The Sitch

I have to apologize.

It has been way too long since I last posted. Life at work has been (and continues to be, with no signs of changing anytime soon) incredibly hectic. And anything outside of my normal workweek pretty much didn't happen the entire month of December because I managed to pick up whatever this godawful flu going around is, and was sick as a dog for pretty much the whole month. Unfortunately, that meant that my poor blog got very badly neglected.

So, the last time I blogged about anything, I was about two weeks into the new job. I'm now just about three months in, and so far I have overseen the termination of nearly a dozen people and the hiring of about that many again, which is fairly impressive considering we have 81 people on payroll. That number should be about 100 if we want to reach full staffing, but as this province is currently leading the way in Canada with a 4.1 unemployment rate, that is proving very challenging. I've been overseeing a recruitment campaign that covers 2/3 of the continent, have worked with the CFO to oversee a wage review, new bonus program, new benefits provider and health spending accounts, and implemented new employment contracts for everyone. Not to mention a new performance management system, metrics and individual performance plans. All of which, as you might imagine, has left me extremely busy, but which should get us into a better position to attract staff going forwards. I hope anyway, because sometime in the next six months or so, I need to find enough tradespeople to staff our new facility, which should be up and running by July, and which will increase the size of the organization by about 1/3. And since we compete with the oil and gas industry for our people, that's going to be very complicated indeed, because, as a small organization, we absolutely cannot match pay or benefits, so it's mostly going to have to be by focusing on the lifestyle benefits and some of the cool things (like our company wellness program) that larger organizations don't necessarily have the flexibility to offer. 

And I love it. I love all of it. It's been incredibly satisfying to be digging into the guts of things and then changing and rebuilding it all. It has been more work than I thought it would be, and more work than the CFO thought there would be, as I have discovered that there were significant issues in the HR department that no one had noticed that need rectifying, but I can't wait to see where we end up in a year! It's looking increasingly like we may head abroad to try and source some international talent for our new facility, which should be incredibly interesting and a new challenge for me, as I have no prior experience in international recruitment. 

I will try to keep you all posted just a wee bit more regularly than I have been. It's a rollercoaster, but I am so far enjoying the ride!

Of course, if there's anyone out there dealing with similar challenges or experienced in these kinds of issues, hit me up! I'd love to hear from you.

The Power of Positive Feedback

Many of us know that positive feedback is important, and that a manager who gives out as much positive feedback as negative ( or 2:1) is going to get better motivated, happier people out of the deal. But how many of us actually do it?

I had a manager at one point who constantly felt under-appreciated and ill-used by her boss, the regional manager. He played managers off each other, by talking up the accomplishments of one to the other, and never said anything positive about you to your face. My manager was certainly able to recognize that he was doing a terrible job of increasing job satisfaction, engagement, and motivation, and felt his was a poor management style. Which it was, however, she failed to see that his lack of positive feedback was the same as hers to her staff.

During one conversation about the regional manager, where she was complaining about his lack of appreciation, we discussed the importance of positive feedback in the workplace and I asked her gently when the last time was that she had said something positive about any of her staff's work to that staff member? She was quite appalled to realize that, while she did say positive things, it was almost never to the employee directly. She'd say good things about someone, but very rarely to their faces.

If you want to be a better manager, make a point of saying positive things about your employees, and make sure the positives outweigh the negatives. Then make sure your positivity goes directly to the employee in question. It'll take conscious effort, because we are all much more used to negativity at work, but it'll pay off in terms of employee job satisfaction if they feel appreciated for what they do.

Change and Complaining

If you've ever been in a position to spearhead or support major changes in your workplace, you'll have listened to a lot of complaints. We all know that change isn't easy, and we all know that change, even welcome change, often inspires comments and concerns. So how do you deal with those? How do you address these complaints?

First off, it is normal to complain about change. It's a truism out there in the business world that people hate change; I'm not convinced that it's true, but it's definitely normal to complain about it. It's also very important that you listen to the complaints.

Here's the thing. A complaint is one of the quickest ways to get feedback on your new changes- if you listen properly. Remember that the complaint is not necessarily telling you that your beloved new program or whatever is bad or wrong- the complaint is telling you about the problems other people are having with your changes. Don't take it personally, and don't think that you have to be right- if your first reaction to the complaint is to say, "yes, but..."make sure you stop yourself there! Look at the complaint again. What is it really about? Don't react as if the intention of the complainer is simply to be negative- he or she is trying to discuss an issue, and you need to take it seriously and react appropriately. Don't be defensive, and make sure you ask if there are any other issues you need to here about- this is the best time to get real, honest feedback about your changes! Once you have the lowdown on the issues, then you can try and come up with a solution, but if you're not listening, it ain't gonna happen.

I've been fortunate enough to see my current employer bring in some large scale changes in the past year. While I firmly believe that the changes are for the better, there has been a lot of resistance overall, and it's important to take that seriously. After all, when head office is implementing a total change in strategy and approach for jobs nobody there actually does, you have to expect that there will be some important messages in the feedback that you get from your staff who are working these positions. So bring it on, and encourage complaining.

Progress

I recently came across an article on the hbr.org website, that talks about innovation in the workplace and what drives it. It's an interesting read, and can be found here. The gist of it, for those not inclined to click through, is that innovation and motivation in the workplace are driven by a sense of progress.

This makes good sense to me. Nothing has ever made me as motivated to be at work and kick ass at my job quite like progress. After I've accomplished something big or little, that sense of moving forward really puts me on the top of my game for a while. It's more motivating than a raise, for sure. Sometimes a promotion has the same effect, but I don't think that's because of the pay increase; I think that's because of that same feeling of accomplishment or progress. Not to say raises aren't motivating, too, but I don't think that buzz lasts as long.

I think the converse is also true. Feeling stuck, like you're at a dead end and will never make any progress is incredibly demoralizing and demotivating. After all, if you won't be making progress no matter what you do, then what's the point in trying?

This principle holds true no matter what job level we're talking about, and progress doesn't necessarily even have to mean career progression. Just progress towards a goal. I don't think a job is ever just a job, it's not just about showing up for the paycheque, unless something completely demoralizing has already happened.

I don't know. Maybe some of the managers in the crowd out there would be surprised to hear this; I know it's a pretty common perception among managers and employees both that it's all about the paycheque. But I really believe that a feeling of accomplishment is hands-down the best motivator there is in the workplace. Who's with me?