In Chinese zodiac, the year of the Tiger is traditionally associated with massive changes. To remain ahead of the game, here are a few ways that companies in Mainland China should consider:
1. Make a call for HR contribution to the organization’s productivity and capabilities. For most management teams, putting more emphasis on HR means realizing tangible and monetary deliverables. Reduction of recruitment costs seems to be the next and most relevant frontier. Building strong in-house recruitment arm with their own high caliber headhunters is financially sound, especially as recruitment fees to external recruiters have skyrocketed as talent is scare in China. However, this strategy does not solve the long term issue of developing talent and making it more effective. Net net, retention could be much cheaper than recruitment.
2. Shift focus on building talent. Long-term workforce planning involves identifying and nurturing junior talent particularly fresh out of college. The ‘big four’ and even some local Chinese companies realize the importance of an aggressive approach and surpass other people businesses in this respect. Each year in November these organizations put the senior students to a series of interviews and tests. Once this process concludes, employment contracts are signed and the "workforce newbies" are expected to start after their graduation in May of the following year.
3. Fill in your teamwork approach with substance. Pulling together as a team is a central element of motivational speeches by many companies’ leaders. However, bonuses tend to be based on individual performance and enormous discrepancies in pay tend to prevail. Both of them prevent employees from believing that everybody is "in the same boat". For all employees to feel valuable and more valued, status, pay, perks, and other privileges should be reviewed and according to Jeffrey Pfeiffer (1998, The human equation: building profits by putting people first) reduced. As an example, Whole Foods Market introduced a policy limiting executive compensation to ten times the average full-time salary of all team members; disruptive?
Culturally speaking, the concept of teamwork must also be reviewed critically in Mainland China. Surprisingly, current experimental research suggests that Chinese tend to avoid team-based performance measures and self-sacrifices in favor of the team. This goes to show that collectivism of Chinese culture does not automatically translate into cooperation and teamwork in the workplace.
4. Decentralize decision-making. The words “empowerment” and “to empower” are often misused. For example, companies believe that by having a suggestion box, employees will feel more empowered to put their ideas forward. Leaders also tend to believe that making the company’s proprietary tools available to employees and offering training so that employees can do their daily work constitutes empowerment. Well, empowerment is first and foremost about enabling non-managerial staff to make autonomous decisions without consulting their supervisor.
The best examples for empowering staff arise from the hospitality industry. Hampton Inn Hotel instituted a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and thereby permitted employees to do whatever was required to make their guests happy (for example, giving money back for the cost of one night’s stay at the hotel should guests find shortcomings in service). At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, employees have the discretion to spend up to US$ 2,500 without any approval in order to respond to guest complaints. (Pfeiffer, 1998)
For those in "people" businesses in China, the question is what the scope of the decisions is and whether or not employees have the skills and knowledge to make those decisions.
Showing posts with label talent management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talent management. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Talent Challenges in China
Once the hiring test is passed, working with Chinese employees presents other challenges.
Fragile Egos. Ba Ling Hou (the generation born in the 1980s) is the first Chinese generation after the introduction of the one-child policy. Growing up as the center of their family, these so-called “little emperors” are generally more self-centered and more individualistic than their parents. They tend to be less political than the older generation of employees and less receptive to hierarchy. However, this generation is more receptive and adaptive to Western style management. Those who gain a foothold in MNCs have oftentimes exceeded their peers in academic achievements and hence expect to win the race for higher pay, position, and title. These young Chinese employees are also smart, outgoing, and want to be independent. However, they did not necessarily learn how to cope with failures, exercise judgment, make decisions, and be a part of the team.
Unrealistic Expectations. Frequently, Chinese employees have high expectations and exhibit an attitude of “I disserve it” without reflection about their skills and abilities. Employees believe that they should be entrusted with interesting and challenging tasks, promoted, and offered better compensation and benefits packages at least on an annual basis. These high expectations are often fueled by open discussion and comparisons of their packages with colleagues, college peers, and friends. However, since status is very important in Chinese circles, a promotion or even a change in title without a change in duties can satisfy Chinese employees more than any other perk. But keep in mind that such promotions can backfire too. As a real life example, a 22 year old employee refused to report to a 25-year old manager with the argument that the manager was too young and did not know much more than the employee. The employee did not see how she could be successfully trained and mentored by a person from the same age group.
