With all of the talk lately about the death of HR and all of its struggles, it really comes down to this:

HR needs to focus on how its programs and processes provide bottom line results.

Finance has realized this for years. So has Marketing. And Operations.

So why has this been such a struggle for HR? Is it the fact that many HR professionals fail to truly understand the business? Or is it that they don’t know how to structure their programs and link them to strategic objectives? Or is it something else?

Management only cares about real, bottom-line results. So should HR.

I will admit I did not watch the Presidential Debate last night, which is a shame because I heard there were some great drinking games going on. Alas, I can head to work this morning sans hangover.

I did, however, see that one of the questions was “How are you going to create jobs?”. There is a fundamental problem with this question – the president has very little direct control over job growth. Why is this? Well, first, businesses and individuals create most of the jobs. Yes, government does create some jobs, but not enough for everyone.

There are a couple assumptions that people have that need to be dispelled concerning companies and job creation. Right now, corporations have a large amount of cash to spend, and also are making some pretty good profits. However:

1. Large profits do not equal job growth.
2. Large cash positions do not equal job growth.

Just because a company is doing well financial and has the cash available to pay individuals does not mean they are going to go out and hire more people. If they are running efficiently, there is no need to hire.

What people don’t realize is this:

The only thing that creates long-term job growth is continuous, sustainable demand.

Not profits. Not lots of cash. Companies will only hire more individuals if they have work for them do actually do. And that work comes from increased demand.

So, how does one create sustainable demand? Unfortunately, I am not an economist (although I did play one on TV, maybe). From what I know, people and businesses need to have the cash to buy (i.e. demand) more products. Right now, businesses have plenty of cash, but a majority of GDP is driven by consumer spending. Consumers don’t have much cash.

Until they have more cash, whether through higher wages, reducing their debt burden, managing their finances better, etc., demand won’t increase. Not to mention, marketing also plays a huge role in increasing demand – but if consumers don’t have the money to actually buy the product or service – it won’t help much.

I am not going to get into the best way to make all of those things happen, as that becomes a very political topic. Just remember despite the B.S. that the political candidates will give you about jobs programs, tax cuts, etc. – until sustainable demand is increased the jobs won’t follow.

As an organizational behavior guy, it pleases me to see a shift towards the importance of defining critical behaviors within the organization that lead to successful results.

Earlier this week, I was reading the recent report from the SHRM Foundation on “Building A High-Performance Culture: A Fresh Look at Performance Management”. In the report, they stressed the importance of first defining the behaviors that are important to performance in your organization, and then designing the entire performance system around developing and communicating expectations concerning the behaviors and implementing reinforcing mechanisms for those behaviors.

Then yesterday, I was on a webconference presented by my friend Paul Hebert on designing effective incentive programs. The money quote from Paul:

A good incentive program involes particants achieving goals focused on many behaviors rewarded quickly in small amounts over time accompanied by genuine recognition and demonstratable progress toward the goal

Again, the emphasis is on behaviors. So why is this?

Research has shown that the best performance comes from defining, emphasizing, and reinforcing the behaviors that are important to the organization. Just as with training programs, which require constant reinforcement after the training in order to be successfully implemented and applied in the organization, the same goes for performance management.

Just as we should work with our children to demonstrate particular behaviors (be polite, listen to your teacher, be respectful to others, etc.), managers and leaders, including HR, need to ensure that your performance management system revolves around behaviors, not results. A focus on results could lead to not only poor performance, but also unethical behavior.

By switching the focus on the behaviors that lead to successful results, the performance management system can be designed to constantly emphasize and reinforce the desired behaviors, thus create a strong performance based culture. It is critical to take the time to really understand what behaviors are desirable and impact organizational results, and then constantly reinforce those behaviors through constant communication and feedback. Once employees understand the behaviors that are important to both the organization and the individual being successful, and how that leads to the desired result, a stronger culture of understanding and mutually beneficial goals will develop.

What approach has your organization taken towards performance management? Is it designed to reinforce and emphasize the end results, or is it designed to reinforce and emphasize critical behaviors?

This fall, I volunteered to coach my son’s U5 soccer team here in my local town. Keep in mind, I have never played soccer on any level (except with friends) and I have never coached before. Add to it that all of the kids are 4 years old, and it should make for an interesting experience.

Three weeks in, and overall things have gone well. The kids love playing the game, they have fun doing some drills in practice, and enjoy playing with the other kids. The kids have also done a great job of listening and paying attention during the game, which can be a challenge for kids of any age.

There has been one exception: my son.

Granted, Andrew is not the easiest child to deal with. He likes attention and is very attached to me, ever since the day he was born. He has been throwing fits on the field, not being engaged when the game is going on, and has done a lot of whining and complaining during practice and the games.

The other week, as he was sitting on the sidelines with my wife, she asked him what was wrong. He said, “The other team won’t let me kick the ball. They keep trying to stop me and I keep getting tripped”. He has watched sports on TV with me, including soccer, so he has seen the game.

Then it hit me: I have done a poor job as a coach. I just assumed that all of the kids understood the game and the nature of competition, and that the other team was trying to score on us and also trying to stop us to score. It never occurred to me to explain these things to the kids. I assumed that they understood the game.

Once my wife explained to him that it was part of the game, and that part of the other teams job was to stop him, he started to play better and become more engaged.

In your organization, do your employees understand the game? Do they understand what the end goal is, how the game (i.e. competition) works, and what each party is trying to do?

It never occurred to me to explain this to my players. I am willing to bet that many leaders and managers have done the same with their employees. Don’t just assume they always understand the game. Leaders and managers need to take the time to explain the game and communicate with the entire organization so that everyone understands what need to be done, what the organization is trying to accomplish, and how they are going to accomplish the goal.

