What made 'The Voice' so successful?

While I watched 'The Voice' last night along with most of the country, I wondered why this show has been so successful? Especially given that we are buried in reality TV shows at the moment - what is the secret of their success? I believe that it comes down to Engagement; think about it...

Selection - with the blind auditions, people were selected purely on raw talent. Looks, image or age never came into it. We had diversity amongst the teams
 

Teaming - contestants became part of a team and felt a sense of belonging. They actively referred to themselves as being part of 'Team Keith'

Coaching - the experts were able to nurture and develop their team so that individuals had the confidence to perform better, more often and more consistently

Personality - we, as the audience, felt we got to know the coaches more as people than untouchable stars. They came across as real

Respect - there was none of the nastiness, bitchiness or making fools of people in public which many of the other talent shows trade on

Promotion - the coaches had to make tough decisions and select the team members that they felt were the most deserving and had the best chance of winning

Feedback - people received consistent and regular feedback to improve their knowledge and skills

Interaction - we got to see the interaction between the coaches and get a sense of what they were thinking

Belief - the individual team members felt that there was someone in their corner, encouraging them and believing in them

Influence - last, but perhaps most importantly, we as the audience could determine the outcome - and we did, Team Seal

This group was extremely talented but Karise Eden is different to the stock-standard pop star. She has depth, experience (mostly sad) and a sound that is different to the norm but, again, I am thrilled that the final four were not 'manufactured' girl or boy-band targets. It proves that the Australian public is more diverse in their music tastes than they are often given credit for.

It is a proven fact that Engagement makes an impact to the bottom line and Channel 9 are reaping these benefits now. How many of these tools to Engagement do you use in your business?

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

So is HR a necessary evil or can it positively impact EOI?

In the small to medium business sector after finance, IT and marketing, HR seems to come in last place in the operations priorities. I have often pondered why this may be the case? If you think about it, most businesses start as an idea a business owner is passionate; they work themselves to the bone, with no salary to get it off the ground, then some money comes in so they need the financials sorted and guess what -  many business owners are more than happy to get their accountant to look after it.

As businesses grow they need good IT infrastructure to make life easier. I love my IT as much as the next person, until it doesn't work,  and then I urgently need someone to fix it as I'm so dependent on it. Then there is marketing. Let's face it they are in marketing so are very good at selling their value proposition.

Then comes the lull - things have been ticking along nicely, growing bit by bit and one's mind turns to the 'touchy feely' HR that has yet to been ticked off the business plan. Headcount is starting to grow - ‘but wait, I have got away with it for this long - why invest now?'

And other questions; are you really getting away with it - what do your employees really think of you and your business? Do you know or, maybe more importantly, do you care? Do they have great ideas that you have no idea about? Can they see possible productivity gains that you can’t? Are they doing what they should be? How long are they planning on sticking around?

Talking of productivity, are you able to measure it? Can the current structure support rapid growth or will it break? Are you and more importantly your team all invested in the mission, vision and core values? Would the culture of the business be consistently described across the business and would you like what you hear?

Then there is the harsh reality of the Fair Work Act and your very important legal obligations. Are you operating under the terms and conditions of the correct Award? Do you send out the Fair Work Information Statement to every new employee? Do you understand NES, Flexible Working and Redundancy under FWA?

The truth is that any business with more than one employee has HR elements that need to be addressed such as recruitment, employment contracts, performance appraisals, training promotions, parental leave, flexible working, non-performing employees and conflicts, succession planning, motivation, engagement and retaining your best employees, to name just a few! If you want your business to succeed, grow and flourish you need to manage your employees and not just leave it up to luck.

I think that the answer to the original question is both - HR is a necessary evil from a legal standpoint but it can reduce costs in terms of possible fines and also make a difference to your bottom line. Having the 'right people in the right place at the right time' and future-proofing your business by understanding your skills inventory and potential, will meet and overcome any roadblocks that arise enabling you to quickly and effectively grow your business.

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management. – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Recruitment – a chore?

Recruitment for many is a necessary chore, but it doesn’t have to be. Recruitment is needed for growth and to combat attrition however, it is often a process that is executed poorly internally and, indeed, by some agencies. Recruitment is a core management skill that is often not taught well, or at all. Do you remember your first time as an interviewer? It was probably as terrifying for you as it was for the interviewee!

