Tag Archives: Human Resource Policy

Setting Expectations

Conversations with a Consultant, People, , ,

 

Create a Habit of Setting Expectations

Arguably the most important trait of a leader is their ability to set clear expectations. It doesn’t matter if you are managing hundreds, thousands or just your self.  Setting expectations not only involves Vision to imagine a direction, but also includes a method and habit of clear communication. Our ability to set Expectations is responsible for what we accomplish, how we are viewed, and if others choose to follow us.  Expectation setting is critical when developing your “Personal Brand” or “Corporate Brand”.  It is important when you start out and imperative for you to grow.  It is literally where Vision and Communication intersect.  They are that important.

Like many of the things discussed in our blog, Expectation setting is not only a skill but it also needs to be a habit.  The deeper this is ingrained in someone, the more “natural” of a leader they appear.  Further more, instilling this skill/habit in your staff may be the single greatest thing you can do to build your organizations ability to generate revenue!

So many I have mentored have one of the two elements of this habit.  Many people have natural abilities to either envision how things need to happen to achieve “Success” or have a gift for communicating it, getting people to practice both elements simultaneously takes time and dedicated effort but is well worth it.

Establishing this habit will act as a catalyst for your team.  If you have been looking for something to kick start your group, you may have just found it! Supervisors or Managers that develop good leadership styles and habits have much higher productivity rates and lower attrition.  Managers don’t have to be leaders, they only need to hold people accountable and make sure the widgets get made (whatever your “widget” happens to be).  Leaders don’t have to be Managers.  Leaders are found in every position, at every age and skill level.  Leadership is a skill set that can be developed and enhanced, but they are also inherent and linked to ones personal value system.  Seldom do I find organizations value their internal leaders or even recognize them to a great extent.  Management is expected to be the leadership and the two are often confused.  Yet when an organization champions this leadership habit great things can happen.

Case study-

I have had a career of working with great leaders in their field and it was Lloyd Hill who told me personally that the key to Leadership in his organization was “the ability to set clear expectations”.  Mr Hill knew that employees WANT to contribute to their corporate environment and corporate health and that giving them the tools to do so would pay off in spades for any company that could assume this as a culture.

So what did he do?

He gathered a team to create the greatest recruitment, on-boarding and training tools (and teams)in his industry.  He created systems that allowed his Operational management teams the TIME needed to Train, Instill, and held accountable the employees to the expectations set through Training/On-boarding.  When I worked for him, I literally HIRED and FIRED by the Company Core Values(Expectations).  Performance is important, but is much easier to manage a group by broader expectations setting (clearly performance IS one of the expectations, but not the only one).  Managing this way creates the best outcomes for all involved.

When performance is the only expectation, culture suffers

When culture suffers you find increased turnover, higher costs and jeopardized loyalties (Customer and Employee). But put the right PEOPLE in the system and set the expectations and you are much less likely to have to Fire them!  This was NOT what most of that industry was doing at the time(early -mid 90’s).  I left that company 20 years ago and I can still name their Core Values!

Huge Results!

When I joined the company they were an “up and coming chain” they had about 500 Restaurants Nationwide, but when I left the company just 4 years later they had nearly 1400 Franchised Restaurants Internationally and were dominating their field.  Applebee’s International (A.I.I.) was forging new ground and everybody wanted to be a part of it.  I trained teams that went to Germany, Holland, Russia and Mexico to help establish this brand and it ALL came down to Setting Clear Expectations!

 

3 Keys to Setting Expectations

1.  Decide which is the most important thing to expect
  1. This starts with Business analysis– know your business, know your industry, determine difference and direction
  2. Utilize Strategic Planning to set direction
  3. Surround yourself with the right people to contribute and execute
  4. Knowing what went right (avoid over focusing on mistakes and repeat successes)

 

2.  Look for important “Opportunities” to Communicate these expectations
  1. Internal Communications – Not just in a drink the Kool-aid meeting, insure a consistently delivered message at all levels.  Repetition, written, branding(internal marketing) “Walk the Talk”
  2. Employee interactions – Interview, orientation, Training, reinforce daily (High fives) Employee group meetings, 1:1, terminations.
  3. External Communications – Corporate Marketing,  Social Media, & Advertising

 

3.  Understanding challenges in today’s work environment
  1. Location, location, location– Which is becoming more difficult with today’s changing workplace. Decentralizing posses a particular threat for modern leaders(more on that later)
    Employees thrive in situations of clear cut, well defined expectations of outcomes, behaviors, and processes.
  2. The right people – Unseasoned Management, unaligned management and selfish management will dissolve the expectation
  3. Reputation – media – bad corporations/companies are “greedy”, YELP reviews – culture shifts quickly now and your employees have a lot of outside influences
  4. TIME to do this!   Dedicated time to communication

 

I am sure you see the motif here, to set clear expectations there needs to be a plan, a communication plan, time and accountability for the actions that people choose once they have a clear understanding of what the expectation IS.  

