How can we measure the link between psychological safety and business success?
We have been working with a large organisation that provides a vital service to many disadvantaged people in the community. They were curious about the level of psychological safety in some of their offices and asked us to investigate.
But when we spoke to them about linking psychological safety to measures of performance, a common question came up: How can you connect the way that a staff member feels to the overall objectives of the organisation?
This organisation was in the middle of extensive changes to their workforce structure and reporting relationships. People were moving between teams, and the leaders of teams were changing.
So although we could measure the level of psychological safety overall, because we never reveal the level of psychological safety for individuals, only for teams, we could not make a connection between the team’s output and its level of psychological safety.
The lesson? Although it’s possible — and very valuable — to examine the connection between psychological safety and a team’s (and therefore the organisation’s) Key Performance Indicators (KPI), this needs a careful analysis of the connection between the feelings of the individual and the “job to be done.”
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Let’s consider an example: A team that works in a retail store selling high cost items — luxury fashion, automobiles, even (post pandemic) holidays. Does the way they are feeling impact the total sales for the store? Quite possibly, but it’s a very indirect link.
There are other factors such as the size of the store, the location, the current marketing campaigns and more, that have a much greater impact.
But what about sales conversion rates? That is VERY likely to be impacted by how an employee feels.
In a sales interaction, if the employee feels they have little autonomy, low status, are unfairly rewarded and afraid to try anything new, then their level of engagement with the prospective customer is likely to be low, their enthusiasm will be lacking, and the chance of making the sale? Well, I think we can all remember an interaction like that!
“Hierarchy (or more specifically, the fear it creates when not handled well) reduces psychological safety.”
PROFESSOR AMY C. EDMONDSON, THE FEARLESS ORGANIZATION
What’s different about the Asia-Pacific region?
We’ve chosen to focus this newsletter on teams in the Asia-Pacific region.
Why? Here are a few significant reasons:
The region is home to many cross-cultural teams, often with managers and HQ in a vastly different culture to the employees.
Most of the world’s fastest-growing economies are in this region.
Many countries in the region have a high power distance culture reflected in their workplace (see the Primer on Power Distance below).
Organisations in this region are typically seeking a ‘balance” between autonomy and control of workers. The innovation that comes from psychological safety is particularly important in growing economies — and we have often heard this from our clients!
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Power Distance: A Primer
Power distance refers to the relationship between higher ranking and lower-ranking individuals in a group.
People in societies (and workplaces) with a high power distance are more likely to follow a hierarchy where everybody has a place, and high-ranking individuals are honored, respected and often obeyed without question.
In societies with low power distance, people aim to distribute power equally, and questioning of authority is far more common.
The Problem with High Power Distance: Although high power distance is not necessarily harmful, it does make some aspects of psychological safety more challenging.
For example, how do you encourage employees to contribute to discussions and even challenge decisions when this is seen as disrespectful in the workplace?
We will talk more about this in the next blog!
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At Human Capital Realisation, our aim is to help organisations in the Asia-Pacific region see the value and importance — and the dangers and pitfalls (yes there are some!) — of psychological safety in the workplace, and to help leaders apply it to empower their people and power their organisation.
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With Instilled LXP, you can offer engaging learning experiences that don’t sacrifice efficiency. Instilled offers at least three major benefits for the enterprise:
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2. A method of LXP delivery that is as easy and engaging as YouTube and other popular platforms, but is as secure and robust as the rest of your corporate systems, with all you need in tracking and analytics data.
3. The opportunity to reduce the number of other Learning Management tools and drastically simplify your training platforms – at the same time as gaining (not losing) functions and benefits.
Watch this short video and then contact us at HCR for more information about Instilled, including the potential to have a 30 day free trial for your organisation.
Psychological safety is the measure of how safe and supported people feel to express their opinion, to show initiative, and to suggest better ways of doing things at work.
In general, people play safe when they don’t feel safe in speaking up in the workplace. On the other hand, encouraging people to speak up and share novel ideas can bring tremendous positive results.
Our team at Human Capital Realisation has created a video series that tackles the multiple benefits of psychological safety in the workplace. And in this article, we compile these videos to give you an overview of how improving psychological safety in the workplace can benefit your organisation:
1. Psychological safety has quantifiable financial benefits for the organization.
2. Psychological safety supports a wide range of other KPIs. These Key Performance Indicators or KPIs include those related to physical safety and wellbeing.
