|
|
|
|
Permission to reprint articles
All articles appearing on this site are copyrighted by Contented Cow Partners, LLC.
Permission to reprint is hereby granted to all print and electronic media provided that the contact information at the end of each article is included in your publication. Additionally, please mail one copy of your publication to: Contented Cow Partners, LLC, 7847 Glen Echo Road North, Jacksonville, FL 32211. E-mail electronic publications to Richard@ContentedCows.com.
Thank you.
Permission is also granted for reasonable editing, including article title and industry-specific examples.
Please call 800-940-7006, or e-mail, if we can help in any way.
Download images:
The authors - lower resolution
Book Jacket - high and low resolution
Return to Editor’s List of Articles
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Make Strategic People Plan One of Your New Year’s Resolutions
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
If you're like millions of other managers, this month you'll start the new year off right by shutting your door, forwarding the phone, and writing out some plans to make the coming year more productive, profitable, and maybe a little less tumultuous than the year you're still writing on checks.
You'll make plans to help you sell more, perform your job better, serve your customers better, cut costs, create new products, get them to market faster, or get a better handle on what the market demands.
You wouldn't dream of running your business without a strategic plan, would you?
But, how much time have you set aside to do some strategic planning and goalsetting to help you better manage your employees? Given the body of research currently available on the profitability of good people management, it wouldn't be a bad idea.
Like New Year's resolutions, a ``Strategic People Plan", or SPP, is no better than your will and determination to make some changes to improve the way you motivate those whom your annual report undoubtedly calls your ``most valuable asset". And just as you would do for other New Year's resolutions, make sure you build in a way to keep yourself honest.
So, what are you going to do differently in the new year to help you attract, retain, and motivate the best your industry has to offer?
I polled an Internet community of readers I know, mostly managers in corporate America and asked, “What resolutions will you make to improve your effectiveness in managing people?"
Diane Cestaro, with New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Atlanta, related a resolution she made (and kept) several years ago. She suggests redefining the manager/employee relationship more in keeping with the entrepreneurial model that has made so many organizations successful. “All bosses," says Cestaro, “could benefit tremendously if they would treat their employees as `partners in business'. “And," she adds, “all employees should treat their bosses as if they were `their best client'."
Now that's a different way of looking at things, isn't it? And yet, how many of us go to work every day in a workplace fraught with a “we vs. they" ethic that drives every decision we (and they) make?
If you want people to work like partners in the business, you'd better do more than call them “associates" and give them T-shirts advertising your company. Give them a meaningful piece of the action. Tie your employees' income inextricably to the company's.
GEICO Field Manager Tim Hanchey's New Year’s strategic plan includes going to extra lengths to make sure that all his partners in business understand the value of their input and understand their role in delivering ``WOW" customer service.
Wal-Mart, the money machine that's a perennial favorite on the “100 Best" list, long ago instituted what it calls its “10 foot rule". Sheilagh MacDonald, Vice President of Human Resources for the Canadian Automobile Association of Central Ontario has “Canadianized" it for use in her organization. She calls it the “3 metre rule". For MacDonald, it means that whenever any associate comes within 3 metres of anyone at work, (fellow associate, supplier, customer) they smile and acknowledge them by simply saying hi.
“Sounds corny," says MacDonald, “but I can tell you from personal experience that this no-cost idea made a huge difference in the environment in our organization. To work, it must be practiced diligently by everyone, from the President on down.
“Our associates, especially new ones, have told us that 2 days after joining our organization, they knew there was something different, and better, about this place."
Secondly, MacDonald subjects almost everything she does to the following test, “How will this decision make this a better place to work, so we can attract and retain the best people and keep them out of the hands of the competition [for good labor]?" Why not make that a part of your SPP as well?
Kari Sletten, a Sr. Human Resources Manager for Citibank in Miami, resolves to spend at least 5 minutes speaking to every team member every day, and to mentor talent everywhere she sees it. Her goal is to strive to “reinvent" the leadership within the organization on an ongoing basis.
Darren Ward of Orlando's Paragon Computer Professionals is including in his strategic employee plan resolutions to lead by example, delegate when and where appropriate, and acknowledge the efforts of his team. Your plan doesn't have to be new, trendy, outlandish, or complicated. But just like a simple resolution to eat less and exercise more, you do have to commit to doing it, not just thinking about it. And you need to tell others about your plan. They'll help keep you on track.
At the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, Sr. VP Mary Lange plans this year to focus on one thing, one person, one idea at a time. “Multitasking," she says, “is exciting, but at the end of the day, I wonder what I've accomplished."
Whatever your Strategic People Plan for this year, keep it simple, doable, and measurable. Then measure your success with it. Above all, write it down! And post it, preferably in a simple document frame, in a place where you, and your employees will see it, every day.
That's the only way to keep yourself honest.
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.