10 Tips to Manage Talent Effectively

10 Tips to Manage Talent Effectively

Effectively managing talent is critical for project-focused companies who rely on their people to provide
value to the business. Leverage these ten tips to ensure your people are working at peak productivity,
delivering exceptional projects to delight clients, and driving organizational growth. Each of these tips will
help you manage and retain more top talent while consistently contributing to the overall business strategy.

  1. Keep Communicating – Make a conscious effort to listen and talk to your employees about their
    frustrations and aspirations within the company. Take time to really listen; remind them how much you
    appreciate their work and value their contribution to the firm. Keep the lines of communication open
    by leveraging continuous feedback sessions and implementing project-based appraisals.
  2. The Stars Are Aligned – Keep your top performers in tune with the current corporate strategy. This
    creates a culture of reciprocity and mutual understanding for both the company and its employees.
    You will start to see personal goals align with the overall organization’s goals.
  3. Emphasize Strengths – Use development plans to address the weaknesses and problems of your
    employees while honing in on their talent potential. Consider strategically assigning employees to
    projects that will help them strengthen new skills. Utilize development plans, career paths, and
    learning opportunities to help employees recognize their strengths while closing competency gaps.
  4. Think Like a Headhunter – When it comes to your top talent you must know who they are, what skills
    they possess, and their potential within your firm before someone else does. There are few things
    worse than losing an important project leader or an individual contributor at a critical juncture in a project
    delivery cycle. Think like a recruiter and cultivate your existing talent by including them in succession
    plans. Employees are more likely to stay with you longer if they understand their path within your
    organization.
  5. Be More Inclusive – Research shows that 75% of diverse organizations are more likely to see their
    innovative ideas brought to life. This statistic stems from leaders embracing diversity and encouraging
    their employees to speak up about their opinions. Creating a diverse and inclusive environment
    allows employees and managers to embrace innovation.
  6. Know What Success Looks Like – Define success by creating competency models. The ability to
    measure your employees’ performance allows you to determine their success within the construct of
    your company. Best-in-class companies don’t rely on subjective thoughts to determine their talent
    performance, but rather, they create competency models throughout their organization to build a
    model of sustainable success.
  7. Who’s Ready to Move Up? – Identifying potential leaders is one step towards filling vacant leadership
    roles. The second step is to have a clear path to identify and develop their skills. Most companies
    identify but forget to develop leadership skills. Take the time to identify, develop, and refine your
    potential leaders.
  8. Plan, Plan, Plan – The best thing you can do to face the competition for talent is to plan. Creating and
    building a robust and comprehensive talent management solution strategy is a big feat. Take the time
    to plan and build your talent management solution strategy for effective and sustainable success
    that flows from within.
  9. Embrace Data – Big Data seems overwhelming, but with the help of a unified technology solution, it
    can be a manageable and powerful tool to fuel the success of your company. Having a unified HR
    technology solution can help you handle talent-related data and provide straightforward and
    powerful analytics utilized in all stages of the talent management strategy.
  10. Reduce Turnover, But Do It Right – Low turnover sounds great, but make sure that the small number
    of people leaving are not your best people. Turnover is expensive, but no matter the size, make sure
    that the attrition of your best talent stays low. Top performers are difficult to replace and can have
    a material impact on your project delivery
HR Monster Mash: Week 4

HR Monster Mash: Week 4

Last week we highlighted a cast of characters in the Witches and Warlocks category who cast their spells on the workplace, creating a toxic work culture.

This week let’s take a look at the flip side of a toxic work culture— horrible bosses, AKA Trolls!

Trolls are horrible bosses who make you want to scream with their bullying, micromanaging or up-and-down, rage-like behaviors. The troll boss may hog the credit for your achievements, throw you under the bus or show a total disregard for your wellbeing.