3. It promotes employee engagement. It also enables you to finally achieve the promised return on investment from all your work implementing diversity and inclusion.
4. It is clearly the right thing to do!
Video 1: The Benefits of Psychological Safety
Video 2: Financial Benefits of Psychological Safety
When psychological safety is high, employees are more likely to take ownership and to put in more of their own effort that leads to:
Faster learning
Better problem solving
This relates directly to many indicators of success in business, including financial return.
For example:
A large Australian clothing retailer found that their sales conversion rates were strongly influenced by the psychological safety of their staff.
When they focused on improving psychological safety the result was an increase in per store revenue by over $30,043 each month, or a potential revenue increase of $21.8 million every year. All for an investment of a fraction of that amount.
Psychological safety works at the level of the individual, the team and the whole organisation. It can be measured by a simple and brief survey, and it can be improved by targeted coaching.
Video 3: Psychological Safety and your Performance
Psychological safety impacts many Key Performance Indicators (KPI), and therefore brings improvements to multiple areas of organisational performance. Where psychological safety is high so are the following:
Innovation: Not only good ideas, but also their successful implementation
Employee engagement: All HR professionals know the benefits of that
Physical safety: Accidents and injuries are reduced when people feel safe to raise concerns
Learning and development: L&D is improved when employees can learn from their mistakes
Diversity and inclusion: This happens when everyone feels safe to contribute to workplace success
Employee mental health: This can lead to a 400% return on the investment spent on improving Psychological Safety
Video 4: Employee Engagement and Psychological Safety
Psychological safety can have a massive and positive impact on employee engagement.
As leading researcher in psychological safety, Amy C. Edmondson, sums it up:
“Psychologically safe employees are engaged employees.”
― Amy C. Edmondson
In healthcare, it has been found that psychological safety of workers is not only related to patient safety but also to employee engagement. Research has also shown that the positive effects of psychological safety on engagement were even higher for employees who are from diverse or marginalised groups.
This means that psychological safety can help you finally realise the full benefits of diversity and inclusion. And it’s obvious why psychological safety leads to greater employee engagement.
If employees know that their input is valued, they will be more engaged and will find it easier to perform at higher levels.
Video 5: It’s the Right Thing To Do
Simply, it’s the right thing to do. Would an employer knowingly take risks with the physical health of their employees? Of course not. In fact, it most countries that would be illegal.
An employer has a duty and responsibility to provide a safe working environment – and that includes psychological safety. It’s as simple as that.
But did you know that studies have found that just by improving a business’ ethical reputation that business can increase its return on assets by an average of 7%.
That’s because ethical conduct not only improves conditions for employees but also improves the business’s relationships with customers and suppliers. And employees not only benefit psychologically, but materially also.
A 10% improvement in ethical behaviour is associated with a 1% improvement in mental health and a 2.7% increase in wages.
So psychological safety in the workplace has financial benefits, it supports a wide range of Key Performance Indicators, and it leads to greater employee engagement.
“But for jobs where learning or collaboration is required for success, fear is not an effective motivator.”
Described as ‘the engine of performance’ in Human Resource Management Journal and as an ‘essential quality’ for high-performing teams according to the Harvard Business Review, psychological safety is more than just a buzzword, it’s quickly becoming an HR success story.
Achieving psychological safety in your organisation could be as easy as measuring it. So, if you’re thinking of creating a bespoke system to measure, track and report on psychological safety, maybe don’t. Because we have.
HCR Partners with HRS Connect
Human Capital Realisation (HCR) and HRS Connect have partnered to keep you on the front foot with psychological safety in your organisation. Our solution is designed for Boards and Executives, with easy and visual ways to package this information for senior managers and the broader organisation.
Psychological safety is real. We can measure it, work at it, and improve it. We invest so much in the hiring process, working hard to achieve diversity and inclusion, but how do you ensure that those human assets are supported to achieve the best they can? HCR and HRS Connect are here for you on the journey. – Janeene Hutchinson, Director at HRS Connect
HRS Connect brings to the partnership a wealth of experience working with organisations and their leaders to redefine business models to achieve strategic goals and competitive advantage in business performance through sustainable solutions with people as key success contributors.