Weak Loyalty. In the US, the average length of time an employee stays in a job used to be five to six years. In China, it is two years. It is worst among Western trained and English fluent Chinese professionals who make "hopping around" from one international company to another a sport. Employees view employers as stepping stones to become more marketable in the future. As one applicant explained to me, referring to the question “How long do you envision yourself staying in this company?”,“The relationship between me and the company is give and take, if it works well for both of us, I’ll stay. If the company falls short, then I will need to leave”.
The Glass Ceiling. As much as employees desire to work for international companies, they perceive a glass ceiling in these organizations. Only a talent localization strategy can help eliminate employees’ fear of the “glass ceiling”. To execute it properly, coach-type Expatriates must be hired with the brief to share knowledge and mentor local staff.
What Vacation? The culture of a taking a vacation by Chinese employees is developing but is not there yet. Chinese prefer to take one day or even half-day annual leave on short notice with little consideration to work schedules, deadlines, and priorities as opposed to a vacation well planned in advance (as traditionally done in the West). Interestingly, annual leave is oftentimes used for interviewing at another employer. During my early consulting days, I was told that whenever an HP employee took leave on Tuesday morning; that meant they were interviewing at Microsoft.
Fragile Egos. Ba Ling Hou (the generation born in the 1980s) is the first Chinese generation after the introduction of the one-child policy. Growing up as the center of their family, these so-called “little emperors” are generally more self-centered and more individualistic than their parents. They tend to be less political than the older generation of employees and less receptive to hierarchy. However, this generation is more receptive and adaptive to Western style management. Those who gain a foothold in MNCs have oftentimes exceeded their peers in academic achievements and hence expect to win the race for higher pay, position, and title. These young Chinese employees are also smart, outgoing, and want to be independent. However, they did not necessarily learn how to cope with failures, exercise judgment, make decisions, and be a part of the team.
Unrealistic Expectations. Frequently, Chinese employees have high expectations and exhibit an attitude of “I disserve it” without reflection about their skills and abilities. Employees believe that they should be entrusted with interesting and challenging tasks, promoted, and offered better compensation and benefits packages at least on an annual basis. These high expectations are often fueled by open discussion and comparisons of their packages with colleagues, college peers, and friends. However, since status is very important in Chinese circles, a promotion or even a change in title without a change in duties can satisfy Chinese employees more than any other perk. But keep in mind that such promotions can backfire too. As a real life example, a 22 year old employee refused to report to a 25-year old manager with the argument that the manager was too young and did not know much more than the employee. The employee did not see how she could be successfully trained and mentored by a person from the same age group.
Weak Loyalty. In the US, the average length of time an employee stays in a job used to be five to six years. In China, it is two years. It is worst among Western trained and English fluent Chinese professionals who make "hopping around" from one international company to another a sport. Employees view employers as stepping stones to become more marketable in the future. As one applicant explained to me, referring to the question “How long do you envision yourself staying in this company?”,“The relationship between me and the company is give and take, if it works well for both of us, I’ll stay. If the company falls short, then I will need to leave”.
The Glass Ceiling. As much as employees desire to work for international companies, they perceive a glass ceiling in these organizations. Only a talent localization strategy can help eliminate employees’ fear of the “glass ceiling”. To execute it properly, coach-type Expatriates must be hired with the brief to share knowledge and mentor local staff.
What Vacation? The culture of a taking a vacation by Chinese employees is developing but is not there yet. Chinese prefer to take one day or even half-day annual leave on short notice with little consideration to work schedules, deadlines, and priorities as opposed to a vacation well planned in advance (as traditionally done in the West). Interestingly, annual leave is oftentimes used for interviewing at another employer. During my early consulting days, I was told that whenever an HP employee took leave on Tuesday morning; that meant they were interviewing at Microsoft.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Newbies in an Advertising Agency
Interview in Guang Gao Ren, June 2009
1. What selection processes do you have in place?
Each week, we receive around 100 CVs from 8 recruitment channels. About 20% of all applicants successfully pass the first screening. We screen out "job hoppers" with 4 or more jobs within the last three years.
