Do you have a People Strategy for 2012?

If you have read my blog posts in the past, you know that I typically write about topics in HR news, Compliance, or small business. This post is a little different; I woke up this morning thinking about all of the year end tasks that we must begin working on.  As a business owner, I want to have a solid plan going into 2012 that address issues like:

·         Business Growth/Development

·         Marketing and Communications Strategy

·         Lead Generation through the Holidays

·         Budget and Sales Forecasting for next year

·         Web, Social Media and Brand Strategy

·         Maintaining Service Levels Through the Holidays

In the midst of all this, the one thing that is often forgotten is what I believe to be one of the most important strategic planning steps, your People Strategy.

What is your plan for managing your employees? Do you plan to grow or shrink? Will you give bonuses or raises this year? Will those payments be tied to performance? Will you conduct performance evaluations? What have you allocated for employee expenses in 2012? Will you conduct an end of the year compliance check?

The list of questions can go on and on.  I must admit, when I called for a meeting with my leadership team today, our agenda is full of everything except for people planning.  We have to remember that our employees help move our company forward and we can’t leave them out as we plan and prepare for 2012.

We all know that our employees, whether we have one or one-hundred can make or break the business. Have a plan for developing and growing your staff to be outstanding employees.  This will lead to better customer experiences, higher productivity and will perpetuate business growth.

Now before you start thinking that this could cost you big money, think outside of the box or what is perceived as the norm for Human Resources/People Planning. Find unique solutions that meet the needs of your business within a budget that makes sense for you. Account for these expenses in your 2012 budget and make this a necessity. You have to be a step ahead of your competition at every turn, incorporate a great People Strategy to leverage your business as an industry leader.

I will end this post with a quick tip: If you don’t have a People Strategy for 2012, start working on one today! 

Written By

Melonie Boone MBA, MJ, PHR

Co-CEO and Owner

Complete Concepts Consulting

About us:

Complete Concepts Consulting is a human resources consultancy specializing in compliance for small to mid-sized businesses. We offer a non-conventional approach to human resources management to meet the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Our HR methodology has been proven to reduce costs and mitigate risks for our clients.

Contact Us:
Stephen Polutnik
Director, Client Services
spolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com
(773) 294-0010

 

What's your plan for Succession?

When Steve Jobs recently retired from Apple, it got a lot of companies thinking about their executive successors. Lucky for Apple its new CEO Tim Cook has been with the company for a long time and had already been standing in as CEO with Steve Jobs absences.

What would you do if you were unable to manage your business or if your best manager left the company?

Here are a few tips that can help so that your management successor is ready when you need them:

       1. Identify

Measure the performance of your employees to help you identify your top talent.  This is an objective way of determining the right employees to include in your succession plan for future management positions.

2.   Development

Other than planning who should succeed, develop your staff so that they will be prepared to succeed. Anything can happen between today and tomorrow so be prepared.

3.   Measure outcomes

Keep track of your employees’ successes. Whether they treated a customer well, or they innovated a product; keeping track of their big and small success helps you evaluate your succession plan easier. 

4.   Keep it simple

Usually companies keep adding exclusive complex assessment criteria to the succession planning process in an effort to improve the quality of the assessment. What they forget is that succession planning is a process, so it doesn’t have to be perfect but improve with time.

5.   Stay Realistic

Always be able to distinguish good leaders from good performers.  Usually while choosing successors we tend to look at our best performer. This is good, because we all know that a good leader should also be a good performer. However, the makeup of a good leader is multifaceted. Focus on your best performer(s) and choose someone who can balance both roles.  

One final point to remember is “Only give the promise of succession if there is a realistic chance of its happening!”

Contributing Writer:

Eugenia Tibamanya

Client Services Intern

Complete Concepts Consulting

About us: Complete Concepts Consulting is a human resources consultancy specializing in compliance for small to mid-sized businesses. We offer a non-conventional approach to human resources management to meet the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Our HR methodology has been proven to reduce costs and mitigate risks for our clients.

For more information contact:
Stephen Polutnik
Director of Client Services
spolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com

Sources
http://blogs.hbr.org/goldsmith/2009/05/change_succession_planning_to.html
http://hbr.org/