Moving Forward

Has your company begun a recovery plan that will distinguish itself from its competitors as the economy rebounds? Think about it, if you continue to stay in a recessionary mode when the economy recovers you will be left behind. So how do you begin this process from contraction and cost savings? Here are some helpful hints that should be driven by the HR leader:

• Make sure you have the right managers in place, match your talent to jobs needed in recovery, if not recruit them;
• Make sure your products are in line with your customers needs; survey your customers, gut check the competition, and blind test your products;
• Begin to change the cost savings environment to a more risk tolerant culture. You need a more risk agile company during recovery;
• Place more emphasis on your employees and what they need. Remember without them you HAVE NOTHING;
• Adjust budgets especially in the IT sector so your systems are easy and intuitive to your customers. Drive more revenue from the web;
• Place an HR person on your product management assessment team, use that person as if he/she were a customer.

So where are you in the recovery spectrum?

Innovation Needed Even In Recessions

NEW YORK - A theme is emerging from the flood of recent corporate earnings reports: Cost cuts are boosting profits. Investors are cheering, but they shouldn't. Even in these tough times, more CEOs should be talking about how they are seeking out investments, developing new technologies and making acquisitions.

That's what will set their companies up for a stronger future.

Intel Corp.'s former CEO Gordon Moore had it right when he said years ago that "you can't save your way out of a recession." He meant that even in the toughest times, companies have to spend money on new ideas.

"Customers don't come out of recessions spending the way they did before," said Chunka Mui, who has studied how companies can capitalize on opportunities during crises at his Chicago-based consulting firm, The Devil's Advocate Group. "They demand something different."

Surprisingly few companies are following Moore's advice of innovating during recessions.Companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index cut 25 percent on average from their capital expenditures expenses and 5 percent from research and development costs between the end of the third quarter last year and the second quarter this year, according to S&P.

Many have been crippled by the pullback in consumer and business spending as well as tight credit conditions, which is making it harder for companies to get loans to fund their operations. That's driven some to hoard cash and make drastic cost cuts. They're slashing jobs and wages and closing stores and factories.

"A downturn like this should force people's hand," he said.At Intel, Moore's philosophy has been used consistently since he led the chipmaker starting in the late 1970s. Over the years, the Santa Clara, Calif., company's top executives continue to openly discuss the company's strategy of investing heavily in downturns.

I expect your company has cut spending and limited its innovation process to save the bottom line correct? Is it prepared for the upturn?

This is an AP reprint

Virtualizing Human Resources

Have you migrated your HR group to "on-line" yet? What I mean is have you continued to build your HR information and content on the web or company intranet. So what does this really mean and what should or can go on-line:

• benefits information
• employee self-service data such as address changes
• payroll information and electronic deposit receipts instead of paper
• virtual meetings with managers and outliers/web conferencing
• regulatory and compliance information
• all-hands company meeting information
• new hire orientation

The future of HR is going to be more on-line and web related information and conferences rather than expensive paper intensive information, travel, and compliance reporting. I would suspect that most large companies have already done this but I am specifically targeting the middle to small organizations that really are in the backwater of HR technology.

Company Training & Development

Rather than post a survey on the site I thought I would ask one of the most important questions directly to my readers. How many dollars have you allocated in your 2009-2010 budget for training and development?

I am sure that in late 2007 and in the 2008-2009 budget you saw cuts in this area because it is always one of the first line items to go when the economy changes or the company numbers are not what they should be. But if you look at the many years where training has been cut you can also see a correlation in the turnover rate of your very best performers or your high potentials. If they do not see you investing in them they will seek out a company that will.

If you can't see this then you are blind to the issue of employee investment even in bad times. I have been an advocate of keeping T & D off limits during budget cuts. It has worked.

So, what has your company done in your current budgeting process? Send me your comments to wgstevens2@@gmail.com .

Retaliation Suits Are Up—But HR Can Prevent Them

Retaliation suits are the one type of EEOC suit that is increasing, and Attorney Judith A. Moldover says HR managers have an "incredible role" in sparing their organizations the expense those suits invariably bring—even if you "win" them.

Retaliation claims are very fact related, says Moldover, and that makes it especially important that someone with good judgment—like an HR manager—be there to guide management through the case.

