Know where you are going

This sounds obvious, but many businesses do not have a clear view of what they are trying to be. Do you want to be a premium service to a small number of customers or a mass market option? What is your aspiration in terms of growth – if you want to double the size of your business, you have far more chance of doing it if you set out on that route.

Really understand your business drivers

What are the real costs of the business and what really makes a difference. If you know the one or two things that make the most difference to your business model you have some chance of making a difference.

Prioritise ruthlessly

Once you know what the key drivers are, prioritise ruthlessly to make sure you are driving towards improvements in those areas. Stop doing the nice to do stuff and doing things that seemed like a good idea 6 months ago. Prioritising needs to be done all the time – and if you are not sure get someone with an external perspective to help you work out what is important.

Build capability

Corporate businesses are full of senior managers who have got to their position by being good at their job, not by developing other people to do theirs. If you haven’t got the right talent around you go and get it – and then focus everything you can on building their skills and capability. One person can never do it all, no matter how good they are.

Plan rigorously

I see businesses all the time who know what they want to do but do not have a plan to make it happen. It may sound dull and boring and even feel tactical, but planning well can save you a huge amount of time and lots of wasted money and resources.

Take small steps

Sometimes when you’ve done all that, it can still seem daunting. Just start taking small steps. You’ll be surprised how actions speak louder than words and people will soon see what you are trying to do – once you take those first few steps.

The benefits of using software applications for different business concern are making operations easy and more efficient while results and outputs are excellent. Software driven businesses have numerous advantages that give them a good edge over those that are not dependent on it.

Among the numerous benefits of software driven business are:
1. Timeliness of Operation: there is no need of wasting precious time that could be used for other tasks in a business on just one thing. Software application in planning, execution, monitoring etc helps to get work done at limited time frame. It should be noted that production/service provision in real time is the soul of any business. This is because the patronage of over 80% of customers is hinged on timely execution of orders in supply and other services.

2. High quality output: when work is done with software tools, there is always a high quality output. This is because of the precision and accuracy associated with most of the software applications. This singular advantage has the ability to turnaround the fortune of entrepreneurs since quality drives success. The quality of the services that businesses that use software packages depend on the quality of the software. If software was properly designed by seasoned professionals and has high level of precision, the result got from such packages is always fantastic. This is why business management, design and production software that will be used by firms should be such with high degree of accuracy if a good result is expected in the output. It should be noted that high precision software packages that are not maintained regularly will not be able to function creditably hence the need for regular “compute system error scan checks” and software upgrade.

3. Reduced manpower cost: this is not new to most entrepreneurs. If you are fully automated, your manpower utilization will be small. If you have limited manpower, it will be easy to manage the overall business activities. The cost of running the business will equally be reduced. This is because the software will carry out more functions than what man will do.

4. Execution of Complex operations: when proper models are developed with appropriate software, complex and cumbersome tasks can be performed with much ease. This helps to rule out the impossibilities with men in creating certain designs. Utilizing software for production management makes it easy for the creation of masterpiece designs and products at short duration and costs.

5. Multiple tasks execution: Most software packages are hydra-headed in operations. They can be utilized to carryout numerous tasks at the same time or independently. This only takes the software operator to set out the necessary profiles or templates and issue few commands that will bring about complete execution of laborious and complex tasks at small time intervals.

If truly that necessity is a mother of invention as it is popularly said, then those experts who was the need of software and then designed them (and are still designing numerous software packages) to aid our businesses are worthy of double honour because their innovative ideas have put many businesses on the flight of success.

In my own opinion, I think that you should earnestly seek for relevant software packages that will make meaningful difference in your business today if you are not using one already. If you are using a software that has not enabled you to have a foretaste of real progress in business then you will need to make a change. Remember that if you must be successful, you will not be slothful.

The principles on which coaching operates include mutual respect, a personalised approach and commitment from both parties. Just as the business owner must respect the coach, so the coach must respect the owner of the business. The respectful environment permits the free exchange of ideas and frank communication. Taking a personalised approach means that the coach must adapt the coaching to meet the real needs of the person being coached, taking account of their present life circumstances as a whole.

