Upcoming speaker engagements.

HR Transformation Asia conference 10-11 march 2015 , Sentosa, Singapore

South East Asia HR Summit 2015, 7-8 may 2015, KL, Malaysia.

Asian HRM awards

HRM Asia has announced the finalists for the HRM awards 2015. You can see further information of this on the link given here.

More blogs on my LinkedIn

I have been trying to do justice to this blog as well as post articles on LinkedIn. It will be grateful if you can kindly visit my LinkedIn profile to check if I have posted any new blogs there.

CREATING A CREDIBLE HR ORGANISATION

pic from http://virtualmarketingofficer.com/

Very often we have heard of why people hate HR. One of the recent ones which shocked me was an article that appeared in HBR written by Ram Charan who is one of the leading thinkers in the management space. His books which recently has been very focused on people related issues (  The Execution , Game Changers,  Talent Masters etc) have been a great value add for any people manager. However I would not be surprised at why he or many others are frustrated with HR, although I felt that a sweeping statement like “ Its time to say goodbye to the department of human resources” may have been misread by many people.

As it is often said in public policies that “ the people get the governments they desire”, it is true about human resources and its leadership too. Most often the HR departments that people get in many organisations is what the CEO’s , the management and the  employees really desire to have. Once a very senior CHRO told a group of us that he wants to bring in “GE practices at Wal-Mart budgets”. His intentions were absolutely nobles, but guess what-it’s not possible. It’s not possible because GE and Walmart are two different organisation having an entirely different purpose.  Wal-Mart’s mission statement is "We save people money, so they can live better". Now this means the HR department there will have to function different from GE which works on four principle of Imagine, Build, Solve and Lead. So in effect what you get from your HR department is what you really want ,and in all honesty that is what every company should aim for. Getting the right employees who finds a purpose to work for these companies  is the value add that HR can bring , but it should be noted that there cannot and may not be similar HR practices that will be followed in these companies who serve different purposes.

Dave Ulrich has countered many people including Ram Charan when they say it’s time to bid goodbye to HR using his 20-60-20 rule where he says one should focus on  “educating” the 60% of the HR folks who needs to move up the scale. I fully agree with Dave on this as I believe that it is this 60% of HR folks who needs to up skill and grow themselves to be true champions of business. I have myself encountered situations where I have at times doubted the value of HR , but then I guess rather than doubting the value add of HR I should probably be doubting whether it’s just the case of  trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

There is always a huge proportion of so called HR folks who are doing administrative services. Many  business leaders may not even be aware of the existence of these  folks who are actually the skeletal structure of the organisation but without them the organisations cannot function. Then there is the middle managers who interact on a day to day basis with business leaders and coordinate things between the administrative part of HR and business folks. They are a highly visible role and this is where I would put the 60% that Dave referred to who may create an “impression” of HR and needs to up skill. These set of people along with the senior most HR leaders in the organisation should have one main competency that is essential for HR credibility and I would put that as “ entrepreneurial skills”. These skills should make you fit in exactly into the purpose of an organisation and if your entrepreneurial skills don’t fit into the company’s purpose of existence then you would have to find one that fits you so that credibility is not compromised.

It is important for business managers and HR professionals to have a real understanding and dialogue of what HR “should” mean to them. This would help the organisation have a right fit as I have seen often that there is a disconnect between what you really want vs what you are willing to invest especially when it comes to people.  This would help ensure that you can hire the right kind of  HR leader and she/ he can can in turn design an HR organisation which really is made of the kind of people who is inclined to support the purpose and mission of your organisation. 

IS YOUR MANUFACTURING UNIT A " COOL PLACE" TO WORK?

While having a recent focus group discussion with some of our senior managers who manage the operations, one of them told me how companies are getting too focused on technology and process innovation that they forget about the key element of a shop floor- "The People". I could not agree more to it as over and over again we see instances of factories being classified as places which require the lowest level of skills and hence needing the least attention as far as people are concerned.

But is this true and even if it is true can you do away with having the least focus on them?

There was a time when labour force at factories were taken for granted and were treated as inventories which were easily replaceable. This was predominantly done for two reasons

1) Less turnover.

2) Industrial era mindset of managers.

3) Lack of knowledge on learning retention of employees.

All these 3 points are inter related. Anyone who has run manufacturing especially in most Asian countries would admit that attrition has now become a key concern on the shop floor. I am not even going into the percentage of attrition but the cost of attrition if calculated properly ( as i have done for one of my previous employers) could be as high as a million USD per month!!!. Also manufacturing jobs are no longer seen as being "cool" by the younger generation and hence finding the candidates itself is not easy. As per recent statistics 75% of your work force by 2025 would be gen Y, so you better make your workplace "cool" enough.

Most managers who used to dominate the shop floor till some time ago used to run factories like running a military camp. Though there was and in some cases still a need to have strict discipline in factories , the younger generation who has much awareness of the world around them would not like to be treated like in a camp. After all they are not fighting a war, they are merely working for their livelihood.

