• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Great Leadership by Dan
  • Blog
  • Popular
  • Recent
  • About
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Blog
  • Popular
  • Recent
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Blog
    • Popular
    • Recent
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • ×

    You are here Home » culture

    9 Must Haves for Business Success

    Last updated on Sep 7, 2017 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest
    post from Cornelia Gamlem and Barbara Mitchell:

    Ask any manager and
    they’ll agree that people issues are some of the most important ones they face
    in their day-to-day routine. What can an organization do to assure they’ve got
    great practices?  The following are nine
    essentials that must be in place to ensure success.

    1.    Corporate
    culture.
    Whether an
    organization realizes it or not, it has a culture. Elements that define your
    culture is leadership style, communication, the work environment – formal or
    informal – and how mistakes are handled. 
    Culture sets the tone for everything you do and everything you stand
    for.  Leaders matter in any organization
    because they are so visible.  Be
    conscious about the culture that you set for your organization.  Manage it through your culture and your
    actions and hire staff who will fit it.   

    2.    Strategic
    staffing.
    A key success
    factor for any organization is having the right people in the right jobs. Hire
    for attitude and train for skill. Know your culture, have clearly written job
    descriptions, and train your managers to interview so they can find people who
    will be successful in their jobs and in your organization. Follow best
    practices, such as checking references to be sure that you bring in the right
    people.

    3.    Welcoming
    new employees.
    There is
    a wonderful time between when you hire a new employee and when the person starts.
    It’s an opportunity to reinforce how glad you are that they accepted your
    offer.  Have the hiring manager send a
    welcoming letter or e-mail before they start. Be ready and carefully plan out
    their first week.  Meet with them, take
    them to lunch, introduce them to co-workers, assign a co-worker to be their
    mentor and have all of their resources (phone, computer, e-mail address) ready
    for them.

    4.    Employee
    engagement and retention.
    Engagement
    and retention are inextricably linked. 
    Focus groups and stay-interviews can reveal why people want to come to
    work every day.  Build on those reasons
    to encourage excitement about your organization. Don’t forget rewards and
    recognitions programs. The most incredibly affective recognition strategy is
    saying thank you – letting employees know you appreciate them.  It costs nothing and can have a huge payoff.

    5.   
    Total rewards programs. Rewarding employees goes beyond wages.
    It includes indirect compensation such as benefits, rewards and recognition,
    and flexibility. Your total rewards package should link to your recruiting
    strategy as well as your goals and objectives. These programs should be
    compatible with your culture, appropriate for your workforce and industry, and
    be fair and equitable both internally and externally. Communicate with your employees
    and make sure they understand that their benefits and other indirect programs
    that you offer are part of their overall compensation package.  Take the time to educate your employees about
    their benefits.  They will be very
    grateful.

    6.   
    Employee development. Development helps employees to be
    effective in their current jobs and prepare for future opportunities that help
    the organization to grow.  Training,
    coaching and mentoring, and stretch assignments are just some of the ways to
    develop employees. Development opportunities must align with the company’s
    mission, goals and objectives, so use measurements, benchmarks and metrics to
    assure they are.  Giving your employees
    the opportunity to grow and succeed is a good value proposition and will help
    you to grow a successful company.

    7.   
    Performance reviews. Performance reviews are just a part of
    performance management – an ongoing process of planning, continual monitoring
    and frequent feedback.  Managing
    performance is crucial to employee motivation and feedback is an integral part.
    Feedback lets employees know they are making a contribution and doing things
    right.  Make sure expectations are clear
    and don’t assume your employee’s know them. 
    Performance reviews should focus on outcomes and results. 

    8.   
    Positive employee relations. Policies communicate expectations and
    create the framework for fair and respectful treatment. They assure consistency
    in making decisions while recognizing that each situation is unique and
    requires flexibility.  Benchmark with other
    companies in your community and industry to understand best practices, but develop
    policies unique to the needs of your organization and your employees.  Communicating with employees is critical to
    positive employee relations.  With
    communication methods changing rapidly with technology and social media, it’s
    important that you deliver messages in a method in which your employees like to
    receive information. 

    9.   
    Ending the employment relationship. Even in a culture with positive employee
    relations and frequent, open communication, employment relationships end. If the
    company is initiating the termination, it’s important to be fair and
    consistent.  Consider how similar
    situations were handled in the past. 
    Consider the individual’s tenure and history.  Review your policies, but don’t forget to use
    judgment.  Keep other employees in
    mind.  Good performers want to work with
    other good performers.  After a layoff,
    the employees who are still employed are also impacted, often being asked to
    take on more work and responsibility. 
    Regardless of the reason for the termination, even voluntary
    terminations, treat the employee with dignity and respect.  Former employees may turn into future employees
    or they may recommend others with great skills to meet your future talent
    needs.

    About
    the authors
    : Cornelia
    Gamlem and Barbara Mitchell are influencers to the HR & Business
    Communities. They’ve taken their collective years as Human Resource
    professionals and consultants and shared it in The
    Big Book of HR
    .
    They’ve also written The
    Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook
    and collaborate on a weekly blog,
    Making People Matter. For more
    information visit www.bigbookofhr.com.
    « Leading From Within: Shifting Ego, Ceding Control, and Rising Empathy
    The Key to a “Whole Person Culture” »
    AFTER ENTRY

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    dan-mccarthy-great-leadership-by-dan

    About Dan

    Dan is an expert in leadership and management development. For over 20 years Dan has helped thousands of leaders and aspiring leaders improve their leadership capabilities. Read More

    ebook-dan-mccarthy

    Trending:

    • Top 12 Development Goals for Leaders
    • How to Write a Great Individual Development Plan (IDP)
    • 25 Great Leadership Development Quotes
    • The Performance and Potential Matrix (9 Box Model) – an Update

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Home
    • About
    • Contact

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2022

    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy