Category: Education

TOWARD GENDER DIVERSITY: MEN AND WOMEN ARE EQUAL, BUT NOT THE SAME

The gender diversity discussion continues. It also appears that everyone, men and women, want to solve the inequality problem. I sincerely believe that we do; however, before we can solve this problem, we must first must define the problem.
You see, I believe we have a fundamental, semantic problem that needs exposure before proceeding. Men and women are equal, but not the same.

Rethinking Our Conversations About Equality

The idea of ‘sameness’ suggests that two or more people (or things) are identical, while equality addresses the fact that two or more people (or things) are identical in quantity, size, degree, or value. In the case of gender equality, we are talking about men and women being identical in value. Yet, it is fair to say that men and women are not the same, identical. We certainly are not physically the same. We are not emotionally the same and many other areas. We are different, but we are equal in value.
In discussion, we often intermingle these two terms, equality and ‘sameness’. When women hear men say that women are not the same, they most likely hear that they are not equal, therefore hearing that they are less valued. Men, on the other hand, hear from women that they want to be treated as equal, however, filtering that are ‘the same’. The cycle goes on, over and over. We are not in synch with our language. To exacerbate the issue, women believe that they need to be ‘the same’ to compete with men. They start to behave in unnatural ways (un feminine or more masculine) to keep up with men. Some male leaders support this action as it is easier to deal with another person, male or female, that is similar to them. After all, we like to hang out with people that are the same as we are. Again, this sends out mixed signals to those that are trying to ‘play the game’.

Gendered Differences in Networking

Specifically connecting this notion to that of networking, brings about a renewed discussion. Women and men will network differently (not the same), but can achieve an ‘equal’ result. This is best measured based on an outcome and not process; based on results and not effort. If you have followed any of the networking gurus, you know that networking should be intentional, with purpose, to achieve a goal. If we connect our networking to a desired outcome, we will see that both men and women can achieve via different methods.
In a recent study that I personally conducted and is in the midst of being published, I uncovered ten essential dimensions to networking. This same study concluded that the outcome of these ten dimensions were not gender sensitive, however, the road to results did suggest gender differences. One of these dimensions was the level of diversity in one’s network: The more diverse the network, the greater is its associated effectiveness to achieving the desired outcome. This diversity came in two flavors, demographic and professional. Demographic diversity suggests categories such as gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic factors, while professional diversity suggests categories such as vertical industry (i.e. Healthcare), levels (i.e. CEO), and tenure. One of the main reasons to network is to achieve greater levels of performance, whether for ourselves or that of the company. If that is the case, then let’s put this idea to the test.
For example, in another study that I conducted and published[1] found that a woman’s locus of control is statistically significantly lower than a man’s LOC. Specifically, women believe that they have less control over their circumstances than men. Given this premise, women tend to network in smaller groups and seek other women that have the same value systems as they do; however, men are shallower in their networking and see the practice of networking as a way of getting ahead and aren’t too concerned with matching value systems, therefore are more successful when networking in larger conferences.

Embracing Gender Diversity to Drive Innovation

One of the last bastions of competitive advantage is that of innovation. Everett Rogers, well known innovation expert and author of the seminal book, The Diffusion of Innovation, suggests that there are two essential and critical ingredients to successful innovation, diversity of thinking, and group communications. At face value, this appears to be a simple task, however, with further examination, we find this to be much more difficult to attain. The challenge here is that people that are diverse in thinking do not ‘hang out’ together since we, as humans, have a tendency to fraternize with people like ourselves. We tend to bond with those that are like ourselves and it’s that same bonding that gives us great group communications. Conversely, groups that are highly diverse are challenged to communicate by the simple reason that they are diverse, they have different value systems, backgrounds and aspirations. Bottom line, in general, diverse groups have poor communications and groups that communicate well have little diversity.
Many leaders, both male and female, are missing a tremendous opportunity for greater performance in their organizations, by not nurturing diversity. Leaders must embrace and encourage diversity by creating a platform and infrastructure to nurture and grow diversity. It’s fair to state that the first and most powerful area for diversification is that of gender diversity. Gender diversity starts with the understanding that men and women are equal in value, but not the same. 
I look forward to your comments and interactions below. You may also connect with via LinkedIn or Twitter, @DrTomTonkin.
[1] Tonkin, T., (2013). The Effects of Locus of Control and Gender on Implicit Leadership Perception. International Leadership Association (ILA) Women and Leadership Affinity Group Inaugural Conference, 2013 Conference Proceedings Pacific Grove, CA

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

For the last several years, I have presented numerous times on the topic of employee engagement because it continues to be a topic of interest. Like anything else that you immerse yourself in, I have learned much and continue to notice specific patterns emerging in the industry. Engagement continues to be a challenge to solve, yet I would suggest that within the confines of this blog post, we might find some answers. Curious? Read on.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Going back to the late 1970s/early 1980’s this same question came about: what are the behaviors that employees exhibit such that an organization could flourish? In a 1983 research article in the Journal of Applied Psychology by Smith, Organ and Near, researchers answered that question, and uncovered behaviors they named Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (yes, a mouthful). Organizational Citizenship Behaviors or OCBs, for short, are behaviors that are exhibited by employees during their job and throughout their career. Smith and friends found two specific OCBs: compliant behaviors and altruistic behaviors. Compliant behaviors are those that describe your job description. They are the behaviors required of you to keep your job and are socially expected. For example, being punctual is a compliant behavior as you are expected to be on time for work and deliver your projects on time. Altruistic behaviors, on the other hand, are those behaviors that are not expected from you. They are not part of your job description.  An example of altruistic behavior is helping someone else finish their project or mentoring someone in their new job role.
Somewhere along the line, the term engagement replaced the term OCB. I understand why—OCBs sounds rather academic and doesn’t flow nicely. However, with that replacement, I also believe we lost some of the term’s meaning and power. If we were to connect the industry definition of “engagement” with the definition of OCBs, I would think we are talking about altruistic behaviors, or maybe exceptionally performing your compliant behaviors. Josh Bersin operationally defines engagement as what one does with their discretionary time, which is the closest definition to the original one.

So What?

It’s nice to know these things, but as talent management practitioners, how can this be helpful to us? I can assure you there are many research articles and studies that provide some clear views on this topic as to how it can help organizations thrive. Many assessments will measure the type of behavior employees exhibit in organizations as well as other studies that have taken these two types of behavior and expanded them into more specific categories. There are entire consulting organizations devoted to this area. Yet, for this blog post, I conducted my own study, right here, at Cornerstone.

Badges? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges

Here, at Cornerstone, we have the functionality (in our product) to provide badges, or public recognition for a job well done. To the naked eye, it appears to be a morale booster based on social ideals. Specifically, it’s a feed found in your universal profile that colleagues can access and leave a comment. Mechanically, your superior is notified by email, and there is a record of the positive feedback in your performance file. It seems like it’s a good idea overall; however, I would suggest that this strategy is the key to growing and developing our organization and it could be yours as well.

