Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Lorrie Coffey

  • Make Space to be Mindful

    Make Space to be Mindful

    When my oldest son was in elementary school, he started having some behavioral issues that I had never seen in him before. Like many young children he hadn’t yet learned how to manage his emotions and anger was his downfall. After some trial and error, what I found worked best for him was space. Together with his teacher we taught him that whenever he felt angry and out of control, to step out into the hallway away from everyone else and count until he calmed down and felt more in control of his emotions. It worked. His behavioral issues ceased and to this day he practices this self-management technique.

    What his teacher and I didn’t do was discount his feelings. How often have you ever had an emotional reaction or felt a certain way about something and then felt guilty for feeling that way? What we taught him without him realizing it was how to practice mindfulness. Psychology Today defines mindfulness as “a state of active, open attention to the present. This state is described as observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.” Mindfulness requires space. Space to be alone with your emotions, space to explore those emotions, and space to accept those emotions. Mindfulness is key to mastering the first two skills of emotional intelligence – self-awareness and self-management.

    Emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. This includes being aware of and managing your own emotions, which is what my son’s teacher and I helped him learn. And it also includes being aware of how your emotions impact others and being able to read the emotions of others.

    Next week I’ll be joining many other HR professionals at Perdido Beach Resort for the annual Alabama SHRM State Conference & Expo, where I’ll be speaking about the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership. I hope you’ll join me there to learn more about the four skills of emotional intelligence and ways to improve your emotional intelligence, as well as a quick test to see how emotionally intelligent you are! 

  • 5 Steps to Determine the Essential Functions of a Job

    5 Steps to Determine the Essential Functions of a Job

    As a Talent Management Consultant I work with companies across many industries to help them understand how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) impacts them. One key component of this is helping organizations create or revise their job descriptions and understand what the essential functions of the roles in their organization are. Often I find that employers don’t connect their job descriptions to their need to comply with ADA and they don’t understand how determining the essential functions of a position plays into that compliance. The failure to understand how to evaluate the essential functions of a role and how to determine accommodations under ADA can be costly, so it’s imperative for organizations to understand ADA, how to evaluate jobs within their organization, and how the two things tie together when the need to accommodate a candidate or employee arises. 

    When dealing with ADA accommodations, employers most often find themselves challenged with how to accommodate the physical job requirements that are necessary to complete those essential functions of the role. Every job has physical requirements. When we think of physical job requirements, we commonly think of physical activities such as sitting, standing and lifting. But physical requirements often go well beyond that. Some jobs have much more strenuous physical requirements and employers need to be able to ensure that they are hiring individuals physically capable of performing those physical requirements. In order to do this, employers first need to understand what physical capabilities are necessary for the completion of that role. 

    There are a number of ways that an employer can evaluate a role to understand what physical requirements are needed in order for an employee to be able to perform the functions of that role. A multi-pronged approach is recommended in order to obtain the most comprehensive data. 

    1. Start with conducting a job analysis. A job analysis includes interviewing incumbents in the role to determine the functions of that role. Ask questions regarding what tasks they complete on a daily and weekly basis and what percentage of their time they spend on each task or category of tasks. 
    2. Observe them in their work. Once you have met with the incumbents in the role, observe them actively engaged in their work. Select a few incumbents and spend time observing them performing the functions of the role. Ask follow up questions about the tasks you see them performing. 
    3. Compare your results to the current job description. Once you have completed the job interviews and observations, compare your results to the current job description and make updates as necessary, paying close attention to the physical requirements needed to complete the required duties of the role.
    4. Conduct research on the role and similar roles. In addition to conducting a job analysis, there are resources available to assist organizations in developing well-crafted and compliant job descriptions, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job descriptions. By reviewing similar roles, it can help you calibrate on your own job descriptions and make sure that you didn’t miss anything in the job analysis phase that you may need to follow up on. 
    5. Additional considerations. Once you’ve completed the job analysis and your research, there may be additional considerations needed, such as determining if certain physical fitness standards are necessary for the position such as weight, height, or lifting requirements. IF a position requires extreme or repetitive physical exertion, you may consider if a pre-employment medical exam or physical abilities test (PAT) is appropriate for the position. When considering the use of a medical exam or PAT, you must be careful to ensure the exam is appropriate to ensure that the employee physically healthy to perform the essential functions of the role but that the medical information obtained does not provide you with information that would allow you to potentially discriminate against the employee in violation of any state or federal laws, such as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 or GINA. PATs can be a great way for an employer to evaluate a candidate’s ability to perform physical activities that mimic the physical requirements of the job. Keep in mind not all PATs are an exact demonstration of the work performed, but may be an assessment designed to evaluate physical attributes that roles require. An example would be the type of PAT that candidates are often required to complete for law enforcement roles, where they are required to perform a series of physical tests such as running a timed mile, push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises that are timed. It’s important to remember that when using PATs in the hiring decision, the tests must be valid and reliable. 

