Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Personal Development

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for stories and best practices for personal wellness and wellbeing, skills improvement, and  more.

  • Want to keep great employees? Know how to compensate them.

    Want to keep great employees? Know how to compensate them.

    We’re working on a compensation project now with a company to redesign their exempt salary structure. When thinking about how to best design a system, it’s important to realize there are two key factors: 

    Internal Equity– Are you paying people fairly compared to what other people within the organization are making based on the knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role? 

    External Competitiveness– Are you paying what the market demands for certain knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role in order to recruit and retain people?

    Basic steps to consider when designing a compensation structure: 

    You gotta do a job description. In considering the factors of internal equity and external competitiveness, both of these hinge on knowing the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for the jobs in which we you trying to define a compensation structure.  Read more about performing job analysis and what a job description needs here (link back to previous post). 

    Get market data.  For external equity, you need to know what the market pays for the jobs you have.   

    Some sources for market data: 

    Career One Stop

    Salary.com

    Salary Expert

    BLS

    Define compensable factors. Compensable factors are based on what the organization places a value on (internal equity) in order to differentiate the value of roles.  For example, education is a compensable factor.  In general, positions that require a bachelors degree have a higher value placed on them than those that only require a high school diploma.

     

    Create the structure. Creating the structure takes the information defined in the previous steps to create salary grades and ranges. Grades are the hierarchy of the salary structure (grouped by jobs with relative worth) and ranges are the minimum and maximum established within grades. Using compensable factors for each job, you will then place each job into the appropriate salary grade.  

    Create a Salary Administration Manual. In order to make sure that the structure you created is implemented appropriately, a salary administration manual needs to be created.  The manual should include a description of the newly created structure, administrative procedures governing the structure and guidelines for annual salary increases. In addition, it should contain ways to keep the program up-to-date through a periodic systematic review of the structure.

    Designing and creating a compensation system seems like a daunting task. But if you take things step-by-step, you’ll see that it can be manageable. More importantly, if done correctly it can add tremendous value to your organization by helping you recruit, retain and reward talent appropriately. 

  • 2 Ways to Get What You’re Worth

    2 Ways to Get What You’re Worth

    Out looking for a job or considering a discussion with your boss about a raise?  If you are, you need to do your research to consider what the knowledge, skills and abilities you have are worth in the marketplace and to the company in which you work or are negotiating with. (Note:  The best time to negotiate your worth is before you accept a job. Once you get locked in a job and a salary range, usually the only way to get a substantial raise is to switch jobs either through a promotion or a move to another organization.)  

    Get the facts about what you’re worth in the market.

    The first thing to do is compare what you do with salary data that is free out there.  Some places to look review salary data: 

    Career One Stop

    Salary.com

    Salary Expert

    BLS

    Take all these sources and compile them to average out what an overall market range is for your role.  Having the facts about what the market will pay for your skills will help you create a case for your value. 

    Know what you’re worth to the organization and suggest that worth be tied to your compensation package. 

    Next, you need to consider how you will or are currently adding value to the organization that may be outside the scope of the traditional job description tied to published salary data. If you are, we suggest instead of trying to get that value quantified through a salary, really prove this worth by suggesting that part of your compensation be tied to that extra value you add. You don’t get that extra unless you create a win-win for the company.  

    For example, if you are awesome at looking at company processes, realizing where there are inefficiencies and cutting costs which leads to increased profitability and margins, gather your numbers and facts and present a case to get a share as a part of your compensation of that increase profitability you created or know you can create.

    If, through your efforts, you are able to bring in more clients or business, quantify this and request part of your compensation be tied to a cut of the increased revenue that comes from your efforts. 

    Most employers will be impressed with the initiative you take to tie your results to company results. Yeah, its riskier to not have it all in guaranteed in salary, but the alternative is more than likely a 2-3% increase a year and no one gets rich off this.  

    How do you make a case for your value? 

