Checklist for Business Success

For many businesses, the weakened economy has created unprecedented pressure to cut costs, eliminate waste, and improve performance efficiencies. As a result, innovative and creative organizations have become models for working smarter.

Here’s my checklist of 8 initiatives for making 2012 your most successful year:

1. Clarify the mission, purpose, of the organization. It all starts here. If employees don’t understand why the organization exists, and more importantly how what each employee does aligns with why the organization exists, the rest doesn’t really matter.
2. Identify the competencies required to be successful in each job. No one works the same way they did three or four years ago. Take a fresh look at work processes to ensure recruitment, hiring, training, advancement and performance management systems are aligned with the individual characteristics required for success in each position. This includes knowledge, skills, abilities, self image, traits, mindsets, feelings and ways of thinking.
3. Maximize technology. Utilize the cloud, social media, and technological advancements to ensure maximization of efficiencies and elimination of duplication. Don’t overlook sophisticated tools available to streamline labor intensive processes so often found in departments such as HR. HRSmart is one example of an easy to-use technology that improves efficiencies while saving time and money. 
4. Embrace new work models. Employees today want flexibility to work where, when and how they want to. A recent study by CoreNet Global indicates that radical changes in technology and the way we work will require evolving to a landscape of flexible workplace strategies, including allowing employees to BYOT (bring their own technology), teleworking, and replacing cubicles with open, collaborative workspaces.
5. Prepare leaders for the future. Change is happening quickly and executives and managers are required to keep up with the pace. Embracing a leadership development program that couples learning with executive coaching allows individuals to personalize the learning while modifying their preferences related to things such as how they communicate, embrace differences, and model change acceptance.
6. Embrace sustainability. No matter what your business focus, there are ways to make a difference to three bottom lines: social, economic, and environmental. Although the concept of sustainability has become somewhat diluted by the overuse of the word, stay focused on the original intention – to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. I’m sure you can find ways to make a positive impact.
7. Develop adaptability and flexibility. The reality is that continuous change is here to stay. Teach all your stakeholders how to embrace it and more so, how to look beyond the change and envision what will be required by the next wave. If you didn’t catch it earlier this month, read my article on Succeeding with Chaos.
8. Do your homework on global trends and forecasts. It’s impossible to always keep your finger on the pulse of such a dynamic globe. However, since our economies and financial systems are more entwined globally, it’s critical to stay aware of what’s going on around the world and operate in a fashion that understands the impacts of the "butterfly effect." The world is becoming smaller everyday and by the time you hear it on the evening news, or read it on Google News it’s too late. Position yourself for a view into the future to guide your change management strategies.

So What's Next?

So what’s on your list that I missed on mine? Perhaps you’ll take a moment to leave a comment and share it with us.

As a business owner, I’m sensing that businesses and government agencies are more interested in talking about change initiatives this year than the last two. That’s a good sign. We can’t get the economy growing again without businesses, especially small businesses, taking the initiative to make the necessary changes for the future. Yes, there is risk with taking action. However, the decision to do nothing also carries tremendous risk and could lead to extinction.

We’ve all got to do our homework when it comes to global trends and forecasts. Perhaps what I listed as #8 on my checklist should be #1. Checking in on the research and ideas of futurists such as Richard Worzel and others from time to time can be very helpful in aiding you to envision what the future might bring and to help prepare for the impact those changes will have on your business. Attending conferences, such as those presented by the World Future Society, to engage with thought-leaders offers a wonderful front row seat for a peek at what’s to come.

The world has and continues to change and so must we. My checklist is a mix of organization development and human resource management tasks to be considered in concert with each other. If you haven’t already done so, take stock of where your organization is on these eight actions I’m suggesting will make a difference in the success of your organization. Based on that assessment, organize your To Do List, getting buy-in from stakeholders. Where necessary, fill in resource gaps with outsourced expertise and get busy positioning your workplace for the future. It’s right around the corner.

As always, I welcome your comments to my posting. Please click below to share your thoughts. If you found this article interesting and helpful, I’m very happy for you to pass it along to others. Have a great week.