Tip – Always question if an employee understood the Expectation before reacting to their actions.

 

If an individual is not meeting your expectations the root cause may be that;

  1. Your message didn’t make it to this person – check training/orientation
  2. The individual understands what is wanted and chooses not to follow
               (see our Progressive Discipline blog)

If multiple people are not meeting the expectations the root cause may be that;

  1. What you communicated wasn’t clear or achievable (Vision)
  2. Your team didn’t communicate well to their team (Grapevine)
  3. People don’t agree with the message (Culture)

Back to the drawing board!

              (see our Leadership Training Seminars)

In today’s business environment it is easy to assume because you said it, people are doing it. Right?  Your the boss, you say it and they do it!

It is important to understand the difference between ad-hoc and planned communicating. Planned communicating doesn’t need to be scripted but there should be at minimum a list of discussion points to insure all have been covered.  How many times have you said “I thought I told you that”!…??  Avoid miscommunication by writing key points ahead of time and sharing those lists with the listener, they will let you know if a point is skipped. While this may seem rudimentary it WILL insure everything gets said.  Doing this at an organizational level results in increased efficiency and effectiveness which all has a significant effect on your businesses ability to generate revenue.

Carpe diem!

 

Maximizing Millennial engagement

Conversations with a Consultant, Marketing, Operations, People, , , ,

Statistically the Millennial/Gen Y’s are the most diverse and the most socially aware generation yet.  If you sell a product or employee more than a few people, you need to have a strategy on how to communicate and engage this growing population.  Doing this correctly will amplify your message, value and ability to generate revenue significantly.

In 2014, 36% of the workforce was comprised of Millennial’s (born 1976-2001) and by 2020 46% of the workforce will be.  A majority of these 80 million adults are in the workforce today.  Of them 64% are reported to ask about social policies of a company during interviews and 24% indicate it as a key factor when accepting a job.

Businesses who adapt messaging, management practices and policy the earliest may win the loyalty of this critical group.  Loyalty translates into engagement and retention, and is a great motivator.  In my personal experience, this is the most savvy and hardest working generation that I have managed.  In my 25 years of management I have managed boomers, Gen X, Y /Millenials and each clearly have different values and goals.  Building a program around a workforce’s values and goals so they feel as though they are contributing may be the best motivator.  Read a case study

Synergy seldom happens through “old school” management. 

The common denominator for attracting this group as followers is through the corporate leadership strategy.  One thing needed is that a Millenial generally needs to feel comfortable that a company is adding to society in some way.  This is vital for recruiting and this workforce may be the most productive group to date, so some companies need to rethink the benefits they offer.  The Benefits program is where the money comes from for many companies that offer the types of programs that attract this workforce.  The trend to decrease company match in 401K’s by a point or two, decreasing vacation or sick days, even eliminating cafeterias in the building frees up finances to point towards newer benefits that are more valuable to this generations.  Benefits exist to attract workforce, they(benefits)are an added value to working for a particular company.

How to attract or engage this group? – Learn from Disney

Walt Disney was not exactly known for taking care of his employee’s.  Early strikes from artists nearly shut down his studio.  Yet, he taught us the key to managing the millennial population…….

In the mid to late 1980’s the restaurant industry saw how important it was to not only serve food quickly to their guests but they realized the value of creating an “experience” for there patrons.  Theme restaurants boomed and dominated the industry.  This started with Ground Round and TGI Frdays but was perfected by Applebee’s.  Applebee’s International grew to over 1400 restaurants worldwide in record time and they did it by creating an “experience” the diner was comfortable with.  When the kids say “lets go to Applebee’s”, parents generally didn’t argue.  This was all inspired by the “experience” the guest received when going to a Disney theme park.  Roy Disney understood the importance of creating an escape and what a lasting impression it made.  If you focus efforts on executing the “experience”, loyalty will follow.

