The Top 5 People Mistakes
June 23rd, 2013
Everyone reading this article handles people issues perfectly – (and is an above average driver). Yet we owe it to our less-perfect, well-intentioned colleagues to share our wisdom in the area of people. To make it a little easier, I’ve captured what I believe are the Top 5 People Mistakes really smart people make in companies every day.
#5. Too many policies.
Policies provide guidelines, but it can be easy to let policies run the company at the expense of creativity, people, and even common sense. They fall in the same category as warning labels and directions on products – they can be helpful but are often overdone. I remember a comedian talking about the warning label on Preparation H, and his line was, “You realize, this means that at some point, somebody turned to his friend and said, ‘I wonder how this would taste on a cracker!’” Managers are often the culprits of too many policies because it is much easier to say, “the policy says that you can’t have personal things on your desk,” than to talk specifically to George about the questionable memento of his Las Vegas trip on his shelf.
#4. Too few policies.
Most leaders relate to feeling ‘hamstrung’ by a particular rule in a prior organization and, as a result, many let the pendulum swing too far to the other side and give up policies all together. When that happens, employees can become confused about exactly how to operate on very basic things (like vacation, working from home, taking an outside job) and productivity is lost to guessing. Additionally, federal and state governments require businesses to address some issues, and businesses that fail to do so become non-compliant.
The answer?
The solution to both #5 and #4 is to work with the team (or a subset of the team) to create some general operating guidelines. Be sure to define and communicate the overarching principle or belief behind the policy, rather than simply stating the ‘rule.’ Then, when situations come up in the future that are unclear, the principle can help management make decisions about when to bend and when to hold fast.
#3. Improperly evaluating risk.
One of the primary jobs of HR is to manage risk, but not all risks are equal and the real issue lies in the costs and complexities of mitigation. Big or little, if the risk is easy to mitigate, then, by all means, mitigate! But sometimes, mitigation of the risk comes at a cost to the culture of the organization or the business goals. For example, there is a risk to providing different levels of pay to people doing the same job; however, especially in a small organization, it may be critical to retain people who perform at varied levels in the job while being inadvisable to give them separate titles. In this case, it may make very good business sense to pay the same position differently.
The answer?
1. Be crystal clear on the potential for the risk to occur. People typically do not sue us because they were treated illegally – they sue because they perceive that they were treated unfairly. Are we treating people unfairly? Or fairly but differently?
2. Be certain there is a business reason to undertake the risk. It’s a good idea to bounce that business reason off of a confidential, objective third party. Do they see the situation in the same way?
3. Understand the consequences if the risk does occur. For example, many companies take risks in the area of exempt vs. non-exempt classification either because they do not understand the issue or they think none of their employees would ever “do” anything. My advice to these companies is uniformly that the potential of the risk to occur might be small, but the consequences are huge. Wage and hour issues can eliminate profits and even shut companies down. In this case, however small the likelihood, the consequence is simply too great to take the chance.
#2. Separating “HR” from the business.
Some business leaders I talk with view HR tasks almost as a stand-alone island and don’t consider how the HR practices support or hinder the business model. Even something as simple as a payroll cycle can be considered within the context of the business. For example, how will our chosen cycle impact our cash flow? What kinds of skills do we need for the business we do, and how do those people prefer to be paid? What is our likely turnover rate? If we have a high-burnout position, do we need specific pay practices to mitigate the administrative issues? As we move from payroll cycle questions into more strategic issues, it is critical to integrate HR questions into the mix. What kinds of bonus plans will help reward the behavior we seek? How will employees know they are succeeding…or not?
The answer?
When small to mid-sized businesses do not have an HR executive on the leadership team, the responsibilities typically fall to someone who already is wearing many hats. It is critical for that individual to take the HR component of his or her job seriously and seek out assistance to make sure he or she is asking the right questions and helping align the people initiatives with the business plan. Organizations like www.shrm.org can provide helpful insight.
#1. Refusing to treat employees as adults.
To paraphrase Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men, most of us can handle the truth, but we’re afraid to talk about it. We know when we’re not performing or when business is down, but actually telling someone that he is not performing or that she is going to lose her position if we don’t see an increase in business is very painful. Often we “ostrich” and attempt to ignore the problem in the hope that it will go away. Maybe business will pick up? Maybe George will improve his performance? Maybe aliens will kidnap us so we won’t have to have the conversation?
The answer?
Life is not for the faint of heart. There are tough messages to deliver and sometimes situations don’t work out the way we’d like, but ignoring or sugar coating the situation never works. Instead, share as many of the facts as you can and encourage employees to participate in the solution. Sure, some of them may dissolve into puddles like the Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, but most of them won’t…and you may find they have answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask.
