DESIGNING ORGANIZATION, STAFF & TEAMS
Designing Organization and Staff
Overall, the organization and its various groups should be organized in the configuration that reaches business goals in the most effective and efficient fashion. Guidelines in this section will help you ensure your organization and its various groups are organized in the best configuration possible.
NOTE: Sources for additional and advanced information are included at the end of this section.
If You Are In An Already Established Organizations, Then Organizing Will Be Easier if You Have Been:

1. Conducting strategic planning to regularly review the purpose of your organization, its overall goals and who should be doing what to meet those goals

2. Using sound principles of employee performance management to regularly review what employees should be doing to produce results, how they're doing toward their results, and what must be done to help them do a better job of achieving results

If You Are In An Already Established Organizations, Then Typical Problems That Suggest Need for Organizing (or Re-Organizing) Are:
There are several problems that seem to keep coming up in small businesses, whether for-profit or nonprofit. These problems include:
1. An employee keeps complaining (and you agree) that he or she is overloaded with work.

2. Employees complain that their activities overlap.

3. An employee indicates (and you agree) that he or she does not have enough work to do during a work day.

4. Employees complain that they're reporting to more than one boss, or supervisor.

5. An employee complains that their work includes very different tasks. For example, they may have a highly complex and demanding project (e.g., leading strategic planning) and a large routine, recurring task (sorting a great deal of the organization's daily mail).

6. Management notices a large amount of employee turnover, that is, employees don't stay long enough with the organization.

7. A department, or major function in the organization, has recurring problems.
NOTE: It is not always problems that provoke the need for organizing. For example, if the organization has been conducting strategic planning and produced new goals, these goals may require the organization to reorganize. For example, if the business wants to expand marketshare in a certain region, then the organization may need a new office in that region, more sales people, etc.
General Principles to Remember

Whether you're in an already established or a new organization, the activity of organizing and re-organizing can be a major undertaking that has substantial effect on everyone in the organization. Therefore, before we visit some specific guidelines for carrying out change, it's important to keep the following general principles in mind:
1. Don't get wrapped up in doing change for the sake of change. Know why you're making the change. Know what overall goal(s) do you hope to accomplish.

2. Successful change must involve the strong, ongoing, visible participation of top management.

3. Usually there's a champion who initially instigates the change by being visionary, persuasive and consistent.

4. A change agent role is usually responsible to translate the vision to a realistic plan and carry out the plan.

5. Take care of yourself first. Organization-wide change can be highly stressful.

6. The process won't be an "aha!" It will likely not be as bad as you might expect, but won't be as good as you'd prefer either.

7. Keep perspective. Keep focused on meeting the needs of your customers.

8. Don't seek to control change, but rather to expect it, understand it and manage it.

9. Change is usually best carried out as a team-wide effort.

10. Communications about the change should be frequent and with all organization members.

11. To sustain change, the structures of the organization itself should be modified, including strategic plans, policies and procedures.
General Guidelines for Planning the Organizing
Recurring problems often seem to have little to do with the business's overall purpose and goals. However, any attempts at reorganizing may be just fine tuning, or tweaking, if not done with the long term in mind. In fact, the recurring problems may be a symptom of the organization's not having clearly thought out what its overall purpose and goals are.

Without visiting the overall purpose and goals, redesign is usually a highly reactive and very short-term fix. Therefore:

1. Carefully consider conducting a strategic planning process to guide you through reviewing your organization's purpose.

2. Consider using a consultant. Ensure the consultant is highly experienced in organization-wide change. Ask to see references and check the references.

3. Plan the change. How do you plan to reach the goals, what will you need to reach the goals, how long might it take and how will you know when you've reached your goals or not? What will you need in resources and how much will they probably cost? Focus on the coordination of the departments/programs in your organization, not on each part by itself. Have someone in charge of the plan.

4. Document a plan. Forums should be held for organization members to express their ideas for the plan. They should be able to express their concerns and frustrations as well. Note that plans do change. That's fine, but communicate that the plan has changed and why.

5. Include closure in the plan to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments.

6. Get as much feedback as practical from employees during planning and implementation of the change, including what they think are the problems and what should be done to resolve them. If possible, work with a team of employees to manage the change.

7. Widely communicate the plan, including the need for change. The best approaches to address resistance to change is through increased and sustained communications and education.
Guidelines During Organizational Design
One of the most frequent and straightforward means to guide decisions about organizational design is to examine similar businesses, including similar design and nature of services and products. However, management should still undertake careful examination of the design of their business. The following guidelines will help you in this activity.

Lewis, Lewis and Souflee, in Management of Human Service Organizations (Books/Cole, 1991, p. 80) list several key questions developing an organizational design. These questions apply, whether for-profit or nonprofit organization.

1. What are the primary goals and objectives that the organization should be designed to meet? (Strategic planning will help you determine what these goals are.)

2. What continuing activities need to be performed in order to implement the strategies that have been selected as part of the planning process? (Strategic planning will help you determine the answer to this question, too.)

3. How can the necessary activities to be divided so that individuals or groups can be assigned responsibility for performing them [that is, organized into separate roles and jobs]? [Activities should be grouped into related and similar activities as much as possible so that individuals are working on tasks that are related and similar.]

4. Once activities have been grouped into specific jobs, what kind of authority and responsibility should be assigned?

5. How and by whom should decisions be made? [Attempt to always and ultimately have one person who is singularly responsible for decisions].

6. How specialized should roles be?

7. Who should control the work being performed?

8. How can communication and coordination among members of the organization be facilitated?

9. How can job and role descriptions be developed to take into account both functions and accountabilities?

10. How can coordination and communication with the external social environment be facilitated?

[Also strive to have:

11. Every employee ultimately reporting to one person, if possible, and they should know who that person is. Job descriptions are often complained about, but they are useful in specifying who reports to whom.

12. Carefully consider the span of control, that is, how many people are reporting to whom. Can each manager really supervise that many people in an effective fashion?