A well-written, engaging, and creatively formatted CV in English always attracts our attention. It proves a candidate’s attention to detail, standards of excellence, self-promotion skills, organizational and preparation proficiency, and writing ability.
Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in our rigorous selection process that involves 3 interviews, a practical assignment, and a psychometric assessment that allows us to determine in what way the candidate can complement the existing team.
The interview portion is an opportunity for the candidates to talk about their background, previous successes, and ambitions. We ask relevant behavioral questions to explore each person’s personality, motivations, and natural talents. We are highly interested in candidates that are able to hold a conversation and maintain the interviewers’ attention, demonstrate creativity and curiosity with a questioning mind, and have a passionate and team oriented approach to work and life. We also pay close attention to whether the candidate has prepared diligently for this interview; what and how much they know about us, what sort of questions they have asked and prepared, etc.
For the practical assignment, we typically give each candidate a mock client brief and ask them to come back a week later to present their ideas to a team.
For positions in the Creative Department, we always review carefully the portfolios of the candidate's creative works collected over time.
2. What are your selection criteria for Newbies with no advertising experience?
We define "creativity" very broadly and believe that true creative talent comes from an inquisitive and critical mind, a passion for life, broad life and work experience, and a natural ability for connecting different ideas together. We welcome "out-of-the-box" thinkers and doers from various fields of expertise and career paths such as architects, designers, engineers, project managers, and more.
We are on the lookout for open-minded and ambitious talent with high integrity. We strongly prefer people with high English proficiency and transferable skills and aptitudes (e.g. time management skills, communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork spirit, initiative, etc.). Successful candidates also demonstrate a “can-do” spirit, an internal confidence rooted in a track record of past achievements, a positive attitude, commitment towards continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a client orientation.
In addition to ensuring cultural fit, we base our hiring decisions on specific job and Agency-related criteria. As an example, for TBWA\, our Advertising and Strategy division that deals with large-scale project and retainer clients, we prefer talent who likes to cultivate a long-term relationship with one single client. However, in Agency.com, our Digital Marketing division that works on short-term projects, we need people who enjoy variety, are at ease with maintaining multiple client relationships, and thrive on exposure to various brands and individuals.
For these reasons, self-awareness is another important element for candidate’s to have in order to help both of us make better decisions.
3. What must Newbies learn at the beginning of their work in an Advertising Agency?
People interested in this industry should strongly consider joining an Advertisement Agency relatively early in their career life. It usually takes many years of on-the-job training and client exposure for one to get acquainted with the advertising craft and to later become an expert.
Newcomers to the industry need to quickly grasp an understanding of our Agency's processes, internal project management principles, and establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients. They also should become comfortable with our matrix structure, multidisciplinary nature of our projects, and working in large teams. The capability to adapt to and thrive in our fast paced, demanding, and sometimes ambiguous environment is also essential.
During the first few months at work, Newbies should concentrate on enhancing their professional skills (e.g. account management, design, research, etc.), learn to manage time, resource, and projects challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrate high quality standards over and over again, and strive to understand the "essence" of the brands that they are working on.
All Newbies at TBWA\Group\China are required to learn and understand our language, our cultural glue, and our planning methodology - Disruption; and then be able to apply it to their work and way of working.
4. What kind of training do you provide to Newbies?
Training and development are strong pillars of our culture. All new hires at our Agency join our Orientation Program which aims to equip them with knowledge of all Agencies, Departments, and policies and procedures. During this program, new hires can also obtain a good grasp of our organizational history, mission, and values while meeting others. In addition, Line Managers are responsible for introducing newcomers to their team, reviewing our Agency manuals, going over performance expectation, and giving a briefing for the initial job assignment.
During the first three months, Newbies are trained on-the-job in all facets of daily project work; they may also attend all in-house training sessions and have access to our local and global training decks and self-study tools. After they successfully pass their probationary period, they become eligible for training programs organized together with TBWA\Asia Pacific and the Omnicom Group. For example, the Tiger Academy is our two-year training program geared to nurture leadership skills of our stars in the Account Service Department.
Last but not least, our multi-cultural and multi-national DNA provides employees a continuous flow of opportunities to enrich themselves creatively and intellectually and work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational, and geographic backgrounds.
