Success in business requires proper planning and execution. We can’t effectively plan for our future success without properly diagnosing the present state of our organizations.

The TM Solutions Business Diagnostic Series addresses several key points to consider when assessing your business and how well it’s positioned for marketplace success.  We tackle fundamental concepts like Managing Profitability, Minimizing Risk, Maximizing Productivity, Improving Expertise and Capabilities, Strengthening Leadership Teams, and Investing in People. 

In our last installment, we outlined how Strengthening Leadership Teams drives organizational success. For our final article in the Business Diagnostics Series, we’ll take a comprehensive look at Investing in People, and how the investments that companies make in their human capital drive the other elements of their business and its ultimate, sustainable success.  Investing in People requires organizations to work diligently in four key areas:  Identifying and Developing Future Leaders, Developing Employees for Now and into the Future, Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement, and Building High-Performance Teams.

With each set of business checkup questions, we’ll show how Investing in People relates to the previous areas we’ve explored in the series, providing a frame of reference for how people drive success in every aspect of a business.

Identifying and Developing Future Leaders

Investing in people requires an ongoing dedication to identifying and developing future leaders. Leaders provide the direction and strategy that, when coupled with engaged contributors in operations, sales, marketing, and other departments within the organization, ultimately drive the sustainable success of the company.

In order to properly identify and develop future leaders, companies must have a keen understanding of the success factors that are most important for those in leadership positions within the organization’s own unique culture and framework.  Once you understand the profile of successful leaders in your company, you can then set about replicating this profile and developing a bench of future leaders.

This development requires a lot of time and resources.  Companies must invest wisely in the right tools and processes that facilitate better talent acquisition, retention, and development.  Managers must continuously develop themselves through these tools in order to motivate, engage, and coach the contributors who will one day become managers and executives themselves.

Business Checkup Questions

1. Do we fully understand what success factors are most important for key leadership positions?   (Strengthening Leadership Teams)
2. Do we have a pipeline of leaders and the appropriate bench strength for key positions? (Strengthening Leadership Teams)
3. Do we invest time and resources to develop leaders and employees? (Strengthening Leadership Teams)
4. Do our managers have the appropriate tools and resources available to hire, engage, coach and remove employees effectively? (Improving Expertise and Capabilities)

Developing Employees for Now and into the Future

While the process of Investing in People begins with an analysis of the success factors of the company’s current leadership, it quickly moves into the development of key contributors and ultimately to all employees throughout the organization.  Companies must stay attuned to the success factors that drive performance excellence for individual contributors. Executives and managers must clearly communicate to their teams exactly what’s required of them to contribute to the success of the organization, positioning themselves for future leadership in the process.

Companies must take a hard look at organizational fit, drilling down to each contributing position—are the right people in the right roles in which they can and will succeed?  An analysis of positional fit requires a level of accountability, measuring the production and efficiency of each individual across the organization and their ability to consistently deliver results that are both on-time and within budgeted resources. 

The concept of having the right people in the right roles is a two-way street.  Not only should decision-makers recognize the organization’s needs, but those of the individuals as well.  They should understand each employee’s needs and wants, as well as their strengths and liabilities, straight from the onboarding process.  An early understanding of the drivers from each employee’s perspective leads to better utilization of each contributor.  This approach results in higher engagement, better performance, and achievement of the company’s business goals and the individual’s career goals.

Business Checkup Questions

1. Do our employees have a clear understanding of what they will need to do to contribute to the future success of the organization? (Strengthening Leadership Teams
2. Do we have the right talent in the right roles?  Can we adequately execute our operational and strategic plans? (Managing Profitability)
3. Are employees reaching full or acceptable productivity levels in a timely fashion? (Improving Expertise and Capabilities)
4. Are we aware of each team member’s wants and needs, natural strengths or potential liabilities?  Are we aware of this during the onboarding process or does it take six to 12 months to determine? (Maximizing Productivity)

 Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Today’s successful organizations are marked by a culture of continuous improvement.  While some companies define this concept purely in terms of their offerings to their customers, top tier organizations apply continuous improvement to every aspect of the business, especially in the leveraging of human capital.

Cultures of continuous improvement allow for flexible decision-making.  Managers and executives display a business agility facilitated by the right tools that they can use to be both proactive and quick in seizing on marketplace opportunities.  Continuous improvement means that managers provide on-demand performance feedback and coaching to each employee as needed, improving production, quality, and productivity along the way, not simply at scheduled junctures like performance reviews.