13. When done designing the group, always build structure into the new design through the use of organizational charts, job descriptions, policies and procedures that document the design and who is doing what in it.
STAFFING
Defining a New Job Role
1. Recognizing the need for the new role

Often, managers realize the need for a new organizational role when employees continue to report being short-handed and mention the same tasks are not being done. Ideally, planning for a new role is done during strategic planning or when a new product or service is added to the organization.

2. Draft a job description

Management should draft a job description which specifies the general responsibilities of the position along with some of the specific duties to be conducted by the role, the title for the position, and any special skills, training or credentials required. (Do not seek job descriptions from other organizations and merely adopt those. Your open position is unique and job descriptions are very important so you should develop your own -- the process of completing the job description is usually enlightening.) Note which job activities are essential and which are non-essential. Add whom the position reports to and note if the position is full-time or part-time. Consider if the position requires any special physical skills (this may be important when considering accommodations to candidates with physical disabilities and effects from the Americans with Disabilities Act). If the position must be filled by a paid employee (see the next paragraph to consider if a volunteer or consultant is more appropriate), consider if the position is exempt or non-exempt (exempt from being paid overtime). Usually, highly skilled and/or professional roles are exempt, while entry-level positions are non-exempt and will be paid for over-time. Invite employees to review and edit the drafted job description. Consider including a six-month probationary period for the new position and if you do so, be sure to update your personnel policies to describe your organization's use of the probationary conditions. A probationary period allows you to fire an employee during the six months if you have concerns and greatly decreases the chances you will be sued for wrongful termination.

3. Would a volunteer (in the case of nonprofits) or consultant is appropriate?

At this point, consider if a volunteer or consultant might fill the new position. If the activities associated with the role are highly critical for an extended duration, e.g., over six months, and require both critical and general skills, you may be better off to count on hiring an employee. On the other hand, if the role's activities are entry-level and if you are not sure that the position is really needed for the long term, consider getting volunteers to fill the role. If the role requires highly skilled personnel for a fixed duration, consider hiring a consultant.

4. Determine the approximate cost of the new role

Estimate the salary range for the new position. Set this range by talking to other organizations with similar product or services, or by scanning classified sections of newspapers with ads for similar roles. Finalize how much the position will cost the organization by adding "fringe" to the salary. For planning purposes, fringe might be estimated at 40% of the salary. Fringe includes costs of benefits planned for the new role, including health and dental and life insurance, and retirement benefits, along with required unemployment taxes, worker's compensation and any pension plans. Note that, depending on the state in which you live, you may be required to required to pay certain employment taxes for part-time people, often if they are at or over half-time. Additional costs of the position result from training, equipment, rental of space, postage, copying, etc. (You should develop a compensation program, with policies that outline the procedure for determination of salary and benefits.

5. Get feedback and authorization from the board (in the case of corporations)

You may want to work with the board chair to prepare for communication of the new job to the board. Propose the new position to the board by attaching a proposal letter to the drafted job description along with description of how the position will be funded and sending it to all board members for their review before the next board meeting. At the board meeting, invite open discussion and questions about the new role. Seek their authorization for the new position.

6. Finalize the job description

Update the job description with relevant feedback from the boar (in the case of corporations). It's important that the job description be as accurate as possible because it is the basis for determining initial compensation, conveying the role to the new employee and conducting regular performance appraisals. Be sure to note the version of the job description by including the date on the bottom. The job description should be reviewed and updated annually, usually by the employee and supervisor during the performance review cycle (described later on in this section).
Hiring (Advertising, Screening and Selecting
1. Advertise the position

Post ads in classified sections of local major and neighborhood newspapers. In the ads, include the job title, general responsibilities, minimum skills and/or education required, whom they should send a resume to if they are interested and by when. Consider having a closing date after which you won't accept resumes. Mention the role to customers. Send cover letters and job descriptions to professional organizations. Be sure to mention the role to all employees to see if they have any favorite candidates.

2. (Note that current employees should be able to apply for the job.

Considerations in hiring them for the new role will have to include the impact on the organization if the employee leaves behind a critical and unfilled role in the organization. Some organizations may elect to give internal candidates the first shot at the job.)

3. Screen resumes

When screening resumes, note the candidate's career objective -- or the lack of it. If not specified, the candidate may not have considered what they want to do in the future, which may impact their commitment to your new role. Note if they stayed at jobs long or left quickly. Are there holes in their work history? Note their education and training. Is it appropriate for the new role? Consider what capabilities and skills might be evidenced in their past and current work activities. If you have lots of resumes, it helps greatly to enter in a word processor, the "highlights" and "concerns" information about each candidate; otherwise, after about 10 resumes, they all look the same. Having information on-line helps you keep perspective and you can go back later and have a strong overview of the candidates. Consider routing resumes past key employees to collect their rankings. Interview all candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. (At this point, be sure that you're not excluding candidates because of unfair biases.)

4. Interview candidates

Send the job description to candidates before they come to the interview meeting. While interviewing candidates, always apply the same questions to all candidates to ensure fairness. All questions should be in regard to performing the duties of the job. Ask about their compensation needs and expected or needed benefits. Attempt to ask open-ended questions, i.e., avoid "yes-no" questions. Talk for at most 25% of the time -- for the rest, listen. Don't rely on your memory -- ask permission from the interviewee to take notes. Find out when they can start if offered the job. Consider having multiple people at the interview; although this can be intimidating to the interviewee, this practice can ensure them a much more objective and fair presentation. Have the same interviewers in all of the interviews if possible. Consider asking some challenging, open-ended questions, such as "What skills do you bring to this job?", "What concerns do you have about filling this role?", "What was your biggest challenge in a past job and how did you meet it?" Don't ask questions about race, nationality, age, gender, disabilities (current or previous), marital status, spouses, children and their care, criminal records or credit records. Have all interviewers share/record their impressions of the candidate soon after the interview meeting. Explain to the candidate that you'll be getting back to them soon, and always do this. Ask if you can get and check any references. Always check references and share them with the interviewers. Be sure to tell candidates of any relevant personnel policies terms, such as probationary periods. (The best way to deal with a poor performer is not to hire him or her in the first place. It is often wise to have a probationary period of, e.g., six months, wherein if the employee does not meet the responsibilities of the position, you can terminate the employee.) If practical, look into the applicant's background to ascertain if they have a criminal record.