1. What selection processes do you have in place?
Each week, we receive around 100 CVs from 8 recruitment channels. About 20% of all applicants successfully pass the first screening. We screen out "job hoppers" with 4 or more jobs within the last three years.
A well-written, engaging, and creatively formatted CV in English always attracts our attention. It proves a candidate’s attention to detail, standards of excellence, self-promotion skills, organizational and preparation proficiency, and writing ability.
Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in our rigorous selection process that involves 3 interviews, a practical assignment, and a psychometric assessment that allows us to determine in what way the candidate can complement the existing team.
The interview portion is an opportunity for the candidates to talk about their background, previous successes, and ambitions. We ask relevant behavioral questions to explore each person’s personality, motivations, and natural talents. We are highly interested in candidates that are able to hold a conversation and maintain the interviewers’ attention, demonstrate creativity and curiosity with a questioning mind, and have a passionate and team oriented approach to work and life. We also pay close attention to whether the candidate has prepared diligently for this interview; what and how much they know about us, what sort of questions they have asked and prepared, etc.
For the practical assignment, we typically give each candidate a mock client brief and ask them to come back a week later to present their ideas to a team.
For positions in the Creative Department, we always review carefully the portfolios of the candidate's creative works collected over time.
2. What are your selection criteria for Newbies with no advertising experience?
We define "creativity" very broadly and believe that true creative talent comes from an inquisitive and critical mind, a passion for life, broad life and work experience, and a natural ability for connecting different ideas together. We welcome "out-of-the-box" thinkers and doers from various fields of expertise and career paths such as architects, designers, engineers, project managers, and more.
We are on the lookout for open-minded and ambitious talent with high integrity. We strongly prefer people with high English proficiency and transferable skills and aptitudes (e.g. time management skills, communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork spirit, initiative, etc.). Successful candidates also demonstrate a “can-do” spirit, an internal confidence rooted in a track record of past achievements, a positive attitude, commitment towards continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a client orientation.
In addition to ensuring cultural fit, we base our hiring decisions on specific job and Agency-related criteria. As an example, for TBWA\, our Advertising and Strategy division that deals with large-scale project and retainer clients, we prefer talent who likes to cultivate a long-term relationship with one single client. However, in Agency.com, our Digital Marketing division that works on short-term projects, we need people who enjoy variety, are at ease with maintaining multiple client relationships, and thrive on exposure to various brands and individuals.
For these reasons, self-awareness is another important element for candidate’s to have in order to help both of us make better decisions.
3. What must Newbies learn at the beginning of their work in an Advertising Agency?
People interested in this industry should strongly consider joining an Advertisement Agency relatively early in their career life. It usually takes many years of on-the-job training and client exposure for one to get acquainted with the advertising craft and to later become an expert.
Newcomers to the industry need to quickly grasp an understanding of our Agency's processes, internal project management principles, and establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients. They also should become comfortable with our matrix structure, multidisciplinary nature of our projects, and working in large teams. The capability to adapt to and thrive in our fast paced, demanding, and sometimes ambiguous environment is also essential.
During the first few months at work, Newbies should concentrate on enhancing their professional skills (e.g. account management, design, research, etc.), learn to manage time, resource, and projects challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrate high quality standards over and over again, and strive to understand the "essence" of the brands that they are working on.
All Newbies at TBWA\Group\China are required to learn and understand our language, our cultural glue, and our planning methodology - Disruption; and then be able to apply it to their work and way of working.
4. What kind of training do you provide to Newbies?
Training and development are strong pillars of our culture. All new hires at our Agency join our Orientation Program which aims to equip them with knowledge of all Agencies, Departments, and policies and procedures. During this program, new hires can also obtain a good grasp of our organizational history, mission, and values while meeting others. In addition, Line Managers are responsible for introducing newcomers to their team, reviewing our Agency manuals, going over performance expectation, and giving a briefing for the initial job assignment.
During the first three months, Newbies are trained on-the-job in all facets of daily project work; they may also attend all in-house training sessions and have access to our local and global training decks and self-study tools. After they successfully pass their probationary period, they become eligible for training programs organized together with TBWA\Asia Pacific and the Omnicom Group. For example, the Tiger Academy is our two-year training program geared to nurture leadership skills of our stars in the Account Service Department.
