Engaged For Success

Managing Staff Through The Tough Times

While there are businesses that may be thriving, the recent recession and its aftermath mean that it’s been a tough few years for a lot of businesses.  If we are to be honest things are likely to remain tough for the next few years as we contend with Government cuts, problems with Europe and what have you. The natural instinct under these circumstances is therefore to knuckle down and focus – expecting those that work for us to do the same thing – grateful that unlike so many others they have work.

The tendency is to put structures and processes in place to ensure that we things work both effectively and efficiently – this is something I highly recommend. I also advice on the need to become more stringent about absences and what staff do within work time – this is something else that most businesses will probably be doing now. Additionally most businesses will also be becoming more focused on targets and expect staff to have the same focus.  All of this is perfectly understandable and logical – after all unless a business is run on volunteers and unpaid interns, the people working with you are being paid to get a job done in what is now a very competitive market.

I do believe, that it is, however, important to remember that just as businesses are going through a tough time, so are a lot of people that work with us.  What with the increased costs of living and the possible unemployment of a partner; close family members and/or friends,  this can all very easily serve to put pressure on those fortunate enough to have a job.  This type of pressure on staff may also be enhanced if you have already had to implement reduced hours or a pay freeze for a few years.

So yes, do expect the best from your people, but also please be a bit sensitive too.  Where possible take the time to understand their circumstances. Allow for a little flexibility within your structures and processes if it will help them without being detrimental to the business.

Fundamentally communicate with them on the position of the business, the plans that you have for the business i.e. the strategy and the logic behind it. Be open to their input and ideas – they may actually be the source of input that makes all the difference to your business.

In balancing the requirements of your business with the needs of your staff, I believe you will attain their crucial support and their vey best through the on going tough times that we are all faced with.

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

 

Does HR have an image problem? This is something of a frequently asked question (FAQ) as regards HR, which suggests that it is a concern that refuses to go away.

In a guest blog post today, Susan Popoola describes how she became aware of HR’s apparent image problem, and prescribes what she thinks the profession can do to tackle this problem.

Ref: XpertHR

I take it that by now you will have of the Bribery Act that came into force on the 1st July?  The Bribery Act 2010 makes it a criminal offence for an individual or commercial organisation to offer or receive a bribe to bring about or reward the improper performance of a function or activity

My concern is that if you work with or run a small organisation, most especially a charity, you may have the force sense of security that it does not apply to you.  Unfortunately, however this would not be true as the legislation applies to all organisations.

It would be easy to assume that the legislation targets the prevention of the cases of large scale corruption and bribery, involving large multinational organisations that occasionally appear in newspaper headlines and at times lead to custodian sentences for it’s top executives.  It does have a focus on this, but goes further as it also aims to stamp out facilitation payments that are often paid to low ranking officers (particularly in developing countries) to facilitate the smooth and expedient processing of a service.  This is something that most definitely has implications for any organisation that operates overseas – something that is becoming increasingly commonplace with the increased globalisation.

The challenged of this is enhanced by the fact that an organisation is now
liable for bribes paid by its agents and joint venture partners, even if made without the company’s knowledge, unless it can demonstrate that it has taken all reasonable steps to prevent such illicit payments.

The truth is even if your business is entirely focused within the UK you still need to be cautious. The legislation goes on to specify that  Corporate hospitably that is given with the intention of winning a financial advantage would become illegal.  This led to concerns that business lunches and days out with clients would become illegal.  It has, however, been clarified that Corporate hospitality is not affected by the Act as long as it is proportionate and reasonable.

It is however important to be aware of the Principals of the Act which are as follows:
*  Proportionality – their procedures are in proportion to the bribery risk the organisation faces)
* Top-level commitment from the organisation to a zero-tolerance on bribery -  and communication of this to staff, customers, suppliers etc. plus appointing a senior executive of the firm to have responsibility for bribery prevention.
* Regular risk-assessment of the nature and extent of exposure to potential external and internal bribery risks
* Due Diligence – a thorough examination of those 3rd parties acting on the organisations behalf and their trading partners
* Communication of these measures – including training so that bribery prevention policies and procedures are understood throughout the organisation, and the likelihood that all types of employment contracts will need amending to refer to bribery in the context of gross misconduct/termination.
* Monitoring and review all of the above principles regularly

In order to minimise the risk of falling foul of the Act, companies should put in place:

*  Whistle-blowing procedures (setting out how staff raise concerns about bribery and request advice and support)
* Prevention policies to cover financial and commercial controls (invoices, remuneration)
* Prevention policies to cover rules on gifts, hospitality (a reasonable amount of corporate hospitality is still permitted), promotional spend/sponsorship (including charitable donations)
* Procedures on recruitment (including work experience) and discipline/grievance that include anti-bribery measures
* Details of how anti-bribery measures will be enforced.

