The Bottom Line To Peak Performance Vol 7, Issue 35, Jan 10

Challenge Your Thinking

The Bottom Line To Peak Performance Vol 7, Issue 35, Jan 10

Managing People in 2010

With the beginning of a new decade comes the optimistic view of a brighter future for our businesses, family, and self. Focus on creating an environment that fosters a positive attitude and watch your employees become more productive. So how can you create that environment? Follow these 3 easy steps:

Focus on catching people doing things "right" instead of only saying something when they make a mistake. When you see someone helping a coworker or going the extra mile for a customer give them praise.
Start a "Wins" board. Create a poster board with all the employees names on it, with columns & dates. When someone does a positive thing, mark it on the board. Keep this board visible for all employees to see.
Eventually annualize the "Wins." If an employee comes up with an idea that reduces costs, put a value to it and annualize the savings. Then write it on the board, put it in your company newsletter, and send them a "Thank You" card or note.

At first it may seem hard to find someone doing things right, mostly because we are not focused on that type of behavior. However, after a couple of days, you will start to see those positive actions more frequently and the attitudes of everyone become more positive.

IMPORTANT: Do not start a "Wins" board and not keep it up to date. It is demoralizing for your staff.

Global Organization Consulting

As the Executive V.P. of Human Resources located in Paris, I had the functional leadership challenge of evolving an existing HR organization into an international team capable of meeting the professional challenges of a changing French global manufacturing business.

Based on the initial geographical challenges we faced, I engaged Norm Gauthier to provide organizational consulting support in the U.S. I knew he was someone I could work with and trust, especially in working remotely with me from Europe. His experience, allowed him to quickly assess what we had, the major challenges we faced, and helped identify step by step what needed to be done. He also helped define the needs in terms of skills and competencies required in building an effective international HR presence.

He used his business consulting experience and knowledge of HR practice to carefully focus on individual and collective development 'gaps' creating conditions that allowed team members to take risks, experience new roles and ...in the end take on more of a leadership position. During this change management process, he took on individual and team coaching assignments in support of several organizational initiatives. He also developed several international train-the-trainer development modules, linking each to the staged development and roll-out of critical management tools.

Results of the work… we now have a worldwide HR organization that uses the same processes and tools despite their location in the world, which is rare for a Global company. Our HR members are recognized by Business Unit management as professionals they involve early in the change process to provide advice and counsel. And, with the focus on developing leadership and accountability at the operational HR management level, the team now exercises a different level of problem solving and collaboration that requires less leadership time and involvement in decision making.

An outstanding work quality that is very effective…Norman respects the fine line between the 'decision maker' and the team - thus creating a challenging environment for the boss and a safe environment for the team to take on initiatives and risk - learning conditions that we needed.

J. Dekker,
Executive V.P., Human Resources Sperian Protection