hour by July 2016, $14 per hour by July 2017, and $15 per hour by July, 2018.

Oakland voters raised the minimum pay in the city to $12.25 per hour as of March, 2015. The Berkeley City Council also enacted an ordinance last year to raise the city’s minimum wage to $12.53 per hour on Oct. 1, 2016. Richmond is raising its minimum pay to $12.30 per hour by 2017, and San Diego will increase to $11.50 per hour by 2017. In Eureka, however, voters rejected a measure that would have increased the minimum wage to $12 per hour for all businesses with more than 25 employees.

As a business owner, it’s important that you take note of minimum wage requirements relative to where your company is located. If the city’s minimum wage is higher than the state minimum wage, you must pay at the higher rate.

It’s hard to believe that another year is nearly over!  This has been a busy and wonderful year for Connect to HR. I’m delighted to have added HR Training to the mix of my services, and I look forward to conducting more classes with HR professionals and business owners next year.

I also want to express my deep gratitude to you, my loyal readers, for being part of the Connect to HR community. I hope that through my blog articles I’ve been able to keep you engaged and informed. I appreciate your comments, and I look forward to continuing the conversation in 2016!

All my best wishes for very Merry Holidays and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

As we approach year end, it’s a good time to take a look back at the trends that have affected business in the current year, and predict – and prepare for – trends that may impact business in the New Year.

Three major trends that I saw in 2015 were: 1) Mergers & Acquisitions; 2) Falling unemployment rate; 3) New laws and rules that will continue to impact businesses in 2016. I believe each of these trends will continue next year.  Here’s what small businesses and HR professionals need to be thinking about and planning for as we embark on a new year.

Mergers & Acquisitions

2015 was a record year for global M&A, with deals totaling more than $4.3 trillion. Some of the bigger ones were CVS acquiring Omnicare ($12.7B); Intel acquiring Altera ($16.7B); Pfizer acquiring Hospira ($17B); and Avago Tech acquiring Broadcom ($31B).  The M&A market was strong throughout the year. In June, PwC stated, “The strong U.S. economy and rising confidence signals a strong finish to 2015, making it another record year for M&A value since 2007 and the doldrums of the financial crisis.”

As we’ve all witnessed, however, not all mergers succeed. Often failures are caused by inadequate planning around assimilating cultures, integrating processes, and communicating openly and effectively with employees. Having a well-defined game plan is essential. Here are some tips.

Create a “transition team” that includes members from both companies. Their charter is to identify similarities and differences between the two organizations in terms of cultures, processes, jobs, benefits, etc. Once those differences and similarities are identified, create a detailed integration plan. What are the activities you will do over the first 90-120 days to integrate functions, processes, and people? What change management tools/activities will you implement?

Effective workforce planning is essential. What are the critical skills needed for the “new company” going forward? If there will be layoffs, how will you handle them, and what will you do in terms of outplacement for departing employees?

Whether you are the acquirer or the acquired, you need to have a comprehensive communication plan. Share as much information as you can with employees as early as you can. Nip fears and rumors in the bud by open, honest communication. Part of that communication plan should be a “new company” orientation for all employees within the first 90 days of the merger. Set expectations for cultural norms, discuss any significant changes around jobs, profit sharing, compensation, performance reviews, processes, decision making, etc. Give employees the opportunity to ask questions and air concerns.

Although this takes time and effort in the midst of the many financial and logistical components of due diligence, doing a good job of integrating the culture and people components is key to success.

You can also read our original post on tips for M&A activities.

Low unemployment rate

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate is currently 5%. This is down from a high of 10% in October, 2009. In 2012, it hovered around 8%; last year it started at 6.6% in January and steadily dropped to 5.6% in December, 2014.

What this means for businesses and HR professionals is that employees no longer feel they need to just be “glad they have a job.” They have options. Especially those with hard-to-find skills.  According to Aberdeen Group, 79% of companies indicate a shortage of critical skills available in the labor pool. Attracting, developing, and retaining top talent will become increasingly important in 2016.

Attracting talent. Companies need to develop clear and comprehensive job descriptions. They need to be sure that their recruiters are creative and resourceful in sourcing and attracting qualified candidates. Hiring managers need to be trained in conducting structured, behavioral interviews that ensure both a skill and cultural fit for the organization. Retaining talent starts with hiring the right talent.

Developing talent. One of the key factors that contributes to employee engagement is the opportunity for learning and development. Employees want to improve their skills and knowledge, and need to feel they are making progress on their career path. Best-in-Class companies provide employees with development opportunities at all stages of their career.  Learning and development can happen in many forms, including cross training, classroom instruction, mentoring, coaching, free online courses, and stretch assignments.

Retaining talent. Employees need to know that there’s a place for them in the future of the company. In a recent Mercer survey, 78% of respondents said they would remain longer with their employer if they saw a career path within the current organization. Retain your top talent through professional development, clearly articulated career paths, well-trained leadership, open communication, and timely, meaningful employee recognition.

Legal Mandates and Rules Affecting Business in 2016

California Family Rights Act (CFRA). New regulations were added to CFRA effective July 1. Be sure you update your Employee Handbook to reflect them. Learn more about the changes here. It’s a good idea to refresh your knowledge about the differences between the various types of leaves. Learn more here.

Expanded school activities leave in California. SB 579 expands the right of employees to take protected time off from work when searching for a school or childcare provider, to enroll or re-enroll a child, or to address childcare provider or school emergencies. Employees may use 8 hours in a calendar month, with a total of 40 hours in a calendar year. The law applies to employers with 25 or more employees.

Increased minimum wage. As of January 1, 2016, the minimum wage in California increases to $10.00 an hour.

Fair Pay Act. This existing state law, which prohibits employers from paying unequal wages based solely on gender, now clarifies that a wage differential based on an employee’s education, training, experience, seniority, or merit-based system within the company is not gender-related, and thus compliant with the Fair Pay Act.

Temporary workers may unionize. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that temporary workers may vote for, and be included in, the same collective bargaining units as fulltime employees without the consent of their temporary agency or the employer.

Connect to HR will continue to monitor and report on HR and legal trends that impact businesses.  Please continue to check our site for further information.