WHAT does a business owner and leader have to do to position for a potentially tough 2016 and beyond? It is a question human resources specialist Peter Gwizdalla has been wrestling with, in order to better assist his clients, and he has broken it down into three main focuses.

He urges business leaders to first focus on de-cluttering their businesses and clarifying leadership structures; then getting all business leaders “good at honest, motivating, evidence-based performance conversations”; followed by accelerating staff engagement “using the high impact, low cost strategy of acknowledgement”. 

Mr Gwizdalla today runs his own human resources advisory service to companies large and small and he is building a reputation for not simply problem solving but long term strategies to drive better performance. He has runs on the board with both Hay Group, as state manager, as well as Aurizon.

“Many of my SME (small-to-medium enterprise) clients are prudently concerned about the economic environment and preparing for a tough 2016,” Mr Gwizdalla said. “They’re also keenly aware that it’ll be theirs and their people’s efforts alone meeting challenges around revenue, quality, cost and innovation issues.”

Mr Gwizdalla said they key approach was to work out what ‘people and organisation’ foundations business leaders had to have in place in order to thrive while others struggle.

Top of his list was to “de-clutter, strengthen and clarify your leadership structure”.

“Company size notwithstanding,” he said, “enormous amounts of time and energy are burned when leaders do things such as not passing down to their reports enough of what they require for success, doing work better done – and paid for more cheaply – at lower levels, and having a too narrow focus on short term results at the expense of longer term considerations.

“Do you know how much your leaders might be actually inhibiting the performance of their direct reports?

“If you don’t, you’re not alone,” Mr Gwizdalla said. “Out of hundreds of leaders I’ve interviewed I estimate more than 70 percent are suffering at least one of the above productivity sapping problems.

“The most concerning aspect of these issues is that, because of the systemic nature of leadership in organisations, they automatically create problems for other leaders. For example, the leader that does the work of lower levels, automatically drags down their own leader to do the work they are ignoring.

“Either that, or the work simply does not get done-witness the executive level leader that gets too involved in day to day operational issues instead of looking ahead, anticipating and planning for what the company needs to deal with in the future.”

Mr Gwizdalla said to address such issues, business leaders needed to collect data on the breadth and depth of what every layer of leaders in your organisation thinks they should be contributing.

“Aggregate the data and you’ll soon see the gaps, overlaps and narrowed thinking, especially if you compare them to a practical generic leadership model like Drotter’s Performance Pipeline,” he said.

“From there, educate your leaders about what you have found and how things need to change.”

CLEAR MOTIVATION

Mr Gwizdalla said with effective leadership role clarity, the next phas can begin: “Get your leaders good at honest, motivating, evidence based performance conversations”

“At least once a month, in addition to normal day-to-day work conversations, every leader should be meeting with their reports to discuss overall performance in the whole job,” Mr Gwizdalla said. “The focus needs to be mainly on the future with a collaborative problem-solving approach. Discuss what work is coming up, the obstacles and risks that might be faced in getting it done, how they might be approached and what help is needed, and where improvements could be made.

“Find out what is important to them about the job, how they do it and what they think about their future. Share your own ideas and approaches in a helpful coaching style.”

Mr Gwizdalla said this approach motivates people because it provides information and helpful responsiveness to what is nearly always most important to them – their self interest.

“By the way, if any of your leaders tell you they don’t have the time to do this, they should be deployed back into a technical role, or let go,” Mr Gwizdalla said. “It is the 21^st century after all … there is no room for leaders that don’t lead.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WINS

Mr Gwizdalla is a big believer in accelerating staff engagement – and it does not have to be a costly exercise. To the contrary, Mr Gwizdalla said a most effective high impact, low cost strategy could be abased around simple acknowledgement.

would be to simply acknowledge staff  

“The research evidence in pretty clear. Praise and acknowledgment are very effective as motivators,” he said. “Let’s be clear though, we’re not talking about the ‘every child is a winner’ brand of praise. Here the most important guidelines for best results.

“First, praise efforts as well as results. The tendency is to notice and reward successful results achieved while overlooking the importance of efforts made.

“In a world where innovation through prudent risk taking and trial and error is becoming increasingly important to success, you need to acknowledge out of the ordinary efforts that ended in failure. You never know, the next effort may be the one that strikes gold,” Mr Gwizdalla said.

“Second, praise personal bests as well as comparative performance. Make sure you notice people who aren’t the stars, but are kicking goals  on a personal progress basis.

“Third, acknowledge with specificity and context. Let people know exactly what behavior or result you’re noticing and how it links to your company’s success.”

As an example, he said, “Was it the resilience they showed in working through obstacles? Or perhaps the willingness to spend personal time to get an important job done?”

Mr Gwizdalla said one of the most powerful acknowledgements was to do so at unexpected times in unexpected ways.

“Give someone personal praise early on a Monday morning. Call an impromptu short meeting. Write a thank you card. Buy some flowers for someone’s desk or team area. Shout an unannounced morning tea. Ask people for their opinion on something a little outside their usual area.”

Mr Gwizdalla said this advice should be used by business leaders as a “checklist diagnostic for your own situation”

“Perhaps there’s value in convening a working group of your most senior managers and staff to uncover where the biggest gains are to be made in applying these ideas,” Mr Gwizdalla suggested.

Ends

ONE of the most awkward situations for a business manager can be dealing with employees who are not meeting performance levels because they are dealing with an illness or injury.

It is a situation that business and human resources management specialists Livingstones have seen on many occasions – some handled well and others morphing into even greater challenges.

