People Smartz Blog

Today I was almost involved in an accident in my car.

I was driving along the road, the last of three cars travelling along a suburban street.  Up ahead was a side street with one car waiting to turn out and another waiting to turn into it.

Unexpectantly, the first of the two cars ahead of me suddenly stopped to let these two cars exit and enter the side street.

Taken by surprise, both I and the driver of the second car braked hard.  Unfortunately, the second car was unable to stop in time and drove straight into the rear of the first car, which then crashed into both the cars turning.  Luckily, I was travelling far enough behind to avoid being physically involved and my car was undamaged - something I can not say for the other 4 cars involved.  

More importantly, no one was injured in the accident.

Now what has this got to do with a blog about business you might ask?

Well, it teaches us a lesson in why it is important to manage expectations in your business - when you don't, the unexpected happens!

We have road laws that control how traffic behaves, signs that indicate who is required to give way or stop, speed limits and many other things that are provided to ensure we are safe and consistent on the road.  Today's accident occurred (in my opinion), because someone decided that they would do the "unexpected".

Simply, he stopped to allow traffic that legally did not have the right of way to turn.  As he stated after, he thought he was "doing the right thing" and that "they could be waiting for ages".  

The problem was that this was not a behaviour those travelling behind were expecting - we were expecting him to follow the rules.  He hadn't even thought that others would be expecting him to do something different!

Now we have said before in this blog that the number one thing we see when asked to assist businesses with issues that develop with people is that there is an inconsistent approach to expectation management.  

When expectations aren't clear or not understood, then problems occur.  In the case of the car accident, the expectations were clear, but the understanding was not - the driver did not understand the need to stick to rules, he did not understand the effect that his actions may have (I am sure he does now!)

So there is a lesson to be learnt from today's event - how you deliver and ensure understanding of your and your businesses expectations is important in ensuring your business remains on track - without any "accidents".

This is were tools such as position descriptions, employment agreements, codes of conduct, processes and procedures become very important.  They lay out the basic "expectations" of the business in regards to behaviours, customer and peer interaction, business development etc.  If these are clear and easily understood, you are a long way along the track to ensuring a smooth running business.

In line with this is ensuring that you have strong systems to communicate formally and informally with your team.  This includes performance management systems and the way you pass on important information.  Regardless of the size of the business, these systems in themselves can be designed to improve both individual and business performance.

Equally important is the demonstrated behaviour of owners and managers of your business. By ensuring your own actions are line with these expectations, you are providing an example to your team.

If you would like to improve the performance of your team, first look to how you manage your expectations - For many years, we at People Smartz, have been assisting in ensuring that businesses run smoothly through the strong development of these expectation management tools and behaviours. Call us today to assist you!

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The HR Coach Research Institute has released its latest quarterly index.

The latest information coming out of the business sector indicates a significant drop in business confidence and a unique situation developing in terms of a two speed economy.  

The following summary is provided courtesy of the Institute:

"Alarmingly, this data was compiled before any firm Carbon Tax plan was released by the federal government, thus does not account for the affects of the proposed tax. In light of this, confidence and sentiment in the business sector will most probably not improve in the coming quarter.

Furthermore, job advertisements fell, as did job creation in the past quarter.

The multi-speed economy in Australia is presenting the business sector with the unique situation that has the economy growing whilst at the same time making business owners retreat into survival mode. As a result long term planning and strategy are suffering.

Interestingly employee satisfaction levels within the business sector are higher than those of business owner's satisfaction with their own business. This could exacerbate already strained relationships."

You can download a copy of this latest research from our website - HR Quarterly Index

When we first started People Smartz, our aim was to assist companies who understood that people are the most important asset a company can have.

Our aim has never changed, we believe that it is people who can drive a business to success and have not moved from this belief.

This means our aim has always been to work with businesses to assist them to build the individual and collective capability within a business - the aim being what we call "Mutual Success".

Last week we met with one of our long term clients.  They are a small company of 20 employees with offices in two states.

This company has strong leadership, some good managers and some good people - A recently completed employee survey assessed their employee satisfaction at 73%!

But it was the items that the survey raised that interested us - what they were doing well, and what they could do better.  

What the survey enabled us to highlight was the differences in management and leadership between the states.  Where one state was strong in communication, the other was not, where one state was strong in sharing company performance, the other was not etc.