    Want more? You may also like: 

    Know Your Value

    Why you should STOP being afraid of negotiating salary

  • 3 Introverted leaders and the leadership lessons we can learn from them

    3 Introverted leaders and the leadership lessons we can learn from them

    We used to think leaders were born, not made. Now we know through training, coaching and mentoring the skills needed to be an effective leader can be learned.  However, there are certain leadership situations, company cultures and team dynamics lend well to certain types of personality traits (“born” characteristics) that individuals possess that make a person more effective in their leadership role. 

    One of the most common personality continuums discussed today is introversion/extraversion.

    A rundown of the dynamic can be seen here: 

    Orientation of energy

    E     EXTRAVERSION

    Energized when you are with people 

    Talk out your ideas

    First you live it – then you understand it

    Enjoy the interaction

    Breadth of inter

    INTROVERSION    I

    Energized when you are alone

    Reflect on your ideas before vocalizing

    First you understand – then you live it

    Enjoy the concentration

    Depth of interest

    Unfortunately, there is still an “extravert ideal” that surrounds leadership, especially in western culture.  Whereas some situations and roles demand someone who is energized by others, outgoing, gregarious and people oriented, some leadership roles and situations are served better by the leaders who are thinkers, driven by ideas and oftentimes driven by solitude or small, intimate relationships, otherwise known as the introverts among us. 

    Consider these three introverted leaders and how their disposition made them more effective: 

    Moses.  As the leader of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land, Moses (especially the movie portrayal of him) may imply that he was an outgoing orator with the skills to fire up his people and move them forward.  However, Moses spoke with a stutter and utilized his more extraverted wingman, Aaron, to speak to the people (Exodus 1-15).  His introversion is also seen in his humility. Numbers 12 accounts that he was a “quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on earth.”

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Moses that is needed for today’s leader:  Humble and reflective

    More on leadership lessons from Moses

    Stephen Wozniak. When you hear Apple, most immediately think of Steve Jobs as the leader. However, Apple most likely would have never existed without Stephen Wozniak, the brainy electronics geek and consummate nice guy that designed the circuit boards that created Apple’s first computer. He co-founded the company with Jobs.   In the early years of Apple, Wozniak was the worker bee and genius that drove the creation of the personal computer. 

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Wonziak that is needed for today’s leader:  Innovation through concentrated hard work and depth of knowledge

    Rosa Parks:  As one of the icons of the Civil Rights movement, Rosa Parks was a small, unassuming woman. Her refusal to give up her seat on the bus to a white person may portray her as confrontational person, but that she was not. And because she wasn’t, her impact was far-reaching. Just think, would a gregarious, outspoken extravert have made the same impact on the bus that night by refusing to give up their seat? 

    Introverted leadership trait seen in Rosa Parks that is needed for today’s leader:  Determination and quiet resolve. 

    Know an introverted leader?

    How does their introversion make them a better leader?

    Other introverted leaders you should learn more about: Eleanor Roosevelt, Warren Buffett, Al Gore, Gandhi, Einstein, Stephen Spielberg, Larry Page

  • 3 Tips for Getting Over Your Vacation Hangover

    3 Tips for Getting Over Your Vacation Hangover

    You’re back from vacation and hopefully you unplugged while there. And now you have a vacation hangover. You’ve got way too many things to do for work, not enough time to do them in and your wondering, just like you’ve wondered the morning after you had one too many drinks, was it worth it? Should I really have even gone on vacation?

    After returning from a work and play trip, the hangover hit me (and my husband) hard.  The around the world re-routing and delays of flights to get us home didn’t help nor did the thee hours of sleep we got the night we returned due to the around the world trip home. My husband walked in from his first day back at work, looked at me without a hey, hi, how are you, and simple stated, “I don’t think our vacation was worth it.”   After which, he took the time to look at me, still in my pajamas, covered in spit up, no shower in 48 hours, laundry piles all over our closet and again simply said, “Looks like your day went about like mine too.” Whereas he had been at work, I was trying to catch up on work and laundry and spend time with our two kids on our first day back.  Not good. We actually both needed a drink, or so we thought, to nurse our vacation hangover.

    If you took some of our unplugging tips to heart by getting stuff done before you left and scheduling a day or two to play catch-up when you returned (unlike us), you may not be hung over at all.