    Once you have conducted the job analysis, research, and reviewed additional considerations, you must determine if the functions you noted are essential to that role. Determining what is an essential functions of a position is not always an easy task. There are a number of factors that must be considered when determining if a functions is essential to a role. These include, but are not limited to, how much the position exists to perform the function, how often the function must be performed, how many employees are available or required to perform the functions, and how specialized the function is. Take for example the role of a rubber mold operator who is required to be able to lift up to 100 pounds. The operator is lifting 100 pound sheets of rubber onto a mold press and shifting that sheet around on that press multiple times a day throughout their shift. This is the sole purpose of this position, the function is specialized to that position, and therefore the function is essential. Now consider the role of a firefighter. While firefighters do not run into burning buildings every day and carry individuals out of buildings every day, the position exists for that very purpose and all firefighters must be able to perform those tasks. They receive specialized training in order to be able to safely perform the functions of the job such as entering that burning building, running up and down flights of stairs with heavy gear on, and carry individuals to safety. These functions are essential even though they are not performed on a regular basis. 

    By evaluating the positions within your organization and understanding what the essential functions of each role are, you are better able to evaluate ADA accommodations when they arise and make determinations on whether accommodations can be made to allow a qualified individual to perform the essential functions of their role. 

    Links to Articles:

    https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USEEOC/bulletins/350871c/

    https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/updated-fcra-summary-consumer-rights-released-mandatory-compliance?utm_source=vuture&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news%20%26%20analysis%20march%202023

  • The Speak Out Act – Is More to Come?

    The Speak Out Act – Is More to Come?

    Late last year President Biden signed the Speak Out Act into law. This law forbids employers from
    including sexual harassment and sexual abuse claims in Non-Disclosure Agreements. What many may
    not know is that the Speak Out bill that passed in Congress was a very different version than what was
    submitted originally.

    The original Speak Out bill mirrored the Silenced No More laws that are currently in place in fourteen
    (14) states, with two more considering similar bills. So why is this important information for companies
    to know? Take the Washington Silence No More Act as an example, it includes claims of discrimination,
    harassment, and wage and hour violations. Washington’s law protects employee’s rights to
    communicate these concerns or complaints based on their “reasonable belief” that there is a violation
    by the employer. First, the level of “reasonable belief” is not well defined and is a very subjective
    measure. Second, it potentially closes the door for employers to settle situations in-house when possible
    if employees feel that this law has fully opened the door for litigation. The laws in other states are very
    similar and some were based off Washington’s Act.

    The original Speak Out bill was similar as well, including language that covered discrimination against
    other Title VII characteristics including race, national origin, and age. While the bill was stripped back to
    only cover sexual harassment and sexual assault, Biden has stated that he will push for these additional
    protections. So, what does this really mean for employers? You need to review your Non-Disclosure
    Agreements to ensure that they no longer include sexual harassment and/or sexual abuse. But in
    addition to that, you need to consider what other steps you may need to take if a more encompassing
    law is passed. Keep in mind the Speak Out Act only prohibits pre-incident agreements, meaning NDA’s or
    similar agreements. It does not prohibit an employer from offering, or an employee from accepting, a
    post-incident agreement of confidentiality.

  • Celebrate Your Accomplishments

    Celebrate Your Accomplishments

    The new year always brings with it conversations of resolutions and setting goals. It’s the chance to look at the year ahead and decide what you want to accomplish in the next twelve months, both personally and professionally. We sit and we write down those goals and we make our checklist. And throughout the year we (hopefully) mark items off that list. But what do you do when you mark an item off that list? 

