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DailyHRTips.com

Top 10 Human Resources Tips 2010by Ben Nash & Kevin Nash, Ph.D.

www.dailyhrtips.com


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2010 DailyHRTips.com

Welcome Index1. Change Management

- Tip #1:4 Ways To Get EmployeesExcited About Their Work

- Tip #2:Icebergs, Polar Bears, andChange Management

2. Talent Management

- Tip #3:The Importance of EmployeeOnboarding

- Tip #4: Things to Look for When

Hiring Top Sales People

3. Employee Training

- Tip #5:Developing BusinessAcumen Skills

- Tip #6: Mentoring is a KeyResponsibility of Management

4. Organizational Development

- Tip #7: The Yes Factor--Secrets ofPersuasive Communication

- Tip #8: Company Vision, Mission,and Values--Whats the Difference?

5. Career Development

- Tip #9: What are the Top 5 ReasonsPeople Quit Their Jobs?

- Tip #10: 3 Tips for Being the BestBoss You Can Be!

Sincerely,

Ben Nash & Kevin Nash

Welcome and thank you for download-

ing our newest eBook: Top 10 HumanResouces Tips 2010.

We have brought together 10 of our

most popular blog posts from the pastyear and put them into one document for

you to read at your pleasure.

In this short eBook you will nd Human

Resources tips on Change Manage-

ment, Talent Management, Employee

Training, Organizational Development,and Career Development.

We hope you enjoy these tips and nd

them useful in your HR practice.

Thank you again for joining our

newsletter and downloading our eBook.

Remember to check our blog everyday

to get a new Daily HR Tip!


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Change Management Tips


4 Ways To Get Employees ExcitedAbout Their Work

Icebergs, Polar Bears, andChange Management

Expect the best, prepare for the worst, and capital-ize on what comes. These words of wisdom are

from the Zig Ziglar who was talking in the 1960s

about employee motivation in times of change buthis words seem to apply as much today as they didback then. The work climate in many organizations

is not conducive for employees to expect the best in fact many are preparing for the worst, while thewisest employees try to take advantage of any and

all opportunities that come their way.

According to Victor Vroom (another guru in theemployee motivation eld), employee motivation

has a lot to do with how they see the link betweentheir goals and increasing pleasure and minimizing

pain. Based on Ziglar and Vroom, here are four tipsfor how organizations can help employees to get

jazzed about their work:

1. Demonstrate to employees that they will be rec-

ognized and noticed for their effort

2. Let employees know that this recognition will beaccompanied by a desirable reward

3. Make sure that the rewards will meet employee

needs

4. Check that employees believe that satisfyingtheir need makes the effort worthwhile

Vanishing icebergs and distressed Polar bearshave come to symbolize the effects of our chang-ing climate. The iceberg has also been used as a

metaphor for change in organizations.

The Change Management Iceberg developed byWilfred Kruger offers an explanation of why many

organizational change efforts fail. Above the water-line are the three areas of concern of most manag-ersdoing things faster, better, or cheaper. Below

the waterline are the hidden areas of resistance,which cause organizations fail!

So where are the areas of main resistance? About

20% of employees will go with the change. About

60% sit on the fence and wait to see what happensand about 20% of employees will be resistant.Perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, power, and politics

all play into resistance. But this is hard to pinpoint(after all it is below the water line). So how do youdeal with the areas of resistance? 3 words COM-

MUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICA-TION!

Here are ve key messages to give focus on:

1. Explain the conditions that have brought aboutthe need for change

2. Explain the detail of the change and how it willaffect the employee

3. Include a practical demonstration or teach theemployee how to succeed in the new environment

4. Ask the employee how s/he feels about the pro-

posals; identify his/her major hang-ups and recog-nize any new problems

5. Ask for suggestions for overcoming the prob-

lems and implementing the change using a jointproblem solving approach

Communicating these messages may not do muchfor climate change, but it may be key in successfulorganizational change!


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Talent Management Tips

The Importance of EmployeeOnboardingOnboarding means getting a new employee intotheir new job as quickly and efciently as possible.On-boarding is a growing trend; after all, the sooner

an employee gets established and comfortable intheir new position, the sooner they become produc-tive! So what are the dos and donts of employee

on-boarding how do you maximize the process toits full potential?

The following tips can help you get the best from

your on boarding program:

Try to impress While new employees are con-cerned with making their own positive rst impres-

sions the company should be concerned to do thesame. An unprofessionally presented on-boardingprocess will make the employee think twice about

their decision to join your organization.