Companies must dedicate resources that are available for those with initiative, so that each contributor can define take-action strategies for immediate improvement.  Organizations should gear these offerings, whether they are coaching sessions, leadership seminars, or personal development courses, to the individual needs of each employee. 

Management must be proactive in providing ongoing opportunities that meet the evolving needs of each employee for increased responsibility and more challenging work.  Challenging your employees leads to higher engagement, fueling personal and professional growth over the long haul of their tenure with the company, as well as higher productivity in the near term.

Business Checkup Questions

1. Can the manager provide on-demand performance feedback and coaching to employee to improve production, quality and productivity?  (Managing Profitability)
2. Do our managers and employees proactively take advantage of growth opportunities or do they do so because it’s required? (Improving Expertise and Capabilities)
3. Can our performance management process or system provide individualized take action strategies ready to implement right away? Or is this only provided once or twice a year? (Maximizing Productivity)
4. Do we provide ongoing opportunities for personal growth and increased responsibilities through training, coaching and challenging assignments?  Is this based on individual interests? (Maximizing Productivity)

 Building High-Performance Teams

The most successful companies understand the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. High-Performance Teams are cohesive groups of individuals working collectively, with efficiency and high effectiveness, toward mutual goals, not a group of individuals focused on personal accomplishments.  The best organizations build and maintain high-performance teams that collaborate to meet business goals and achieve sustainable profitability. Organizations must first look to their results to see if they can define teams as high-performing. Results analysis can’t simply be a myopic look at profits—a deep dive is required here, to ensure that the underlying elements of sustainable profitability are in place, such as productivity, quality, and attention to both revenue generation and expense management.

Managers drive high-performance teams through the ability to make quick decisions and generate creative solutions to the challenges that face their teams on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.  And managers can’t simply carry the load themselves—they must effectively manage the performance of each contributor and face accountability for doing so.

Finally, high-performance teams require engagement from managers and each individual on the team.  There is a real trap here for corporate executives, as they can’t simply assume that managers have the level of engagement necessary to inspire others.  Leading teams requires that managers set the ultimate example in having a positive attitude in their day-to-day activities, as well as an optimistic outlook for the team’s performance in contributing to the overall success of the company. Positivity and optimism are contagious, and exhibiting these values sets the bar high for each contributor in the group.

Business Checkup Questions

1. Are we consistently achieving organizational production, quality and productivity goals? (Strengthening Leadership Teams)
2. Can our managers and teams effectively respond to urgent situations calling for quick action and creative solutions? (Strengthening Leadership Teams)
3. Can managers effectively manage performance?  Are they held accountable? (Managing Profitability)
4. Are managers and employees fully engaged in the business?  (Managing Profitability)

For more information on business diagnostics and how you can effectively plan for the future of your business, visit the TM Solutions website at www.tms-hr.com.

Success in business requires proper planning and execution. We can’t effectively plan for our future success without properly diagnosing the present state of our organizations.

The TM Solutions Business Diagnostic Series addresses several key points to consider when assessing your business and how well it’s positioned for marketplace success.  We tackle fundamental concepts like Managing Profitability, Minimizing Risk, Maximizing Productivity, Improving Expertise and Capabilities, Strengthening Leadership Teams, and Investing in People. 

In last week’s diagnostic piece, we discussed several ways for Improving Expertise and Capabilities. Today’s discussion addresses how companies execute strategies for Strengthening Leadership Teams.  We take these principles from our own talent development process for powering corporate leadership, whereby organizations follow these four tactics:  aligning culture and leaders with business strategy, improving ability to respond to changing needs, improving ability to influence and motivate others, and building leaders for sustained excellence and innovation.  A good way for leaders, whether they are seasoned veterans or just emerging in a newly-earned role, to remember these tactics is to embed the terms Align, Assess, Engage, and Develop into their leadership vocabulary. 

Aligning culture and leaders with business strategy (Align)

Strengthening leadership teams begins with an honest analysis of success factors in leadership positions and contributor roles within the organization, as well as the company’s strategic plan for accomplishing its vision.  Organizations must begin the process of leadership development by identifying key success factors unique to company and the competitive marketplace that drive productivity and engagement.

As companies understand the components that make up the profile of a successful leader or contributor within the organization, they must then address the corporate culture.  The culture must align properly with these factors in order to produce a breeding ground for successful leaders and contributors.  A culture that facilitates success among leaders will drive the company to new heights of achievement in the near future while developing key contributors for leadership roles in the longer term.

Key to cultural alignment is to ensure that the leadership team’s values and objectives are consistent with and contribute to the organization’s business objectives and strategy. The ultimate goal here is to eliminate organizational silos, where group specialization or agendas take precedence over the common goals or mission of the organization.

