The Consulting Partner, Bountiful Options Consulting, Bountiful Taiwo-Adelanwa, speaks about the best way organisations can manage their workforce in this interview with IFE ADEDAPO
How can organisations develop competitive human capital?
Organisations should be able to know the worth of their people. They should place a value on them because if there is no value on them, they won’t know what they are worth. Create an environment for them to thrive. Most organisations don’t understand the impact of a positive environment on the creativity and productivity of their staff.
To create a positive environment, the sitting arrangement, the environment itself, the emotional nature of the environment; the mood that we can see on the surface and the organisational culture have to be considered. In all, organisations need to create an environment in which human capital will be maximised and they will be able to operate at their peak at all times. You get to some organisations and you realise that everyone is operating at their peak performance at all times.
Should employers invest more in the workforce than in the business assets?
To help create human capital that is competitive, organisations need to invest in this. Some organisations that are myopic are investing more in production lines and equipment, not considering the minds that manage them. An organisation where I worked in my early career days invested so much in equipment. They are keen on precision and quality service but the people they are going to use are not carried along. The company moves northward because they want to build a legacy but the mind of the staff moves southwards because they find the company as a place where they will be paid salaries. When you are buying equipment worth N52m and the worth of the human capitals that will use the equipment is not close to N5m in value, then it is a major issue.
What are the important things to consider when recruiting people?
Organisations need to recruit the right people. Sometimes you employ someone who is passionate about a particular career. For example, in marketing people who just want to sell, love to meet people and build relationship and can communicate at anytime are the best. For a marketing department, employing someone who is just looking for a job or does not really know what he or she wants, may not be right. He or she can never get the same result when compared with someone who is passionate about it, no matter what is invested in him or her.
Experience has shown us that recruiting the right people at all times is the first thing in getting things right in any organisation. As a consultant, I always tell my clients that human capitals are as important as the fixed assets and the capital and sometimes more important than the customers.
Customers come and go. When you have products and the customers are not coming, your staff can push the products in the market themselves. When there are negative emotions between the employer and the workers, the organisation can never get good results.
What are the benefits of appraisal?
There is a lot of misconception about what we call appraisal. Oftentimes, it is a good tool in evaluation but it comes too late towards the end of the year. The concept of appraisal is to identify developmental needs of the staff.
Not a punishment tool. Sometimes during the appraisal period, you will see that the mood is really tense and people are rated low and prevented from being promoted. That is not the essence of appraisal. The real essence of appraisal is to evaluate the staff, their productivity and identify ways of improving the performance. Except in extreme cases where people are continually not productive, you may have to show them the way out. By standards, appraisal is to check for the developmental needs of the workers. It has to be done timely and the needs must be agreed upon.
Sometimes when people are to be selected for training, it is based on hierarchy. Beyond the hierarchy, why don’t they select trainees based on the needs?
How does personal branding affect career development?
Personal branding simply means your personal values, finding yourself, knowing who you are. It means finding what will stand you out. What are your values and what comes to mind when people think about you?
When people get their personal branding right, it makes them real and authentic. When an opportunity comes up, your name comes to mind as an expert in that area. Personal branding refers to knowing how to sell yourself right. In these days, where the labour market is crowded, people need to have a personal brand. For example, we get so many letters for interview and when we find one that is well constructed and does not have too much use of heavy English, with clear career statement, among a thousand other letters, this can be selected. Be consistent and find new ways of improving on it because when people come back to check on you it positions you out of the crowd. You need to be clear and original when describing your brand.
Do mentoring and coaching play any role in career succession?
When it comes to mentoring and coaching in career, we advise that people should put caution on that because some young people want them to be recommended for promotion. Mentors are able to identify talents and help in leadership development. When you coach people, they are positioned for opportunities that will come. Even in your career, you can have more than one mentor. For the mentor too, it is a good thing that there is someone who will take over when you leave office.
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