HR Strategy: Empowering Change and Solutions

By Terry Cooley, VP of Human Resources, Education Futures Group, LLC.

Thinking about how leaders can continue to influence the direction of their organization, campus and department is always at the back of any leaders mind directly or indirectly. Our energies are focused on how to “get the best” from our employees through investing in them; improving processes for them; providing an enjoyable, yet productive environment; or some combination of each of these initiatives.

In this article, I discuss how HR practices could influence the direction of your organization or campus by discussing three key areas:

• Cultural considerations.
• External perceptions and reputation.
• Operational synergy to meet or improve business outcomes.

Secondly, let us explore how we use both sector and non-sector data to stimulate new ideas and processes, build on problem identification, designing, testing, executing and measuring a solution to drive meaningful change.

Cultural considerations

To cut to the heart of the matter, employee engagement is at an all-time low.

“Gallup’s State of American Workforce,” report says 70 percent of employees are checked out, disengaged or uninterested. There are many factors to explore when considering engagement such as compensation, career development, opportunity to advance, relationships with co-workers, open communication of the organization, etc., however this article will focus on a few bigger picture items that you can take back and discuss with your leadership and HR team.

Executing well-designed HR practices are critical for employee engagement or re-engagement. Performing regular processes such as payroll administration at 100 percent should be the norm regardless if you do it manually or utilize software to help assure accuracy. Sometimes we forget that our employees are our customers also. Customers have expectations. If you go to the doctor, you expect a certain level of treatment. If you request a prescription to be filled, you assume it will be filled properly. Employees ALWAYS expect their pay to be on time and accurate. Your organization’s basic needs may be opening the building on time, have supplies ready for use or distribution, meet and resolve conflicts timely or showing consistent decision-making to build a culture of trust. It is difficult to engage employees if we cannot give them their basic needs. You cannot successfully implement other HR initiatives until the basic needs are met.

With changes in our sector, many organizations are working with less people and expect more. In short, workforces are flatter so being able to have connectivity is essential for data validation, clarification, decision-making and execution. Regardless of software investments, process improvements or the use of email, cell phones, tablets and other technologies to stay connected; it still takes people to operate them. However, employees must believe they are trained and have the authority of their role to do proper data gathering, synthesizing and reporting of information. There has to be a high level of trust that the communications are accurate and done in a timely manner. Does your culture have realistic timelines, current job descriptions, training tools and written metrics (subjective and objective) that gives the employee transparency to what success should be? When was the last time you reviewed what competencies were required for your key positions? Most leaders are good at identifying technical competencies, but struggle with the soft skills such as decision making, interpersonal and facilitation skills. To function in flatter organizations, many forward-thinking managers expect that key positions have the ability to analyze data inside and outside of the workplace, as well as work directly and indirectly with multiple departments to make and execute business objective.

Putting employees in the “right” seat is an ongoing process if you believe your employees want to invest in themselves and you want to invest in them. Investing in your employees’ means to grow either their technical and/or soft skills in their current role as well as give employees the opportunity to advance into leadership roles. There have been some key lessons I have learned by implementing the “right” seat concept:

1. Know what you are hiring for (this can be short term or long term). This is especially important to align this element of hiring with the strategy of the company. For instance, if you are running a pilot program, staff with the intention that you either plan to transition employees into another part of the business if it is not successful or understand the financial and employee relations factors if the pilot is dissolved. Other planning activities arise such as, “Do I hire for full-time or contract employees for some or all positions?” Is there a bonus factor involved for success for the program?” Should the pilot be off-site or within the organization? What is the communication plan, so employees can understand the pilot’s intent?”
2. Take time to learn your employees SWOT. SWOT is an acronym for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is no secret, everybody does not want the promotion, manage other employees, oversee processes, and the such. However, learning your employee’s skills, competencies, inspirations, cultural background, professional ambitions and personal goals can go a long way to retain quality employees. Some of this activity starts during the hiring and onboarding process, then possibly during an employee’s 90-120 day review. Besides discussions and performance reviews, having each employee conduct a self-assessment can be a great learning tool for the employee as well as the manager. There are many self-assessment tools available, but if you have interest in developing your own, I suggest taking the KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes) of the job as well as the values of your organization. KSAs are usually found on a job description. Good performance appraisals have KSAs in them and measure only the key goals of the position. Then, develop a ranking scale with 3 to 5 responses. This is a great starting point to have constructive, honest conversations with your employees as well as help them understand how they fit in the organization. Furthermore, it will help avoid putting your most productive individual contributor into a managerial role. They are good at what they do for a reason. Fight the temptation.

Google’s “Project Oxygen” initiative gave insight on their company’s culture by assuring managers and leaders were trained to get better results. It was proven that better bosses get better results! They started with a deep dive into their performance management systems and after months of assessment they determined:

What employees valued most were even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.

Major components included training them:

• To be coaches.
• To empower their team.
• To be results oriented.
• To understand and communicate the big picture.
• To be predictable.
• To play to employee strengths.

There are many best practices on building a culture that engages employees. However, it makes strategic sense to develop a culture that defines your mission. Your mission has to match the expectations. The expectations must have clarity. Clarity promotes transparency. Transparency enhances productivity.