The Devil – Or in this case “The Devil Wears Prada”. Who could forget Miranda Priestly, portrayed by the talented Meryl Streep in the film? Just thinking about that icy stare sends shivers down my spine.  Her character is ruthless, manipulative, and unnecessarily cruel. She regularly demands impossible tasks from her employees, like scheduling a flight out of Miami during a major hurricane or getting a copy of an unpublished Harry Potter book, just so her daughters can read it before the release date. She imposes upon her employees at insane hours with no regard for their personal lives. The absurdity makes it comical, but there is nothing comical about being bullied in real life. We’ve all either encountered or witnessed bullying in our lifetime. A study by Workplace Bullying Institute, showed that 19% of American workers reported being bullied or having previously been bullied at work, with another 19% who reported witnessing it. Bullying can be psychologically and emotionally damaging and can be very difficult to overcome.

The Micromanager – I think most of us have seen the memes of Gary Cole playing Bill Lumbergh in the movie, Office Space. This cult classic has generated inspiration for countless memes on social media, including the most famous, “If you could go ahead and do that, it’d be GREAT!”. And while Bill models several troll boss traits, he is the consummate nitpicker and is constantly focused on trivial matters such as report covers instead of spending time on more important issues. He spends most of his day hovering over his staff and well…micromanaging, right down to the enforcement of Hawaiian shirt day.

Micromanagement is a sign of weak leadership. What are the signs? A micromanager is constantly asking for updates and is more likely to revise your work than provide feedback on how it could be improved thus providing a development opportunity. You are not allowed to make even small decisions, and because this type manager is quick to find fault, in even the smallest of details, projects are likely to be delayed and stress increases well beyond normal levels, sometimes even to the point of causing physical harm.

A study performed by Trinity Solutions showed that 70% of people polled considered quitting their jobs and 30% did quit because of being micromanaged.

The most ironic thing about micromanagers is that they often believe their oversight is a measure necessary to achieve excellence. However, the time spent helicoptering over their employees is likely exactly what is keeping them from effectively managing their department.

The Brilliant Jerk – It almost sounds like an oxymoron. There was certainly nothing moronic about Gregory House in the TV Series titled, House MD. The Huffington Post referred to his character as the “Sherlock Holmes” of medicine. But unlike Holmes, House goes out of his way to be rude, shirk responsibilities that he feels are beneath him, and thinks the hospital policies are “suggested guidelines”. There is no question he’s a genius when it comes to the practice of medicine, but what is the cost of keeping someone like House around in the real world?

We’ve all worked with a gifted high performer who was an undeniable jerk. To put it simply, they don’t play well with others. Historically, this type of toxic boss tends to get a free pass when it comes to being rude or abrasive as long as they are delivering results. However, new studies have shown, there is a high cost to tolerating or even rewarding the brilliant jerk.

They can tear an organization apart from the inside out. They introduce toxicity into organizational culture that reduces moral and increases team turnover. In the long term, this toxicity will erode even the best of strategies.

The Work Institute estimated that 77% of turnover could have been prevented by employers. And that turnover on average it costs 1/3 of an employee’s annual salary, and 1 to 1.5 times the annual salary for high tech jobs.

The Rage-aholic – I can think of no better example of a Rage-aholic boss, than Gordon Ramsay, Celebrity Chef. He has been wildly successful with his cooking themed shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, Master Chef, Hotel Hell, and 24 Hours to Hell and Back – just to name a few. Viewers can hardly wait to tune in to each episode to see Ramsay scream in the faces of incompetent chefs, struggling and sometimes delusional restaurant owners, or even difficult customers. He is not swayed by gender, looks, or social status. He is an equal opportunist when it comes to raging.

Whether it’s scallops sticking to the pan, undercooked lamb, or unsanitary food handling, Ramsay is notoriously abrasive and ready with a robust collection of swear words and devastating insults. With his bullish belittling, he leaves behind a broad wake of dumbfounded and tearful, kitchen staff.

When we see characters like our troll bosses on TV or in the movies, we laugh. In real life having a toxic boss can take its toll. You may dream of telling your boss to go jump in a lake? But they’d probably just delegate it to you, micromanage it, and then take credit for the awesome splash!