After Lloyd Hill popularized the “customer experience” motif with Applebee’s, the Healthcare industry was next.  To this day most hospitals place a great emphasis on the “Patient Experience”.  There have been departments created around tracking it with surveys, hour upon hour of staff training, and the bed side visit has been completely re-scripted, and it has all worked!  Studies show that hospitals that create the best overall “experience” for the patient have less open beds than those that don’t and they have a greater number of Outpatient procedures booked while also enjoying a much lower cancellation rate.  When the healthcare industry shifted it focus to the “experience” of their guests, it increased loyalty.

Many businesses need to start focusing on what I call the “Employee experience”  and go to lengths to include it as part of the culture.  Millenials grew up knowing this environment as the norm.  Everywhere they went someone was competing for them to have the best experience, so why should work be any different?  Focusing your company on the “employee experience” will increase engagement, productivity and satisfaction and isn’t that what you want?  One of the Core Values of Applebee’s was “Fun”.  That’s not only cool, I guarantee it works by building employee loyalty.

Whether you are looking to recruit or promote sales; here are                          5 tips to engage this group and start creating a successful         “Experience”
  1. Speak to a flexible workplace, environment and culture
  2. Demonstrate dedication to career growth through support, feedback and goal setting
  3. Boast a culture of collaboration
  4. Design opportunities to contribute to society both as individuals and as a corporate structure
  5. Competitive Compensation structure

 

Bonus – #3 is worth repeating, it is that important – Promote a climate of leadership and development, this group doesn’t respond well to being managed and micromanaged.

In my experience Millenial/Gen Y’s are attracted to a company for what I mentioned in the first part of this blog, and choose to leave because of one or more of the bottom 5 points.  Incorporate those points into your culture, manage this group by results and mentor them so they succeed and you will be as amazed as I at how this will help your company build loyalty and generate the revenue you were hoping for.

 

Carpe diem!

Progressive Discipline – A great coaching tool

Conversations with a Consultant, People, , ,

The first role of a Leader is to effectively communicate.  A great leader will recognize the variety of ways they have to communicate.  Conversely, an employee wants to follow someone that knows where they are going.  Employees only want a few things out of a job, certainly pay and stability, but employees also want to contribute, they want to make sure they are doing a good job.  Training, Coaching and development tools are often used while Onboarding a new employee, but once that 90 day grace period is up how corrections are communicated are critical to developing each employee.

Many I have spoken with view the Progressive Discipline process as a means to an end.  “It’s how you fire someone, right?”  It is looked at a tool to document when employees have not performed, broken policy or exhibit unacceptable behavior.  While this is true, it does all that, the Progressive Discipline process is a much greater tool to both employees and management.

Progressive Discipline is a great coaching tool

The Progressive Discipline process dates back to the 1930’s and was instituted as a way for EMPLOYEES to know that a business would treat them fairly.  This is a policy that is designed to protect individuals from being treated differently than others with in that company and it holds all parties (both management & employees) accountable.  It is a process that forces a supervisor to be progressive with both coaching and accountability, thus improving leadership with in an organization.  A process that levels the playing field for employees because it assures them they are not being singled out and that everyone would be treated consistently.  Lastly, it is a process that should teach and hold all employees accountable for job performance, following company policy, and matters relating to company culture or work environment.

One problem is that employees generally first hear of this policy when they are in trouble.  It is referred to by the “boss” who says that “HR is making me do this, sign here”.  This is lazy management in my opinion.  I became notorious for conducting a very long employee orientation class wherever I have worked.  It is the best way to set expectations(but more on that another time).  I ALWAYS go into detail about the Progressive Discipline policy and that it is there for their protection, and I can tell you that people like hearing that.

What is Progressive Discipline?  – a quick overview

A Progressive Discipline policy exists in most companies and is usually found in the Human Resource Policy and Procedures.  It states that when employees exhibit certain actions or behaviors contrary to policy, regulations or municipal laws that the company will respond in a specific way.  Most occurrences fall under a “Progressive” category and most policy’s also list certain actions that could mean immediate discharge.  I like to refer to that section “the deadly sins” because most people understand that severe consequence are associated with it.

For the instances that fall under a progressive category, the policy outlines a course of action to take each one being more severe than the last, hence “progressive”.  This is for 2 reasons.  To guide the managers and to inform the employee of potential consequence.  The law is clear to state that the business needs to inform an employee of the consequence should they repeat that action.  Failing to do so will likely mean that you could lose in court if sued by the employee.  Losing in court can cost you a lot of money (and pride) and the court is generally on the side of the employee, so you better be prepared.  Here is a generally accepted hierarchy of the progressive steps taken.