Last but not least, our multi-cultural and multi-national DNA provides employees a continuous flow of opportunities to enrich themselves creatively and intellectually and work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational, and geographic backgrounds.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Design Talents in China
Article in Xin Wen Chen Bao, on February 19th, 2009
1. What are the effects of the global economic crisis on the future of design talents in China?
An economic slowdown calls for fewer people with better skills. People with excellent creative thinking abilities, graphic skills, and striving talent will have the upper hand. On an ever increasing level, design talents will need to ask "how" instead of answering yes or no, be comfortable with doing things that they have not done before, and embrace a variety of media with particular focus on any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
2. What is the career outlook for creative talents in China?
China's GDP is still expected to grow for many years to come. Secondly, marketing, branding, and connecting to the customers are essential to drive business. Therefore, I am positive about the industry's future and opportunities for creative talents with a strong work ethic and client orientation.
3. What are the major weaknesses of local designers in China?
The main weaknesses of local designers are relatively weak conceptual and English skills. These weaknesses can be overcome by studying and practicing different kinds of art forms, actively engaging in brainstorming sessions, and being committed to continuous learning. In the early career stage, local designers should concentrate on enhancing design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrating high quality standards consistently, and striving to understand brand essence.
4. What does TBWA\Group\China do to retain creative professionals?
We provide our Employees with opportunities to work on fun, challenging, and exciting projects for world class brands and offer competitive salary and compensation packages with an environment conducive for initiative, creativity, and collaboration. Training and development are also strong pillars of our culture. Last year we launched many new initiatives including Performance Conversation Model, an Organizational Climate Survey as part of the Workforce Scorecard, and RedSlash Awards (employee recognition program). What's more, we create opportunities to build stronger bonds in the workplace. People that easily integrate into our culture are ambitious, open-minded, and honest; while disruption (our philosophy, methodology, and cultural glue) continuously helps us to attract them.
5. What role does Raffles Design Institute play in training creative professionals for the industry?
I appreciate all relationships that TBWA\Group\China has with the educational community in Shanghai. Raffles has been successful at identifying, educating, and inspiring new talent and is one of our key recruitment destinations. In the past, we have been very lucky to work with some of the best students from Raffles. Currently, nearly 10% of our Employees come from our UN-intern program which Raffles and other tertiary institutions partake in.
1. What are the effects of the global economic crisis on the future of design talents in China?
An economic slowdown calls for fewer people with better skills. People with excellent creative thinking abilities, graphic skills, and striving talent will have the upper hand. On an ever increasing level, design talents will need to ask "how" instead of answering yes or no, be comfortable with doing things that they have not done before, and embrace a variety of media with particular focus on any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
2. What is the career outlook for creative talents in China?
China's GDP is still expected to grow for many years to come. Secondly, marketing, branding, and connecting to the customers are essential to drive business. Therefore, I am positive about the industry's future and opportunities for creative talents with a strong work ethic and client orientation.
3. What are the major weaknesses of local designers in China?
The main weaknesses of local designers are relatively weak conceptual and English skills. These weaknesses can be overcome by studying and practicing different kinds of art forms, actively engaging in brainstorming sessions, and being committed to continuous learning. In the early career stage, local designers should concentrate on enhancing design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrating high quality standards consistently, and striving to understand brand essence.
4. What does TBWA\Group\China do to retain creative professionals?
We provide our Employees with opportunities to work on fun, challenging, and exciting projects for world class brands and offer competitive salary and compensation packages with an environment conducive for initiative, creativity, and collaboration. Training and development are also strong pillars of our culture. Last year we launched many new initiatives including Performance Conversation Model, an Organizational Climate Survey as part of the Workforce Scorecard, and RedSlash Awards (employee recognition program). What's more, we create opportunities to build stronger bonds in the workplace. People that easily integrate into our culture are ambitious, open-minded, and honest; while disruption (our philosophy, methodology, and cultural glue) continuously helps us to attract them.
