Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Leadership

Beyond Leadership is Horizon Point’s line of resources for managers of people. Managing ourselves is a distinct set of behaviors from managers the work of others, and we are here to help. Read stories in this category if you are ready to take the next step into people leadership (or if you’re looking for articles to send someone else…).

  • 3 Ways to Make your Workplace Harassment Training Successful

    3 Ways to Make your Workplace Harassment Training Successful

    I recently attended an HR luncheon where a good question was raised. How can HR ensure that leadership understands the importance of and supports anti-harassment policies?

    Many organizations focus their anti-harassment efforts on minimizing legal liability and not on minimizing inappropriate behavior within their organization. Their training consists of annual anti-harassment training, usually in the form of a bland training video that most employees sit through, but don’t pay attention to. In order for an anti-harassment training program to be effective, it must focus on minimizing the behavior and should include a few key components:

    • The training must be relevant- Just because it’s a serious topic doesn’t mean it must be a boring topic. Make the training interactive and interesting. I briefly worked as a sexual harassment trainer for a company that designed their training in the form of a game (think Jeopardy). It kept the participants engaged, made them think, and they enjoyed the training. Think of ways to keep your audience actively engaged. The more engaged you can keep them, the more information they will take away from the training.
    • Don’t just check the box- many organizations conduct annual training just to mark it off their To Do List. Harassment training should be a year-round endeavor. In addition to your annual mandatory training, schedule quarterly events, whether those are trainings, brown bag lunches with speakers, articles in the company newsletter, or some other form of communication. Provide training to your leadership on their roles and responsibilities. Make sure they understand the importance of taking claims seriously and involving HR in those investigations. Make sure they understand the policy and how to enforce it. Consider having an employment attorney come and speak with leadership. Do they know that not only can the organization be named in a lawsuit, but individuals can be named as well in some cases?
    • Back up what you say- review your anti-harassment policy. Make sure it is well written and details confidentiality (to the extent possible), your investigation process, and disciplinary process. Also review your policy on anti-retaliation. You want your employees to know that if they come to you with a claim, they can do so without fear of retaliation, but also that if they make false claims, there will be consequences for that. But remember, your policy means nothing if you don’t back it up with actions. If you have an employee file a claim, follow through with an investigation and appropriate action. If you don’t, your organization will quickly get a reputation for not taking such claims seriously. And make sure your leadership and your employees know these policies. Be sure you’re reviewing them during new hire orientations and touch on them again during your annual training.

    Managing harassment claims is never easy. Often times managers minimize the seriousness of claims or ignore claims altogether because they don’t know how to handle claims, they are uncomfortable handling claims, or they themselves don’t see the actions as a serious problem. Developing a strong partnership with your leadership team is key to successfully handling harassment claims and ensuring that your organization is able to minimize inappropriate workplace behaviors. And as always, be sure that all claims and investigations of harassment are well documented.

    How successful is your organization’s anti-harassment program?

  • Employee Mentoring Programs

    Employee Mentoring Programs

    Written by guest blogger: Steve Graham

    What role do employee-mentoring programs have?

    Mentoring programs have a tremendous impact on employee development, talent retention, and engagement.  Employees crave feedback and often seek someone who has walked their path.  Offering a formal mentoring program demonstrates the organizations commitment to talent development.  It also allows for assistance in developing a career path, and answering the often-asked question, “How do I get where you are?”.

    One common reason for turnover is lack of professional growth. Mentoring offers a chance for an employee to discuss many of the same concerns their mentor once had.  This is vital in offering hope and encouragement when it is needed the most.  It is invaluable to have someone who listens, cares, and offers sound advice.

    An important component to employee engagement is the relationship between the employee and their manager.  Time and time again, research has shown that most employees leave due to bad managers.  Mentoring fills the gap that is left by having a disconnected or bad manager. They can offer insight on navigating complex situations and give the employee that needed ear.

    What is the ROI of these programs?

    I believe the most important ROI is the fulfillment of serving someone else.  We all need someone to help us during our journey, both professionally and personally. My best mentors helped me grow in both areas. We don’t live compartmental lives, and what happens in our personal lives influences our professional lives.

    Another ROI is creating a culture that values talent development.  Having mentoring programs helps with recruiting talent and building a strong employer brand.

    One of the top questions I receive during interviewing or shortly after hiring new talent is, “What do you offer to help with career advancement or growth?”.  It is a great return on investment when you can tell them about your outstanding mentoring program.

