Positive News for HR Professionals

We are living in challenging times for employees and companies and very often people are stressed out and look towards HR for advice and inspiration. This can be difficult however research has shown that there are answers. Fred Luthans (2009) has defined Psychological Capital which gives a positive approach to developing staff members, managers and human resources in today’s workplace.

Psychological capital includes Hope, Resilience, Optimism and Self-Efficacy all attributes which are extremely important in the current economic climate. We can all use a little hope, resilience, optimism and self efficiency to keep going in these difficult times.

Psychological Capital has been defined as an individual’s positive psychological state of development and is characterized by (1) having confidence (self- efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; (2) making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resilience) to attain success. 

Positive organisational behaviour is the study and application of positively orientated human resources strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvements.

Managers who wish to enhance the performance of their direct employees will derive some benefit from exhibiting the attributes of hope, resilience, optimism and self-efficacy as managers serve as role models for their employees. If managers persist towards goal accomplishment and do not let setbacks deter them, employees will be more likely to follow suit. In addition when adversity strikes or uncertainty surrounds managers, how they cope will be observed and perhaps mimicked by employees. In short managers are always on stage and followers are watching and taking cues about how to handle situations, what is valued, expected and rewarded. Managers who become more aware of how their psychological capital and level of positivity in general influences their employees and subsequent behaviour will be more likely to see positive performance outcomes.

   

Psychological Capital can be developed through short training interventions, which last one to three hours. These include activities designed to enhance the components of efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience. For example in the hope component of a training module participants begin by delineating key goals they will use throughout the session. The facilitator then explains the need for a concrete end point to measure success, a framework that allows participants to work towards goal accomplishment as opposed to away from desired goals by using a ‘stepping’ method of identifying sub-goals as a way to reap the benefits of even modest achievements. The participants are instructed to generate multiple proactive pathways to the goal and reflect on and discuss the realistic options identified. On completion of this training intervention participants have taken ownership of a personally valuable and challenging goal and are prepared for obstacles and are ready to implement multiple contingency plans to attain their goals.

Psychological Capital training interventions will help build resilience by having participants identify recent personal and organisational setbacks within their work domain and employees have learned new tools to deal with setbacks and create a plan to handle these.    

Setting a positive agenda for survival is important in these challenging times. The lessons we can learn from Psychological Capital is that management can create and build a positive environment in their organisation. It is essential that HR takes the lead in this.  Creating Hope, Resilience, Optimism and Self-Efficacy in any organisation is of benefit for all involved. We saw that management is a role model for all employees and that they are closely watched by employees. If management is a role model than human resources are the real leaders in this and it is essential that they show Hope, Resilience, Optimism and Self-Efficacy on a daily basis. Pessimistic HR managers are the death knell for any organisation as they give no direction and suck up energy.

More than ever this is a time for positive HR managers who can create a positive environment and challenge the rest of the organisation to improve, be positive and creative.

If you want to talk to Kenneth Buchholtz about Human Resources issues then give him a call at 065 7071933.

CV Writing & Interview Technique - Career Development Workshop

CV writing and Interview Technique - Career Development

© Kenneth Buchholtz

In these challenging times a lot of companies have to let staff members go in order to secure their survival. This is both difficult for the employee and the company. The employee has to find a new career and the company has to face up to the fact that business is not going as planned. They have to let good staff members go which gives a lot of employers the feeling of guilt and failure.

One of the supports a company can give a departing employee is a programme of Career Development. What is Career Development? Career Development is to assist terminated employees by evaluating their current skills, providing constructive systematic job search skill support and teaching them where to find a new position.

Research results indicate that individuals receiving formal Career Development training have higher job search effectiveness and are more optimistic regarding recovery from job loss than those without.

The ability to deal with transition in the world of work is perhaps one of the most prevalent challenges that workers face today. Change is a reality and because of the economic reality employees, managers and executives must deal with having multiple careers during their lifetime. Staying with the same company for 35 years is no longer an option because companies are cutting back. The skill of finding new employment opportunities has become an essential survival skill in the current economic climate. Employees have to ensure their employability for the future.

Important reasons why organisations should use Career Development are for improving their company image in the community and maintaining morale in their beleaguered organisation.