5. What role does Raffles Design Institute play in training creative professionals for the industry?
I appreciate all relationships that TBWA\Group\China has with the educational community in Shanghai. Raffles has been successful at identifying, educating, and inspiring new talent and is one of our key recruitment destinations. In the past, we have been very lucky to work with some of the best students from Raffles. Currently, nearly 10% of our Employees come from our UN-intern program which Raffles and other tertiary institutions partake in.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Focus on Strengths
In both Marketing and HR, the dilemma arises as to where one should allocate resources. Two choices exist; either focus on strengths or concentrate on compensating weaknesses.
For Marketing, these two approaches are discussed, for example, by Dru*:
• Guide and encourage high performers to deliver even greater results or help low performers reach average results.
• Motivate employees by focusing on their strengths or helping them identify and overcome some of their weaknesses.
• Reward, grow, and retain “A” players or concentrate on salvaging “C” players.
Without a doubt, performance-driven organizations will choose to focus on high-performers and allocate resources accordingly.
* Dru, Jean-Marie (2007). How Disruption Brought Order: The Story of Winning Strategy in the World of Advertising. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. P. 177.
For Marketing, these two approaches are discussed, for example, by Dru*:
“If a P&G product had a 12 percent market share in Normandy and only 6 percent in Alsace, P&G would spend twice as much in Normandy as in Alsace. P&G invests where it is strong. Colgate would have done the opposite, believing that the 6 percent in Alsace, lower than the national average, was clear evidence of underexploited potential requiring investment.”For HR, alternative examples include:
• Guide and encourage high performers to deliver even greater results or help low performers reach average results.
• Motivate employees by focusing on their strengths or helping them identify and overcome some of their weaknesses.
• Reward, grow, and retain “A” players or concentrate on salvaging “C” players.
Without a doubt, performance-driven organizations will choose to focus on high-performers and allocate resources accordingly.
* Dru, Jean-Marie (2007). How Disruption Brought Order: The Story of Winning Strategy in the World of Advertising. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. P. 177.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Creativity in the Creative Industry
Creativity is a subjective area. After all, certain creative businesses are more creative than others and there are ones which are not perceived as creative at all by their peers. Nonetheless, probably all of these creative enterprises will call “creativity” as their core competency. Creativity is the human ability to see things differently and have original ideas. Thus, talent is an essential asset for creative enterprises.
When a shortage of talent prevails, debates ignite over whether talent is born or made. In respect to leadership, the current mainstream conclusion dictates that Leaders are born and they are always made. In respect to creative talent, an increasingly common belief is that everyone has creative potential; which has to be unleashed by removing “mental locks”. In particular, the training industry and consulting which focuses on innovation are based upon this premise and consequently strive to contradict the old proverb, “You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks”.
Through an appropriate organizational culture, supportive and physical environment, creativity can be set free, fostered, and capitalized. Beyond literally thousands of tips to boost creativity, there are also a gazillion approaches, tools, and techniques. A few recent concepts to unleash creativity include Mid-level managers as key enablers, Appropriate and targeted training as intensive and thorough as the one of golf players or Thinking from Inside of the Box. Let us also not forget OD specialists and interior designers; these professionals can help release creativity by transforming companies’ workplace environment.
The point of the story is:
If you cannot buy talent (recruit), then build it (invest in training). If you can buy talent, then make sure you do not scare it away. In both cases, bind talent (retain) and build the best climate conducive for creativity. Otherwise, someone else will!
When a shortage of talent prevails, debates ignite over whether talent is born or made. In respect to leadership, the current mainstream conclusion dictates that Leaders are born and they are always made. In respect to creative talent, an increasingly common belief is that everyone has creative potential; which has to be unleashed by removing “mental locks”. In particular, the training industry and consulting which focuses on innovation are based upon this premise and consequently strive to contradict the old proverb, “You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks”.
Through an appropriate organizational culture, supportive and physical environment, creativity can be set free, fostered, and capitalized. Beyond literally thousands of tips to boost creativity, there are also a gazillion approaches, tools, and techniques. A few recent concepts to unleash creativity include Mid-level managers as key enablers, Appropriate and targeted training as intensive and thorough as the one of golf players or Thinking from Inside of the Box. Let us also not forget OD specialists and interior designers; these professionals can help release creativity by transforming companies’ workplace environment.