Keep it simple and low key There will comea time when the new hire needs to know that the

company holds a picnic every Labor Day and thatNov. 21 is the company founders birthday. Thattime, however, is not the rst week on the job.

Keep it interesting On-boarding, by nature, will

always require new employees to ll out forms,watch orientation videos and perform various other

mind-numbing tasks. But try to make the processless boring by alternating rote tasks with more en-gaging activities, such as touring production facili-ties, examining new tools and meeting colleagues.

Designate a mentor Assigning an experiencedmentor to the new hire, preferably someone in the

same general business area, will give the newcom-er a reliable escort and contact source. The mentorshould be available for consultation throughout the

business day for at least the rst week or so of anew hires employment. After that, you may trim ac-cess back to scheduled meetings.

Take time to listen On-boarding is a two wayprocess: The mentor provides facts and support,and the new hire asks crucial questions about his

or her job. To facilitate the ongoing ow of informa-tion, build time into the on-boarding schedule toallow both parties to sit down and discuss, uninter-

rupted, whatever happens to be on their minds.

Prepare the workspace On-boardings primarygoal should be to get new hires comfortable with

their jobs and working at near peak efciency out ofthe starting gate. But this isnt possible if the per-sons workspace isnt available or is missing essen-tial tools or materials. Thats why its important to

have a permanent workspace ready as soon as thenew hire arrives for work.

Provide follow up support Too many companiestake a sink-or-swim approach to on-boarding,designing the process as a stand alone system withspecic starting and ending dates. Actually, on-

boarding should be viewed as just the rst step inan ongoing employee support program. During theon-boarding process, employees need to be intro-duced to the companys full spectrum of career-ad-

vancement, wellness, recreation and other pro-

grams, as well as encouraged to seek informationand other assistance whenever the need arises.


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Things to Look for When Hiring TopSales People


Talent Management Tips...continued

The traditional approach to selecting sales peopleis often to:

1. Focus on previous sales experience

2. Identify the ideal prole by examining

previous successful Sales Representatives

3. Dening the sales role in terms of one or twodimensions

4. Gut instinct (I can tell if they are a good salesperson as soon as I interview them)

Unfortunately this approach to selecting and devel-oping sales people has often produced less thanstellar results. Research conducted with more than

50 companies and 1,500 people worldwide identi-ed the most reliable predictors of sales perfor-mance as follows:

1. Foundational sales characteristics based oncertain personality traits

2. Clear Sales motivations

3. Predicted performance in managing the stepsin the Sales Cycle

The personality traits found to be the best predic-tors of sales success were:

1. Sales Condence Projects an air of condence when dealing with others

2. Sales Drive Has drive and enthusiasm.Seems hungry for success

3. Sales Resilience Is full of optimism and veryresilient. Perseveres in tough situations

4. Adaptability Identies and adopts the mostappropriate style to maximize success in sales

5. Listening Listens sympathetically to others.Observes and interprets behavior

6. Embraces change Quickly adapts to changesin the work place or environment

These personality traits, together with personal

motivators and predicted performance in the salescycle can be reliably measured by valid and reliableassessment instruments.

Our HR Tip: assess candidates for sales positionsusing a valid and reliable assessment tool that willprovide you with a clear and accurate picture of a

candidates strengths and areas for development.That way you will increase your chances of hiringthe best and reduce the risk of hiring duds.


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Employee Training Tips

Developing Business Acumen Skills Mentoring is a Key Responsibilityof ManagementMany organizations want their employees to show

business acumen in the way they do their jobs.But what are the skills involved in business acumenand how can employees develop these skills.

The following are some tips on how to develop anddemonstrate business acumen skills:

People demonstrate business acumen skills by:

- Understanding how the various parts of the business work together to provide value to the cus

tomer

- Consistently selecting the best course of actionwhen making business decisions

- Minimizing risks to the organization in the decisions they make

- And applying nancial savvy and analytical thinking to the decision process

People can develop a business acumen mindsetwhen they are making decisions by applying thefollowing ve simple steps:

- Reect before deciding- stop and think, reect onyour experiences of what worked in the past

- Analyze- gather quantitative and qualitative databefore you evaluate and draw conclusions

- Create- be creative when solving problems, dont

go for the obvious answers, look for the uniquesolutions that will add value

- Collaborate with others to get things done know

who to get on your side and use their talents too!

- Take Action to get things moving while showingagility and perseverance to complete the task.

