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.

Loyalty As A Lifestyle

Loyalty is a word based on such definitions as unswerving in allegiance: as (a) faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or government (b) faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due (c) faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.

Employee retention is a key factor in any organization's success. Is there a difference between longevity and loyalty? As a business leader your goal should be to have a workforce that is both longstanding and loyal. Usually longevity goes hand in hand with loyalty. Most loyal employees and customers have no real reason to sever the relationship.

It is difficult to know who is sincerely loyal to you in business and life and who is not, without simply watching their actions and behaviors. That is not too profound, but some people are paranoid about team loyalty but can’t really produce any reasons they feel this way. You can always manage behaviors but it is hard to manage those more intangible things.

As “soft skills” oriented as it may sound, leaders should include loyalty as a part of the job description. Talking about loyalty in the hiring process is imperative and describing what loyalty looks like in the organizational culture is important. This may sound less than profound, as well, but I am finding that many hiring interviewers do not discuss loyalty as an essential to excellent behavior.

excerpts from Rick Forbus, Phd.

Developing Leaders From Within

The IBM Global Human Capital Study 2008 suggests that company leaders emphasize on building leaders from within the company. The survey reflects that it is the leading challenge faced by the organization.

So what are they doing to assess and develop leaders from within the organization? The top executives reported using of initiatives such as Action Learning; Mentoring; and Job Rotation.

Action Learning and Job Rotation are methods where the future leaders gain hands on experience in different projects. Whereas mentoring is one of the most widely used training method to develop future leaders by providing guidance and feedback on one's performance through a one-to one mentor-mentee relationship.

Having worked for IBM for two summers and a parent that spent 43 years with the company I can attest that they have one of the best programs in business today, THINK. Do you agree?

Online Ad Spending Worldwide Contracted 5% In Second Quarter

Framingham, Mass.—Worldwide spending on Internet advertising contracted in the second quarter, declining 5% to $13.9 billion, from the $14.7 billion spent in the same quarter last year, according to market analyst company IDC.

IDC's “Worldwide and U.S. Internet Ad Spend Report 2Q09” found that all global regions posted declines except the Asia/Pacific region and Japan, which saw slight gains in the second quarter.

U.S. spending declined for the second quarter in a row; spending fell 6% to $6.2 billion, from $6.6 billion in 2008's second quarter. Broken down by channel and format, spending on display ads in the U.S. fell 12%, while spending on classifieds plunged 17%.

Christopher Hosford
Story posted: August 10, 2009 - 12:33 pm EDT

Where Are You in the M and A Discussion?

There has been a lot of talk lately that HR is always in on the final stage of acquisitions. Why is that? If you are plugged into the CEO & the M&A team you should been at the lead end rather than the tail end of such activities. So why is that?

Well, for one thing and mainly primary is that HR can read the culture of an organization better than financial types and for that matter senior level managers. Remember, HR is our business. One of the main reasons why things don't go well after an acquisition is that the cultures do not fit and never will creating disparate and unconnected strategy issues. In addition, financial types do not always know the buzz words for hidden costs in the balance sheet or the intricate payer issues for medical plans.

So my issue is make sure your HR lead is in the lead end of acquisition and not the tail or you will be holding the tail in the long run.

To read more on mergers and acquisitions you should read my prior posts in 2008 on this very important subject.

Define Yourself With Merit

By Jen Carpenter – MeritBuilder, a personal branding platform, allows users to collect the “thank you’s” they receive and display them for everyone to see. The site enables workers to build a portable brand and employers to improve the way they thank and value their employees.

The site allows you to share merits through RSS feeds, blogs or social networking sites. You can even e-mail merits to people. The company hopes the ease and inclusiveness of the site will put it on track to one day join, or potentially replace, the resume as the document of choice for job seekers.

