Trusted Human Resource Solutions Incorporated

Core Values and Organizational Culture

What Are Core Values?

A core value is a belief that a business has and is a fundamental building block for constructing your organization’s culture. They are traits and characteristics that need to be clearly and consistently communicated by leaders every chance they get. Undoubtedly, core values are standards of behavior that represent what an organization cares the most about and represent which characteristics they prioritize while in business. Furthermore, they are the vehicle that drives business decisions. Core values are also a guide for how an organization interacts with clients, employees, and other stakeholders. Core values and organizational culture go hand in hand.

Why Core Values and Organizational Culture?

Having clear, consistent core values is important for the strength and impact of company culture. Strong core values can increase business decision accuracy. Furthermore, they give employees a vehicle to drive their actions. Core values also help sculpt an organization’s vision. Also, core values help motivate and inspire employee performance. Additionally, consistent core values are a must if you desire a high performing team and if you want to differentiate from your competitors. By sticking to your core values, your team can overcome any obstacle and achieve your targets. Remember to live your core values, not just talk about them.

There are tons of options for an organization to implement and live their core values. They should be implemented into all employee-related processes. These processes can include how you recruit talent, how you hire candidates, how you conduct performance reviews, and how you frame the criteria for rewards and promotions. Keep in mind, implementing these core values do not happen over night. Certainly, it can take months to see the affects of living your core values.

Here are some common methods of implementing your organization’s core values:

Make them visual on the company website, in your employee handbook or having them in high traffic areas so employees or clients can see them daily.
Include your core values in company job postings to attract like minded individuals. And, when it’s time to interview – make sure to ask questions that will assess if a candidate aligns with your core values.
In regards to performance management, align your key performance indicators with your core values. This will help when correcting unwanted behaviors and setting expectations.
Host team exercises or activities that teach or re-enforce your company’s culture and core values.
Consistent communicate values. The message sent should always be consistent and verbalized in a clear way. Clear and consistent communication of company cultures cannot be emphasized enough. Confused employees are not happy or productive.
Rewarding and praising employees who are living the core values will help set an example to the others.

If you have any questions about core values and organizational culture, reach out to us here.

8 Steps to Conflict Resolution

Handling employee conflict is easier when a process is in place. Using an efficient process is encouraged because it allows the organizational leaders to make fair, unbiased resolutions. Implementing ethical practices such as our ‘8 Steps to Conflict Resolution‘ into your organization’s strategy for quality.

sunshine industry farm technology — Photo by Peechie247 on Pexels.com

Here is our 8 Steps to Conflict Resolution for employee conflict management success:

Problem Recognition. All parties involved need to see that there is a problem and a solution needs to be put into place.
Understanding the Problem. Everyone that is affected or are part of the problem needs to understand the different perspectives of the problem.
Intervention. A third party may need to become involved to get everyone onto the same page with an unbiased view of the situation.
Be Proactive. Identify the triggers that prompt conflict to arise in regards to the main issue.
Find Solutions. Identify behaviors, attitudes, and approaches to work that can increase camaraderie among coworkers.
Compromise. Find the middle ground in which all parties involved can commit to so that the conflict can be minimized or completely resolved.
Write it down. Create a mutual agreement based on the compromise that was created. This will solidify the employee’s commitment to the resolution.
Monitor. Keep an open door policy while monitoring the situation and gain feedback from the involved parties so that the appropriate adjustments can be made.

At the end of the day, if the conflict continues to arise even with the efforts followed in our 8 Steps to Conflict Resolution, it is at the discretion of the manager to either 1) further discipline an employee, or 2) letting go the employee that is refusing to compromise. Of course, keep in mind that the appropriate performance management protocols should be followed, as well as a fair termination process.

It can be tough to manage conflict in the workplace. Following these steps will certainly help.

#humanresourcemanagement #hr #hrmanagement #conflictresolution #saskatoon

HR for Beginners 101: Succession Planning

Has Your Company Been Succession Planning?

What is succession planning? In business, succession planning is the actions of developing internal employees who have potential to fill essential leadership roles within a company. It is a strategy that can be developed in an organization for identifying and developing future leaders for all major roles at all levels. This often includes having the right financial structure in place so that the value of your business continues to increase down the road.

