Rewards and Recognitions

Typically, it is the responsibility of the professionals in Human Resources (HR) to recommend and often control compensation, bonuses and other rewards and recognitions available to management.

It is management’s responsibility to determine what they wish to reward, how often, and whether or not the decisions they’ve made regarding these extra monetary compensations and/or perquisites are achieving the goals they wish to achieve.

Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Recognize the extraordinary and unusual.
2. Do not offer recognitions to those not deserving just to be "fair" or to avoid hurting feelings.
3. Reward and reinforce those behaviors that actually matter to you. For example, if you reward quantity of calls handled by call center agents, you are forcing them to give up quality (defined as actually satisfying the caller-customer) so that they can make their numbers.
4. Create small measurable successes - don't wait until the whole new design is built - people need to be calibrated frequently.
5. Set the right goals and show how they fit into the overall company goals.
6. Treat people as individuals - learn what motivates them and reward accordingly.
7. Remember:  ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.

Rewards and recognitions are the responsibility of all involved in the management and development of employees. Explore this subject further with my online course provided through Proformative or contact me for a personal consultation.

Human Resources Blind-sided

Human Resources blind-sided

I know I’ve written about this a zillion times at the least – but based on something I observed recently, I feel compelled to write about it again.

Psychological research indicates that the first person heard in a dispute is most often the one believed.  If someone makes an accusation there is the presumption of guilt.  We see this in the criminal justice system all the time.  Jurors report that they start with a presumption of guilt because they believe the case would not have come to trial if the defendant were not guilty.

In the business world, an allegation – a complaint – is made to HR.  Without interviewing the person being accused, or bringing the protagonists together, HR accepts the allegation as true and then either looks for evidence to prove it (rejecting evidence that might disprove it) or just merely accepts that it is true and punishes the person having been accused.

Guilty – without due process.  Guilty – without being able to confront the accuser.  Guilty – without having the opportunity to tell his/her side of the story.

HR pretends that it is protecting “confidentiality” by not disclosing the accuser, the circumstances of the allegation, or any other facts that might help the defense.  HR pretends it is protecting “confidentiality by not attempting to bring the parties together to mediate the dispute.

HR is not judge nor jury – it just thinks it is.

HR is not a qualified investigating body – it just thinks it is.

When training HR professionals in the corporate/government world and when teaching budding HR professionals studying for their MBA degrees, I emphasize the importance of neutrality and teach how to go about interviewing, investigating, mediating, concluding, etc.  

Marketing Yourself - Service Marketing

Having taught marketing clases and helped numerous clients with marketing needs, how could I get into the position of having a long-term client not know the full range of the work I do? Dumb me, I took her knowledge for granted.

It is often the case when consulting that you establish a contract for one aspect of the work you do, and get known by that aspect. People put you in a box and fail to realize that it's only one part of what you do. How can you remind them of the full range of your services without being pushy or hard selling?

My client uses me frequently when there is a personnel issue to be resolved. She remembers that I was a practicing Psychologist for many years. However, for the last twenty plus years, I've been a management consultant and specialize in a wide range of "people and processes in the workplace" issues. I am expert on many aspect os Human Resources (HR) and most aspects of Organizational Development (O-D) as well as having a huge background in streamlining and process improvement.

How do you casually drop this information into the conversation? I'd love your ideas.