5. Select the candidate

Usually, this is not as easy as one would like because two or three candidates come in close. Have a highly focused meeting with all interviewers. Have each suggest their favorite candidate. If there is disagreement, focus discussion to identify the one or two areas in which interviewers disagree about the candidates. Then have each interviewer explain their impressions. At this point, interviewers usually come to consensus and agree on one candidate.

6. If there does not seem to be suitable candidate

Consider if the job requirements are too stringent or are an odd mix. For example, you might not find someone who's highly interested in a certain technical skill or service and who also shows strong interest in general skills. Reconfigure the job so that required skills and training are somewhat similar and the role becomes more standard. Or, consider hiring the candidate who came in closest and plan for dedicated training to bring their skills to the needed levels. Or, re-advertise the position. Consider getting advice from a human resources professional (at this point, your need for them is quite specific, so they might provide services on a pro bono basis). Or, consider hiring a consultant on a short-term basis, but only as a last resort as this may be quite expensive.

7. If everyone turns down the job

The best strategy is to ask the candidates why they turned the job down. Usually, you'll hear the same concerns, e.g., the pay is too low or the benefits incomplete, the organization seems confused about what it wants from the role, the interview process seemed hostile or contentious, etc. Reconvene the interviewers and consider what you heard from the candidates. Recognize what went wrong and correct the problem. Call back your favorite candidates, admit the mistake and what you did, and why you'd like to make an offer to them again.

8. Offer letter

If they accept an offer, always follow-up with an offer letter, specifying the compensation, benefits, and starting date and reference an attached job description. Ask them to sign a copy of the offer letter and return it to you.

9. Start a personnel file

Include in the file, the signed offer letter, tax withholding forms, the job description and any benefits forms.

Building Teams
Management experts assert that most work (and most learning) occurs in teams. Therefore, it's important to know how to design, build and support highly effective teams.
NOTE: There are several major "breakthroughs" in how teams are designed and carried out. These activities can be done. These breakthroughs are in regard to the extent of independence of the teams, producing, for example, self-organized teams, self-directed teams and self-managed teams.
NOTE: Additional and advanced information is referenced at the end of this section.
Major Types of Teams (or Groups)
There are many types of teams. The type used depends very much on the nature of the results the team is to accomplish.

Fomal and informal teams are "official" parts of the overall organization, assigned to a major, ongoing function, for example, quality management, patient care, etc. Management appoints formal teams. Informal teams are usually loosely organized groups of people who volunteer to come together to address a non-critical, short-term purpose.
Committees are organized to address, major ongoing tasks in an organization and membership is based on position, for example, committees in boards of directors, grievance committees, etc.

Problem solving teams

These teams are formed to address a particular, major problem currently faced by the organization. Often, their overall goal is to provide a written report that includes recommendations for solving the problem. Membership is comprised of people who perceive and experience the problem, as well as those who can do something about it.

Self-directed and self-managed teams

These increasingly used types of teams afford members great latitude in how they achieve the overall results preferred from the team. For example, they may select their leader who serves for a limited time and purpose, depending on the particular point in the group's process. This type of team is used especially when the team is working in a complex, rapidly changing environment.

Stages of Team Development

It helps a great deal to have some basic sense for the life of a team. Teams go through several major phases including the following:

Forming:

Members first get together. Individually, they consider "What am I here for?", "Who else is here", "Who am I comfortable with?", etc. During this stage, it's important to get members involved, including to introduce themselves to each other. The team may require clear leadership to facilitate clarity and comfort for involvement of members.

Storming:

During this stage, members are beginning to voice their individual differences, trying for join with others who share the same beliefs, trying to jockey for position in the group. Therefore, it's important for members to continue to be highly involved, including voicing their concerns in order to feel represented and understood. The team leader should focus on clarity of views, achieving consensus (or commonality of views) and recording decisions.

Norming:

In this stage, members begin to share common commitment to the purpose of the group, including its overall goals and how it will reach those goals. The team leader should focus on achieving clarity of roles, structure and process of the group.

Performing:

In this stage, the team is "humming". Members are actively participating in the team process in order to achieve the goals of the group and its organization. During this stage, the style of leadership becomes more indirect as members take on stronger participation and involvement in the group process.

Closing and Celebration:

At this stage, it's clear to members and their organization that the team has achieved its overall purpose (or a major milestone along the way). It's critical to acknowledge this point in the life of the team, lest members feel unfulfilled and skeptical about future team efforts.

Designing Teams
1. Set clear goals for the results to be produced by the team

The goals should be designed to be "SMARTER", that is, be specific, measurable, acceptable to members, realistic, and have a time frame to be started and stopped, extend the capabilities of members and provide reward for their accomplishment. As much as possible, include input from other members of the organization when designing and wording these goals. Goals might be, for example, "produce a project report that specifies project plan, schedule and budget to develop and test a complete employee performance management system within the next year". Write these goals down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

2. Set clear goals for the effectiveness of the team process

The goals should also be designed to be "SMARTER". Goals might be, for example, attain 90% participation of all members during the first 6 weeks of weekly attendance, achieve 90% satisfaction ratings among members, each person takes at least one turn at facilitating the group, meetings start and stop on time, etc. Write these goals down for eventual communication to all team members. Write these goals down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

3. Determine time frames for commencing and terminating the team, if applicable

Write these times down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

4. Determine the type of team

Various types of teams have various purposes. Consider use of permanent teams, committees, self-directed teams, problem solving teams, etc. (See additional information provided at the end of this section.)