Top Tips to Avoid Bribery
How to Reduce the Probability
-    Have a clear framework for tenders and negotiations, ensuring these include anti-bribery clauses
-    Make sure your negotiation team has a clear mandate and the customer knows that the team won’t exceed it
-    Identify decision-makers in the procurement organisation to determine where a solicitation could come from.
-    Involve banks and export credit agencies in anti-bribery initiatives.
How to react if a demand is made
-    Inform your management and define an appropriate strategy (for example, changing the negotiation team)
-    Go back to the soliciting person with a witness and reaffirm your willing to proceed as normal, ignoring the solicitation.  If the solicitation is reiterated.
o    Inform the person that it is not acceptable
o    Threaten to back off from the bid and go public
o    Set a deadline for proceeding in a normal manner
-    Tell a senior person in the customer organisation that you believe that you have been asked for a bribe
-    If sufficient evidence is available, go to the national-anti-bribery body.

Source: Resisting extortion and solicitation in international transactions. www.iccwbo.org. October 2010

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

The resignation of Steve Jobs as the CEO of Apple has brought the subject of Succession Planning to the forefront of conversation. The importance of Succession Planning cannot be overemphasis as a key requirement that must be satisfied if organisations are to survive and prosper is that replacement leaders and officials must be available to assume critically important leadership and specialist positions as they become vacant. Many research studies have emphasised the importance of succession planning – primarily at the senior leadership level, but increasing across organisations as the scarcity of crucial skills and ensuring war for talent grows.

Chief Executives and Corporate Boards consistently point to succession as one of their biggest concerns, with a growing recognition that they have the same obligations to protect the human resource asset base for shareholders as they do to protect the balance sheet. This is particularly the case for professional services organisations whose value derives in great measure from the specialist skills and knowledge of their people.

Some of the most compelling reasons for any organisations leadership to seriously considering putting a succession planning process in place are:

• The continuing survival and prosperity of the organisations depends on having the right professionals and leadership in place

• Leaving leadership development to chance and hoping that qualified successors can be found either insider or outside of the organisation on short notice when needed may have worked at one time, but the war for talent in the present and future years makes the approach highly risky. There is therefore a need to systematically identify and prepare high-potential candidates for key positions.

• Middle management is the traditional training ground for leaders. Because of the scarcity and subsequent competition for skills, there is a need for great care to be taken in identifying promising candidates early and to actively cultivate their development. There is otherwise the risk of losing individuals who are high performs in their present job and/or high potentials for future leadership positions.

• When Succession Planning is left informal and thus unplanned, it can have a number of undesirable consequences. Suspicion about secret lists and shoulder tapping is highly demotivating and at odds with building a high performance culture. There is also the tendency under informal approaches for job incumbents to identify and groom successors in their own image with the potential for limiting the quality of the successor pool.

• On the other hand, a robust and well understood succession planning program can be very motivating, and a powerful driver of a high performance culture. Such a program will signal to staff that the organisation is an environment where career goals can be mapped out and pursued and where learning and development is encouraged. In short, an environment where people are highly valued.

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

There is a trend in the war for talent – with the rise in tuition fees, some employers have taken to attracting candidates by offering to sponsor their university fees.

Most recent cases of organisations adopting this practice are KPMG and Morrisons. They share this is practice with organisations such as GlaxoSmithKlime, Barclays, Logica, Experian, PWC and Ernest & Young.

Students studying under this schemes are often likely to work part time with their sponsoring organisations whilst studying

Such schemes can be a win win for both employers and students. Employers not only have access to a pool of talent they additionally have an input into their development. Students on the other hand are not only rid of the worries of debts from tuition fees, they are often able to work whilst studying with the assurance of a job when they complete their qualifications.

Those that are set to loose out are organisations that sit by and watch see organisations zap up the talent.

References:
The Future Market by Hashi Syedain. People Management. August 2011
Morrisons offers fee lifeline to 1,000 students, Personnel Today, 15 August 2011

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

On the Saturday evening after the London riots, I went to Lewisham to catch up with friends. I guess it was inevitable that we got into a debate about the riots – not only is it one of the most topical issues at this point in time, we were in one of the areas most effect by the looting.

