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Leadership for an Economy in the Tank
| I thought it was interesting that a seasoned HR specialist came up with a “leadership checklist” from his experiences and reading. Not all the items are obvious, but you can understand why they each made his list. Now that the economy is officially in the tank, though, a couple of his items stand out for project managers.
Act with utmost integrity . . . If people are going to be laid off, it’s going to include those who cannot be trusted. If you as a project manager act with integrity, you can be trusted, and will more likely be respected and defended by all levels of the organization with which you interact. Yes, there are twisted work cultures where integrity is not respected, and that is tragic. But in the main, when those who are doing the cutting think about who they want to keep, project managers with integrity remain at the top of the list.
Spend more time empowering people than disempowering them . . . Most workers are going to be a little anxious about their jobs for the near future, even longer given recent news. There’s a whole sad spiral they can get into which just stifles performance and makes the workplace a dreary, depressing place to be. Your workers need you to make them feel less powerless. Make greater efforts to:
These efforts will make a huge amount of difference in worker performance and satisfaction. |
Posted on: January 22, 2008 10:35 PM
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The Terminal Termination
| The worst termination is the termination that occurs too late. Set aside the poor performance and disruption caused by a marginal or troublesome employee, procrastination in this area can be very, very costly. Here's where the key problem occurs: The problem employee makes some kind of official complaint or claim, such as a written complaint against a supervisor or a workers comp claim.
At this point, everything changes. If you terminate after these kind of complaints or claims, the employee can mosey into their local attorney’s office, where they will find that a retaliation claim is possible. A retaliation claim means that you as an employer have terminated the employee because th employee filed the original complaint or claim.
How might you fare in such a case? This article puts some eyebrow-raising numbers to the problem. When an employee initiates a retaliation claim, they win 63% of the time. Settlements in these types of claims averaged $845,147. Imagine how many projects it would take for your company to make back that amount of money.
There are many reasons to act quickly when you have a poor or problematic employee, but few have the financial impact of this one. I hope it helps you fight your tendency to procrastinate in these cases. |
Posted on: January 21, 2008 12:35 PM
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Why 80% of Turnover Occurs
| Turnover can kill you. The cost comes from either (a) the loss of high performance from great people leaving or (b) the expense of time and money finding replacements.
How much control do you have over this? More than you think. BNET recently quoted a Harvard survey that found 80% of turnover is due to hiring mistakes. That is something you can improve whether you have a recruiting staff or not.
One good tip provided here is very important, but rationalized inadequately. A story is told of Google asking about “extracurricular experience.” This is to find people who have done “interesting things,” because – and this is the critical point left unstressed – “they seem to make a better connection with the community here.” That was quoting from Arnnon Geshuri, the Google staffing director. The bigger point is that you have a work community, so be ready with questions that will help you determine if the candidate will fit in with the community.
It does no good to hire a lone wolf high performer in a company that functions best in a process involving highly integrated work teams. And you don’t hire an excellent bureaucrat to function well in an entrepreneurial environment. Ask questions that do not telegraph the answer you are looking for. Instead, ask a lot of questions like, “What would you do if you were working in our company and this happened…?” |
Posted on: January 15, 2008 09:54 PM
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A Workforce Poll That Will Make You Sick
| The Good News: More than ever employees are showing up at work motivated by debt loads and concerns over a poor economy.
The Bad News: Sickness won’t even stop them from coming. 83% of workers say are working while sick. That’s an increase from 77% in 2005 according to a recent poll.
Maybe only something as bad as the Vomit Virus (expected to be in the U.S. soon) or the flu will keep them away. If you’re lucky. When these extra sick people are in close quarters with the rest of your workers, there is a greater chance of additional infection. I’m not a doctor, just playing one in the blogosphere, but more sick people at work has to mean more sick people in your project later.
Listen. Hear the coughing? The sneezing? The nose-blowing? Sounds like you should be ready for extra sick days delaying project activities. Forget about telling them to stay home, though. |
Posted on: January 11, 2008 08:11 PM
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“It Can’t Happen to Me”
| Here’s how the sophisticated corporation responded to the announcement of a record settlement on a racial case: The incident “involved a small number of first-line employees in a small, single operating unit of the company.”
Lockheed Martin had a policy regarding non-discrimination, of course. So does your company. So does virtually every company. But it takes more than that. Lockheed Martin had a no-tolerance discrimination policy, but a team leader and four coworkers harassed a man so badly over a period of time, they were terminated, and cost the company 2.5 million dollars. Ouch. More good news possible: Maybe some employees will have to be laid off to make up for that finacial hit.
How does something like that occur in a mature company with modern HR policies? The same way it can happen in your project. Inadequate monitoring and non-supportive front-line supervisors. You are left with the cliche and hollow-sounding" "I was shocked and appalled at their behavior!" Inadequate monitoring and a non-supportive supervisor may result in a problem other than discrimination: gross negligence, stealing customer data, disappearing hardware, regulatory compliance violations, you name it.
Don’t depend on HR to solve this kind of problem. You will have to set up the appropriate environment and make sure your own workers are monitored. |
Posted on: January 08, 2008 11:58 PM
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