Ember Carriers Blog | From Possibility to Results

Leading a Corporate Turnaround

October 10th, 2011

Mary Hladio

Corporate Business Performance

In an organization with deteriorating performance, some of the most important roles are those responsible for creating a new strategy and securing the talent to make that strategy successful. Organizations that have successfully overcome negative momentum often do so by securing new leadership with a proven ability to implement a narrower strategy.

Such organizations also accept that the talent that was with the organization going into the decline may not be the best talent to help turn the organization around. Reversing the direction of an organization is difficult, and involves a variety of cultural struggles.

Frequently, when a turnaround is less than successful, part of the problem may be that too much faith was put into product development, R&D, or sales, while talent management was overlooked. Talent is key to any turnaround, and despite the fact that numerous CEOs acknowledge that developing techniques for managing talent is the most critical business problem they encounter in the difficult business environment, there are few leaders in talent management bold enough to accept the challenge of leading a business turnaround.

Recruitment leaders often claim to want a strategic role, but focusing on tactical issues and efficiency shows that they do not know what actions are needed to be strategic. Being strategic requires actions that demonstrate a long-term impact on the primary goals of the organization.

Organizations that deliver record performances invest significantly in both recruiting capability and capacity, while organizations that fail often focus on cost-cutting efforts without consideration for functional effectiveness.

Are you in need of a corporate turn around ideas or some strategies to boost to your performance contact Mary Hladio, (513) 984-9333 for a 30-minute complimentary consultation to discuss a success plan.

ERE.net (06/27/11) Sullivan, John

Web: www.embercarriers.com|Twitter: www.twitter.com/embercarriers|LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mhladio

Wendy’s Gets New Blood To Fuel Turnaround (WEN, YUM, MCD) (247wallst.com)
TotalPicture Radio Launches Innovative Human Resources and Talent Management Podcast Series with Riviera Advisors (prnewswire.com)

How to Motivate and Retain Knowledge Workers in Organizations

October 3rd, 2011

Mary Hladio

Retain Your Knowledge Workers

Globalization, the proliferation of technology, workforce diversity, and the knowledge society are creating complex workplace interactions that require people to handle ambiguity and solve problems based on experience or tacit knowledge. Knowledge workers who have the ability to:

process
synthesize
generate knowledge

In order to problem-solve and innovate are essential to an organization’s effective management and sustainability. They are characterized by their high levels of education, interpersonal communication and information processing skills, and motivation to add value to the organization.

A review of literature, by the International Journal of Management, reveals that these valuable workers are motivated and retained when organizations offer:

challenging and meaningful work
learning and career development opportunities
adequate resources to be effective
a supportive work environment
recognition for their contributions

Too many organizations suffer from ineffective employee learning investments or supports, poor managerial practice, and unsupportive work environments. These organizations risk attrition of highly valued knowledge workers and the costly loss of human capital.

Contact Mary Hladio, (513) 984-9333 for a 30-minute complimentary consultation to discuss an action plan to retain your knowledge workers.

International Journal of Management (06/11) Vol. 28, No. 2, P. 459 Carleton, Karen

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Taking the Next Step

September 19th, 2011

Mary Hladio

Women working together

Women account for 56 percent of undergraduate accounting majors and 36 percent of MBAs but only 9 percent of CFOs, and experts say the problem is that women lack the connections men make among each other informally. To counter this, companies have tried offering mentorship programs to increase and improve those connections to senior executives, but to mixed results–studies show men are still promoted more often then women after mentorship.

Some say the problem there is that men make connections with mentors informally, while women tend to go through formal programs. Men’s mentors behave more like sponsors than advisers, advocating for them to get jobs and being a more active influence on their mentee’s career.

For women, however, mentorships rarely lead to sponsorship. It is not likely an issue of discrimination, though, and more likely to be a comfort issue, according to Alison Quirk of State Street Corp., which has a strong record of promoting women. “There are more men in this network of relationships, and because of the similarities among men, they find natural connections with one another and they get to know one another better than perhaps a man and a woman might,” she says.

Executives should be encouraged to form more sponsorship-type relationships with women, and some companies are trying to do this through more intensive mentorship programs such as State Street’s Leading Women program. Women whose managers recommend them are paired with a female executive who mentors them for a year, giving them time to develop a more personal relationship.

Another strategy is to change hiring practices to consider a wider range of candidates rather than just those who are already in the networks of senior executives. Assigning someone to lead diversity initiatives can also help, as can diversity training that emphasizes the way diversity contributes to the business.