Unleveling the Playing Field

I read a great feature article in Fortune magazine this month about Marc Andreesen, the co-founder of Netscape and the social network Ning. I have to say it was inspirational in three(3) ways:

1. it motivated me to dig deeper into the innovation idea bank and move forward with the latest technology to use it as a starting point for the next generation;
2. that creative thinking is the lifeblood of business and entrepreneurship;
3. there are people like him that motivate people like me.

So with that in mind as a mid-level HR executive, a senior level executive or someone just starting out you need to unlevel the playing field so YOU stand out as a leader and innovative/creative thinker to solve business problems. Certainly as HR continue to be represented at the table and those that are just getting invited you need to really stand out and inspire and move those around you. How do you do that you say for those not yet there or in a company that views HR as an administrative function here are some important ways:

• you need negotiation and influencing skills that are strategy based;
• you need to take the lead on innovation and develop practices that drive growth - KNOW THE BUSINESS INSIDE AND OUT;
• have strong business acumen and a keen eye for identifying high-potential leaders before someone tells you;
• deliver value daily to your internal and external constituencies as well as building extraordinary personal leadership qualities that resonate throughout the life cycle of your business;
• develop frameworks for global exportation and strategies from a product and supply chain prospective;
• get involved with your investor relations program - evaluating it with a ad-hoc team;
• and finally, conventional is passe so exploit technology and social networking to manage talent, HR, and the business with intricate involvement with your CEO.

I hope that you will look at these thoughts and grow from them. If you agree, drop me an email, text, Twitter, or Linkedin message . Oh, BTW my former CEO & Executive HR were just like Marc. Thanks Greg, Iain, and Mike.

Exceeding Expectations in Sales

There was a feature article in Selling Power this month (July/August 2009) that outlined how to set expectations for sales people. This is a add on to my previous post "Sales Managers - Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot." (7/29)

As sales managers in a transition economy you should do the following as Selling Power outlines:

• set expectations that are attainable with a stretch not unattainable or unrealistic
• goals should be tied to variables the sales staff can control
• goals should be customized to fit the salesperson situation or territory - goals should be broken down into small bites - management must sit down with sales people and show them a clear path they will take to achieve the stretch target
• if you have to adjust the goals based on economic conditions, re-motivate the team with a goal they consider to be fair.

So are you following these easy steps or are you totally or partially disrupting the dynamics of your team with new goals, alignments, and added duties that take their eye off the goal?

Sales Managers - Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot

I spoke to a couple of colleagues this past week and there seems to be a pattern that has developed because of the drops in revenue, the economy, and tighter competition. Yes, you are right, tweaking or reorganizing the sales force.

Whether you are managing inside or outside sales teams be careful not to disrupt the rhythm a sales team develops over time. It occurs when teams have been together a while, know each others habits, flow of information, and group motivations. When you are trying to preserve and grow revenue you don't want to demotivate your sales teams by massive restructuring. The outcome will be fewer sales over the short term and depending on your team dynamics could provide less revenue over the long haul.

So be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot by doing a restructure or RIF that will demotivate a team that for all intensive purposes has performed in this tough and treacherous economy. I will continue to advocate, as I am sure you will, that you need to get rid of poor performers in an expedient manner and within the laws in your state. Nothing hurts a sales team than a performer that is dragging down your team and killing the drivers of revenue and profits.

Take a tough stand with lots of input from various sources if there is a need to restructure so you make sure your team dynamics are not impacted. What have you done in this area over the past 12 months?

Forbes/Gartner Study: Internet Is Key Source of Information for Business Executives

New York—The Internet is “by far” the most important source of business information for top executives, according to the Ninth Annual Forbes/Gartner C-Level Executive Study, released Wednesday.

The Internet was chosen by 60% of the executives surveyed as the most important medium for business information, according to the online study, which was conducted? this spring. More than 650 executives participated.

Only 15% of the executives identified daily newspapers as the most important medium. The Internet and newspapers were followed by trade publications (9%), magazines (6%), TV (5%) and radio (2%).

