News

The winter weather has arrived, and we know it is getting harder and harder to get going in the mornings, especially on a Monday. The thought of getting up early out of your cosy bed, standing at bus stations, sitting in cold workplaces – it’s enough to give you a serious case of the Monday blues!

But, did you know that Mondays are generally the most productive day of your working week?

Having a great Monday can put you on the right track for a satisfying, successful week of work, so it’s a day we should all look forward to and utilise to its fullest.

We suggest:
1. Enjoying your Sunday night. Monday seems worse if you start dreading it early. Go for dinner, enjoy some time with a friend or get outside and do some exercise. Make sure you have an early-ish night. All of these things will help put you in a motivated mind-set for the morning.
2. Have your morning things ready on Sunday night. There is nothing more stressful than a game of “where did I leave my keys?” on a Monday morning. Be organised and ready to go, and you will feel happier when you walk out the door.
3. Start your morning by preparing a “to-do’ list for the week, and set calendar times to complete each item. This helps to keep the motivation high throughout the week, and stops procrastination kicking in.
4. Think about the “wins” or “goals” you want for the week and make sure you have a plan in place in achieve these (both personal and professional). Nothing is more satisfying at the end of the week than looking back and being proud of yourself, so take time to make sure you are working on the right actions to achieve your priorities.

Today could be the day which sets you up for success, helps you achieve your goals, and makes you feel good about your achievements. Mondays are an opportunity. Make the most of it.

Happy Monday everyone!

Leadership is essential to the success of any business, and this is especially true of medium sized businesses. Team members have direct and daily contact with the whole leadership team, from CEO to Senior Managers to Team Leaders, and these interactions can both inspire and motivate them, or cause confusion, negativity and a drop in morale.

The core features of a medium sized business that make them great – their nimbleness, urgency, commitment and flexibility, and the variety of the work experience, can also be the undoing of the organisation unless you have leaders with the right set of skills to navigate this territory.

So, what skills are essential to be a successful leader in a medium sized businesses?
First and foremost great communication skills are key. Every day Managers and Team Leaders have to communicate across a wide range of topics and with a variety people at all different levels. They could be dealing with a customer, a factory team member, a supplier and the CEO, all within an hour. Each of these interactions must be meaningful, clear, and pitched at the right level to ensure the communication results in positive action.

Successful leaders also need to possess the ability to plan and prioritise well. Medium sized business leaders wear many different hats. On any given day Managers and Team Leaders could be helping develop the strategic plan, solving a product problem, making marketing decisions, dealing with a difficult team member, running a team meeting, pacifying a customer, negotiating with a supplier and then rolling their sleeves up to pack boxes to ensure an important order gets out on time. Knowing what the priorities are, and fine-tuning where they put their effort in is essential to the business’s success. Having the ability to create a clear plan, prioritise tasks and time allocation, and then exercising the self discipline to push on with team goals is what keeps the business going forward.

It is impossible to be a leader who only wants to work on the high level tasks when working in a medium sized business. Managers and Supervisors have to be flexible and prepared to work across all levels of the business. They must be able to dive into detail one minute and then put their mind to the future the next. Knowing the difference, and having the ability to do both is crucial to making sure that the requirements of the organisation are met.

And, right up there, leaders have to be exceptional at motivating and inspiring their team with every interaction. Being right up close with the team is challenging. For example, the on-site support of a communication expert to plan their presentations isn’t there. They have to get involved and do a lot of the functional work themselves, unlike in a larger organisation. Every time the leaders interact with a team member it is an opportunity to gain their commitment and improve performance. Using these opportunities wisely can make a real difference to your business.

Managers and Team Leaders need to be excellent problem solvers. There are daily challenges and the medium sized businesses who have the leaders to meet these challenges head on and turn problems around with innovative solutions are the ones that survive and prosper. Do your leaders possess the problem solving skills that your business needs?
Knowing the importance of having trained, skilled and committed leaders in your organisation is a key strategy that advances your business.