“Managers face many challenges, none possibly as challenging as managing employees who are not meeting performance expectations because of an illness or injury,” Livingstones director Cheryl-Anne Laird said. 

“People tell me that the fear of ‘discriminating’ prevents them from taking any action and resorting to a ‘wait and see’ strategy. 

“In our experience doing nothing rarely has a good outcome for either the employee or the business. 

“So why are we scared to take action? What are the major myths that paralyse us?”

Ms Laird said Livingstones had established, from the company’s vast experience in the area, a list of myths and strategies to overcome possible management inaction or ineffective action.

Myth 1 - Asking about health is taboo.

“Best practice management requires you to ask employees if there is anything impacting on their performance,” Ms Laird said. “This includes health issues, be they physical or psychological. Not all employees will be honest, but good managers will ask.”

Myth 2 – If employees say they can do the job, I have to accept that.

“This is not only untrue but it’s a risk to your business,” Ms Laird said. “If you reasonably believe that an employee has a medical condition which puts their health or that of another person at risk you can require them to undertake an independent medical assessment. The process must be reasonable and must consider the best interests of the employee.”

Myth 3 – If an employee is ill or injured, I have to find a way to accommodate them in the workplace. 

“Employers are required to consider reasonable adjustments to enable employees to remain in their employment,” Ms Laird said. “Reasonable adjustments however must be reasonable for both the employee and the business.”

Ms Laird said she had seen many examples where managers had not reacted at all to such a challenge – and the outcome was invariably poor.

“It’s difficult, but doing nothing or entering into arrangements which deliver unproductive business outcomes is ‘bad’ business practice,” Ms Laird said.

“Don’t be afraid of the myths; take action to benefit your employees and your business.”

www.livingstones.com.au

ends

IF FUNDING is not an issue – and that is a big ‘if’ for many small and medium businesses in the current economic environment – now is a great time to acquire other companies that will help drive overall business value.

According to Mullins Lawyers partner, David Williams, right now there are great opportunities for acquiring bolt-on businesses – but it has to be well managed. 

“In the post-GFC economic climate, business owners are placed in an environment that is difficult and unique to any economic conditions we have previously experienced,” Mr Williams said.

“There is no doubt financial institutions are under significant restraints in regards to funding business generally. The experience we are seeing is that banks are requiring property security and/or cash contributions by the borrower to be put on the table for a bank to consider funding any potential acquisitions.”

The first hurdle, Mr Williams said, may be obtaining suitable funding – but then the real challenges of integration begin.

“It is important that when you are undertaking an assessment of any potential bolt-on acquisition that it is clear in your mind that the acquisition needs to create value to you, otherwise why would you do it?” Mr Williams asked.

“Integration of any new business is a significant undertaking and will impose additional costs and other pressures upon you if not done correctly. It is important that you plan your integration strategy and that nothing is left to chance.”

Particular attention to the due diligence process always pays dividends, Mr Wlliams said.

“The process of due diligence arises after your assessment stage of the potential acquisition has passed,” he said.

“The first step of your due diligence is the Commercial due diligence which is undertaken by you to decide whether or not the business you are looking to acquire is in fact a good fit for you. If this step is satisfactory then the financial and legal due diligence processes can commence.”

Mr Williams said the current economic challenges for business can be turned to advantage.

“Whilst the current economic climate is challenging, it also provides to you opportunities that you may not otherwise have access to,” he said.

“Therefore acquiring businesses can, when the right opportunities arise, enable you to increase the value of your existing business so that when you come to exit your business the sum of the parts of your business together with those acquired by acquisition significantly increases the value of your original business.”

www.mullinslaw.com.au

ends

CREATING opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs to collaborate with research organisations is a key focus of the Queensland Government’s $180 million Advance Queensland initiative – including grants to help businesses access university graduates for project work.

Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation director of innovation policy and programs, Steve Moorhouse, said one of the key Advance Queensland programs announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was the $8 million Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. 

“The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships program will support innovation and business growth by helping to bridge the gap between universities and small to medium enterprises, and see more translation of scientific and technological research into tangible products and services,” Mr Moorhouse said.

“The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships provide funding of up to $50,000 per project to help cover the cost of placing university graduates in businesses to work on key strategic and innovative projects. 

“It will help businesses turn great ideas into commercial outcomes, providing real benefits for them as well as for graduates, who will gain valuable work experience.

“Complementing the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships is the PhD Industry Experience Program which matches Queensland businesses with PhD students for short-term work experience placements,” Mr Moorhouse said. 

“This program offers businesses the benefit of new ideas and perspectives on innovative projects through the skills and technical expertise offered by the PhD student, while providing the student with a valuable opportunity to develop their workplace knowledge and networks.”

Mr Moorhouse said the intitiative aimed to increase the flow of highly trained and skilled PhD graduates from the research sector into Queensland businesses and government, strengthen links between businesses and universities, and enable businesses to draw upon the skills of researchers to help increase their competitiveness.

“The Innovate Queensland program, also funded by the Queensland Government and delivered by Brisbane-based Impact Innovation Group, supports the Advance Queensland initiative,” Mr Moorhouse said.

“Innovate Queensland offers a range of activities, such as workshops, to help SMEs grow their business by implementing practical innovation and technology commercialisation solutions.”

www.advanceqld.initiatives.qld.gov.au

* The Queensland Government is involved with Queensland Leaders at various levels, including as an active Industry Expert member. www.queenslandleaders.com.au

ends