Guest Article: Research Power: Anonymous vs. Confidential Surveys by Ben

I like data. I like reviewing it, pulling out trends, and sharing insights. I also like when I get the opportunity to ask others what they like and get some anonymous feedback, because I believe that anonymity helps to improve the quality and quantity of responses.

Recently I was listening to a podcast, and the speaker mentioned offering a confidential survey, which he felt was more valuable than an anonymous one. I had to stop and consider the differences, and I realized there certainly may be times when offering confidential surveys can beat offering anonymous ones.

Types of surveys

• Anonymous-Anonymous surveys collect information and aggregate it without leaving a “trail” to find the specific participant


• Confidential-Confidential surveys collect information but tie the response back to a unique identifier for each participant. This allows a third party to follow up if need be on specific answers.

How they work and why they matter

I’ve seen the impact that suspicion/doubt has on response rates for anonymous surveys. If the people being surveyed do not think their responses are going to be protected, they will either lie, tone down the truth, or not respond at all. In the end those altered responses hurt everyone who the survey was intended to help.

In the past I’ve put together anonymous surveys for our staff to take, but inevitably there’s a manager here or there that wants me to find out who put in some responses. It’s always funny when I give them a look and reply, “You know this is anonymous, right? I put things in place so even I can’t tell who responded unless they put in unique information that applies only to them.” In the past it was puzzling to get that response; now I think it would sometimes be valuable if those had been confidential, not just anonymous.

For instance, if Bob puts on his survey that he’s feeling frustrated with management and doesn’t plan to stay longer than a year at the job, but his manager doesn’t know that Bob feels that way, then the information is virtually useless if it was gathered anonymously.

In the same scenario above, if we gathered that data in a confidential survey, I (or some other third party) could reach out and try to help diffuse the situation without the manager directly knowing who the respondent was. The employee is still protected, but the problem also now has the chance of being solved. Win-win!

Your turn

Sorry for the survey/data nerd breakout session today. :-) I’ve been thinking about how to get better responses from internal surveys, and this has been on my mind a lot lately. Do you do internal surveys? What sorts of tools do you use? Are they anonymous? Confidential? Any lessons learned that you’d like to share?

The post Research Power: Anonymous vs. Confidential Surveys appeared first on upstartHR.

Article source:Ben - Research Power: Anonymous vs. Confidential Surveys»



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Guest Article: Competence drives confidence by Ross Clennett

When have you been most confident at work, in any job? I strongly suspect it was when you had a high level of competence in that job. I recently had reason to recall the start of my recruitment career, in London twenty five years ago. I was twenty two years old. I was working in an office for the first time. I was living out of home for the first time. I was resident in a country that was

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Managing workplace ambiguity

At times, having to work through ambiguity in the workplace is inevitable. From handling tasks with incomplete or poor directions to structural changes at the workplace, at one point or another you will face ambiguity and uncertainty at work with no option to pass things onto someone else. Although experiencing ambiguity can be anxiety-provoking, effectively dealing with ambiguity is an important skill to have. Here are some useful strategies to manage workplace ambiguity:  

 

1. Learn to let go of your desire to control

Most of us like to think that we can make a powerful change in the challenges presented to us. However anxiety and stress can often result when you are dealing with ambiguous situations that you feel the need to be in control of, or that you feel should be done an exact way. In order to deal with ambiguity effectively, you need to be comfortable with uncertainty and suppress your need to control the situation. To do this, it is important to identify what you can and cannot control or influence, and accept and be comfortable with what is beyond your control. Ask yourself "can I change the way this process is right now?" If not, then stress has no value for you.

2. Learn to make decisions without having all the facts

 Unfortunately, in ambiguous situations, you will often receive insufficient information required to make assured decisions. Don’t wait around until you receive every bit of information to take action; it may never arrive. This is where people who are 'risk averse' often struggle to try things out or take a chance when time is an issue, try to limit yourself to definite pieces of information you absolutely need.

3. Be flexible

 Ambiguous situations can go hand in hand with constant and unforeseen changes, so a willingness to adapt to these changes and incorporating them into your decisions can ease the anxiety and stress. If you are in the planning phase of a project or update, make sure that there is a contingency to follow and each step only contains general objectives, not direct pathways that may be altered easily.

4. Be confident in your abilities 

A great way to reduce ambiguity and handle uncertainty is by having confidence in your abilities and how you respond to things you cannot control. Those who are confident ask for assistance, are not afraid to be wrong and hold themselves accountable for their mistakes. Having these characteristics will assist you in adapting and responding to ambiguity and uncertainty.

