What are the challenges before HR Dept in the business age of V U C A (volatile / uncertain / complex / ambiguous) ???

WILL TALENT MANAGEMENT

SUPERCEDE TRADITONAL HRM ???

Talent management is the integrated process of ensuring that an organization has a continuous supply of highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time. Rather than a one-time event, talent management is a continuous process that plans talent needs, builds an image to attract the very best, ensures that new hires are immediately productive, helps to retain the very best, and facilitates the continuous movement of talent to where it can have the most impact within the organization. "The war for talent has shifted, now it's the war for the right talent," said David Ulrich, leading Human Resources guru. "It is not enough to say that people are our most important asset; but to believe that people are the customer's most important asset." So where does the traditional HRM system survive with the onslaught of outsourcing & automation of most HR operations???

 

TALENT MANAGEMENT : A STRATEGIC & INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

The talent management strategy is superior not just because it focuses on productivity, but also because it is forward looking and proactive, which means that the organization is continuously seeking out talent and opportunities to better utilize that talent. It produces excellent results because it overcomes the major problem of traditional recruiting, which is isolation. It instead integrates the previously independent functions of recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.

 

TALENT MANAGEMENT & HRM : THE DIFFERENTIATORS

 

There are some other factors that help define how talent management differs from traditional HRM. They include:

• A focus on high impact positions. A talent management strategy requires managers and HR to determine which jobs, when filled with top talent, have the largest impact on a firm’s success.
• Cross Functional Approach. Talent management builds cooperation and integration between previously independent efforts of line/functional managers, through its heavy use of common goals, metrics and rewards. As a result, no independent function like marketing, production or IT  can be considered successful unless the overall talent management effort is also successful.
• Accountability. Talent management gets managers’ attention by instituting a system of measures and rewards that ensures every manager is recognized and rewarded for excellence in people management (high workforce productivity). It simultaneously measures employee engagement to ensure that managers reach their productivity goals while using the appropriate management behaviors (two-way communications, empowerment, meritocracy, etc.).

¨     Recognition of the business conditions. The talent management approach involves recognizing that different types of talent are required depending on changing business situations & the business cycle. As a result, talent management requires the continuous internal movement of talent in and out of jobs and business units based on current business needs and where the company is in its business cycle. Our experience  with client companies, suggests that too many firms rely on recruiting new talent rather than systematic development of “home grown” talent. This generally leaves them unprepared to respond quickly to business opportunities. It is a constant struggle to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time in order to deliver improved business results.

• Focus on Internal Customer Service. Seamless service is the expectation of talent management. Customer satisfaction, process speed, quality, and responsiveness are continually measured. In our HRD EFFECTIVENESS AUDIT newsletter we have described how this arm of the talent management should be evaluated

¨     Anticipation. While traditional HRM tends to be reactive, talent management is forward looking. It forecasts and alerts managers about upcoming problems and opportunities. It encourages managers to act before the need arises in talent management issues

 

 

PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OF TALENT MANAGMENT 

 

The four primary factors that make the talent management approach unique include:

1.    An integrated approach within HR. Talent management formally integrates ALL people management programs and functions so that they work as a continuous & complementing process.

2.    Integrating people processes into standard business processes. Talent management goes the next step and further repositions people management programs and processes into the company’s standard business processes, such as the corporate strategic planning process, budgeting, mergers, and new product development.

3.    Shifting responsibility to managers. Talent management pushes the accountability and the responsibility for executing people management down to the line management levels.

4.    Measuring success with productivity. Talent management shifts the success measures from the more traditional HR and recruiting functional metrics towards measuring the overall productivity of the

 

The Key Success Factor of Talent Management

 

 Before going into any detail about talent management, it’s important to take a step back and look at where it fits into the  business map. Start with the operation of the HR department. Most HR departments operate using a functional model where every HR unit operates on a relatively independent basis. Other than HR generalists, every HR unit has independent goals, measures, and budgets. For example, there is little or no integration in the traditional recruiting function between its recruiting programs and the activities of other HR functions like development, compensation, and retention. Although this traditional separation provides the recruiting function with the opportunity to focus on its own specialty area, it can limit the impact of recruiting efforts by not meeting the expectation or needs of other people management and business processes and programs.

