3 Blocks to Performance Improvement

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Following on from her take on HR and fire fighting, today Una Doyle looks at the 3 common barriers to improving your performance.  Furthermore, in a first for Discuss HR this is discussed in the form of a video blog. (Ed Scrivener)

3 Blocks to Performance Improvement

Read about Una and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 26^th August.

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Stop Fire Fighting!

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Discuss HR today is by Una Doyle who follows her Valentine’s post  with an article that will probably strike a chord with many HR professionals. (Ed Scrivener)

Stop Fire Fighting!

"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency." Arnold H. Glasow

There's no doubt that managers and business owners around the globe have all experienced fire fighting at one time or another. Some companies even have it built into the culture. Yet everybody seems to agree that fire fighting on a long-term basis is not a good thing...

So what are some of the reasons fire fighting happens?

Psychological addiction to the feeling of achievement

Severe cuts in staffing

Attempting to be lean and agile

How Different People Fire Fight

However, do different personalities - with their corresponding strengths and weaknesses - have their own personal reasons for fire fighting? If so, maybe there is more that can be done about it then people perhaps think.

Those people who are highly innovative and dynamic could be more likely to engage in fire fighting. For them it may initially seem to be exciting and fun and they also get to use their natural problem solving strengths. The more they get hailed as a hero for saving the day, the more freedom they will experience to do things their way, which they tend to relish.

Those who are quite extrovert and sociable will love the high-paced interactions with others and flying around here, there and everywhere getting everyone on board.

For both these personality types it could even have been their tendency towards a lack of attention to detail that caused the fire in the first place!

However, that's not to say that other personalities may not fire fight too in the right, or should I say wrong, circumstances. It is likely to be incredibly stressful for them though to do so.

Those with a very grounded energy that are very good at implementing may end up fire fighting because they can find it very hard to say no and consequently can easily take on too much. While this may appear to serve them - and their colleagues - in the short term, over time it is likely to cause burn-out and possibly even ill-health while they get bogged down in the detail.

Those who are quite introverted with strong analytical energy could get very frustrated with constantly having to deal with issues that they know could probably be systemised so that they don't even occur in the first place. Under pressure, without time to think things through or adequate data to base decisions on, they could feel extremely uncomfortable - watch out!

How to Stop Fire Fighting

The key thing for all personality types is to firstly admit that fire fighting is happening. The second is to get into the habit of identifying what kind of problem it really is... Then they can get the person and/or team with the right perspective and strengths to solve it.

The most dynamic will intuitively want to innovate their way out of problems

The more extrovert people will naturally think about who is the best person to connect with to get the desired result

Those who are grounded will look at how to improve relationships and/or operations

The analytical will consider the systems and processes in place and what needs to be created or improved

This means that people will need to let go of the idea that they, and only they, can rescue the day... The fact is that in business - as in life - things happen. There will always be problems to solve. At the same time the time and resources that can be saved by putting out the fire of fire fighting is immense.

Imagine if you and your team were able to spend time in your areas of strengths, instead of being pulled in all directions every time something happened? Though initially it would require investing a little time, afterwards there would be the time and space to do what you do best. This allows you to add more value and leverage it effectively within your team and organisation for better results on the bottom line and beyond.

So the next time you or your team have just put out a fire, stop! Get others with different strengths and perspectives involved to look at what happened and how to prevent it happening again. Become a better leader by reducing the emergencies in your organisation.

Read about Una and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

*****

If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 29^th April.

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Valentine's Day for Business

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Today’s Discuss HR has a distinctly romantic feel and Una Doyle looks at how you can create deeper connections. (Ed Scrivener)

Valentine's Day for Business

Whether or not you are a romantic, this is a great opportunity to remind yourself to 'spread the love' in your business. Valentine's Day is all about making new and/or deeper connections. How could you do this in your workplace? Look to demonstrate your commitment, value and appreciation.

You might want to start with romancing yourself. When was the last time that you sat down and wrote down your accomplishments in the last year or few years? Large or small, get them all down and congratulate yourself for what you have achieved. Treat yourself with a special meal, a trip away or even a nice soak in the bath with a good book. It will be hard to make others feel special, if you don't feel special yourself.