5. Communicate and clarify 

When facing ambiguity, communicating with those involved in the situation can be very useful in clarifying the situation. Ask for clarification or feedback. Make sure that updates are frequent and everyone is on the same page.

6. Develop and expand your network

 Having a large network of professional contacts can prove useful for support and information sharing, which can be helpful in facing ambiguous work situations. To make the most of networking opportunities, attend conferences and seminars to connect with people from different businesses, or join professional organisations outside of the workplace.

7. Effectively manage stress

 Stress may be experienced when faced with ambiguous tasks. It is worthwhile to find coping techniques to manage this stress, especially since there is greater chance for you to deal with problems and challenges efficiently when stress is under control.

Hopefully these techniques will help you overcome unnecessary stress or anxiety and even get through certain tasks or changes more effectively! 

Guest Article: You Are Never too Old to Learn Something New: A Kirkpatrick Tribute by Jennifer Miller

This morning I received a message from Donald Kirkpatrick’s LinkedIn account informing me that he passed away a few weeks ago. For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Kirkpatrick, he created the Kirkpatrick model of training evaluation. For those of us in the training and development industry, his work set the stage for evaluating the effectiveness of the work we did. He was truly a legend and it’s comforting to know that his work lives on with his son and daughter in-law via Kirkpatrick Partners .

Even though I first used the Kirkpatrick model over 25 years ago as a corporate trainer, I never personally met Don. But we did have some interesting interactions not too many years ago. You see, LinkedIn sent me a “you might know this person” message, referencing Dr. Kirkpatrick. My reaction was, well, yes, I “know” his work, but I don’t personally know him . For grins, I sent him an invitation and he accepted!

We exchanged LinkedIn private messages in which I thanked him for his service to the training field and he was graciously humble in his reply. Now, here’s the thing: this man was in his mid-eighties when we had this exchange. Not only was he still active in his profession, but he was still learning to use new technologies.

I will never forget those exchanges, because they are fabulous reminders that we are never too old to live our passion and we are certainly never too old to learn something new.

Rest in peace, Donald L. Kirkpatrick.

Article source:Jennifer Miller - You Are Never too Old to Learn Something New: A Kirkpatrick Tribute»

5 reasons to consider hiring mature age workers

There are several negative connotations surrounding hiring mature age workers, and these stereotypes are ones that are not completely dismissed by organisations. But fear not, below are five key reasons that mature age workers are neither down nor out in the hiring game.

1. They save organisations money

Mature age workers are 2.4 times more likely to stay with an organisation than younger workers, thus saving their potential employer a lot of time, effort and money so they don’t have to go through the hiring process again.

They are also more likely to save their employer money through decreased rates of absenteeism and greater investment returns on training.

2. Getting older doesn’t mean getting less intelligent

A study of the Organisation of Economic and Corporate Development nations concluded that verbal skills, intelligence and communication remain unchanged as a person ages.

3. Mature age workers are ready to learn

The saying that "an old dog can't learn new tricks" is just that, a saying. ABS data reveals that Australians aged 55 – 64 are the fastest growing users of information technology. Hence, there’s no reason why they won’t be at the forefront of current technologies, ready to take on new learning challenges as they arise.

4. Mature age workers come with a wealth of knowledge behind them

Throughout their tenure in the workforce, there is no doubt that they have contacts, experience and interests; all of which are invaluable assets to bring to any organisation. The ability to lead and motivate others is another skill set that can be acquired more with age.

5. Mature age workers reflect our community

Organisations always need to be conscious of responding to the needs of the community they are in; in Australia, there is a changing age profile and thus, it would best benefit organisations if they responded to this change by being seen as a part of the community. This involves mirroring this change with who it employs.

Mature age workers have a lot to offer the next organisation they work for, which should be kept in mind for your next recruitment campaign!

Are you thinking about how you can measure the relevant skills in your next hiring campaign? Our recruitment partners at Capable People can help you find the right person for the role by utilising non-discriminant assessments that find a person-job fit that matches your performance needs.

Sources:
OECD study
ABS data

Guest Article: Leadership Courage – When Not to Fire Someone by Jennifer Miller

Should you fire the person responsible for your company’s very public failure?