External perception and reputation

From an HR perspective, what is your strategy for building your reputation in the business and social community? In many organizations, there is a position called the director of first impressions that meets and greets all incoming and future students. The position’s main focus is to give potential and current students a wonderful perspective of the school and a positive student experience. If they stay through graduation or drop out, the goal is to have the student say positive things about the school. HR, along with other departments, plays a critical role in a company’s reputation. Part of any HR strategy should be to give each potential employee candidate a positive experience during the hiring and onboarding process.

The company controls most of the environment so our first impressions can be whatever we choose. Since we control most of the environment, we can control most of the outcomes – positive or negative. It starts with the screening of potential candidates. If they are qualified, we usually contact them for a follow-up discussion or visit to the location. However, most companies fail to follow up with the candidates that were determined non-qualified. These pools of candidates statistically are larger than our employee base but we neglect to give them a “positive” experience. Most correspondence is done via email today so a simple response to inform a candidate of the decision to continue the search for more qualified candidates is considered a sign of mutual respect regardless if you are a baby boomer, Gen-X, Gen-Y, or millennium candidate. In addition, if a candidate was not qualified for a current job opening, but had other positive competences, skills and attributes, there are advantages in staying in touch with them by sending news information or clips about the organization or just checking in periodically. LinkedIn has become the primary tool of choice for this activity, but there are others such as Instagram and Facebook. Implementing a closing strategy is just as important as the introduction strategy. I suggest working with your legal counsel on the language.

Dealing with terminating employees is the less desirable aspect of our roles, but if handled well, it can be a great resource of untapped referrals.

There are two types of employee terminations we will concentrate on for this segment: Resignations and “For Cause.” With resignations, if the employee resigned under mutual terms, the outgoing employee is usually open to recommending others, internal or external candidates, for their role. There have also been cases of the outgoing employee assisting in the selection of the replacement. Candidates will see this as a positive about the company’s culture and reputation. Once the outgoing employee leaves the organization, they can continue to be a pipeline for future candidates.

When someone is terminated “for cause,” successful employers have been able to have the person leave with dignity and self-respect. Being clear about the expectations of the job and demonstrating the appropriate company behaviors we described earlier will help make this transition better. These past employees will also become part of the social media and can influence future candidates. The end goal is for the employee to recognize and accept that the role was not for them, but the company is a fair organization and may refer others. For many managers, this skill does require conflict management training on dealing with terminable employees.

Vendor relationships can become an untapped source of referrals. There is a best practice of meaningfully partnering with vendors versus taking a bulk strategy approach (they are all the same). In developing an important vendor relationship is to be honest with your company’s situation and define your “as-is” state as definitive as possible. This will help you and the vendor determine how they can bring value. Secondly, both groups determine performance metrics and expectations to define the relationship. Finally, assure a process is created to handle contractual concerns and disputes for reconciliation. Afterward, the vendor will become another data point to get feedback on the reputation of the company as well as a referral source.

Finally, some HR professionals find it uncharacteristic to develop relationships with their local EEOC or Department of Labor contacts. It is an excellent way to gauge your reputation against your competitors and other companies in your business space. Your response time to inquiries and investigations will also build credibility for your organization.

Operational synergy

Regardless, if you have an HR team or if you are the business leader, every department, division and organization should have an HR business plan to align with the overall strategic plan. By understanding your HR approach, you can determine projected staffing needs. For example, you may have to shift your adjunct and full-time instructor mix to save overall labor costs. Furthermore, you can engage your leadership team in the hiring and promotions of staff based on historic and projected turnover ratios. This exercise will force the team to hire for skill. For instance, you may have a campus that is going through a transition so the campus would require someone with a proven change management background. Another location may only need a maintenance leader. To hire these people, you may have to design and execute a regional or nationwide recruiting strategy.

On another note, when you are in collaboration with the organizational strategy, you can address changes in policy to revisit your medical benefits offerings, redefine your 401(k) and discuss training costs, in-house resource allocation as well as projecting legal fees.

Closing

Strategic HR alignment with operations and finance does contribute to the profitability of the organization. It is imperative to identify and measure your organization’s effectiveness through cultural considerations that influence the types of employees you need in your organization; leverage external relationships to promote the company’s well-being; and activities that strive toward a synergetic business relationships that add value to the employees and the organization.

Terry Cooley is the Vice President of Human Resources for Education Futures Group, LLC/ Vista College. Employed with EFG since 2010, Mr. Cooley has worked in other industries such as food, auto, appliance, healthcare, durable goods, and for-profit secondary education industries.

Mr. Cooley approach is to redefine, develop, execute, and profit organizations by applying change management and lean management principles while maintaining high integrity relationships with associates, peers, customers, vendor, and other business leaders.

Mr. Cooley has a Bachelor of Science from Penn State University, Masters from Wilmington College, SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) certified, Green Belt Certified & Serves on the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) board in Dallas, TX.

Specialties: Six Sigma, Project Management, HR proficiency in Talent Management, Labor Relations, Compensation, Training, Organizational Design and Development, HRIS, EEO/AAP Compliance, Employee Relations, Legal Strategy and Execution, and Vendor Partnerships, and Human Capital Optimization.

Contact Information: Terry Cooley // Vice President of Human Resources // Education Futures Group, LLC // 300 N. Coit Rd, Ste. 650 Richardson, TX 75080 // Phone: 972.733.3431 x1723 // tcooley@vistacollege.edu