To start with a Career Development programme the participants need to be aware that losing a job is similar to a bereavement process and if this isn’t dealt with on an upfront way a participant could remain too long in this process which would seriously harm his chance of success. The stages of a bereavement process are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

The next stage in the Career Development process is personal development in which participants are helped to explore their life and work – their abilities and shortcomings; their dreams and limitations; their values, wants, needs, interests, traits and very importantly their accomplishments and achievements. These are the essential inputs in developing the cornerstones of a new career.

Next is the job search in which the participant develops a CV which is attention grabbing, engaging and convinces the prospect employer to take action. The CV should entice the reader and should persuade the prospective employer to hire them.

Furthermore, the participants need to be introduced to the essential life skills of Networking. Networking is the process of making contacts and connections with other persons who can help us or influence others who can help us by providing career information or job opportunities. Surveys report that on any given day 85% of the available jobs are not advertised. The ability to network is an essential life skill to ensure the successful development of any career.

Developing interview skills is another important area of finding a new job opportunity. Interview skills are key to getting that new job. The participants are guided through on how to prepare and conduct interviews with potential employers. Participants are made aware of the appropriate dress and how to prepare to make a positive impression at the interview. Mock interviews are a useful strategy in teaching interview skills.

The last element of the Career Development process is planning. Planning is central in the job search. The participants gather a lot of information about different opportunities and have to make decisions about where they want to go and how they are going to get there and to explore the various options available to them. Furthermore they need to plan the newly available time in such a way that it creates new chances for them instead of stopping them from develop themselves.

The workshop will be delivered by Kenneth Buchholtz who has a Masters in Business HRM UL and he is a Chartered Fellow CIPD. 

If you are interested in attending, as an individual jobseeker, a workshop on CV Writing and Interview Techniques then give me a call at 065 7071933.

CV writing, Interview Techniques and Career Development Workshop

Date: Wednesday 20^th April 2011

Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Venue: Raheen Business & Conference Centre, Raheen Business Park, Raheen, Limerick

Investment: 99 Euro per person

(Payment has to be received before the start of the workshop)

We will cover the following topics at this comprehensive workshop: -

Ø  Comprehensive Toolkit & Manual

Ø  Developing the Curriculum Vitae

Ø  Understanding the Job Market

Ø  Marketing Yourself

Ø  Interview Techniques

Ø  Action Plan

CAMPBELL INTERNATIONAL

HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTANTS

Cloncoul House, Ennistymon, Co Clare

065 -7071933

E-mail Info@campbellinternational.net

CV Writing & Interview Technique - Career Development Workshop

CV writing and Interview Technique - Career Development

© Kenneth Buchholtz

In these challenging times a lot of companies have to let staff members go in order to secure their survival. This is both difficult for the employee and the company. The employee has to find a new career and the company has to face up to the fact that business is not going as planned. They have to let good staff members go which gives a lot of employers the feeling of guilt and failure.

One of the supports a company can give a departing employee is a programme of Career Development. What is Career Development? Career Development is to assist terminated employees by evaluating their current skills, providing constructive systematic job search skill support and teaching them where to find a new position.

Research results indicate that individuals receiving formal Career Development training have higher job search effectiveness and are more optimistic regarding recovery from job loss than those without.

The ability to deal with transition in the world of work is perhaps one of the most prevalent challenges that workers face today. Change is a reality and because of the economic reality employees, managers and executives must deal with having multiple careers during their lifetime. Staying with the same company for 35 years is no longer an option because companies are cutting back. The skill of finding new employment opportunities has become an essential survival skill in the current economic climate. Employees have to ensure their employability for the future.

Important reasons why organisations should use Career Development are for improving their company image in the community and maintaining morale in their beleaguered organisation.

To start with a Career Development programme the participants need to be aware that losing a job is similar to a bereavement process and if this isn’t dealt with on an upfront way a participant could remain too long in this process which would seriously harm his chance of success. The stages of a bereavement process are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

The next stage in the Career Development process is personal development in which participants are helped to explore their life and work – their abilities and shortcomings; their dreams and limitations; their values, wants, needs, interests, traits and very importantly their accomplishments and achievements. These are the essential inputs in developing the cornerstones of a new career.

Next is the job search in which the participant develops a CV which is attention grabbing, engaging and convinces the prospect employer to take action. The CV should entice the reader and should persuade the prospective employer to hire them.