That’s the question I explore in my latest article for Smartblog on Leadership. Earlier this week, I wrote about a very public PR failure: the NYPD foray into Twitter. Says Smartblog on Leadership of my article: “When organizations make mistakes in the public eye, there’s a temptation to handle the crisis by firing the person responsible, writes Jennifer Miller. Leaders should have the courage to use failures, even public and painful ones, as learning opportunities and as a way of communicating the company’s tolerance for risk.”

You can read the whole article, “Leading from a Place of Courage”, here.

Article source:Jennifer Miller - Leadership Courage – When Not to Fire Someone»

Guest Article: Australia still a global laggard in talent practices: Netherlands #1 by Ross Clennett

LinkedIn and PWC have recently trumpeted that Australia is the world's worst country for effective white collar recruitment and retention practices due to 23% of new hires quitting their job within 12 months of starting. Our closest cultural cousins, the USA and the UK, were far better with 15% and 12% respectively. This information is taken from research undertaken by PWC in analysing the

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Guest Article: Teamwork Lessons from Dragon Boat Racing by Ben

So this weekend I participated in something I’ve never done before. Dragon boat racing.

Yeah, I had never heard of it before, either.

The gist of it is this:

• Each team has 16-20 paddlers in the boat at once, plus a drummer


• You’re racing a straight course against other teams


• First boat to cross the finish line wins

And that’s actually pretty much the whole thing. We had a great time, and we actually missed out on placing in our division by less than one second. I think our best/final time was around 1 minute, 16 seconds. Neat stuff!

A reminder for the workplace

As we ran through our practice run last week, we were all pretty clueless at the beginning. We were all splashing and paddling as hard as we could to try to get the boat moving. However, it wasn’t until we slowed down and got in sync that we really started moving.

When you have a team trying to accomplish a goal, it’s pretty common to have multiple people working in multiple directions. Sometimes it’s possible that those directions might even be in opposition to each other!

The lesson learned in piloting a dragon boat is quite applicable to the workplace. A team of people who work in sync is more powerful than a group of individuals pursuing their own agendas.

A great team player is often worth more than a “superstar.” Here’s an example:

Let’s say your superstar can build nine widgets, and the other three people on the team can build five widgets each.One day the superstar leaves and is replaced.

The new person can only build seven widgets, but he encourages the rest of the team and helps them all to improve their output to seven widgets each.

In the “superstar” example, the total output was 24 widgets. In the team player example, the team output was 28 widgets. Yes, it’s just an illustration, but these kinds of scenarios play out more often than you might think.

It’s about sync, not power.

Anyone else ever seen or participated in a dragon boat event?

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Article source:Ben - Teamwork Lessons from Dragon Boat Racing»



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Guest Article: The World of HR Blogging: Carnival of HR by Ben

I’ve posted several HR Carnivals here before. I try to make each one special, because I know how important the world of HR blogging has been to me as a hands-on HR pro, and I don’t want anyone else to miss out on that opportunity.

I’m currently subscribed to 25-30 HR blogs in Feedly.It’s a great tool for keeping up with multiple websites, because it pulls the latest content into one place where you can read without visiting 20 different sites. Very handy. Anyway, I have used HR blogs over the years to help me stay motivated, learn new tips/tricks, and improve my HR service delivery. And the cost on those improvements? A little time. If you’d like to get free updates via email, just plug in your email address here.

Hopefully you’re reading this site and others that help you to learn and do more as an HR pro. I think that’s where the true value lies in the HR blogging world, at least for us practitioners.

With all that said, let’s check out the posts submitted from other authors. I hope you enjoy!

The excellent posts

• Steve Roesler shares Build Trust By Saying “No”


• Jennifer V. Miller gives us ideas on how to take advantage of reverse mentoring


• Susan Mazza provides the Path to High Performance


• Dan McCarthy tells us You Can Be a Tough Leader and Not Be a Jerk


• Alex Raymond offers up How to Get Started in Lean Management


• Stuart Rudner gives us insights on quick terminations


• Cliff Stevenson shares The Keys to Business Strategy Execution


• Andrew Tarvin brings us 30 Benefits of Humor at Work


• Amit Bhagria shares Fun Work Activities


• Mervyn Dinnen tells us It Starts with a Job Description


• Chris Fields asks Do HR Executives Need to Think Like CMOs?


• Wally Bock shares the story of Connor Fox: Master Mentor


• Melissa Fairman tells us about My Work Tombstone


• Michael Vandervort gives a Labor Relations Roundup for April 2014


• Mike Haberman asks “Are You Actually Listening?”


• Nancy Hess shares insights on One Team Thinking

I hope you found some new authors and helpful content! Thanks for stopping by.