Being clear on what your leaders need to do well, and giving them the necessary support is an essential requirement for a successful business. A positive by-product is increased motivation and retention of your leaders within your organisation. Excellent leaders who flourish in the medium sized business environment are hard to find so looking after the leaders you have and nurturing and developing their personal and professional development is essential.

Positive People have 21 years of experience helping medium sized business get the best from their leadership teams. Call us, we can help.

1 April will see the introduction of important changes to New Zealand’s employment legislation. With the date just around the corner, it’s time to think about what this means to your business, and what changes you need to put in place to ensure you are legally compliant.

What you need to know – the key changes:

Minimum wage – The minimum wage will increase by 50c to $15.25 on 1 April. If you have any team members who are on, or near, the current minimum wage then you will need to ensure you make any increase required on or before 1 April.

Maternity leave – From 1 April the period of paid parental leave will be increasing from 16 weeks to 18 weeks, allowing for parents to spend more time with their new bundle of joy, while still being able to pay the bills. The criteria for parental leave stays the same, as do the other parts of this legislation. If you have anyone who is due to take parental leave after 1 April it would be worth checking the length of time they have applied for to see if it should be extended or changed.

Changes to zero hour agreements – In response to recent concerns about the prevalence of zero hour employment agreements the Act will be changed to provide greater protection to casual workers. This is a big one for those of you with casual employees, so it is important you check your employment agreements and current practices to see what changes, if any, you need to make.

In future:

• 1. When a set number of hours are agreed upon by the employee and employer, these must be included in an employment agreement
• 2. When employees are required to be available for work outside their set hours the employer must provide compensation for this
• 3. If an employer sends an employee home part way through their shift or cancels a shift without reasonable notice they must provide the employee with compensation

The changes also specify that an employer may not put unreasonable restrictions on an employee regarding secondary employment or make unreasonable deductions from their wages. Tougher sanctions are introduced for employers who don’t comply with the legislation. Also, the requirement for record keeping is tightened and streamlined so it is consistent across all legislation and employers.

All of this adds up to the need to have a thorough review of your current employment practices, and to ensure you are complying.

For more information about the changes check the MBIE website at http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/employment-skills/legislation-reviews/employment-standards-legislation-bill/strengthening-enforcement-of-employment-standards, or contact us at Positive People to discuss further.

In today’s rapidly changing environment, continuous improvement has become an essential process for organisations to master if they are to keep pace with competitors and secure a competitive advantage. We all know the importance of staff suggestion schemes, innovation days and process improvement, and most businesses today will have various programs implemented to drive the improvement of products, services and delivery, but what about the continuous improvement of your people?

For continuous improvement to become truly part of your business culture, and part of the everyday psyche for each employee, continuous improvement of self must also be discussed and recognised. Often it is too easy to think about the widgets we make and the environment we work in, and far too confronting to look at our own performance and skills, or ask our teams to look at theirs.

It sounds easy. However we all know that asking team members to look in the mirror and identify improvements can be challenging, so creating an environment where this is recognised, celebrated and comfortable is a key skill for leaders to master. Creating a culture where feedback is sought and valued is the most effective path to self improvement. Most team members find it hard to self-evaluate (if they knew how to do things better they usually would), so providing on-going positive and constructive feedback provides your team with a set of objective eyes to develop their skills and performance. This helps the team to develop and improve their skills on a day to day basis, and sits alongside your formal performance review system.

If your team isn’t used to receiving regular day-to-day feedback we recommend starting small, ask their permission and make a suggestion on an improvement area you have noticed. Keep it specific and focused so your team members know exactly what you mean, and how they can improve.

By being positive and developmental focused your team members will be more open to your feedback. Keep your feedback specific and make sure they know exactly what they did well, and what impact this had on the business. Focus the conversation on development, use open positive body language and encourage them to view feedback as an opportunity for growth. Constructive feedback is best done in private, and the best time for honest and open reflection is as soon as possible after an event has occurred.

You know you’ve got it right when your team start to ask for feedback. This is when they really have embraced continuous improvement and development as a key philosophy.