    What is an example of when you’ve seen a mentoring program work?

    My first time having a true mentor was not in a formalized program. While our organization valued mentoring, it was not structured.  I would not be the person I am today without that first mentoring experience. It crafted my early view of management, demonstrated leadership, and showed me the value of caring for your people and their growth.

    Even though I have not worked with my mentor in almost twenty years, I still value his advice, and seek it out when facing an important decision.  In my opinion, mentoring is something that should be passed down. It is a great feeling when the mentee becomes a mentor. Leadership is about influence and mentoring is a leadership process.  I cannot help but think about the loss of potential talent due to lack of access to a mentor.  Mentoring is beneficial in identifying leadership potential and opportunities for career advancement.  There are several organizations that require any potential management candidates to complete a one-year mentoring program.

    A great resource for learning more about workplace mentoring is from Matt Collins DDI blog, the value of being a mentor.

     

    About the author: Steve Graham serves as Vice President for Marketing, HR Business Partner, and college instructor. He holds graduate degrees in management and higher education. As a life-long learner, he has additional graduate and professional education in executive & professional coaching, health care administration, and strategic human resource management.

    He is a certified HR professional with The Society for Human Resource Management, certified coach with the International Coach Federation, and a Global Career Development Facilitator. His professional memberships include: The Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration, Association for Talent Development, and International Coach Federation. LinkedIn.com/in/hstevegraham

  • A Culture Where Nothing Is Ever Good Enough and How to Fix It: An Interview with Rajeev Behera CEO of Reflektive

    A Culture Where Nothing Is Ever Good Enough and How to Fix It: An Interview with Rajeev Behera CEO of Reflektive

    1 in 4 people say their jobs are the most stressful part of their lives. What is creating stress in the workplace and how can it be resolved?

    Rajeev Behera, CEO of Reflektive, says that a fear-based work culture where nothing is ever good enough is a main cause of stress in the workplace. This occurs when managers use intimidation tactics, putting more value on the employees that put in the most hours, instead of those who are team players.

    Rajeev saw this first-hand in his work life before founding Reflektive, a performance management and talent development software company, where he is CEO.   In a fear-based environment, he said, “Managers task managed instead of people managed.  A focus was always placed on the past judged by the metric of what tasks were completed or not completed.”  As result of this mindset, Rajeev saw a culture of intimidation taking over the workplace.

    This resulted in the wrong things being measured and rewarded, leading to nothing ever being good enough.  For example, Rajeev points to time spent at work as one thing that was measured, instead of results.  “Time”, he says, “is subjective. How much is enough?  And you can never give enough of it.”

    So how do you change it?  Rajeev emphasizes several key points in helping managers move a fear based culture where nothing is ever good enough to one that is employee and future focused:

    1.  Set goals:  Instead of measuring things like time that are subjective, set goals with employees and monitor and measure performance based on the progress of these goals. Empower the employee to take the first pass to set their goals each quarter and collaborate to agree on realistic outcomes.
    2.  Be collaborative and agile in your future focus: Rajeev encourages leaders to, “talk about it (goals and projects) while they are being worked on so employee and manager can partner together.  Because things can change quickly, the goals can be adjusted when needed. This is contrasted with the manager just saying ‘go, do and don’t bother me till it’s done and perfect.’ This fear-based approach leads the manager to become judge and evaluator instead of collaborator and coach.”

    Rajeev says that one of their most popular products is Agile Goal Management, because it makes sure that goal setting is a “Collaborative process- not just one-sided- so both manager and employee agree.  And if expectations change, they can edit it together, document, and focus on what to do to move the business forward.”

    “So how do you get managers to become coaches instead of evaluators?” I asked Rajeev.

    He offered these practical steps:

    1.   “Discuss the why, not just the “what” to do.”  The why comes back to achieving business success by treating people as partners instead of task completers.
    2.   Diagnose the current culture.  Rajeev said you can do this by paying attention to “How the employees and managers talk. For example, in meetings, when there is a problem or process that is not up to par, how is the leader phrasing an action item? A fear-based approach will phrase it as something that isn’t done, placing it in the red, or when it should be done or already have been done, and saying things like ‘why didn’t we already have that done?’  This demonstrates a culture of negative reinforcement where nothing is ever good enough.”

    In contrast, leaders with a future oriented approach ask questions about what can and should take place to accomplish a goal and help employees plan from there.