"Alignment" is therefore the key element of a successful Talent Strategy.  When selecting or developing people, most organizations focus on the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours required for the role.  However, some organizations are beginning to look at the behaviours required to operate effectively in a particular team or culture.  Our experience at Synergy Management Associates, in serving our clients, is to have an approach that looks at all of the factors that drive team performance, the relationship between people's motivations and the sorts of organizational cultures in which they will thrive.

Talent Management should be about delivering business success through understanding what we actually mean by talent, and how it will achieve the specific goals of the organization.  It is about ensuring that we value the natural talents and aspirations of our people.  It is about ensuring that we understand what blockages can spoil all our hard work.  It is about operating people processes that join together not only with each other, but with the business's goals.  And finally, it is also about understanding how to manage people for alignment as well as ability.  If we adopt these approaches, not only will business success follow, but we should also have fulfilled and effective people.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

It comes down to whether a company has the talent needed to execute its business strategy. And the signs of a faltering system are readily apparent: failing to meet business targets or objectives; shortages of key talent; talent management a low corporate priority; employee morale and satisfaction on the wane; problems recruiting employees; problems retaining employees; a tarnished employment brand. The end result of the talent management process is to increase overall workforce productivity through the improved attraction, retention, and utilization of talent.

 With best compliments

Dr Wilfred Monteiro

From the organization's viewpoint, one of the most important reason for having a system of performance appraisal is to make the reporting manager not just a evaluator of performance but a catalyst to the individual’s performance .

RETHINK ! YOUR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM EVERY YEAR.

We have all been through it: the annual appraisal demanded by HR dept & backed by the CEO but cynically scorned by staff.

 It a familiar story year after year …the reporting  boss is vague about what the appraisee have been doing for the past 12 months but still says the appraisee is above average. A few trivial complaints are mentioned to damp the appraiser hopes of any increment or bonus. The appraisee’s heroic efforts to keep the show on the road are completely ignored. His part of the story is never heard. He vows to find another job…. Not this yearend 2009 but as soon as the job market improves…. The meeting is ended as quickly as decently possible and soon forgotten.

Until next year- recheck your objectives…

Yet performance appraisal is taken very seriously in some leading companies - and not just because the salary review depends on it. Many of India’s best employers describe it as the key to superior corporate performance. From the organization's viewpoint, one of the most important reasons for having a system of performance appraisal is to establish and uphold the principle of accountability, transparency of management processes of rewards & penalty, involve people in the goals setting process, create goal congruence between the individual and organization, align the individual /departmental goals to business strategy , make the reporting manager not just a evaluator of performance but a catalyst  to the individual’s performance . And last but not the least, continually aim to perfect the performance management system itself.

Recent insights into performance management systems:

1. Total Performance Management System refers to the system of managing both behaviors and results…the two critical elements of performance. Most forget the evaluation or appraisal system to be the whole of Paste main aim of the evaluation system is to identify the performance gap (if any). This gap is the shortfall that occurs when performance does not meet the standard set by the organization as acceptable. Effective appraisal systems contains four basic systems operating in conjunction:

¨      a goal setting system

¨      an evaluation system

¨       a feedback system.

¨      a development system

2. It is important that the appraiser (usually the employee's supervisor) be well-informed and credible. Appraisers should feel comfortable with the techniques of appraisal, and should be knowledgeable about the employee's job and performance. When these conditions exist, employees are more likely to view the appraisal process as accurate and fair. They also express more acceptances of the appraiser's feedback and a greater willingness to change.

