Talent Management - September 2008 - (Page 12)

[leading edge] by Dr. Jac Fitz-enz J J No Whining, No Excuses im Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great said, “Success or failure depends more on what you do than what the world hands you.” That is the long way to say, “Stop making excuses, and just do something.” Nike’s motto, “Just do it,” is another reinforcement of the same theme. Have you ever heard of a successful person who waited for someone to make things easy for him or her? Too many HR people spend their lives ﬁnding reasons why they don’t have a seat at the table. Many years ago, I took the head HR job at a midsize company and found the HR function was ignored and denigrated. I knew there had been problems with my predecessor, but I didn’t know he had broken all ties with most managers. Although no one disliked me or my staff, everyone had the mindset that they didn’t need or want HR services except in the most basic garbage removal cases. Turning It Around I could have spent my time whining and commiserating with the staff about the bum rap we had been handed. Instead, I insisted on being invited to the weekly meeting of the CFO’s direct reports. When I asked why I wasn’t invited, he told me, “We are talking about the business. I didn’t think you would be interested.” Given that as a starting point, I decided I had to change the perception of HR’s value. What I did not do was try to sell managers on new or better HR services. That was the last thing they cared about. Instead, I took Henry Kaiser’s advice, “Find a need and ﬁll it.” For a couple of weeks, I roamed the halls of the ofﬁce and walked the factory ﬂoor observing and talking to people at all levels. Pretty soon I found the need. We were having quality and productivity problems in production. After eliminating various possible causes, it became clear our supervisors were the center of the storm. We were growing at 35 percent per year and they were mostly new to the job and had never had any formal training. This was a need I could ﬁll. reported more positive attitudes toward their work, supervisors and the company. The quality and productivity ﬁgures were markedly improved. When I reported the results to the C-level they said, “Great, what else can you do for us?” The door was opened, and I had a seat at the table. That was 30 years ago, a time when there was much less appreciation for or belief in the notion that people truly are the differentiator, and HR can add value. In 2008, most managers understand their sustained success is dependent on employee performance. Also, advances in computer technology and behavioral science tools make demonstrations of quantitative values much easier. If we in HR expect to change attitudes and gain respectability, we have to ﬁnd business needs and ﬁll them. About the Author Dr. Jac Fitz-enz is founder and CEO of the Human Capital Source and Workforce Intelligence Institute. He can be reached at editor@ talentmgt.com. Proving the Value I put together a basic, inexpensive training program for supervisors. It covered topics such as how to interview, on-board, explain the pay system, coach, discipline and terminate without provoking litigation. There were no theories; it was all practical skills. Then, to get the support of upper management, I held a three-hour brieﬁng for managers and directors. By the way, some of them needed the same skills but would never have admitted it. My pitch to them was they needed to know what their supervisors learned so they could reinforce it. We ran the program and several months later surveyed the employees and checked production ﬁgures. The values were clear. Employees If we in HR expect to change attitudes and gain respectability, we have to ﬁnd business needs and ﬁll them. We will never succeed if we spend time making excuses for our failure to win a seat at that proverbial table. Messages such as, “Find a need and ﬁll it” and “Just do it” have to become our mantras. The Bible says, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” But if we wait for the strong to turn it over, what we might ﬁnd is a burned out cinder. I leave you with the words of Lee Iacocca: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” No excuses. No whining. 12 September 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - September 2008

Talent Management - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance: Stop Wasting Money on Training Leading Edge: No Whining, No Excuses Learning Connections: Do You Get It? The Untapped Resource Reinventing HR Doing Compensation Right: The Winning Spread Managing Performance in the Knowledge and Innovation Worker Age Stop-The-Clock Time Management Preparing for the Future in the Public Sector SAS: Connecting People, Process and Products Talent Transformation at Textron The Price of Finding the Right Gen Y Candidate Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Do What You Love, Love What You Do

Talent Management - September 2008

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