The executives surveyed said they spend an average of 15.9 hours per week on the Internet (excluding e-mail) for work and nonwork activities. Fifty eight percent of respondents said they access the Internet before they go to work, compared with 47% who indicated they read a newspaper before going to work.

a reprint from B to B.

What CEOs Want from HR Leaders

All successful corporations use HR strategically, not just to manage administration and other mundane HR tasks. CEOs are interested in growth, profits, innovation, and the ability to retain customers. HR is at a key position to help the CEO attain all of these objectives. To do this your time in the HR leadership role should consist of the following:

• discussing talent, retention, and talent development and pipeline candidates;
• compensation and competitive intersections of market and attaining the best talent;
• benefits, maintaining a competitive package and harnessing costs, especially health and 401K and pensions;
• identifying integration acquisitions quickly;
• anticipating critical business events and regulatory issues;
• guiding and maintaining a daily interaction with the CEO and key business leaders;
• understanding the dynamics of the economy and how they impact the business;
• and finally enabling growth drivers at the employee and business levels.

Are you doing these key functions on a daily basis? Let me know your thoughts.

How a Little 'Friction' Can Change a Competitive Landscape

For a business, losing a customer can feel a little like getting dumped. Questions linger: What did I do wrong? What does that other business have that I don't? How can I ever compete in such a cutthroat market? Well, maybe you do have too many competitors. Maybe thereis something you need to improve. Or maybe the customer simply has personal preferences that are not met by your business.

A recent research paper by Wharton management professor Olivier Chatain and INSEAD strategy professor Peter Zemsky offers some perspective on this topic by combining two types of business strategy analysis. Their advice: When developing business strategies, consider not just what your company does, but how it fits into its industry. Looking at both, you might find ways to improve and woo more customers. You might realize an opportunity to leapfrog over a bigger competitor. Or you might discover that your approach to the market is fine the way it is.

To read the full article please click on the link above. Great information in this competitive landscape.

'Next Practice' in Reward Means a Focus on Employees as Assets

What will the 'next' reward practices look like? A study by Hay Group and WorldatWork shows that in the coming few years, decisions in reward will be driven by the need to keep employees motivated and engaged despite tight resources and the fear of layoffs. The research reveals a renewed focus on managing human capital as an asset.

Conducted in the challenging first three months of 2009, this Hay Group/WorldatWork study found reward executives focused on the 'here and now': first getting labor costs aligned with the new economic realities, then preparing for future growth. The study revealed five key trends in reward 'next practice'.

From benchmarking to alignment

Firms have become less focused on what the market is doing and more concerned about aligning reward with strategy and performance. Amway International is trying to "find the right balance between employee motivation, cost control, and market competitiveness in our reward programs."

Taking the employee's perspective

Employee needs and wants are becoming more important as organizations seek to maintain motivation in a tough climate. According to McDonald's Corporation: "We design our reward programs, invest in new programs, and beef up current programs based upon the feedback we receive from our employees."

Strengthening the ties between pay and performance

Organizations in this study are looking much harder at the design of short and long-term variable pay programs. Comments from Heineken reinforce this: "We ensure that the objectives in our STI program are broad, simple, quantifiable and measurable and that they accurately reflect the key performance fundamentals of our business."

'Total reward'

Employers are looking to intangible rewards in their quest to keep the workforce engaged when budgets are tight. Collective Brands in the US plans to "provide much more focus on non-monetary forms of rewards and recognition. In tougher economic times, there will be a focus to provide recognition through non-monetary vehicles."

The key role of the line manager

As firms tighten their belts, they are realizing how line managers can help reinforce the pay-to-performance link and communicate the value of the reward program. Microsoft is looking for: "better support for managers to be able to better explain the reward programs and how they link to individual and company performance."

Where the jobs are: Opportunities for Everyone

You can find work — even in today’s economy. In fact, some industries, such as health care, are experiencing particularly good job growth.