Make sure you are really clear about the value you offer to your team and customers. Think about ways you could increase the amount of time you get to spend working in your strengths to increase your value to the business - and have more fun.

If you are working in a team then make sure to thank each and every team member for their contribution. Write them a note of what you value most in them and their work. Not only will it give them a warm fuzzy, they'll likely do more of whatever you wrote and improve their performance. Just use a plain card or one with a picture on it though, rather than an actual Valentine's card - you don't want your staff to think you have romantic attachments!

If you are a HR consultant/self-employed, do the same with your suppliers as they are your team. What do they do that enables you to focus on your strengths and have a stronger and more sustainable business?

When it comes to customers, what could you do to make them feel special too? Make sure it's not just a special offer but something free that's genuinely of value. It doesn't have to be a product or something that costs you. It could simply be a list of useful resources or an e-guide on a hot topic.

Highlight your top customers and send them a Valentine's card explaining what you appreciate about them as a customer - perhaps how they are great to deal with, or even what they do for their customers that you think is wonderful. This applies just the same to internal customers.

With everybody, make sure to consider their personality type and how they may prefer to receive this appreciation. Some would love for you to talk with them face-to-face or on the phone, others would prefer to see what you say in writing and could be embarrassed if in person.

In order to thank others, you'll first need to truly consider their strengths and weaknesses and how these show up in performance. What difference is each individual really making to business performance? How do they make your life, your team's or your customers' lives that bit easier?

This clarity on who delivers what kind of value and communication around it can deepen your connection with those that you work with because it builds trust.

This trust is vital In order to stand out in your marketplace. A sustainable career and business depends upon effective collaboration over the long term, whether a solopreneur or multinational corporate.

The special bonus is that you get to feel good by making others feel good. Go on - make their day!

Read about Una and our other authors here

*****

Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

*****

If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 29^th April.

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Una Doyle - 2012

Continuing our review of 2012, today we look back on the writing of Una Doyle.  Una joined Discuss HR in late 2011 and has been an excellent addition to the blog, so why not enjoy her a second time round. (Ed Scrivener)

2012

• Smart Goals 2012: A different perspective 12^th January
• Reaping the rewards after restructuring, redeployment and redundancy 22^ndMarch
• Eliminate silos, increase results 31^st May
• The 7 Cs of great internal communication 9^th August
• Why are only one in twenty bosses good leaders? 25^th October

2011

• Full back catalogue

About the author

Una Doyle is an accredited Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant and an award-winning speaker, coach and consultant. Una has worked with organisations such as Argos, Asda, Yorkshire Forward, Kodak and local authorities from a one-to-one basis, to groups as large as 2,000.   She is passionate about helping to create intrapreneur teams; getting the right people, in the right place, doing the right things with ownership and commercial acumen. Una has learned how to apply many of the world’s top-thinkers’ ideas in a way that is simple, profound, gets massive bottom-line results and a more empowered, motivated and engaged workforce.

Blog Email LinkedIn Twitter Website

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.

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Why are 1 in 20 bosses good leaders?

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written by and for members of Human Resources UK.

This week’s blog will hopefully be brought to you by the wonders of technology!  I am writing this on Friday night as one of my last tasks before having a week’s holiday.  I am therefore hoping technology doesn’t let me down and this will be published on Thursday as planned!

This week our regular writer Una Doyle looks at why so many managers are poor leaders. (Ed Scrivener)

Why are only 1 in 20 bosses good leaders?

One in 20 bosses. That's only 5%. According to this research cited in Management Today*, for every company that has 20 bosses (your average 200-300 employee firm), only one of them is likely to be a good boss. For a public sector body with say 5000 employees, it may have 25 good bosses. Puts things into perspective wouldn't you say?

How on earth does this happen in today's world when it would be easy to think that businesses understand the value of developing their people? It's not like there aren't any books on the subject or even free information out there on the good ol' web...

I've pulled together these critical danger points for you to look at for yourself and/or to work through with the leaders and managers in your organisation. They come from my personal experience and learning so I'm not saying this is all there is to it, please add your own insights too in the comments:

Critical Danger Points

Not understanding that different people need different approaches so they treat all people the same. This can come from a genuine wish to do well by others, so many of us learned "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Treating people with kindness and compassion makes you a good person. Giving all your direct reports public praise and recognition may not make you a good manager though - some will love it and others may be mortified. The same applies to how much time you spend handholding and 'helping' your team. Some may really appreciate help, others will just feel micro-managed and that you don't trust them.