3. To facilitate greater accuracy & credibility, more and more companies, are using multilayer appraisals of manager performance with an objective to using useful feedback from multiple raters to guide the personal development of ratees.The basic premise is that multi-rater appraisals can be used to enhance the ratees' self-awareness, leading to improved leadership and management skills through knowledge of strengths, weaknesses, and others' expectations.

4. The main aim of the feedback system is to inform the employee about the quality of his or her performance. However, the information flow should not be exclusively one way. The appraisers also are duty bound to listen & receive feedback from the employee about job problems, resources needed, expectations of the staff member.

5. One the leading causes of organizational failure is "non-alignment of responsibility and accountability." Non-alignment occurs where employees are given responsibilities and duties, but are not held accountable for the way in which those responsibilities and duties are performed. What typically happens is that several individuals or work units appear to have overlapping roles. The overlap allows - indeed actively encourages - each individual or business unit to "pass the buck" to the others. Ultimately, in the severely non-aligned system, no one is accountable for anything. In this event, the principle of accountability breaks down completely. Like an engine that is poorly made or badly tuned, the non-aligned organization may run but it will be sluggish, costly and unreliable.

6. Measurement is hard enough when the appraisee know how to do it. Having a clear path allows the appraisee to concentrate on creating measures instead of wondering what to do next. Common and yet avoidable errors in the evaluation are:

¨      Subjectivity of performance. It is always difficult to measure work performance. This is due to the fact that most work performance does not produce measurable results at the end of the day.

¨      The halo effect. This is when someone is appraised highly, because of one outstanding characteristic. For example, when someone is a very good speaker, this outstanding skill or ability will serve to cloud the judgment of the appraiser and there will be a tendency to grade this individual highly, irrespective of whether he performs or not.

¨      Central tendency. Experience has shown that most appraisers tend to avoid the high and low extremes on a rating scale. They tend to take the easier and 'safer' middle rating.

¨      Appraising the wrong things. Appraisers sometimes appraise behaviours rather than actual work performance. For example, behaviours like looking busy and being pleasant may tend to cloud an appraiser's perception and hence count more than the actual performance.

¨      Similar characteristics. Research has shown that there is a tendency for an appraisal to be more favourable if the individual is perceived as being similar to the appraiser in relation to gender, personality, race, appearance etc.

¨      Politics. There is always the possibility that politics may influence the conduct of appraisals, as individuals maneuver to try to get the rewards that come with good appraisals.

¨      Ability to evaluate. The other main problem is that people vary considerably in their ability to evaluate accurately the behaviour of others. Due to lack of training in how to observe subordinate behaviour, or lack of ability to do so, the immediate supervisor may not have the necessary skills to act as an effective appraiser, hence affecting the quality of the appraisal.

¨      Different standards. Different appraisers may apply different standards of judgment in making their assessments. As well as this individual variation, the position of the appraiser, the sex, the position of the appraisee may also affect the ratings.

7. Multiple ways to align or link. Linkage or alignment with organizational goals is more and more important in today's business environment. This process provides two ways to provide that "line of sight.”. This process is not rocket science. It can be taught and learned by any workforce with a high school education.

8. Traditional appraisal systems often fail because they have a strong top-down bias, concentrating, say, on how far the individual has achieved specified goals in the past year.  Feedback from our client companies (www.synergymanager.net) has shown that few employees understand the strategy on which the goals are supposedly based. An individual may be made to feel a scapegoat for organizational failings and even the manager feels uncomfortable.

9. In the modern business, teamwork is everything and change is constant. Modern appraisal systems emphasize future team performance and the way individuals can develop their skills and improve their contribution to the team. Appraisals can eliminate what they call the "C players" and relieve a company of the hidden costs of tolerating under performance.

10. Today HR managers report, that  appraisees seem to have greater acceptance of the appraisal process, and feel more satisfied with it, when the process is directly linked to rewards. There is also a school of thought which argues that the evaluation of employees for reward purposes, and frank communication with them about their performance, are part of the basic responsibilities of management. The practice of not discussing reward issues while appraising performance is, say critics, based on inconsistent and muddled ideas of motivation. Such findings are a serious challenge to those who feel that appraisal results and reward outcomes must be strictly isolated from each other.