According to Keith Emerson, managing director at Lee Hecht Harrison, the New Jersey-based global leader in talent management, “As the baby boomer generation continues to age, the need for health services will continue to grow. In addition, health care reform will be an issue at the forefront of Capitol Hill debates this summer, keeping the future of the industry in the media spotlight.”

Health care isn’t the only industry hiring. Work can be found in a variety of other fields too, including education, technology and engineering. Here are some of the best job opportunities available today:

• health care
• education
• accounting
• government
• green collar
• sales
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Opportunities for college grads

Although there are numerous areas of relative strength, the job situation is not as healthy as it has been in past years. According to CareerBuilder’s Annual College Job Forecast, 43% of employers plan to hire recent college graduates in 2009. That’s a drop from 56% in 2008.6 While the glass isn’t quite half full, many employers are still hiring, though it may take more work and perseverance to get hired.

Visit collegegrad.com to find job postings for recent grads.

You’re never too old

A March 2009 study by Harris Interactive and CareerBuilder found that while 68% of workers age 35 – 44 found new jobs within three months of becoming unemployed, only 46% of those 55 or older found new jobs in the same time frame.7 While older workers and retirees returning to the workforce may have a harder time finding work than many younger people, opportunities do exist.

If you’re in this age group, visit retirementjobs.com, which has a list of certified age-friendly employers.

Regardless of your age or life stage, there are jobs to be had, even in this challenging economy. But you need to know where to look and how to market your skills to match the position. "And don't forget," says Emerson, "that a positive attitude, professional presence and persistence can go a long way."

The complete article can be seen at http://budgeting-investing.ameriprise.com/financial-planning-articles/economic-events/current-job-opportunities.asp?CID=eViewPoint_Loyalty_Subs_0709

How Can You Find the Most Promising New Opportunities? Hold an Innovation Tournament

Financial innovation is often blamed for having landed the global economy in a mess, but it has also been said that innovation will get us out of the present downturn. Still, companies can be forgiven for feeling that spending time and money thinking about the "next big thing" is a frivolous exercise. After all, every dollar counts these days, and CEOs and their executive teams are busy enough just getting their companies through the day-to-day demands of the recession.

It needn't be that way, according to Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich. As the two Wharton professors of operations and information management point out in their new book, Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities, if done with greater focus, identifying new opportunities shouldn't be seen as a luxury, but a necessity. They note that creativity and process-driven rigor can actually go hand in hand when it comes to vetting and managing new ideas. One way to do this, they explain, is by making new ideas compete with one another in numerous rounds of vetting -- that is, by running them through "innovation tournaments" -- so that the strongest and most promising ideas make it to the final round.

Rich rewards await companies that make the leap. Among the innovative firms that the professors cite is the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck, whose cholesterol-reducing drug Zocor, launched in the early 1990s, has delivered gross profits of $10 billion on an investment of around $500 million.

THink of this as a Six Sigma test for your organization. Don't you think HR should take the lead on initiating this type of innovation with the product management group and the CEO?

Web 2.0 as an HR Strategy

Companies have increased their reliance on Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking, blogs and webcasts to communicate with and engage their employees, especially as the economic downturn has shrunk funding for human resources, according to the 2009 HR Technology Trends report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

The survey, which gauged the opinions of leaders at 181 large companies, found that since the start of the economic downturn, 61 percent of companies have increased their use of e-mail to communicate with employees; 32 percent have increased their use of Webcasts; 13 percent have increased their use of social networking tools; and 12 percent have increased their use of blogs for communication.

The survey also found that companies are adopting role-based employee portals the most rapidly, with 42 percent deploying or piloting the portals and 24 percent planning to adopt them in the next 24 months. The survey also found that while 86 percent of companies currently have an intranet, only 2 percent plan to implement one in the next two years. Rather, companies are planning to deploy technologies that are more personalized, such as blogs (13 percent), wikis (13 percent) and podcasts (10 percent) in the next 24 months, Watson Wyatt found.