We know this can be a difficult part of a Managers role, so don’t expect it to fall into place overnight. Providing day-to-day feedback which is effective and helps to grow your team and business takes practice. There is no better time to start than today.

Positive People have 21 years of experience helping leaders to provide effective feedback and create high performing cultures. Call us on 445-1077.

Recruitment costs within an organisation can be expensive.

Over and above the essential outcome that a really good person is employed, it is important for managers and business owners to have a clear understanding of what they are paying for and whether they are receiving value for money. To understand what is the best and most effective recruitment approach is an important question for every business to answer before they start on the recruitment journey.

There are a number of different recruitment approaches.

1. The traditional approach is where the business develops the job description and person profile, writes its own advertisements, places the ads, screens the applications and applicants, interviews, short lists and then reference checks the preferred candidate. This approach relies completely on in-house expertise in the recruitment field and works best where you have an internal HR resource.
2. The recruitment agency approach which more or less hands the front-end of the complete assignment over to the recruitment agency and relies on them to find the “right person”, to reference check and “guarantee” the selected candidate. The view taken here is that recruitment is extremely time consuming, the recruitment agencies are the experts and the tedious screening work is contracted out. Some recruitment agencies potentially have a data base of suitable candidates ready for interview which can help to speed up the process. This can be a good option for saving time, but is usually the most expensive.
3. The head hunting approach which is where an agency is contracted to go out, find and target a specific individual for a role. This is mostly used to fill more senior roles and can be effective where you have a very specific need.
4. The 50/50 shared recruitment approach consists of a combination of some of the work being done by the organisation itself and some by an HR/Recruitment specialist who is available to assist with both some of the time consuming work and work requiring specific recruitment expertise. This approach can flex in and out and can be adjusted to suit your budget.
5. Then there is word of mouth, friends, networking and social media which are more opportunistic than planned, and sit over and above a planned approach. They can be effectively used to recruit good employees and should be used in addition to other approaches.

Across all of these approaches are different pricing models ranging from in-house cost absorption to percentage of annual remuneration fees to fixed price options to hourly rates.

Which approach is the best and most cost effective option for your organisation?

This depends to a great extent on the size of the organisation, the expertise and time they have at their disposal as well as the budget they have. The non-negotiable in all of this is that the best person who is an excellent candidate and who fits the organisation’s requirements and culture is the one who actually is employed. Of course, what managers and business owners are looking for is the employment of the ideal candidate for least cost.

Are the two mutually exclusive?

Not necessarily.

It depends, to a great extent, on the quality of the person employed. If they prove to be an asset then the cost is usually justified. If they prove to be less than that then the cost rears its head and is well remembered. Based on this it could then be argued that cost is not a factor, but of course we know that cost always is.

So, what is the best approach for you?

Realistically, if you are attracting and employing good candidates into your business, then you are likely to continue with the approach that you currently take. However if you have some budgetary pressure or feel that costs are too high, time available to you has changed, the resourcing available is different, or you have had some recruitment disappointments, then you may wish to consider a change of approach. Consideration of all the options makes good business sense.

Each approach has its merits so it is worth thinking carefully about what might work best for you and also be the most cost effective.

Positive People have over 21 years of experience working with businesses in a flexible way to best serve their HR and recruitment needs, and would be pleased to help and discuss your needs and recruitment strategy. Give us a call the next time you have a recruitment need.

WHAT DOES HR HOLD FOR YOU THIS YEAR?

Our picks for the most important issues this year are:

1. Flexibility will increasingly rule. With the changes to the Employment Relations Act that take effect on 6 March, businesses will need to think about how best to accommodate flexible working arrangement requests. Smart organisations will give some thought to possible options that might exist to make their workplaces better able to meet requests for more flexible work arrangements. As any employee can make a request and can also make any number of requests, this piece of legislation has the potential to be a game changer over time. Of course, agreement will be needed and any arrangement agreed to will need to also suit the needs of the business. However, no doubt, over time organisations will need to become more flexible. The legislation is, of course, simply catching up with where many employees are currently at. If you want to remain or become an employer of choice, start your thinking on flexibility in your workplace now. Employees’ minds are already there.