Coaching is not a one-size-fits-all application, but an intervention to move the person being coached towards their goal, from whatever place or point they are currently at. Commitment to the process requires that the coach and business owner give priority to coaching by scheduling time for it, carrying out any preparation required and executing follow-up activities post-event.

While both persons involved must adhere to the principles, it is the coach who should take a leadership role in terms of negotiating and agreeing the ground-rules which will underpin a successful intervention. It is also the responsibility of the coach to monitor the process and schedule a discussion on any unforeseen hindrances as soon as these arise. For example, if a business owner fails to attend for a coaching session, this needs to be raised as an issue by the coach.

Research indicates that people learn in different ways. Some learn through reading, some through hearing, some through experiencing. A coach with a variety of ways of delivering training will be most likely to be successful in transmitting learning to the business owner.

Ultimately what a business owner wants from coaching is increased personal performance that makes a bottom line improvement to their business.. Regardless of business sector or the topic of the coaching, which could cover any or all business topics, the business owner wants to be empowered to achieve better results.

The traits which make for a great coach are those which you may remember of your favourite teacher: challenging but kind, disciplined but adaptable, knowledgeable but without arrogance, simply wishing to transmit their knowledge so that you can use it effectively for your business.

Being responsible for managing the process of coaching, the coach needs to address the coaching in a systematic way. This means discerning what the business owner really needs, documenting a plan with measurable targets and time-lines, and monitoring progress as the coaching is underway. It should be clear from the monitoring that the coaching is delivering results. It is important to document the process; even the recording of progress can act as an incentive to better performance.

A system which measures the same criteria mentioned in the position description, will help to provide a fair and equitable measurement method. The performance appraisal should include a self-appraisal, action plan and learning development plan. The following procedure will assist managers to confidently perform an effective performance review and help develop their employees and business.

1. Gather appraisal information
- Recall regular performance review outcomes
- Obtain job description
- Gather information from action/development plan
- Identify Key Result Areas and Competencies to measure
- Modify appraisal forms to include what is measured

2. Complete the forms
- Team member to complete all self appraisal forms
- Rate Key Result Areas and Critical Competencies
- Manager to complete all appraisal forms
- Manager to determine overall performance rating
- Complete action and development plan

3. Conduct appraisal interview
- Set date, time and venue with no interruptions
- Encourage open and honest discussion
- Have team member talk about their self appraisal
- Give specific feedback
- Discuss Key Result Area feedback with team member
- Discuss Critical Competencies with team member
- Discuss achievements/development opportunities
- Finalise, distribute and gain commitment
- Review job description for next periods appraisal

4. Follow up meeting
- Check outcomes since performance appraisal
- Check progress of learning and development plan
- Identify commitment of team member to improve
- Take appropriate action

Businesses that see performance appraisals as a strategic method to develop employees, benefit because the added competence further develops the organisations capability, competitiveness and sustainability.

Being well prepared will help ensure its success, remembering if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

David McGillivray is a Human Resource Management consultant with over 20 years of management experience in small, medium and large organisations. He has considerable knowledge in strategic, operational and compliance HRM.

In 2002 David established Successful Business Strategies and is enjoying guiding company owners, managers and employees to excellent results. David contributes a wealth of knowledge that helps to align an organisation’s vision and systems with its people, so that each is working toward the same objectives.

In order to improve your business results you will need to improve the performance of your key people. That means a certain amount of targeted training. But, training them to do what, specifically? The development aims for your managers should be to develop them all to be better able to:

1. Set goals and achieve targets consistent with the company’s vision.
2. Set, demonstrate and maintain high personal standards
3. Communicate with accuracy and clarity
4. Plan ahead to PREVENT problems developing
5. Make accurate decisions based on a logical assessment of the facts, ( not gut- feel-guesses)
6. Handle conflict with unhappy customers and suppliers
7. Handle conflict within the team
8. Handle “poor performance” issues
9. Develop self motivation and self confidence
10. Develop high a degree of motivation and confidence in others

Let’s investigate, a little, each one of the above.

1 Set goals and achieve targets consistent with the company’s vision.
Your company has a long range strategy- it’s VISION for the future. In order to achieve that vision, your managers need to break it down into a series of smaller, tighter short range goals. Failure to reduce visions into tangible goals will render the Grand Vision, an unrealizable fantasy.