One of the many duties of a manager is the pro-fessional development of his or her employees.Mentoring employees helps them to perform bet-

ter, improves morale, and can help your businesssucceed. Most employees yearn to grow their skillswith the aid of a knowledgeable, more senior mem-ber of the organization. Here are some tips to set

the mentoring process in motion:

Set the stage for a dialogue. Call a meeting orsend an e-mail informing your staff that mentoring

is available. Let them know you will match themwith an in-house mentor who will help them planhow to reach their career goals. Encourage your

employees to think about what theyd most like to

develop with the input of a more senior staff mem-ber. Remind your senior staffers that they, too, canbenet from the mentoring relationship from the in-

ux of new ideas that can be stimulated by a juniorcolleagues fresh approach to projects.

Buddy up. Consider it a kind of matchmaking

send your staffers and more senior members, ormentors, off to discuss past experiences and futuregoals over lunch or coffee. Pairing those who have

fewer years in the business with those whove got

a wealth of proven experience is a great way to geta fresh exchange of ideas owing. These pairingsneednt be exactly in line along the hierarchy; all

thats important is that the two parties can learnsomething from one another. Its also a good ideato take personalities into account, if possible, in

matching employees with mentors.

Listen Openly. For one-on-one conversationsbetween junior and senior staffers, encourage both

parties to abandon their preconceptions. Insteadof right or wrong ways of meeting challenges,

encourage them to approach problems or projectsby nding ways that work to replace ways that

dont. Neutralizing this language promotes an opendialogue in which both parties ideas are equallyvalid. This parity will encourage the conversation

to move freely and ensure that both the senior andjunior staffer emerge with new ideas.


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Employee Training Tips...continued

Mentoring is a Key Responsibilityof Management..continuedThink Strategically. One of the best by-productsof mentoring is the slew of novel approaches it

can engender. Once your staffers have met to

discuss their professional goals and new meth-ods of achieving them, be open to applying theseideas. They may not always work, but with patience

and perseverance on all sides, successes will beachieved and staffers will see that their mentoringconversations produce tangible, actionable results

that enhance their performance.

While mentoring may seem at rst to be a one-waystreet, beneting the recipient of the mentoring, it

invigorates everyone involved. Mentors are stimu-lated by the active need for their skills, while they

can learn from the junior employee, who brings afresh outlook and new ideas to what might feel like

old hat for the senior staffer. Mentoring can boostcommunication, inject new ideas into old formulas,and promote a satisfying, more open work environ-

mentall of which benets your bottom line.


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Organizational Development Tips

The Yes Factor--Secrets ofPersuasive Communication

Company Vision, Mission, andValues--Whats the Difference?

Why do so many authors purport to reveal secretsof various kinds in their new books? I think if I hadsecretsperhaps the secrets to a better body or

longer life, greater happiness, or more persuasivecommunicationI would not waste my time andgo straight for the Nobel Prize. At the very least Iwould try to make a killing by patenting the idea!

But instead so many authors seem to reveal theirsecrets in poorly written self-help books and spend

their time extolling the virtues of their work on anyTV show that will have them, like a used car sales-man trying to unload the last Daewoo on their lot!Lately, Tonya Reiman has been in serious used

car salesman mode with her new book, The Yes

Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean The Secrets of Persuasive Communication. Tonya

claims to reveal secrets of persuasive communica-tion, which, of course, have already been revealedby more serious researchers and writers in betterwritten books with less consumer packaging and

hype (see Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and Wil-liam Ury).

Take, for example, her stunning revelation that by

reading this book you learn something that you

already knew, but you didnt know why you knewit huh?

Or Practice one new thing each day the rstday, practice making eye contactthe second daypractice smiling the third day listen to how you

sound.

Our advice: practice avoiding purchasing this book(except possibly for beach reading). If Tonya Rei-

man is seeking the Nobel Prize for this one she willneed to be a little more persuasive in her communi-

cation.

I was asked recently by a friend to explain thedifference between a vision statement, a missionstatement, and a values statement. I must confess

that I struggled to answer the question as manyorganizations seem to use these terms inter-changeably. Then my parochial school educationkicked in I had heard a lot about people with a

mission when at Catholic school they called themMissionaries. So what was their mission? It couldbe described as to carry out the Vision of Jesus

and to do this in accordance with the values heepoused.

So a visionary describes a future state and pro-

vides us with a picture of what needs to be created.

In a similar way an organizations vision is all aboutwhat is possible about potential and what the fu-

ture looks like.The mission, on the other hand, de-scribes what it takes to make the vision come true.The Mission Statement turns the vision into practiceand describes the work that needs to be done to

achieve the vision. The Values Statement describesthe guiding principles as to how the mission andvision should be achieved.Take for example CocaColas Vision, Mission and Values Statements.