It’s time consuming; imagine you are recruiting an Accounts Assistance position on Seek; you could expect up to 280 applications - a review of these applications would take about 70 hours, allowing 15mins per CV and notification to the unsuccessful. You get to a shortlist of 10 candidates; you ring them to arrange an interview and discover 5 have already found an alternative role as you took 3 weeks to review all the applications! You offer the other 5 candidates a face-to-face interview, not realising that 3 of them have been unimpressed by your candidate management to date and now the role sounds a little dull. 10 hours later you have interviewed the 5 candidates; you ring to offer your preferred candidate only to discover she has already accepted another role paying $10k more than you were able to offer. Surely there must be an easier way? Well there is Employee Matters …

We will write and place your ads to attract the best candidates and deter the unsuitable ones with the use of a screening questionnaire. We will respond to every candidate, acknowledging their application and protecting your brand. We will review the applications and questionnaires and formally advise the unsuccessful candidates. We will phone-screen the initial cull to assess skills, motivation and salary expectations to avoid you wasting your time at interview. Following this, we will provide you with the top candidates for interview. We can even complete your ‘right to work’, reference and background checks. We have years of recruitment experience and charge an hourly rate depending on your preference.  Let us work as your trusted internal recruiter, with no vested interest in getting a placement fee of 15% or more of the total compensation.

It should be expected that for most Managers the average time to recruit would be up to 50 hours, if done well.  With our skill sets and recruitment systems it would take an average of 25-35 hours for us and 4 hours of your time to interview the preferred candidates. Let us take away your pain, provide you with better screened candidate and help you hire the right people to build your business.

Tell me your thoughts, we would love to hear what you think?

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Stressed out employees?

If you plan on hiring employees and you wish to retain them (and let’s face it, the cost of replacement in the current market is far too high not to), then you should consider an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).  During most people’s career, chances are they will experience some of life’s ‘bumps in the road’ along the way. These ‘bumps’ could be a death in the family, divorce, health problems or mental illness which incidentally, affects 25% of the population at some point in their life. A program such as this will also assist if the individual is struggling with an aspect of their work, say, a conflict with a team member or boss. Stress is a major issue for employees in our fast-paced society and using an EAP could be the difference between them choosing not to resign or take extensive stress leave.

80% of the top 500 organisations currently offer EAPs to support their employees in their time of need. Here are the top five reasons to implement an EAP service:

1.    Increase productivity – happy employees are more productive employees with a direct impact to your bottom line

2.   Reduced personal leave taken and reduction in attrition – employees receiving counselling are less likely to take excessive personal leave or resign, as they are being given tools to deal with their personal situation

3.   Duty of Care - as an employer you have a ‘duty of care’ to look after your employees and this should include their mental health as well as their physical health

4.   Right skills right time – most employers are not counsellors nor should they attempt to be. A trained counsellor or psychologist can provide the professional support required.

5.   Employer of Choice – most candidates would see this as a tangible benefit to their package - plus the view is that their employer cares

So how does the program work? The key to the success of the service is complete confidentiality. You will never know which employee uses the service. If you have sufficient numbers (10 or more individuals) you will receive an annual report that will advise the type of issues involved and some demographics confirming the benefit of the offering to your team. A counsellor will be assigned and, depending on the provider, they will either meet with the employee via phone or face-to-face. In the majority of cases, most individuals will usually only require a couple of sessions with a counsellor to have the desired effect. 

There are a number of providers around but I would recommend that you find one that suits your specific needs, budget and culture. If your employees matter to you, then I would highly recommend you invest in an EAP program.

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Mums returning to work - how flexible do I need to be?

I had three children in three years – mad I hear you say! Quite possibly, but you don’t realise this when you are in the thick of it. I was very lucky to work for a progressive, professional services firm and I was able to return to work when the kids were a couple of months old; I worked two days per week from home. This was the best outcome for me as we needed the money, but I was physically close to my kids and still able to breastfeed. We had a nanny too (as anyone who has attempted to work at home with children will be aware that there is no other way!) I was part of a global team so a lot of my time was spent on global conference calls at 9 - 12pm or 5am - 7am in the morning, when my husband could cover the kids while they were ‘technically’ asleep.