    1. Mandatory weekly one-on-ones and quarterly check-ins. Future oriented cultures, focus on employees and managers having regular, one-on-one checks, but as Rajeev says, “it up to you (the manager) to decide on what’s  important to focus on and as a leader, manage your schedule and flow of these meetings accordingly.”  People managers actually meet with people, so the one-on-ones provide a time for relationship building, giving clear instructions up front, setting goals and talking about career development as it relates to organizational and personal goals and priorities. Quarterly check-ins provide the opportunity to step back and discuss progress, readjust objectives, and plan for how the manager can help the employee achieve their goals over the next quarter.

    This approach allows you to “talk about it while you’re working on it so we can partner together, instead of the go do and don’t bother me till it’s done and perfect,” says Rajeev.

    1.  Focus on career development.  “Coaches instead of fear-based managers,” Rajeev says, “figure out what employees want to do with their career and where they want to go, and then they give them projects to help reach those goals. Many people leave a company because they see a lack of opportunities.”

    While we can learn from the past, a focus on the future is what drives performance management today. Equipping organizations with the tools to look forward, instead of backward, inadvertently leads us to think about the possibilities of how great we can be instead of thinking nothing is ever good enough.

  • 3 Steps to Keep a Bad Employee from Suing You

    3 Steps to Keep a Bad Employee from Suing You

    As the mom of three boys who are full of mischief, I often hear the phrase “I didn’t know” or “you never told me.” And usually it’s in response to something that I had addressed with them at least once. Sometimes I wish I could approach disciplinary issues in parenting the same way I approach disciplinary issues in my career, with a formal sit down discussion and written documentation.

    One of my favorite aspects of Human Resources is employee relations. I love the opportunity to speak with managers about the performance management process and the importance of documentation.

    Having kept organizations from litigation and winning tough unemployment hearings, here is a three pronged approach to avoiding a lawsuit because of disciplinary issues:

    1. Have a Disciplinary Process or Structure in Place. Having a disciplinary process that is well thought out and is executed in a fair and consistent manner is half the battle.
    2. If your organization doesn’t have the documentation to back up those actions, you still risk losing that battle. Keep these tips in mind for documentation:
    • The documentation can’t just be good, it has to be great.
    • Less isn’t more. I think my all-time favorite was the manager who wrote under expectations on the documentation form “Do your job right the first time.” Needless to say, we had a conversation about how to set expectations and goals, and the importance of documentation.
    • Be detailed in explaining the performance issue or policy violation, be clear in your expectations, and be specific in the goals that the employee must meet moving forward.
    • Make sure the employee understands what the consequences are if they fail to meet those goals.
    • Plan to follow up. The conversation can’t just end there. If you see they’re making some progress, but not enough, recalibrate with them. Praise them for the progress they’ve made, but then tell them how they can bridge the gap to complete success. And document it!
    1. Your disciplinary process needs to be a partnership between HR and your leadership team. Collaborate on how you will address the performance issue with the employee.  HR should emphasize that its job is not to tell managers what to do, but to help guide decisions and to help ensure that the organization is applying its policies effectively, fairly, and consistently.

    As a manager, draft your documentation and have HR review it before you present it to the employee, because sometimes you really shouldn’t write what you think! You’d be surprised at some of the things I’ve seen on written documentation. Remember that the employee receives a copy and it could be used for future unemployment or litigation purposes, so keep it professional. Have HR or another member of the leadership team sit in as a witness on the counseling. Never put yourself in a he said, she said situation.

    A Performance Improvement Plan or a termination for performance (gross misconduct aside) should never be the first conversation had with an employee. If it is, then your organization is not executing your disciplinary process effectively, fairly, or consistently or does not have an effective disciplinary process in place. And if that is the case, you’re opening yourself up for potential litigation and HR will have a hard time helping your organization justify its actions.

    The time spent following a structured disciplinary procedure and ensuring documentation is in order is minimal compared to the potential costs incurred by organizations that fail to do so.

    What’s your best advice for avoiding a lawsuit?

  • Mommas Maintaining Grit?

    Mommas Maintaining Grit?

    Throw-up had literally been everywhere.  All week.  As had it’s counterpart that also comes along with what would later be diagnosed as rotavirus in my son.

    I had multiple meetings scheduled both with current and desired clients.  I had blocked off time to prepare for the next week that involved three different training sessions.   Each required the preparation and roll out of new material. I just couldn’t wing these.

    And because of said throw-up coming often at night, I hadn’t slept.  Neither had my husband, and he had multiple priorities at work to attend to as well.