This article was written by Deborah A. King, SPHR, CEO and Sr. Organizational Effectiveness Consultant with Evolution Management, Inc. Debbie and her team are energized about changing times and can help your organization navigate the human and operational journeys to the future. Contact us for more information; www.evolutionmgt.com; 770.587.9032

Organizational and Structural Design is a Signal of Intention

What’s Driving the Disconnect Between Job Seekers and Recruiters?

I’ve been hearing a lot of recruiters say for the past few months that they have openings they are trying to fill, but they can’t find the right talent. "How can this be?" we’re all asking when there are a lot of people out of work and actively looking for jobs. There’s also a large population of employed workers, 74% according to a recent survey by Harris, known as the "silent majority," who have acknowledged they would consider changing jobs if they were approached. And together with the voices of recruiters who say they can’t find qualified talent, I hear from job seekers who are just as frustrated about responding to openings they are qualified for, only to hear nothing back. So what’s the problem? What’s causing the disconnect?

May Not Be One Factor
Over the last six months, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a few firms pulling teams of consultants together to work on change and human resource (HR) projects. One common problem recruiters involved with organization development (OD) projects experience is rooted in the fact that there isn’t one clear definition of what OD is. As HR is becoming more strategic rather than transactional, I’m wondering if this transition in describing competencies is also becoming a problem when recruiting for HR positions. Is the disconnect we’re experiencing in the job market a reflection of non-qualified candidates, or is the root problem something else, or possibly a combination of factors?

Consider the problems caused by non-standard jargon, especially in professions such as OD and HR. Some companies refer to their learning and professional development programs as OD, while others look beyond training and consider all people and organizational changes experienced by a transitioning business unit to be OD. It’s the same with change management expertise. One recruiter might be searching for a candidate with experience managing one specific aspect of a merger and refer to that as change management, while another may only consider it sufficient change management experience if the expertise includes all aspects of the holistic merger project. HR recruiters not familiar with the experience and expertise required for strategic HR positions might easily overlook someone with the right qualifications and label them as "overqualified" for a position requiring OD, change management or skills supporting conflict resolution and influencing change.

Linking my personal consulting experiences with the frustrations I’m hearing from recruiters, as well as job seekers, I’m wondering what the impact is when the recruiter’s role expands to areas where he/she doesn’t have specialized expertise. So often I find individuals in recruiter roles who have backgrounds in a certain area of HR, such as benefits or training, being asked to source and identify talent in HR and OD - areas they have never worked in. In situations like this, without specific detailed profiles and examples of qualifications, how can they adequately decipher the experiences and knowledge being shared by interested job seekers to determine transferable skills and backgrounds for the position?

We’re living in a world of instantaneous expectations and I wonder what impact this perception is having on the recruiting process? Have we shortened the cycle too far, so that it now appears to resemble "speed dating" rather than sourcing and recruitment? How much can we really get to know an individual’s work/life experiences and how they transfer to the "new" normal of work in 15 or 20 minutes?

So What's Next?
The profession of sourcing and recruitment is changing. Although the world is speeding up as it gets smaller and smaller, perhaps it’s time to slow down the process of matching required talent needs with available talent. Maybe the process of evaluating fit should include more than a 20 second review of a resume or a successful number of matches of keywords. Perhaps until we get more sophisticated with language and our abilities to understand how skills transfer, we need to encourage slowing down the recruiting process and taking the time to really understand how past experiences translate to meet the current day needs of the organization. There’s no doubt that some percentage of job seekers don’t have the up-to-date skills required to address marketplace needs, but the rest of the population is an available resource that we need to learn how to connect with. This situation provides organizations and the HR profession with an opportunity to establish training courses or university-style programs to develop the skills they are looking for and to structure some type of interview feedback or job opening profile that indicates specific trainings and experiences that are lacking in order to raise the job seekers’ awareness that his/her skills are no longer up-to-date.

I recently attended a SHRM-Atlanta Chapter meeting. Sitting with me at my table of eight were four recruiters. All four confirmed they had a staggering number of job openings for HR talent, more than they’ve had in the past few years. And in a room of over 300 HR professionals they were declaring they couldn’t find the right talent. We’ve got a disconnection and we need to fix it, as 2012 sounds like it might just be the year for getting people back to work.

I’m curious about your observations. Do you think we have some disconnections in our recruiting processes? Please share your comments below. I’d also encourage you to share this email with a friend so we can expand the conversation.

Update Your Orientation Process