Together, HCR and HRS Connect are here to help you plan and implement meaningful measurements and improvements to the psychological safety of your teams. This is what enables individuals and teams at all levels of the organisation, to perform, to learn, to be engaged, and to contribute to success.https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6732168056073707520
Utilising HCR’s expertise in technology to improve HR processes means outputs are high quality, accurate and understandable. Psychological safety impacts key performance indicators (KPIs) across all domains, including those related to people and culture, such as diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, as well as financial performance indicators like revenue and profitability. Psychological safety is a leading indicator for all that is important in an organisation.
About HRS Connect
HRS Connect is a highly specialised consultancy dedicated to partnering with individuals, teams and organisations to deliver business performance through highly effective leaders and individuals. Based in Brisbane, Australia, HRS Connect can be contacted at janeeneh@hrsconnect.com.au.
About HCR
Human Capital Realisation focuses on helping businesses to empower employees at all levels through the use of technology and improved HR processes. They service clients across the Asia-Pacific region from their headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. Contact HCR at peter.brace@HCRaus.com.
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Ready to empower your people through learning and HR technologies?
Over the last few weeks, we at Human Capital Realisation(HCR) approached several senior HR leaders across the Asia-Pacific region and asked them about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their HR operation.
We asked each of the three questions and they gave us some frank and insightful answers. Their responses showed that these HR leaders had quickly stepped up to meet the challenges posed by this crisis – in many cases drawing on strengths they had already built into their teams and processes, but also rapidly adapting and innovating as the situation developed.
And the evidence suggests that HR is in a prime position to support the business to recover and grow as we move out of crisis mode into a post-COVID world.
The questions we asked and the highlights of the responses from the HR executives are given below.
As an HR leader, what are the top three lessons you’ve learned during COVID-19?
Monica Watt, Chief HR Officer at ELMO Cloud HR and Payroll in Australia, hinted at the massive impact on HR when she told us: “We cannot be everything to everyone all the time, but we must try.” The bold type is my emphasis, but the HR leaders who responded to us took this situation very seriously and stepped up to their responsibilities with courage, creativity and empathy.
Watt added that “not everyone knew how to work remotely, and we needed to help adjust and learn how they best worked, along with helping our managers manage the remote workforce.” And Yi Zhang, HR Director for Hong Kong and Macau for international luxury goods group Richemont noted the challenges of “new ways of working, [including] work from home, flexibility at work” and that this had required HR to “review [our] business model and organization.”
The theme of supporting line managers as well as their staff was repeated by many respondents. Maria Lourdes Ann Cruz, Philippines-based Global Design People Director of the multinational engineering firm Arcadis, told us that “key enablers for us to work well during this pandemic” included “providing the right support and structures… coupled with a culture of openness and feedback.” This success, though, was based on already having built “resilient teams and a resilient organization” before the crisis struck.
A Director of Corporate HR at a large food service company in the Philippines pragmatically noted the importance of “balancing employee health and safety [with] sustaining the business and [enabling it] to thrive during these difficult times.” They also found that “driving innovation and agile approaches in introducing new products and services” enabled HR to be “mindful of employee overall mental health and well being.”
Being prepared for the unknown was another key theme in the responses to our first question. Muhammad Hilman Rao, Head of Human Resources for technology firm Carsem Malaysia, told us that “readiness in terms of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is critical to the organization to ensure the sustainability of the business” in a crisis situation.
HR leaders also noted that the pandemic shone a bright light on the capabilities of their teams. Jennifer Tiffin, Asia-Pacific HR Director of the multinational distribution and outsourcing company Bunzl, told us frankly that, “You don’t know how capable your team is until you are forced to let them fly; [there is] no time to manage — just empower.” Tiffin added: “Your best performers shine.”
But senior HR people also found that some need more help than others in a crisis. One executive reported that “your hidden underperformers are exposed” and a “lack of control in the world and/or their environment can completely unravel [those who you thought were] your stars.”
Collaboration and Innovation
The VP of HR at technology solutions firm T-Systems in Malaysia, Vaclav Koranda, told us that this crisis had enabled such a culture of innovation that the company could “move the limits of what is (considered to be) possible.”
Innovation and empathy were also highlighted along with communication by Andika Bayupati, HR Director of DHL Supply Chain in Indonesia. He noted that “we are all humans, and the silver lining of this situation is we can significantly improve our employee engagement using different approaches. And continuously find better ways to do things.” Bayupati nicely referred to this as “rejuvenating our collaboration approach from traditional to digital work.”