It’s important to know when to stand up to your boss and equally important to be professional in your approach. You’ll want to think through any possible repercussions to ensure the truth doesn’t set you free from your job. Be specific, be confident, and recognize that you cannot control the response, but you can get outside help. If the behavior is extreme or unlawful you should immediately seek help from your HR department.  You may not the only person being impacted by the boss’ behavior. No one should feel unsafe, disrespected, or unappreciated at work. Speaking with HR will give the organization an opportunity to protect you and your peers from suffering a toxic work culture due to a troll boss.

We’ve shown a lot of examples of troll bosses, using fictional characters that people can easily relate to, so using that same theme, who is our favorite “Best” TV boss?

As a longtime fan of NCIS, the honor goes to Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who is head of the NCIS Major Case Response team. He is a strong leader who will take the heat for his team and frequently shows a caring side. He does all the right things you would expect of a great boss. He offers clear direction, gives stretch projects, trusts his team to get the job done without micromanagement and has a good sense of humor. He goes out of his way to makes thoughtful gestures to his staff, like keeping Abby well stocked in Caf Pow, her favorite high energy caffeinated drink. He also provides positive feedback when the team achieves measures of success. You can see how meaningful it is by the pride beaming from Tony’s face when Gibbs says, “Good job DiNozzo!”

He empowers his team to be independent thinkers instead of micromanaging. He expects them to find their own solutions and trusts they will get the job done. Throughout the series many of the team have been offered external opportunities. But the loyalty that comes from strong leadership and culture drives top talent retention.

HR Monster Mash: Week 3

HR Monster Mash: Week 3

Welcome back to Week 3 of the HR Monster Mash!

This week, we’re talking about Witches & Warlocks – employees who cast a spell on the work environment creating a toxic work culture. Toxic employees come in many forms, cause harm, and spread their bad behavior to others. Let’s review the cast of characters.

“Not my problem” and their cousin “Not my job” – This employee does the bare minimum to get by, complains when asked to help out, and if what is being requested doesn’t fall squarely in his or her ball court, good luck getting the assist! The risk here is this bare minimum attitude is contagious, other employees may decide it’s just the standard. So, what do you do? First, let’s look at what might be motivating this behavior. An employee may feel like the company doesn’t really care about them, they are just a “number” or “it’s just a job”.  So, he or she does only what is required and is first out the door at closing time.

Employees may be more willing to go the extra mile if they feel leadership is willing to invest in their career development. Schedule some time for an open and honest career goals discussion. Set clear expectations, lay out a plan for career development with regular check-ins, holding the employee accountable for continued progress. With a little focused attention, “Not my problem” could transform into “Put me in coach!”

Eeyore – This employee is best described as mopey, depressed-like, and generally negative. While we want everyone to feel welcome to express their opinions, the Eeyore tends to only express negativity and focuses on the problem without bringing ideas for a solution. All you need do is turn on the evening news or look at social media to know, bad news is popular and can spread like wildfire!

While it may not be Eeyore’s intention to usher in the rain cloud, the negativity has the potential to be a real morale buster! Your employees may feel like they need to look at rainbows and kittens just to make it through the rest of the day after encountering an Eeyore.

There are a few things you might try in this situation. Set aside a few minutes of each team meeting and ask employees to share some positive news. Encourage, and potentially incentivize celebrating the successes of others. If you are in an office setting, you might keep blank notecards handy that anyone can grab to write an encouraging note to a deserving co-worker. Virtual notes are just as encouraging! Consider creating a contest where your team emphasizes positive feedback. An increasingly popular idea is an electronic system which awards points for praise, and then the points can be redeemed for merchandise.

Gossip Girl (not the TV series) – We all love a little drama, but the Gossip Girl (or Guy) is someone who thrives on drama and talks eagerly and casually about other people. They like to hear the latest news about people and may seek out opportunities to interact with others, intent on prying into everyone’s life, sucking up all the gory details like a vacuum cleaner on Sunday.

If it starts with “Did you hear” — just don’t.

So, what’s the best way to handle this issue? It’s simple— gossip should not be tolerated. A one on one meeting is a must. It’s important to let this employee know that his or her behavior is disruptive, unprofessional and diminishes the respect and dignity of other employees, be quick to set boundaries and stay firm.

