Performance

Promote leaders with right competence. But how?

Leave a Comment / Leadership, Learning and Development / /

Every role requires certain competencies to deliver excellent performance. With success at one role, every true professional wishes to get promoted, grow in the hierarchy and shoulder bigger responsibilities. While it is a usual human aspiration, it is important note that success at one level will not guarantee success at the higher level because at the next level one would require different competencies or higher proficiency. It is like the popular investor statement that reads as “past performance does not indicate future returns of the fund”. Therefore, organizations need to ensure that with people right competencies will get elevated to higher levels. The next logical question is: how should organizations decide who to promote? Potential assessment is the mantra. One of the many ways of assessing someone’s future potential is to use assessment or development centers. Through a series of simulated exercises, a panel of trained assessors arrive at a rating of the competencies. This process has been widely used across the globe and found to be extremely useful in decision making as well as helping leaders development. Assessment/Development center as a concept has been in vogue for a very long time. It is a very elaborate process which requires a team of competency experts, trained assessors, a tightly designed execution infrastructure including online portal along with report writing expertise. Over the years, HR Footprints has built this all round eco-system to design and conduct assessment centers. Over the years, HR Footprints successfully conducted about 2000 leadership assessments, delivered comprehensive reports, offered feedback and traveled the development journey with the leaders. Stay tuned to read about some more case studies! Let’s discuss how our HR services can help you identify, develop, and elevate your organization’s future leaders. Contact us today to get started

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HR-Problems_1

101 HR Problems – 1

Leave a Comment / Blog, HR Consulting, HR Views & News, Leadership / /

“Dr George is a very well known leader in the industry and the organization is keen to hire him as the Business Head. If he accepts the invitation to join, he will certainly make a tremendous difference to the business through his contacts and ability to drive growth globally. However, Dr George offers a conditional consent to join; he wants more corporate departments to report to him which are today reporting to a few other leaders.  By expanding the span of his control beyond the immediate business role, perhaps, Dr George wishes to get closer to the role of a future CEO. Do you see any practical issue to concede to his request? How will impact the organizational performance?” One of the many possible solutions: From the description, it looks like Dr George is very important for the organization to achieve superior business performance. By on boarding Dr George, there is a clear value to gain. The critical thing to evaluate is: what should be the price that the organization is likely to pay to get the potential value that Dr George will bring to the business?  To address the expectation of Dr George to have a bigger than Business Head role, we need to change the organization structure by realigning some departments’ reporting structure. Questions to ponder are: · How does Dr George’s leadership profile compare with the other leaders in the organization?  · Do we see Dr George as the potential CEO for future?  · What is his prior experience in handling such wider responsibility? · How will impact the career path of the other leaders? Do they feel less utilized in the system? Or are there other responsibilities that I can assign to them while we remove the reporting departments from them?  · Will it create excessively centralized organization under Dr George?  · What if there is resentment among the departments to work with Dr George? Will it hamper the departmental performance?  · What if this redesign – changing reporting to Dr George – fails? How easy it is to go back to the earlier structure?  · Should we negotiate with Dr George to come over, settle in and then gradually we bring more departments under his wings?  This situation was my real experience; names changed to respect privacy. The purpose is to reflect on the problem and how to approach the same; I tried one solution, but I strongly believe that there are many other or even better solutions. This blog is meant to share my experience and invite your views. Together, we can learn more!    Ready to tackle your HR problems head-on and drive positive change within your organization? Let’s work together to find solutions.   Author Dr raj, CEO, HR Footprints Management Services Pvt Ltd

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HR Consulting

World should have treated me better!

Leave a Comment / Career, Growth, Personal And Professional / /

“During my stint in that organization, I brought in many systems and processes; there was nothing when I joined” – -this conversation goes on endlessly unless one makes a conscious effort to stop it!  “I helped them a lot when they were in crisis. Of course, now they have grown big” – -The disappointment is more palpable as the conversation progresses.  “This organization does not understand my value. There are so many other people who want me to join their organization”  -Frustration on lack of respect cannot be hidden.  We often come across such people and regularly hear such comments. It all perhaps comes from several unfulfilled needs. Such people end up boasting about their contributions in an out-of-context manner with irrelevant people. Perhaps such people keep telling themselves “world should have treated me better”!  “I should have been respected more” “I should have been recognized more” “I should have been acknowledged more” “I should have been celebrated more” “World should have understood me more” “Organizations should have utilized more”  More one feels this way, the bigger the sense of disappointment and regret. Primarily because all these expected responses are from others and one has no control over others’ responses towards you. The urge to have others acknowledging you leaves you at the mercy of others. It hurts your ego more when they ignore you more. That is certainly not an empowering feeling!  Instead, a more pragmatic – though it might sound philosophical – approach would be to learn to celebrate internally. Do you know when you truly made a difference to someone or some organization? If you are true to yourself, then celebrate internally and respect yourself. Tell yourself that you are successful in making a difference and your contribution has been meaningful. To acknowledge your contribution or not….let’s leave it to the maturity and wisdom of others. That makes you more self-fulfilled and doesn’t wait for validation from others!  Look forward to hearing from you on your experiences or your approach towards managing yourself in these types of situations. Author Dr raj, CEO, HR Footprints Management Services Pvt Ltd

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Does your performance matter to you?