5. Determine the membership of the group

Consider the extent of expertise needed to achieve the goals, including areas of knowledge and skills. Include at least one person who has skills in facilitation and meeting management. Attempt to include sufficient diversity of values and perspectives to ensure robust ideas and discussion. A critical consideration is availability -- members should have the time to attend every meeting.

6. Determine the structure of the group

Structure includes the number of people in the group, how often they will meet and when and who will be the leader of the group.

7. Determine the process of the group

Depending on the nature of the results to be produced by the group, the process might be focused on open discussion, action planning, problem solving and decision making, generating recommendations, etc.

8. Identify any needs for training and materials

For example, members might benefit from brief overview of the stages of development of a team, receive training and packets of materials in regard to their goals and the structure and process of their team, etc.

9. Identify the costs to provide necessary resources for the team

Consider the cost of paying employees to attend the meeting, trainers and/or consultants, room rental, office supplies, etc.

10. Plan the first meeting

In the first meeting, communicate the goals of the team, why each member was selected, the overall benefit of the goals to the organization, the time frame for the team effort, who will lead the team (at least, initially), when the team might meet and where, etc. Have this information written down to hand out to each member.

11. Early on, plan team building activities to support trust and strong working relationships among members

Team building activities can include, for example, a retreat in which members introduce themselves, exercises in which members help each other solve a short problem or meet a specific and achievable goal, extended period in which members can voice their concerns and frustrations about their team assignments, etc.

12. Support team meetings and processes

At this point, it's critical that supervisors remain available to provide support and resources as needed. Monitor that team goals are being met. Provide ongoing encouragement and visibility to members. One of the most important forms of support a supervisor can provide is coordination with other supervisors to ensure that team members are freed up enough to attend team meetings.
TRAINING
Orienting New Employees
Develop an employee orientation checklist and consider the following activities for inclusion on the list. The following activities should be conducted by the employee's supervisor.
1. Before the employee begins employment, send them a letter welcoming them to the organization, verifying their starting date and providing them a copy of the employee policies and procedures manual. Note that you'll dedicate time for them to discuss with manual with you later.

2. When the employee begins employment, meet with them to explain how they will be trained, introduce them to staff, give them keys, get them to sign any needed benefit and tax forms, explain the time-recording system (if applicable), and provide them copies of important documents (an organization chart, last year's final report, the strategic plan, this year's budget, and the employee's policies and procedure manual if they did not get one already).

3. Show them the facilities,including layout of offices, bathrooms, storage areas, kitchen use, copy and fax systems, computer configuration and procedures, telephone usage, and any special billing procedures for use of office systems.

4. Schedule any needed computer training,including use of passwords, overview of software and documentation, location and use of peripherals, and where to go to get questions answered.

5. Review any policies and/or procedures about use of facilities.

6. Assign an employee to them as their "buddy" who remains available to answer any questions.

7. Take them to lunch on the first day and invite other employees along.

8. Meet with them at the end of the day to hear any questions or comments.

9. Meet with the new employee during the first few days of employment to review the job description again. Remind them to review the employee manual and sign a form indicating they have reviewed the manual and will comply with its contents. Review any specific goals for the position, e.g., goals from the strategic plan. In the same meeting, explain the performance review procedure and provide them a copy of the performance review document.

10. Have one-on-one meetings with the new employee on a weekly basis for the first six weeks,to discuss the new employee's transition into the organization, get status on work activities, hear any pending issues or needs, and establish a working relationship with their supervisor.
Job Training
Some Basics to Know About Training
Variety of Reasons for Training

Employee job training can be initiated for a variety of reasons for an employee or group of employees, e.g.,:
a.) When a performance appraisal indicates performance improvement is needed

b.) To "benchmark" the status of improvement so far in a performance improvement effort

c.) As part of an overall professional development program

d.) As part of succession planning to help an employee be eligible for a planned change in role in the organization

e.) To "pilot", or test, the operation of a new performance management system

f.) To train about a specific topic
Very Basic Types of Training

When planning training for your employees, it helps to understand some basics about training. Let's look at four types of training.

Self-Directed Learning

Self-directed learning is where the learner decides what he or she will learn and how.

Other-Directed Learning

Other-directed learning is where other people decide what the learner will learn and how.

Informal training

Informal training has no predetermined form. Examples are reading books to learn about a subject, talking to friends about the subject, attending a presentation, etc.

Formal Training

Formal training has a predetermined form. The form usually includes specification of learning results, learning objectives and activities that will achieve the results, and how the training will be evaluated. Examples might be college courses, workshops, seminars, etc. Note that because formal training has a form, it does not necessarily mean that formal training is better than other forms.

Informal Means of Training

This is probably the most common type of training and includes, for example, on-the-job training, coaching from supervisors, using manuals and procedures, advice from peers, etc.

Coaching

Probably the most common form of informal training is job coaching.

1. The supervisor, or some other expert at the subject matter or skill, tells the employee how to do something.

2. The employee tries it.

3. The expert watches and gives feedback.

4. The employee tries it until he or she gets it right.

The above approach works best in tasks or jobs that include straightforward procedures or routines. As jobs and roles become more complex, employees often require more formal training.
Common Pitfalls in Employee Training
1. New managers and supervisors often underestimate the value of training.

2. Or, they perceive it as occurring only in classrooms.

3. Or, they assume that because an employee has attended a course, workshop or seminar, than he or she must have learned what they needed to know.

4. Or, they believe that good training can only occur from highly trained professionals.

Learn How to Plan Your Training

Supervisors and employees can accomplish highly effective training by following certain guidelines.

Determining Your Overall Goals in Training

1. Are there any time lines that you should consider in your plan?

2. Are you pursuing training and development in order to address a performance gap?

3. Or, is your plan to address a growth gap?

4. Or, is your plan to address an opportunity gap?

5. Get feedback from others

6. Should you conduct a self-assessment?

7. Is a list of competencies, job descriptions or job analysis available to help you identify your training and development goals?