It’s also unsurprising that we very rapidly got onto the topic of parental responsibility. We debated on the need for parents to take responsibility for their children; the capability of some parents to effectively bring up their children; the criticality of parenting in a child’s formative years in order to form a firm foundation; the concept of community and the role of community in the upbringing of children.

Although we all started of from divergent view points we ultimately came to the conclusion that there is a need for effective parenting, but as with the African proverb which says that “it takes a whole village to raise a child” it is a community responsibility. We further agreed that we all needed to do more if young people feel alienated from the rest of their communities and society as a whole. It’s unacceptable for people to feel so alienated from their communities that they are read to destroy it.

We then moved on to other subjects until it was time for us to all go our separate ways.

As we were in a tower block, we had to use the lift to get downstairs. As we exited the lift a young boy of about 14 entered the building. I watched as he walked past us not uttering a word. At the same time none of us said anything to him even though the person who’s flat we were coming from had lived there for years so would have probably seen the boy before.

Reflecting on this, as we all walked towards our cars, I pointed this out. I noted that there is a common expectation that younger people have the responsibility to first acknowledge older people, but what really stops us from doing so and subsequently build up relationships.

We all went our separate ways, acknowledging that although there is a need for wisdom in our approach, there are little things that we can all begin to do immediately.

Selah

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

I recently spent a day in meetings in London inclusive of meetings at a multi-national bank and a very small publishing company. During the discussions that ensued, both organisations made reference to the interns that were working with them.

The use of interns is nothing new to me. I was, however, fascinated by the demonstration of the extent to which they are being used within different sizes and types of businesses.

Based on the conversations that I had, I can confidentially say that both of the organisations that I spoke to treat their interns well ensuring that their interns gain real experience from the process. Additionally they pay them a salary or at the very least expenses.

I believe this is right and proper. Unfortunately, however some organisations use interns as cheap labour and don’t even pay expenses. Even if this is not actually illegal due to minimum wage legislation it is unfair. I further believe that organisations treating people this way should be prepared for the fact that their reputations may ultimately be damaged by this.

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

I once received a testimonial that stated amongst other things “Susan is a delight to listen to and debate with. She questions anything and doubts everything.”

I didn’t like this at first because while I’ve come to realise that I do analyse everything by default but at the same time I trust people, expecting the best of them unless I find that their story just doesn’t add up or they do something directly to me or someone else that betrays that trust.

Then there are those people that I just connect with at some level due to common interests, values, visions, experiences or something less tangible that just can’t be defined. I trust them more because there is that connection.

There are also the people that I would virtually trust with my life or at least aspects of it. They are people that I’m confident have my best interest at heart even though they might make mistakes and get things wrong from time to time. (I recognise that without a doubt so do I)

Now moving on from there, I know we are supposed to do our own due diligence, but when people I really trust introduce me to someone they know or make a referral, the person that has been introduced has more credibility with me then if I’d just me them on the street. I suspect most people operate on these bases.

As a result of this, I’ve been feeling somewhat concerned following a few conversations I’ve had with friends whereby feedback not provided on experiences could potentially lead to the heightened risk of further problems in the future.

I first started really thinking about this when I met up with a friend for drinks a few weeks back. Sally was feeling fed up with people taking her for granted as she had just terminated a business relationship with someone who was good at what he did but never delivered to agreed timeframes. She had found it difficult to terminate the relationship with James, because a close associate had introduced him to her. What, however, made things worse was that when she spoke to her associate about the situation he admitted that he knew the problems with James, but thought she could manage things. What her associate failed to realise is that by not giving Sally a true assessment of James he had virtually set her up to fail.

It was against this backdrop that I subsequently met with Peter for lunch. The last time I met with him he had been raving non-stop about Simon who had done some work for him. Noticing that Peter didn’t once mention Simon during the course of the conversation, I asked him how Simon. To my surprise he virtually started spitting venom speaking about how Simon had duped him and how he was lucky to of got of lightly.

Knowing that a mutual friend had introduced Simon to Peter, I asked him whether he had let the introducer know. He responded he hadn’t provided any real feedback because he didn’t want to cause any upset. What he forgot is that without the feedback the introducer could very easily introduce Peter to more people that he knows.