11. Why does performance appraisal have to be a formal annual process – shouldn’t managers do this every day as part of managing their teams. Are managers always skilled to hold performance related conversations with their teams???

12. The basic problem with appraisals is that the system becomes loaded with too many functions, with the result that none is done particularly well. For individuals, money is probably at the top of their minds, followed by performance and working relationships. Longer term, career development and the necessary competences and skills are critical for the young professionals. For some others mentoring - from someone whom the individual respects - is usually valued higher.

13. A novel “competency-based” approach to performance appraisal is based on teaching all employees to identify, deploy, and develop their strengths. Then aligning all performance appraisal and review systems around employee strengths. And lastly designing each role to create world-class performers in the role. This is called performance planning & development the higher order of the performance management system

14. What role do HR and Line/Functional managers play in the performance appraisal process? Are line managers given a thorough grounding of the systems as a whole…with additional training in counseling & performance feedback skills? Or does HR see itself as a high & mighty arbitrator and lord of the performance appraisal system. There is need for complete clarity & trust between line managers and HR dept

Organizations need the system to ensure productive performances, and yet at the same time, whatever system implemented is fraught with pitfalls as it deals with the human factor. In a sense, performance appraisals are a necessary evil and a double-edged tool; organizations and managers will have to learn to live with this and work with this unimpeachable fact!

What creates a model workplace and an employer-of first choice? It is a systematic HR process and an authentic policy of increasing employee satisfaction where the message is WE CARE FOR OUR PEOPLE

9  PRACTICES  FOR  INCREASING EMPLOYEE  SATISFACTION

How should companies work to increase employee satisfaction??? Here is a summary of my findings both through my consulting assignment as well as my academic research. The work best if applied in a low profile but genuine manner... quite unusual since a lot of HR best practices are lost in media hype and not sustained in the long-term

Here is a summary of my ideas:

1.BALANCE WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE 

I have place it first not by accident but by intent...Balance work and personal life - HR professionals are  battling to the challenges of a transforming workforce reality the need to be aware of certain trends which impacts efforts to attract and retain talented employees. Work-life balance application to a person's effective work-life and personal life wasn't as important in the past as it is today because, in the past, people often are able to attend easily to every major role in their life. Family is very important to all of us, when work begins to put a significant strain on one's family no amount of money will keep an employee around. So a small gestures of allowing an employee to take an extended leave once a month to watch with his daughter's or son's schools activity will likely be repaid with loyalty and extended employment with an organization.

 2.WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY 

Be flexible whether that means specifically giving your workers the option to work flexible hours, do some customize schedule rotations or a self-scheduling thru coordinating with some other staffs in-charge are good ways to promote positive employee morale or you could allow your staff to leave work early for a personal matter when appropriate. Workplace flexibility is hard to manage, because you need to meet operational demands. But it has to manage so the flexibility policy should be well defined and be implemented accordingly so its' good intent will not be lost.

3. TREAT EACH EMPLOYEE WITH RESPECT AND AS AN INDIVIDUAL 

Treat each employee with respect and as an individual, recognize the team member's contribution in front of members of management. This can reduce the tendency for employees to feel that their supervisors take all the credits. Know how to recognize your staff, not all employees want to be singled out at a gathering of hundreds of peers. The approach to recognizing team members can vary greatly by generational group. You might humiliate unintentionally a baby boomer by having them stand up in front of their colleagues while discussing their recent achievements conversely a Young Gen will appreciate the opportunity. A simple "thank you" or "nice job" or a pat in a back given in regular basis or frequency can significantly boost employee morale. Often times a team member will greatly appreciate the time you spent to find him at his desk and deliver the message personally.