    I canceled all but a couple of meetings.  Some were rescheduled, some were covered by someone else on my team, and the ones I made were possible because my husband and I swapped out or my in-laws were available for a couple of hours to help.

    In between his (my son’s, not my husband’s) trips to the bathroom, I laid with him, laptop in hand and tried to crank out the work that needed to get done, while rubbing his head.  By figuring the logistics out on that, I have officially deemed myself as the master of multi-tasking.

    But I really didn’t feel like a master at anything. I felt pulled in multiple directions.  When my in-laws called as I was finishing up a meeting and said “He wants you,” I dropped everything and went to pick him up.  When we got home, the throwing up that I thought had stopped had returned.  He had just wanted to puke in the comfort of his own home.  I set the computer down and took a nap with him.  And then later, we made a trip to the emergency room for fluids because his blood work showed that dehydration had thrown everything out of whack.

    During this time research, that I had seen before, showed up again on my radar.   Taken from a Business Insider article, titled “Parents of Successful Kids have these 12 Things in Common”.  Number eight reads: “The moms work outside the home”:

    According to research out of Harvard Business School, there are significant benefits for children growing up with mothers who work outside the home.

    The study found daughters of working mothers went to school longer, were more likely to have a job in a supervisory role, and earned more money —23% more compared to their peers who were raised by stay-at-home mothers.

    The sons of working mothers also tended to pitch in more on household chores and childcare, the study found — they spent seven-and-a-half more hours a week on childcare and 25 more minutes on housework.

    ‘Role modeling is a way of signaling what’s appropriate in terms of how you behave, what you do, the activities you engage in, and what you believe,’ the study’s lead author, Harvard Business School professor Kathleen L. McGinn, told Business Insider.

    ‘There are very few things, that we know of, that have such a clear effect on gender inequality as being raised by a working mother,’ she told Working Knowledge.

    Hmm, I thought.  He had definitely seen his daddy role model that it’s not just mommy’s job to clean up the throw up.   But as I looked at the same article, number seven on the list was “the (parents) are less stressed.” Was there some methodology and importance to the order of this list? Does being less stressed trump me working outside the home when it comes to my children’s success in life?  If multiple priorities raise my stress level, should I choose just one- my kids?  Will this lead them to success? Or is success what matters?  These research findings point to nothing related to happiness and joy.

    As I contemplate this idea a few weeks later, I’m solely focused on work, because I’m alone in a hotel room.  And when I’m alone, I catch up on reading while I work out in in hotel fitness rooms.   While reading Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, (I had about zero grit in reading this book considering I started reading it in 2016) I quickly scan through the author’s quiz on grit- which is a measure of passion and perseverance- and, as the author shows through research, more important that talent in success. I realize by this quiz, I’m short on some grit.

    The author says just after the scoring for the quiz. “Keep in mind that your score is a reflection of how you see yourself right now. How gritty you are at this point in your life might be different from how gritty you were when you were younger. And if you take the Grit Scale later again, you might get a different score.”

    Yeah, I thought. I’ll take this quiz in about 16 years when both my kids are off at college because I’ve made them so “successful” because I’ve worked “outside the home” while simultaneously raising them, doing my best to keep them alive while basically being able to focus on nothing with passion and perseverance because something like the rotavirus is always lurking.

    But passion and perseverance does come in raising children.  And it does come in work- even if there are bouts of intensity in hotel rooms-  followed by periods of idleness because of other demands.

    One author, who wrote on the same research findings about what parents of successful children do says, “There is no such thing as a complete list.”  He points to grit saying,  “like virtually every other trendy article on this subject, they recommend teaching ‘grit,’ defined as the ‘tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals.’ While that’s virtuous in a vacuum, I think we’re going to find as a society that the way we teach grit omits something serious: the ability to maintain motivation while simultaneously, continuously reevaluating your goals.”

    Sometimes goals are as short term as making it through a nap with your kid without throw-up ending up on either one of you.  And sometimes it’s about getting an article done about such a topic.

    But overall, as we approach mother’s day as a time to celebrate all the mom’s in this world, motherhood is a lesson in grit, whether you work outside the home or not.

    Give yourself some credit moms (and I’ll try to do the same for myself), realizing that there is a time and season for everything, and it is up to you to choose what is best for you and your family right now.   Grit or not, don’t let anyone tell you that it is not okay to shift focus for the sake of what is important when it is important.   That will teach your kids to be successful because they have been taught through your “modeling” to know what is important and adjust accordingly.