2 Set, demonstrate and maintain high personal standards
In order to achieve goals, the manager has to set, maintain good standards. And the best way to do that is to be a role model for all the standards required. He (she) should be a living example of the standards expected. Failure to do so will render the management useless because they will not be respected.

3 Communicate with accuracy and clarity
Having a goal is only the first step: the manager must be able to explain WHAT the goal is and WHY it is important. Any ambiguity in the explanation will cause:

Misunderstandings
Errors
Confusion

Therefore, accurate language in both the written and spoken form is essential.

4 Plan ahead to PREVENT problems developing
All goals require a good plan. A goal without a practical plan for its attainment is worthless. Many people don’t plan: they say “I can’t plan here: it is too chaotic!” I say “It is chaotic because you are not operating to a plan”. Your managers must be able to plan ahead to avoid problems next month; next year. Failure to plan will be the cause of panic.

5 Make accurate decisions based on a logical assessment of the facts, ( not, gut- feel-guesses)

Indecision or poor decisions will cost your organization time and money. The reason that some people avoid decisions is because they are afraid of making a wrong decision: And the reason for that is: some do not know HOW to make LOGICAL decisions.

Failure to understand the principles of logic will render the person indecisive and nervous; too slow to react and too reliant on gut feel to make a good decision. Your team should know the laws of logical decision making.

6 Handle conflict with unhappy customers
Not all your customers are happy, all the time. Some are annoyed. So, you need to be able to handle complaints

Quickly
Fairly and
Without too much fuss.

Failure to respond to complaints quickly will cost you more time, money and a loss of reputation. Your managers need to know how to handle complaints.

7 Handle conflict within the team

Conflict can occur within the team: issues of character clashes: they must be handled by the manager;

Properly
According to named principles

Failure to manage conflict will render your team less effective than it might be, because they will spend too much time squabbling amongst themselves instead of providing value to your customers.

8 Your managers need to know how to handle performance issues.

Sometimes people do not do what they should do. And they do some things that they know they should NOT. Your management teams need to know how to tackle poor performance. They cannot ignore it. They cannot go in, with all guns blazing.

They must handle performance issues carefully and according to named principles:

9 Develop self motivation and self confidence
Team leaders and managers are often under immense pressure at work. Consequently some become de motivated, and depressed. They need to know how to stay emotionally strong during tough times. This is mental toughness and durability and can be learned. Failure to learn how to handle pressure and stress will cause the manager to fall ill or lose motivation and drive.

10 Develop a high degree of motivation and confidence in others
Even if the manager can self motivate, he (she) must be able to inspire positive emotions in others. The team is affected by:

The goal
The environment
Their knowledge
How they feel

If they feel dis-spirited, they will not perform well. Therefore the leader must have the ability to lift the spirits of the others in the team.

Summary
In order to improve performance what, specifically, do your leaders need to be able to do? They need to develop the ten skills listed above and put the skills into practice as a daily habit pattern of thought and action.

The basic elements of corporate performance management are providing information and strategy planning. CPM can provide the core decision makers direct access to required information. With a clear understanding of the facts of the business, informed decisions can be taken for boosting the performance. Performance oversight signifies an overall view of the business details. CPM provides the required performance oversight to the management which helps in optimizing the business. Performance effectiveness helps business executives as well as decision makers to set clear goals and work towards achieving them. CPM assures the necessary performance effectiveness.

Corporate performance management system combines the management process in a single, interactive and collaborative work space. Scorecards and reports can improve finance, operations and workforce. Web based collaboration and distribution capabilities improve the communication process. Corporate performance management system can reduce planning, forecasting and reporting time through data capture and analysis. It integrates business strategies, business measures and business actions.

Corporate performance management provides accurate financial information about the day-to-day activities of people, equipment and process. It can develop comprehensive plans and customized reports. It helps the organization to maintain profitable inbound and outbound relationship with the customers. CPM can reduce problems associated with reporting financial and operational data.