Business Checkup Questions

1.    Do we fully understand what success factors are most important for leadership and key individual contributor positions? 

2.    Do we have the necessary leadership team to effectively execute our operational and strategic plans?

3.    Is our vision and strategy for the business clearly understood by our leadership team?

4.    Do our leadership team’s values and objectives align with business culture and strategy?  Do we have silos within the organization?

Improving ability to respond to changing needs (Assess, Engage)

Next, companies must determine if the corporate culture defines accountability for everyone, whether they sit in the executive suite, lead front-line teams, or fill key contributor positions. An assessment of revenue, expenses, profitability, and, the team’s ability to consistently hit quality and productivity goals will determine the current level of accountability within the organization.

Leaders must be productive and efficient in planning, execution, and follow-up to achieve a culture of accountability. Effective planning can mean accomplishing more with fewer resources, resulting in greater profitability and sustainability for the business. As engaged teams and individual contributors perform within a culture that clearly defines success and accountability, they can be more nimble, responding to both internal and customer needs with greater speed and creativity.

Business Checkup Questions

1.    Do we have a culture of accountability?  Are we consistently achieving organizational production, quality and productivity goals? 

2.    Are our leaders productive and efficient at planning, execution and follow-up?

3.    Can our leaders consistently get more accomplished with fewer resources? 

4.    Can our leaders effectively respond to urgent situations calling for quick action and creative solutions?

Improving ability to influence and motivate others (Engage, Develop)

As leaders develop the foundational abilities to assess their teams, align them with the company’s business goals, and create a culture that’s a playing field for high performance, they must also continuously improve their ability to influence and motivate others.  Great leaders don’t employ one-size-fits-all motivational gimmicks; they work to understand the priorities of their peers and direct reports.

Building this understanding is hard work, and filled with both opportunity and challenge.  While leaders must understand what’s important to the people around them, they must also engage their people on multiple levels to ensure that everyone in the organization has a clear understanding of their individual responsibilities for driving the success of their team and the company as a whole.

This process doesn’t stop with a periodic review or coaching session—the process is ongoing, and never-ending. Leaders must keep communication lines open, informing everyone—executives, managers, and contributors, of progress toward reaching business goals, as well as any potential problems or issues that stand as obstacles. Great leaders deal promptly with any performance issues that arise, in order to facilitate the growth and learning that is often required for employees to break through personal barriers to achieve better results.

Business Checkup Questions

1.    Do our leaders understand what’s important to their peers and direct reports?

2.    Do our leaders help employees develop a clear understanding of what they will need to do to contribute to the success of the team and organization?

3.    Do our leaders keep others informed of progress, issues, and potential problems, both up and down the organization?

4.    Do our leaders deal effectively and timely with performance issues, seeing them as opportunities for growth and learning?

Building leaders for sustained excellence and innovation (Develop)

The final element for Strengthening Leadership teams is building leaders for sustained excellence and innovation, since businesses must focus not only on today’s goals but also ready themselves for the future. From a cultural standpoint, leaders must speak about the company and its future prospects with an infectious optimism that translates vision into action.

Leadership development shouldn’t be exclusive to current executives and managers. To ensure a strong bench of future leaders to take the reins when called upon, companies must invest time and resources across the organization. As they develop individuals within the organization, executives should be able to map the future with ease, seeing clearly the people who will assume greater responsibility down the road.

Having a strong culture defined by achievement and accountability should create an environment where leaders at every level can and do take advantage of growth opportunities by their own initiative. The hallmark of successful organizations is a leadership team committed to developing its talents, fueling the creativity needed to drive future innovations, both in how the company performs internally, as well as in the marketplace.

Business Checkup Questions

1.    Do our leaders optimistically talk about the future and possibilities for the organization and their teams, and can they translate vision to action?

2.    Do we have a pipeline of leaders and the appropriate bench strength for all key positions?

3.    Do we invest time and resources to develop leaders and employees?

4.    Do we have a culture of continuous improvement?  Do our leaders proactively take advantage of learning and growth opportunities or do they need to be pushed and pulled to do so?

Next week, be sure to check out the final installment of the TM Solutions Business Diagnostics Series, Investing in People.  When companies make a conscious, ongoing effort to raise their human capital, they see multiple areas of improvement across the organization.

(RALEIGH, NC) TM Solutions, a human resources consulting organization that specializes in providing best practice consultation and customized talent management solutions, announces the launch of its newest innovation in talent development software application, Virtual Performance Coaching with Mobile Manager Feedback.

