Common Sense Tips for Process Redesign (Part I of II)
By Fred Hessler, Director of Business Development
Basic change to established business processes can be an intimidating and exhausting undertaking for any organization. The most well-intentioned change initiatives can be derailed by ingrained habit, systems limitations, and concerns about turf and status. In part are a few common-sense tips, geared toward managers within established companies, for organizing and pursuing process change initiatives.
When determining your scope, take the broadest view you practically can of the process you hope to improve. Business processes typically represent a stream of work that flows across multiple organizational units within a company. Merely improving work practices within your department or group may produce some benefit for your organization but is unlikely to produce the significant and fundamental gains that will make the effort worthwhile. Try instead to enlist the interest of work teams and departments that precede or follow yours in the process. Your potential to fashion genuine and significant improvement increases with the breadth of the process you’re addressing.
Assuming that your target process crosses departmental boundaries, enlist the support of the management over those areas. In doing this, express the project in terms of a goal rather than a solution. Say, “I’d like to see us do ‘A’ more efficiently, and I’d like your help and insight” rather than positing a solution. Your fellow managers will be more likely to support your efforts if they believe that they can contribute to devising a solution rather than merely adopting yours.
Once you’ve secured management sponsorship, with your fellow managers, select change team participants that adequately represent the departments and work units involved. Make sure that all constituencies have a chance to contribute to the solution and air their concerns. Leaving out a constituency virtually guarantees resistance to your solution.
Also, when selecting your change team, choose participants from various levels in the organizational hierarchy. Avoid the temptation to pack the team with managers. In most businesses, intimate familiarity with current operational deficiencies, potential solutions, and how work is actually conducted resides on the front lines. Front-line employees suffer the most from operational flaws and have given the most thought to their remediation. Although strategic guidance from management is required in any change initiative, empowering front line employees to analyze problems and devise solutions will generally produce more imaginative and adoptable results.
In the next issue we will look at the redesigning of your target process and the consideration of using a focused multi-day workshop approach.
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Take Control of Your Job Satisfaction
By Amy L. Slettedahl, Manager of Professional Services
Are you working in a job that falls short of your “ideal” job, or are you working your “ideal” job but now find it more difficult to get through the day? If you answered yes to either of the above, you are not alone.
According to a 2007 Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey, conducted by Salary.com, Inc™ and nearly 12,000 employees and over 300 human resources professionals, over 60% of employees reported that they plan to look for a new job in the next three months. Moreover, the survey revealed that organizations are at risk of losing their most productive talent; those who have been in their position for three to ten years! The survey results further revealed that inadequate compensation leads the list of variables that make employees want to leave their current position. The results also suggest this explanation of inadequate compensation is actually a misconception, because 50% of employees who felt inadequately paid, less than 22% were actually found to be paid below the fair market value for their job. This misconception has been titled by many in the human resources arena as the “grass is greener” syndrome, and illustrates that many employees lack insight into fair pay for their job, which ultimately may stimulate job search activity.
Additionally, other variables that contribute to job dissatisfaction include, but are not limited to: conflict between co-workers, conflict with supervisors, boredom or in congruency with one’s interests, lack of opportunity for promotion and fear of losing one’s job through downsizing or outsourcing.
Depending on the underlying cause of one’s dissatisfaction however, there may be several ways to increase satisfaction. First, set new challenges to make the best of the job you have, which can include improving your overall job skills, developing or taking on a project that can motivate you and give you a sense of control, or get involved in mentoring a co-worker or intern. Second, beat the boredom by being cognizant of taking breaks throughout the day, cross-train in different areas that interest you, volunteer for something different, or ask your supervisor for a new challenge. Lastly, stay positive by stopping negative thoughts and reframing them by looking for the good in any bad situation, learn from your mistakes, and take gratitude in the things that are positive about your job. If you are dissatisfied with your current job situation, takes steps to restore meaning. By doing so, you will help manage your stress and experience the rewards of your respective profession!
Sources:
1) www.Salary.com, Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey (2006/2007).
2) Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.com (2007.)
Changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act; What Employers Need to Know
By Elizabeth Imhoff Mabey, Esq., Vice President of Professional Services and General Counsel
 2008 has already seen changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). First, on January 28, the FMLA was amended to extend its benefits to military families. Then in February, the Department of Labor ("DOL") proposed new regulations to the FMLA which address changes it believes are necessary over the last 15 years of administering and enforcing the Act.
The new amendments to the FMLA provide two new types of leave for military families. First, eligible employees may now take FMLA leave to care for a member of the Armed Forces who has sustained a serious injury or illness while in the line of duty. The most significant difference as compared with regular FMLA leave, however, is that the eligible employee may take 26 weeks of leave in a 12 month period, rather than the 12 weeks afforded to other categories of leave. Moreover, the amendment also expands the family members who are eligible for FMLA leave to include the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin to the service member.
The second type of FMLA leave afforded to military families is the right to take 12 weeks of leave in a 12 month period for any "qualifying exigency" arising from a family member being on active duty or called to active duty status. Covered family members include the spouse, son, daughter or parent of the eligible employee.
The proposed regulations generally reflect court decisions that struck down certain original regulations, as well as clarify ambiguities and other areas of confusion that had become apparent through the DOL's administration of the law. The following points summarize some of the new regulations:
- An employee who is voluntarily performing "light duty" work following FMLA leave is not using additional FMLA leave and his reinstatement rights may not be affected by the light duty assignment.
- Employees may voluntarily waive their FMLA rights in releases with their employers, and are not required to get DOL or court approval to do so. Employees are still prohibited from waiving prospective FMLA rights.
- Employers now have extended time to send eligibility and designation notices to employees. The regulations will change the time to five business days, instead of two. In addition, employers must now give an employee seven calendar days to cure a deficiency in a medical certification.
- Employees must now follow their employers' regular call-in procedures if they will be absent on FMLA leave, except in unusual circumstances.
- Employers may now communicate directly with the employees' health care providers for the purposes of clarification of a medical certification form.
- Employers may require that a fitness-for-duty certification includes the employee's ability to perform the essential functions of his position, as well as requiring certification when an employee attempts to return from intermittent leave when reasonable safety concerns exist.
- Employees who utilize leave due to a serious health condition must now visit their health care provider two times within 30 days of the incapacity, and at least two times per year for a chronic serious health condition.
The DOL is accepting comments from interested parties on the proposed regulations through April 11, 2008. http://www.dol.gov/dol/contact/index.htm
Quote of the Month
"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem."
- Theodore Isaac Rubin
Benefits of Corporate Sponsorship
By Kelly Klinkenborg, Account Manager
 Corporate Sponsorship is a mutually beneficial arrangement which enables a sponsored party the opportunity to improve the quality of its events or services through additional funding while providing a sponsor with product exposure, name recognition, public goodwill, and a public endorsement of values for which the sponsored party stands.
Becoming a corporate sponsor allows an organization’s name to be recognized by a carefully selected audience, in which the public begins to recognize that an organizational logo is associated with the sponsored party. This sponsor recognition creates interest on the part of the public, inspiring individuals to further examine products and services offered by the sponsor. The primary objective of a sponsor is often not to purely generate revenue but to facilitate networking.
On a local level, corporate sponsorship is an excellent mechanism for an organization to give back to the community by investing in local athletes, charitable organizations, and other events. Businesses are able to give back to the community through educational, cultural, and entertainment means, which often brings recognition to both the community and the organization.
Benefits of corporate sponsorship can extend beyond the community, and impress vendors on a regional, statewide, or national level. Widespread recognition can have the greater impact of directly promoting the business and reaching a greater target audience outside of an easily accessible locale. The sponsor also has the ability to interact directly with the community through their sponsorship campaigns, versus typical marketing strategies such as advertising, which are not conducive to interpersonal relationships.
While the benefits of becoming a sponsor are numerous and varied, they generally boil down to the networking opportunities that are created when sponsorship occurs versus the cost associated with the sponsorship. The relationships formed are fruitful for both the charitable organization and the sponsor, and are the foundation for the future success of both entities.
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