They're Not Over 'Til They're Over

By the way, Moldover says, HR's role doesn't end when the case ends—you have to keep an eye on management as long as the employee who complained is employed.

Moldover's comments came at the recent Legal and Legislative Conference of HRNY, the New York City chapter of SHRM. Moldover is with the New York City office of law firm Ford & Harrison LLP.

What Rises to the Level of 'Materially Adverse Action'?

One of the keystones in a claim of retaliation is that the employee must have suffered a materially adverse action. As a result of the Burlington Northern case, Moldover says, we have a definition for retaliation: an action that would dissuade a reasonable employee from making or supporting a charge. Furthermore, the action need not be employment related.

In the Burlingtoncase, a supervisor constantly told a female worker, "Women shouldn't do this work." Then he started saying other things to her with sexual overtones. When she complained, the company investigated and punished the supervisor by giving him a 2-week suspension without pay and making him go to sexual harassment training.

So far so good, says Moldover. But then, the same day the complaining employee was told about how her complaint was resolved, she was taken off her relatively easy forklift job and given a much harder and more physical job. She didn't lose seniority, pay, or title, but the court did find that the action was adverse.

In another case, an HR manager who reported to top management made a complaint. Soon thereafter he lost all his staff, was moved to another area, and found himself reporting to a middle manager. His new boss said to him, "I don't know why they sent you to me. I don't have anything for you to do." As with Burlington, the manager kept his title and his pay, but the courts found that the action was an adverse action.

However, in another case, a company moved an employee who had complained about sexual harassment away from the harassing supervisor. The new location involved a slightly longer commute. This action was not found to be adverse, but in fact it was judged to be a reasonable response to the complaint.

Moldover offered the following examples of other potentially adverse actions:

• Giving a lower evaluation. Even if the evaluation is only lowered from "superb" to "excellent," it could be considered an adverse action, especially if pay or promotional opportunities are affected.
• Transferring to a less desirable position. Transferring a person to another position or office could be adverse, although as noted, in sexual harassment cases, a move may be the best thing to do.
• Ultimate employment actions. Naturally, when you take ultimate employment actions, such as firing, demoting, not giving a promotion, or imposing discipline, you are likely taking adverse action.
• Lowering benefits. Removing a significant benefit could also be considered an adverse action, Moldover says.

Counterclaims Could Be More Retaliation

When an employee files a charge or complains about a manager, the manager's response is often, "I'm going to sue for defamation!"

You probably don't want to do that, says Moldover. First of all, that case is going to be hard to win, and it's going to take resources and engender bad publicity. And if that's not enough, the countersuit itself could be viewed as retaliation.

How is your company fairing and what have you done to prevent these serious claims?

Qualified Employees Still Tough to Find

With a plethora of professionals looking for jobs, one would think hiring managers can take their pick of qualified candidates.

Not so, according to a study of 501 hiring managers byRobert Half and CareerBuilder, which found that 44 percent of resumes presented to hiring managers are submitted by unqualified applicants. The 2009 EDGE Report also found that 47 percent of hiring managers cited under-qualified applicants as their most common hiring challenge.

Two-thirds, or 68 percent, of managers surveyed said they were willing to cut pay, hours and benefits to avoid losing talent through layoffs, while 36 percent said they would rehire people who were laid off.

About 61 percent said they are willing to pay for qualified candidates and would negotiate higher compensation if that meant getting the right person for the job.

While the job market remains ultra competitive, more than half of the managers surveyed said they plan to hire full-time employees in the next year.

QA Positions Available

Contract QA positions for one of our biggest clients, here are the details:

QA Specialist

This role is for a 6 month contract.Only candidates with the following skills will be interviewed: Candidates must have experience testing on UNIX/Shell Scripting and Oracle (9i/10g) database as well as experience with Quality Center or similar software. Preference on candidates coming from a POS background.Candidates should be able to start one week after an offer.

Importance: The QA Specialists test new and modified programs to ensure the program performs the correct functions and is technically stable. Role (In Order of Importance):

• Conduct QA testing of GUI functionality and message format by executing test plans
• Research and develop an understanding of the requirements for the product
• Test how the users will use features*Test performance requirements*Prepare and update test plans
• Participate in implementation of projects*Provide technical documentation where necessary
• Resolve escalated issues
• Document procedures for more complex escalated resolutions
• Report progress on projects monthly and as requested
• Other duties as assigned

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• 3+ year's experience in QA testing required.
• 2+ year's experience testing UNIX/Shell Scripting required
• 2+ year's experience testing Oracle required.
• Knowledgeable in Quality Center or similar software required.
• Ability to follow all company policies and procedures as well as internal departmental procedures to ensure consistency in QA.
• Excellent communication and writing skills to write clear user and technical documentation required.
• Continuing education attitude to remain up-to-date on changing technologies.*Bachelor's Degree preferred.
• Willingness to take ownership for own work to continuously improve performance.

Required Qualifications Only:

• 3+ year's experience in QA testing required
• 2+ year's experience testing UNIX/Shell Scripting required
• 2+ year's experience testing Oracle required
• Knowledgeable in Quality Center or similar software required
• Excellent communication and writing skills to write clear user and technical documentation required
• Bachelor's Degree preferred

There are other positions open too. Product Manager, Java Developer, Financial Analyst. Click on the link above

Friendster Awarded 5th Social Networking Patent

In today's world social networking is how you communicate, recruit both actively and passively today. The key social networking sites Facebook, Linkedin, Jobster (maybe), Ning, and Friendster are actively recruit and communicate with professionals and non-professionals. If you are not social networking then you are missing the boat.

As a point of reference, Friendster Inc. said it was awarded its fifth social networking patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Mountain View company said it has been granted five patents since July 2006, and the latest one focuses on technology where social network information maintained in one database can be shared with a second database. It also describes how the operators of the second database can use the social network information to better manage services provided to their customers and target particular information to their customers.

The company said it now has more than 115 million members worldwide. The privately held company is venture-backed. You look at their members, Facebook with over 200 million and Linkedin with 75 million the old way of recruiting with job boards just does not work. Linking with key individuals does rather than going through the HR departments where lots of job seekers get lost in the shuffle. Same with just networking, when was the last time you got a response from a job board or email to an HR department?

Top HR challenges

For 2009 here are the top ranked list of the top HR challenges (in North American business)

1. Acquiring key talent/lack of available talent


2. Building leadership capability


3. Driving cultural and behavioral change in the organization


4. Retaining key talent


5. Increasing line manager capability to handle people-management responsibilities


6. Succession planning


7. Constraints on headcount (”making do with less”)


8. Increasing workforce productivity


9. Lack of consensus about the organization’s strategy/direction


10. Encouraging organizational innovation


11. Resourcing and managing HR issues in “new geographies” for the company


12. Managing human capital during and after an acquisition or merger


13. Implementing people changes resulting from changes due to operational performance


14. Workforce planning


15. Measuring the contribution of human capital to business performance


16. Reducing overall human capital costs


17. Coping with an aging workforce

Does your organization's issues compare with these, let me know at wgstevens2@gmail.com .

Base: Survey of 154 senior HR professionals in the U.S. and Canada

Source: “The State of HR Transformation,” North America, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, 2006

Discovered via Workforce Management (10 September 2007)

How Women Are Redefining Work and Success

Business Week report in their Work-Life Balance segment that, "Women are using their increased economic power to bring about more creative, manageable work schedules.

"The article features broadcasters Claire Shipman, of ABC News' Good Morning America, and Katty Kay, of BBC World News America, and how they each struggled prior to deciding to turn down promotions and plum assignments so they could tend to their families.

As the BW article notes, "It wasn't that they weren't ambitious, they just weren't interested in the grueling climb up the corporate ladder. They yearned for a path to success based on results, not hours clocked." They tell tell their story in their book Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.

Shipman & Kay show the increasing impact of professional women on companies' bottom lines, and give practical advice on how to create "a more sane" work life.

In the BW piece their is an excerpt from the book that looks at the trade-offs many employees are willing to make to get a better work-life balance, and how companies are reacting.

This is a topic that will, hopefully, generate a lot of thoughtful inquiry and a rethinking of our long standing models or organization, management and work.

I thank Peter Roche for this addition to my blog.