Kelly McKenzie, Chief People Officer of Australia’s largest exporter of grain, CBH Group, also stressed the importance of building on their already collaborative culture, as she explained:
“Our team can work together really well to respond rapidly to a crisis situation. [CBH Group relies] very heavily on our front line management to understand and effectively cascade messages and build buy in with their teams — investing effort up front to ensure they have clarity and support to do this is critical.”
In a more philosophical comment, Neon Tabafunda, Philippines National Director for Organization Development and Thailand National Director for HR at youth-focused not-for-profit AIESEC, suggested that an important lesson learned is that “it is not our job to overcome uncertainty, but to minimize it and live with it. There will always be things we don’t know and things outside our control. We need to know as much as we can, make decisions based on facts, and focus on what we can control.”
Tabafunda celebrated the creative spirit that can be revealed under crisis conditions when he added, “many things, including our core operations will change, but a clarity of purpose and direction will allow us to find new approaches. Sharing this vision with everyone else will empower them to contribute more innovative ideas!”
Clear communication as a foundation for success in uncertain times was also emphasized in the responses to our next question:
How has HR in your organization responded to COVID-19?
Jennifer Tiffin from Bunzl illustrated what we heard from many HR leaders, when she explained how vital HR has been to the organization at this time: “HR has led the business through COVID from the start, assembling and managing a formal crisis management process through to implementing great new communication processes/tools.” As an example, Tiffin mentioned that her team has “hosted…webinars for leaders and employees covering topics [from] how to keep the kids entertained when home schooled, to hosting a chef to do a live cooking demo on feeding the family from the pantry…right through to mental and financial health.”
A “continuous awareness campaign and newsflashes released to the employees,” was mentioned by Muhammad Hilman Rao of Carsem as another key communication method that worked well.
And many multinationals in the region saw the importance of communicating more broadly, even outside their own country. Andika Bayupati of DHL, noted that “as a global organization we…connected with other HR Directors in other countries.” And Yi Zhang of Richemont emphasized the need to make use of internal expertise to “drive peer learning and [increase] digital learning.”
AIESEC’s Neon Tabafunda acknowledged the importance of open and collaborative communication when he noted that “with the need to pivot and shift operations, we also involved [everyone] in planning and brainstorming sessions. We recognize that no position holds a monopoly on ideas.”
As the pandemic continued, “the focus then shifted towards communicating the vision well and working on change management aspects including communications and capacity building.” This included emphasizing “personal learning & development, especially for managers and leaders in the organization.” And to avoid isolating the organization from what is going on around it, he also reflected that “information on COVID-19 in the country was shared across the network, all the while encouraging conversations and discussion around what’s going on externally.”
HR Provides an Extraordinary Level of Support
As well as ensuring clear communication, HR leaders stepped up again to give additional support that was needed to managers and staff at all levels. Monica Watt of ELMO Cloud HR and Payroll shared some of her initiatives with us:
“We moved to a subscription Employee Assistance Program that anyone in their family could access, developing learning programs, established community which included an early birds radio station, and everything from [remote] morning meditation, morning teas, lunch and learns, to quaraniti [cocktail] time on Friday nights.”
Not only that, but she added that “we created care packages and sent notes to each employee, conducted pulse surveys…to focus on resourcing, community, collaboration and engagement.” In another interesting initiative, she told us that “We also used an app to randomly pair people…to have a virtual coffee date.”
And this level of support has continued past the worst of the pandemic. Watt adds: “In returning to the office slowly we have created a safe ecosystem that an employee can flex their time in and out to avoid congestion with transport, provided face masks and hand sanitisers, in the office once temperature is checked and [they are] signed in; employees do not need to leave as they will find everything they need from coffee, drinks, snacks, morning tea and a pre-ordered lunch provided.”
Watt acknowledges that this level of support has been “resource-heavy in time, attention and money, but it has kept our people safe and connected.”
Kelly McKenzie of CBH Group was another HR leader who emphasised the importance of assisting line managers to support their teams: “Within HR our focus has been on supporting leaders with connecting with and leading their teams remotely, [including] mental health welfare checks and communication channels to keep people up to date on our protocols.”