Corporate performance management finds use in the pharmaceutical and health science sectors. It can be used for clinical performance management and product demand forecasting. In the financial sector, CPM is applied in mortgage banking, incurrence claims and risk reporting. Corporate performance management is important in manufacturing areas. It is important in supply chain planning and manufacturing performance management. CPM application is important in aerospace and defense management. Other important CPM areas are retail performance management, vendor management, police performance management and the public sector.

SHRM or Strategic human resource management is a branch of Human resource management or HRM. It is a fairly new field, which has emerged out of the parent discipline of human resource management. Much of the early or so called traditional HRM literature treated the notion of strategy superficially, rather as a purely operational matter, the results of which cascade down throughout the organisation. There was a kind of unsaid division of territory between people-centred values of HR and harder business values where corporate strategies really belonged. HR practitioners felt uncomfortable in the war cabinet like atmosphere where corporate strategies were formulated.

Definition of SHRM

Strategic human resource management can be defined as the linking of human resources with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility and competitive advantage. In an organisation SHRM means accepting and involving the HR function as a strategic partner in the formulation and implementation of the company’s strategies through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel.

How SHRM differs from HRM

In the last two decades there has been an increasing awareness that HR functions were like an island unto itself with softer people-centred values far away from the hard world of real business. In order to justify its own existence HR functions had to be seen as more intimately connected with the strategy and day to day running of the business side of the enterprise. Many writers in the late 1980s, started clamoring for a more strategic approach to the management of people than the standard practices of traditional management of people or industrial relations models. Strategic human resource management focuses on human resource programs with long-term objectives. Instead of focusing on internal human resource issues, the focus is on addressing and solving problems that effect people management programs in the long run and often globally. Therefore the primary goal of strategic human resources is to increase employee productivity by focusing on business obstacles that occur outside of human resources. The primary actions of a strategic human resource manager are to identify key HR areas where strategies can be implemented in the long run to improve the overall employee motivation and productivity. Communication between HR and top management of the company is vital as without active participation no cooperation is possible.

Key Features of Strategic Human Resource Management

The key features of SHRM are

There is an explicit linkage between HR policy and practices and overall organizational strategic aims and the organizational environment
There is some organizing schema linking individual HR interventions so that they are mutually supportive
Much of the responsibility for the management of human resources is devolved down the line

Trends in Strategic Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management professionals are increasingly faced with the issues of employee participation, human resource flow, performance management, reward systems and high commitment work systems in the context of globalization. Older solutions and recipes that worked in a local context do not work in an international context. Cross-cultural issues play a major role here. These are some of the major issues that HR professionals and top management involved in SHRM are grappling with in the first decade of the 21st century:

Internationalization of market integration.
Increased competition, which may not be local or even national through free market ideology
Rapid technological change.
New concepts of line and general management.
Constantly changing ownership and resultant corporate climates.
Cross-cultural issues
The economic gravity shifting from ‘developed’ to ‘developing’ countries

SHRM also reflects some of the main contemporary challenges faced by Human Resource Management: Aligning HR with core business strategy, demographic trends on employment and the labour market, integrating soft skills in HRD and finally Knowledge Management.

References

Armstrong, M (ed.) 192a) Strategies for Human Resource Management: A Total Business Approach. London:Kogan Page
Beer, M and Spector,B (eds) (1985) Readings in Human Resource Management. New York: Free Press
Boxall, P (1992) ‘Strategic Human Resource Management: Beginnings of a New Theoretical Sophistication?’ Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.2 No.3 Spring.
Fombrun, C.J., Tichy, N,M, and Devanna, M.A. (1984) Strategic Human Resource Management. New York:Wiley
Mintzberg, H, Quinn, J B, Ghoshal, S (198) The Strategy Process, Prentice Hall.
Truss, C and Gratton, L (1994) ‘Strategic H

What are ‘performance objectives’?