8. Begin thinking about how much money you will need to fund your plan.

9. Write down your training goals.

Identifying Your Learning Objectives and Activities

1. What new areas of knowledge or skills are needed to reach the training goals. Each of these new areas is a learning objectives. Write down the learning objectives.

2. In what sequence should the learning objectives be attained?

a. Carefully consider -- When you have achieved all of your learning objectives, will you indeed have achieved all of your overall training goals?

b. What are the best learning activities (methods) for you to achieve your learning objectives? Do your learning activities include your ongoing reflections about your learning?

c. What observable results, or evidence of learning, will you produce from your learning activities that can be reviewed for verification of learning?

d. Who will verify that each of your learning objectives were reached?

3. Now that you know what activities that will be conducted, think again about any costs that will be needed, e.g., for materials, facilities, etc.

4. How will you handle any ongoing time and stress management issues while implementing your plan?

Developing Any Materials You May Need

1. Consider if you need to obtain, or start:

a. Enrolling in courses

b. Buying books

c. Scheduling time with experts

d. Getting a mentor

e. Scheduling time with your supervisor, etc.

Planning Implementation of Your Training Plan

1 During your training, how will you be sure that you understand the new information and materials?

2. Will your learning be engaging and enjoyable?

3. Are you sure that you'll receive the necessary ongoing feedback, coaching, mentoring, etc., during your training and development activities?

4. Where will you get necessary administrative support and materials?

Planning Evaluation of Your Training Plan and Experiences

1. Who's in charge of implementing and tracking your overall plan?

2. Consider having a local training expert review the plan.

3. Are approaches to evaluation included in all phases of your plan?

For example, are your methods being pretested before being applied? Do you understand the methods as they're being applied? Are regularly providing feedback about how well you understand the materials? How will the you (and your supervisor, if applicable) know if implementation of the plan achieves the training goals identified in the plan? Are there any plans for follow-up evaluation, including assessing your results several months after you completed your plan?

Budget Necessary Resources for Training

1. Consider costs of trainers, consultants, room rental, books, tuition, labor to pay the employee while attending training, etc.
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Getting Goals

New Managers and Supervisors Often Lack Perspective on Performance of Employees

One of the common problems that new managers and supervisors experience is no clear, strong sense whether their employees are really being effective or not. The first step toward solving this problem is to establish clear performance goals.

Some people have a strong negative reaction toward setting goals because they fear goals as "the law" that must be maintained and never broken. Some people fear they will not achieve the goals. Others have disdain for goals because goals seem to take the "heart" out their work.

Advantages of Goals

Despite the negative views that one can have about goals, they hold certain strong advantages in the workplace. They:

1. Provide clear direction to both supervisor and employee

2. Form a common frame of reference around which the supervisor and employee can effectively communicate

3. Clearly indicate success, and can facilitate strong sense of fulfillment for employee and supervisor

4. Help clarify the roles of the supervisor and employee.

Goals for Performance Gaps, Growth Gaps, Opportunity Gaps and Training Gaps

Goals can be established for a variety of reasons, for example, to overcome performance problems, qualitfy for future jobs and roles, take advantage of sudden opportunities that arise and/or give direction to training plans.

Performance gaps are identified during the employee performance management process. Ideally, performance gaps are addressed by performance improvement plans. In these plans, goals are established to improve performance, and may include, for example, increased effort on the part of the employee, support from the supervisor, and certain training and resources to assist the employee in their development. Dedicated employees can greatly appreciate having specific performance goals for them to achieve in order to keep their jobs, verify their competence to their supervisor and accomplish overall professional development.

Growth gaps are identified during career planning. Employees perceive certain areas of knowledge and skills that they would like to accomplish in order to qualify for certain future roles and positions. Employees often appreciate having clear-cut goals that mark what they need to do to advance in their careers.

Opportunity gaps are identified when a sudden opportunity arises for the employee. If the employee is highly interested in taking advantage of the opportunity, then he or she will appreciate knowing exactly what they need to accomplish (what goals they need to achieve) to grab the opportunity.

Training gaps are identified when hiring a new employee, during employee performance management or career planning. Gaps are usually in terms of areas of knowledge, skills or abilities. Training plans can be designed with clear-cut training goals to give direction to the employee and trainer.

Whatever the type of goal, it's critical that the employee have strong ownership and commitment to achieving the goal.
Goals Can Be Agreeable to Supervisors and Employees
These views can be addressed, largely by

a) ensuring that employees are strongly involved in identifying them,

b) goals are conveyed as guidelines and that they can be missed as long as there is clear explanation for missing the goals before they are missed, and

c) the goals are "SMARTER" (more on this below).

When setting goals with employees, strive to design and describe them to be "SMARTER". This acronym is described in this guide, in a subsection listed above, and stands for:

1. Specific

2. Measurable

3. Acceptable

4. Realistic

5. Timely

6. Extending capabilities

7. Rewarding

If goals seem insurmountable to the employee, then break goals down into smaller goals, or sub-goals or objectives. Each of these should be SMARTER, as well.

Supporting Employee Motivation

Clearing Up Common Myths About Employee Motivation

The topic of motivating employees is extremely important to managers and supervisors. Despite the important of the topic, several myths persist -- especially among new managers and supervisors. Before looking at what management can do to support the motivation of employees, it's important first to clear up these common myths.

1. Myth #1 -- "I can motivate people"

Not really -- they have to motivate themselves. You can't motivate people anymore than you can empower them. Employees have to motivate and empower themselves. However, you can set up an environment where they best motivate and empower themselves. The key is knowing how to set up the environment for each of your employees.

2. Myth #2 -- "Money is a good motivator"

Not really. Certain things like money, a nice office and job security can help people from becoming less motivated, but they usually don't help people to become more motivated. A key goal is to understand the motivations of each of your employees.

3. Myth #3 -- "Fear is a damn good motivator"

Fear is a great motivator -- for a very short time. That's why a lot of yelling from the boss won't seem to "light a spark under employees" for a very long time.

