Your organization´s human capital is its most valuable resource. How many times have you heard this? Yet, how are your people used within your organization to maximize their potential and most benefit the organization?
Consider the FORCE as you analyze your most powerful organizational resource - your human resource - to determine how best to use the people you have.
F - Find other people with whom to share duties. If you view task distribution as sharing rather than bothering or burdening - a more positive and supportive perspective - you feel differently about spreading the load. Delegating to others seems most difficult the more conscientious and responsible you feel. This is probably when you most need to delegate.
A manager of mine once sat me down after an exceptionally stressful few days. I over-extended my workload during these days. I felt responsible and unexpendable during a particular project. My manager had a glass of water on his desk and drew my attention to that glass. He made the analogy that the glass of water was our business unit and the workload for which we were responsible.
He then took his index finger and plunged it into the glass of water. As the water was displaced around his finger he equated his submerged finger to me and my place in the organization. I was an integral part of the unit. He next pulled his finger out of the water. The water, of course, settled in the glass without his finger inside. He made the analogy that his finger removed equated to my suddenly no longer being around, for whatever reason. (This was not a warning of an impending action.) The water - filled in where his finger had once been inserted - represented the business unit´s workload being handled without me.
The visual message? That I needed to end my belief that I was unexpendable because business continues with or without me. I stopped stressing and started sharing the load. The lesson for you? Find other people with whom to share duties.
O - Outsource. Many an article in HR publications talk about outsourcing and how to do it. Search this site for "outsourcing" and you find a lot of resources you can use right away.
Outsourcing is both a professional and personal strategy. Professionally, outsourcing allows you to do more with less and to align specific needs with unique skill sets you may not have within your organization. Personally, outsourcing allows you to better manage your time and de-stress your life.
February is National Time Management Month. See: "Chase´s Calendar of Events" at www.Chases.com (redirects to http://books.McGraw-hill.com), "Special Months" link. Note: If this link is no longer active, e-mail me with a subject line reading "Request for Chase´s Special Months Listing". I have alternatives.
Evaluate what someone else can do who is not a part of your team or organization. Then research your outsourcing choices and select a provider who can meet your needs.
R - Retrain to retain. Whether you work with a small staff organization or have thousands of employees from whom to choose, bringing a new staff member to productivity costs your organization money. Consider offering a new challenge to or making an employee more relevant to a current organizational need rather than laying someone off because their particular skill set is no longer needed.
A survey initiated by Saba and ITG Competency Group, Inc. that examined strategic human capital management (HCM) initiatives of global organizations revealed that companies are implementing plans to develop and retain talent. The study results note that 83% of respondents seek to retain staff by establishing career plans that incorporate core learning, performance, compensation, succession, and competency management processes. (See: HR.com article "Human Resources Execs Say Strategic HCM Top Priority", December 7, 2005.)
Rather than risk losing a good employee to boredom and dissatisfaction, retrain them for a new skill set to keep them in your organization. Recognize and leverage the skills and talents of your employees.
C - Career vs. job. Government Computer News (GCN) reported to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management that the average worker will have 10-to-15 jobs in their lives. The report noted that managers now deal with a generation of workers who do not think in terms of lifelong careers. (GCN, Vol.18, No.5)
Use this discovery to your favor by structuring opportunities in your organization as distinctive jobs requiring specific skill sets. Define and align competencies to these skill sets. Then provide links, transitions, and relationships that offer opportunities to grow and succeed at distinctly different jobs within the same organization.
After a structured series of jobs within one organization, one finds oneself having a career.
E - Evaluate and educate. Continually. Yes, it is time-consuming. Yes, it costs money. The benefits? You determine whether restructuring the workload is working for the organization´s business needs, and how to improve the situation where needed. Give a person tools (education and training) to handle challenges and the usual response is positive and appreciative.
Reduce your own stress. Retain someone you want to keep rather than risk losing them. Do more with less. Minimize the effects of losing a knowledge base. Maximize your current human capital investment. When the FORCE is with the people in your organization, your organization´s light saber burns brighter.
PS: If "the force" and "light saber" are unfamiliar concepts to you, ask your children about, or Google (search the Internet for) "Star WarsTM".
BONUS: For a challenging criss-cross puzzle of HR-OD glossary terms, download the file "criss cross puzzle - OD Glossary01 (handout).pdf" from www.springboardtraining.com/links.html à Leadership & Organization Development. For the solution, e-mail Sylvia (Sylvia@springboardtraining.com) with the subject line "OD Criss Cross01 Solution".