I've heard many stories about shrinking HR budgets at federal agencies for quite some time, long before the economic crisis began, so I'm curious to hear from you all about the types of technologies your agencies are using to communicate HR policies and improve employee engagement.

Is this in your plans?

Covering Your Company from the Ledbetter Act

I attended a seminar late last month with our HR Executive Roundtable Group and the discussion with the presenter was on fair and equal pay as a prime topic. A great session I may add and a great presenter. As we all know, there are usually pay discrepancies within our organizations and with the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as well as the Paycheck Fairness Act you really need to do the following to cover your company from potential liability. Here is what you should do:

• conduct a pro-active pay diagnosis under attorney-client privilege to review reasonable measurements and develop business related factors to explain pay;
• consider remediation strategies to reduce risk;
• review and strengthen documentation of compensation decisions - a real must here;
• review current pay practices setting pay-on-hire, promotion, and demotion, developing tools to identify paired comparators;
• use compa-ratio, rate range differentials/penetration and how they interface with on-line performance measurements;
• consider that old compensation rule, lost in the years, broad banding; and
• consider using an outside firm to review your compensation practices and ranges.

These are just a few of the things you as HR leaders should be doing. Suffice it to say that large corporations have already done most of this but my concern is the small to medium firms that do not have the money or resources to review this important issue.

When was the last time you reviewed your compensation practices. Don't forget sales and commission people either.

Total Rewards Today vs Yesterday

Lots of employers are looking to intangible rewards in their quest to keep the workforce engaged and to retain high performers when budgets are tight and profits below expectations. Collective Brands in the US, for example, plans to provide much more focus on non-monetary forms of rewards and recognition. In tougher economic times, in general there will be a focus to provide recognition through non-monetary vehicles with most employers especially the mid-sized ones.

"We will keep monetary rewards for special occasions and focus on non-monetary as the norm" says Bernie Matherson of Excalibur Computer Sequencing.

Hard Times for HR

In the recent issue of Workforce magazine the lead article was about HR and the stressful times they have had over the past year. When you think about the issues you face in downsizing, salary freezes, restructuring, performance management you have to think of way to eliminate or reduce the fear employee have of HR. The article says HR has become the "Angel of Death" because of all the actions you have to carry out in your daily duties. There are ways to reduce this fear and I would like to offer some of them since I have had the same moniker place on me and my department over the years. Here are a couple of ideas:

• make sure you walk the floors daily
• interact with employees to minimize the fear by interacting with them
• hold skip level meetings to identify issues and stimulate business discussions
• don't hide behind senior management decisions
• take ownership in driving profitability and stimulate growth by getting employees input
• host management meetings with you as the moderator
• don't say "it was managements decision"
• help employees grow and participate

Think of out of the box ideas to get employees involved so they feel they have a part of the decisions. I know these things work and would think you would too. Email me your ideas on this very important subject. You should also read the article in the June 22nd edition of Workforce or at www.workforce.com.

BP's Fiona MacLeod: A Change Agent Sees Change 'Addiction'

After 20 years of experience leading change management programs in the U.S., Europe and New Zealand, BP executive Fiona MacLeod has concluded that the corporate world is "addicted" to serial change management programs that consume massive resources but ultimately fail to solve the problems they aim to address. "What really struck me is why so many of these change management programs fail," only to be followed by similar initiatives within one or two years, often before the original program is completed, said MacLeod, president of BP Convenience Retail USA & Latin America.

At the recent Wharton Leadership Conference, co-sponsored by theCenter for Human Resources and the Center for Leadership & Change Management, MacLeod urged her fellow leaders to ask themselves: "How can we ... free ourselves from our addiction to episodic change and move to a much more healthy habit of continuous business improvement?" She compared the phenomenon to a yo-yo dieter who loses weight only to put it back on because he has not come to understand what's causing his weight gain, or has failed to adopt the healthy lifestyle that would keep the weight off.