Also , there was a mindset about the employees on the production floor as easily replaceable and not considered part of knowledge retention and innovation. This is gradually shifting too as we see more push for reduction of total manufacturing cost ( TMC) and other elements for companies to compete. If given a chance the workorce @ the shop floor would play a significant role in these areas.

Contrary to popular belief , my experience is that the shop floor folks are the easiest to be satisfied and their needs are sometimes very basic. Here are a few things that you may find very simple but easy to implement irrespective of any culture.

• ·        Walk through the shop floor and make your presence felt , not just for supervision but to be with them.
• ·        Pass on a genuine smile and greet your employees @ production floor. The higher you are at the organizational ladder the more impact it has. It doesn't cost you a dime too.
• ·        Make an effort to talk to at least one shop floor employee a day. Ask her/ him about his work ( not questioning please), his/her family or anything that has an emotional currency.
• ·        Celebrate small wins and make it part of your management system.
• ·        Find ways to involve and ask them for ideas. Though many factories have employee suggestion schemes, many dont get the desired results as it is often part of a large group brainstorming , lacks follow up or they are simply resistant /scared to express ideas. Break that shell and find creative ways to involve them.
• ·        Convert the work to passion. Work for most people get monotonous and boring when it is just done for the sake of earning a livelihood. Can you find ways to make these employees passionate about work?. It has been proven that when employees know what the end products are and how it is being used ( hopefully for something good) , they tend to get emotionally engaged rather than just getting rationally engaged with their work and the company.
• ·        Make your shop floors look attractive. I am sure we all have heard of sweatshops. Unfortunately many still do exists and even if they are not sweatshops they resemble a boring , disconnected and tired look. For example why do most factories need to be white in colour.

There are many other variable factors involved in engaging your workforce @ shop floor/manufacturing and there is no one size fits all solution. Taking personal ownership, being creative etc in leading the engagement can make a huge difference in making your manufacturing unit a " cool place" to work at.

 reproduced from my article in evancarmichael

Behind every successful leader is an even more successful team in the front

When i write this the first thought i have is of the humble experience of having worked with some awesome people who have been in my team. As leaders move ahead and grow in their careers there , amongst the many factors that made them successful,  the one that stands tall and in the forefront is "THE TEAM" that they have been part of. As the saying goes " you are only as good as you team", i would take it one step further and say that you are " only good because of your team".  A team can be a combination of one or more people who have worked together with you as a leader and it can be your direct reports and the people who have worked for them, your peers , your bosses and everyone who were part of your work. One of  my former boss Ronald once told me that whenever i recruit i should aim for someone better than me, which has always left a lasting impression in my mind because it shows the determination of a leader who is fully secure about himself and has the courage to build a team who can challenge him/her. Many a times i have been asked in conferences and round table discussions of how you can be certain that you have a good team. Here is a few quick checklist that may give you an idea if your team is the one who is going to make you successful.

 ·       Do you have a team which comprises of people who you can be better than you one day if they are in your role?

·       Do you have a team which is ready to challenge you privately and support you openly?

·       Do you have a team which is diverse enough?

·       Does your team feel that you stand up for them and take care of them when they really need you?

·       Are you value adding to your team?

Though the above may not fully describe a team which is going to make you, if you do well in most of these areas you are surely on the right track to building a team which is going is going to lead from the front for your success.

ARE YOU A RACE HORSE OR A WORK HORSE?

Have you seen  some of your staff or even yourself trying to keep busy all the day @ work? . This typically is the behavior of a work horse who would give meaning to the Parkinson's law which states that  "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". But  is this a productive behavior?. It certainly creates a perception of hard working employee and in industrial era was appreciated and rewarded. This might have got you or even now would bring you a job stability ( unless you don't end up doing something really miserable) , but this is not what would be needed to for you to grow to being a leader or taking on higher responsibilities.

For that what you need is a race horse , someone who goes beyond the norms of a normal work, breaks the barriers and doesn't count the time he/ she or their team spends in the office. For this kind of a person it's all about performance and not about being afraid of having too much time in hand( which anyways won't get wasted). This person may make you feel that work is so simple and that things in office can be multitasked. The problem is that these people are normally considered still as outcasts or  hackers of work as described by Bill and Josh in their book" Hacking Work". Companies who don't allow internet access for their employees, having strict uniform guidelines etc are the ones who are afraid of these race horses.

Race horse at work are rare and as a company you need to have exceptional skills to locate and nurture them or else they would either become a workhorse or get poached by someone who values these race horses. As you have more of the new gen making up your workforce, there is a higher need for understanding the needs of these "faster" generation and giving them the right opportunity to grow. The choice is also for you as an individual to be a race horse and get taken care and rewarded( of course in the right organisation) or be a workhorse and be treated just like anyone else.