Drinking Our Own Champagne

Since this is a public view, I took the liberty of sampling over 100 employees (randomly) and counting how many badges they earned and categorizing them by either compliant behavior or altruistic behaviors (each badge usually comes with a description of work done from the person giving the badge to the recipient). I categorized compliant behaviors with comments that describe their actions as fulfilling their job. Often these comments spoke about how well they did their job; nevertheless, it was all about doing their job. On the other hand, altruistic behaviors addressed those actions that had nothing to do with their job on a day-to-day basis.  For example, presenting on a topic during our Development Day (Cornerstone’s employee development day) certainly qualifies as altruistic behavior. I also captured the employee’s region, their function (i.e., sales), what date they received their badge and their start date with Cornerstone. These are all public attributes in their universal profile, and I wanted to see if any of these items affected their compliant versus altruistic behaviors.

What Did I Find?

At first glance, I found some not-so-startling results. For example, people whose tenure was longer had more badges, attributable to time in the company. Another not-so-riveting finding was that people that worked together often on projects gave each other badges more often than those who didn’t work together (however, more on that latert).
Then came some subtle, but more useful findings. For example, shortly after Development Day, those that presented and earned an altruistic badge often received a compliance badge shortly thereafter (a pattern), suggesting that people that exhibited altruistic behaviors got better at their ‘day jobs’, or maybe they were recognized for being altruistic, which we know increases employee satisfaction (both the recognition and the ability to do what they love). Another interesting finding was that those employees that had what we call high social equity (employees are often seen in the limelight for consistent, overachieving performance), had more altruistic badges than compliance badges.
This finding may suggest that people that are looking to solve problems, regardless of their job description, are more valuable to the organization and their peers than if they were just doing their job. After all, one does not achieve high social equity without the performance to back it. Understanding these cause and effect relationships (arguably, we need to do some more studying) helps us to create more employee engagement programs that induce altruistic behaviors and, therefore, their associated benefits.

How Else Could You Use This Information?        

Doing a similar analysis could yield several other factors that would help in your talent management strategies. Below is a set of talent strategies that I also categorized by either organizational goal or talent goal.
  • Is there a theme to the altruistic efforts? Maybe there is a job function being underserved/underutilized that would optimize your performance. (Organizational Goal: Recruiting)
  • Does an individual employee exhibit exceptional skill outside of their job description that would be helpful to others in the organization as well as to the organization? (Organizational Goal: Talent Mobility)
  • If this latent skill is something that the individual wants to do, maybe you can incorporate it into their job description. (Talent Goal: Employee Satisfaction)
  • If this skill demands a full-time job, maybe moving that person into a new role may increase their engagement. (Talent Goal: Career Mobility)
There are probably many other areas that we could explore with this paradigm, but the moral of this story is that a small change in how we see and act on employee engagement may have a tremendous and lasting impact on the organization and its employees.

CHANGE IS COMING TO YOUR COMPANY—HERE’S HOW TO PREPARE

Every company, across industries, of all sizes, is exposed to disruption. According to research from NextGen Personal Finance, the accelerating pace of change is decreasing the average lifespan of most companies. Some predict 50% of the S&P 500 will be replaced in the next decade.
This disruption can come from a variety of places, with common catalysts being mergers and acquisitions, technology and regulatory changes. But no matter what prompts the change or transformation, adapting is challenging for any company. There’s a famous statistic that 70% of all change initiatives fail due to employee resistance and a lack of support from management. Making a successful change, therefore requires improving in those areas.
Enter: Dr. Tom Tonkin is a Senior Principal with Cornerstone’s Thought Leadership & Advisory Services department and an expert on change management. He has been helping companies navigate it for over a decade. 
“We all should have some understanding of people’s behavior and change, no matter what job we do,” Tonkin says. 
With 2020 set to see even more disruption, we asked Dr. Tonkin to share some of his learnings about why change initiatives fail and how a different mindset can lead to better outcomes. 

Let’s start with that data point: that 70% or more of change initiatives fail. What are companies getting wrong?

That number has been around for decades. The first reason people get it wrong is because they fail to see that change is a people thing. The second reason is they approach it with the wrong mindset. Instead of being prepared that something probably is going to go wrong—and they just have to figure it out and communicate it and get through it— they fold their arms and say, ‘I can’t believe this happened,’ and get outraged and start blaming people. 

You also say that people tend to mistake—or not know the difference between—change and transformation. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Some of my customers try to give me a 64 page transformation plan. And I tell them no, that is a change plan. Change is just doing things better, faster, cheaper. You’re going down a pretty well-known path so you can plan out every single step.
A transformation plan is closer to three pages because you likely know the first two or three steps, but after that it’s kind of fuzzy. You’re just going to have to work it out when you get there. Usually, the reason people will transform is because the pain of remaining the same is greater than moving to something different. That’s the only time you’ll actually change into something else, or transform into something else. That’s true for organizations. If I’m hemorrhaging my revenue, and I am losing in the competitive environment. Doing stuff faster and cheaper and better is not going to be able to help me. 

What’s your advice for executives leading these initiatives—whether it’s a change initiative or a complete transformation?

We often say things in business, “Then the organization struggled,” or, “The company was lacking skill.” But that’s a mischaracterization. The accountability and responsibility is abstracted away. Organizations don’t struggle, people struggle. People lack skills. And companies don’t change or transform—people do.
My clients will come to me and they’ll say something like: “And then we had a bad quarter, and then I was just really upset.” I stop and I ask them, “Well what was it about your leadership that made that happen?” Their first reaction is like I’m blaming them. But the reality is the minute you push off the blame or try to rationalize something, not only have you pushed off the blame, but you’ve also pushed off the solution. As a leader, that’s not where you want to be. If you take the culpability, what you’re also doing is you’re taking on the ability to solve the problem too.

If business leaders don’t necessarily know how they’re going to transform, how should they be preparing for a potential transformation?

The best time to start a transformation is when there’s no need to. When your margins are good, when things are happening, when your clients are happy, and you have some foresight. That’s when to start thinking about doing something different. 
Think about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly: Before the caterpillar goes into the cocoon, it eats a lot to get all of that energy to go through the process. Sometimes what I’ve seen is, people can’t go through a transformation because they run out of resources. They run out of time, they run out of money. Then all of a sudden, it’s like, well, we failed in the transformation. Well, I don’t know if you failed in the transformation as much as you weren’t prepared for one.

What do you find is the most impactful for helping executives rethink their approach to change and transformation?