Not ensuring people work to their strengths and talents. The evidence is overwhelming on this point. When managers and their teams really get how to leverage their talents across the team (and between them and other teams in the organisation) not only does productivity and effectiveness go up, motivation and engagement usually increases too.

Underestimating the importance of good people management the higher up the ladder they go. I've heard several HR people talk as though senior leaders don't need to focus so much on their people management skills because their direct reports are also more senior and should know what they're doing. Maybe so, however, there are some other factors to consider. Their direct reports are people too and they have the same emotional needs as any person does. Remember "All the world's a stage" and people are watching how senior managers manage to get clues about what is really valued by the big bosses, no matter what leaders say. So maybe it's more important the higher up they go as they get to influence a greater sphere of people. After all, people do as you do, not as you say...

They lack self-awareness - as cited in the Management Today article self-awareness is very important. Imagine a leader talking at a staff conference about people coming forward with ideas and interacting when they had shouted at people only a few minutes earlier? Leaders and mangers may believe that their past successes were all down to them and discount the contribution of others. Nothing rankles so much with people as when blame and credit are unfairly attributed. There may be times when us development and HR peeps have to bite the bullet and help leaders to understand the impact of their behaviour - get your CV ready and tread carefully though, not all leaders will want to hear it because...

They simply don't care and purposely choose a domineering or bullying stance because they believe that's what gets results. It will definitely get results; the ones where people do a lot of politicking to stay on their right side. The kind of results where people won't pass on valuable data for decision-making because it conflicts with what they know or think the leader wants to hear. This not caring often results in the best people leaving the business at the first opportunity because they're not allowed to do their best work. The research cited in the article found that 47% of respondents felt threatened at work, instead of praised... The end result of all this is usually a downward spiral for the organisation.

They don't manage change very well. Any research on change will indicate that participation and communication are the two most important elements of successful change. Yet time and time again bosses don't do either very well. All too often in my experience decisions are made without genuine interaction with others in the organisation. Often those making the decisions on changes don't know what really goes on in the level of detail that team members do. Give people a chance to input BEFORE decisions are made. Not all change will be good for each individual in the business but for those that it is make sure to communicate that as well as why the change is so vital in the first place. Then communicate that again and again and again and again until people complain that they've heard this message several times now!

The business hasn't got the right leader in the right place at the right time. In the way that team members will get to perform at their best when they get to work to their strengths, the same applies to leaders and managers too. Yet more than this, each leader will have a time and place in the organisation that is most suited to their talents. When a leader is great at innovating and problem solving, don't put them in charge of customer service because they are likely to innovate their way out of service issues. This is especially true when the business (or product) is at the point where it is building a solid customer base. In the same way, a leader who is great at managing risk is not going to excel if the organisation really needs to boost the performance of its staff. In addition, the economy goes through cycles (or seasons) too and this also influences who is best to lead at a particular point in time. You don't want the person who was so good at tightening your belts to restrict growth when the economy turns from Winter to Spring.

* see this article for details http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1154107/only-one-20-bosses-good-leader/

About the author

Una Doyle is an accredited Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant and an award-winning speaker, coach and consultant. Una has worked with organisations such as Argos, Asda, Yorkshire Forward, Kodak and local authorities from a one-to-one basis, to groups as large as 2,000.   She is passionate about helping to create intrapreneur teams; getting the right people, in the right place, doing the right things with ownership and commercial acumen. Una has learned how to apply many of the world’s top-thinkers’ ideas in a way that is simple, profound, gets massive bottom-line results and a more empowered, motivated and engaged workforce.

BlogEmail LinkedIn Twitter Website

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.

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Where do we go with people development?

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

The networking events concluded this week, so can I thank everyone who attended and especially those that hosted.  I shall be looking to organise more in February so I will keep you posted.

This week our regular writer John Hepworth returns from his travels to look at why he feels so many individuals and organisations fail to develop themselves. (Ed Scrivener)

Where do we go with people development?

A longer term view

It is really interesting that during the current austerity, individuals and companies still do not seem to ‘get’ the need for continuous development of people, as a way out of decline.

