Informal Groups

Informal groups cannot be wished away. It is an integral part of any organization. If that be the case, it may be wise to informalize the work setting. Or align goals of informal group to the organizational needs. The latter, in my view, will work wonders.

As to the question of how to align goals of informal group to organization’s needs, the following may help.

Influencing the norms of the group can influence goals of the group. Most norms in groups are enforced to ensure group survival. (Group Norms in Organizations)

o                    Demonstrating/illustrating ill-effects of deviant group norms on its survival can be a very effective in this regard.

o                    Leadership change affects group norms as well.

However, there are no perfect answers.

A systematic change process to bring about normative change consists of six steps: (Accel-Team)

o                    Demonstrate the importance of norms in achieving organizational and group/ team effectiveness.

o                    Create positive norm goals through cooperative effort.

o                    Establish normative change priorities.

o                    Determine a plan of action to bring about change.

o                    Implement and monitor the change strategy.

o                    Review the effectiveness of the strategy periodically and modify where necessary.

Following links are quite interesting:

Informal Organizational Structure: The Hawthorne Studies

Team building – informal group dynamics

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o                    Do You Know How Your Group Works? (myventurepad.com)

High Performance, Low Potential

Performance Potential Matrix (PPM)

PPM is mostly referred and used for managerial & leadership positions; with great results. In one of the NIPM meetings, a question was raised about high performing low potentials. The speaker didn’t find much importance in such classification and moved on to the next question. However, that question lingered on and has resulted in this post.

In every organization the population can be distributed over all 4 boxes (9, 16 box classification is possible depending on the level of detail in analyzing the population). Much importance is given to high performance & high potential and it is justified. After all, these are people who will take organization to higher levels of excellence and profitability. Developmental opportunities and new challenges are thrown at them. In this focus on the high performance high potential box, others may suffer and this may not be desirable. The following section is based on my experience in a manufacturing unit.

Employees at the unit have served for many years and few of them have spent more than half their lives in the factory. These employees joined the unit when the foundation was being laid. They learnt the job and became good at their work. They did the same activity day in and day out for more than two decades. There were changes in the level of activity and complexity of task they performed. However, their work profile remained the same over the years. Today, they are experts in their area of work. They can tackle problems related to their field of work with their eyes closed. They have truly mastered their profession. They are high performers for the organization. What about their potential?

When they joined the organization, fresh after completing their education, they could have been moulded into a maintenance, production, quality, etc expert. Their potential was high, however their performance had not been tested. Today after years of experience in a field of work, they have become highly focused in their area of specialization. Their minds have been single tracked. In the maintenance department, there are two specialists i.e. electrical & mechanical. For a complex breakdown to be attended, both have to be present. Is it possible to train the electrical engineer in mechanical trade, I was asked?  And I ask you.  What do you think? After 20 yrs of fixing gears and shafts, mind does not easily make electrical connections! Though these employees are high performers, their potential to grow into other functions or enlarged roles is limited. High Performing Low Potentials. Employees falling under this classification are generally referred to as the Workhorse or Backbone of the organization and rightly so.

Leo Lingham talks about how inspire continued high performance from low potentials here.

3A (9 box) (high performance, low/limited potential):

o                    Ask what motivates them and how they want to develop

o                    Provide recognition, praise, and rewards

o                    Provide opportunities to develop in current role, to grow deeper and broader capabilities and knowledge

o                    Provide honest feedback about their opportunities for advancement if asked

o                    Watch for signs of retention risks; know how to “save” a “hi-pro” (high professional)

o                    Ask them to mentor, teach, and coach others

o                    Allow them to share what they know, presentations at company meetings, external conferences, to be “the highly valued expert”

o                    Combination of performance management, training, and coaching to help them move from “OK to good”

o                    Provide honest feedback about their opportunities for advancement if asked

This is the category that keeps your organization functioning optimally. Their experience is the lubricant that makes day-to-day functioning a smooth drive. The above, in my view, is true for long serving high performing low potential. Young blood in this category has to be dealt differently. It may be wise to classify this population into below 30 yrs, between 30-45 yrs & above 45 yrs.