4. Myth #4 -- "I know what motivates me, so I know what motivates my employees"

Not really. Different people are motivated by different things. I may be greatly motivated by earning time away from my job to spend more time my family. You might be motivated much more by recognition of a job well done. People are motivated by the same things. Again, a key goal is to understand what motivates each of your employees.

5. Myth #5 -- "Increased job satisfaction means increased job performance"

Research shows this isn't necessarily true at all. Increased job satisfaction does not necessarily mean increased job performance. If the goals of the organization are not aligned with the goals of employees, then employees aren't effectively working toward the mission of the organization.

6. Myth #6 -- "I can't comprehend employee motivation -- it's a science"

Nah. Not true. There are some very basic steps you can take that will go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves toward increased performance in their jobs. (More about these steps is provided later on in this article.)
Basic Principles to Remember
1. Motivating employees starts with motivating yourself

It's amazing how, if you hate your job, it seems like everyone else does, too. If you are very stressed out, it seems like everyone else is, too. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you're enthusiastic about your job, it's much easier for others to be, too. Also, if you're doing a good job of taking care of yourself and your own job, you'll have much clearer perspective on how others are doing in theirs.

A great place to start learning about motivation is to start understanding your own motivations. The key to helping to motivate your employees is to understand what motivates them. So what motivates you? Consider, for example, time with family, recognition, a job well done, service, learning, etc. How is your job configured to support your own motivations? What can you do to better motivate yourself?

2. Always work to align goals of the organization with goals of employees

As mentioned above, employees can be all fired up about their work and be working very hard. However, if the results of their work don't contribute to the goals of the organization, then the organization is not any better off than if the employees were sitting on their hands -- maybe worse off! Therefore, it's critical that managers and supervisors know what they want from their employees. These preferences should be worded in terms of goals for the organization. Identifying the goals for the organization is usually done during strategic planning. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees (various steps are suggested below), ensure that employees have strong input to identifying their goals and that these goals are aligned with goals of the organization. (Goals should be worded to be "SMARTER". More about this later on below.)

3. Key to supporting the motivation of your employees is understanding what motivates each of them

Each person is motivated by different things. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees, they should first include finding out what it is that really motivates each of your employees. You can find this out by asking them, listening to them and observing them. (More about this later on below.)

4. Recognize that supporting employee motivation is a process, not a task

Organizations change all the time, as do people. Indeed, it is an ongoing process to sustain an environment where each employee can strongly motivate themselves. If you look at sustaining employee motivation as an ongoing process, then you'll be much more fulfilled and motivated yourself.

5. Support employee motivation by using organizational systems (for example, policies and procedures) -- don't just count on good intentions

Don't just count on cultivating strong interpersonal relationships with employees to help motivate them. The nature of these relationships can change greatly, for example, during times of stress. Instead, use reliable and comprehensive systems in the workplace to help motivate employees. For example, establish compensation systems, employee performance systems, organizational policies and procedures, etc., to support employee motivation. Also, establishing various systems and structures helps ensure clear understanding and equitable treatment of employees.

Steps You Can Take
The following specific steps can help you go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves in your organization.

1. Do more than read this article -- apply what you're reading here

This maxim is true when reading any management publication.

2. Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain them

This little bit of "motivation planning" can give you strong perspective on how to think about supporting the motivations of your employees.

3. Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees

Notice the list of motivating factors in the section "Assessing Your Approach." Fill out the list yourself for each of your employees and then have each of your employees fill out the list for themselves. Compare your answers to theirs. Recognize the differences between your impression of what you think is important to them and what they think is important to them. Then meet with each of your employees to discuss what they think are the most important motivational factors to them. Lastly, take some time alone to write down how you will modify your approaches with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are being met. (NOTE: This may seem like a "soft, touchy-feely exercise" to you. If it does, then talk to a peer or your boss about it. Much of what's important in management is based very much on "soft, touchy-feely exercises". Learn to become more comfortable with them. The place to start is to recognize their importance.)

4. Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration in your reward systems

For example, their jobs might be redesigned to be more fulfilling. You might find more means to provide recognition, if that is important to them. You might develop a personnel policy that rewards employees with more family time, etc.

5. Have one-on-one meetings with each employee

Employees are motivated more by your care and concern for them than by your attention to them. Get to know your employees, their families, their favorite foods, names of their children, etc. This can sound manipulative -- and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if you sincerely want to get to know each of your employees, it may not happen unless you intentionally set aside time to be with each of them.

6. Cultivate strong skills in delegation

Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their jobs, as well.

7. Reward it when you see it

A critical lesson for new managers and supervisors is to learn to focus on employee behaviors, not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors toward goals, not on popularity of employees. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you're seeing with your eyeballs.

8. Reward it soon after you see it

This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the behaviors that you're currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between an employee's action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you highly prefer that action.

9. Implement at least the basic principles of performance management

Good performance management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and employees.

10. Establish goals that are SMARTER

SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable,acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.

11. Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results

Employees often feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they're actually making a difference. This realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.

12. Celebrate achievements

This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting "a lot done". This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be every bit as important as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgement of success, employees become frustrated, skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.

13. Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)

Let employees hear customers proclaim the benefits of the efforts of the employee . For example, if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees (internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a customer to express their appreciation to the employee.

14. Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don't like an employee --

Managers and supervisors are people. It's not unusual to just not like someone who works for you. That someone could, for example, look like an uncle you don't like. In this case, admit to yourself that you don't like the employee. Then talk to someone else who is appropriate to hear about your distaste for the employee, for example, a peer, your boss, your spouse, etc. Indicate to the appropriate person that you want to explore what it is that you don't like about the employee and would like to come to a clearer perception of how you can accomplish a positive working relationship with the employee. It often helps a great deal just to talk out loud about how you feel and get someone else's opinion about the situation. As noted above, if you continue to focus on what you see about employee performance, you'll go a long way toward ensuring that your treatment of employees remains fair and equitable.