First offense – Simple conversation, nothing for the employee to sign.  But a pointed conversation stating what was wrong and what will happen if it happens again.  Once you have done this, it is up to the employee to manage their own actions.

TIP – The manager should make notes to “record” this conversation.  You may have to prove down the road that you had this conversation and accurate notes are the accepted medium of proof.  Date and time should be included.

Second offense – Generally called a “Verbal Warning”.  This is the first official session.  You sit with the employee in a private location.  Make sure their privacy is secure and respected.  You reiterate that you spoke about this before (time & date), and that it happened again which is why you are speaking.  This time you will have something in writing speaking to the policy they broke if possible.  Again, you state what happened and what the next step will be if they repeat the action.

Third offense – Escalates to a “Written Warning”.  Same process, tell them what other times they were spoken to about this, that they did it again, and what will happen should it occur again.

In each of these instances do not scold the employee.  This is not emotional, it should be very matter of fact.  You did this, your not supposed to do that, if you do it again then this will happen.  Do you understand, thank you bye bye.  Raising your voice, using gestures or even looking angry can look bad in a court of law.  Be smart.

Each company’s policy may be different as to how many chances an employee will get prior to the last warning.  Smaller companies may terminate on second written warning, larger companies may wait until 3rd written warning and it may require a managers superior being involved.  This is for the employees protection.  It ensures that multiple people in the company are in agreement that it is a justified action.  It makes it more difficult for a manager to terminate an employee, thus creating more protection.

So why is this a good Coaching tool?
  1. This is designed to insure that an employee knows what is expected and gives ample time to correct the behavior in question.  During this time the supervisor should not be looking at this as discipline but as a corrective tool.  Perhaps it identifies where additional training is needed or makes them reassess job responsibilities and workloads.  The supervisor wants the employees to succeed in completing their tasks on time and is held accountable by their supervisor for doing so.  Clearly the supervisor should have a vested interest in making whatever happened not repeat.  This process helps clarify expectations to the employee and is a Leadership “best practice  “ It is really just an opportunity for training.
  2. Other employees are aware long before management that someone is not doing there job correctly.  They are upset by this because they work hard to meet the standards but this other person “gets away” with not doing the same.  Correcting that problem WILL be noticed by other employee’s, guaranteed.  Of course, you never tell the other employees that you wrote someone up, they notice because the problem went away.  This sends a message that all the rules/policies apply to all of the employees.
  3. Discussion of a particular policy (what ever you had to address) often leads to discussion of other policies.  The employee may come to you with questions on another policy or standard.  Welcome this, it is good discussion and will increase everyones awareness of policies.  Policies are the expectations of the company and discussing expectations is clear leadership.  Discussion leads to conformity, and conformity generally means employees are more productive.
  4. This process will create open communication in the workplace
  5. Open communication tends to decrease turnover
  6. If a team is properly Coached it tends to be more effiecient, which saves money
The Downside of the Progressive Discipline process
  1. Time demanding
  2. Must be consistently utilized throughout organization
  3. Easy for Managers to misuse
  4. Employees can “play” the system
  5. Needs an in-house examiner for escalations and approvals
  6. Can negatively affect Unemployment Insurance when not consistent
Advantages of the Progressive Discipline process
  1. Increases productivity
  2. Decreases turnover and avoids expensive replacement costs
  3. Lays the groundwork for defensible employee terminations by recording history
  4. Allows an accepted way for earlier intervention at first sign a problem is developing

Progressive Discipline is more of a mindset than a policy and it should be part of the culture in an organization.

CEO’s I work with are amazed at how many of their managers don’t know how to use this. It’s in the policy book and assumed to be used.  This is seldom even thought of until a problem erupts and then the policy is referred to like everyone uses it.  It needs to be developed into daily interactions rather than a way to rectify a problem employee in order to be effective.  Lastly, as with most of what I post, utilizing this tool effectively is directly related to your businesses ability to generate revenue.  It helps you get the most from your staff and is well worth the time investment needed.

Few other tools help you manage THE most important aspect of your business effectively as the Progressive Discipline policy.

 

When incorporated into a culture, it vastly improves accountability and believe me, everyone is watching.  Correction is part of training and development and is often a process.  If your organization can approach this as a tool that you can use to Coach your team better rather than a series of signatures needed prior to a termination you, your employees and the organization will be much better off.

 

This is a large topic yet I only touched on it here, you are welcome to contact me with any questions.

Carpe diem!