More examples of amazing support for employees were given to us by Maria Lourdes Ann Cruz of Arcadis:
“We developed engagement platforms and fun engagement activities. We also provided support and programs on mental wellness.”
This involved work for business leaders also: “Staying connected and visible to our people are key too. We needed to communicate more often and find ways to make sure our leaders are more involved and visible to assure everyone we are on top of the situation.”
Doing Far More Than the Minimum Required
Muhammad Hilman Rao of Carsem Malaysia also spoke of the need for HR to go beyond what the authorities require when he told us: “We have stringent controls in addition to the Standard Operating Procedures outlined by the government. … We have placed doctors on site for real time consultations and provide free vitamin supplements for the employees.”
But although providing support for managers and employees is a vital part of their role, HR leaders also needed to participate in – and in some cases to drive – organization change in rapid response to the changing circumstances brought about by the pandemic.
One respondent told us that they “partnered with the business in performing an organization review and restructuring to respond to the severe effect of the pandemic,” and Violette Chng, Singapore-based HR Director for Asia of technology multinational Ultra Clean, gave us a great example of the need for HR to be agile when she mentioned that “speed in responding is very important, especially [with regard to] to the Singapore/Malaysia border closure,” which occurred with little warning back in March.
Finally, looking to the future, and how these lessons can be applied more broadly, we asked our respondents:
What can other organizations learn from your experience during COVID-19?
Monica Watt of Elmo was unapologetic for her bold leadership in a crisis. She told us, “I did not ask permission to do my job, as CHRO I am responsible for the health, wellbeing and engagement of my people, I did everything because it was the right thing to do. … In my opinion, the impact we made on our people outweighs any cost.”
However, this commitment and outcome was not achieved without broad participation and support across the organization. It was most important, as she stated, that “we brought in all layers of management, so the engagement and care became a business-wide responsibility, not an HR responsibility.” The end result? “Overall the positive sentiment on our people and feel to the business has grown positively, and as such our culture and performance has increased.”
At Arcadis, Maria Lourdes Ann Cruz had a strong message for other HR leaders, as she summarized her key drivers of success: “Stay connected, stay emphatic and stay true to our value of People First. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Innovate and act fast.”
Jennifer Tiffin of Bunzl used the same words: “Communicate Communicate Communicate,” she told us, and she also noted that “if it’s about protecting your employees’ safety and the continuity of supply and in turn protecting jobs, your employees will appreciate it.” She added a note of caution: “But be prepared to flex [and] adapt your plans as you go.”
Be Prepared to Continue to Adapt and Change
Muhammad Hilman Rao of Carsem also stressed the need for close monitoring of progress and being unafraid to adapt and change. He told us that it is necessary to allow for “continuous enhancement of the Business Continuity Plan, and it has to be tested to minimize any hiccups.”
It’s also necessary to bring all employees on this journey, as he noted that, “employee engagement is critical as we need to build [their] confidence as a caring employer that we are able to provide a safe workplace for them.”
Vaclav Koranda of T-Systems was also successful in this regard, and told us that in his view, “our Business Change Management [process] is very good,” and noted with a smile that he would be “happy to sell it as a consultancy.” And looking beyond the boundaries of the organization was stressed also by Violette Chng of Ultra Clean Technology. She explained to us that “Information sharing, resource sharing … among the industry is key [to success].”
Although the not-for-profit sector is unique in many ways, Neon Tabafunda of AIESEC noted a similarity with the members of their organization and the employees of our other respondents: “[Our] membership is our main asset. And for them to be engaged with the organization, their needs outside of the organization have to be met first.… And most of our initiatives were heavily contextualized to what our membership needs even outside of the organization.” To this end, he told us that “we contextualized our Learning and Development initiatives to the external world.”
Going forward, Che Zulhaimee Abdullah noted that “Online learning is crucial and new skills are required, such as [the] capability to deliver learning online.” And Yi Zhang of Richemont had success in implementing even greater technological advances by using “HR Robotic Process Automation and [an HR] chatbot to accelerate digitalization.”
CBH Group’s Kelly McKenzie was pleased to share that “we have seen a much greater openness to working flexibly since returning to office post COVID,” and that HR had worked with the business “[to ensure] senior leaders are visibly and frequently working flexibly themselves.” The result has been that “this removes any stigmas or negative perceptions around an individual’s ability to perform and contribute if they are not in the office [during normal working hours] everyday.”