This has enabled us to see identify the individual strengths of the managers and use them in our planning to assist the company in moving forward to "mutual success".  By developing a plan utilsing the individual competencies each manager is displaying, we can use those strengths to develop weak areas in another area of the company, or even in another individual.

Building on what you already have in an organisation can sometimes have a very positive effect on a company.  By identifying the strengths you have in managers and staff, and utilising them to build the business you are developing not only the company but building responsibility, accountability and ownership - all positives for any company!

If you would like assistance in developing a plan to improve the performance of your company and encourage "mutual success"  - Contact Us Today!

Recently People Smartz launched a new one on one workshop called "Mutual Success".

These workshops are built on the premise that employers and employees working together can achieve success on a business and individual level.  We've called this "Mutual Success".  Really, its all about building busienesses through stong connections between all members of a business's "Team".

The workshops take a whole of business approach to managing people in a business.  They begin with seeking the needs of the business owner and identifying those areas of the business which may be effecting the achievement of "Mutual Success".

This begins with the basics - is the business providing their team members with all their entitlements, is the business complaint with Australia's new industrial relations laws and what behaviours are effecting the achievement of success.

We then move on to talking about how the business can move someway towards achieving "Mutual Success" and putting in place a plan to start them on their way.

Having completed a small number of these workshops, I have found that the results are incredible.  Not only are businesses finding new ways towards success, they are also covering off on important areas of compliance.  For thoses businesses, managing people has become a factor in their success!  One comment made by a workshop participant was "this has changed the whole way I look at my staff.  They are part of my competitive edge - not just a cost on the business".

At People Smartz, we strongly believe the development of "Mutual Success" is essential to the success of small to medium sized businesses.  In fact, we believe so strongly in this concept that we have decided to offer the "Mutual Success" workshops to small and medium sized business for free for the next 3 months!

Businesses taking part in the workshops come away with

• A new awareness of what may be challenging your business in regards to staff within your business
• Identify 3 things you can do now to improve productivity, staff retention and staff costs in your business
• A 3 month “Getting the Basics Right” Smartz Plan individualized for your business that you can begin work on straight away!

Visit our booking page to find out more today!

Recently I read a blog by a member of a large international coaching organization.  In the blog, the writer quoted W Edwards Deming (a guru of quality management and credited with the rise of Japan as a world powerhouse in manufacturing after WW2).

According to the writer, in the quote, Deming said that “that 94% of all failures in a business are the result of the “systems” in the business and only 6% of the failures are caused by the people in the business.”

I agree with Deming, however I disagree with the blog writer (who even managed to spell Deming's name incorrectly) who basically then went on to use this quote to explain why systems over people will create “leverage” in the organization.

The basic fault with the article was that it was designed to promote a systematic version of business coaching that is more concerned with short term gains rather than long term ones.  It is designed to encourage people to take a one size fits all approach to a business without taking into account the individual aspects of; or the people in, their business.  In short, it was an article designed to inform about how to save time, create a picture of short term success and promote their product.

Now, I’ll be up front and say that my blog is designed to raise the profile of my business.  I believe you were probably aware of this when you started reading; however my approach here is to ask you to think about the relationship between people and systems.

I believe that a business’s success is a result of the direct relationship between efficient systems and the people running them.  Systems are not the end, they are the beginning of the real process – that of creating a long term viable business.

See if you agree with the following comments:

• People run the systems, not the other way around.
• People make decisions, not the systems (the system can guide them in the right direction but in the end it is the people who make the decision). 
• People create relationships with People, not with systems. 
• A business succeeds because of the drive of the people running it – the systems make sure they are all on the same road.

I am not writing here saying that systems are not important.  In fact I believe they are important tools in maintaining consistency and quality, setting expectations and ensuring your business succeeds.  The more systemized a business is, the more likely it is to succeed.  Not because it is systemized, but because the systems create the time to concentrate on the important factors of business success. 

The important word in the previous paragraph is “tool”. Because that is what a system is - a tool that assists you, and your team, to achieve business success.  Imagine telling a carpenter that he didn’t build the shelf, the power drill did? Would he or she accept that? No way!  It is the same with your business, you need the systems as a tool towards the end product – and success for your business is the end product.

But regardless of the systems you have in place, it is important to have the right people to run them. This means becoming very good at knowing who the right people are in terms of attitude, skills and abilities.   Simply getting the right person in your organization, training them and working with them is probably one of the most important roles of a business owner or manager.