The Raleigh, NC-based company’s Mobile Manager software service, launched in April 2012, unifies its suite of talent management solutions for business on a single online platform designed for today’s managers.  The Mobile Manager unifies TMSelect, the firm’s state-of-the-art talent management process, with training and development workshops to help managers and their employees achieve better results in the workplace. In addition, companies utilize the Mobile Manager with robust management and team-building tools exclusive to TM Solutions, such as the company’s Talent Card and Peer Card.

In response to commercial demand for more applications of the Mobile Manager suite, TM Solutions has launched an integrated platform for ongoing coaching, development and feedback, Virtual Performance Coaching with Mobile Manager Feedback. The new application expands the Mobile Manager’s capabilities, giving users greater levels of success in reaching their business goals through development plans, strategies for process and personal effectiveness improvement, and, just as importantly, providing a communication framework to generate dialogue among executives, managers, and team members across multiple departments and silos within companies.

As with any TM Solutions offering, the development and release of Virtual Performance Coaching with Mobile Manager Feedback is a timely response to the demands that companies face in a fast-changing business climate, according to the company’s president, Rob Pulley. “We took our inspiration for the Mobile Manager itself from market changes, speed of technology, and the “do-more-with-less” requirements that have posed multiple challenges to modern business,” stated Pulley. “Our services, whether they are workshops, leadership development, or as with the Mobile Manager and Virtual Performance Coaching, software applications, aim to meet the modern business paradigm shift head-on, equipping our clients with a set of solutions that marry the best tools with the best practices.”

Pulley believes that the new set of tools embodied in Virtual Performance Coaching with Mobile Manager Feedback will help people make quicker, better decisions, enabling them to make performance coaching their highest priority in driving business performance. “We’ve integrated 100 different strategies, delivering feedback for a variety of scenarios people face every day, on topics ranging from personal effectiveness, leadership, and career development to interpersonal communications, relationships, and influence-building,” stated Pulley.

For more information on Virtual Performance Coaching with Mobile Manager Feedback, visit the TM Solutions site at http://www.tms-hr.com/Virtual-Performance-Coaching.aspx.


About TM Solutions

TM Solutions, LLC, founded in 2004, is an HR consulting organization that specializes in providing best practice consultation and customized talent management solutions.  Combining TMS Online, HR Store, TMSelect, Mobile Manager and Leadership Workshops with TMS OnDemand consultation services, TM Solutions helps clients attract and retain top talent while minimizing risk and reducing cost.  Innovative companies in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region turn to TM Solutions for talent management needs.

Media Contact

Rob Pulley, President

Phone:   (919) 325-1583

Email:  robpulley@tms-hr.com

We like to share some of the wisdom we’ve gleaned from working with dozens of high-performing companies through our best practices consultation, leadership development, talent management, and talent acquisition services.  Some of the traits that we commonly observe in teams that drive the successful companies are effective communication, trust, and openness.

Recently, we ran across a large company outside of our family of clients that serves as a living example of how shifting from old management structures and workplace frameworks and embracing a few key principles for internal and external relationship development can drive a business to runaway success.  That company is Zappos.

Zappos is a well-known internet retailer founded in 1999, with an initial specialty in shoes that expanded to include all manner of men’s and women’s apparel. By 2009, after just 10 years in business, the company reached annual sales of $1 billion and was acquired by internet giant Amazon in a deal valued at $1.2 billion.

The external hallmarks of Zappos are a commitment to exhaustive inventory—carrying every make and model imaginable in the world of shoes and clothing—and a well-documented commitment to what the company calls WOW.  And while the company’s commitment to its employees and its customers to routinely go above and beyond in service is certainly remarkable, we believe that the real secret to success lies in its stated core value for building open and honest relationships with communication.

While all of the company’s stated core values are inspirational, this commitment by executive leadership at Zappos to internal relationship building is to be commended.  This commitment has taken Zappos to the leading edge of its marketplace, transforming the company into sets of high-performing teams.

In a recent piece, we discussed the seven keys to effective communication at work.  The seventh key is perhaps most critical to an organization with the highest aspirations, the challenge to every employee to always be open, honest and accountable. This is a very tough challenge for many people, due in most part to the fact that they have been oriented to the business world by companies clinging to the old ways of “need-to-know” communications by secretive, politically-driven management teams.

But once people open up their communications in an environment without punishment or penalty, they open their teams to many possibilities for success. A key to this concept of openness is not only an open-mindedness to the ideas of others, but also a real appreciation for diversity of backgrounds and the perspectives that ultimately drive those ideas and shape their creators.