London-based BP is the third largest global energy company and one of six so-called "big oil" companies, with vertically integrated operations to drill for, refine and market petroleum products. Globally, BP reported revenues of $367.1 billion in 2008. Its ampm stores in the United States and Latin America -- the name is a reference to the fact that they are open day and night -- were launched by ARCO, the old Atlantic Richfield Co., a U.S. oil refiner and marketer that BP purchased in 2000. BP gasoline is marketed under the ARCO brand on the West coast of the United States. The company also uses the BP brand in North America and elsewhere, and the ARAL brand in Europe. In addition to gasoline, the markets offer the usual assortment of convenience store goods.

No 'Big Splashes'

Many change management programs are doomed to failure because "the change we are putting in place is not sustainable -- and sustainability is absolutely crucial," noted MacLeod, who is based in La Palma, Calif. Change initiatives wither in an organization for several reasons:

• hangeNew leaders are often more concerned with "making a big splash" than with following through on a long-term plan to monitor change and keep the program on track.

• Organizations often revert to old habits because employees do not understand why change is needed, or they lack the tools and training required to sustain the new approach.

• Nothing changes because ownership of the change rests with an external team or consultants, rather than with the leaders responsible for running the business.

MacLeod urged managers to attend to "the soft side of change" by putting in place programs to fully engage leaders and employees in the process of creating change and sustaining it over time. "As business leaders, we're very good at the rational part" of change: Identifying what's wrong and how to fix it. But the soft side of change management -- in terms of really engaging people -- is just as important. If people get it intellectually but don't get it emotionally, I don't believe the change will be sustained."

To be engaged, employees must understand the case for change. Managers should provide data showing what's not working and how the change will fix the problem. "Develop your killer slide to make your business case whenever you give a presentation. It's not only why you're changing, but what it's going to look like when you're done. People need to have a sense of what the future looks like, so be very clear on that," MacLeod advised.

Business leaders must own the change agenda and take responsibility for following through on implementing every step in the plan and tracking results to make sure that change continues over time. "Never assume that leaders get it.... We need to take probably 10 times as long in engaging, empowering and educating our leaders than we actually think we do," MacLeod said.

Getting the commitment of leaders is essential to avoid the common pitfall of turning change management into a charade. "You have a workshop, learn some change management jargon, you maybe do some team building, and have a pile of flip charts ... and actually none of the [steps] are properly measured or followed through and it ends up being a waste of time."

It's important also to shift the emphasis of change management from "big splashes" to "everyday performance improvement." You can prevent the typical reversion to old habits by providing tools and training required to continually measure progress toward specific change objectives. "Put written charters and contracts in place. These contracts need to be in people's performance reviews, not something separate," MacLeod said. "You need to constantly look at them and discuss them with people."

Changing the culture to reward the desired behavior is critical to success. Make "heroes of our day-to-day deliverers, not those who make the biggest splash. You reward people on how they treat the customer, how they make decisions, how they simplify the business..... And crucially, all of this has to be done in the spirit of open communication and respect.... If [people are] uncertain and they don't feel respected, the change will never stick," MacLeod said.

Since joining BP in 1988, MacLeod has specialized in business transformation, developing the required breadth of skills in a variety of marketing, HR, supply and distribution roles across the UK and Europe. She has led operational, strategic and marketing elements of the retail business, and most recently led the restructuring of BP's European marketing businesses. A native of Scotland with a Master's degree from Glasgow University, MacLeod was tapped to head the U.S. convenience retail business in 2006, providing her biggest challenge yet: Restructuring the business and transforming the brand for about 1,800 stores from California to Pennsylvania.