Leave a Comment / SundayScribble / /

Organizations and leaders focus so much on performance. They design systems; they organize workshops; give reviews; offer feedback, incentives or disincentives. So much to drive performance because it matters to the organization and business! Key question, however, is: does it matter to the individual? What happens if I perform well? I may be appreciated; rewarded, promoted; trusted; assigned bigger responsibility and so on. Are all these things important to me? What if I am not chasing any of them? What if I wish to have a ‘good time’, do the minimal stuff, have so-called ‘work-life balance’ and do what is convenient to me? I may not be craving for ‘super star’ rating, I may not need the big reward (if it calls for too much performance), and I have no aspiration to grow! If I come with such frame of mind, then certainly my performance doesn’t matter to me. My reason to continue with the organization could be something else. Are the organizations happy with such people? Certainly not! Do they continue with such people? Perhaps yes, if the skill set is rather rare and in the limited time and effort that one exerts, the individual may be still adding value, which is critical to the organization. In true sense, organizations may ‘put up’ with such people because of no alternative. Who can afford to have such mindset towards their own performance? Frankly, such mindset is not appreciated by any manager in any organization. It doesn’t help the individual if one wishes to grow in career. For a brief period, you may afford such mindset if you bring in some cutting-edge contribution, which compels the organization to bear with your idiosyncrasies. In every other case, your performance must matter to you. It offers a sense of achievement and professional satisfaction. This will also boost your inner confidence, which is a big intangible takeaway! It enhances your professional image in a very positive way. So, be proactively conscious and critical of your own performance – even before others ask you!

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HR Consulting

Some initiatives never take-off: Why?

Leave a Comment / HR Views & News / /

We have been working with many organizations on various HR initiatives – some are strategic, some are operational; some are focused and some are exploratory. Our experience tells us that strategic initiatives need high degree of internal debate, involvement of multiple stakeholders and a broad consensus at the top to take off and sustain. On the other hand, most of the operational initiatives of HR takeoff fairly quickly if the HR team and their reporting boss (mostly the Managing Director or CEO) give their nod. There are some organizations, which have a need, and some of the stakeholders feel the same as well. However, the required momentum never picks up and much needed interventions never takeoff. It is intriguing to explore this phenomenon. We could understand four specific reasons why some initiatives never takeoff. 1. Pain is not painful enough At times, organizations want to do something about an issue. Some stakeholders make a feeble noise. But the inconvenience or urge to correct the system may not be intense enough to cause a sustained focus. In such situations, organizations learn to cope up with the issue than come together to correct it. Consequently, any interventions – proposed internally by HR or externally by a consulting firm – do not takeoff. 2. HR leader cannot present the business case In some cases, we see HR leader sensing the problem correctly. A preliminary dialogue with an external consulting firm validates the diagnosis and the need for an intervention. Even after that some initiatives never takeoff due to insufficient ‘push’ by the HR leader. Some HR leaders lack the influencing and persuasive skills to present the enormity of the situation and gain consensus from the other senior leaders in the organization. In due course, problems deepen or hidden under the carpet and never addressed. 3. Dynamics among the senior team Some initiatives if implemented will change systems and policies causing shift in power centers. Some leaders who perceive a threat to their power, authority or autonomy will block the initiatives. If the leader above and the HR head fail to prevail upon such power-mongers, initiatives will be grounded permanently and will hinder any organizational development. 4. Lack of confidence to execute We come across organizations that completely agree on the need for a specific initiative; yet they hesitate to takeoff fearing insufficient internal competence to execute the same and sustain. They tend to postpone hoping that one day they will prepare the organization with necessary skills to execute. In this process, they miss timely implementation of some initiatives. Blog us @ HRFootprints.com to share your stories, views or thoughts. We love to learn from you. – Dr. Raj

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HRBP

Opportunities For HRBP To Add Value

Leave a Comment / Blog, HR Consulting, HR Views & News / /

In our previous blogs we have discussed about the structure of HR function and the role of HRBP. Let us look at the specific opportunities for HRBP to add value in organization. Specific Opportunities for HRBP to Add Value: There are many areas of business, which can benefit from the expertise of HRBP. Some of the examples are given below. Organizational Structuring: It may not happen frequently; but when it is required, HR professionals can come up with alternatives to structure the organization so as to facilitate smooth business functioning with specific accountabilities. A well-designed organizational structure can go a long way in facilitating business performance. Manpower Planning: This is another area where HRBP can add tremendous value. It is not only about the head count and cost optimization but also the profile of people to suit the business needs. A poorly conceived or ill-executed manpower plan can directly impact the business performance. Performance Management: In line with the business goals, an effective performance management system has to be put in place by the HRBP. The primary objective is to cascade the business plans to different departments within the business and then to each individual. A business-aligned goal setting process can significantly facilitate the drive for performance. Career Management: A critical role for HRBP will be to mesh the succession planning for business and career planning for the individuals. By doing so, HRBP can balance the interests of the business and the aspirations of the employees. Employee Engagement: Another important value addition from HRBP is in the area of engaging employees. Finding innovative ways to pep up the work place and create greater engagement with the organization will go a long way in sustaining performance and retention of talent. Are you convinced that HR can be truly a business partner? When you go over the role expectations of an HRBP, it does look interesting and rich in content.  There is certainly scope to add value and facilitate business performance. Even Professor Dave Ulrich formally captured ‘Business Partner’ as an important role of HR that focuses on futuristic needs of the business.  However, same conviction is not seen consistently among those who play the role of HRBP.  I am not sure what could be the challenge; but it could be that there is role erosion because business people take over most of those people issues or the person who plays the HRBP could not measure up to it. Any person aspiring to excel in HR Business Partner role needs to acquire specific competencies. Let us discuss them next week!  Article – “What exactly is HR Business Partner?”By: Dr.Raj, Published in HR Mirror, Hans India.Follow Dr.Raj on Twitter @drraj29

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