Who should succession plan? If you have a team member who you know is going to be leaving the company, it is best to start succession planning to avoid being caught off guard and becoming disoriented. Maybe your company has had a hire turnover recently and its becoming hard to keep up with filling the vacant roles. Remember, employees are fixed assets and changes in your team will eventually happen. Organizations who plan to expand their operations and who have the issues mentioned should definitely have a succession plan in place.

Why should I succession plan? Being prepared for the likely event of losing key employees as the organization expands is always a good idea. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s 2006 survey suggested that one third of owners of independent businesses plan to exit their business within 5 years and the remaining two thirds plan to exit within the next 10 years. Succession planning will support ownership future goals by ensuring that the company is prepared for the transfer of power and that the leaders in a company are educated, qualified and skilled enough to manage the longevity of the business. A smooth transition to filling vacant company roles alleviates a ton of potential problems and bottlenecks.

When should I succession plan? When your company is starting to take off. Another ideal time to succession plan is when a person is hired and at the very beginning of the employee development process or program. Reviews of your succession plan should be something that should happen frequently throughout the year. Once you start, it should become continual.

Here are a few tips to kickstart your succession planning:

identify the key roles in the organization and the impact they have on the company/department
pinpoint the competencies needed to undertake each role
list the pools of talent that could fill and perform well in the key roles
choose the team members and let them know why they are becoming proteges
develop employees in ways to prepare them for advancement into key roles like allowing for job rotations and invest in professional development
integrate the new succession plan into your hiring strategy
test the succession plan to make sure the protégé has what it takes (for example: have a protégé assume responsibilities of a manager who is taking vacation)

Contact our HR Specialist – Vanessa Gerard (vanessa@trustedhumanresource.ca) for your succession planning needs.

From the heart of my small business to each of you:

The Employee Coaching Program has been designed to guide employees through workplace challenges in a way that empowers problem solving and builds interpersonal abilities. Our program keeps teams cohesively focused on goals by amplifying trust and confidence in one another.

"With the same habits, you'll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible." -- James Clear, Atomic Habits.

Have you ever taken a Myers Briggs Personality Assessment before? Its a self administered questionnaire that tells you about how you see the world. We are all complex human beings and we don't necessarily fit into a neat little box. Self discovery is critical to growth, personally and professionally. Plus, it's a fun way to get a different perspective on life!

"Salute the ones who died / The ones that give their lives, so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love." —Zac Brown Band

Have you ever been working late in the evening and wondered to yourself, "Would it be worth to hand over these administrative HR tasks to someone else? What would I actually gain?"

Have you heard? We are hosting our first lunch and learn for small businesses!

Micro Business Assessment

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Has is it been a while since you’ve looked at your business? Maybe you’re a new business owner and are looking for some insight about your business. Or maybe it is that time of year again? Time to assess what your business has succeeded in or what it is struggling with. If you’re a business owner and you don’t do complete a business assessment at least once a year, what the heck are you waiting for? Would you like to know what the business has accomplished? And what it needs to work on? You know, so it can keep improving? Of course you do. That’s why you’re here reading this.

Below are the steps you need to take to complete a Micro Business Assessment.

STEP ONE:

Separate yourself from your business. The point is to look at the strengths and weaknesses of your business, NOT you or your teams.

STEP TWO:

Make a list of things that are working well in tour business.

Make a list of your challenges. This can be setbacks the business has had or any specific challenge the business has faced or is facing. It can also include goals that haven’t been met. (Again, not PERSONAL challenges and avoid the use of “I” statements)

STEP THREE:

With the list of challenges, divide each issue from “Make List of Your Challenges” into three columns:

1. Key reasons for the challenge

2. Things you can change

3. Things you cannot change

STEP FOUR

Do the same with the list of things working well. Divide each item in the “Things That Are Working Well” into three columns:

1. Key reasons for it working well

2. Things you could change to improve it even more

3. Things that should stay the same for it to keep working well

Business owners can use this exercise as a baseline in a much more expansive and overall in depth business assessment. It is a good exercise to use when your business may be facing new situations, if your considering expanding operations, or if you’re thinking of hiring more people for your team.

FAQ: How do I know if my business is ready to outsource?

Small business owners are some of the most incredible people on the planet. They have created a business from the ground up because they are doing something they are passionate about whether it be operating a restaurant, selling a product that they have invented, or constructing houses. It takes passion to become a successful entrepreneur and many painstaking hours to perfect a craft. On top of all that, they are also business owners – some without any formal education in business.