Most people approach change initiatives like okay, I’ve got these plans, I’ve got this Gantt chart and I’ve got all of these documents and communication plans—we’re going to do this right. The minute you come to the appreciation that guess what, we’re people. We have different expectations; we have innovators and laggards. We’re probably going to land on some challenges that we’re going to have to deal with. The minute you land there you’re going to be successful. It’s really hard to land there, because you have to admit to yourself and to everybody around you that something’s going to go wrong.
For more advice from Dr. Tonkin and other HR leaders about how to manage change and transformation at your company, download Cornerstone’s 2020 Transformation Guidebook here. 

THE ART, SCIENCE AND IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING DATA-DRIVEN HR IN 2017

Data has been the driving force behind innovation in finance, sales and marketing for years, while human resources has struggled to keep up. According to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report, 77 percent of companies believe that using “people analytics” is important, but the capabilities are lacking. In fact, just 8 percent believe their organization is “excellent” in this area. Figuring out how to successfully implement data-driven HR is a business challenge every company wanting to maintain or gain a competitive advantage will face in 2017.
For organizations that take the time to invest in data-driven HR, there is a huge opportunity to leverage employee and external data to improve shareholder value. A Bersin by Deloitte study found that companies using sophisticated people analytics see 30 percent higher stock market returns than the S&P 500, and HR teams are four times more likely to be respected by their counterparts for data-driven decision-making.
But for all the good that data-driven HR can do for business, there are still a lot of questions about what businesses need to do to successfully implement a data-driven HR program in the first place.
The reality is that implementing data-driven HR requires a new set of skills and tools not found in HR departments today. A Mercer survey found that 69 percent of business executives do not believe HR professionals possess an adequate skill level to perform more sophisticated analysis. HR professionals are generally very good at reporting and benchmarking, but not as good at more sophisticated analytics.

Source: US and EMEA 2012 Metrics and Analytics: Patterns of Use and Value Survey
These skills are necessary to understand crucial drivers of employee retention, employee productivity and overall return on human investment. So, how can HR work to fill the skills gap?
Becoming data-driven requires both art and science, but it doesn’t mean HR needs to know how to do pivot tables and chi-squares.
HR professionals need to be aware of how people analytics can impact the broader business.In order to have a data perspective, HR professionals first need to have the business acumen to ask the right questions. This means understanding the key drivers of their company’s performance and having the financial knowledge, marketing orientation and strategic perspective to know how they can match business priorities with talent priorities.
HR professionals need be able to communicate effectively through data. Once HR professionals are asking questions that align with their company’s priorities, they need the ability to hone in on what matters in a data stream and use that to prove their hypotheses. This data becomes a communication mechanism for HR to communicate their talent strategies in a way that executives understand and respect.
HR professionals need access to a multidisciplinary team. HR professionals need to have access and support from people who understand statistical analysis to help inform their hypothesis. For example, HR organizations have long screened out candidates who are frequent job hoppers, but through statistical analysis it was discovered that “frequency of job hopping” had no statistical bearing on longevity in a candidate’s next role. This means the development of the right structure and talent within an organization is crucial for data-driven HR to be successful. I often use the following graphic in my conversations with HR leaders to outline both the people you will need (on the left) and the broad and varied team skills required (on the right).  This is useful in describing how you build a team of people who think, develop and communicate in a data-driven way.
The good news is this doesn’t mean you necessarily need to restructure an entire team. Today’s gig economy means HR departments can “borrow” or buy the technology and/or people they need to get the job done.
Data-driven HR is the only way for HR pros to truly understand the connection between the work they are doing and the impact it is having on their company. Other business units have had this capability for years and their importance to the company has skyrocketed. The rise of the CMO is a great example. It’s HR’s turn, and the talent and tools are here today.

DO WE STILL NEED A BUSINESS CASE FOR A TALENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

Do you remember the last time you wrote a business case for office supplies? Things such as pencils paper and envelopes? Neither do I, even though it’s apparent that we need these things to get work done. It’s been decades since we have needed a funding justification for simple office supplies. I would also suggest that other items in the more recent history of business technology fit in the same category.  For example, I don’t remember having to create a business case to provide a laptop to a new hire, depending on the industry of course. These are all just tools of the trade in our knowledge-based economy. I may find multiple providers that will deliver me an item at a more attractive cost than their competitors, however, that’s not the same as creating a business case.
A business case is exactly what the term describes. It records the justification for starting a project. It describes the benefits, costs and impact, plus a calculation of the financial case (which is often referred to as return on investment or ROI). So by extension, let me ask, do we still need a business case for a talent management system? Is there any scenario in the current state of our market that a talent management system is not required? Can we agree that a talent management system not only is beneficial but a critical imperative in conducting business?
Most likely if you’re reading this post, you have some opinion on whether or not a talent management system is a mission-critical application to any organization looking to be successful in the modern marketplace (I assume you agree). Yet, somehow, we find ourselves still engaging in business case creation, analysis and presentation to obtain funding. This is true for either new functionality acquisitions or for the more classic “system refresh” analysis, which occurs from time to time as we contemplate replacements of what we already have.
We want to ensure we are not placing an undue emphasis on whether a talent management system is required. I believe a talent management system needs to be categorized in the same way as papers, pencils and computers. Talent is mission-critical to conducting business.  Most recent research shows that two thirds of the average company’s market capitalization is “intangible assets”—in other words, intellectual property and people.

So Why Do We Do Still Do It?

Probably the best answer to this question would be the same answer that was present when we were looking to purchase computers for businesses in the early stages of their adoption: apprehension.  
People had anxiety about not realizing the potential or appreciating the impact that “it” all could have on our core business. .

Do We Really Need Computers for the Computer Department?

It was early in my career, the mid 80s, when I was given my first managerial job. I oversaw a multi-location roll-out of early Local Area Networking technology. I was still in my 20s and had little to no management, let alone leadership, skills or training to take on the project—however, the reason I was given this job was because I was the savviest when it came to utilizing computers in a connected capacity. I had a staff of 2, all of them with considerably more experience in the workplace than me. Yet, my depth and understanding of networking technology in this environment continued to give me the edge I needed to lead this small group.
As I built this department, the first thing I thought we needed, well, were computers and wires to connect them. First I explained the need for computers and their connectivity, but that appeared not to be sufficient. Next, I had to justify the expenses for the hardware. Still, little support. I was baffled by the situation. After all, I was hired specifically to do this job. How was I going to run a computer department with no computers?
One day, I decided to take a walk around the local building to see what other people and other departments did in this distribution company. As I walked the halls, I saw that most of the work being done by the call center operators and the warehouse fulfillment teams could be done faster, better and cheaper utilizing computers for communications. It was then that it dawned on me that it wasn’t about a business justification, but it was the fear that all these employees had. They used their own systems of telephones, pick sheets and paper logs—and they were afraid they were all going to be obsolete if we utilized computers.
From that day, my tack changed. I begin training the various teams on how to use the networks. I gave them tours of the operation center and allowed them all to familiarize themselves with this new way of communication, production and servicing their customers. I allowed them to ask questions. One warehouse manager trusted me enough to ask me how he could move his computer at home from one room to the other because he was fearful that the data would slip off the disc. It might be comical to read this, however, the reality is that fear can be a very powerful and immobilizing force. It was about a month later that all my budget requests for new computers and their connectivity were approved.

Moral of the Story

So, the next time you find yourself having to justify something as ubiquitous as a talent management system to senior management, remember it’s not about the cost, or its usefulness or whether it will have impact. It is most likely because of the lack of understanding of what a talent management system is and what it can do to improve an organization’s performance. Take the time to teach and familiarize others what this powerful and impactful technology can do for them.
DISCLAIMER:  This does not mean that you won’t be required to write a business case analysis when you find yourself in front of a budget committee or other decision making authority.  Often you will find yourself doing this as a competition for funding.  In this case, we have moved beyond “need” to “project prioritization”. 
Are you on the hook for a Talent Management business case?  Need to create a series of business impact statements or a compelling story?   Let me know via Twitter @bollinger — #businessimpact

HR, IT’S TIME TO IMPROVE YOUR EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGY

Always top of mind these days,  employee turnover is a critical and costly issue for companies across the U.S.   The demographic pressures and the tsunami of retirements are high level barometers of more to come.  The number of people changing jobs has increased dramatically over the last few years, sneaking past pre-recession levels of more than 3 million “quits” as of December 2016.
Although constantly recruiting and training new employees is expensive, it is the ancillary effects on productivity, customer satisfaction, manager effectiveness and engagement metrics that truly impact the overall business operations.  It is simply in everyone’s best interest to make employee retention a top priority in our new found “sellers market”. Here are five ways HR can start improving employee retention today.

1) Make Visibility a Priority

For employees to stay with a company, they need to feel like they have room to grow. “The best incentive to retain top talent is to give them challenging work (not more work), ongoing personal and professional development such as training or coaching, or a new role,” says Josh Kuehler, an employee analytics specialist for business advisory firm FMG Leading.
According to Cornerstone’s Career Trends Report, 75 percent of high performing organizations identify high potential talent, yet only 29 percent clearly communicate this fact to their target audience.
Your organization may have internal growth opportunities, but if employees can’t see them, they won’t know those opportunities are available. Be transparent and open with employees about current and future needs, and make sure you have systems in place to actively guide employees to those new opportunities.  Personal growth in role is at top of mind for your employees.

2) Establish Formal Career Pathing

Encourage and help employees create formal career paths for themselves so both employees and their managers have a concrete understanding of each other’s goals and expectations.
“When employees feel stranded, they leave. When employees have expectations that aren’t being met, they leave,” says James Pollard, a specialist in financial advisor retention at TheAdvisorCoach.com. “One of the best incentives for retaining top talent is a strong support system.”
Among employees surveyed in Cornerstone’s Career Trends Report, 74 percent actively monitor the trajectory of their career by setting goals. If managers encourage and participate in this process, they’ll be well equipped to help employees achieve those goals by staying with the company.

3) Reward Managers for Developing Employees

All employees are motivated by personal incentives, including managers. If managers have more incentive to keep top performers on their own teams rather than moving them up through the company, then employee retention can suffer.
Cornerstone’s Career Trends Report found that nearly two-thirds of high-performing organizations invest in coaching to accelerate employee growth. Actively train and support managers in developing coaching and mentoring skills, and offer them rewards for building and sharing talent pools.

4) Create Opportunities for Career Mobility

Managers know that hiring internally generally costs less and results in better performance that recruiting externally, yet our report showed only 37 percent of positions were filled with internal candidates in the last 24 months.
The commitment to providing employees with career mobility needs to come from the top as a clearly communicated policy. Create a culture where hiring managers think about career mobility in talent review and succession meetings, and look first at your employee pool rather that simply defaulting to external recruiting.

5) Invest in Learning and Development

In order to create a culture where employees can grow, thrive and rise within a company, there should be clear understanding among leadership that learning and development are priority investments.
In Cornerstone’s Career Trends Report, only 38 percent of respondents said their employer provides training and career development. Yet companies whose leaders made talent a focus of their culture saw 2.7x higher revenue growth. Start by quantifying the benefits of learning and development to your business strategy to earn the commitment of senior leadership, then create clear and actionable development plans.
“Many companies think this internal promotion is enough, but it’s important to take it one step further by giving employees the tools they need to get there,” says Evan Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of SD Equity Partners. “By offering your employees resources to increase their knowledge and develop their skills, they’ll be more likely to stay.”
Research shows us two things, 1) Managers can spend up to 50% of their time working with new hires and, 2) the at-risk period for employees is the first year of their employment.  Putting these simple techniques into place will have true impact in a targeted fashion.

IN HEALTHCARE, A HAPPY STAFF MAKES FOR HEALTHY PATIENTS

Healthcare professionals know a slew of factors go into keeping patients healthy, safe and satisfied with the care they’re receiving. But while adopting state-of-the-art technology, recruiting top specialists and creating preventative health programs tend to get the spotlight, there’s an often-overlooked variable with wide-reaching consequences: employee engagement.

Employee Happiness Matters

Strong employee engagement has been linked with significant improvements in patient care and satisfaction. For instance, higher nurse engagement scores lead to lower patient mortality and complications, according to a recent Gallup study. Higher nurse satisfaction resulted in an 87 percent decrease in infection rate over two years, according to data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI).
What’s more, Gallup also found that hospitals employing the least engaged nurses spend $1.1 million more per year in malpractice claims than those with the most engaged nurses. Just like employees at any company, healthcare providers will do better work — and provide better care — if they are happier and invested in their jobs. 

The State of Engagement Today

If employee engagement is so crucial to providing high-quality patient care, what are healthcare providers actually doing about it?
According to a 2014 Cornerstone OnDemand study that surveyed HR professionals at healthcare organizations, nearly half of respondents said their organizations do measure whether or not employees are engaged — and to what extent. But nearly half of respondents also indicated that their employees were not fully engaged, and a quarter of respondents said they don’t measure engagement at all.  
The low engagement levels, survey respondents said, were primarily due to industry changes (such as the burden of transitioning from paper to electronic medical records), high rates of employee turnover and mandates to manage hospital surveys and adopt ICD-10, a new coding system for diagnosing various diseases. 
While healthcare organizations are aware of the problem and (some) even believe they’re prepared to address the downsides of low engagement, there is still a long way to go to achieve higher engagement rates that translate into better patient care. Only a third of organizations surveyed had an HR plan in place to drive engagement, but these initiatives become sidetracked by everyday concerns like patient emergencies and transitioning to new systems and software. 

6 Ways to Boost Employee Engagement

It’s clear that healthcare organizations need to address employee satisfaction and its consequences. But where to start? These six strategies can help:
1. Use succession planning to create career paths.
Succession planning is not only important for the long-term success of an organization, but it also improves overall job satisfaction. This is especially true in healthcare, where the exodus of Baby Boomers and an acute nursing shortage has underscored the need for strong employee retention.
Having a comprehensive strategy for building a strong leadership pipeline is directly tied to improved employee satisfaction, engagement and commitment, according to a 2012 study from Walden University. For example, a New Jersey healthcare system that implemented a succession plan for employees boosted engagement and retention, and eventually earned HR Solutions International’s top rank for engagement, patient care and overall job satisfaction. 
2. Recognize your strongest players. 
In healthcare, it’s crucial for nurses and other on-the-floor care providers to feel acknowledged and appreciated. So be sure to recognize nurses and other staff for good work. One caveat: a culture of recognition does require better performance management processes, so make sure feedback sessions and reviews happen more than once a year.
3. Prioritize learning and development.
Employees who have access to “meaningful learning and development opportunities” are typically very engaged, according to the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration. Additionally, research has found that solid development opportunities can lower employee turnover and bring in up to twice the revenue per worker. 
4. Deliver feedback that integrates learning opportunities early and often. 
Building a highly engaged workforce means delivering more frequent, actionable feedback that’s tied to actionable learning opportunities. It’s also important to deliver feedback early in an employee’s tenure. Connecting performance management and learning opportunities keeps employees prepared with the latest skills needed to provide the best care to patients.
5. Start engagement activities early.
An employee’s first day is likely to be his or her most engaged day on the job, according to Katherine Jones, vice president of HCM Technology Research at Bersin by Deloitte. Have your new hires hit the ground running by networking early with coworkers to drive home your organization’s high expectations for ongoing engagement. It’s also important to make new hires feel welcome in their new community. A Washington, D.C. hospital saw a significant drop in attrition when it sent new nurses a welcome card introducing them to the team before their first day. 
6. Align employee goals with organizational goals.
Healthcare workers generally enter the field because they have a strong passion for helping others. Communicate your organization’s mission clearly and consistently so employees have a strong reference from which to set personal goals. Set your employees up for achieving these goals by providing the necessary resources, whether it’s a mentorship program or training sessions for specific skills. Connecting employees’ personal passion for their work with the organization’s goals leads to stronger employee loyalty and better performance. 

3 WAYS TO ENGAGE THE NEXT GENERATION OF RNS

Katrina Greer applied to college planning to become an orthodontist. But after her father was diagnosed with leukemia during her senior year of high school, her aspirations of working in healthcare shifted. 
“I remember the nurses coming in and taking care of him, while he would shake and wasn’t able to do things himself,” says Katrina, “Nurses saved my dad.”
Katrina is now a Registered Nurse at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, where her father was treated. But while she entered the job with a keen, personal understanding of quality patient care from watching her fathers’ nurses, and with technical skills from years of school, her education is far from over.
“There’s new things that come out every single day that you have to adjust to,” says Katrina. The technical and medical knowledge required of nurses today far exceeds the expectations of previous decades, and in addition to more complex job requirements, the talent pipeline for nursing is thin.

Preparing RNs for a Future of Quality Care

As experienced nurses retire and healthcare reform expands coverage, the need for nurses is exceeding the supply. A recent study from Georgetown University predicts the economy will create 1.6 million job openings for nurses by 2020—but schools are struggling to meet growing demand, leading to an estimated shortfall of nearly 200,000 nursing professionals.
With a talent shortage and an increasingly young workforce, it’s critical for hospitals to provide access to education and training for nurses. Continued education not only helps nurses make more informed decisions, it also increases employee engagement—leading to better patient care overall. According to a recent Gallup report, higher nurse engagement scores lead to lower patient mortality and complications.
Below are three learning strategies to engage the next generation of nurses and ensure a future of quality care:

1. Provide 24/7 Access to Training

As Katrina shared, RNs must constantly adapt to new patient situations, treatment options and industry regulations. Access to reference materials and live sessions provides nurses with the knowledge they need to provide the best care for their patients.
In addition, the American Society for Healthcare and Human Resources Administration found that employees who have access to “meaningful learning and development opportunities” are typically highly engaged.

2. Offer Real-Time Evaluation

Annual reviews and one-off feedback sessions often fail to make a substantial difference in employee performance. Instead, offer proactive feedback to help nurses improve on the floor. Cornerstone’s Observation Checklist software is one way to evaluate performance in real-time—with customizable rating methods based on your organization’s goals and online access to reporting features.
Not only does real-time feedback help nurses consistently improve, but studies show that strong development programs also lead to a 27 percent lower employee turnover.

3. Align Individual Goals with Organization’s Mission

Nursing is far more than giving shots and assessing patients. As Angela Perlakowski, an RN at Penn Hershey, shares, “The best nurses are ones who can balance compassion and critical thinking.”
People typically pursue a career in healthcare because they want to help people—but the multitude of small tasks and important details can be distracting from this larger goal. By aligning each nurse’s goals with the mission of the hospital, you can help employees learn to complete tasks while truly caring for the patient. In the end, this will lead to stronger employee loyalty, better performance and higher patient satisfaction.

THIS ISN’T WHY I WENT TO SCHOOL! CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ON YOUR CLINICAL TEAM

Change is scary. And no one knows this better than a hospital’s clinical staff. Physicians have been practicing medicine the same way for years. And nurses are constantly learning new procedures, sometimes just about as fast as they mastered the last one. None of your staff went to school to be an IT professional, so on top of any changes, they are also being required to learn how to manage electronic medical records. And all of this can leave many of them saying “I didn’t go to school for this!” So how do you get your practitioners back to the basics of practicing medicine while still smoothly implementing some necessary changes?
Instead of simply working on managing the change from your perspective, try seeing all of this through the eyes of your staff. There are three key questions they might ask themselves during any change. If you shape your response around their questions and concerns, while you still might have some late adopters, you might find yourself spending more time working with nurses and physicians, and less time at odds with them.

Question : Do I want to stay here?

This is typically your team’s first question. If your staff harbor negative feelings toward your care center, it might be easy for them to feel like they don’t want to stay. We spend more hours at work than any other activity during our waking hours, so we should definitely want to be happy about where we will spend the majority of our time; especially given the number of hours hospital staff are with each other during their shift. You want your staff to have a positive connection to your care center. “Lack of advancement opportunities” is the top fear of healthcare professionals,[1] so by making their growth a priority, you make it less likely that they will leave. Integrate any change or new training initiatives with areas they’re excited about. By offering staff the chance to choose to grow in areas they are passionate about, it can be much easier to introduce other training that may be more difficult, which should keep the happy feelings much higher.

Question : Do I need to stay here?

So after we address the positive and negative feelings that come with change, we must also look at the fundamental question they must ask, even if they want to stay: do I need to stay here? Before leaving a hospital, staff members will weigh the career and financial costs, among other factors. These costs will become tougher to bear the more they’re emotionally invested in their work. One way to address this is to do some internal marketing and create an offering to the staff that shows you are really invested in their welfare. You can also address this by giving staff projects they are going to feel give them purpose and help keep them connected to their jobs. The burden of switching jobs may seem worth it if they don’t feel they hold much value in their current position. However, being invested in their job and your organization help outweigh the burden of having to manage and deal with change.

Question : Should I stay here?

So once your staff ask themselves if they want to stay and if they need to stay, they can answer the question if they should stay. And all of this comes down to weighing the negatives and the positives. If the negatives outweigh the positives, it will be much easier for a staff member to leave. High retention rates are the goal, but they don’t tell you if team members are staying out of obligation. Start by getting your employees communicating with each other, especially about non-work topics. This also sends the message that your organization cares about their happiness outside of the office, as well. You can do this by rounding with your team and stopping by to check on them and see how they are doing outside of the day-to-day clinical operations. You can even start this as early as the onboarding phase by scheduling social events that reflect the team culture. By helping them establish their personal network, they’ll feel a stronger emotional connection to their work and their colleagues, which drives engagement, retention, and performance.
[1] No author. “TurnoveRx: How to Cure the Retention Problems Ailing Your Health Care Organization.” CareerBuilder.com. Date published: N/A. Date accessed: Oct. 6, 2015. http://www.careerbuildercommunications.com/pdf/turnoverrx-whitepaper.pdf

TOXIC EMPLOYEES IN HEALTHCARE: WHO THEY ARE AND HOW TO DELIVER THE CURE

Toxic employees. We’ve all worked with them – but can one bad apple really spoil the whole bunch? Having toxic behavior at any company yields bad results. But having it on the hospital floor can have serious consequences. According to a study by Mitchell Kusy, forty-nine percent of nurses that reported toxic behavior by team members said that it has resulted in them wrongly administering medication.  And 25% of practitioners in the healthcare industry believe disruptive behavior is directly tied to patient mortality. 
So what does this look like for an RN that’s worked on the floor? A former colleague of mine was sharing about a nurse that was difficult to get along with. She constantly picked up extra shifts, worked long hours and never quite seemed happy about her job. Her peers would help her out where they could, but she never wanted to pitch in when the rest of the team needed help with a patient. Her patients seemed relieved when her shift was over and they got a new nurse. When a team that is there to care for people is divided because they are avoiding someone on staff, mistakes are made, patient satisfaction goes down and the care we promise as nurses inadvertently suffers.

1. What is a toxic staff member?

A toxic worker is one who engages in bad behavior while on the job, often to the detriment of the team. And in healthcare specifically, one result is usually poor patient care. Examples of toxic behavior include having a bad attitude, whining, sabotaging others’ work, yelling, and more.  Their conduct isn’t done maliciously, but it can still be harmful to their colleagues’ reputations.

2. Can anyone be toxic?

Yes. Everyone from the janitor to the CEO has the potential to be toxic. Whether they feel unappreciated – “I’ll show them for not giving me that promotion!” – or don’t work well with others, no one is immune. In fact, according to that same Kusy study, 80% of doctors have displayed toxic behavior towards staff, and 33% say disruptive physician behaviors occur weekly. No growth opportunities and being overworked are the two biggest ways to create toxics.

3. How do toxics affect my hospital?

So what else does the Kusy study tell us about having toxic staff members in your hospital? Well, for starters, toxic staff wreak havoc on retention, performance, and clinical care outcomes. Among the victims of toxics, 12% end up quitting, (and replacing them can cost over $57k per role!), 38% felt their work quality decreased, and 78% said their organizational commitment declined. For every 10% of unsatisfied nurses, patient recommendations drop 2%.
So what can you do about this in your care center? Cornerstone recently came out with a brief on toxic employees in healthcare that offers some suggestions on how to address this on your team. If you would like to dive further into what you can do to address this in your care center, you can download the rest of the brief here

IS COACHING RIGHT FOR MY HEALTHCARE TEAM?

Hospitals and care centers are always looking for well-qualified, highly-skilled practitioners. And as an RN, I was always being asked to learn something new. Typically, one of my more senior peers would orient me on the new task.  And I can easily say that the times I experienced the most growth in my career was when I received some kind of coaching. Over 70% of coaching recipients saw an increase in work performance, relationships, and communication skills, and 80% reported having more self-confidence.1  So it’s no wonder that coaching in healthcare is so important. So why don’t more hospitals do it?
Quality patient care depends on a well-trained, passionate, committed staff, which in turn is fostered by supportive, skilled leadership. Yet healthcare organizations are facing radical changes in everything from policy to technology, a loss of key leaders and clinicians due to the Baby Boomer exodus, and an increasingly dissatisfied—and overworked—labor force. Not to mention increased competition and the need to run ever-leaner while still providing the same level of care, despite an increased patient load. Nurturing engaged, curious employees and creating skilled, committed leaders are key to surviving and thriving amid all these challenges.

So what is coaching?

Coaching is an umbrella term for the process of developing people’s skills and abilities, boosting their performance, and dealing with issues and challenges before they become major problems.2 But coaching can be broken out into three different categories:
  • Executive coaching: Designed for top tier team members to improve their performance and leadership capabilities.
  • Leadership and capacity building coaching: Aimed at helping managers—from those involved in patient care to administration to operations—become better leaders to prepare them for more high-level responsibilities.
  • Performance coaching: Implemented to help recipients improve performance in their current roles, build strengths, or correct weaknesses.

Must-Have Coaching Skill Sets

In addition to the above, coaches should be able to offer intangible skills that enable staff to achieve a higher level of success. Whether a coach is “coaching your coaches,” or if a manager is coaching a more junior colleague, they should be able to: 3
Listen actively: Employees need to know that when discussing career aspirations and challenges, their coach is as invested in their success as they are. By being an active listener, the coach will be able to fully internalize and understand team members’ goals and offer meaningful solutions for impactful growth. Part of listening actively is not checking e-mails, not looking at a cell phone, or doing anything else that distracts from the one-on-one element.
Reinforce positive behaviors: A quality coach should reward their clients when they’ve made the right move or decision, rather than punish them for the wrong one. By rewarding correct choices, the staff member will display better performance-related behaviors as an instinct, rather than as something they have to think about doing before acting.
Ask open-ended questions:  Asking “yes/no” questions, or ones that similarly offer a limited number of responses, are risky because respondents have to choose best-fit answers that may not paint the whole picture. Instead, a good coach will use open-ended question, such as “How do you feel when…” or “What do you think is…” This enables the staff member to provide detailed, candid answers, rather than be pigeon-holed into responses that may not present the most accurate information.

More on Coaching

There are many different types of coaches, strategies for teaching and best practices on timing. For a more in-depth look on coaching, you can download our Coaching Playbook for free, here.
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1 No author. “The Benefits of Coaching.” Outstand.org. Date published: March 28, 2013. Date accessed: March 30, 2015. http://www.outstand.org/index.php/2013/03/the-benefits-of-coaching/
2 No author. “What is Coaching?” MindTools. No date published. Date accessed: March 27, 2015. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_15.htm
3 No author. “Business Results Through Coaching.”Bersin by Deloitte. No date published. Date accessed: March 26, 2015. http://www.bersin.com/News/Details.aspx?id=15040.

HEALTHCARE: YOUR RX FOR STAFF BURNOUT AND RETENTION ISSUES

As an HR professional, it’s never fun to deal with the aftermath of a burned out employee who has decided to leave. You’re stuck with the unenviable task of dividing their workload among the existing staff, to say nothing of having to start the recruiting process all over again to replace them.
Burnout, and the high attrition it causes, hits care centers hard. NSI found that the nursing turnover epidemic is as high as 16% per year. This reaches all the way to the executive level, where Monster.com reports turnover costs can drain up to 5% of total operating budgets.

So what are some strategies healthcare organizations can employ to ensure their workers don’t get burned out?

1. What’s the Problem?  The first thing is determine if you have a problem! Look at recent data related to turnover to assess whether the high rate of employees leaving has become an epidemic. If you think it’s related to burnout, then you’re probably right. But before you make any determinations, or take any actions, you’ll need to look at the facts and figures behind your departing employees to figure out the solution. Currently, NSI says just 36% of care centers have a strategy in place to prevent attrition. Establishing one will help your organization gain a talent advantage over other hospitals in the area, and the lower attrition rates will make cost-conscious executives happy.
2. Why Do People Leave?  When one employee leaves, their work must be farmed out to the remaining staff until a replacement is found. But qualified replacements don’t grow on trees, so the longer that position is vacant, the more your shrinking headcount will struggle to care for increasing numbers of patients. This forces caregivers to work longer hours, and maybe even perform duties they’re not fully trained on. These dovetail into them being unhappy, burned out, and looking for better working conditions at other care centers. A HealthWyse report discovered that trying to replace even one nurse can cost upwards of $88,000, so pinpointing the reasons people leave does more than just prevent burnout – it ensures hospital resources are used efficiently.
3. What’s Next?  So now that your attrition problem has been confirmed, what’s next? Administer a treatment plan based on what’s wrong. If you’ve determined that workers are leaving due to unfairly high patient loads, then consider allocating resources towards recruiting new staff in order to reduce the burden. Or did your exit interviews uncover that hours are too long? Perhaps rearranging schedules to improve caregivers’ work/life balance might alleviate some burnout issues. No matter what avenue you take, your solution should address the issues presented by the data.
Does this sound daunting? It’s not. Dealing with problems like attrition is never a walk in the park, but it doesn’t have to be a Herculean task either. Look at your recent attrition data; it will not only tell you if you have a problem, but also why it’s a problem. From there, the steps should be easy to determine. Just remember that before you start offering solutions, you must first understand the issue.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY COMPLIANCE MANAGER

Karen Shell watched intently when the Senate Judiciary Committee held confirmation hearings in January for the next U.S. attorney general, a decision that could dramatically impact her day-to-day work. As the director of compliance for National Seating and Mobility (NSM), her interest in these hearings might not be clear at first, but Shell says a shakeup in the Department of Justice’s philosophy and focus could seriously affect business.
Monitoring changes in legislation and regulation is just one aspect of her complex role at NSM, a Tennessee-based company that designs one-of-a-kind mobility solutions like manual and power wheelchairs for disabled individuals and their families.“It’s impossible to follow the rules if you don’t know what they are and how they change,” says Shell. “Plus, being unaware of a requirement isn’t an acceptable defense.”
With plenty of important eyes watching, including the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG), Shell sees herself and her counterparts in compliance as revenue protectors. At NSM, the compliance team has its own space on the company’ organizational chart, a wholly separate department from legal and human resources with direct, unfiltered access to the board of directors. According to Shell, it’s important that the compliance officer maintain independence, so decisions can be made without competing agendas and influences.
A typical workday for Shell involves creating policies, procedures and compliance training, identifying risks and auditing performance as well as serving as a confidential contact for all employees and leadership. We caught up with Shell to take a closer look at her unique experience as a compliance officer.

Health care is a particularly difficult industry from a compliance perspective. What challenges have you experienced while building your career in this field over the past two decades?

The major challenge has been keeping up with a constantly changing legislative and regulatory environment, along with changing technology and patient expectations. An additional challenge is presenting compliance as something more than just a necessary cost or a check box. My goal is to ensure that senior leadership knows we’re here to support our greater corporate mission, not to hinder it.

You mentioned changing technology. How does tech contribute to your daily efforts in compliance?

Technology is an increasingly important part of our compliance program because we maintain client records and file claims electronically and we communicate with our clients and their medical professionals electronically as well. We have to be careful to keep that information secure, while meeting HIPAA and HITECH regulations.
The benefit of electronic records is that we can use technology to put checks in place to help prevent false claims or more easily audit claims to identify non-compliance and improvement opportunities. We also use technology to train and inform employees. We can keep our compliance messaging fresh and make sure that compliance resources, like the compliance manual, are always current and easily available online. There’s not an area of our business that isn’t affected by technology, so we have to be sure we maintain compliance on that front, too.

Why should business executives focus on cultivating a strong compliance program that doesn’t feel like an afterthought for legal or HR teams?

All companies, and definitely those in health care, operate in a complicated regulatory environment. A strong, proactive compliance program is needed to mitigate risks and to make certain the company stays within the guardrails while innovating and moving the mission forward. While a compliance department doesn’t generate revenue, it’s important that management understands that we’re here to protect the business.
The cost of operating a compliance program is far less than the extensive fines and penalties that companies might incur for violating laws and regulations. It’s also important to recognize the value in having a certified professional lead the program. For example, I maintain my Health Care Compliance certification through the Health Care Compliance Association, which was established in 1996 to help navigate and translate the complex regulatory requirements.

Can you share some examples of particular compliance challenges that you frequently face? How do you overcome those hurdles?

Our Assistive Technology Professionals (ATPs) work directly with clients with disabilities. They provide mobility with very restricted reimbursement processes from insurance companies, Medicare and other payers. Because not every item we provide is a covered item, it’s sometimes difficult for ATPs to understand why we can’t just give our clients things for free when they’re clearly in need. As much as we’d love to help, the wheelchair industry has an unfortunate history of fraud and abuse, so we have to be especially careful about maintaining compliance with the False Claims Act, beneficiary inducement and anti-kickback statutes.
This can be frustrating, so it’s important that I communicate not just what we can and can’t do, but also why we have to do it a certain way. I explain that my job isn’t to help them get around something, but to do whatever I can to help them through it. The ability to communicate how and why regulations apply to how we do business is important at every level. Everyone from the field employees to the board of directors should understand it.

