Introduction to People Optimization Dr. Chuck Coker Scott Howard Human Capital Strategist Executive Director, Operations MECLABS MECLABS
Dr. Chuck Coker – Human Capital Strategist Chuck joined MECLABS Group in January 2007, in order to drive the growth of the organization through acquisition, as well as the recruitment and retention of high ‐ value employees. His organizational development background includes work with AT&T, General Foods, Harris Corporation, Sprint PCS, Tupperware, Verizon and Zurich. Chuck has developed over 50 training programs for personal and career development, as well as achieving the title of Senior Professional in Human Resources. He is past Chair of the President’s Council of the National Speaker’s Association. He has been guest lecturer at Universities like Auburn, Harvard, Westminster and Moscow State. Chuck is a former USMC Officer and a 7 th degree Grandmaster Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. His education includes both B.A. and Ph.D. degrees. 2
Scott Howard – Executive Director, Operations Scott Howard is responsible for the daily operations of MECLABS and is the man that keeps the trains running on time for all research projects in the laboratory. Before joining MECLABS in May 2008, Howard was the Vice President and Head of Pre ‐ Settlement Operations for Macquarie Bank, and has held operational leadership roles for other financial industry firms such as Countrywide Home Loans, PHH Mortgage, and Merrill Lynch. Scott holds a degree from the highly ranked Department of Economics at Indiana University in Bloomington. 3
Can you really optimize people? • The 2012 Benchmark Personnel Guide study suggests: ─ All sizes of companies acquire people similarly ─ Yet, they don’t all lead and manage people similarly • A few definitions: ─ Leadership People … (Influence Develop) ─ Manage Process … (Control Measurement) 4
The MECLABS story The early days • We were focused on hiring the most competent and high character individuals • We had reasonable growth Skills Resume • We hired based on skills 5
A couple of C’s We, like all managers, wanted to see that candidates: • Could do the job with COMPETENCE • Would do the job because of their CHARACTER 6
Things that can be managed: Competency • Can they do the job? • Do they have the: ─ Resume ─ Skills ─ Knowledge • Make sure you’re hiring for the right competencies 7
The story of Scott’s Competency • Perceived importance of marketing background • Understanding organizational needs 8
Things that can be managed: Character • Will they do the job? ─ Trustworthiness ─ Work ethic ─ Loyalty 9
What does character mean? “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are , while your reputation is merely what others think you are .” – John Wooden 10
How leaders manage character • There is a lot of information on character and how it relates to business ─ Ethics ─ Doing what you say you will do • Measuring character ─ Hitting deadlines ─ How mistakes are handled ─ Output commensurate with stated competency 11
Back to the story… we were cruising along • But… margins weren’t growing • Growth was not exponential, but simply linear • As the scale went up, margins would eventually go down 12
So we hired Chuck • Chuck asked us: ─ What traits we valued when trying to hire, lead, and manage talent • We answered: Competence (can they do the job) and Character (will they do the job) 13
Then Chuck asked: how do you know if a person… • Can work in our culture and with our unique team • Will be able to mature personally and professionally We said: Who cares? 14
Chuck told us this story Background: • The Specialties division of the world’s fourth largest financial institution • Needed to improve their sales effort by 8+ figures Goal: • Create a sales and marketing team of employees who could outperform last year’s record sales volume 15
Approach • Acquire a training resource to increase professional and personal knowledge • Conduct whole ‐ person focused testing and training ─ Garner insight into their own personalities and the personalities of others ─ Learn how to work with those differences • Enhance commonalities across ranks and departments • Eliminate employee bias • Everyone must learn to “speak” the same language • Work from the same foundational principles 16
Results Previous Year New Year $22,000,000 increase We said: We want a piece of that action! 17
We asked Chuck what were we missing? • Chemistry – can they work with my team • Capacity – can they do the work 18
What is the impact of adding an extra couple C’s? Increase the effectiveness of the existing team • Increase margins • New hires acclimate more quickly • 4C 19
We call these the 4C’s Foster the roots to grow the tree 20
What are your hiring priorities? Company is focused on: Can a person do the job? • Will the person do the job? • Candidate is focused on: Can I work well in this setting • and the team? Will I be able to mature • personally and professionally? 21
The four aptitudes necessary for a high performing, self ‐ motivated team There are four critical areas requiring attention and focus. The 4 C’s . • Competency and Character (managed) ─ Revolve around the task to be performed ─ Require skills and initiative to ensure the job is completed satisfactorily • Chemistry and Capacity (developed) ─ Revolve around the people and how they interact ─ How they can grow 22
In order to achieve long ‐ term, continuous growth • Focusing on all four C’s should be a top down initiative • You already know how to focus on competency & character . HR should do this for you. • We will give you, the leader, some insights and suggestions into how to add the chemistry & capacity components 23
Exercise 24
What are the repercussions of bad chemistry ? • People are forced to struggle against their natural tendencies • People will not develop connections in the workplace • People will require more effort to perform job duties • People will not work efficiently and will avoid collaboration 25
What is Chemistry ? Mutual attraction, attachment, or sympathy between people working together which makes their interactions harmonious or effective 26
Develop chemistry by teaching employees how to… • Appreciate differences and interact in various scenarios • Handle surprise encounters with dissimilar personality types • Work in teams and accept feedback • Openly praise each other’s strengths • Embrace their individual desire for success • One of the best ways to teach people how to interact with others is to start by being an example of embracing differences 27
How do we assess Chemistry ? Trimetrix (a potential tool we’ll talk about later) • Focus on the attitudes and values portion • 28
MECLABS’ three primary values • Theoretical ─ Having a desire to identify the truth ─ Understanding why things happen • Utilitarian ─ Taking the objective and finding a way to make sure it is reached both effectively and efficiently • Social ─ Team ‐ centered person that prioritizes the needs of others first 29
Other values to be understood ( They may be important for certain positions ) • Individualistic ─ Self ‐ focused person that prioritizes their relative importance, as well as their power and prestige • Traditional ─ Takes a global view of the world and the parameters in which it should operate • Aesthetic ─ Needs for things to be harmonious, attractive, and produce a friendly environment (does not mean artistic) 30
What happens when we miss one We don’t always get it right 31
Most important thing to an employee • Their ability to grow and prosper in an organization • The right environment to find fulfillment 32
Things that can be developed: Capacity • “Will they be able to mature personally and professionally?” ─ Growth potential ─ Mental development ─ Professional development 33
How do you enhance capacity ? • Help them to develop increased confidence through improving: ─ Communication skills ─ Problem solving ability ─ Acceptance of constructive feedback • Regular one ‐ on ‐ one meetings, not annual reviews ─ Annual reviews assess competency ─ One ‐ on ‐ one meetings build capacity • Leaders must be creative as well as “arm chair” psychologists ─ Find ways to communicate with others’ personalities ─ Find ways to enhance employees’ personal well ‐ being 34
How did we measure Capacity ? • Trimetrix attributes (personal skills hierarchy) ─ Problem ‐ solving ─ Continuous learning ─ Conceptual thinking • If these skills are good, they have capacity potential 35
How did we increase Capacity ? • Training (formal and informal) ─ Leadership ─ Behavioral communication skills ─ Understanding behavioral styles in conversation ─ Project management • One on ones, not just annual reviews • Peer review sessions 36
Recommend
More recommend