I know of one coaching organization that is so systemized in its recruiting approach that it advocates placing an answering machine on the phone, asking people to sell why they should get the job to the answering machine and then inviting the best answers to a “group interview” (Don't believe me - drop me a line and I'll give you the title of the book!)  The designers of this "system" know business owners are time poor, they know that saving time is attractive - so they have come up with a system designed to “save time” not to select the right person.  Ask yourself would such a system really work for your business?  Would you be confident of selecting the right person?

In the last week, I have received a call from a client of one of the bigger coaching groups.  They are looking for a business coach who is “people” rather than “system” orientated. 

They commented that they had commenced coaching on the same week as another business run by a couple they are friendly with.  They were in different capital cities, using a different coach from the same international coaching franchise.

The funny thing is that they had compared notes and found that the things they were being asked to do, the information they were being given and the advice they were being given was exactly the same – even to the point of them receiving exactly the same fax one day before a coaches visit on the same week of their program!  What’s more, they both saw red when advised that all future coaching sessions would be over the phone to “save them time” – and that advice was given in the same week! 

Maybe they were similar business you say?  No - one was retail and the other light manufacturing, one had 120 employees, the other 15.  One had been established less than a year, the other more than 10.  In short, they were being coached via a system with no tailoring for their individual needs.  Both companies are now in the process of finding a new coach.  Why - because it was the system that was coaching them, not the coach.

To end this article, I would like to go back to W Edwards Deming.  In his book “Out of Crisis”, he advocated a 14 point plan to save US industry in the 1980’s.  While Deming was a big (read this to mean big) believer in systems, he was criticized for providing a set of goals (his 14 points) without providing any tools to make them happen.  When asked about this by managers his reply was “You’re the manager, you work it out”. 

And to end, another quote from Deming – “A system must be managed. It will not manage itself” (The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993))

Seems even the quality guru, Deming, believed that business was about a relationship between people and systems....

I can only say that business coaching and consulting is the same.  Think about this next time you look for a business consultant or coach – regardless of their specialty area!

P.S.  I have made several comments and criticisms in this article, If you would like details of where this information has come from (i.e. links, books etc.) please contact me and I will be happy to provide (except where it would break client confidentiality).

 

 

 

 

A couple of days ago, I had a long conversation with one of my clients.

His lament was one I have heard before from business owners - that staff these days are no longer "loyal" to their employer.

There is an endless amount of research regarding the difference between generations, and the changing face of our workforce and really I don't intend to go into those in this blog - what I would like to talk about is an often missed part of "loyalty" - that of individual identity and identification.

Let me explain by using myself as an example - I spent a good period of my life in the Navy.  If you were to ask who I was, I would say I was a "Sailor" - it is how I identified myself to myself.  In fact, if I was talking to someone with a naval background I'd probably take this further and describe myself as a "Yeoman" - a title that would not mean much to people outside the Navy.

Now over the years, I have begun a new career, founded a company and been fairly successful in my endeavours.  I truely enjoy the work I do, dealing with clients who are pursing their own dreams and goals.  While my personal picture of myself has altered, there is still that element of my description which says "Sailor". 

My point is that this personal identification has created in me a certain amount of loyalty to an organisation I left quite a while ago.  In my mind, that recognition and loyalty is still there.

For Business Owners, it is easy for them to identify themselves with their business - after all they own it, run it and are responsible for its success or failure. 

Sometimes it is hard for them to understand that their employees may not feel the same way about the business.  But after all, if their employees have had no opportunity to "recognise" themselves as part of the business - what have they got to be loyal about?

Speaking to my client the other day, we begun discussing this in relation to his business.  He is a very hands-on type business owner.  For him, his employees are people who come in, do a days work and then leave - the business is his to run. 

While talking, he begun to share some of his own experiences about when he felt the most loyalty to his own employers.

With this - he realised that he couldn't really expect loyalty from his staff if he was not offering them something to be loyal about.

I left him to think this over and consider what actions of his own were actually leading to the situation that was annoying him.

I'll let you know how he goes over the coming weeks.......

 

In my travels around businesses, I speak to a lot of businesses owners.  One of the most frequent responses I get when speaking to them about the new industrial relations laws is the title of this blog.

“We don’t need to worry about that” is a refrain that I hear quite alot.  The basic premise is that if they haven’t had a problem before, then they will not have one in the future.