Observing and Giving Feedback
1. Clarity -- Be clear about what you want to say.

2. Emphasize the positive -- This is not being collusive in the person's dilemma.

3. Be specific -- Avoid general comments and clarify pronouns such as "it," "that," etc.

4. Focus on behavior rather than the person.

5. Refer to behavior that can be changed.

6. Be descriptive rather than evaluative.

7. Own the feedback -- Use of statements.

8. Generalizations --Notice "all," "never," "always," etc., and ask to get more specificity -- often these words are arbitrary limits on behavior.

9. Be very careful with advice -- People rarely struggle with an issue because of the lack of some specific piece of information; often, the best help is helping the person to come to a better understanding of their issue, how it developed, and how they can identify actions to address the issue more effectively.

Addressing Performance Issues
(Note that if your organization's policies about performance management indicate a specific procedure for handling performance issues, that procedure should be followed very carefully. Otherwise, a court may interpret your official policies to be modified by how you actually handled a performance issue and you may lose protection from your related policies in court.)

1. Note that performance issues should always be based on behaviors that you see, not on characteristics of the employee's personality

2. Convey performance issues to employees when you see first see the issues!

Don't wait until the performance review! Worse yet, don't ignore the behaviors in case they "go away."

3. When you first convey a performance issue to an employee, say what you noticed and would like to see instead

Be specific about what you saw that you consider to be a performance problem. Ask the employee for feedback. Ask the employee if there's any special training or more resources they need to do their job. Explore if the job is configured so that most people would probably fail, and so the job needs to be redesigned. Tell them that you want the behavior to improve. If they react strongly and claim they will quit, give them a day to think it over. In any case, remind them that you support them in their role.

4. (Consider special circumstances:

You can usually fire someone if they committed certain gross acts, such as theft, blatant insubordination, a major impropriety, e.g., telling information to competitors or spreading confidential information about customers, etc. However, if there is poor performance or chronic absenteeism because of potential verified alcoholism or depression, it's best to consult an expert to deal with this situation.)

5. Make notes about the first meeting and its results, and keep it in a file for yourself

This note may come in handy later on if the performance problem persists. (In the case of a corporation, you might mention the situation to your board. The board will likely be a precious and objective asset to dealing with this situation, especially if things with the employee get worse.)

6. If the problem occurs again over the next month or two, immediately issue them a written warning

In the memo, clearly specify what you saw, mention the previous meeting and its date, say the behaviors have not improved, warn them that if this occurs again over some period (e.g., the next month), they will be promptly terminated. Meet with them to provide them the memo. If you are convinced that the employee is trying hard, but can't improve, consider placing him or her elsewhere in the organization. Attempt to have this meeting on other than on a Friday. Otherwise, employees are left to ruminate about the situation without ready access to you for at least three days. (In the case of corporations, update the board.)

7. On the third occurrence, consider firing the employee. (See below.)

Conducting Performance Appraisals/Reviews

Yearly performance reviews are critical. Organization's are hard pressed to find good reasons why they can't dedicate an hour-long meeting at least once a year to ensure the mutual needs of the employee and organization are being met. Performance reviews help supervisors feel more honest in their relationships with their subordinates and feel better about themselves in their supervisoral roles. Subordinates are assured clear understanding of what's expected from them, their own personal strengths and areas for development and a solid sense of their relationship with their supervisor. Avoiding performance issues ultimately decreases morale, decreases credibility of management, decreases the organization's overall effectiveness and wastes more of management's time. Conduct the following activities.

1. Design a legally valid performance review process; consider these legal requirements of the performance review process:

The law requires that performance appraisals be:

(a)job-related and valid;

(b)based on a thorough analysis of the job;

(c)standardized for all employees;

(d)not biased against any race, color, sex, religion, or nationality; and

(e)performed by people who have adequate knowledge of the person or job.

Be sure to build in the process, a route for recourse if an employee feels he or she has been dealt with unfairly in an appraisal process, e.g., that the employee can go to his or her supervisor's supervisor. The process should be clearly described in a personnel policy.

2. Design a standard form for performance appraisals

and include the name of the employee, date the performance form was completed, dates specifying the time interval over which the employee is being evaluated, performance dimensions (include responsibilities from the job description, any assigned goals from the strategic plan, along with needed skills, such as communications, administration, etc.), a rating system (e.g., poor, average, good, excellent), space for commentary for each dimension, a final section for overall commentary, a final section for action plans to address improvements, and lines for signatures of the supervisor and employee. Signatures may either specify that the employee accepts the appraisal or has seen it, depending on wording on the form.

3. Schedule the first performance review for six months after the employee starts employment

Schedule another six months later, and then every year on the employee's anniversary date.

4. Initiate the performance review

Tell the employee that you're initiating a scheduled performance review. Remind them of what's involved in the process. Schedule a meeting about two weeks out.

5. Have the employee suggest any updates to the job description and provide written input to the appraisal

(Note that by now, employees should have received the job descriptions and goals well in advance of the review, i.e., a year before. The employee should also be familiar with the performance appraisal procedure and form.) Have them record their input to the appraisal concurrent to the your recording yours. Have them record their input on their own sheets (their feedback will be combined on the official form later on in the process). You and the employee can exchange each of your written feedback in the upcoming review meeting.

6. Record your input to the appraisal -- always reference the job description and associated formal goals for basis of review.

Be sure you are familiar with the job requirements and have sufficient contact with the employee to be making valid judgments. Don't comment on the employee's race, sex, religion, nationality, or a handicap or veteran status. Record major accomplishments, exhibited strengths and weaknesses according to the dimensions on the appraisal form, and suggest actions and training or development to improve performance. Use examples of behaviors wherever you can in the appraisal to help avoid counting on hearsay. Always address behaviors, not characteristics of personalities. The best way to follow this guideline is to consider what you saw with your eyes. Be sure to address only the behaviors of that employee, rather than behaviors of other employees.