Conclusion
Overall, the HR leaders greatly impressed us with their practical, optimistic and innovative approach to the COVID-19 crisis. Each of them showed courage in taking necessary and often challenging actions, but they were also humble enough to share some of the lessons that they had learned in the face of unprecedented demands on their leadership.
They represented a range of industries across the Asia-Pacific region, and in many cases took radically different approaches based on the culture of their company and their location, as well as the circumstances they faced. As we attempt to summarize their experiences we note that all of them were:
Ready to review and adjust. This included examining their way of working, their structure, responsibilities and policies with great speed and agility, balanced with a keen sense of their duty of care for all employees.
Providing continual support. This was done with an attitude of empathy and cooperation through the provision of tools and processes, along with a great emphasis on effective communication – including listening.
Keeping their balance. They noted that constant adjustment may be necessary, and that there is never a choice between people and profits, but a balance between both. Their role also requires a balance between the duty of care to employees and responsibility to the business and its sustainable growth. And just as with literal, bodily balance, balance in HR requires constant monitoring, paying attention to feedback and making adjustments where necessary.
But what is next for these HR leaders? Once again, they have shown how necessary it is that they are intensely involved in tactical and strategic decisions for the business – not only in a crisis, but also in normal operations. In many parts of Asia, the COVID crisis is far from over and our HR leaders continue to innovate and to support all employees.
It is vital that HR leaders are deeply embedded in the planning process for the post-COVID business environment, thereby ensuring that the greatest asset of any organization, its people, are also fully represented in this process.
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ABOUT HCR
We make HR the HeRo of your organisation.
🔴 ORGPUBLISHER
We help organisations — in all sectors and geographies from 500 to 50,000 employees — save time and increase profits through automated and innovative visualisations of information about their workforce, people and culture.
We provide huge gains in value during workforce planning, mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and reorganisations.
🔴 INSTILLED
We also provide enterprises with an efficient, easy-to-use learning platform that leads your learners to the right content created by subject matter experts — without distractions.
Ready to empower your people through online learning and HR tech solutions?
In today’s modern economy, most organizations spend thousands, if not millions, of dollars on solutions that track critical business assets.
Companies have deployed ERP applications to track financial data, CRM applications to track customers, Network Management solutions to track critical network devices, etc. Organizations are investing in these solutions because the assets they track play a critical role in the success of the business.
While these assets are important, they do not facilitate tracking or managing the single most important asset in every organization…the company’s workforce and organizational structure. The lack of visibility organizations have relative to managing their workforce negatively impacts their financial performance each and every day.
Organizations that do not track workforce data across the enterprise:
Find themselves in serious violation of government and industry regulations.
Have a much larger volume of security vulnerabilities.
Spend 50% more time and resources completing workforce planning and budgeting processes.
Waste thousands of hours each year simply calculating departmental and enterprise-wide headcounts.
Are unable to manage individual roles/responsibilities and the chain of command throughout their organization.
Can pay employees for months on end after they have left the company.
Provide employees with insurance and other benefits well beyond their termination date.
Lose thousands of dollars in capital equipment when it simply “walks out the door” after an employee leaves the company.
Spend thousands of hours manually compiling organizational charts that are out-of-date by the time they are completed.
Have serious gaps in their enterprise reporting structure.
Do not have an efficient means by which to align corporate initiatives with the organizational structure of the business.
EMBRACE A UNIFIED WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY & START REAPING THE REWARDS TODAY.
By deploying a unified workforce intelligence strategy, you can automate the process of aggregating, visualizing, and analyzing critical workforce data within the context of your entire organizational structure.
The first step in this critical process is to deploy an automated organizational charting solution that enables your entire organization to view and analyze workforce data and org charts. By using automated organizational charts at every level of the organization, you can:
1. Instantly access an accurate view of your organizational structure.
Automated organizational charts go well beyond simple graphics by leveraging HR and ERP data that is located in a wide range of sources, including; comma-delimited text files, ODBC-compliant databases, LDAP-compliant directory servers, or XML data sources.
Instant access to an accurate view of your organizational structure enables your company to conduct a headcount analysis by role or department, assess reporting structures, understand the impact of downsizing specific departments, and more. By visualizing the entire structure of your workforce, data and structural inaccuracies can be quickly resolved and operational efficiency can be improved on a proactive basis.