Kindly visit People Performance Potential Model for more details.

Recruitment of Sales/Pharma/Field Force

In a growing economy, recruitment is one of the key challenges that Sales HR Professionals face; retention being the most crucial.

Average attrition of sales/field force is close to 33%. Sometimes higher! This essentially means industry will always be in need of sales force; sales force that will stay and be productive. Similar qualities will be look for during recruitment. Hence, recruitment becomes an activity as important as running the business itself.

So, how is sales recruitment done? Answer is not difficult. Generate a pool of candidates (sourcing), multiple levels of interview (selection) & finally joining formalities (on boarding). Or is it? Each stage i.e. sourcing, selection and on boarding has unique challenges; primarily on account of experience, education, urgency, criticality, geographic spread, demand for particular skill set among others. A broad outline of the recruitment process is given below.

Sourcing or generation of a pool of candidates can be qualified by the following:

• Internal: Employee referral schemes, candidates identified by managers, careers website, job portals, references from new hires. One of the most potent internal sources is Industry Survey Report; more details on ISR in later posts.
• External: Primarily through recruitment consultants. Recruitment consultants can provide the required quantity in a very short duration. Campuses are other potent grounds for sourcing.

Further qualifiers

• Quality: Here the internal sources will almost always outperform the external sources. Most of the recruitment happens through internal sources where the candidate is known to employees and their managers.
• Price: Salary range is dictated by approved manpower budget and the relative worth of the territory and the life of business. To source candidates who would fit into the salary range requires thorough under companies with or competing for candidates in the same salary range.
• Quantity: This aspect is not very difficult to achieve. Using recruitment consultants can be the best way to ensure required quantity. Given enough time, internal sources can generate the required quantity.

Selection

Sales force is, usually, distributed across geography. Hence, the selection process has to accommodate the same. Field interviews are the most effective way to shortlist candidates. Front line managers meet candidates in the field and interview them. Interview setting can range from a tea stall to a hotel to the line managers residence to the local stockist or distributor. The objective is to have a face to face interview with the candidate. Content of the interview will vary as per industry. An interview template guides these interviews.

Based on the feedback, the second line manager will conduct telephonic/in-person interview. Finally, the HR conducts telephonic interview to finally clear the candidate for joining.

There are many variations to this process. These may include a final interview with HR in head office. Final interview may be done with business head and HR through video conference. HR is not involved in the final interview at all and business heads may be authorised to roll out the offer letters.

Objective is to have multiple checks on the incoming candidate. The elaborate process of selection gives candidate feeling of achievement and exclusivity.

On-boarding 

Here comes the tricky part. Selection done. Offer rolled out. Candidate now has a promise of employment. Will the candidate join you? Or will the candidate say, “Hey, I got an offer from this company. Great. Lets take a shot at another company and see if any thing better comes my way!” Offer to joining ratio hovers around 80% for the sales force.

To mitigate such drop outs, most companies prefer that candidates join within couple of days. Some companies just show the offer letter and hand out the offer letter on the day of joining. There are companies that give just the salary break up on plain paper. Others prefer to give just the offer, without mentioning salary details. One interesting offer letter was written by hand on a blank paper without any signature or seal.

However, such practices may not work for good quality candidates; element of trust is absent. Hence, it is crucial that candidates are kept engaged throughout the period of uncertainty. This engagement right from the time of offer to the actual joining, for all practical purposes, is on-boarding. Personal touch, helping them deal with the anxiety of job change, probably helping them write a good resignation letter and many such activities helps in keeping the candidate engaged with the company.

In a geographically spread out work force, it is not feasible to keep offices near each area of operation. Hence, elaborate procedure needs to be set to ensure proper on-boarding.

• Structured induction program by front line managers needs to be ensured
• Collection of all documents necessary for records
• Complete joining kit reaching on time

The above is an indicative recruitment process. There may be variation as per business, geography and scale of operations.