Furthermore, the participants need to be introduced to the essential life skills of Networking. Networking is the process of making contacts and connections with other persons who can help us or influence others who can help us by providing career information or job opportunities. Surveys report that on any given day 85% of the available jobs are not advertised. The ability to network is an essential life skill to ensure the successful development of any career.

Developing interview skills is another important area of finding a new job opportunity. Interview skills are key to getting that new job. The participants are guided through on how to prepare and conduct interviews with potential employers. Participants are made aware of the appropriate dress and how to prepare to make a positive impression at the interview. Mock interviews are a useful strategy in teaching interview skills.

The last element of the Career Development process is planning. Planning is central in the job search. The participants gather a lot of information about different opportunities and have to make decisions about where they want to go and how they are going to get there and to explore the various options available to them. Furthermore they need to plan the newly available time in such a way that it creates new chances for them instead of stopping them from develop themselves.

The workshop will be delivered by Kenneth Buchholtz who has a Masters in Business HRM UL and he is a Chartered Fellow CIPD. 

If you are interested in attending, as an individual jobseeker, a workshop on CV Writing and Interview Techniques then give me a call at 065 7071933.

CV writing, Interview Techniques and Career Development Workshop

Date: Wednesday 20^th April 2011

Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Venue: Raheen Business & Conference Centre, Raheen Business Park, Raheen, Limerick

Investment: 99 Euro per person

(Payment has to be received before the start of the workshop)

We will cover the following topics at this comprehensive workshop: -

Ø  Comprehensive Toolkit & Manual

Ø  Developing the Curriculum Vitae

Ø  Understanding the Job Market

Ø  Marketing Yourself

Ø  Interview Techniques

Ø  Action Plan

CAMPBELL INTERNATIONAL

HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTANTS

Cloncoul House, Ennistymon, Co Clare

065 -7071933

E-mail Info@campbellinternational.net

Why Human Resource Management?

Why Human Resource Management?

In the current economic climate we need to improve our performance as individuals, organisations and as a country. Whoever we are, we need to take stock and assess how and what we could do to improve our performance. As individuals we have to be realistic and see what actions we need to develop in order to better ourselves. This might bring us in unchartered waters and test our comfort zones but life as we know it has changed so radically that we can no longer sit back.

Also as organisations we need to re-evaluate ourselves and assess what we can do better. Human Resources management when properly implemented and executed can add value to our organisation. Your employees are an essential part of your organisation and provide you with the workforce to execute your work and services.

Studies claim that Human Resource Management impacts on your company’s performance. The effects of high performance management practices are real, economically significant and general – and thus should be adopted by your organisation (Pfeffer, 1998). In the UK, several reports have argued that an economic and business case for good people management has now been proven: for example, CIPD (2004) notes that more than 30 studies carried out in the UK and US since the early 1990s leave no room to doubt that the relationship is positive and that it is cumulative. There is a growing consensus that high performance is linked with high quality in practice in such areas as recruitment, skill development and training, remuneration, job design and organisational culture (Marchington, 2005).

Taking this all in what should you do as an Irish SME organisation to use Human Resource Management for your benefit?

·         Recruitment – hiring the right employees is essential for any company. Ensure that you are trained in conducting interviews and that you know what skill set and competencies you are looking for. Too often managers have no training or skills in selecting the right candidates and are just hoping they are doing the right thing. With the cost associated with a misplaced recruitment, you can’t afford to take recruitment that casual anymore.

·         Skill Development and Training – you need to find out what training is necessary and need to be creative on how you train staff members in the necessary skills either through on the job training by co-workers or through short seminars by more experienced staff members. Internal coaching of your high potentials by experienced managers is a cost effective way of ensuring development in difficult times. Try to keep even a small training budget because it will show that your company believes it has a future. The most important message is that the organisation is willing to keep investing in people as employees are the biggest asset a company has. Furthermore, due to your investment in training and development you will be able to respond faster when the economy recovers.

·         Remuneration - We live in very insecure times, there are many economic factors which can change very quickly leaving companies exposed who overstretched their salary budgets. For most companies there needs to be a salary freeze for the coming period. Looking at the competitive position of Irish salaries there is a need for a re-alignment in the coming years. We can’t afford higher salaries than our main export markets even with the reduction of our minimum wage our salaries are still higher than our competitors. However with the exposure, especially of young people, to high levels of debt, the re-alignment needs to be handled very carefully. For SME companies a salary freeze would be very much on the cards with if possible only discretionary bonus payments given when possible.