2. Improve communication from top to bottom.
With automated organizational charts, senior executives, middle management and human resource professionals have instant visibility to detailed payroll information, reporting structures, security information, hire dates, termination dates, employee contact information, and more.
In addition, every employee can view organizational information and employee contact information via a standard web browser.
By providing knowledge-workers with an accurate view of the entire organization, combined with critical human resource data, you can immediately improve communication throughout your organization.
According to several recent studies the success rate of organisational redesign efforts is somewhere between 25% and 30% – and that means that up to 75% of them fail!
Do you know of any reorganisation that was completed on time and under budget? We were recently called in to advise one company which was into week nine of a reorganisation planning exercise that was supposed to be finished in two weeks!
One observer blames the poor success rate on the dominance of the ‘sticks and boxes’ approach where executives shift boxes on an organisation chart, bolt on more resources that were lobbied for by a zealous executive, or cut costs across the board. Most of us have lived through one of these experiences. However, we have observed that the sticks and boxes approach invariably invites discussions about power, resources and even about incumbency – the current names in the boxes!
Objectives, Consensus, Speed and Learning
Reorganisations require a concentrated effort in the early stages to determine and lock in the most important features of the new organisation. Only then can the details of the sticks and boxes be worked out confidently.
HCR has had success by using prototyping methods to start discussions about reorganisations in a different place – with the expertise you will need to achieve your business strategy. This approach focuses attention more on the objectives of the organisation in a highly visual form while still getting agreement on a significant amount of detail on issues of structure.
Our prototyping workshop:
Creates a prototype design in the form of a highly visual map of the strategic expertise you will need to achieve your business objectives;
Moves through a series of iterations of the expertise prototype, with each iteration adding levels of the traditional ‘sticks and boxes’ to the map, and finally;
Overlaying information on salary budgets, working relationships and communication.
We hold off moving the sticks and boxes until almost the last steps! Then and only then is it safe to tackle distribution of jobs, resources and costs.
Here is a simple, cost-effective and FULLY AUTOMATED org charting tool that works with all HR information systems to:
1. Clearly display ALL your HR information in a clear and beautiful organisation chart
2. Keep it up to date without you doing ANY work!
3. Give you complete control over how it is presented.
Not weeks or months, we get you going in days!
To see just how easy it is, watch this 1 minute video now:
Fast, easy and cost-effective, for all HR information systems
Whatever your sources of HR data (SAP, Peoplesoft, and all others), our solution is fast, easy, and does not require any big investment in time or new systems – it simply plugs in to the systems and processes you have now! HCR’s solutions give you a perfectly clear picture of your whole organisation and how it is lined up with your business strategy, as well as HR Management Improvements and better Employee Engagement.
In a unique, innovative and cost-effective way, we enable you to combine the rigour of metrics with the visual power and engagement of the most frequently used management tool, the organisation chart.
The result? Greater focus throughout the whole organisation on your key business drivers—including top line revenue, as well as improved HR management.
How does a simple organisation chart achieve this? Please read on.
Begin with a Universal Language
The organisation chart is called ‘the language of HR’. But really it is a language that EVERYONE can understand.
From CEO to front line workers, from Vice President to business analyst, everyone in the business wants to see their place, their role, their connections to their colleagues, their team, their manager (or managers). Yes, we are not boxes, we are not lines, or numbers, we are people. And the organisation chart helps to tell our story.
Our solutions give everyone access to a clear, accurate, up to date organisation chart, at their desk, or on their mobile device. They can view, search, drill up and down–and the information is kept current by a simple daily update process.
No time, no effort, no cost, to have a daily update to your organisation chart. And you can stop there.
But for those who want even more value, this is just the beginning…
Then Add Measurable Success Factors
Every business has its key measures of success, or warnings of failure. They are unique and carefully watched. These measures answer the question that is asked every day, every month, every quarter, every year: “How are we doing?”
These indicators, and their relative importance, change as the business responds to market forces, customer demands, regulatory changes, environmental conditions, and more.
The measures are usually expressed as numbers, and so they can summarised, totalled, analysed, and compared. This is hard with people; but with numbers, it’s easy! And, in the end, the numbers depend on the people.