    But if you are, here are some tips to get over it:

    1. Realize you have to take recovery from your hangover one day at a time.  You can’t get everything done in one day, so don’t stress yourself out when you don’t.  Prioritize what is going to help you get over your hangover the quickest and tackle that first. Ignore your inbox if you have to. Those 987 emails can wait.  For me, tackling playing grocery store and painting with my three year old was more important than the email inbox. It was a beast though when I got to it.
    2. Sleep. If you don’t catch up on it, you are never going to get anything done.  Sleep some of it off to be more productive.
    3. Drink water. Lots of it.  Especially if you’ve been on a plane. Even if you haven’t been on a plane, water can help cure any type and any size hangover.  Well maybe not a vacation hangover as much as a drinking water, but it does beg the point of making sure you take care of yourself physically because if you don’t you’ll never get your productivity back.

    How have you nursed a vacation hangover and gotten through it?

  • I May Have Adult ADD But I Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything: Refusing to Choose Between Work and Life

    I May Have Adult ADD But I Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything: Refusing to Choose Between Work and Life

    At an HR conference this week with a focus on wellness, the topic of work-life balance is bound to come up. It is and continues to be a buzz phrase in the field. How do we as individuals balance work and “life” and how do companies and HR professionals help employees find and gain balance in order to promote wellness and avoid stress and burnout which ultimately hurts company performance?

    As I sit here writing this at the conference, my eight week old is with me. So is my mom who is here to help and also hear some key sessions at the conference she is interested in. I am going to sessions, volunteering for the conference, checking email and responding to clients, eating dinner with friends and aunts I haven’t seen in a while, feeding my little girl and changing her, talking to her and enjoying her precious grins that have just begun to make an appearance across her sweet face.

    I think I may have adult ADD (attention deficit disorder) with the constant change in focus, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because I enjoy each component of these activities and roles, the lines between my “work” and my “play” or “life” are so blurred that I’m sometimes not sure which box I’m in, and in my opinion that is the way it should be.

    You don’t have to choose between work and life.

    The people I know who love their work don’t talk a lot about work/life balance. They do work, they do life and oftentimes they aren’t sure which one they are doing at the moment. It’s just all life.

    So how do we get to the point of not needing to seek out work/life balance?

    1. Choose work you love. Finding the unique balance between your talents, your passions and your values will enable you the opportunity to choose work you love and allow you to make it an integral part of your life. It also allows you to clear the clutter and say “no” to things that really do not need to be a part of your life and your work.
    2. Surround yourself with people who support you in your work and life. I realize that this may be more of a challenge for some than others because to a certain extent it may be out of your control. I am fortunate that my mom was able to come with me to this conference because she too had a business needs to hear some of the speakers. My husband is at home with our other child manning that front, and he is glad to do it. But it goes beyond just having the support of family being close by or having the flexibility to help. It extends to doing business- working with and for- those who share the same mindset of work-life balance.

    For example, I’m working with a marketing firm to develop a marketing plan and strategy to take the company to the next level. The timing of brainstorming sessions needed for this came about two weeks after I had the now eight week old. We didn’t postpone it. They came to my house to do it. Not one session, but two. They held the baby, I held the baby and, because my husband was still off on leave because of the birth, we were able to get his ideas too, which is highly valuable to me. In my opinion, we came up with, among other things, some pretty awesome tag lines for the three unique lines of services/products we will be offering soon. (If you want to turn on your creative side, go grab a baby while you brainstorm). Picture proof of this session here.

    1. Refuse to think either/or: I could have postponed the brainstorming sessions and I could have skipped this conference and some people probably think I should have skipped both. Aren’t most maternity leaves 12 weeks? But I’d rather do both from a different perspective- having my child with me, who obviously needs me almost constantly as an infant and who will so soon not be giving me those sweet grins that I don’t want to miss out on, and doing work that I love and I hope meets needs for others too can be done together.

    I don’t have to separate my work from my life or choose between the two and you don’t either.

    What are your best methods for doing life instead of having to balance work and life?