2.
Direct examination of people management programs and
policies.
3. Focus groups of randomly chosen employees.
The information is then compiled into a composite
for each company. Normative data of the company's choice
is compiled. We write up a report detailing the company's
strengths and areas to improve. Focus group comments are
written up to highlight what employees had to say about
the areas which need improvement. We then give the
company a step by step plan for making improvements. This
plan includes the benchmarks of what the leading
companies are doing.
The typical company acts on the recommendations and
makes improvements. Most complete the assessment process
again from one to two years after the first assessment.
In this way progress can be objectively evaluated. We try
to get repeat data on every company that goes through the
assessment process so we can track the data over time.
Unfortunately, it takes years to study the relationship
between people management practices and financial
success, and there is no way to speed up the clock.
The Challenge Ahead
In working with people management practices for
over ten years, we have had many observations. Overall,
we have been very encouraged about the receptivity of
organizations to making improvements in people management
practices. The strongest selling point for them has been
the tight link to financial results. We are, in effect,
enabling companies to increase profits by tapping, into
areas that they had never thought of before. Most
companies never think of better people management as a
way to increase profitability. They tap into a new gold
mine.
There are ways for the situation to be better. Our
suggestions here are different for line managers and for
human resource managers. We will consider each
individually.
For line managers, many do not think about people
management practices at all. Their focus is more on
"things" rather than people. They think of
goals, bottom-line financials, new products, new
services, major initiatives, and the like. Employees are
merely the means to an end. They get you the goal or
financial results.
There
are no losers in the game of people management.
What we try to say to such line managers is that
people management, if done well, is the bottom line. You
cannot attain your goals without people and if you focus
on the process of how you manage people, you are more
likely to attain the goal. Effective people management
practices are end results. Managing employees effectively
relates to every goal, every initiative, and every
mundane activity that goes on in the workplace. It should
receive a lot of attention.
This has been an educational process for some line
managers. They were schooled on numbers, goals,
engineering concepts, science, etc., not the "soft
stuff" such as how you manage people. We have
enlightened many with our hard data but this educational
process has a long way to go. It is new and different for
many line managers.
For human resources professionals, who most often
hire us and coordinate our consulting work, the situation
is different. In some cases they are not focused on the
line business or hard numbers such as financial results.
We have to tell them that they should pay attention to
this and become more astute at it. Some can think only of
people issues, and lack a more business oriented
perspective.
In addition, many human resources managers focus on
running their silos, be it compensation, benefits,
training, employment or other HR functions. No one in the
HR group, including the VP, is looking at broad people
management issues such as management style,
organizational structure, bureaucracy, etc. For these HR
managers, the feeling is. "I'll help the CEO if he
asks for it." Yet they do not take the time to
broaden their horizons and think of larger people
management issues in a consulting capacity. So the gold
mine goes untapped.
For these HR managers, we have to educate them on
broadening out, becoming a catalyst and champion for
needed people management changes. We also have to tell
them to think like a business person and focus on bottom
line impact. In some cases, they might have to outsource
some of the traditional HR administrative work to focus
on these broader issues. For many, this is exactly what
they are doing.
We are optimistic about the changes we see
occurring. We think that both line managers and HR
managers will develop perspectives beyond their
traditional ones. They will see employees, and people
management not as an area to give lip service to, but a
critical component of company financial success. Both
line managers and HR managers will partner together to
assess the company's practices and make improvements
where needed. That will benefit management, employees,
the company, and stockholders. There are no losers in the
game of people management.
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