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Dee Allan
18 November 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Breaking News! Employer Of Choice Podcast Series  

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE- PODCAST SERIES

Hi All, apologies for the lack of regular blogs, we have been busy recording and releasing our new Podcast series titled' Employer of Choice'

The series is aimed towards HR, Business Owners, Executives, and Decision Makers.  Whilst the economic climate is changing daily, it is important to understand that several industries will be facing an impending 'War for Talent', broadly speaking due to changing demographics, lower fertility rates and an aging population.

Our 3C Synergy podcast series aims to provide tangible, creative and often low-cost solutions to the SME and larger firms, on how to become 'Employer of Choice'.

The podcast series can be subscribed to via I Tunes (Search Employer of Choice and/or 3C Synergy) or perhaps easier, you can subscribe to the sessions, via the link below.  I hope you enjoy the sessions, and i look forward to hearing your feedback.

http://www.3cgoldstar.com/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice_podcasts/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice.html

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Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:02 am
Coaching, the way forward?  
Coaching, the way forward?

It has to be said, gone are the days when remuneration alone could attract people. For quite a number of years, and perhaps more so today, training and development has become one of the key ‘swaying’ factors, for someone deciding to accept a job or not

Most of us know that training can be a very expensive commitment.  You are often shelving out heaps of money, without any guarantees of a return, and perhaps will have to endure a time-lag between your staff receiving the training, and producing the desired result.  However, like it, love it, or loathe it, providing some sort of training is a major factor to ensure you have a happy, healthy and wise work force.  This in turn helps with staff retention rates and hopefully growth of the company.  For the smaller companies though, lack of budgets may pose a problem when trying to satisfy your bottom line versus your staff members.  However with a little creativity and panache, there may be a solution.  Have you ever considered implementing a mentor style coaching or buddy program?

Coaching in my opinion is different to traditional training.  Coaching is more associated with using the strengths of your existing team, to bridge the knowledge gap of certain individuals or new recruits.  It is in effect ‘on the job’ training.  For example, if Monica (our fictitious Admin Assistant) happens to be darn good at working power point, then why not ask Monica to coach Lee (our fictitious new recruit) how to create a powerful presentation for his next sales pitch?  Alternatively if Arun (our fictitious web developer) understands how Web 3.0 is changing the way we conduct business, why not have him coach Leanne (our fictitious Marketing manager) on how to maximize on the power of the web to get her PR message to the masses.  What I’m trying to illustrate is that often we overlook the strength of skills and knowledge within our prevailing team.  Coaching or implementing a ‘buddy system’, allow you to harness the strength of what you already have at your fingertips.  One can then compliment coaching with more traditional forms of training.

Funnily enough it is more often than not within human nature to want to help other people.  Hence your team will probably respond positively to being asked to mentor/coach/buddy up with someone, on a particular topic, or for a length of time.  Not only that, there is the age-old adage of empowerment and positive breeds positive.  ‘Coachees’ often find themselves within the role of ‘Coach’ when it is their turn to ‘pass on the golden nuggets of knowledge’.  Additionally the ‘one to one’ nature of coaching means attention and responsiveness is often high (Compare that with sitting in a classroom style of training, when the sound of the presenter’s voice starts to hurt your ears, and the clock hands can’t reach 5pm quick enough).  Coaching is versatile and flexible and can be immediate.  Employees often find themselves trouble-shooting through problems to find the solution, as opposed to be told the theory from a text-book or training manager.

Of course one of the biggest attractions to in-house coaching is the cost benefits.  It is often a rapid and wise investment, where the cost is the ‘time’ that coaches spend away from their daily tasks.  That said, one would be wise to spread the coaching responsibilities around the team, and play to different strengths of the prevailing internal talent you have.  This employee empowerment approach creates a positive environment, where staff feel valued and are therefore more willing to share their knowledge.  ‘Coachees’ have the opportunity to listen, question and test the ideas in an intimate more personal format (they also often feel valued, that someone from within the company is taking a heightened interest in their learning). Like I said, positive breads positive.


Coaching is not a replacement for training, it is essentially an ‘add on’.  Think of coaching like ‘sharpening a pencil’, the pencil may have worked before, but once sharpened it writes clearer, quicker and more concise sentences.  Coaching is a rapid solution to many issues requiring a ‘quick fix’.  Therefore results can be immediate (not quite what you would get if that training course you are booked on is in 6 weeks time!).  They say time is money and I can’t agree more.  Time spent effectively coaching, saves you money down the line with training.

Coaches are born and can also be taught.  Granted, some people have a natural affinity when it comes to coaching compared to others.  However most people respond positively to being asked for help or support. They almost get a ‘kick’ out of knowing that they can be beneficial to someone, or their knowledge can ‘make something happen’ This must release positive endorphins, as most people’s ego would get a boost.

With training, the general format is to dictate the message in a teacher-student format.  However coaching is more versatile, whilst ‘teacher-student’ format may exist, so might ‘shadowing’ the Coach during a meeting with a client, or ‘observing’ the Coach during a presentation to suppliers, or ‘following’ the Coach’s lead when negotiating a rate with your customers.  Coaching really can allow your staff to acquire your other team member’s skills, by creating richer dialogue between the parties concerned, hence ingraining the knowledge on a more lasting basis.