As far as the industrial relations laws are concerned, thinking this way is not a smart move for business owners and managers.  Over the last couple of months, I have seen an increase in the number of businesses calling me for assistance after having received a letter from the Fair Work Ombudsman regarding a complaint from an employee.  On nearly every occasion, the business concerned had, until now, a belief that “We don’t have to worry about that”.

In a recent article, Judith Radisich from the Council of Small Businesses of Australia, in a response to a survey of small businesses said the following: “I am surprised that a higher proportion of small business respondents did not report complying with IR and OH&S laws takes up a higher proportion of their “people” time.  Perhaps the main reason for this is that survey respondents don’t spend much time on compliance because the laws are simply too complex and virtually impossible to get on top of for most small business owners”.  So, yet another reason for businesses to say “We don’t have to worry about that” – it is simply too hard to say otherwise!

One business I am currently working with has received two complaint letters and has been requested to provide payroll records.  The danger for this company is that the complaint, if found correct, could result in a large amount of back pay being ordered that the company cannot afford to pay.  Now the owners are not bad people, they have not set out to deliberately underpay their staff and are quite distressed that they may have.  But even they admit that they thought “We don’t have to worry about that”.

The fact is that we have recently gone through one of the biggest revamps of industrial relations in a long time.  When this is combined with an active workplace ombudsman (The Fair Work Ombudsman) with the power to order back pay, award fines and commence prosecutions then you have to wonder whether businesses can really afford to say “We don’t need to worry about that”.

Happy New Year!

Listening to the news last night here in Brisbane, the reports were on many new laws/changes being introduced in the new year.  Bus Fares were going up, politicians were going to be paid more etc.

But there was not one mention of some of the most wide spread changes to the working lives of Australians.  Effective today, Australia's new system of modern awards and the National Employment Standards (NES) will now govern the way businesses employ and manage their staff.

Over the past 6-8 months, I (and many others) have been seeking to raise awareness of these changes and urging businesses to prepare.

Today, the time for preparation is over - from today it is time to act......

If you haven't already identified your new award, it is time to do it.

If you haven't looked at the New Employment Standards (NES), it is time to do it.

If you haven't already identified the changes to your employment practices that will need to be made, it is time to do it.

If you haven't already put in place policies and procedures to protect your business, it is time to do it.

If you haven't already ensured your employment agreements are consistent with the new laws, awards and standards, it is time to do it.

If you haven't got appropriate processes in place to mitigate risk in areas such as harassment, discrimination, Health and Safety etc, it is time to do it.

If you haven't got a engagement plan for the unions relevant to your business, it is time to do it.

If you haven't got a plan for "good faith bargaining" and consulting with your staff, it is time to do it.

If you haven't looked into how to introduce flexibility into your business through "individual flexibility agreements", it is time to do it.

Not a bad list is it?  And this is only the start! 

For more information, visit the members section of our website today!

End of year/Christmas Office parties - a great time to unwind, rub shoulders with workmates and other great antics.  They can be a fun time!

But end of year parties have a very serious side as many of these antics lead to "regrets" after.

Recent research in Australia found that 70% of people believed that hitting the booze led to a more "personal" feeling amongst staff.  Nearly a quarter of females interviewed admitted that their boss had made a pass at them at an office party.

Such behaviours can present many problems for businesses, particularly if the "antics" involved lead to a complaint from a member of staff regarding the behaviour of another.

It would be easy to say "no office party" or "its too risky", but sometimes the advantages of holding the party far outweigh the negatives.  The decision to have or not have one is one for the business alone. 

I would recommend a level headed approach to this years Xmas party - making sure the party is well planned and your staff are aware of the required behaviours before hand.  This way you can have the fun while managing the risk!

To help you plan for your businesses party, download our Christmas Checklist today from our members section.

People Smartz is proud to have been accredited as an approved consultant for the Jobs Assist Program.

The Queensland State Government is providing grants through approved Consultants for the delivery of advisory and mentoring services to businesses with 10 or more (full time equivalent) employees under the Jobs Assist programme.

The Department of Employment, Economic Development & Innovations (DEEDI) is providing the support intended to help businesses weather the current economic conditions. The financial loss and consequent unemployment caused by business failures is well understood. DEEDI is generously providing funding wherever such assistance is beneficial to sustaining businesses and the retention of employees.

To find out more about eligibility or to apply please contact us for more information today!

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