Clarity of Direction Prevents Defection

How do you stop top talent walking when the going gets tough? Businesses that win in a downturn are the ones that engage with their employees, providing reassurance when necessary and clear direction to all. But what is the secret of motivation in a downturn?

“Of all the no-brainers in all the executive suites in all the world, winning the engagement of your employees must come near the top of the list. And yet, survey data seem to indicate that managers are failing spectacularly to achieve that aim.”

That’s the view of columnist Stefan Stern, writing in the Financial Times earlier this year. It’s easy to make these observations but it’s tougher to do the job of motivating a workforce in turbulent times. Retaining, rewarding and galvanizing employees over a sustained period is rarely easy. When jobs are plentiful and competition for good people is intense, it’s tough enough. When the market becomes more challenging, when many people begin to fear for their job security or that their salary won’t meet their rising costs, the trickle of defections can turn to a flood.

Unless organizations capture the hearts and minds of their people, the grass for some employees is always going to be greener. So just how do you stop key talent from walking? Here are some basic points; all of which are, to useFinancial Times vernacular, ‘no-brainers’:

• Provide clarity of strategic direction and pace . When the clouds come down, you need to know where you’re heading and have confidence that your leader is going to get you there.
  
• Instil trust and confidence in your most driven, focused employees. These are the people who most demand and expect clarity of direction.
  
• Address fundamental concerns. Everyone needs to know what is expected of them, the behaviors they should be exhibiting, the objectives they need to achieve.
  
• Put people in roles suited to their skills and ambitions. Many employees are stymied by inappropriate roles and work environments that frustrate rather than help.
  
• Provide the tools for people to do their jobs. Clarity of direction is meaningless unless people have the resources – including the time, the space and the support – to succeed in their roles.
  
• Act quickly. The longer you wait, the more you create a vacuum, leaving your employees to worry and draw their own conclusions.
  
• Continue investing in R&D. Innovation is even more important in a downturn.

Have you provided clear direction and morale boosters to your organization. Let me know.

Back To Business As Unusual

The global economic and financial crisis that struck so fast and so furiously last year is just one manifestation of an increasingly volatile and unpredictable climate. A sustained period of economic boom may have masked it, but the world is characterized today by political uncertainty and extremism, fluctuating financial and commodity markets, unpredictable consumer sentiment, increasingly complex global trade, climate change, terrorism, genocides, the threat of pandemics and so on.

Adapting to the 'New Normal'

'To survive and thrive, organizations will have to adapt to this 'new normal'. That will be no easy task. It will require different leadership, different skills and talent, different organizational forms, different corporate priorities and different human resources strategies. And critically, it will require different thinking – not least understanding that volatility is not, of itself, bad, provided you accept it and work with it.

Technology Will Be Critical

Technology will be at the heart of the new networked, customer-centric organizational model. Embracing technology will therefore be critical for everyone in the organization – not least human resources, for whom the shift to the new paradigm will be a particular challenge.

'Next' versus 'Best' Practices

Abandoning their obsession with 'best practices' and thinking instead in terms of 'next practices' will be a critical challenge for leaders in the new world. What's more, within the more fluid networked organizational structures the job of leadership becomes that of catalyst and coordinator rather than command and control. As such, they will need to be humble, emotionally intelligent, collaborative and comfortable with ambiguity.

Being able to manage future and current challenges together, and to integrate apparently contradictory objectives, will be vital. So, for instance, chief executives shouldn't prioritize shareholder value over customer satisfaction; they should satisfy customers to the extent that it creates shareholder value. Likewise, instead of choosing between developing their people and becoming more cost conscious, they should develop their people in order to help reduce costs.

Indeed, leaders will need to work even harder to engage the hearts, hands and heads of their employees in an economic climate – characterized by dramatically shifting demographics and intensifying competition, particularly from China and India – that will require everyone to work harder, longer and more flexibly. The current downturn not withstanding, talent will be a more important source of advantage and innovation over the coming years than it has ever been.

Shifting to this new modus operandi won't be easy; nor will it happen overnight. But there is no standing still and certainly no going back. The world has changed irrevocably, and organizations that want to prosper have to observe new rules and develop new practices. For those that do, the prizes are there for the taking.

Your thoughts on this would help expand this paradigm shift, email me at wgstevens2@gmail.com.