My opinion is purely that: an opinion. And I am sure that there will be thousands of you out there that disagree – you will seek to ‘sharpen the saw’ as Stephen Covey would have it when it comes to your own development. And you may well be involved in companies that have extensive development – and dare I say it, training – programmes that seek to bring out the best in the existing workforce.

But too many individuals and companies fail to recognise that they have to take the first steps in order to keep ahead of the game. I was working with a director recently who had decided to look at the market place to see whether she was ‘up-to date in thinking – as well as strategically.’ Now perhaps you would expect that from someone in a senior position, to be always on the look-out for new ways to develop so that they can use it for themselves and for the benefit of their companies. Too often though both individuals and companies get drawn into the daily routine and at most short-termism, when it comes to dealing with their own development.

Let me give a view on funding, as development always seems to ‘hit the buffers’ when it comes to money. Government makes a great play about access to funding from banks and also the resources put into empowerment and leadership training in general. At best, there seems to be a market for ‘matched funding’ – the company puts in £2000 and gets £2000 additional, for instance. And this is at best: most companies baulk at investing such a lowly amount as ‘surely, the benefits are so intangible that it is worthless?’ Yet the availability of large sums of money – enough to invest in new machinery for instance – when it comes to management and employee development fail to materialise. We have had LMAS – but what else, especially in relation to REALLY helping individuals and companies take advantage of employee engagement after the MacLeod Report?

And whatever happened to the MacLeod Report and its successor initiative?

Believe me, this is not meant to appear as a negative slant in order to sell newspapers [or in this case the Discuss HR blog]. What I am trying to highlight is that we are still a long way away as an HR / Learning & Development business sector from giving individuals and companies the clear benefits of continuous improvement and development. The default for managers it seems is always knowledge and skills training at most and yet the biggest impact for individuals and business is when attitudes, and behaviours in particular, are impacted. And individuals recognise that this is a worthy part of their development and it has to be personal.

This leads me to another opinion – that management as a profession is still seen as a poor cousin. If you possess an accounting background, sales history or engineering skills, this still – yes, even engineering – puts you ahead of the good people manager or the manager who can run projects or administration effectively and efficiently. They are simply not seen as important – at best, inter-changeable - and a great deal of this in my view stems from the apologetic nature of HR / L&D, rather than championing the skills and showing the ‘benefits not the features’ [to steal from Sales] of professionalization of management.

What then is the future? There is a great deal of hope, believe me, but only if we change our tune as an industry. Look at the success of work-placed learning; look at the movement towards two year degrees in higher education; seek out those who do not follow ‘The Apprentice’ school of management and see how they have improved both personal development and the status of management. In reality too, look at Ricardo Semler and SemCo. A beacon of work-placed democracy, but learn from his experiment and the way that his staff developed. Google him as part of your own CPD.

All of which can lead to the principle that capitalism was invented for: profits. You see, development and professional management can bring rewards for all – now go and spread the message.

About the author

John helps organisations, especially in the SME sector, achieve competitive advantage.  He has a particular interest in translating strategic HR management into practice.  Typically, this has meant focusing his efforts on recruitment and selection, performance management and training and development activities.  John sees the challenge of matching the development of internal competencies with the externally driven demands of the market place as one of the key themes in developing organisational engagement, capability and performance.
Email | LinkedIn | Website

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be written by Performance Consultant Una Doyle.

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The 7 C’s of Great Internal Communication

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

Firstly, a bit of group business.  Look out for the announcement tomorrow when I will release details of the forthcoming networking events.  As always they’re free to attend; just for those involved in HR; and are sales free environments.

I promised last week not to make any mention to the Olympics, but I’m afraid I have been completely swept up by how amazing it has been.  The performances of the athletes has been nothing short of outstanding.  One of the performances that impressed me most was that of Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie who won GB’s first ever gold medal in the Slalom Canoeing.  I was so amazed out how they both knew exactly what the other needed to do to traverse the rapids and it was clear their communication skills are exemplary.  Which takes me very nicely into this week’s post written by regular writer Una Doyle who looks at what makes good communication. (Ed Scrivener)

The 7 C’s of Great Internal Communication

(I always seem to misunderstand... Ed)

Before I share these Cs with you I need to get something off my chest.