These small business owners wear dozens of hats a day! They may wear a chef hat, a construction hat, a doctor’s hat – all sorts of day time hats. During the quiet evenings at home they may wear a marketing director hat, a training & development hat, a bookkeeping hat, an operations manager hat, and so forth. All of these hats that small business owners are required to fit into can eventually begin wearing them down to the point of exhaustion and they may even begin making mistakes that their business cannot afford.

There are a few signs that you may recognize in your business, or within yourself, that may point to the fact that…. Maybe it is time to start outsourcing some of your business activities to a professional.

Productivity May Be Dwindling.

You’re always falling behind with work. You feel like you have more work ahead of you than time to handle it. Perhaps your revenue is not growing at the rate you’ve been expecting or planned it to. You don’t have the time to sit down and analyze WHY it is happening. The mere fact that most of your work day is consumed with day to day activities to the point where you are unable to innovate your business and your strategies for the long term – it is plain to see. You should be outsourcing the tasks you can’t necessarily make enough time for.

2. The Skill Is Only Temporarily Needed or Needed on a Cyclical Basis.

Sometimes, business owners come with the idea that maybe they should hire a “jack of all trades” type of person. Maybe hire a manager who is capable of wearing all of the hats that they do not want. While this may seem like a good idea on the surface, it may not be all that it was planned to be. Getting your managers to handle situations or do tasks that make them uncomfortable (or in their job scopes) may place a ton of stress on them, and can ultimately distract them from performing their primary job functions. Hiring multi-faceted individuals is a great idea, but, hiring an expert on particular subject matter may actually be the most desirable, cost and time effective choice out of them all.

3. Aspects of Your Business Are In Trouble

You may have a team that are handling a wide variety of tasks for you under the company roof. But that doesn’t mean that they are taken care in a way that is satisfying your client’s expectations. You may notice that these great employees are struggling to reach your company and client’s standards. This indicates that outsourcing the work to a professional who specializes in that area would be of considerable benefit to your employees. They will be just as relieved as you are that these difficult and time consuming tasks will be taken care of for them and leaves them the time to crunch down on some impactful work for the company.

“The key is not in spending time, but in investing it.”
-Steven R. Covey

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FAQ: What are the benefits to Human Resource outsourcing?

More often than not, we are asked this question a ton while speaking to organizations about their HR needs. So, you don’t need to feel bad about being unsure. There are many clients who ask this question and we get excited that we can explain it to them. Nothing really quite shines our shoes more than describing all of the benefits of human resource outsourcing! Let’s get into it.

You Get More Time In Your Day. How? Because when you outsource your HR needs, all of your people problems are directed to a professional. All of the “Am I breaking any laws or regulations?” and “How do I motivate my team and keep them on their toes?” type questions are no longer the dark cloud over your head. That dark cloud now belongs to a professional that has your back.
You Can Focus On Essential Business Tasks. Outsourcing HR handles a lot of the stress causing work that management face during their work weeks. Things such as employee disputes, payroll complications, law and policy compliance, dealing with terminations, training the new guy, and constantly thinking of ways to keep your teams motivated and to be consistently successful. Now, let’s envision what your work weeks would look like with all of that extra time to focus on the most essential business tasks. You can bet your lucky loonie – that’s what success looks like.
You Get A People Expert “Side Kick”. All of the worries you may have had when it comes to managing your team (which we are positive you do for a good portion of your work day) are now someone else’s worries. The only difference is, is that this ‘someone else’ is an expert that can handle all of these concerns with confidence. You don’t need to worry about finding the solution because we will have it delivered directly to your door step.
Leave It To the Experts. We know that most business owners are nervous about handing off so much responsibility to a third party. They have built a business that they are passionate about and don’t want that to be compromised. But, that is the exact reason it should be outsourced. Industry professionals can help protect your business from things that you may have never known about. HR professionals do the tedious work of combing through laws and regulations to ensure your company is in compliance and avoids being penalized or fined.
Opportunity Cost. What is the hottest commodity out there that all business owners wish they had more of? Time. Yes, time is the most valuable asset that all business owners have (and need more of). Time equals opportunity. So, when considering outsourcing your HR, you should weigh the cost of time spent doing HR activities yourself compared to the opportunities that open up when it is outsourced to a professional. You can really hone in on major projects, you will have time to focus on strategy, on finances, on expansions, anything that you have been putting off. You name it. There are many opportunities waiting to be taken.