2. Top employees will be hard to recruit. With the economy bouncing along at a good clip, high quality job seekers are being sucked up very quickly. When there is a need to recruit, understand very clearly exactly the person you need, write good job ads, develop professional interview questions, reference check in a standardised way and run your process quickly and to deadline. The main message here is that when you come across a good candidate, move fast, or be left in the dust as others beat you to them.

3. Retaining your good people will be much about their level of engagement. Employees like to be involved and engaged, and if you take them for granted and allow their employment to drift along, then you risk losing them. Those of a lesser calibre will stay in this environment but real contributors want to be part of your business, have a say and feel they have made a difference. Involve them and make engagement a priority this year.

4. Employees want personal and professional growth and development. Make sure that you have development plans in place for your identified top performers and high flyers. Those with drive want to keep getting better and it is in your interest to provide learning opportunities for these important employees. Talk to them about their aspirations and business wants and needs, and do your best to help them develop in a way that benefits both them and your business. Taking these 4 points into account when doing your HR planning for the year could make the difference between retaining your best employees or losing a few of them.

We are always available to talk through any of these issues.

Every one of us, at some stage during our management career, will have to deal with a poor performer, usually more than once. It is usually a Manager’s least favourite part of their job, and the task we would most like to pass on to someone else…. When we are asked to help out our first question is “What conversations have you already had with this person?” And the most common answer is usually “None.”

While you would think that poor performers would have a degree of self-awareness about their short-comings, this is frequently just not the case. You might like to believe that poor results, inferred references in meetings, or follow-ups you have had to do should make short-comings self-evident for the team member. However this is often not the reality. They may actually have absolutely no idea you are unhappy with their performance.

In a recent example we worked with a Manager who had a Sales Rep who hadn’t achieved target for 6 months, and was performing well below the standard required. You would think that access to the black and white figures would have given the Sales Rep the idea that there may be concerns. When taken to task, he was genuinely shocked to hear from his Manager that his performance was below par. His belief was that as long as he was making the number of calls required he was on track, and he couldn’t control who finally decided to buy the product. To cut a long story short, we identified he was having trouble closing the sale, put some appropriate training in and two months later he met his target. This was a positive result that with the right honest conversation early in the piece could have gained the company a lot more revenue months before. When poor performers are eventually spoken to they frequently ask the question “Why wasn’t I told before?”

Most staff surveys that enquire what employees most value in their leaders will identify that staff want to work with someone they trust. They want to know you are honest with them, they want to know they can rely on you, they want to know what you expect, and they want to know what is going on both in the business and with their own performance – the good, the bad, and the ugly. In short, they want the truth.

So if one simple, direct, honest conversation can solve many of our performance issues, why aren’t we doing them more often?

In an environment where we are constantly reminded of the message that engaged staff are more productive, it is hard to figure out how to balance this need with the need to be honest about poor performance. We often hear from Managers that they don’t know how to have the conversation in a way that won’t impact on the business, make the team member less co-operative or upset them, and think that it may end up resulting in further performance decline.

We know these types of discussions can be uncomfortable, and we know it is easier to deal with technical matters rather than unpredictable human emotions, but the reality is that most team members value and want honesty from their managers, and it is a top factor in their engagement and performance.

As a general rule, team members do want to do a good job. We don’t know anyone who gets out of bed in the morning and says “I am going to try and perform poorly today.” They may be grumpy, they may be lazy, they be inter-personally difficult but given the right environment, most people will want to do a good job. Part of this is providing up-front honest feedback and genuine support, backed up with a solid performance management system.

Learning to give honest and constructive feedback is a fundamental element of being an effective leader, and needs to form the cornerstone of your performance management process.