Just because you communicate every day doesn’t mean that you are automatically great at it…

Ouch! I know it hurts, yet I won’t apologise for that statement because I see time and time again how people believe that because they email, hold conversations, attend and run meetings every day that they are somehow an expert communicator. That’s like me thinking that because I drive to work everyday I could race in Formula 1 tomorrow!

Though these seven points can apply to all communication, in this article I want to pay attention to how HR and management can improve the quality of their internal communication, particularly in this time of constant change.

The fact is that poor internal communication leads to misunderstandings, wasted time and effort, ineffective change and even disengaged staff and cynicism. According to research by author Russell-Oliver Brooklands all this could be costing your organisation hundreds of thousands every year (free ebook with financial audit of your internal communication: http://www.internalcommunicationmodel.com/ebooks.htm).

1. Communication vs Communications

That extra ‘s’ at the end can be the difference between thinking of communication as a discipline and thinking of it as a bunch of materials. The former is about looking to use communication to support achieving your organisational objectives, the latter is “I need a leaflet for this project”.

Communication is often an after-thought. For instance change programmes often bring in a communication professional late in the process after the damage has already been done. Give the importance of communication some consideration from the very beginning.

2. Clarity

Whether you are communicating in writing or in person keep sentences reasonably short with one point per sentence and one theme per paragraph or slide.

Look at the structure of what you wish to communicate. Is it in the right order? Are all the points necessary? What questions might be asked when somebody reads or hears this?

Another tip from Brooklands is to drop the ‘we’ and ‘our’ as much as possible. His research has shown that because people don’t necessarily know who the ‘we’ or ‘our’ refers to they subconsciously switch off.

For instance when you say ‘our’ does that mean ‘our team’, ‘our department’, ‘our organisation’ or even ‘our industry’? Be specific about which ‘who’ you are actually referring to.

3. Credibility

Where the credibility lies can vary from organisation to organisation and team to team. In many cases it will be the senior management team, in some, the local line managers may have more impact with staff if there is a lot of cynicism and mistrust of the top team.

In a world of over-communication, don’t underestimate the importance of endorsement in making a message stand out. After all, that’s why celebrities and sports stars are paid millions to endorse products in advertising.

4. Consistency

The positive impact of people from different departments sitting down to lunch and discovering they’ve been told the same thing by different people in the organisation is immense! Look to create situations where this happens all the time and you will be amazed at the results.

Be a part of the grapevine rather than it being an underground swell of alternative messages. This means that you really need buy in from middle management to communicating these messages.

Sometimes this is more challenging if they don’t buy in to the content of the message. At Intel they have a motto ‘disagree then commit’ that allows staff to air their views for discussion, however once a decision is made everybody commits to seeing it through.

This does require that the key messages of every programme and initiative are thought through and the relevant ones go through every communication like in a stick of Blackpool rock.

5. Congruence

This is the C that is often the most challenging because it involves people and their character. Help leaders and managers to move from “Do as I say not as I do” behaviours to doing what they say.

Why should employees behave the way they are asked when they see others not doing so? Alignment between the organisation’s values, the integrity and behaviour of senior staff and communication is vital for it to have a positive impact.

6. Call to action

This often-missing C can have a big impact on the outcome of your communication. Before you begin to put something together decide on what you want people to do as a result of it. So often with internal communication people will say that they ‘just want staff to know’. Great internal communication will be much more specific.

Some examples of specific outcomes could be:

• To apply a new health and safety procedure
• To use a new process
• To increase buy in to the organisation’s values
• To understand a new structure so they know who to work with on different things

7. Comment and feedback

Communication is not a one-way street. It is essential that staff get the opportunity to safely ask questions and provide feedback. Some great ways of facilitating two-way conversations are one-to-one meetings, team briefings, director Q&A sessions, staff forums, suggestion schemes and surveys.

It is imperative to report back to staff on feedback received from them, ideally by demonstrating how the organisation is acting on it or at least explaining why no action is being taken.

To open up further dialogue, I’d like to ask you, "In what ways could you apply these points to improve your communication results?" Please share your ideas, I would love to hear from you.