The lack of feedback also extends into employment situation when we don’t tell an employee that he or she is not doing well because we don’t want to cause upset. The only problem is that by not providing feedback we rob the individual of the opportunity to improve, to gain promotion and possibly get good bonuses.

So maybe it’s time that though with sensitivity we all start providing feedback where necessary.

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

I don’t typically watch Action category movies, but years back I watched the Rambo movies and although I can’t remember much of the story lines there is a particular scene from Rambo II that I have never forgotten.  It’s a scene where Sylvester Stallone a.k.a. Rambo is in a boat with a young Vietnamese lady.

The lady asked Rambo why he was sent on the mission that he was on.  He replied – “because I’m expendable.”  The lady not understanding asked him what expendable means to which he responded – “it’s like someone invites you to a party and you don’t show up, but it doesn’t really matter”.  During a later stage in the film, Rambo was about to embark on a dangerous part of his mission.  As he sets of the lady called out to him and told him “Rambo, you’re not expendable”

The truth is no one should be seen as expendable as every human being is of intrinsic value.  Whether at work, home or play there is a need to understand what individuals unique talents are in order to tap into them.  However, there is additional a more general value that everyone offers that can be tapped into with minimal effort.
I was reminded of this recently when I bumped into an old friend that I hadn’t seen for quite some time.  She told me that she hadn’t been very well and had therefore been compelled to take some time off work.  On the first day that she went back to work she still felt quite drained and so her manager sent her off to see the organisation’s Occupational Psychologist.  It was agreed  that in order to accommodate her, that she should leave work  a couple of hours early over the subsequent few weeks (with full pay) in order to enable her to fully recover.

I also had a conversation with a manager in a school who had an employee in a similar situation.  He allowed her to work from home one day a week in order to prevent her from relapsing.  In many ways these employers were making pragmatic decisions to prevent a situation whereby they ended up with employees who were not able to work to full capacity over extended periods. After all an employee whose health is not 100% is unlikely to be able to work to 100% capacity anyway.  Besides if an employee under such circumstances is to push himself/herself to hard, he/she could end up going of sick again.   Some employers in a similar situations would however, not want to provide their employees with such support for fear that things would be taken for granted.

The truth, however is that for most people just as for my friend, such actions by employers make people feel valued and when they feel that they are valuable to their employers they tend to want to work that much harder to add value to the organisations. Besides which they become the biggest advocates for the organisation.

Susan Popoola
Conning Towers
HR Transformation & Talent Management
Leveraging the Power of People

Copyright 2011 This document is the specific intellectual property of the Conning Towers Consultancy. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated from content obtained from other sources and such content is referenced as appropriate.

Have you heard of Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister?

If you live in Britain and know anything at all about British politics, you’ll know that he once had a dream – the dream of becoming Prime Minister. He is said to have waited – not to patiently for 13 years whilst Tony Blair was first leader of the opposition for 3 years and then prime minister for 10 years. Finally, Tony Blair stepped down and uncontested (at least in public), Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.  The fulfillment of a dream!

Gordon Brown was Prime Minister from 24th June 2007 until the 11th May 2010 when Labour lost the general elections and the coalition Government under the Premiership of David Cameron took over.

His time as Prime Minister was short, many people were critical of his effectiveness, but it’s probably fair to say the dream was still met – fulfilling or not.  If I have one criticism of Brown, it would be to question whether he was true to himself and his beliefs during his time as Prime Minister.

Brown is still involved in politics as a backbencher, but critically he is also now a Board Director of the World Wide Web Foundation “advising on ways to involve disadvantaged communities and global leaders in the development of sustainable programs that connect humanity and affect positive change”

I’m pleased about this because I believe it provides Gordon Brown with the opportunity to fully represent who he is and what he believes in. I believe that with the kudos that come from him having been Prime Minister in this role he will be able to really and trully excel at being who he is and have a real long lasting impact.

The funny thing is it doesn’t just apply to Brown with many of us with dreams fulfilled or unfulfilled; fulfilled but not really fulfilling or whatever the case may be, the real success lies just beyond the dream.  It doesn’t jut apply to that dream job, but also relationships as most other things in life. Do you remember that person that you met – the guy or girl of your dreams – things didn’t quite work out as you had hoped and you were devastated, but then someone else came along…

As it’s the beginning of a new year so it’s worth me concluding by saying: this year go for your dreams, but if they are not totally fulfilled, don’t despair, it really and truly is not the end of the world. Something much better may just be around the corner – just keep the faith.

Selah

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated