10minuteHR

Short time. Great inspirations.

Jun
2

By

A Leader’s 8-Step Guide to Giving Better Feedback

Category: Communication, Leadership Tags: ,

  1. Face the facts – your colleagues need more feedback from you.

Do you receive enough feedback at work?

Very few people answer this question with a confident “Yes”. We live in feedback-poor cultures. People at workplaces are eager to receive feedback on their performance, but they don’t get enough of it.

This is especially true for millennials – a generation who have grown up in the world of social media and is used to receiving instantaneous feedback. According to a Gallup study  only 19% of millennials report that they receive feedback at work routinely, and even fewer of them – a mere 17% – find the feedback they get meaningful.

In all likelihood, members of your own team are also thirsty for more feedback. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating this need. Go out there and give them some feedback now. You will be amazed how much it can boost motivation and engagement.

  1. Don’t wait for the big occasion – make feedback an ongoing activity

Managers often confuse feedback with performance appraisal. They might sit down with their direct reports once a year to discuss their progress, but for the rest of the year the amount of feedback they share tends to be shockingly low. Read More

Apr
23

By

Organisation Development through Storytelling

Category: Communication, Leadership, Organisational Development & Change Management Tags: , , , , , ,

“Information not passed through the heart is dangerous.” (Anita Roddick)

data_science_storytellingStories can help you communicate a message that truly inspires and motivates people in your company. Read on to find out how it works.

A story that changed something about me

A few years ago I read a short story that changed my attitude towards forming new habits. Read More

Apr
1

By

4 simple ideas to bring family and work closer together

Category: Best of HR Project, HR, Leadership Tags: ,

worklife balanceWork-life balance.

It’s is a strange expression, isn’t it? It sounds as if your work and your life were two completely separate arenas. The moment you start working, you also stop living your life.

I know, I know… of course what we really mean by this expression is the balance between somebody’s work and private life, where balance traditionally means that you should be able to have enough time for your non-work-related things (such as your family, friends, hobbies, etc.).

Sure enough, more and more companies have embraced the notions of flexible working hours, job sharing and other “unorthodox” practices, so that their employees have enough time for their private life.

This approach, however, still fails to acknowledge the fact that all of us have got ONE LIFE that can’t be artificially split into two distinct areas: work and life. Read More

Aug
8

By

Boosting employee motivation on a small budget – “show them that you care”

Category: Best of HR Project, HR Tags: , Leave a Comment

apple pickingHow can I increase employee engagement when budgets are getting tighter? How can I maintain staff motivation with minimal resources? These are questions many leaders and HR professionals ask themselves.

One of the HR directors participating in the Best of HR Project shared with us what methods they use to keep employees spirits high in a period of budget cuts. This is what she said:

“Motivate with small but meaningful gestures”

We are a big multicultural company. We employ 80,000 people worldwide and 170 people in our Eastern European subsidiary. Ours is not a small organisation, but it is very important to us that employees feel “at home” in our company. We are always on the lookout for creative solutions to reinforce the family-like atmosphere, which is a key element of our organisational culture.

Read More

Jun
27

By

A company health program that marries business interest and employees’ interest

Category: Best of HR Project, HR Tags: , , Leave a Comment

Employee health and well-beingShould employees’ general health be the concern of the company, or is it a private matter altogether? How can a big organisation help its employees look after their own health, and make them more conscious of their lifestyle?

One of the participants in the Best of HR project shared with us his story of introducing an All-Employee Health Program into his organisation. This is what the manager responsible for the program said:

“Well-being – one of the three major factors in job performance”

There are three main factors that determine an individual’s job performance:

  • their professional competences and skills
  • their motivation
  • the employee’s general health and well-being

Read More

Feb
18

By

CSR – a tool to increase employee engagement?

Category: Best of HR Project, HR, Team Tags: , ,

CharityFor some companies their CSR commitment simply involves giving money to a couple of non-profit organisations a few times a year. Others regard CSR as a great marketing opportunity: let’s show the world and our customers that we care, that we give back to society.

But I rarely come across a company that regards CSR as a way to boost employee engagement, to motivate staff and to increase loyalty.

One of the HR directors participating in our Best of HR Project shared with us how CSR and employee motivation are strongly linked in their organisation. She also gave us some hints as to how a system like this can be built up until the CSR buzz spreads among employees like a virus.

Let me share some of the things she said.

CSR is a joint effort between individuals and the company

“We are very proud of our CSR programme. Whenever the company gives to charity we always make sure that our employees are part of it. Read More

Sep
30

By

Make the most of chain reactions in career management

Category: HR Tags: , , , ,

SONY DSC“We have been trying to fill this senior position for over half a year with no success.” This is a common complaint of many senior HR professionals and managers.  The higher the position is, the more difficult it becomes to find the right candidate for the job. So they keep searching on the job market, but often they forget to look around within the company itself.

“If I have a vacancy to fill, I’ll promote someone into it, then fill that newly vacated post from below, and so on,” said a HR manager, “until, finally, there is left a vacancy further down the organisation which is easy to fill from outside. So when there is a vacancy, we typically fill it from inside the company, and create a chain reaction of people moving upwards. This is all planned as much as possible. We know where to look for a replacement when a vacancy arises, so it is easy to prepare to move the system. As many as three promotions can be effected in a single round. It is great from the motivational point of view – you can communicate it, for example, we express our congratulations in a newsletter to those who have been promoted. This gives motivation and provides perspective to those who work here.”

So what are the key elements in starting a career chain reaction? Read More