P.O’s are simple written descriptions of what good performance in the job looks like; performance related to the ‘what’ of the job – the quantity, quality and time elements – and to the ‘how’ of the job – the behaviours. The purpose of P.O’s is to ensure that your employees know exactly what they need to do in order for your organisation to meet its goals. P.O’s clearly define what good performance looks like for the employee’s job. The idea is that once you and your employee have agreed what good performance looks like, using P.O’s, then they will meet those objectives. You will, of course, be monitoring and measuring their performance against the objectives, and giving feedback, to ensure that they are meeting those objectives

Why are performance objectives so important?
Research shows that;

Having clear objectives with effective measures improves performance by over 30%. What difference would 10, 20 or even 30% improvement in performance make to your results, your team, your business?
Teams who say that they know what was expected of them are found to be both more productive, more profitable and had higher satisfaction ratings than those who didn’t. P.O’s are the easiest way to help your employees understand what is expected of them
Employees who say they lack any real commitment to their job give one of the key reasons for that lack of commitment as not knowing what was expected of them.

In short, performance objectives improve performance. The performance of the employee and performance of the business. They also improve employee motivation and job satisfaction. And there’s more…

And what about you as the manager?

A couple of key points:

If you get clear with your employees on what you want from them, you’ll get more from your employees of what you need from them. Many business owners and managers seem to think that their employees should just know what they need to do, what’s expected of them. Well maybe they should, but often they don’t
Your employees can’t give you what they don’t know what you want. So much of the frustration I see and hear from employees sounds something like ‘I just want to know what my boss wants from me. Why doesn’t she just tell me?’
When you agree performance objectives with your employees you put in place the ‘foundation stone’ of effective employee management. How can you give your employees the feedback they want and need (and which they tell us they want a lot more of) unless you have objectives? What else would you be giving feedback on if not the employee’s performance against objectives?

Every creative designer has tools at his disposal to shape the world of work – nature, artificial material, furniture and more. The work place is where most people spend a huge portion of their waking moments. So it is but natural to expect that place to be energizing and inspiring too. It has been proven that a good office interior design can actually increase productivity by leaps and bounds. Employees who are happy produce better quality work at a faster pace. A working area that has been ergonomically designed allows people to work without fatigue and pain for longer durations – this obviously has a positive impact on their morale and productivity. A good professionally designed office projects a good image about your company to your customers.

Now that we know how important office design is to the optimal functioning of a business, let us take a look at how to achieve a good one. First is to list out your needs and budget. Next is to hire the services of a professional interior designer if your budget permits it. Choosing a design, styles and layout are the next steps. Marking a focal point at various areas like a conference room or CEO’s suite etc is a technique that can be used to create a particular, calculated impression in the eyes of the beholder.

The Value of Motivated Employees

Too often, employees are viewed as faceless assets. They are put in the same category as computers and copy machines, treated as interchangeable cogs in the corporate machine. This happens despite countless studies showing that making employees feel valued and important improves business performance.

Motivated employees perform better. They don’t just occupy a desk and function at minimal levels. They take pride in their performance work faster and better. Organizations see a drop in absenteeism when workers enjoy coming into the office. Fewer employees are motivated to seek greener pastures thus the company loses less time to training new hires.

Business owners sometimes lose sight of the fact their own motivation is not always passed onto the employees. People start businesses they are passionate about but they need to remember their workers may not share that passion. They need to find ways to provide motivation and tie it to business performance.

Extrinsic Employee Motivation

One type of motivation is extrinsic, incentive that comes from outside a person. In the business world this is typically driven by employer incentives. Employees are rewarded by improved business performance.

Don’t simply accept good work. Recognize and reward it. Managers tend to expect perfection and draw attention only to thing workers do wrong, however negative reinforcement has been shown to be an ineffective personnel technique. Workers simply leave for a company that provides a positive working environment. Instead of focusing on problems, draw attention to positive work and exceptional performance.

Recognition should be immediate and directly tied to an employee action that improved business performance. Offer employees a choice of incentives. Although most companies offer cash bonuses, studies have shown that rewards such as extra time off or a premium parking space can be more effective.

Intrinsic Employee Motivation

The other type of motivation important to business performance is intrinsic and comes from within the employee. The organization can work to cultivate the attitude but in the end it incentive comes from the worker.

People like to be part of something positive. Have a strong mission statement and make sure it isn’t just words on paper. Practice what you preach. Employees see through empty statements but are impressed when a company backs up its beliefs with action. When your staff feels like they are involved in something great, whether it’s a service to the public or simply a terrific product on the store shelves, they create their own motivation.