source: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/bob-suttons-top-10-list--------flawed-suspect-and-incomplete-assumptions--about-managing-people---------1-hr-ought.html
by Bob Sutton
Bob Sutton’s Top 10 List
Flawed, Suspect, and Incomplete Assumptions about Managing People
1. HR ought to be all about spotting, hiring, and breeding individual talent (HR could pack a bigger wallop by focusing on teams and networks more).
2. HR should focus on finding, hiring, and developing the very best people (Bad is stronger than good – about 5 times stronger -- so screening-out, reforming, expelling the very worst people is more crucial to collective performance).
3. Find some great superstars and pay them whatever is necessary to keep them happy… and certainly a lot more than everyone else (The best organizations pay higher than competitors, but have more compressed pay).
4. Competition makes people, teams, and companies stronger (Unless people and teams are rewarded for undermining one another rather than helping each other… dysfunctional internal competition is one of the most pervasive problems in American firms).
5. Harmony and having a shared vision are crucial to success (Perhaps for routine work; but creativity depends on battling over ideas. Part of HR’s job should be to teach people how to “fight as if they are right, and listen as if they are wrong”).
6. The key to success is copying practices used by the best companies. (The best companies may be succeeding despite rather than because of their HR practices).
7. Every company needs a great performance review system. (Are they really worth the time and effort? Do they do more harm than good?).
8. Taking a leadership position brings out the best in people. (This is a dangerous half-truth. Giving people power over others turns them into self-centered jerks).
9. The most important thing HR can do is to find and develop great senior leaders (Having an organization with a high proportion of good bosses is probably more important).
10. The best organizations have the best people, “the people make the place.” (There are huge differences in talent, but the best organizations typically have the best systems and not necessarily the best raw talent).
Robert Sutton, Stanford University (www.bobsutton.net)
Singapore Human Capital Summit
30 September 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Best Business Advice I Ever Got
by Henry Blodget
source: http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-best-business-advice-ever-2009-9
I've gotten a lot of good business advice over the years, but a simple phrase from my first boss, Jonathan Morgan, takes the cake:
"Make it happen."
Jonathan didn't share this phrase as advice, of course--he shared it as a marching order. But it's still the best business advice I've ever received.
Because "making it happen" is ultimately what success in business is all about.
Successful startups, for example, make something out of nothing--products, productivity, and jobs, where before there was only air.
To do that, they have to overcome obstacles that kill their lesser brethren. They have to fight inertia and fear. They have to press on when it would be easier to give up. They have to figure out how to use limited money, materials, and ideas to solve real problems--and they have to do it better and faster than established competitors.
They have to, in short, make it happen.
And the same can be said for all businesses and businesspeople.
"Make it happen," of course, is mostly a mindset.
It is a mindset that says "I don't know what the future holds and what trouble will come, but I have the resources, creativity, and authority to get the job done.
"I won't get discouraged. I won't listen to the voices--my own included--telling me it can't be done. I won't take no for an answer. Come hell or high water, I'll make it happen."
So, as my old boss Jonathan would say, stop obsessing about the thousand reasons why you and your business probably won't be able to do something or shouldn't be expected to do something or really don't want to do something...
Just make it happen.
source: http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-best-business-advice-ever-2009-9
I've gotten a lot of good business advice over the years, but a simple phrase from my first boss, Jonathan Morgan, takes the cake:
"Make it happen."
Jonathan didn't share this phrase as advice, of course--he shared it as a marching order. But it's still the best business advice I've ever received.
Because "making it happen" is ultimately what success in business is all about.
Successful startups, for example, make something out of nothing--products, productivity, and jobs, where before there was only air.
To do that, they have to overcome obstacles that kill their lesser brethren. They have to fight inertia and fear. They have to press on when it would be easier to give up. They have to figure out how to use limited money, materials, and ideas to solve real problems--and they have to do it better and faster than established competitors.
They have to, in short, make it happen.
And the same can be said for all businesses and businesspeople.
"Make it happen," of course, is mostly a mindset.
It is a mindset that says "I don't know what the future holds and what trouble will come, but I have the resources, creativity, and authority to get the job done.
"I won't get discouraged. I won't listen to the voices--my own included--telling me it can't be done. I won't take no for an answer. Come hell or high water, I'll make it happen."