4.POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT 

While compensation, benefits are important, the primary reasons workers leave a company are unorganized work environment, toxic workplaces, bad bosses and difficult co-workers. Every employees want is a clean, organized work environment in which they have the necessary equipment to perform well. When people and resources are not organized, physical barriers are stand in the way of being able to work efficiently, obviously it causes stress. Try to arrange things so that people have easy access to the people and resources they need. This normally works best by organizing workspaces around the people operating the process, or the types of work that they do. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to do their jobs. Some employee need a personal space but none is available, try blocking off areas with furniture, screens or blinds.

If noise is an issue, plants can help to soften it. Make sure that you explain to your workers why you are doing this emphasize the benefits of making the change. The quality of supervision and mentorship, by a "bad bosses" has been said so often that, people leaves people, not their jobs. Supervisors play the largest role in a team member's development and organization successes. All employees want to have Boss who's respectful, courteous, and friendly. Workers are more likely to remain with a company if they have a good and positive work environment.

5. ERADICATE FAVORITISM 

The better person can see a question from all sides without bias-Cunfucius" The so-called "inner circle club or good ole boys" can create unpleasant organization culture and can promote bitterness among team members, which can results devastating effect on some valued team members. The results of employee favoritism are destructive in natures because the following idea are unavoidable (Why should I perform if It will get me nowhere? Why do this if others will not? Why put in the effort if I will not be recognized? Why trust the boss if they are not fair?)

As a result, employees' morale, productivity, and relationship with the manager will diminished thus creating a disengaged employees which eventually create disengage customers. So equally treat all employees and avoid favoritism at all costs. Individuals want a perception that each employee is treated equivalently. Device or create a policy, a behavioral guidelines, or methods for requesting time off, and on any other work related decisions you can think about.

6. COMMUNICATION AND AVAILABILITY 

The Human Resource department needs to be very responsive to employee questions and concerns. In many companies, the HR department is perceived as the policy making arm of management. In fact, in forward thinking HR departments, responsiveness to employee needs is one of the cornerstones. You can easily do this by actively listening to your Employee's. Give them honest feedback, both positive and negative. Clearly communicate expectations, goals, and new rules to be followed.

Let them know what is expected of them. Get them involved and keep them informed - give them any information that tells them how their work fits into the overall company effort. Let's face it. Employees really want is to have a face-to-face communication time with both their supervisors and managers. This communication helps them feel recognized and important. For the managers; You may have a lot of things to do and attend to and surely your time maybe full. But, a manager's main job is to support your peers towards the success of organization. With this act managers' leads and magnifies organization success.

7. EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT 

Empowered personnel have a sense of responsibility and a sense of ownership, and their ideas are often recognized. So a workplaces that promote employee empowerment, power over what and how things are done, and the knowledge that they are important to the organization have enormous productivity results and less complaints. When employees think that they need their organization as much as the organization needs them, that need became best appreciated more than a paycheck and all benefit package that made them to stayed and remained at the company longer.

8. PLACING THE RIGHT TALENT FOR THE RIGHT JOB 

Placing the Right Talent in the Right Job dramatically increases Employees retention and enhances the organization success by reducing costs in many business aspects. Discover the way in which you can improve your employees, place them in environment that they can be truly useful. A new car behind glass is just a mass of metal plastic and glass, but a car being driven is truly what a car should be. The same goes for people once developed, one should use what they have learnt so that they can make the world around them a better place for themselves and others. And with this you shall not forget to provide them training, show them advancement opportunities and help them turn a job into a career.

9. CELEBRATE SUCCESSES, BIG AND LITTLE AND MAKE THE WORKPLACE FUN. 

Sharing small successes with your Employees' is a great way of making the workplace fun, not only by a small office party of coke & cakes … do anything novel so long as it is good enough, but you have to do what works best for you, If your immune system has taken a hit then maybe you can celebrate successes with a cup of coffee or hot tea with a loaf bread, it warms you up and still sets the tone of the celebration or maybe celebrating positive momentum for some time by just whistling a happy tune or tapping out as affirmation of an enhanced gratitude.