“Not my Fault” – This employee refuses to admit when they are wrong, is quick to point the finger, and is more concerned with defending themselves than finding a solution to a problem. They don’t embrace the “we are all in this together” attitude, but rather only look out for themselves. In this toxic situation, it is important to listen first and to test the claims. Is the passing of the ‘proverbial buck’ a symptom of poor performance? Try assigning this employee more solo assignments, then carefully review their work. If there are no other co-workers to blame, any persistent claims of not being at fault will become more transparent. Better to remedy poor performance sooner, than later.

Toxic employees and the toxic culture they bring come with a price tag. Research shows that good employees are 54 percent more likely to quit a toxic work environment and team wide performance drops by 30 to 40 percent. What’s the best way to avoid a toxic employee culture? To not hire them in the first place. Careful screening and leadership development are the top ways to build a strong culture.

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What did you think of the different types of witches and warlocks? Have you encountered any of these in the workplace? Let us know what you did to help solve the dilemma! 

 

An Introduction to Digital HR and Why You Need to Adopt This Strategy

An Introduction to Digital HR and Why You Need to Adopt This Strategy

By Larry Alton via HR.com

Human Resources (HR) has been around for decades. It’s the foundation that builds strong organizations. Traditionally, the HR department of an organization is tasked with recruiting, screening, and training new hires along with managing programs related to employee benefits.

While many traditional HR tasks are managed with computers, digital HR adds an extra pillar of support for all HR processes. In other words, digital HR isn’t separate from traditional HR, but rather, a support system that increases the efficiency of running a human resources department.

What is “digital HR?”

Digital HR describes the use of technology to optimize HR processes. The cluster of tech used is called “SMAC tech” and consists of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud technologies. The end result of optimizing HR processes with SMAC tech is an efficient, effective, and connected HR team.

Digital HR components

The goal of digital HR is to increase efficiency and effectiveness with specific digital technologies. Those digital components include:

  • Digital advertisingMany HR departments use pay per click (PPC) advertising platforms to solicit applications to fill employee positions and generate clients. This streamlines the hiring process, especially when combined with automated screening technology. The most popular PPC platforms are Instagram, Facebook, and Google Adwords.

    Many HR departments also take advantage of the other side of digital advertising by becoming a publisher on Google’s Adsense platform. Organizations that have a blog will benefit greatly from monetizing their content with Adsense. Since most websites run on WordPress, any HR team can set up Adsense quickly and easily without any technical help.
  • Automated screening tech. Some organizations develop proprietary software technology designed to screen applicants automatically. Applicants fill out an application online and applications are filtered according to the answers.

    For example, if a company requires a master’s degree, all applicants that do not have a master’s degree get filtered into a separate folder. The company can still access those applications, but those who have a master’s degree are filtered into the main inbox where they’ll be given priority.

    Automated screening software can also be used to segment applicants according to a predefined tier of priorities. For instance, say an organization prefers to hire website developers who also have basic knowledge of Photoshop. The application can be set up to ask if the applicant has any Photoshop knowledge on a scale of “none” to “expert” and apply a tag accordingly.

    The same type of segmentation can be applied to any other required or negotiable skill as determined by the organization. In this way, applicants can be tagged according to a scale of preference as the organization determines ahead of time to make candidate selection easier.
  • Cloud platforms. Today, almost anything can be hosted in the cloud. This includes websites, third-party software, proprietary software, and anything else required to run an organization. By hosting HR-related software in the cloud, the company doesn’t need to maintain onsite resources like servers and special network components.
  • Company intranets. A company intranet is a powerful component of digital HR technology. Employees, contractors, and even vendors need a private space to conduct business communications and access stored data.

    A company intranet is also the best way to foster connection and communication among team members. Intranets also provide employees with a self-help area where they can get answers to questions, access procedures, company regulations, and other important information.
  • Digital analytics. Also hosted in the cloud are digital analytics programs. Analytics are important to every HR department because they can measure every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

Digital HR gives organizations a competitive advantage

Every HR department is better off when utilizing digital strategies to acquire and retain talent. Social media hasn’t entirely replaced job postings in the physical newspaper, but it’s definitely eclipsed listings in the paper.