Available All the Time: Etiquette for the Social Networking Age

After a long day at the office, imagine logging onto Facebook to see what your friends have been up to, only to have your boss or colleague message you about an urgent work matter. Aside from the fact that you are officially off duty, is it appropriate for your co-worker to reach out to you through a social networking forum? Was it wise to accept a colleague or higher-up as a "friend" to begin with? And -- perhaps more importantly -- in this day and age, when people are seemingly available around the clock because of smartphones and our endless appetite for all things online, is anyone ever really "off duty?"

As Facebook, Twitter and 24-hour Blackberry access blur the lines between business and personal lives, managers and employees are struggling to develop new social norms to guide them through the ongoing evolution of communications technology. Wharton faculty and other experts say the process of creating rules to cope with the ever-expanding reach of modern communications has just begun, but will be shaped largely by individuals and organizations, not top-down decrees from a digital Emily Post. Generational differences in the approach to openness on the Internet will also be a factor in coming to common understandings of how and when it is appropriate to contact colleagues, superiors or clients.

"There are huge etiquette issues around the new social media, especially the interactive type," says Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard. "What if your boss friends you on Facebook? That's a dilemma. How do you not accept that friend? What if you really are friends?"

According to Rothbard, new communications technology is eroding the boundaries between home and office, which creates a "double-edged sword" for companies. "On the one hand, it enables flexibility. In some ways, it makes you more effective. But it can also lead to a lot of burnout. In the long term, it may lead to conflict about how you feel towards your other life roles and your ability to be fully present in any one domain."

To read more go to the link above.

Have You Protected Your Assets

Having worked closely with sales teams for the past 20 years one area that seems to get missed is keeping your sales force up to date on basic skills and expertise. As the economy changed, the means to market and sales approach has to change to deal with the customers economic condition. The old "hi Charlie, how much can I put you down for" has all but disappeared. For that matter it did a long time ago and top sales people did not know how to adjust.

So you as a manager need to focus on the following:

• identify weak spots - does your sale team and for that matter customer service people know the company's strategy?
• climate - sales people want new ideas and products so keep the pipeline full including software that will make their job easier and more efficient;
• check for complacency - management should keep communication lines full from strategy to daily updates on sales activity. Keep sales teams motivated through impact marketing, coaching, and weed out poor performers if they continue after development investment;
• adjust territories if needed.

A couple of other housekeeping initiatives such as:

• continue to evaluate your resources
• focus on service excellence
• get people out of their comfort zones
• train towards peak performance
• continuous measurement - post results
• keep their eye on the ball
• create a theme

As a manager are you doing these things to keep your sales team at peak levels and if not you will experience the recession and you will lose the dream for your team. What are your thoughts?

Losing Is Never Fun

Losing is never fun. When you invest significant time and resources pursuing a deal and it falls through, it’s frustrating – and invariably causes some self-reflection.

Why weren’t we successful this time? What could we have done differently? Implementing a process to learn from your losses can yield great dividends – and is often the best way to lock in the next potential customer you approach.

There are plenty of reasons deals fall through. See if any of these sounds familiar:

· The price was too high

· The competition had a personal relationship with the buyer

· The product was missing a key feature

· The product isn’t a comprehensive solution

· The sales rep didn’t position our product correctly

· The lack of a reference customer in the industry

· The customer didn’t believe they have the problem you solve

· The competition simply outsold your firm

· The lack of an ROI toolkit

The list goes on but by taking the time to formally analyze your losses, you discover a wealth of valuable

information that can impact your overall vision and strategy. Here are 10 quidelines you can apply to your own

loss analysis:

1. Interview internally and externally

2. Choose an objective individual to conduct the interview

3. Don't wait to long

4. Understand the customer need

5. Get their prospective on your product

6. Get pricing feedback

7. Get competitive insights

8. Review their key decision criteria

9. Evaluate the sales process

10. Review the effectiveness of your marketing

If you build this in as a normal part of your sales process you not only will get valuable feedback, but you will

indicate to them that you are a company that is continually looking to improve your products and services. More

importantly, if you are engaged in a similar opportunity in the future, you will be armed to win.