I am preparing a research paper on what makes the Model Workplace and the Employer-of-first choice in Indian companies .... You could share with me your findings and observations... I am looking for not just hollow jargon but authenticated case experiences which have brought about marked improvement in your company. 

With best compliments

Dr Wilfred Monteiro

MUMBAI- INDIA

www.synergymanager.net

HR leaders have to reinvent their function to create a new value proposition to stakeholders... in time where talent is scarce and expensive to acquire and employee tenures are getting shorter and shorter

PEOPLE  MANAGEMENT:   the new mandate for turbulent times

 

The need to engage employees  to achieve the employee interaction and commitment required to drive your business success and compete in today's marketplace. That, in turn can go a long way toward building customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and company profits. The desire for employee engagement-essentially emotional connections between employees and their companies may not have been so important years ago but things have changed. 

Every company has several groups that they need to keep happy. This includes shareholders, employees, management, customers, suppliers, etc  Employee engagement has important implications for all of these groups as well as the brand of the company. To ensure that you meet the commitments and expectations of all groups you have to have employees who are engaged and enthusiastic about their work, have the right training, the right tools and information and the authority to take action.

Lets begin with a practical understanding  of Employee Engagement

Ø  It's an employee who interacts with the company, who brings new ideas about how to do the work, who's willing to train or mentor and be an advocate for the company and the people he or she works with without necessarily being asked

Ø  Every company looks for that 'something extra' that will motivate employees to invest themselves in what the organization pursues. This 'engagement' of employees is a combination of functional and emotional commitment - the functional commitment to get things done and the emotional commitment to invest 'something extra' in the success of the efforts. The ultimate result of engagement is a workplace committed to achieving real results that can be measured in metrics of financial return, employee turnover and productivity.

Ø  Engaged employees are more productive and maintain better customer relationships. It's critical therefore, for organizations to nurture and engaged workforce. Selection and training of managers is a key component to this, so organizations focused on engagement need to include manager training on engagement in their talent-development strategies."  

Engagement now means much more than simple or traditional reward and recognition programs. Now these activities have to be integrated with leadership practices, communication initiatives, training, customizations of needs and desires, etc, etc in order to be effective. It is more of a holistic approach and strategizing on where engagement is heading in your organization, what it means and how you are going to get there. It is also critical that management is fully committed and supports the programs so that  everyone is on the same page. Where reward and recognition programs play a role is to support the culture of engagement. It is important to have a system in place that reinforces and encourages the desired behaviors, attitudes and performance throughout the organization.

 Otherwise things just get out of control, and it is very difficult to pin down what the company culture is. 

While there are many approaches that can be used, here are some essentials to improving organizational culture that are guaranteed to achieve sustainable results.

#1 - Articulate what the vision, mission, and goals of your organizations are. This should clarify what the organization is about; the legacy it wants to leave; and how you plan to achieve service, performance, and operational excellence. Keep them short and simple so that every employee, top-down, can understand it. Also, don't be afraid to refine the organization's vision, mission, and values every few years so it stays fresh, and always relevant to your current work environment.

#2 - Educate your employees on the vision, mission, and goals of the organization. Help them see how they fit into the big picture, what you expect from them, and how their individual and team contributions will lead to organizational success. This can be accomplished during the New Employee On-Boarding process, at departmental meetings, at all-employee general sessions, or one-on-one. Don't miss any opportunity to align employees, so that you feel confident in holding them accountable for contributing to improving the culture.

#3 - Hold leadership accountable for driving a culture of excellence. Demonstration and execution of the organization's vision, mission, and goals should be linked to their job performance, incentive program, and future career advancement. Look at it this way... if a leader is incapable of consistently driving excellence, to some extent they are negligent in their job, and may be impeding the organization's ability to improve the culture. Leaders are crucial in improving organizational culture.