    At Horizon Point, we celebrate our accomplishments. Each quarter during our team meeting we go around the table and each team member shares a list of ten things we accomplished during the quarter and then picks one that we want to celebrate and how we want to celebrate it. The how is totally up to us and varies from things like a gift card to a local shop or restaurant to a new pair of running shoes to a book we’ve been wanting to read. For me, my latest accomplishment list included graduating from Tulane Law School with my Master’s in Jurisprudence in Labor and Employment Law, a two-year journey that was both long and fast. Part of my celebration included going out to dinner with the team. 

    As you go through 2023, I challenge you to create an accomplishment list. It may include items that are on your goals list and you might find that it includes items that are not on your goals list. Just 8-10 things that you accomplished each quarter, and then pick the one that you want to celebrate and how you want to celebrate it. And these accomplishments can be personal or professional. 

    If you are the leader of a team, try doing this with your team this year. Ask every member of your team to share their accomplishments each quarter. This can be through an accomplishment list like we do at Horizon Point or you can choose your own format. The important thing is to get your employees to take the time to recognize their own accomplishments and to celebrate them. The celebrations don’t have to be something big; it can be a small gesture like a handwritten note congratulating them on their accomplishments for the quarter. 

    How will you celebrate your accomplishments in 2023? 

  • Leading with Emotional Intelligence

    Leading with Emotional Intelligence

    It’s Okay to Be Angry

    The last few weeks have been stressful ones in my house. My oldest son turned nineteen. My middle son competed in a district-wide theatre competition, his school’s first time ever competing. He also got his driver’s license. My youngest son turned thirteen, participated in his first Academic Team competition, and had a science fair project he had to get underway. And in the midst of it all, I was going through testing to find out if I had Leukemia. The great news is that I do not! The not-so-great news is that the doctors have yet to figure out what I do have, so I continue to go through testing. 

    I’m the mom, but I’m also the leader of my family. And I knew that how I handled this situation, this potential crisis, would be so important for my children. I believe in being transparent with my kids and felt that it was important for them to know what was happening, so I sat down with them and made them aware of the situation and have kept them informed each step of the way. With each test result that has come back, we’ve talked. We talk about what the results mean, what next steps are, and how they’re feeling. I want them to know that their emotions, whatever they are, are normal and are okay to be feeling. Even if they’re angry with me. During the two weeks it took to get the initial test results back, we talked a lot, even if it was just a quick check in. 

    As leaders, it is so easy to get caught up in our own emotions and to a degree we need to in order to be able to help those we lead. For me, it was when my kids weren’t around. I’d allow myself to sit with my emotions. Was I scared? Absolutely. My grandmother died from Leukemia. By allowing myself to understand my own emotions it both helped me understand the emotions my kids may be feeling as well as ensure that I have my emotions under control when I’m communicating with them. As a parent, the last thing I wanted to do in this situation was let my fear show through in how I communicated with my kids, I wanted them to know and understand that regardless of the outcome, we would get through it together. 

    Research shows that leaders who possess high emotional intelligence – the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you – are more successful leaders. 

    • Productivity increases by 20-25% in organizations where employees are connected. (Inc.)
    • Leaders who show empathy perform 40% higher in coaching, engagement, and decision making. (DDIWorld.com)
    • Workers who have managers with high EQ scores are 4x less likely to quit than those with managers who have low EQ. (Linkedin.com)
    • Employees with high EQ are favored over employees with high IQ for a promotion 75% of the time. (Careerbuilder.com)

    Leading with emotional intelligence isn’t just for those times of crisis, it’s for those every day moments. It’s knowing that an employee who made a mistake is beating themselves up enough and needs a leader who will use the opportunity as a teaching moment instead of as an opportunity to rake them over the coals. It’s knowing that how you as a leader react to a situation can make all the difference in how your employees view the situation. And it’s being aware of the fact that your emotions and awareness of those emotions impacts how you build relationships. And sometimes it’s knowing that you need a few minutes alone to get those emotions under control before you communicate with your team. 

    Want to know how emotionally intelligent you are? Take this free quiz from IRD Labs.