Don’t make the same mistake I made. Make sure everyone understands the game.

In case you missed it, I recently was a guest poster on the HR Virtual Cafe blog, a product of my friend Susan Avello. The topic was “Defining Your Purpose” – I hope you enjoy!

The word value is used quite heavily in the HR space. The talk usually revolves around how HR can create and provide value to the organization. This is especially a struggle in smaller organizations as they grow and start realizing the need for HR.

If you are in this situation, regardless of the size of your organization, have you asked the following questions of your top management:

What do you mean when you say “value”? What is important and valuable to the organization?

Value can mean different things to different individuals. When company leaders want to know how HR will create value, it is imperative to understand what they mean by that statement. Do they want to see a positive ROI on HR projects? Do they want to see increased employee engagement? Reduced turnover?

If you don’t have a clear understanding of what leadership values from its HR department and services, it will be difficult to gain buy-in and demonstrate success. Once you know what they see as value, you can tailor your projects and services around delivering around that value. Even if you don’t fully agree with their definition of value, delivering on their expectations of value will demonstrate that HR does have an important role within the organization, and these small wins can be used to frame future discussions and projects to really demonstrate what HR can do for an organization.

Last week, Inc Magazine published an article online titled “8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees“. The writer listed the following qualities:

1. They ignore job descriptions

2. They’re eccentric…

3. But they know when to dial it back

4. They publicly praise

5. And they privately complain

6. They speak when others won’t

7. They like to prove others wrong

8. They’re always fiddling.

Honestly, I have no issue with any of these. I agree wholeheartedly with all of them – they are all great attributes to have within an organization.

Now, the question is: Will my employer allow me to be remarkable?

This is where the culture of an organization plays such a huge role in the unleashing of creativity and talent from their employees. A great culture will nurture these qualities and allow individuals to tinker with things, ignore their job descriptions and go off on the unbeaten path.

But the problem is many cultures won’t let their employees do these things. Everyone has to follow the rules. No creativity is allowed. This is how we’ve always done it and how we are always going to do it. They don’t seek out improvement. They prefer the status quo.

The status quo does not allow the remarkable to happen. Look at your organization – do they allow you the freedom to explore the best way to do your job? Do they let you fully utilize your talents and interests to improve the organization? Or do they want you to fall in line and behave in a uniform manner?

There is one thing I cannot stress enough when it comes to onboarding, and that is to give new employees timely feedback as to their progress within the organization. Joining a new company can be a stressful situation, especially if it is the employee’s first job out of college. They are learning new software, systems, policies, and procedures, and at the same time trying to accomplish the job for which they are hired.

Everyone in the organization should be aware of whether they are meeting expectations, and that is especially true with new hires. They are still assimilating into the culture and do not understand what is right and what is expected. It is critical that the supervisor or manager keeps in constant with the employee on whether they are doing their work correctly, and providing feedback on what needs to be improved. This feedback process should continue long after the employee is hired, as feedback is a necessary and important process within the organization. The employee wants to know whether the work they are producing is accurate, and if it isn’t, what needs to be improved.

Your organization cannot improve if the individuals within the organization are not given feedback on what they need to improve.

The latest issue of the Harvard Business Review (January/February 2010) includes an article titled “The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010″. The first idea is one that really caught my attention, and it discusses what really motivates workers. In her research, Teresa Amabile, has discovered through a study that the most important thing that motivates employees is making progress. From the article:

On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest. (emphasis added)

I am not going to deny that progress is important when it comes to motivation. Any person would become frustrated if they continued to work hard, put in a full effort, and still not make any headway. Unfortunately, when that happens, it isn’t due to anything that the employee has done, it is a fault of the system and processes that the employee operates in.

I think the bigger key is the part highlighted in bold – it isn’t just making the progress that is important, it is that they are receiving the support needed to do so, and most likely, recognition for making progress. An individual can toil away in an organization, making progress but receiving no recognition or benefits from their hard work and success. In my opinion, progress will be motivating if the individual receives some type of gain from the progress, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be financial. Numerous studies have shown the important of giving and receiving simple recognition can improve attitude and performance. Employees want to be recognized for their effort and success. It feels great to know that you have accomplished something; in an organizational setting, it is even better for someone else to notice the progress and hard working you are achieving.

HT: Dan Pink

As you can see from the lack of posts over the last nearly 3 months, motivation has been one thing that has been lacking on my part. Yes, I’ve been busy with grad school, family, and work, but in reality, it comes down to motivation. It is obvious that if you don’t have motivation, then you won’t accomplish anything.

The same goes for organizations. In order to become as effective as you can possibly be as an organization, everyone from the top down needs to be motivated. And it has to be genuine motivation – not some fake, ra-ra crap put on at a ‘corporate rally’. In organization development, it is said that change won’t occur unless there is a felt need. The same goes for achieving an optimal level of effectiveness – the organization has to realize that improvements can and should be made, and individuals are willing to commit to make these changes a reality. That is where the true motivation comes from. It is a result of commitment to change and improvement.

Being the best – whether it is being the top firm in your industry or reaching a maximum level of effectiveness (which very well may lead you to the top of the industry) – takes work. People, and organizations, rarely make it to the top by luck only. It takes hard work. It takes effort. It takes commitment. And it takes motivation to keep working towards the goal. Tiger Woods has a goal in mind, and dedicates himself to reaching that goal and motivating himself to achieve his goals. The same should go for you and your organization. Set goals to improve effectiveness and stay motivated to achieving success and reaping the rewards of achieving your goal.