Some ABS statistics that did surprise me in 2001 showed that men accounted for 65% of the full-time workforce and women 35% but, surprisingly, in 2011 the percentage breakdown remains the same. The story is different when you look at the part-time workforce in 2001; men accounted for 28% of the workforce and women 72%. In 2011, men accounted for 30% of the part-time workforce (more Dads sharing the raising of children) and women 70%. So I read into this that more women are returning to full-time work, when what I expected to see was an increase in part-time work available to women. I think that these statistics are disappointing when technology makes it so easy to work both remotely and flexibly.

With the introduction of the Fair Work Act in January 2010, all employers in Australia now have a formal process to follow concerning the timeframes relevant when responding to requests for flexible working from a parent with a child under 6. This does not mean that you have to grant their every desire but you do need to see whether working from home or reducing their hours is an option, even on a temporary basis. If you refuse, you must do so on reasonable business grounds. If you insisted that they return to their role on a full time capacity you may well be hearing from the FWA Ombudsman. You would need to prove that your business will suffer financially, without this individual returning to their full-time role.

Some examples of flexible working arrangements are:

·         Changes to hours of work; i.e. part-time or flexi-time

·         Changes in patterns of work; i.e. a compressed working week, or adjusted start and finish times

·         Working from home

·         Job sharing with another employee

·         Bringing a child to work

·         Office transfer

·         Self rostering
 

·         Leave variations; i.e. extended unpaid leave

Please let me know your thoughts and experience in the feedback section below.  I would love to hear from you.

In my experience, most employees who receive this type of flexibility work even harder for your organisation. So if you show your employees that they matter to you they will respond in kind!

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Employee Matters Client Experience – Part 2

This is the follow on blog on the Employee Matters Client Experience. The intention of this document is to map the client experience that we wish all of our clients to experience during all of their interactions with us. In every phone call, message, face to face meeting, tweet, LinkedIn & Facebook interaction, we need to consider the following:

Be prepared for anything – everyone in business knows that things will go wrong at times. Clients need to be kept in the loop and advised of progress, good or otherwise, especially if there is a likely delay or problem. We own our client’s problem even if it is not our role or fault. We each aim to be their person that gets things sorted. If we can’t, we find someone who can

It’s all about the long term relationship – we are determined to build long term relationships with our clients. For Employee Matters ‘long term’ means ten to twenty years and beyond. We want our clients to recommend us without having to ask, however we will ask for referrals too! We would like our clients to be happy to write testimonials for us

Share our stories – everyone loves a story much more that listening to statistics or benefits; we share our experience with our client through real-life examples. We obviously do not mention names, as this information is confidential and our client must feel confident that our integrity is without question. Shared stories create shared meaning; it also helps the client to understand that it is not just them experiencing this issue; others have and we helped them!

A simple thank you – this is basic good manners but paramount to the way we act and do business. Manners go an exceptionally long way and will be remembered by clients for a long time. A simple thank you, either in words, a gesture, a note or a gift; it’s a great way to remind the client that they really do matter

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Employee Matters Client Experience – Part 1

The intention of this document is to map the client experience that we wish all of our clients to experience during all of their interactions with us. In every phone call, message, face to face meeting, tweet, LinkedIn & Facebook interaction, we need to consider the following:

It’s all about the client – every interaction and all work that you do must be client-centric. We do not want to see the attitude or behaviour; ‘what’s in it for me or Employee Matters?’  All communication must be centred on the customer and we must ask ‘what’s in it for the client?’  Then we must ask ourselves ‘so what next?’ Everything is tailored to the client and their needs

Get to know our client exceptionally well - it is critical to know our clients well; we need to understand their thoughts, opinions and needs in order to best match our offering and target our level of assistance. We will ensure that we can just talk to them as opposed to selling to them. We share with them important information that perhaps they didn’t know; they will love us for that. (Having said that, building deep and successful relationships with clients takes time so we don’t rush the process!)

Listen more - talk less – when interacting with a client we should be listening 70-80% of the time and asking pertinent questions, when necessary. We practice active listening; this shows the client that we really are listening to them. This listening skill will build the relationship and give us all the information that we need to match our clients’ needs

Don’t over-promise – be realistic when stating what we can achieve for a client. If we can’t do it in the timeframe requested, we say so, and let them know the reason. We advise a more realistic or practical timeframe but ensure that we understand the drivers for the request; maybe we could get part of the project to them more quickly and then follow up afterwards. We never lie to a client.  We do what we say we are going to do; if we tell a client we will ring them tomorrow morning before 10am, we make sure we do just that. (Even if it is to tell them of a delay; bad news is better than no news)

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au