Coaching can be tailored to be a longer running program, or an ‘on demand’ tool.  The beauty with allocating coaching responsibilities or allowing people to ‘step up to the plate’ where coaching is concerned, is that problems and issues can be ironed out straight away.  If Lee (our fictitious new recruit again) has a client that wants him to deliver his proposal in 48 hours, then perhaps Monica (our fictitious Admin Assistant) can assume her ‘Coach’ or ‘Buddy’ role to ensure that Lee can deliver the presentation on time.  In this example, the  ‘on demand’ coaching Monica provides to Lee, allows them both to deal with a real problem facing the business, which could eventually impact the productivity of the company.  Positive actions breed positive results.

In summary, coaching is a useful management tool, which apart from being resourceful and versatile, allows sends a subliminal message to team members and new recruits, that the company give a damn!
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Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 10:44 am
So you want to become the Employer of Choice do you?  

So you want to become the Employer of Choice do you?

What message is your company really sending out in all its communication material?  Most companies are flying their flags sky high to push sales, or shouting out from rooftops about their service or products.  Well there is nothing wrong with this strategy, indeed a hearty slap on the back for making the effort, as some companies don’t even get this far. However, the one single message that often gets shuffled beneath all other layers of messages orbiting from companies, is the message concerning the company’s attitude towards its employees.

Let’s explain this notion with the use of an example.  Your business is thriving, you are meeting/exceeding your business plan objectives, your bank loves you, other banks want to court you, your shareholders can’t ask for more, your company on the face of it looks like the ‘cat who got the cream’.  That’s all fine and dandy until you realise that you need more people to sustain the smiles.  So you think to yourself, ‘we will just hire people, everyone will want to work with us’ and you start the recruitment process. However what slowly transpires during your rounds of interviews, is that the intellectual buff sitting opposite you, has been ‘doing his/her own rounds of interviews, and visiting other cats (who by the way, also believe they have got the cream) and that you my friend, are not in sole existence.  In fact in suddenly dawns on you, that you have COMPETITION (shock horror), when it comes to enticing talent in your direction.  All of sudden you find yourself in a Dutch auction or ‘salary war’ to put it more bluntly. Your ‘key hire’ has the power at this stage, not you.  So how can you swing that sea-saw back in your favour?  Is it too late at this stage? Or should you have thought about planting those ‘We are the employer of choice’ seeds, long before this interview came to fruition.

Now, with a pinch of luck and if you are a smooth talking interviewer, who can convince this key hire that they should go with you instead of your opposition, then you may stand a chance of them accepting your offer. However beware, desperation and bitterness can often weigh in with this approach if not used elegantly.  My advice is to not let it get to this stage in the first place.  If you can adopt a strategy that develops your reputation as an "Employer of choice" then you will find people are herding in your direction, wanting to work for you and putting the choices firmly in your hands. This can put your company in a powerful pole position!

Why not try and consider your own impressions of a few household names. If you are a creative, innovative, free spirited kind of person, you may be enticed by a company such as EBay. How about a company with a cutting edge and fresh attitude, someone like Google perhaps?  I’m fairly certain you can draw up a list of companies which appeal to you, and many others who wouldn’t stand a hope in hell in getting you through their door.

This in turn begs the question, why is it that people want to work for certain companies over others?  The likes of Google and EBay, literally get thousands of job applications and really have the opportunity to get the pick of the crop. 

So how do you get your company known as an employer of choice?

It’s fair to say that the big blue chips spend a chunky slice of wonga on their marketing budgets.  It’s also fair to say that not all of us have that sort of money to channel on branding, at least not initially.  The good news is, that you can still build your brand without robbing Peter to pay Paul.  The key is to be creative.

First things first, do you have a company brochure? If not, then invest in some form of company information be it online or off-line. The next task is to review your company brochure, as if you were a potential employee. What messages does your corporate communication send out?  Does your company come across as being at the forefront of training and development? Do you come across as a proactive, aggressive or green employer?  (None of these images are a bad projection, as you will more than likely attract individuals who function well in that environment)
  Are you even aware of the image you're projecting? Are you clients and customers aware that you consider your staff as assets? Clients and customers are the best ambassadors for your company, a positive domino effect is likely if they positively view you as an employer.
  
Wherever possible you should be making yourself known.  There are literally hundreds of opportunities to do this.  Universities, career fairs, exhibitions, giving speeches etc.  Taking Universities as an example, you should have a presence during the ‘milk rounds’, and remember you are there to paint the picture about your company being an employer of choice.  Get it wrong and cold shoulder potential candidates though, and you will find graduates saying they would never work for a company like yours due to the way they were treated at these kinds of events.  Then the negative domino effect begins, and they tell another 20 of their friends how bad your company is, over a beer down at the student union.

It basically comes down to the age-old adage of communication. Having a communication strategy gives you a definite edge over the competition.

The person at the top of the tree, the MD or CEO, often sets the “tone”.  Essentially it is these individuals who set the culture in place.  A hollow mission statement or textbook company values is not enough to attract the talent.  You need to ensure that all messages leaving your office, be it online or offline, written, spoken or heard, define your brand and ethos. Whether it’s your letterhead, or the pay slip your employees receive, the message has to be clear, constant and concise, no matter who

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