Succession Management

A common misconception is that succession management is a human resources driven exercise with little impact on the company. Well, the opposite is true. For those companies that do not have a pure succession plan it has a damaging effect on the long-term impact on the companies bottom line. So where does your company stand on this very important issue especially in today's high impact, fast moving environment of business activity and mobility of great talent. Here are the guideposts and where do you stand:

Level 0 - no succession plan. 21% of companies fall into this category

Level 1 - Replacement Planning - companies only focus on senior level management and an A list of potentials is created. 15% operate at this level

Level 2 - Traditional Succession Planning - Talent review are conducted and plans are put in place. 52% of companies operate like this today

Level 3 - Integrated Succession Planning - A company targets all critical positions at all levels and it is tied to business strategy. 12% operate like this today

Level 4 - Transparent Talent Mobility - no companies operate at this level today where companies completely understand the capabilities and potential of their human capital where decisions are made naturally based on business need and the company as a whole.

So where are you in this talent slide? Bersin & Associates have dealt deeply into this subject and the full text is in this months issue of Workforce.

The Four Functions of Management

For any kind of organization to run smoothly in achieving their set goals and objectives they need to implement management concepts. To plan for it, there are four basic management concepts that allow any organization to handle planned, tactical and set decisions. What are those plans? The answer lies here.

Any organization, whether new or old, whether small or big need to run smoothly and achieve the goals and objectives which it has set forth. For this they had developed and implemented their own management concepts. There are basically four management concepts that allow any organization to handle the tactical, planned and set decisions. The four basic functions of the management are just to have a controlled plan over the preventive measure.

The four functions of management are:

The base function is to: Plan

It is the foundation area of management. It is the base upon which the all the areas of management should be built. Planning requires administration to assess; where the company is presently set, and where it would be in the upcoming. From there an appropriate course of action is determined and implemented to attain the company’s goals and objectives

Planning is unending course of action. There may be sudden strategies where companies have to face. Sometimes they are uncontrollable. You can say that they are external factors that constantly affect a company both optimistically and pessimistically. Depending on the conditions, a company may have to alter its course of action in accomplishing certain goals. This kind of preparation, arrangement is known as strategic planning. In strategic planning, management analyzes inside and outside factors that may affect the company and so objectives and goals. Here they should have a study of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For management to do this efficiently, it has to be very practical and ample.

The subsequent function is to: Organize

The second function of the management is getting prepared, getting organized. Management must organize all its resources well before in hand to put into practice the course of action to decide that has been planned in the base function. Through this process, management will now determine the inside directorial configuration; establish and maintain relationships, and also assign required resources.

While determining the inside directorial configuration, management ought to look at the different divisions or departments. They also see to the harmonization of staff, and try to find out the best way to handle the important tasks and expenditure of information within the company. Management determines the division of work according to its need. It also has to decide for suitable departments to hand over authority and responsibilities.

The third function is to: Direct

Directing is the third function of the management. Working under this function helps the management to control and supervise the actions of the staff. This helps them to assist the staff in achieving the company’s goals and also accomplishing their personal or career goals which can be powered by motivation, communication, department dynamics, and department leadership.

Employees those which are highly provoked generally surpass in their job performance and also play important role in achieving the company’s goal. And here lies the reason why managers focus on motivating their employees. They come about with prize and incentive programs based on job performance and geared in the direction of the employees requirements.

It is very important to maintain a productive working environment, building positive interpersonal relationships, and problem solving. And this can be done only with Effective communication. Understanding the communication process and working on area that need improvement, help managers to become more effective communicators. The finest technique of finding the areas that requires improvement is to ask themselves and others at regular intervals, how well they are doing. This leads to better relationship and helps the managers for better directing plans.

The final function is to: Control

Control, the last of four functions of management, includes establishing performance standards which are of course based on the company’s objectives. It also involves evaluating and reporting of actual job performance. When these points are studied by the management then it is necessary to compare both the things. This study on comparision of both decides further corrective and preventive actions.

In an effort of solving performance problems, management should higher standards. They should straightforwardly speak to the employee or department having problem. On the contrary, if there are inadequate resources or disallow other external factors standards from being attained, management had to lower their standards as per requirement. The controlling processes as in comparison with other three, is unending process or say continuous process. With this management can make out any probable problems. It helps them in taking necessary preventive measures against the consequences. Management can also recognize any further developing problems that need corrective actions.