The point of the story is:
If you cannot buy talent (recruit), then build it (invest in training). If you can buy talent, then make sure you do not scare it away. In both cases, bind talent (retain) and build the best climate conducive for creativity. Otherwise, someone else will!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Holiday Countdown
With 10 days of public holidays and an average of 10 days for annual leave, healthy employees in China work 241 days a year. This comes up to 1,928 working hours; 241 lunch hours in-between working hours and up to 582 hours of traveling time (to and from work).
Yet, quite a few employees go to work counting their next upcoming days off from their employer. Comments like the following are not unusual: “Another two days to go before the weekend”, “I already booked the flight, another three weeks to go”, “We just came back from our holiday and now must wait 7 weeks for Labour Day Holiday”, etc.
All too often, holidays are the key impetus for satisfaction in employees’ professional life.
Understandably, holidays are something to look forward and a break from a routine. But, employers should learn to distinguish between holiday excitement and holiday relief. After all, they expect employees to arrive back from their holiday revitalized and not sorry to be back at work.
A reluctance to return may signal that the company does not challenge, inspire, and motivate the employees. Leaders and managers should change a defunct culture by designing meaningful work experiences so that employees view 31% of their life each year as a contribution rather than a sacrifice.
Yet, quite a few employees go to work counting their next upcoming days off from their employer. Comments like the following are not unusual: “Another two days to go before the weekend”, “I already booked the flight, another three weeks to go”, “We just came back from our holiday and now must wait 7 weeks for Labour Day Holiday”, etc.
All too often, holidays are the key impetus for satisfaction in employees’ professional life.
Understandably, holidays are something to look forward and a break from a routine. But, employers should learn to distinguish between holiday excitement and holiday relief. After all, they expect employees to arrive back from their holiday revitalized and not sorry to be back at work.
A reluctance to return may signal that the company does not challenge, inspire, and motivate the employees. Leaders and managers should change a defunct culture by designing meaningful work experiences so that employees view 31% of their life each year as a contribution rather than a sacrifice.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Employment Security
In China, many MNCs have been spoiled by the abundance of labor and view people, particularly in non-managerial positions, as a commodity. Until recently, those companies were not troubled by high attrition rates and poor work design leading to burnout, stress, work-life-imbalance.
Nevertheless, as the salary levels rise, companies are increasingly concerned with the effectiveness of their workforce. More and more companies have embraced the concept of employee retention and strive to increase the productivity, accountability and responsibility among their workforce. Employee engagement programs are frequently utilized solution to achieve such objectives.
Employers however remain not very effective at defining what is it that they want the workers engage in. They also remain unable to effectively operationalize organizational objectives and link them to performance expectations, essential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Corporate missions in such companies are reduced to creating a “fun” place to work, participating in CSR initiatives, and postulating empowerment. At the same time, profit targets and business objectives are tabooed, not shared with employees with overall financial literacy remaining low.
What do the companies try to hide, that they do not make money at all or have solid profit margins and are simply afraid to share it with the workforce.
I believe however, that demand for improved productivity requires that employees understand how the company, as a for-profit entity, is doing toward achieving their essential objective (profitability) and how everyone is contributing to this end. How else can one instill ownership?
Profits should not be hidden. Only profits can guarantee long-term employment security. If the company does not make profits, it goes bankrupt and lay-offs all employees.
In turn, employment security is one of the most valued elements of Employee Value Proposition and a critical piece of high performance work arrangement. Then, innovations in work practices and productivity improvements can be only sustainable when employee to do not fear that that by increasing productivity they will work themselves out of their jobs.
Nevertheless, as the salary levels rise, companies are increasingly concerned with the effectiveness of their workforce. More and more companies have embraced the concept of employee retention and strive to increase the productivity, accountability and responsibility among their workforce. Employee engagement programs are frequently utilized solution to achieve such objectives.
Employers however remain not very effective at defining what is it that they want the workers engage in. They also remain unable to effectively operationalize organizational objectives and link them to performance expectations, essential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Corporate missions in such companies are reduced to creating a “fun” place to work, participating in CSR initiatives, and postulating empowerment. At the same time, profit targets and business objectives are tabooed, not shared with employees with overall financial literacy remaining low.