People are spending more time than ever on their smartphones and tablets, specifically spending time on social media. To get a competitive edge on acquiring talent, it’s no longer optional to use digital HR strategies. If you want to acquire top talent and thrive in today’s marketplace, you need to leverage social media at minimum.

Get the edge on talent acquisition with digital HR

Organizations are constantly competing for top talent. The organizations that can attract the right applicants will have the best pool of talent to choose from. Using digital HR is the best way to attract and retain top talent once acquired.

Brilliant HR Announces Strategic Alliance Partnership with Unicorn HRO to Expand HCM, Payroll and Compensation Solution

Brilliant HR Announces Strategic Alliance Partnership with Unicorn HRO to Expand HCM, Payroll and Compensation Solution

NAPLES, F.L., May 27, 2020 – Brilliant HR, a global and award-winning leader in Compensation and Human Resource software, announced today that they have solidified a partnership with Unicorn HRO, an industry leader offering fully integrated and configurable human resources, benefits and payroll solutions.

The partnership allows Brilliant HR to offer its clients a broader range of payroll products and administrative services through Unicorn’s iCON platform. Integration of Brilliant HR’s Comprehensive Compensation (CoCo) platform and iCON will reduce the administrative burden on users by providing a seamless flow of data from onboarding an employee to salary adjustments and incentive plans.

Monique Hernandez, President of Brilliant HR commented, “I am honored and excited to begin our partnership with Unicorn HRO. Managing the compensation planning process efficiently and accurately is more critical than ever given the increased emphasis on pay equality in the workplace. We look forward to providing Unicorn HRO’s valuable clients with our solution, as we know it will address a need a lot of companies are looking to fill during these changing times. I look forward to working together with Unicorn HRO to provide our clients with a unique offering of high-quality solutions.”

This partnership reinforces the powerful integration capabilities of our iCON platform, enabling organizations to manage end-to-end HR processes more efficiently,” stated Frank P. Diassi, Chairman and CEO of Unicorn HRO. “Our partnership with Brilliant HR further expands the ecosystem of applications and solutions available to support the unique needs of our customers.”

About Brilliant HR Inc.

Brilliant HR provides a comprehensive, cloud-based compensation planning software that helps organizations streamline and automate salary planning. Their highly configurable, secure platform allows companies to simplify complicated compensation processes, optimize human capital investment, and drive business performance.  Brilliant HR’s compensation planning tool, CoCo, is designed by compensation experts and supports clients across various industries with simple to complex salary review processes. Brilliant HR  also has offices in Naples, FL, and Dallas, TX. For more information, visit https://www.brillianthr.com.

About Unicorn HRO

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., Unicorn HRO specializes in fully integrated and configurable benefits, payroll, and human resources technology solutions. With industry-leading client retention, Unicorn HRO currently services mid-sized and large organizations, representing over 300,000 end users. Unicorn HRO also has offices in Durham, NC, Seattle, WA, Houston and Florham Park, NJ. For more information, visit http://www.unicornhro.com.

Your competitors are turning to Continuous Performance Management, are you?

Your competitors are turning to Continuous Performance Management, are you?

We have been reading about Continuous Performance Management for years. Initially, the concept seemed like a great direction, but for many it just “wasn’t time yet” to transition.

Even though we understand that engaged employees fuel business and project success, transformation is difficult. We may be constrained by understaffed Human Resources teams and lack of organizational buy-in. Certain members of leadership feel lost without attaching employee performance to a number for various purposes.

According to this CoreAxis article, 45% of HR Leaders do not think annual performance reviews are an accurate appraisal for an employee’s work. Additionally, according to the 2019 Deltek Clarity Architecture & Engineering Industry Survey, the top 3 challenges participants are facing managing talent are: career development planning, employee engagement, and performance management.

With this information, why are we allowing this organizational resistance to deter us from impacting lives, transforming and modernizing our organizations’ processes, and solving tomorrow’s staffing challenges today? This resistance is holding us back from taking care of our most precious resource, the people we need and value. It is way past the right time to make a shift, and start changing and modernizing for all the right reasons.