The post The World of HR Blogging: Carnival of HR appeared first on upstartHR.

Article source:Ben - The World of HR Blogging: Carnival of HR»



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Guest Article: Headhunting: Unethical or a necessary part of a competitive job market? by Ross Clennett

Two very interesting and relevant US court cases were settled in the past two weeks involving anti-competitive behavior, namely no-headhunting agreements between large and high profile publicly listed companies. In the most high profile case, four massive tech firms (Google, Apple, Adobe and Intel) who were the defendants in a class action suit, agreed to a settlement (subject to California

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Guest Article: Trust Matters, Now More Than Ever by Ben

Last week my friend China Gorman wrote about the lack of trust in the workplace. Here’s the stat:

According to the American Psychological Association’s 2014 Work and Well-Being Survey released last Wednesday, only half of U.S employees believe their employer is open and upfront with them, indicating that despite the mending U.S economy and the return of many organizations’ profitability employees are still struggling to trust their organizational leaders. This distrust comes with serious negative consequences. via China Gorman

That amazes me to hear that. Not that I don’t think it’s accurate–plenty of employers/employees have trust issues; however, I never would have guessed it was in the 50% range. Consider this: if you think someone is not being trustworthy (or “worthy of trust”), then how much effort are you going to give to help them succeed? Not much, I wouldn’t think.

How the other half live

Recently I was talking with a handful of candidates we plan to hire. One of the selling points I use for Pinnacle includes talking about our scores on the annual Best Places to Work survey. Our “trust in leadership” survey results always are in the 99% range every year.

That isn’t just a number. It’s easy to see how that plays into our daily work. When our key leaders say something, people believe it. When they say, “We need to change how we’re doing things, because this isn’t working,” people believe them. It’s amazing to see, and I have never been in an organization with a trust level like this.

If I had to try to pinpoint where it comes from, I would have to say it’s party due to the military/special forces background of our president. He has infused the organization with a culture of belief, and everyone can see how they fit into the overall structure. The way it works, in short, is he trusts in each of his people to do their job well; then they, in turn, can trust him to do his job well.

When I look at the successes our organization has had in the last six years, I don’t see how any of it would have been possible without the culture of trust that has been built since day one.

What about you? Do you and/or the staff at your organization trust your leaders? Why or why not? Anonymous comments are welcome!

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Article source:Ben - Trust Matters, Now More Than Ever»



Check out more of Ben Uebanks' work at Upstart HR

Getting delegation right

When done right, delegating tasks to staff can increase productivity within the organisation while offering opportunities for employees to further develop new knowledge and skills. However, inappropriately delegating tasks to unsuitable employees can be both time-consuming and ineffective. Here are a few tips to improve the delegation process:

 Assess and pick the right employee

Successful delegating requires an understanding of your employee’s capabilities and their readiness to accept more responsibilities. Ensure that the requirements of the task are aligned with your employees’ abilities and interests.

Include employees in the delegation process 

Collaborating with employees during the delegation and decision-making process can encourage them to commit to the decisions made. Discuss with your employee what the task involves, how it should be done, and the reasons why it needs to be done.

Clearly define the outcomes of the task 

To ensure that the employee completes the task effectively, you should outline the objectives and standards for the task. By having a clear understanding of what is required, employees have better opportunities to be creative in finding ways to complete the delegated tasks.

Articulate performance outcomes 

Ensure that employees understand the importance of the delegated work and the outcomes of completing the task for both you and the employee. Understanding the rewards and consequences of completing the delegated task can act as an incentive for employees to effectively and efficiently complete it.

Have employees recommend solutions when there are problems arising from the task 

By encouraging employees to find solutions, this prevents any prospect of upward delegation (i.e., employees turning to you to solve every problem they encounter when completing the delegated task). In addition, it encourages employees to be more creative and innovative in solving problems.

Whilst effective delegating requires time, it is worth the effort. By delegating effectively, you will provide opportunities for your staff to engage in important and challenging work while at the same time clearing your schedule to work on more important projects. Over time you will notice less 'operational' questions or a reliance on your decisions, and a pick up of when things should be completed by and what quality is acceptable.

 Need assistance managing your leaders?

Psych Press has several options available, such as quick and cost effective online assessment, face to face coaching to identify which performance areas need development, and working with the strengths and weaknesses of the individual to form a long term plan of how your workers can better meet organisational goals through effective delegation.
http://www.psychpress.com.au/psychometric/talent-develop.asp?development-coaching