Best Practices

• Leadership

• Strategic Planning

• Information

• Customers

• People

• Process

Leadership

Succession Planning

The following is a summary of the best practices and/or insights found that will be able to minimises leadership gaps and enables an organisation to groom its top talent :

1. Use the succession planning process to prepare for the retirement of increasing numbers of high performing workers.

2. Be prepared to rapidly train competent leaders in order to keep pace with business growth opportunities and thus gain a competitive advantage by having  a good depth of leadership.

3. Build a pipeline of potential leaders to meet the strategic needs of your  organisation as a key focus of succession planning.

4. Assess the talents of your workforce through the use of competency models,  providing a platform to develop the talent necessary for your future needs.

5. Define career paths for employees needing to enlarge their organisational knowledge, thus achieving a higher return on the investment made in your personnel.

6. Identify two possible successors for every   critical role within the organisation, thus being more certain that one will be ready to take up an expanded role. 

7. Link seasoned leaders with junior talent to facilitate the transfer of important on-the-job knowledge, ensuring its retention within the organisation.

8. Use succession planning initiatives to create a positive influence upon employee motivation and retention, by helping them to appreciate the potential of taking on important roles, thus feeling more committed to their

   job and less inclined to leave the organisation.

9. Create a talent development culture by incorporating strategies for the selection, orientation, coaching, retention, and mentoring of employees.

10. Identify those with leadership potential five to seven years out.

11. Identify strengths and weaknesses, and assign a senior manager to work with each individual and to be held accountable for the candidate’s  progress.

                                                               Source : BPIR.com

Strategic Planning

Business Continuity Planning

In 2006, a Strategic Human Resource Management survey of 427 HR professionals reported the following:

1. Organisational strategic plans

• Three-quarters of the represented organisations had a strategic business plan in  place, with two-thirds of these having a strategic plan that was communicated  throughout the organisation.

2. HR strategic plans

•  56% of HR departments had their own strategic plan and, for 96% of respondents, this plan was aligned with the overall business plan

• 49% had methods in place to measure HR strategy effectiveness, with the most common measurements being recruitment and selection processes (59%),   performance management (52%), compensation management/reward programs (51%), benefits management (51%), and employee relations (49%)

• 86% focused on administrative duties, rather than on strategy

• 63% had direct reporting to the CEO/president. 

Information

Knowledge Management (KM)

The Institute for Corporate Productivity, the Center for Effective Organizations, and the Human Resource Planning Society conducted a comprehensive KM study based on responses received from 426 organisations in the United States (35 per cent from organisations with fewer than 1,000 employees. 32 per cent from companies with between 1,000 and 10,000 employees, and 33 per cent from organisations with more than 10,000 employees). Respondents indicated that the potential benefits of KM were:

• increased operating efficiency and productivity (22.1%)

• improved client/customer relations (29.2%)

• improved vendor/supplier/partner relations (19.8%)

• successful addition of new products/services (24.5%)

• capture and retention of critical knowledge from exiting employees (23.6%)

• faster employee learning curve for new skills/competencies (27.8%)

• improved knowledge sharing across operating units (24.8%)

• improved knowledge sharing across management levels (21.6%)

• prevention of research duplication/development efforts (16.7%)

• retention of key knowledge workers/talent (24.2%)

• improved on boarding process for new employees (25.7%)

• identification of key competencies and success factors for specific roles (26.9%)

                                                                       Source : BPIR.com

Customer

Customer Support and Service : Help Desks

Jason Romney (2004) CEO of a Sydney software technology company gives the following advice concerning running an effective help desk:

1. Clearly define service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure that they incorporate  response and resolution time commitments based on the problem severity.

Customer input should be sought to determine the appropriateness of these SLAs. Performance results should be regularly published to show how well the help desk is performing and to acknowledge the success of the team.

2. Implement help desk automation software for tracking customer jobs.

3. Use remote management tools.

4. Employ integrated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) reference lists and  knowledge management systems.

                                                                              Source : BPIR.com

People

Employee Engagement Best Practices

Research undertaken by the Hay Group in 2009 revealed that high employee engagement alone did not necessarily guarantee organisational effectiveness; employee enablement was also required.Organisations in the top quartile for employee engagement demonstrated revenue growth 2.5 times greater than those in the bottom quartile; however, for organisations in the top quartile for both engagement and enablement, revenue growth was some 4.5 times greater.The Hay Group analysis revealed the following steps for motivating employees:

1. Clearly communicate the links between performance and rewards.

2. Ensure that staff performance ratings reflect true performance levels.

3. Eliminate all unnecessary work/duplication that can adversely affect employee  enablement.

4. Strive for the right fit between people and jobs by focusing on job sizing and role  definitions.

5. Monitor and improve the workplace climate by ensuring that leaders have appropriate competencies/management styles for motivating employees.

6. Focus on non-monetary rewards such as career-growth opportunities,    development, and recognition programmes.

                                                          Source : BPIR.com

Process

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management (SCM) involves joint collaboration between outsourcing partners, suppliers, and customers. It comprises the transformation of goods from raw materials through to the delivery of the finished product; it also includes the management of key information flows. SCM involves the integration of these activities and aims to improve relationships between the various parties, while achieving a sustainable competitive advantage through high quality and lower cost products. SCM is closely linked with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and electronic commerce systems. Among the best practices in SCM are :

1.Collaborate with all the supply chain players to maximise productivity and efficiency, and increase the overall value-add of the supply chain. It is believed that future competition will be strongly centred on supply chains rather than between  organisations.

2. Work towards a lean and simplifi ed supply chain and, in particular, consider  outsourcing as an alternative for support operations.

3. Involve suppliers in research and development.

4. Consider engaging external innovation partners, use customised selection tools to  select them, and create win-win relationships.

5. When buyers and suppliers share information both buyers and suppliers benefit.

6. Consider “reverse factoring” as a means to significantly reduce the cost of financing invoices.

7. China has been a hub of overseas manufacturing for thousands of American organisations. Many are now considering other options such as India and Vietnam.

8. Develop strategies to minimise the risk of natural disasters, terrorism, market  risks, commodity risks, and transportation risks.

9. Simulate disruptions to better understand potential risks and how to overcome  them.

10. Measure supply chain performance including the outcomes from alliances.

                                                                         Source : BPIR.com