Executives, teams, business units, individuals, as well as territories, centres of expertise, consultants, they all contribute in different ways to the key measures of success. And our solutions show you every day how your people—as individuals and groups—align with your strategy and contribute to your operational success.
How long does it take? How much does it cost?
HCR provides robust, flexible, enterprise-level ‘out of the box’ solutions that are easily and quickly configured to your organisation’s unique needs. We work with any (and any combination of) HRMS–SAP, Peoplesoft, Oracle, TechnologyOne, Ellipse, Epicor, etc. We can even bring data in quickly and easily from spreadsheets, and automatically combine this with your HRMS data.
IT resources are scarce and expensive in most organisations, so the implementation needs very little time of your IT folks, and sometimes no IT time at all. And our training puts all the power in your own hands, so there is no need for expensive consultants or external resources.
Our solutions are surprisingly affordable for any organisation from 500 to 500,000 employees, as the cost is scaled, and implementation is fast – usually delivering results in days or weeks. The reaction of our new customers ranges from surprise and delight to… well, you’ll have to ask us about that!
Full costings and timeline will be provided once we all agree on the answer to the following question:
Is this the right solution for you?
Our customers include multinational corporations and SMEs as well as local, city, regional and federal government, and the industries cover manufacturing, retail, utilities, mining, and many others.
However, not every organisation is a good fit for our solutions. And we work with organisations where we all agree that our solutions will bring outstanding value, and where they will be used to support significant business objectives.
We are always happy to discuss your requirements and, if we all agree that there is potential to work together, then we can arrange a personalised demonstration (online, no cost, no obligation), and further discussion.
What to do as a first step to value? The choice is yours.
From our practical experience, deep research and careful selection of partners, there has emerged a stunningly simple solution to a multitude of HR/business problems, as well as the complexities of HR management. At the heart of this solution is a single, two-dimensional unit of measurement that turns a cacophony of complex indicators into a harmonious and holistic set of measures, tools and simplified processes, and optimised HR management.
It’s not what you expect, but introducing one standardised measure enables you to focus more on what really matters: The people in your organisation.
What difference does this one metric make?
Through this simplicity and convergence, results are achieved in the following four areas:
Alignment – For the first time, an organisation can quantify the alignment of business strategy with workforce expertise – every day, and at every level of the organisation. Ensure that your people can actually use (and develop) the best skills that they possess.
Utilisation – Quickly find people with the skills needed for a project, or for a brand new business strategy (Usually to be announced tomorrow, and required to be in place yesterday!); and make sure that the right expertise is being used where it is needed most.
Performance – An index to expose the connection between the organisation’s expertise and business results, bringing the ability to spot statistically significant trends and track improvements. For the first time, you can measure how your investment in training is bringing benefits to your organisation, and to the people who are being trained.
Supply – The most striking innovation. This gives you a view of your organisation that you have NEVER seen before! This has to be seen to be believed. So… let us show you using your own organisation’s data.
Mergers and other reorganisations are fraught with difficulty but also ripe with opportunity. Your role in the process should be to add value at all stages, and by doing that you not only are helping your colleagues, but also enhancing your own standing in the (new) organisation.
Often HR/P&C gets involved operationally once the high level organisation design is done (either by external consultants, or by a ‘secret’ team in the organisation). But then you are faced with two challenges:
1. How do we manage the process of change?
2. How do we communicate the right information, at the right time, in the right way, to the right people?
Get this right, and you and your team can be the heroes of the reorganisation process, and be placed well in the ‘new’ organisation.
And this is how we enable your success:
HCR works with your team to design clear, confidential and compelling organisation charts – highlighting the key changes that are under consideration. These charts are created and refreshed automatically from a combination of ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ data, taken from your existing HR systems, combined with the proposed changes.
These charts can be used with executives, line management, unions and team leaders. The charts are interactive, showing changes made in consultation in real time, and enabling the proposed organisation to be instantly and securely shared with stakeholders and decision makers.
In addition, you can also add value during the difficult process of the execution of the merger, acquisition or reorganisation.
AUTOMATICALLY produced and securely distributed organisation charts, including the key metrics for measurement of progress – and of your success – will support the process every step of the way.
In this way, the election of the change, while not exactly painless, will at least show respect and empathy for those involved, as well as protecting the enterprise from the worst effects of major surgery.
So, before you move too far down the reorganisation track, contact HCR, and get ready to add value every step of the way.
