February Newsletter-2012

The Self Destruction of a High Potential Leader

I'm always saddened to see bright, dedicated leaders fail due to their own emotional immaturity; yet the longer I work in the HR field the more frequently I witness these events occur. There has been much written about the need for effective and successful leaders to have both a combination of emotional intelligence and technical expertise. Despite being a subject matter expert, a leader without emotional maturity will ultimately fail. Never was such an issue more evident than in my recent involvement with a leader, who, I'll call Charlie, self-destructed over a period of a few short weeks.

Years ago I read a policy statement on Company Communication that stated, "Information is power; shared information is awesome power." While most leaders would embrace that statement as true, the leader who lacks self- confidence and emotional maturity believes in the guiding principal that holding on to information secures his or her role in the organization. Charlie believed that as the leader of his department, all information needed to filter through him including valuable knowledge about the products and services offered by his staff. Charlie had an abundance of legacy knowledge that he would selectively share with his direct reports thereby denying them the opportunity to learn and grow. His staff was conditioned to go to him with any and all problems rather than attempt to personally resolve the issue. Charlie became so enamored with his power that he came to believe he was more important than the Company itself and that the inherent obligations of being a senior leader did not pertain to him. Ultimately, Charlie decided that he was so gifted that he would start his own competing company and he began to openly discuss his intentions among his staff. Needless to say the staff became very anxious and upset and ultimately shared their concerns about Charlie's actions with the President. Charlie's ego must have clouded his memory in that he forgot he had signed an employment agreement that prohibited such actions and in doing so, subjected him to termination of employment. As a result, Charlie found himself on the outside without a team to lead.

As in most cases, employee terminations are more about the impact on those that remain versus those that are let go. Unfortunately, Charlie's departure has left his team struggling to keep the department operating at a high level of service since the knowledge they needed was never shared. His failure to help his staff learn and grow has forced them to scramble to find answers to problems and issues that Charlie always handled himself. Ultimately, they are all committed to providing great service to their clients and are driven to see things through but not without incurring some short term pain.

It's vitally important to the health of an organization to avoid elevating the best technical employee to a leadership position that they are ill equipped to hold. It's a common practice to take the best forklift operator and designate him as the manager of the other forklift operators assuming his technical proficiency is all that's needed for him to be an effective leader. Sure, sometimes it works out but many times that person doesn't want to lead. He or she simply wants to be the best forklift operator and doesn't want to seem ungrateful by telling you just that. That's why it's imperative that leaders be carefully selected using a variety of criteria versus" putting a body in the seat." Business owners and executives that take the time to select the best candidates for leadership positions will be rewarded with never having to deal with a Charlie of their own.

If we can help to keep you "Charlie free" give us a call at 610-287-1162. We'd love the opportunity to help.


The 2012 Employment Landscape

HR Issues That Will Affect Business Owners This Year

In an election year there is typically some reluctance to effect large scale changes in employment related laws and practices until the future political party and administration is better defined. Nonetheless, we believe there are a few HR issues that business owners should be mindful of in 2012

Wage and Hour Compliance Issues- There continues to be an increased focus on monitoring employer compliance with wage and hour requirements from recordkeeping to employee classification. The size of the employer does not matter in that the government has put "more feet on the street" in an effort to audit a broader group of employers.

Union Avoidance- The National Labor Relations Board has been extremely active in proposing changes to the union election process, development of mandatory postings and challenges to policy statements that could be considered in violation of the concerted protected activity provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.

Recruitment and Retention- Hiring statistics are reflecting a gradual increase in the creation of new positions along with a growing concern about retaining high performers now that the job market is improving. For the first time in over 2 years business owners will see a renewed war for talent and increasing employee turnover. Managing this changing employment dynamic along with a workforce comprised of as many as four different generations of workers will be a daunting task.

The good news is you don't have to go it alone. Give us a call at 610-287-1162 or email me at phil@hrsolutionsonline.com

for a free consultation and some friendly advice. I look forward to hearing from you.