Effective and efficient management leads to success, the success where it attains the objectives and goals of the organizations. Of course for achieving the ultimate goal and aim management need to work creatively in problem solving in all the four functions. Management not only has to see the needs of accomplishing the goals but also has to look in to the process that their way is feasible for the company.

How does your company fair against these four areas management?

'Locals,' 'Cosmopolitans' and Other Keys to Creating Successful Global Teams

Global teams are like oceans: Depending on how they are navigated, they can link the world together or split it apart. When global teams work, they tap into a company's top talent, exploit local expertise, unite far-flung groups and ramp up worldwide production. When they don't, they are divisive, spark massive miscommunication and drive global projects into the ground.

"In any team, there are lots of barriers to effectively working together, and there are ways to make teams more effective through selection, through design, through leadership," says Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard. "The challenges are really exacerbated in global teams where you have even greater potential barriers, especially when there are different cultural norms."

Working across international, cultural and organizational boundaries poses daunting challenges on a variety of levels. Time zone differences can make meetings difficult. Language and cultural differences sometimes lead to communication problems. And a variety of less obvious differences trip up global team members in ways they rarely expect.

Despite such difficulties, global teams -- in all forms -- are here to stay. Whether it's a small task force within a single company, a cross-border partnership or a multinational coalition of leaders spanning several organizations, global teams have become an essential element of modern business. "They're often a necessity," says Rothbard. "You may need those diverse cultural perspectives to solve a cultural problem.... We need to find ways to make these teams work effectively. We need them to get the work done as the world becomes a more global place."

When done right, global teams can be an asset, unlocking tremendous value for companies that use them. "Global teams are able to take advantage of people not being in the same place at the same time, in order to get the work done," says Batia Weisenfeld, a management professor at NYU's Stern School of Business. "Projects can be progressing 24 hours a day. You'll be doing software development in Silicon Valley and then the software testing is being done in India while those people [in California] are sleeping."

Global teams can also ratchet up creativity and innovation by tapping into unique skill sets and multiple points of view. Weisenfeld points to one New York advertising firm as an example. The firm's New York office developed what was supposed to be a worldwide advertising campaign. But the campaign probably wouldn't sit well culturally for Asian consumers, the company's Asia office advised. So team members in Asia tweaked the campaign to accommodate local tastes. In the process, they improved the campaign so much that headquarters ultimately replaced the original campaign with the Asian version.

Unlocking Value

Despite such potential, global teams pose challenges that must first be overcome.


One of the most common issues is time. When team members are scattered across several time zones, simply scheduling a meeting can be difficult.

Consultant Ana Reyes is a partner of New Worlds Enterprise LLP, lecturer in the Penn Organizational Dynamics Program and academic director for a program offered by Wharton's Aresty Institute for Executive Education called, "Leading Virtual Global Teams." Reyes once experienced a timing and communication snafu when working as a consultant for a large multinational corporation. The company, which had offices in several U.S., European and Asian locations, usually held global teleconferences in the morning New York time. Since team members in Asia attended the meetings in the evening, they usually used their personal phones at home. When it came to scheduling a meeting via videoconference, however, things became very complicated. Asian team members didn't have videoconferencing equipment at home, and discovered -- weeks, unfortunately, after their meeting was scheduled and the agenda was set -- that they couldn't use the video equipment in their office building because it was locked at night. "To get the video conferencing, they had to hire technology support and security for the building," Reyes says. In the end, the company decided it would be easier to just fly people to New York.

Organizations often assume that global team members are willing to meet when it's convenient for headquarters, says Catherine Mercer Bing, CEO of ITAP International, a Newtown, Pa.-based consulting firm that "works at the intersection of business and cultural issues." The unfortunate result for some team members: Every meeting takes place in the middle of the night or at the crack of dawn.


"It becomes [demotivating] for those team members who always have to be available at 4 a.m. or some other off-work hours," Bing says. Her suggestion: Start global conference calls by asking what time it is for everyone involved, to make everyone aware of other team members' situations. Also, change meeting times frequently so that everybody has a chance to attend a meeting during the day. "Rotate," she suggests. "It makes it fair. It makes team members feel more equitable."