Is that why you created a training manual, a code of conduct and compliance manual for each layer of staff at NSM?

Yes. It’s important to provide employees at every level with an explanation of the laws and regulations that apply to what they do every day. Our training program helps them understand what they need to do to minimize the risk of non-compliance so that we can continue to provide great care for our clients for many years to come.
Our Compliance Manual is a detailed tool to use for guidance, while the Code of Conduct outlines the behaviors we expect and the consequences for not meeting those expectations. Establishing very clear guidelines with open lines of communication for employees at every level is crucial. It’s also the part of my job that I find especially rewarding. I enjoy being able to communicate with everyone, from the executives to part-time employees, and developing a level of trust so that anyone feels comfortable coming to me with questions or concerns.
For more on healthcare compliance management, visit https://hr.cornerstoneondemand.com/compliance-healthcare-li 

TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE: 4 ALTERNATIVES TO FORCED RANKINGS

Marissa Mayer has caused another stir with her latest HR stunt. Last month the Yahoo! CEO implemented a forced rankings performance review process at the company, meaning managers rank their employees on a bell curve and fire those at the low end.
Forced—or “stacked”—rankings have fallen out of favor with some companies. Microsoft recently dumped its controversial forced ranking system in favor of more frequent and qualitative reviews, according to Business Week.
But performance review processes that work for one company won’t always fit another. “If this topic were simple there would not be over 25,000 books listed on Amazon’s U.S. book site for the query ‘performance review,’” Steven Stinofsky writes on Business Insider. 
Here are some alternatives—or additions—to forced rankings that companies are using to bolster their performance review schemes.

Calibration

Calibration is a face-to-face process, in which managers who oversee similar groups review one another’s employee-performance ratings. In these “rater reliability” sessions, supervisors discuss each of their employee’s performance rankings and their reasons behind the evaluation. “A calibration session catches the ‘easy graders’ and ‘tough graders’ and helps them rate their employees more realistically,” Joanne Lloyd writes on JobDig.com.

360-Degree Feedback

Instead of relying on one supervisor to evaluate an individual’s performance, some companies ask everyone with whom the employee interacts to weigh in. That’s the idea behind 360-degree feedback, a technique that collects performance data from a number of stakeholders like team members, customers and direct reports. “When it’s done well, 360 programs allow all your team members to improve in key areas that might be limiting their upward career path or actually causing major conflict within a team,” Eric Jackson writes on Forbes.

Management by Objective

First outlined by management whiz Peter Drucker, management by objective occurs when supervisors work with employees to outline goals and desired outcomes. Managers evaluate staff members based on their ability to achieve results. The advantage of the MBO process is that it allows employees to actively participate in goal setting, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Peer Review 

As the term implies, peer reviews require co-workers to comment about each others’ performance. “Coworkers often know more about their peers’ strengths and weaknesses than supervisors do, and letting employees review one another is a great way for management to share in that knowledge,” Stephanie Gruner writes on Inc.
Companies have used these evaluation methods for ages, but they’re continually experimenting with new feedback iterations that combine input from employees and their peers. 
There has been some heated discussion on LinkedIn recently around forced rankings. One contributor reminds us, “It really doesn’t matter what form is used; what matters is how it is used and what the results really mean.” It’s hard to judge one company’s forced rankings system without understanding other programs that might support or counter balance it.

THE UNPAID INTERNSHIP IS DEAD. WHAT NOW?

The unpaid internship — once a right of passage for aspiring professionals — is doomed. Following some high-profile lawsuits and mounting student opposition to the practice, companies are axing unpaid internships. For example, Condé Nast, the media giant whose coveted internships have launched the careers of many top writers, is ending its program next year.
At issue is the question of compensation. Courts have ruled that unpaid interns are covered by minimum wage laws when their work benefits the employer — which, arguably, is almost always the case.
But the moves by Condé Nast and possibly other companies, raise an interesting point: If students need internships to graduate or to get their foot in the door in a highly competitive industry, then what are they going to do now? It’s a question a lot of experts are asking these days and they don’t yet have answers.
“From a student’s perspective, an internship for credit, even if unpaid, is a step toward both graduation and a job in her chosen field at the same time,” Malcolm Harris writes on Al Jazeera. “But as many commentators have pointed out, employers commonly use internships as a way to skirt minimum-wage laws. College administrators and employers have colluded to invent a loophole where none existed.”
The media business isn’t the only one facing this problem. Roughly half of all unpaid interns work in the public sector, including the Supreme Court and the United Nations, reports NBC.

The Fix: Create Meaningful Work 

One possible solution is for school credit to replace compensation. But even that practice doesn’t seem likely to hold up in court. In June, a New York federal judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures’ unpaid internship program violated federal labor law. The fact that interns received college credit for their time didn’t matter. The students, the court held, were entitled to both minimum wage and overtime.
One the face of it, the obvious fix is for employers to start paying newbies — and to look at internships not as an opportunity for young workers to gain valuable experience but as an opportunity to cultivate them as future stars within the company. “Critics of the unpaid internship seem to assume that tighter regulation would simply mean today’s interns would magically become paid employees,” says Matthew Yglesias in Slate Magazine. “In some cases, that might happen. But many positions would simply be eliminated.”
David Carr of The New York Times doesn’t write off compensation as a solution so easily. He points out that unpaid internships have typically benefited those who can afford to work for no pay, which means employers have missed an opportunity to diversify. “Only a certain kind of young person can afford to spend a summer working for no pay,” Carr writes. “Unpaid internships typically provide people who already have a leg up a way to get the other leg up.”
Companies will have to come up with the money, concludes Carr, but that’s how they’ll attract meaningful contributors. “Paid internships, properly conceived and administered, could bring a diversity of region, class and race to an industry where the elevators are full of people who look alike, talk alike and think alike,” he says, referring to the media business. He cites Atlantic Media as an example. The company ended it’s unpaid internship program and now offers yearlong fellowships that, for some graduates, have morphed into permanent roles.
Slate’s Yglesias agrees that internships serve a valuable function in society. “If there’s a policy solution fix here, it’s not going to be about banning internships, but about building better bridges between education and the workplace.”

Unpaid Gigs May Be Overrated

For all the ongoing debate, here’s an interesting statistic: The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that 63 percent of paid interns wind up working full time afterward (with median starting salary of about $52,000), while unpaid internships led to employment 37 percent of the time (with median starting salary of just under $36,000), according to The Journal Times.
Is it possible that unpaid internships aren’t, in the end, all that they’re cracked up to be?