My Recent Visit to India

Those who know me well will not be surprised to learn that I found an excuse to visit India again recently!

It was good to be back, even if for but a short few short weeks.

During the stay, I worked with companies in Kolkata, Mumbai and Noida, running the two-day workshops "Recruiting Winners".

These were intensive and therefore also hard work. However, all the participants were really enthusiastic, putting in a great deal of effort to learn how to interview for high performing people.
 
Their dedication to becoming far more effective for the benefit of both their company and the people in it made it great to be working with them.

In Kolkata, I had the pleasure of working with the friendly team in IntraSoft Technologies. In Mumbai, the team at USV kept me on my toes and in Noida, OSSCube Solutions made me work hard and have continued to call for further support! 

I am pleased to see they have made changes in order to fully utilise what they have learned. 

What did the Workshops cover?

The Basics:

Why it is so important to get selection right.

Why normal interviews can easily go expensively wrong.

Why the “usual suspects” of Skills, Knowledge, Training, Qualifications and Experience are woefully inadequate measures on their own.

The vitally important aspects:

Identifying the crucial factors that determine high performance in a role.

Understand these core factors in some depth.

How to frame interview questions that will elicit valuable information about these items rather than the “stock” answers one normally gets.

How to dig deeper when probing.

Review of a few past recruitments that went wrong so we can validate to what extent understanding these important aspects might have saved an error.

The feedback received.

"I am happy to share that everybody has got inspired by your training and are using the 'Recruiting Winners' Technique while interviewing.
They have really put the learning into practice. Thank you for such an effective training.


"The workshop was amazing ..."


"I thank you for supporting me in my quest to create a Team of HR Professionals who can make a difference to the business and industry not by just having a certification in HR but actually implementing the ideas of thought leaders in HR profession."

Those SME Challenges: How we can start meeting them. (Part 2.)

The second aspect of the Owner/Manager’s challenges is, in effect … 

Empowering Managers’ Decision Making.

If we have selected the right kind of manager, then we must let them manage. After all, isn’t that why they were hired in the first place? They are there to make sure things are working (and improving) so the Owner can focus on the big picture — the direction of the company itself.

However, it is also true that managers cannot function in a vacuum, so it is important to ensure we clarify what the Key Results Areas (KRAs) are for their domain. These will most likely fall under a number of the following important elements: Budget, Controls, Quality, Revenues, Timeliness and Staff Satisfaction.

Temptations Must be Avoided!

What temptations?

First: telling them what their targets are.

This must be avoided. Far better if we ask them to assess where their area stands in each of the KRAs then highlight what they think needs attention.

Second: telling them how to go about achieving their targets.

Instead, we ask them to prioritise the list and build an action plan for each of the one or two most important ones.

Third: forcing them to undertake too many plans in an unreasonably short time.

This will likely lead to a “scattergun” approach where they are trying to keep too many plates spinning. Having to rush things all too often leads to mistakes and under-performance that in turn create frustration.

Of course targets and timeliness are important, so we cannot afford to be too lax. On the other hand, trying to work under unreasonable pressure — especially when combined with an uncaring and demanding Owner — will quickly turn the manager’s thinking to “do I really have to put up with this any more?”

… And attrition. (And they will take your best workers with them.)

Fourth: closely following their every step.

Yes, we do need to know how things are going. We must be made aware if things are not going well but there are ways of doing this is a positive and constructive manner that creates teamwork and commitment.

For example, we should encourage them to consider a way of monitoring how things are going so they get an early warning if it is not progressing the way they expected. This will enable a re-think of the strategy before it is too late.

You will notice the wording of that last paragraph. It is for their satisfaction that they are on-target.

Now if we add to this the question: “is there any support needed from me to help you succeed?” we will be indicating our willingness to be supportive as needed and that we are as committed to their results as they are.

Similarly, we can request a very brief monthly update on progress but on the understanding that, if things are not going as well as they want and they are lost for ideas, they can immediately seek a discussion with us to see if a solution can be found. 

I am pleased to announce this article has also been published by EmployWise on their Blog: http://www.employwise.com/hr-best-practices/299-sme-challenges-how-we-can-start-meeting-them-part-2.html