MacLeod's project was part of a broader BP reorganization initiative announced in October 2007 to improve the company's efficiency and narrow its performance gap with competitors. When MacLeod embarked on her restructuring program, she had to figure out what was wrong and, more importantly, why three previous initiatives had not worked. She did not want to make the same mistakes.

"The key thing was making our business purpose clear," MacLeod said. "We thought we were there to fill up lots of stand-alone convenience stores and tie up lots of capital, when actually our purpose was to monetize the gas we made at our refineries and make sure we had a secure position in the marketplace for the long term. The question was... how could we put that change in place in a way that would stick."

She chose a bold plan that would require wrenching change. Among BP's 1,800 retail outlets nationwide, 800 were company-owned and operated. She would change the business model to 100% franchised with a revamped ampm store brand and new marketing programs to compete more aggressively.

Selling 800 stores to franchisees would eliminate 10,000 jobs at BP, virtually all of the people employed in BP's convenience retail business. The total included 9,500 store employees and an additional 500 support staff at two headquarters. For the store employees there were no guarantees they would be hired by the new franchise owners. MacLeod and her team faced significant people management hurdles in readying the stores for the conversion process in only 18 months. She would have to motivate store employees to reduce overhead and improve operations, even though they faced "huge uncertainty" about future employment. "Our people were displaying the classic signs of change fatigue.... People were very jaded" and lacked confidence that they could make things better, she said.

"Confidence is absolutely crucial in making change stick. If people are confident in their leadership, themselves and the business purpose, you are way more likely to get a change that is sustainable and actually turns into continuous improvement," MacLeod noted. To build confidence, her team drafted a business case and showed it to the "biggest cynics" in the organization, asking them for a critique and to suggest how to make it work. MacLeod said she built trust by speaking directly to store employees, explaining how the plan would help them beat the competition, and showing that "we had genuine empathy for what they were going through."

So that employees would know what was expected and see their progress, her team communicated month-by-by month performance objectives, including specific plans to reduce overhead costs. "We focused every single day on engaging our people," using town hall meetings, small team meetings and the web to promote continuous improvement, MacLeod said. To prevent backsliding, she offered employees retention bonuses that would be paid at the time the store was sold to the franchisees if the stores were delivered to their new owners with strong financial controls and safety records. "People were very motivated to make sure the business continued to run in a very healthy way."

Celebrating success, recognizing achievement and making people feel good about the business were important tools for sustaining momentum. "People got rewarded for simplifying and improving things. Importantly, it's as much -- if not more -- about the recognition of your peers than it is about financial rewards," MacLeod said.

Know Your Destination

Organizational design helped to lay the foundation for change. "I put my winning, end-state organization in place from day one" rather than waiting to decide which employees would stay to support the franchises and which would leave," MacLeod stated. "We had people who knew they would be leaving in 18 months and they stayed motivated for the entire period because we had been very straight with them. People want and expect clarity from their leaders." Planning was critical to reduce risk as the team rolled out new concepts. "We did lots of road mapping and tested our plans before we went to market," MacLeod said.

In the end, tracking measures showed that employees improved and simplified operations throughout the conversion period, producing $700 million a year in cost savings. Selling the stores freed $1.2 billion in capital for BP to redeploy more productively. Pulse surveys showed morale steadily improved, even though 70% of those responding knew they would lose their jobs, according to McLeod. "The thing I'm most proud of is how our people responded.... You can do some really tough things as leaders and you can do them in a way that people feel valued and respected."

She noted that "it's very easy to get addicted to the change pattern by not getting the change right in the first place, not making the tough calls or bold decisions up-front, maybe going for something half-way, and then allowing things to slip back."

Ultimately, MacLeod said, not just corporations, but the global economy depends on leaders to break the cycle. "The economy needs businesses that are clear on why they exist, clear on what their business model is, and have measures in place to know when they need to make adjustments. We need organizations that can manage continuous improvement in a predictable way."

Thanks to Wharton for this article.