·         Job Design – In the coming years jobs in the SME sector will be determined by Flexibility and Performance. The SME sector is the main driver of employment and with our high levels of unemployment it is imperative to get as many people working again as possible. As companies need to respond quickly to changing markets and changing circumstances we need to be flexible. Furthermore, we need to be focussed on performance not only on organisational performance but also on a personal level. We all need to increase our own personal performance in order to really increase the performance of our companies and economy. It is difficult but necessary to get employees to honestly look at their own performance and make improvements on this.

·         Organisational Culture – Organisational Culture are the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. This is where Ireland in the last number of years really fell foul. We need to assess what values and norms will assist your company to grow and develop themselves and get all your employees to understand this and keep adhering to this during good, difficult and bad times.

We have great potential in our country, organisations and ourselves which are still undiscovered. We need to reach out to this potential and get it working for us.

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement

Under the current circumstances the traditional view might be that employees just need to be happy to have a job and shouldn’t complain and just get on with their work. However, in today’s business environment employee engagement is more important than ever before.

Employee Engagement is the extent to which workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual, exists relative to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organisation. Engagement can be seen as a heightened level of ownership where each employee wants to do whatever they can for the benefit of their internal and external customers, and for the success of the organisation as a whole.

Only 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs. These employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. People that are actively engaged help move the organization forward. 88% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact on the quality of their organization's products, compared with only 38% of the disengaged. 72% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively affect customer service, versus 27% of the disengaged. 68% of highly engaged employees believe they can positively impact costs in their job or unit, compared with just 19% of the disengaged. Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them. This is associated with people demonstrating a willingness to recommend the organization to others and commit time and effort to help the organization succeed. It suggests that people are motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g. personal growth, working to a common purpose, being part of a larger process) rather than simply focusing on extrinsic factors (pay/reward).

Employees with the highest level of commitment perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organisation, which indicates that engagement is linked to organizational performance. For example, at the beverage company of MolsonCoors, it was found that engaged employees were five times less likely than non-engaged employees to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a lost-time safety incident. In fact, the average cost of a safety incident for an engaged employee was $63, compared with an average of $392 for a non-engaged employee. Consequently, through strengthening employee engagement, the company saved $1,721,760 in safety costs in 2002. In addition, savings were found in sales performance teams through engagement. In 2005, for example, low-engagement teams were seen falling behind engaged teams, with a difference in performance-related costs of low- versus high-engagement teams totalling $2,104,823.3 (Lockwood).

Managers need to think how they can create an environment in which employees are motivated, enabled and energised to deliver their best performance. Managers need to translate this in: -

·         Employer engagement - Employers can stay engaged with their employees by actively seeking to understand and act on behalf of the expectations and preferences of their employees.

·         Employee perceptions of job importance - An employee’s attitude toward the job's importance and the company had the greatest impact on loyalty and customer services than all other employee factors combined.

·         Employee clarity of job expectations - If expectations are not clear and basic materials and equipment not provided, negative emotions such as boredom or resentment may result, and the employee may then become focused on surviving more than thinking about how they can help the organisation succeed.

·         Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors - Feedback is the key to giving employees a sense of where they’re going, but many organizations are remarkably bad at giving it. What employees really want to hear is 'Thanks, you did a good job.' But all the average boss does is hand out a cheque.

·         Quality of working relationships with peers, superiors, and subordinates - If employees' relationship with their managers is fractured, then no amount of perks will persuade the employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss.

·         Perceptions of the ethos and values of the organization - 'Inspiration and values' is the most important of drivers in the Engaged Performance model. Inspirational leadership is the ultimate perk. In its absence, it is unlikely to engage employees.

·         Effective Internal Employee Communications - Which convey a clear description of ‘what's going on’ in the organisation. If you accept that employees want to be involved in what they are doing then you need to explain what is happening in the company. The effect of poor internal communications is seen as it’s most destructive in global organisations.

If you want to talk to Kenneth Buchholtz about Human Resources issues then give him a call at 065 7071933.