How do we do this well? Here are a few suggestions:

• Be regular and consistent. If your staff are used to feedback it is easier for them to take, and you to give, it as it becomes part of the normal communication in the workplace, rather than “an awkward conversation”

• Make it timely. The more things fester the bigger they become for both you and the team member. It is preferable to address matters of concern before they become a big deal. Nip issues in the bud.

• Base the discussion on solid supporting data. Give examples. By basing the discussion on a solid factual foundation, the issue becomes easier to deal with all round as there is little “wriggle room” and emotions tend to stay more in check

• Express confidence in them that they can improve. Inform them of your expectations, and back them to deliver on them. More often than not, if they can, they will

• Try and identify why the performance isn’t where it needs to be and how this can be rectified. if you can determine the cause, skills gap or underlying issues you will be best placed to put in a fix to help the person lift their game

• Set follow-up actions and a review date. This ensures that you have a clear timeline for improvements, so any issue doesn’t drag on too long. It is also important to have done this should there be the need to move into a formal performance management process at a later stage

We recommend regular scheduled discussions, often referred to as 1-on-1s, looking briefly at key performance areas. Not only will it help you manage poor performers, it will also help you engage, motivate and inspire your whole team to deliver great results. This type of regular communication works hand in glove with the performance review process and allows team members to know exactly where they stand, and what you feel about their performance.

Jack Welch, the hugely successful CEO at General Electric is a massive advocate of candour.

“I am talking about how too many people  – too often – instinctively don’t express themselves with frankness. They don’t communicate straightforwardly or put forth ideas looking to stimulate real debate. They just don’t open up. Instead they withhold comments or criticism. They keep their mouths shut in order to make people feel better or to avoid conflict, and they sugarcoat bad news in order to maintain appearances.”

He sees a lack of candour as absolutely damaging.

Honesty truly is the best policy when dealing with poor performers.

Building trust, caring, discovering what is holding your business back, gaining commitment and improving your productivity.

Staff Engagement Surveys are the simplest, quickest and most effective way of finding out what your people think, feel and want in the workplace. The benefits begin right from the start, as the very fact of you taking the time to conduct a survey shows your team that you care and value their opinions. Combined with some timely and solid feedback and any changes you implement and you will have increased your team’s engagement.

If you start with a genuine intention to draw your people into thinking about your company, you are well on your way to getting the involvement and commitment that can drive your company upwards.

Our experience tells us that a mixture of both closed and open questions get the best result. Closed questions glean information that you can quantify and measure both immediately and comparatively. This comparative information allows you to compare departments and teams and can measure progress on the different areas surveyed over time. In this way you can identify areas requiring attention and can then track progress on initiatives. The open-ended questions attract informative comments that give you a very good feel for morale, a more thorough explanation of concerns and an indication of what actions you may like to take in the future.

Through this combination you have both measurable information and a sense of the feelings and thoughts your people have. It also provides a platform of information to help you make improvements that will best motivate you team.

As we all know – a happy workforce delivers results!

Once you have collected, analysed and translated the information a key step is to discuss the results with your management team, and make some decisions about any actions that you want to take in the light of the results. This ensures you have full support across your leadership team. You may also want to consider setting up a focus group consisting of representatives from across your business to further explore an identified issue in more depth. This allows you to encourage team participation in any improvements you make, which ultimately will help them be more successful.

Another important step is to give feedback on the results to your team. This timely feedback is vital as it shows that you value their input, are prepared to share the results with transparency and that you want to make things better in the organisation. This is a powerful motivational message from you, as their business leader.

Full Staff Engagement Surveys will usually include questions that probe company culture and values, communication, work environment, customer service, performance, development, leadership and current matters.

The ability to craft the questions so that the survey is directly relevant to what you want to know about your own organisation is essential. By having results that tell you about the things in your company that you want to know about, you are armed with valuable information that allows you to continuously improve the workplace and ultimately, your results.

Staff Engagement Surveys are essential management tools. Your team are your most important resource and it makes business sense to find out what you can do to help them perform at their best.

We would love to speak to you about supporting you with your Staff Engagement Surveys. Positive People have a long history of developing surveys which get great results and have a real impact on business success.