Most organizations reach a point where they need to get really specific about what traits make leaders successful in their organization. Sometimes organizations get lucky and promote the right people from staff positions into supervisory roles and these people are successful leaders. But many times, the wrong person gets promoted, and this is because they focus more on the person’s success in their current role and less on what the expected behaviors are for leaders and whether this person has demonstrated their ability to exercise them. This month’s success story shares our recent work with a company that came to that conclusion. Aim Transportation Solutions is the largest, privately owned truck leasing company in North America. Aim Leasing Company was founded in 1982 as an affiliate of McNicholas Transportation who was, at that time, the largest steel hauler east of the Mississippi. Their initial goal was to purchase and maintain equipment for companies that didn’t have internal logistics capabilities. Since then, they have achieved steady growth and are now considered the largest, privately owned truck leasing company in North America. Like many growing business, identifying and promoting the right people into the critical middle management role was something Aim struggled with. Their people are truly passionate about solving their customers’ problems, but this passion does not necessarily mean that these employees would be good leaders. What Aim wanted to do was develop tools and processes to identify potential leaders in a consistent manner, in order to increase newly-promoted supervisors’ success, and continue to enhance their ability to solve customers’ problems. Vice President of Human Resources Patty Durkin said: We knew that by implementing a process to identify potential leaders in a consistent fashion would greatly enhance our succession planning efforts. We are a growing company in a very dynamic industry…we need to make sure we have the right people in the right place and trained the right way for our customers. This is especially true for anyone with the great responsibility for leading people. We connected with OA based on their experience helping companies implement leadership development programs. They have a solid methodology for identifying leadership competencies, defining them, and helping organizations integrate them into their succession planning...
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This month’s success story features our work with Case Paper. Although they are 75 years old, they just recently hired their first HR director [and also an old colleague]. One of his first tasks was to review the employee handbook provisions and processes related to harassment. More on that below… Since 1943, Case Paper Company has provided incomparable service to the printing and packaging industry. The foundation of this service rests on maintaining one of the largest inventories of coated paper and board in both rolls and sheets in the United States; providing swift delivery of custom-converted products from state-of-the-art equipment; and the ability to process custom sizes. In fact, Case Paper has an extensive inventory of over 75,000 tons of paper and board available for immediate delivery, warehoused in over 1.25 million square feet of storage space across the U.S. They also provide state-of-the-art converting, warehousing, shipping, and logistics from several North American locations. Once their HR leader assessed the current state of their harassment avoidance program, he contacted OA for assistance in developing and delivering Diversity and Harassment Awareness Training. Ron Hervi, Director of Human Resources said: I had worked with OA’s Mark Fiala years ago when we were part of the Human Resources department in the company in which we worked. I knew his reputation and that of his company, so once I got acclimated to my new role at Case Paper, we started talking about how we could work together to deliver Diversity, Inclusion, Sensitivity, and Harassment Prevention training to my management team. Mark developed and delivered some of the best training we have ever received…his approach was to facilitate a real conversation with my leaders and help them understand the negative effect of harassment and the benefits of fostering diversity and inclusion. We held workshops in Philadelphia and Chicago for a total of six workshops. Each session was delivered effectively, and real learning took place…the feedback we received was that the training was useful, meaningful…and believe it or not, fun! It’s no secret that harassment is on many employer’s minds…making sure your managers are trained to spot and take action in cases of harassment is critical. Make sure you provide them the tools they...
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Public libraries have unique challenges. Public sector employment rules and collective bargaining makes the job as library Executive Director or HR leader all the more challenging. Our public library and public sector expertise incorporates data from the American Library Association, regional public library and public employer organizations, and more than TEN YEARS of HR consulting experience with public, private, and not-for-profit organizations. Whether you are a small public library or one of the largest in Ohio, Organizational Architecture is your partner for helping you meet your Human Resources challenges. Our public library clients include: Cuyahoga County Public Library Stark County District Library Westerville Public Library Our public sector commitment is reflected in the certifications we have earned to do public sector work: United States Department of Veterans Affairs Veteran Owned Small Business State of Ohio Veteran Business Enterprise Cuyahoga County Small Business Enterprise City of Cleveland Small Business Enterprise Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Small Business Enterprise If you need assistance with other HR projects and want to learn more about our human resources consulting, contact us and check out our blog for more...