YOUR ARGUMENT FOR CHANGE

Expectations of the modern project-based workforce are high, especially in a candidate-driven market with low unemployment. The modern project-based workforce craves variety, autonomy, and constant development. They are looking for opportunities to showcase their skills, be competitive, and advance.

THE FINANCIAL ARGUMENT

We know the expectations and needs of the workforce are shifting and still we are not acting. The companies that do act now will have a significant advantage. As an example, consider the following:

  • According to a SHRM/Globoforce Survey, 89% of HR leaders surveyed agree ongoing feedback and check-ins have a positive impact on their organizations, yet according to Gallup, only 19% of millennials say they receive routine feedback, and only 17% say the feedback they receive is meaningful.
  • Consider that if you had to engage a 3rd party recruiting firm to replace just one disengaged employee (let’s use an Engineer for example), you are most likely paying a 25% fee of $21,000-$31,000 to replace a key performer. How much revenue must your organization generate to cover that expense? What else could you do from an employee development perspective for your entire organization with $21,000-$31,000?

THE TIME ARGUMENT

Annual appraisals are often viewed as inaccurate and unhelpful, so why wouldn’t we be willing to spend 10-12 hours per year on something highly impactful rather than wasting 6-8 hours on something that is not? In addition, organizations can rely on technology to alleviate training and consistency issues when it comes to supporting conversations, those between Manager and Employee.

YOUR NEW PROCESS

Any time an organization attempts to rebuild performance management processes, it is imperative to build off of these two key principles:

  1. Performance management should fuel the employee’s development and growth. It must be objective, impactful, authentic, and intentional. Employees must have the opportunity to drive and steer their careers while engaged in continuous development that allows them to grow and provide for themselves, their families, etc.
  2. Performance management must also have an obvious alignment to the organization, and a substantial mutual benefit that increases profitability and organizational success. Employees drive their development, and managers facilitate it.

KEY ELEMENTS

Three are three ingredients at the core of the Continuous Performance Management recipe:

#1 Continuous Feedback

There is a common misconception Continuous Feedback is just a “check-in.” This sells the process way short. Continuous Feedback, while it can be used to fuel the check-in process, goes substantially further. It can be used to pull in third parties such as project leads and owners, matrix managers, HR, and peers. It should be used to keep project leads/owners or managers in lock-step with team members and employees, but should also be used to discuss Learning outcomes and practical application, project milestone progress, and goals/development progress. It can even be used to have real-time discussions on items the employee will be rated on for their appraisal. Note that according to the same SHRM/Globoforce survey, semiannual appraisals accompanied by continuous feedback are twice as likely to be accepted and viewed as accurate than annual appraisals without ongoing feedback.

#2 Continuous Goal Management

This process is exactly as it sounds, allowing for managing goals continuously, outside of a traditional appraisal workflow. It provides the opportunity for a fluid view of the employee and is not time-boxed looking at human beings in six-month or one-year increments. Our lives are those of a continuous progression, as should our performance and growth be managed.

#3 Development Plans

These are starting to gain a lot of steam, but something that has been central to the Deltek Talent Management system for a long time. Development plans should be used for three key benefits:

  1. Onboarding- not the onboarding of new hire form completion, but the onboarding that quickly engages a new hire and focuses on the most effective and efficient way to onboard them to the point where they become a billable or productive resource.
  2. Role Proficiency/Mastery- once billable or productive, this new plan now focuses on becoming a high performer in the role.
  3. Upskill/Reskill- this final plan is implemented to prepare the employee for promotion into management or technical lead positions, or to reskill them for a transition to a different area of your organization.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is a simple and highly compelling concept to realize that revolutionizing your performance management process to meet the needs of the modern workforce is quite simple. The 2019 Deltek Clarity Government Contracting Survey shows that Continuous Performance Management is considered to be the most important Human Capital Management trend to focus on. With your competitors keenly aware of this issue, and your organization suffering from stagnancy and engagement/retention issues, are you ready to make the transition? Deltek’s expertise in performance management and project-based business support is the key missing component to your organization’s success.