Coca Colas Vision can be summarized as: Be a

great place to work, bring great beverage productsto the world, nurture customers and suppliers, be

responsible citizens, maximize shareholder return,and be lean and fast moving While their Mission isTo refresh the world, to inspire moments of opti-mism and happiness, to create value and make a

difference.

So if Coca Cola carries out its mission effectivelythey will have a great shot of achieving their vision.

Cokes Values Statement describes how they willachieve all this through: Leadership, collaboration,

integrity, accountability, passion, diversity, and qual-ity.

Making a distinction between a Visionary and aMissionary and spelling out the critical guiding

values seemed to help my friend clarify what heneeded to do to write his own vision, mission, andvalues statements for his organization. I am eagerto see the results of his labors.


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Career Development Tips

What are the Top 5 Reasons PeopleQuit Their Jobs?

3 Tips for Being the Best Boss YouCan Be!What makes a great boss? It is something to dowith personal likability, gaining respect from people,and getting results! Does it have anything to do

with their leadership style or methods of discipliningemployees? Well, it has a little something to do withall of them. Here are three tips for being the bestboss you can be:

1. Take responsibility, but share praise. take theresponsibility for the problem, and not pass on the

blame to subordinates (unless really warranted and in that case it may involve disciplinary action).When things go well however, share the praise andcelebrate success.

2. Praise publicly, reprimand in private. A charac-teristic of a good boss is that s/he does not humili-

ate his employees and subordinates in public. Ifsomeone does a bad job, talk about it in private,and let the person justify himself, or at least apolo-gize. Reprimand him/her in private, and not in view

of his colleagues, and keep these discussionsbehind closed doors. But when you praise an em-ployee for exceptional work, do it in public, so thathe might serve as an inspiration to his co-workers.

3. Establish personal relationships, but maintainprofessional distance. Ofce politics and gossip

are usually problems in the workplace, and beingthe boss, you should not involve yourself. Establishpersonal rapport with your employees and get toknow them personally but maintain some level of

distance. You are the boss, after all, and you shouldbe able to earn their respect by showing them thatyou do not grumble, bicker, or gossip (at least not inpublic).

A recent survey* asked 1,308 people why they lefttheir jobs in the last year. And the winners are:

1. Downsizing or restructuring (54%)2. Sought new challenges or opportunities (30%)3. Ineffective leadership (25%)4. Poor relationship with manager (22%)

5. To improve work/life balance (21%)

It used to be that a poor relationship with your

supervisor was the No. 1 reason, but these dayspeople are more likely to leave because of a layoff.That being said however, the bad-boss reasonsineffective leadership and poor relationship with

managerare still near the top.

As the economic recovery continues, there is no

doubt that poor supervision will return as the num-ber one reason for employee dissatisfaction andexiting. Maybe its time to get those supervisorstrained up now before your most talented employ-

ees jump ship for greener pastures!

*Write Management Consultants, Published in HRMagazine. Totals add to more than 100% as more

than one reason given.


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Ben NashEditor-in-Chief

Kevin Nash, Ph.D.Contributing Editor

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providing Human Resource and OrganizationalDevelopment professionals with tips, advice, news,monthly features, video, games and more! On Dai-lyHRTips.com you will nd information on Human

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Studying History and PoliticalScience while at university and

spending his professional careerin the Internet marketing / e-commerce eld, perhaps makesBen Nash an unlikely candidate

to be Editor-in-Chief of a blog focused on Human

Resource Management. However, after readingbooks such as Good to Great, Outliers, Talent isOverrated, and Good Business, he became fas-cinated by how organizations operate and with

what makes a good leader. Having a father as anOrganizational Psychologist helped spur his curi-osity in Organizational Development and HumanResources and led to the creation of DailyHRTips.

com in 2009. Combining his knowledge of Internetmarketing and design with his fathers profoundknowledge of Human Resource Management and

Organizational Development, Ben plans to makeDailyHRTips.com the biggest and best HR dedi-cated blog on the web.

Kevin Nash is an Industrial /Organizational Psychologist and

management consultant special-izing in organizational develop-ment, employee development,and human capital manage-

ment. Kevin has held senior management positions

with global corporations in Marketing and HumanResources, and has worked as a management con-sultant for clients in Europe, Africa, and the USA.His consulting assignments have includ coaching

executives and management teams, designing andimplementing management training / developmentprograms, and designing succession planning andperformance management processes for large and

medium sized companies. When Kevin isnt con-tributing to DailyHRTips.com he manages AspenOrganization Development Consulting, where he is

the president and founder.

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