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One example of how Organizational Architecture assists its client with management training is our work with ACRT Inc. and its management development workshops. Training and development programs can help new managers grow into their role and make current managers even better! ACRT is a leading independent utility vegetation management consulting company that prevents and rapidly resolves utility challenges by assessing and monitoring utility systems for vegetation liabilities and storm preparedness. They have teams of employees all over the United States ensuring that electrical power lines are clear of hazards that can disrupt service. They were ready to implement several initiatives to help their workforce, but with limited bandwidth, they needed to bring in an external resource to assist them. Their leadership had already done a needs assessment of their managers and identified development areas, so they were ready to hit the ground running. We were able to help them by developing and delivering training workshops on topics such as Customer service Effective communication Effective interviewing and selection Effective presentation techniques Leading productive meetings Understanding generational differences The workshops included facilitation, workbooks, activities, handouts, and other tools for effective learning. Additionally, many of these workshops were developed to be uploaded to their learning management system [LMS] so that remote learners could take advantage of the learning. Bob Chess, Chief Human Resources Officer at ACRT, said, Organizational Architecture was a huge help with developing and delivering our leadership workshops. We had begun to develop an internal capability for staff training and development as part of our overall succession planning process, and needed assistance in the meantime ensuring our staff received the training they needed. Partnering with Organizational Architecture allowed us to focus on launching other HR initiatives while ensuring that development of our managers was underway. They were effective in helping us develop the content for the workshops as well as the tools to ensure effective learning. Organizational Architecture was able to provide an outside perspective on how to deliver the training effectively, which equipped our managers with tools to integrate into ongoing performance management and delivering annual performance reviews. No matter what type of training your staff or managers need, Organizational Architecture can provide the necessary training to help...
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Interpersonal skills are also known as “people skills”. By forming interpersonal relationships with customers and employees, you are able to acknowledge the feelings of others and convey respect. You can also focus on the positive outcomes of varied viewpoints, while nurturing professional growth. Your ability to realize optimum performance from employees is greatly enhanced by “just being nice”. Communicating appropriately is an essential factor. Seeing yourself as others see you is the first step to improving your interpersonal communication skills. Here are some other ways to improve your interpersonal communication skills. Be more approachable – implement an open door policy; determine if you are perceived as unapproachable and work to resolve; become more involved in your employees’ daily functions. Build rapport – take an interest in your customers and employees; engage in periodic, casual conversations; discuss mutual non-business interests; share your personal interests. Strive to make others comfortable with you – refrain from being overly serious; control your intensity; smile frequently while speaking; use appropriate humor; monitor sarcasm. Develop your ability to make “small talk” – prepare opening statements about current events; discuss the weather; listen for “free” information while others speak; ask questions about the “free” information you heard. Treat others fairly – offer recognition to everyone as appropriate; monitor and avoid favoritism; remain neutral in workplace disputes; explain the rationale behind decisions you or the organization makes. Become more social – widen your group of acquaintances; speak up in group situations; network whenever possible. Be sure to request feedback from a trusted source to determine if you have any areas of opportunity. Do you need help developing your manager’s communication skills or other training and development needs? Contact us and check out our blog for more helpful resources....
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Several challenging communication issues exist in today’s business environment. A clear understanding of these issues will enable you to overcome these challenges and communicate more effectively. The words you choose can mean the difference between retaining or losing an employee or a valued customer. You must be sensitive to the feelings and perceptions of others. As diversity in the workplace increases, you must avoid words that might stereotype, insult, or intimidate another person. Intercultural communication also presents a big challenge. It becomes challenging when communicating with people from another culture because the same words may have different meanings between cultures. There are three specific barriers associated with intercultural communication are tone differences, word connotation, and perceptions. Tone differences in formal and informal languages generate a message of indifference if used in an inappropriate setting. Word connotations create issues when the same word has a different meaning in another culture. Both speakers are challenged if they do not understand the meaning held by the other person in the conversation. Perceptions are held by people who speak different languages or come from varying backgrounds within the same language. Any given situation can be viewed differently, based on the language used or the cultural background. As a manager, it is your responsibility to be aware of any other possible barriers that inhibit communication between you and your employees. Do you need help developing your manager’s communication skills or other training and development needs? Contact us and check out our blog for more helpful...
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