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A New Bar for Performance
by Theresa S. Treat, SPHR
Business leaders in the private and public sectors are identifying their biggest challenge today as the ability to manage competing demands of strategic service delivery and cost containment. This reality is causing business leaders to reevaluate business processes and to consider their employees’ individual contributions and challenges. It is also creating a higher standard, or “bar for performance,” for managers and human resources professionals.
To meet this challenge, it is best for managers and human resources professionals to face it aligned with each other instead of working against each other. In other words, both groups must be moving in the same direction. Following are some activities that will help managers and human resources professionals succeed at raising the bar for performance.
Knowledge Management
The exchange of cross-corporate knowledge and the knowledge that is gained from analyzing successful and unsuccessful projects is invaluable to an organization as it helps to produce ongoing successes and avoid repeating mistakes. Although this should be everyone’s responsibility, if managers and human resources professionals function as facilitators of this exchange of information, the transition to becoming a “knowledgeable workforce” will be much smoother.
Vision and Values Alignment
Our current economy has created an environment in which organizations find themselves changing business plans, strategies and/or processes and systems more frequently than during less chaotic times. Therefore, organizations must pay closer attention to creating/updating and clearly communicating their organizational values so that they function as GUIDELINES for managers when making business decisions.
For example, some organizations espouse “corporate citizenship” as one of their values that should be considered when making business decisions. These organizations believe they are members of a global community and recognize some of their decisions impact economic, social, and sometimes environmental conditions around the world. If clearly communicated and understood, this value will become a guideline for daily decision-making rather than merely company sentiment.
When values are thoughtfully developed and clearly communicated, they become expectations rather than exceptions that organizational leaders must review and approve. In other words, the values replace traditional command and control structures within the organization. They enable managers and employees to respond in an informed and timely manner because they already know and understand the expectations and parameters. Managers and human resources professionals can assist in this process by acting as translators. Their role should be to proactively help employees understand the organization’s values and business plan and, more importantly, help them understand what everyday behaviors are necessary in order for the organization to be successful.
Continuous Change Facilitation
I intentionally use the phrase “change facilitation” rather than “change management.” Although these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, I view these philosophies and processes as being different. Change management assumes changes have beginning and end points that require control until it reaches the end. In contrast, change facilitation assumes change is dynamic and the facilitator “directs traffic” rather than manages the change. It allows change to be fluid without defined beginning and end points. When change is recognized as fluid and dynamic, it can be used as an opportunity to redefine or adapt philosophies, processes, and relationships. This is the cornerstone of being a “change agent” instead of a “change manager.”
The current business environment requires organizations to create programs and processes that can be easily adapted to different circumstances. Yet, employees can become uncomfortable and resistant to change if it is unexpected and seemingly unorganized. However, this can be overcome, if managers and human resources professionals function as change agents on a daily basis (i.e., always asking - how can we do it better?), creating a work environment where change and transition become part of the daily routine. When people come to expect change as the norm, they will accept it more willingly and help to make the transitions run smoother.
The common theme among these activities and others is that if managers and human resources professionals adopt proactive roles such as facilitators, translators, and change agents as part of their daily responsibility instead of merely reacting to the current crisis, their efforts to manage service delivery and cost containment will be less painful and more successful.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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