While most of us consider ourselves to be honest people, it’s funny how we can become less-than-honest in the workplace by simply withholding information from others, shifting our positions on issues that arise, and closed-door maneuvering with perceived allies to achieve our ambitions. In the new way of building high-performing teams, we must reject these urges that have been almost encouraged by companies in the old order.

We must strive for honesty by being forthright with others—up-front in the positions we take and staying true to them. People should know where you stand, so that they can count on your honesty and give you respect, even if they don’t necessarily agree with you on a particular strategy or solution to a problem.

Remember, too, that relationships are a two-way street. You must not only remain consistent in your own communications, but you must also appreciate the commitment of others in your organization to be open and honest with you. Sometimes, your ego will tell you that all of this openness and honesty isn’t a good thing, especially when you receive criticism. You must resist the urge to retaliate against constructive criticism, since this damages the relationship and closes an opportunity for your own improvement.

When we embrace openness and honesty, we build trust. And when we build trust, we build engagement and effort to unforeseen levels that drive greater success. It’s a winning formula that we’ve seen over and over again, and Zappos is a great example of a company committed to the right principles.

On Tuesday, August 21, 2012, TM Solutions is offering a workshop on Communicating Effectively.  The workshop, hosted by Parata Systems, is a 90-minute program that will begin running at 9 am.  During the workshop, we will explore concepts such as active listening, open and direct interactions with others, and strengthening your reputation, image, and personal brand.

For more information and to register as our special guest, please visit our website at this link.

Effective interpersonal communication is the foundation for successful performance and growth in both your career and personal life.  Communication skills enable you to better lead, influence and build relationships with others by developing trust, reducing conflict and misunderstanding, and improving productivity. 

Through our work in leadership development, talent management, and coaching executives, managers, and employees at dozens of profitable, sustainable companies, we have determined a mix of seven keys to effective communication in the workplace:

1. Focus and be clear
2. Listen to understand, not to respond
3. Value and respect different perspectives
4. Identify communication preferences of your audience
5. Adapt to non-verbal and behavioral clues
6. Address or avoid sensitivities and hot buttons of your audience
7. Always be open, honest and accountable

In today’s post, we’ll discuss the first three keys.

First, you must focus and be clear.  This key speaks to the notion that you value your own time, and thus you should value the time of others you deal with in the workplace.  Get to the point when providing information, while avoiding lengthy, unnecessarily-detailed answers.

You should also remember to stay on message, being absolutely clear with regard to the ideas you need to express, especially within the expressed purpose of the conversation. To this end, you should answer questions directly and provide important information only. Just as the best writers distill thousands of words into the hundreds of words that pack the most punch, you should do the same with how you speak with your managers, colleagues, and reports.

Next, you must listen to understand, not to respond.  This concept is pretty difficult for even the smartest among us.  To make this happen, you need to apply common sense—listen more than talk.  Also, avoid urges to interrupt or object on the fly, without hearing out the other person’s thoughts in their entirety.

This should go without saying, but in order to properly listen, you should be engaged in the conversation.  Stop what you’re doing—put away the gadgets (smartphones, TV), minimize the potential for interruptions, and remove physical barriers such as desks, walls, and doors between you and the other person.

As you give the other person more opportunity to speak, be careful to pay attention to not just what is being said, but what is not being said. There are many of us who edit our thoughts quite a bit, never completely sharing what’s on our minds—a good listener can read between the lines and pick up these unspoken thoughts throughout a conversation.

Think through your responses to others after taking proper time to listen. Focus your attention on understanding someone’s message instead of formulating your response.  Being unafraid to give proper consideration, not only to what others have to say but also how you express your own thoughts and reactions, garners respect in professional environments.  Be patient in the process and remember that many people mistrust quick answers.

You must also value and respect different perspectives.  First, you must recognize the value of what others say and their reason and right to say it.

If you’re really seeking to value and respect another person’s perspective, you need to focus on understanding that perspective, not on agreeing or disagreeing with it.  Involve that person in even more conversation than you normally would somebody with whom you share much agreement, asking more questions versus making more declarative statements.  We’ve found that people tend to normally make statements at a rate eight times the number of questions they ask!

Ultimately, do you understand the other person’s perspective, or what they’re even trying to say?  If you’re not sure, simply ask more questions. Remember, your message is not about you or what you may want in a given situation—you want to know what the other party values and why their message is important to them.

In next week’s post, we will cover the four additional keys to effective communication.