About the author

Una Doyle is an accredited Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant and an award-winning speaker, coach and consultant. Una has worked with organisations such as Argos, Asda, Yorkshire Forward, Kodak and local authorities from a one-to-one basis, to groups as large as 2,000.   She is passionate about helping to create intrapreneur teams; getting the right people, in the right place, doing the right things with ownership and commercial acumen. Una has learned how to apply many of the world’s top-thinkers’ ideas in a way that is simple, profound, gets massive bottom-line results and a more empowered, motivated and engaged workforce.

Blog Email LinkedIn Twitter Website

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be written by experienced HR Director Sheena McLullich. 

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A day in the life of…a self-employed consultant

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

Despite being truly caught up in the Olympics I’ve promised not to fill this with tenuous links as is my way, so this week’s Discus HR... That will be the end of that! 

This week we welcome back our regular writer John Hepworth, who has written a piece that I feel will be extremely relevant to a large number of our members, those brave souls who go it alone and become self-employed consultants.

P.S. Look out for next week’s announcement about our forthcoming networking events (Ed Scrivener)

A day in the life of…a self-employed consultant

The consultant's leap of faith!

Being self employed is a weird thing. To begin with, the majority of self-employed consultants appear to work on their own – after years of trudging to the office to work with colleagues (love ‘em or hate ‘em), we suddenly find ourselves at a laptop in the kitchen or in a managed office somewhere, infrequently populated with others! So, that is the first thing about self-employment, in the world of HR especially - are you happy to spend more time with your own company? Now, do not get me wrong. You soon start to network with ‘fellow travellers’ and some even join established consultancies where the transition is perhaps easier. It is still a change, though, from the daily routine and monthly salary of ‘employed status’.

And the next change of course is how you get your work. Having spent years sorting out management and employee disputes and getting a pay cheque each month, suddenly you are in the role of sales and marketing manager – for yourself! The challenge is doubled if you decide that you want to do work you like, more than the ‘stuff’ you don’t – one distinct advantage of self-employment – and this of course is much harder than it sounds? On average, one day of consultancy takes 15 days of effort…

To a certain extent, the focus in the early days is learning how to ‘sell the benefit’ of HR & D to organisations that have had no HR or Training culture – or indeed, have one that is different to your own. Either that, or you are having to ‘sell the benefit’ of your skills and experience to an HR Manager / L&D Manager, who may see you as a threat to their authority – especially on cold calls (hint – don’t make ‘em)!

This is the next thing - you need to be very focused and in that clichéd recruitment phrase, a ‘self-starter’, to succeed. There is invariably no support network around you, at least initially. In order to get business, you get very skilled very quickly in assessing whether a potential client may be interested or not.

Cashflow is another aspect of self-employment to which you need to adjust. It is a bit obvious perhaps – regular pay suddenly becomes either feast or famine. You then have the view that you cannot turn work down ‘just in case’ and suddenly, you have been working flat out for six months and done nothing to build contacts for the next set of assignments! This inevitably comes back to focus. Focus in that you need to understand how much you need to earn; how many days that equates to and at what price; what sort of work you want to do (surely there has to be a benefit to being able to do what you want?); and when to schedule in time for ‘Project You’ – if you don’t, then you will fall over!

So, why become self employed? To start, you get to meet a whole load more people in the long run and you do manage to escape from the computer. The job is about relationships and not the PC, so the role releases you to do just that – build relationships. In the scheme of things, you get the chance to build a business – regular clients, people who share your values – rather than ‘get work’. If you go out as an interim, that lifestyle allows you security AND flexibility as you can – by and large – choose when you want to work.

This theme of flexibility continues in that you do learn and develop, putting yourself into situations that you would never have dreamt of in ‘proper jobs’. The fact that you do so and survive is very motivating and fulfilling. Above all, self-employment allows you to have control of your life AND satisfy the needs of others. Ideal, then.

About the author

John helps organisations, especially in the SME sector, achieve competitive advantage.  He has a particular interest in translating strategic HR management into practice.  Typically, this has meant focusing his efforts on recruitment and selection, performance management and training and development activities.  John sees the challenge of matching the development of internal competencies with the externally driven demands of the market place as one of the key themes in developing organisational engagement, capability and performance.
Email | LinkedIn | Website

*****

Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be written by Performance Consultant Una Doyle.

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