7. Hold the performance appraisal meeting

State the meeting's goals of exchanging feedback and coming to action plans, where necessary. In the meeting, let the employee speak first and give their input. Respond with your own input. Then discuss areas where you disagree. Attempt to avoid defensiveness; admitting how you feel at the present time, helps a great deal. Discuss behaviors, not personalities. Avoid final terms such as "always," "never," etc. Encourage participation and be supportive. Come to terms on actions, where possible. Try to end the meeting on a positive note.

8. Update and finalize the performance appraisal form

Add agreed-to commentary on to the form. Note that if the employee wants to add attach written input to the final form, he or she should be able to do so. The supervisor signs the form and asks the employee to sign it. The form and its action plans are reviewed every few months, usually during one-on-one meetings with the employee.

9. Note that if the supervisor has been doing a good job supervising, then nothing should be surprising to the employee during the appraisal

Any performance issues should have been conveyed when they occurred, so nothing should be a surprise in the review meeting.

Firing Employees

1. You should consider firing the employee only if

you have a) given the employee clear indication of what you originally expected from him or her (via a written job description previously provided to the him or her); b) have clearly written personnel policies which specify conditions and directions about firing employees and the employee initialized a copy of the policy handbook to verify that he or she had read the policies; c) warned the employee in successive and dated memos which clearly described degrading performance over a specified time despite your specific and recorded offers of assistance and any training (the number of memos depends on the nature of the problem, but should be no more than three or four); and d) you clearly observe the employee still having the performance problem. (Note that if the employee is being fired within a probationary period specified in your personnel policies, you may not have to meet all of the above conditions.)

2. Take a day or so to consider what you are about to do.

Consult with members of your board (in the case of corporations).

3. If you still decide to fire the employee, do so promptly

both for your credibility with other employees and so as not begin procrastinating about this rather painful, upcoming event.

4. Write a letter of termination to the employee

As with the previous letters of warning, be clear about the observed behaviors, when you saw them, earlier warnings and their consequences, what you did in response, and the consequence that must now be enacted according to your policies.

5. Tell the computer system administrator to change the employee's password and assert that this action should be done promptly and in complete confidence.

6. Meet with the employee. Provide them the letter. Explain how the termination will occur, including when, what they must do, what you request from them and when. Ask for any keys. Give them a half hour or so to remove personal items (you may choose to monitor them during this removal, depending on the nature of the grounds for dismissal). Consider changing the door locks to the facilities. Change the passwords on phone systems, if applicable.

7. As with other meetings, make notes of what was said and exchanged.Keep them in your records.
PERSONNEL POLICIES

Developing Personnel Policies-
Need for Personnel Policies
From review of the above personnel management information, it's clear that there are numerous considerations and potential areas for litigation when dealing with personnel issues. There are numerous rules and regulations which regulate the nature of the relationship between an employee and his or her organization, e.g., about affirmative action, managing personnel files, employee retirement, rights of privacy, discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, etc. Consequently, it's better to have thought out these potentially controversial situations before they occur and establish guidelines by which they might or will be addressed. These general guidelines are called policies. Specific activities resulting from the guidelines are often called procedures.

Developing Personnel Policies

Each organization should carefully consider what policies it requires and how they should worded. Many organizations begin developing their personnel policies by reviewing policies from other organizations. This is fine as long the organization carefully reviews each policy, modifies them according to the nature and needs of the organization and has all policies approved by the board (in the case of corporations).

When developing policies, always consult a lawyer who's well versed in federal, state and local laws regarding employment practices, e.g., the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992, and Occupational Safety and Health Acts. Personnel policies may need to be governed to by union rules or other contractual agreements.

Note that the on-line information referenced from these Web pages and the associated examples should be considered as guidance, rather than as policies to be adopted as is for any organization.

Training on Policies

Note that if management's behaviors do not conform to the personnel policies, courts will consider the related policies to be superseded by the behaviors. Therefore, it's critical that management have basic understanding of the major points made in each personnel policy.

Consider setting aside a half day per year for employees to review the policies and procedures to ensure they are up-to-date.

Any recommended changes should be discussed with and approved by the board (in the case of corporations).

Developing an Employee Manual

Document all intended policies and procedures and collect them in a policies and procedures manual. Having all policies and procedures in a manual facilitates training about them to all employees. All employees should have read the manual to understand and accept its contents. They should sign a form indicating so, and provide the signed form to the organization's administrator.

All supervisors should be trained about the policies and procedures. A large number of suits brought against organizations is because, although the organizations had clear policies, supervisors did not enact the policies because they did not understand them. Note that courts may consider policies and procedures as superseded by the actual behaviors displayed by supervisors.

The board (in the case of corporations) should authorize all policies in the manual and every employee should receive a copy of the manual.

Each policy should include wording to the effect that the policies are for general guidance in the relationships between employees and the organization, the board (in the case of corporations) has authorized the policy, that policies can be changed at any time and that the policies do not constitute a contract between the organization and the employee. Consider the following wording on the cover of your policies manual:
"Nothing contained in or implied by this manual creates or shall be deemed to create or constitute a contractual obligation to employees on the part (of the organization). The policies, procedures and guidelines contained in this manual are subject to change at any time, do not confer any obligation (on the part of the organization) and do not create any right to employment on the part (of the organization)."
Sample List of Personnel Policies
The following list is an example of policies included in a personnel policies manual (or an "Employee Handbook"). The contents of your manual will depend on the nature and needs of your organization.
1- Work Schedule

2- Work day hours

3- Lunch periods

4- Holidays

5- Vacation

6- Sick Time

7- Personal Leave

8- Leave of Absence

9- Severe Weather

10-Jury Duty

Hiring Procedures

11-Americans With Disabilities Act

12-Interviewing job candidates

13-Checking references

14-Offering employment

New Employee and Internal Orientation

15-New employee orientation -- general information

16-Agency-wide new employee orientation

17-Intern orientation

New employee and internal orientation checklist

19-Compensation

20-Paydays

21-Overtime and compensation time