CFO (07/11) Segara, Marielle

Web: www.embercarriers.com|Twitter: www.twitter.com/embercarriers|LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mhladio

The Joys (and Occasional Challenges) of Mentoring and Sponsoring (blogher.com)
Keeping Great People with Three Kinds of Mentors (blogs.hbr.org)
5 Reasons You’ll Benefit from Helping a Mentee (money.usnews.com)

Tackling the Skills Gap and Brain Drain with Training

September 12th, 2011

Mary Hladio

Tackling the skills gap

Hiring managers in the energy sector have to deal with the fact that the national unemployment rate is 9.2 percent yet there are still positions that remain unfilled for months because of a lack of qualified candidates A recent Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) survey of more than 100 energy efficiency managers found that about 60 percent of respondents think there is a lack of talented workers in the field. “Energy efficiency is a rapidly growing segment of the overall energy industry and we believe there is a clear lack of talent that is necessary to fill the positions that are open,” says AESP’s president and CEO Meg Matt.

There is a need for more utility employees to have experience with accounting for public utilities, and the SNL Center for Financial Education has struggled to find an instructor to fill this need. However, better training practices can help address the electric utility industry’s staffing issues. In addition to the “skills gap,” as much as 40 percent of the energy sector’s 400,000 workers in a variety of job categories will be eligible to retire by 2013, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. “We have plenty of candidates that have the basic skills but because they do not meet every ‘bullet point’ managers hold out to find candidates that match all desired qualifications, often resulting in delayed hiring or losing qualified candidates while waiting for that ‘right person,'” says Key Technical Solutions’ recruiting manager Michael Ruane.

Fortunately, training programs take only a few weeks, and many younger workers get up to speed quickly, especially with technical materials, Ruane continues. In order to deal with the workforce shortage, several electric, natural gas and nuclear utilities and their associations formed The Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) to help utilities work together to develop solutions. CEWD recently announced its Troops to Energy Jobs program, which is aimed at facilitating military veterans’ transition into civilian jobs in the energy sector around the country. “The extensive military training, strong work ethic and leadership skills endemic to success in the military make veterans highly desirable employees for energy companies,” says Dominion Resources chairman, president and CEO Tom Farrell.

Electric utilities also should pursue internal training options, according to Duke Energy’s chairman, president and CEO Jim Rogers. Rogers recommends moving younger employees every 18 months to different divisions in a company in order to give them a better idea of how the company works as a whole.

EnergyBiz (07/11) Zajac, Jennifer

Web: www.embercarriers.com|Twitter: www.twitter.com/embercarriers|LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mhladio

Troops to Energy Jobs Program (offthebase.wordpress.com)

Speak the Language of Business

September 6th, 2011

Mary Hladio

Knowledge work is essential

A white paper published in February 2010 by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) found that 79 percent of surveyed companies said they had a skills gap. The report cited two chief reasons:

Changing nature of work
Workers’ educational levels lagging behind employers’ skill demands

ASTD described knowledge work as transaction-based labor that is reliant upon worker judgment and innovation. The report said knowledge work is essential because it contributes to an organization’s financial health. “Companies with high numbers of knowledge workers are among the fastest growing in the economy,” the survey stated, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics.

This research projected that by 2015, the percentage of jobs requiring highly skilled workers will rise to 75 percent, compared with 50 percent in 1991. Industries requiring science, technology, engineering, or math skills will have the highest demand for skilled workers, and “60 percent of new jobs will require skills held by 20 percent of the population,” according to the survey. U.S. industries will be compelled to use education to address skills gaps, including company-wide learning and development for current staff, along with targeted hiring initiatives.

Chief Learning Officer (08/11) Fraleigh, James M.

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Leadership in the Workplace: Back To School Basics For Small Business Owners

August 22nd, 2011

Mary Hladio

Great leaders never stop learning

Great leaders are also great learners and in order to lead other individuals successfully, supervisors managers and business owners need to take part in strong leadership training programs.

Such programs should address such topics as listening and communicating effectively, giving negative feedback in a way that encourages behavior change, assigning responsibility with the appropriate level of authority, dealing with adversity from the work environment or staff, and rewarding exemplary work or behavior.

Coaching can be an important element in the program, where a coach establishes rules and a plan to determine how, when, where, why, and what in order to get the job done effectively. Coaching is often perceived as a lot of yelling and repetition, similar to sports coaches, but actually is a form of mentoring. The coaching should come before, during, and after a task is launched and completed. The individuals being coached should be allowed to use their initiative; if they made a mistake, they can get up and try again. The bulk of errors can be easily resolved. Coaching is also about setting an example in the workplace to foster an environment that encourages initiative and risk-taking.

Leverage the rich expertise at your local colleges and universities. The classroom is a great way to find out about marketing strategies. Schools are excellent sources for market research an emerging trends and technology. Taking a class is a great way to network with like-minded individual, other business owners and company leaders.

Investing in yourself as a business owner and in your employees is essential to continued growth and profitability. It doesn’t matter how many years you have been in business there is a lot you can still learn. The world and the economy are constantly changing in ways that make most people have never experienced. This is an investment that will pay dividends.

CEO’s, Business Owners and company leaders contact Mary Hladio, (513) 984-9333 for a 30-minute complimentary consultation to discuss ways of developing your organization with the FUEL™ process.

Savannah Morning News (Ga.) (08/03/11) St. Arnaud, Chuck

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