#4 - Reward and recognize employees who consistently exemplify the qualities that will lead to organizational success. Once you have clarified what is needed to improve and drive a culture of excellence, educate employees on what is expected of them and how to deliver on the expectations; then its time to reward those who are uncompromising in their commitment to excellence.

#5 - Coach, counsel, and develop employees who are deficient in driving organizational culture. You do this by first finding out "why" they are unable to meet organizational expectations. Is it a commitment issue? Or is it a competence issue? If it is competence, they need further training and development to help them connect the dots. If it is a commitment issue, they need further one-on-one coaching to increase their motivation and buy-in; they need to know "what's in it for me?

#6 - Refine your new employee selection process. Going forward, make a commitment to only select and hire potential job candidates who can help the organization positively advance, and enhance the culture you are trying to create or improve. Integrate questions into the interview process that will help you identify job candidates who will naturally fit in with the culture you are trying to create, and definitely avoid those who may erode or destroy it. Undeniably, this will require waiting for the right hire, and not just filling a job opening with a warm body.

WHAT HR LEADERS ARE REALLY DOING ...

When the different approaches of these top performing organisations are analyzed in detail, seven common practices emerge. Although varying slightly from business to business in their application, as a template for successfully and effectively planning for and measuring employee engagement, they are invaluable to most organisations.

The seven practices are:

1. Hold your leaders accountable and responsible for both the results of the survey and the action planning and implementation process.

2. Align actions emerging from the employee engagement survey with the current activity of the business and existing strategies as much as possible. Success comes from playing to and accentuating your strengths - not from reinventing the wheel after every survey.

3. Focus on what matters. Analyse the information and prioritise so that you only tackle a few things at once. Remember, success breeds success - the more you put 'runs on the board' the more momentum you'll gather and the more employees will engage actively with improving their own engagement. The opposite of this is biting off more than you can chew and paralysis by analysis. Neither looks good or adds any value to the business.

4. Design a comprehensive and disciplined 'Engagement Improvement Process' (EIP) well BEFORE you conduct any sort of survey - and certainly well before getting any results or information to act on. Such a process needn't be complicated. Simply understand who is accountable and responsible for what, have a plan in place to act on the information as it emerges (including booking times in people's diaries well in advance), and ensure the relevant people have all the skills they need to carry out their duties before they're called upon. It's incredible to think that anyone would run their business any other way - but many still behave re-actively during employee engagement surveying.

5. Measure frequently, in line with existing business performance measurement cycles, and act promptly. Most companies spend a lot of money on employee engagement surveys and then let the value diminish slowly over time. Remember, engagement data is built on employee perceptions, which change rapidly over time. Acting on data that is more than three months old is dubious practice. Acting on data that is six months old could arguably be described as pointless.

6. Communicate, communicate and communicate. Employee engagement data is built on perceptions. These perceptions can be managed by clear, open, honest and two way communication. Failure to communicate leaves 'space' for employees to fill with their own communication. Manage the messages flowing around your business, or the messages flowing around your business will manage you.

The most critical message that must emerge from your engagement survey is the connection of your post measurement action to the information provided by employees in the survey. This is a matter of courtesy to thank employees for their time and helps them to connect their contribution to the ongoing improvement of the business. Once again, it is incredible to think that any business wouldn't do this most simple of things, but many businesses fail completely in this task.

7. Involve as many employees as possible in the action planning and the implementation of these plans. When things happen 'around' people they usually struggle to connect with them. In contrast, involving your employees in the process will emotionally invest them in the required success, a practice that will almost certainly guarantee better outcomes for all involved.

Experience shows that proper planning usually prevents poor performance. Equally, failing to plan is almost always the equivalent of planning to fail. Despite this, organisations all over the world continue to 'stumble through' their employee engagement surveys oblivious to the opportunity cost such an approach has on their business.

With best compliments,

Dr Wilfred Monteiro

MUMBAI- INDIA

www.synergymanager.net