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Chapter 1: HR Best Practice? We don't have one.
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Other than being compliant with legislation, we don’t consistently
follow any ‘rules’ or ‘best practices’. We threw out the rule book a long time ago. Why? Because after many attempts to generalize an HR ‘best practice’, we realized there was no one-size-fits-all solution for every business or organization or for the people who work there.
We decided we wanted to work with our clients to create environments where leaders and business owners didn’t struggle as much to deal with employee relations issues — where they were able to provide the kind of leadership and a workplace where people loved to come to work every day, where everyone could shine and where they could achieve their own goals within the small to medium-sized business world.
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Chapter 2: Because I'm the boss
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We all get frustrated. Whether you’re a leader or on the frontline, our philosophy is that everyone, regardless of job title, needs to be treated as a ‘human being’. Whether that person ranks below you in the ‘company hierarchy’ or is someone you report to, treat them with respect, courtesy and understanding.
People are people. They are going to make mistakes. Instead of looking at them as easily replaced roles or just as an employee, work with them in the way they would like to be treated. Get to know your people and understand where they are coming from. Figure out what their skills are and how you can best develop them. How you handle issues or respond to problems is likely not how they would react in the same situation. Understand that and work with them at their level, not yours.
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Chapter 3: Look up — that's where it all begins
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It takes work to be an incredible leader; to consistently walk,
talk and behave with leadership qualities. Leadership is something you have to practice — being faced with challenging situations and resolving them with empathy, logic and tact, while keeping the business in mind, is a skill you will need to continue to hone throughout your career.
A truly great leader will dig deep to understand who they are leading
and look at them with a view to seeing more than just their roles or
responsibilities. This type of leader will consider who they are as the whole person. They will understand their people's strengths and weaknesses; what makes them tick and what creates enjoyment and success for them.
An exceptional leader understands it’s about the people. At a deeper level, they believe it’s the connection with their people,and helping them to achieve success first, that ultimately leads to an
exceptional organization.
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Chapter 6: I can't feel my toes
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-Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
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One of the most critical, but often overlooked, ways you can create engagement and retention is to provide pleasant and comfortable surroundings for people to work in. If your people are not physically comfortable where they spend 40 hours a week or more, it will be hard for them to enjoy their work.
The best and most successful companies have engaged, productive and loyal people, most of whom are not there only for the money. Creating and designing a workplace they want to come to every day, a space where they feel ‘at home’, physically comfortable, valued and appreciated, is one of the best ways to build an engaged workforce who will stick with you, through both the good times and the bad.
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Chapter 7: Are you listening?
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“A unique relationship develops among team members who enter into dialogue regularly. They develop a deep trust that cannot help but carry over to discussions. They develop a richer understanding of the uniqueness of each person’s point of view.”
- Peter Senge
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With every organization, there are opportunities to learn and to grow as a leader or manager, through critical conversations held during different touch-points with your people. One of the most important discussions you can have and learn from is an exit interview, when a person is leaving your company.
But, why wait until people are leaving the organization? What if instead, you captured this information while they are still there, hopefully preventing them from leaving at all? We suggest a process we call ‘stay interviews’. This is comparable to an exit interview but captures similar information from your people while they are still employed by your organization. Another term for this is a cultural assessment. It’s ideal to undertake these interviews on a regular basis (annually, if possible). This way you can see how you have improved year-over-year with the issues that are discovered from this process. If for some reason your results aren’t as favourable one year, look into the reasons and come up with a strategy for improvement. Many of the same types of questions will be used as in an exit interview.
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Chapter 9: I'm good with how things are
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For organizations undergoing change, transparent, effective and frequent communication is critical to helping your people understand and process the news. Not everyone in your company will hear and accept the information in the same way. If the change is a significant one — the sale of the company, new leadership, a reorganization or a merger — create opportunities for them to reach out to ask questions. For some, even an office move is anxiety-provoking. It can be as simple as setting up a special email address for them to send questions, or for others, the ability to have a one-on-one conversation to have their questions answered.
Much of how people will react depends on what’s changing in their worlds. When the company is adopting new technology or acquiring another business, some are full of anticipation and looking forward to it. Those who are glass-half-full types are naturally going to look for the positive in any situation. If they are the glass-half-empty kind of person, they may need more from leadership or management.
When your business or organization is undergoing change, remember the people on the other side upon whom the change is being imposed. For them to deal with it — they first must hear it, then they need to understand it, and then they have to have to process it. For each of them, that’s going to happen in a range of ways.
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