What do the companies try to hide, that they do not make money at all or have solid profit margins and are simply afraid to share it with the workforce.
I believe however, that demand for improved productivity requires that employees understand how the company, as a for-profit entity, is doing toward achieving their essential objective (profitability) and how everyone is contributing to this end. How else can one instill ownership?
Profits should not be hidden. Only profits can guarantee long-term employment security. If the company does not make profits, it goes bankrupt and lay-offs all employees.
In turn, employment security is one of the most valued elements of Employee Value Proposition and a critical piece of high performance work arrangement. Then, innovations in work practices and productivity improvements can be only sustainable when employee to do not fear that that by increasing productivity they will work themselves out of their jobs.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Talent Pivot Points
In the book, “Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital”*, Boudreau and Ramstad show how HR can evolve to fulfill its potential as a source of strategic advantage.
The authors reviewed what they termed the “Peanut Butter Approach” used by HR in respect to HR strategies; the essence of which is equality and maximizing the company’s investment in its workforce by providing the same incentives, engaging all employees in the same way, and applying HR initiatives equally across the workforce.
Boudreau and Ramstad recommended that HR needs to develop and implement a differentiated and optimized approach to managing human resources. To support their line of thinking, they appraised principles of production and marketing and its relevancy toward HR. For example, the former does not let every machine run at maximum capacity, but optimizes output. The latter on the other hand, focuses on differentiating between customer segments and exposing only certain customer segments to maximum advertising. Just as marketing professionals will ask what customer segments will make the biggest difference to the company’s strategic success, HR professionals should ask where the improvements in talent performance make the biggest difference to the company’s strategic success. Those places are referred to as talent pivot points and are identified using talentship process. The authors then distinguish between vital and pivotal positions using examples of employees at theme parks: “character”, wearing a costume of a cartoon character, and “sweeper”, cleaning; and at the airline: “pilot” and “gate agent”.
The “character” and “pilot” are both vital positions for strategy execution and performance must be maintained at a specific and consistent level.
On the contrary, the “sweeper” and “gate agent” are pivotal since a small difference in performance can make a big difference to customer. Employees in these positions have a lot of opportunities to interact with customers and so may innovate at their own discretion to create great customer experiences.
HR professionals and all employees should think over what specific employee duties can make the biggest difference to the success of their organization. Whatever responsibilities those may be, these talent pivot points must be included in job descriptions and measured in employees’ performance appraisals.
* Boudreau, John W. & Ramstad, Peter (2007). Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
The authors reviewed what they termed the “Peanut Butter Approach” used by HR in respect to HR strategies; the essence of which is equality and maximizing the company’s investment in its workforce by providing the same incentives, engaging all employees in the same way, and applying HR initiatives equally across the workforce.
Boudreau and Ramstad recommended that HR needs to develop and implement a differentiated and optimized approach to managing human resources. To support their line of thinking, they appraised principles of production and marketing and its relevancy toward HR. For example, the former does not let every machine run at maximum capacity, but optimizes output. The latter on the other hand, focuses on differentiating between customer segments and exposing only certain customer segments to maximum advertising. Just as marketing professionals will ask what customer segments will make the biggest difference to the company’s strategic success, HR professionals should ask where the improvements in talent performance make the biggest difference to the company’s strategic success. Those places are referred to as talent pivot points and are identified using talentship process. The authors then distinguish between vital and pivotal positions using examples of employees at theme parks: “character”, wearing a costume of a cartoon character, and “sweeper”, cleaning; and at the airline: “pilot” and “gate agent”.
The “character” and “pilot” are both vital positions for strategy execution and performance must be maintained at a specific and consistent level.
On the contrary, the “sweeper” and “gate agent” are pivotal since a small difference in performance can make a big difference to customer. Employees in these positions have a lot of opportunities to interact with customers and so may innovate at their own discretion to create great customer experiences.
HR professionals and all employees should think over what specific employee duties can make the biggest difference to the success of their organization. Whatever responsibilities those may be, these talent pivot points must be included in job descriptions and measured in employees’ performance appraisals.
* Boudreau, John W. & Ramstad, Peter (2007). Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
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