So, as my old boss Jonathan would say, stop obsessing about the thousand reasons why you and your business probably won't be able to do something or shouldn't be expected to do something or really don't want to do something...
Just make it happen.
More Money, More Happiness? Not for Your Employees
source: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/more-money-more-happiness-not-for-your-employees-trent-hamm
by Trent Hamm (The Simple Dollar)
Oct 01, 2009 -
Several years ago, I spent the better part of a year involved in a team project that was filled with almost every flavor of poison you can imagine in a workplace. Gossip. Tension. Missed deadlines. Sucking up to supervisors. Secret meetings that only included some of the group.
To put it frankly, every single day in that environment was a nightmare. At the end, I was simply ready to quit - and I blew up. I walked out the door and went home, fully expecting to be fired for it.
Instead, I was given a raise. And it was the last thing on earth I wanted.
I did some soul searching and made myself go back the following Monday. If anything, the environment was worse, full of accusations and bitterness. I had more money, but I was still miserable - and I was still not truly productive.
Luckily, the project’s supervisor caught on and cleaned house, eliminating the poisonous personnel and going a long way to involve the remaining team in ensuring that this never happened again. He also sent me to San Diego for a week that involved almost no work at all - just time to calm down, chill out, and relax.
The first solution - throwing money at the personnel problem - never works. If there’s a conflict between people that’s keeping the work from being completed in a timely fashion, direct financial rewards will, at best, only make a tiny short term difference.
Never solve a people problem by giving a raise. It’s like trying to buy the love of a beautiful woman - you might turn her head, but you’ll never turn her heart.
Instead, start by asking questions - and listening. Spend the time to dig through the conflict and figure out what the source of it is, then address that source directly.
If you’re simply trying to raise general morale and are intending to spend to do it, give time instead of money. Give people some extra time off. Give them more flexibility in their hours - try adding some flexibility to the scheduling.
Beyond that, pair up people that work together well - people feel good when they do a good job. Offer up direct compliments when you witness good work - and occasionally single out people who do exceptional work in an exceptional way.
Your employees are already reasonably pleased with the income they make - if they’re not, they’ll ask for more. If you want to increase morale (and thus increase productivity), look for ways to improve the non-financial aspects of their working situation - their time, the people around them, and their environment. Don’t try to increase morale by throwing money at it - it’s like giving a dozen street-vendor roses to a florist.
by Trent Hamm (The Simple Dollar)
Oct 01, 2009 -
Several years ago, I spent the better part of a year involved in a team project that was filled with almost every flavor of poison you can imagine in a workplace. Gossip. Tension. Missed deadlines. Sucking up to supervisors. Secret meetings that only included some of the group.
To put it frankly, every single day in that environment was a nightmare. At the end, I was simply ready to quit - and I blew up. I walked out the door and went home, fully expecting to be fired for it.
Instead, I was given a raise. And it was the last thing on earth I wanted.
I did some soul searching and made myself go back the following Monday. If anything, the environment was worse, full of accusations and bitterness. I had more money, but I was still miserable - and I was still not truly productive.
Luckily, the project’s supervisor caught on and cleaned house, eliminating the poisonous personnel and going a long way to involve the remaining team in ensuring that this never happened again. He also sent me to San Diego for a week that involved almost no work at all - just time to calm down, chill out, and relax.
The first solution - throwing money at the personnel problem - never works. If there’s a conflict between people that’s keeping the work from being completed in a timely fashion, direct financial rewards will, at best, only make a tiny short term difference.
Never solve a people problem by giving a raise. It’s like trying to buy the love of a beautiful woman - you might turn her head, but you’ll never turn her heart.
Instead, start by asking questions - and listening. Spend the time to dig through the conflict and figure out what the source of it is, then address that source directly.
If you’re simply trying to raise general morale and are intending to spend to do it, give time instead of money. Give people some extra time off. Give them more flexibility in their hours - try adding some flexibility to the scheduling.
Beyond that, pair up people that work together well - people feel good when they do a good job. Offer up direct compliments when you witness good work - and occasionally single out people who do exceptional work in an exceptional way.
Your employees are already reasonably pleased with the income they make - if they’re not, they’ll ask for more. If you want to increase morale (and thus increase productivity), look for ways to improve the non-financial aspects of their working situation - their time, the people around them, and their environment. Don’t try to increase morale by throwing money at it - it’s like giving a dozen street-vendor roses to a florist.
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