When the Going Gets Tough

By: Belinda Smith

After the resignations of co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie from RIM/Blackberry, that organization has been thrown into a lot of uncertainty. RIM has been struggling as of late and losing competitive ground against other smartphones and particularly the iPhone. Now the organization has to overcome losing its two leaders and the uncertainty of where the new CEO is leading the company, to turnaround or sale.

It seems when organizations have issues, the first thing to happen is the highest leadership resigns. While anecdotally I understand why this occurs, is it always necessary or for the best in every situation? When RIM lost not one, but two CEOs that has to be viewed as a loss of talent and experience rather than a “good riddance.” Sometimes CEOs are inadequate, but they do bring something to the table.

Even if it isn’t seen as important, the knowledge of failure is invaluable. Often, individuals do not want to admit failure, especially in the business world. And why would you? More often than not, the acknowledgment of failure automatically is associated with incompetence and leads to unpleasant consequences. While many failures could have been avoided, many could not. Businesses are operating in uncharted territory with the consumer base and economic position continually changing. In addition, dealing with new competitive threats is never exactly the same.

It is important for leadership to be self-aware, but to also continually analyze successes and failures and the reasons behind them. Doing so will help drive the business and create a better sense of what works and what does not under what circumstances and why the outcomes occurred that way.

Recognizing failure and dealing with it quickly rather than continually sweeping it under the rug will actually minimize the failure. Operating under a sense of success even when failing will lead to more catastrophic failure. Losing talent over a failure is only adding fuel to it. Understanding why it occurred is more important than placing blame on a specific individual. While it may feel like the right thing to do, it will never eliminate the failure from occurring again.

Customer Service Rules

By: Belinda Smith

How customers feel about an organization’s products and services is important because their perception drives the business. Regardless of whether the customer is correct in their conclusions about an organization, their perception can easily spread to others especially through social media outlets. Organizations also should have some sort of customer service “line of defense” after the customer has experienced inadequate customer service. While one employee could taint a customer’s opinion of an organization, one employee can also help the organization to be seen in a positive light.

I recently had an experience with an organization where an employee made a mistake and it resulted in a lot of time on my part fixing the issue. That resulted in a lot of headache on my part. Because of one employee, I was placed in a very difficult position that could not be easily rectified. I called the organization’s customer service line to help me with the situation, and because of the nature of the situation, there was not a way to fix it at that time. I was honestly to the point of not doing business with this organization, because I felt as if they did not value me as a customer and that my voice was not being heard. My situation was applicable to many other individuals and there was “nothing that they could do to help me at that time.” Both customer service agents I spoke with after the mistake was made were highly knowledgeable and helpful, but it didn’t change the fact that I was still unhappy with my service.

What these customer service agents did differently, is they heard out my story and took my feedback seriously. I told them what I wanted to get out of the call since there was nothing to be done about my situation currently. They both explained to me everything I needed to know to make sound decisions about this case. Lastly, they told me their action steps to ensure my feedback and situation were heard in something other than just a recorded phone call. Because of that, I felt better about my choice to do business with this organization. One employee put me in this position, but two employees took me seriously and I felt valued.

The two agents I spoke with after the mistake had personal attributes such as stress tolerance, friendliness, sociability and high reasoning abilities that helped them deal with the situation in a genuine and positive way. From my perspective, they were very well trained and knew the answers to my questions and came up with ways to address my issue on a larger scale. If customer service is truly important in an organization, selecting those who have natural attributes that enable them to give great customer service is essential, but not enough. Empowering individuals through thorough training programs and giving them the ability to actually assist customers rather than read a script to them enhances the customer experience. Because of these agents, I am and will continue to do business with this organization.

Accidents in Telecommuting

By: Belinda Smith

Now that organizations have the option and appropriate resources to allow their employees to telecommute, many individuals are taking advantage of the opportunity. It’s nice to have the familiarity of your own home surrounding you as you work as well as eliminating the stress from an actual commute. It has been found that telecommuting reduces turnover, reduces unscheduled absences, increases employee satisfaction and increases productivity, etc. (Telework Research Network, 2012). These outcomes in turn, reduce overall organizational costs.

One obstacle to avoid when implementing such practices is the illusion that those telecommuting are not putting in as much time and/or effort as those coming into the office every day. A pitfall of many organizations is operating under the assumption that if people are present and you can see them , they are actually working to their fullest potential. Some individuals may work better in isolation and some tasks may be completed with more accuracy and more quickly when an individual has the option to complete them at home. The key to understanding if telecommuting practices are worthwhile is to have objective metrics in place to measure all individuals.

Creating performance metrics that examine the amount of output an employee is a more effective measure than just mere individual perception. Instead of assuming those who are not telecommuting are working more, actually compare their performance to those who are telecommuting. Examining things such as sales, customer service, accuracy of work, how quickly projects are completed, etc. can give organizations insight into the effectiveness of their telecommuting polices. In addition, when everyone is evaluated under the same metrics, misperceptions can be decreased or eliminated, which in turn gives an organization an accurate snapshot of their productivity and performance.

Avoiding the potential “accidents” in telecommuting can make this a best practice for an organization. By thoroughly understanding if telecommuting is having any sort of negative or positive impact, an organization can begin to more clearly understand under what circumstances telecommuting can maximize the organization’s productivity and enhance employee attitudes towards the organization.

Navigating the Social Media and HR Conundrum

By: Belinda Smith

Social Media and Human Resources; it seems like those two things go together like oil and water. Some people very much enjoy the use of social media for recruiting purposes and even utilizing internal social media-like structures to keep everyone involved, engaged and on the same page within an organization. Others caution the use of social media within the workplace because there are ambiguous guidelines for using it and being compliant with all employment laws.

I was discussing this very issue with a close friend of mine recently. She works within a school district that has no concrete social media policies outside of fraternization with students online. She had mentioned that on several occasions that educators would be reprimanded for what was posted on their Facebook pages even when they had them set to private and had no contact with coworkers online. While the school district took no formal disciplinary action against these individuals, they did make a few mistakes.

Firstly, there is the argument for “expected level of privacy.” That means that when an individual does everything in their power to be sure to keep their pages private, that there is that expectation that their employer will not “get into” their accounts. In addition, if the post was made public off the clock and off of company resources, it could fall under first amendment rights if the organization in question was not mentioned or defamed and/or what was being said is 100% truthful and accurate.

Another wide use of social media is in the recruiting function. Many recruiters relish the fact that they can have more acceptable candidates at their fingertips. In addition, job postings can reach more individuals, creating that always sought after large candidate pool. While these are definitely advantages I do offer just a word of caution. Because of Title VII laws, there are certain “protected classes” that employers absolutely cannot discriminate against. In addition, because social media sites almost always include a picture and some information about an individual, if they are eliminated in the hiring process before a face-to-face meeting, there could be a case for discrimination, even if there was none present. This is where ambiguity becomes detrimental. Though there are no laws against using social media sites for screening out purposes, there could be various arguments that result in legal action when using them.

The solution to many of these problems is to have clear guidelines in place, whether that be for the use of social media in the hiring process or more centered around what is acceptable to post from social media sites. Rather than ignoring the issue or making rules that prohibit all social media usage, employers need to clearly understand how social media can affect various facets of their organizations. In addition, these affects will differ between organizations and between industries. Understanding those differences will enable organizations to positively leverage the advantages of social media while strategically avoiding any pitfalls.

For further reading, here are some guidelines concerning creating social media policies as provided be the NRLB (National Labor Relations Board).