Tackling cultural differences can be much more of a challenge. When global teams include more than one culture, team members carry unspoken assumptions that can lead to inadvertent misunderstandings. After all, the type of information people share and how they share it is culturally based, says Rothbard. "Hesitation in voice in one culture might signal discomfort with what is being shared. In another culture, it might just [mean they're] being deliberative. What people mean, and how [others] interpret what they mean, is very subtle. The speaker might have no idea that their words are being interpreted in a certain way."

Depending on a person's cultural background, fellow team members might seem to be speaking too loudly or softly, interrupting too much or being too reticent, demanding a ridiculous amount of information or being oddly ambiguous.


"Everybody is programmed by the cultures they grew up with," says Reyes. Studies have shown that people from Latin American, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries speak several decibels louder than other cultures. In many of these countries, interrupting is considered an acceptable way to exchange turns in conversation. "These communication patterns ... become annoyances that people can't figure out, so people often ignore [them]. And best practice is to talk about them."

Cultural differences also impact the way global teams communicate information to others outside of the team -- another possible source of conflict. Bing once worked with a global team with members in the U.S. and Spain. Consistently throughout the project, the Spanish team members would copy their superiors in emails about what the team was doing. Members of the U.S. team misinterpreted the move as attempts to undermine team efforts. "The U.S. [team members] were saying, 'You guys are trying to get us in trouble,'" Bing recalls. "But part of who gets copied is a cultural decision." The misperception ultimately caused so much conflict between members that the team missed a project deadline.

Cultural differences even creep into the technologies companies use, creating additional challenges for interaction, Reyes says. "Culture is really pattern-based ways of organizing space, time, human activity and the material environment. So technology -- any kind of technology, whether it's a robot or a technology system -- [involves] human practices that have been disembodied and put into a machine."

So what can managers and companies do to make global teams work better? Our experts offer a few ideas and suggestions:

1. Try to meet at least once face-to-face
2. Choose team members carefully
3. Keep the team small if possible
4. Consider cross-cultural training
5. Be explicit upfront about how the team will operate
6. Be conscious of time
7. Consider how the team is organized
8. Don't overload team members
9. Give the team autonomy

Some ideas for companies that want to tap talent and utilize their expertise to advance product, services, and infrastructure. For the complete story go to http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2328

Executives Prefer In-Person Meetings to Virtual

Despite the rise in virtual meetings, business executives prefer face-to-face meetings, according to the results of a Forbes Insights study released Thursday.

The study, “Business Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face,” was based on June survey of 760 business executives. It found that 84% prefer in-person contact to virtual because face-to-face meetings enable them to build stronger relationships (85%) and provide greater opportunity to “read” another person (77%).

Nonetheless, teleconferences, videoconferences and Web conferences have grown as 58% of respondents said they were traveling less for business now than in January 2008.

Those that preferred virtual meetings cited the time savings (92%) and the financial savings (88%).

What Made Jack Welch Extraordinary

Stephen Baum's book "What Made Jack Welch, How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary Leaders" truly articulated what all the gurus in leadership, Harvard, and Michigan have been trying to say for years. But he breaks it down into simple language and how to apply the skills in ordinary business roles. According to Baum, there are core leadership traits and, said Baum, "the possessors of these traits are generally the most effective and the most successful people in any organization". My question to each HR professional today is DO YOU HAVE THESE QUALITIES and DO YOU EXERT THEM IN YOUR ROLE IN BUSINESS TODAY? So, here are the five (5) traits:

1. do you have the appetite to take charge?
2. do you have character? - meaning doing the right thing when no one is there to see as well as when your actions are visible or will be revealed to the world at large
3. do you have the confidence to see challenges and embrace risk?
4. do you have the capacity to act? - key to this is do you possess the ability to act despite risks and have the emotional readiness to act despite any risks involved but also exhibit critical thinking to act wisely
5. do you have the ability to engage and inspire?

He goes on to say that there are shaping experiences you will incur along your HR journey up the ladder and by the way if you are there today staying there.

If you have these you have the ability to become a Jack Welch in your industry at the HR level or greater. What are your thoughts on Baum's assessment of leadership traits, let me know.