I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions because they so often tend to fall to the wayside as the winter months progress. I do however believe that improvement is a continual and ongoing process, and the start of a new year is natural time to look at what we want to continue to work towards. One of the things that I’m going to keep trying to get better at this year is the thing that can make or break any compensation plan, the secret ingredient to success: communication and training.
It doesn’t matter how much research you’ve done or how thoroughly you understand your audience; if you don’t train the line managers how to properly use the tools, and even more importantly, why to use them; your plan won’t be as successful as it otherwise could be. Compensation professionals are frequently the more analytic folks on the HR team who tend to be more comfortable with research and spreadsheets, (or maybe I’m just projecting myself onto all compensation people…) and the roll-out of the wonderful new programs can be the least comfortable part of the design process. But it is the most crucial to the success of any new program.
End users need to understand why a new plan has been created and what is intended to be accomplished. Perhaps we’ve put together a new incentive program to drive sales, or to drive customer satisfaction. If the line managers understand the purpose, they’ll be more likely to embrace the new program. They’ll also be able to make value judgments in any unusual circumstances if they understand the principles and purpose behind the program. As a side note, if they’ve been involved in the design, you’ll have an even better chance of buy-in. They also need to understand how it works well enough to talk to their staff about it, and of course less complicated is better. People need to understand what to do and how to do it in order to provide the desired behaviors and results.
Don’t think that you have to do this alone because there are resources to help with the roll-out process. A company’s training department can be HR’s best friend. They can generally help to make sure any presentations or materials speak to the correct audience. Sometimes they can even do the presenting and training, after all that is their strength and why the company employs them. If you don’t have a training department you can find seminars on how to present, or do research on your own. There are a plethora of resources (some better than others) on the web to guide you through materials development and presentation. Take advantage of the resources you have to help you to be more successful.
If the roll-out and training are handled correctly, the chances of success of your new program are greatly increased. No one wants to spend months working and getting all the appropriate approvals to simply fail when it comes time to implement. So my unending improvement journey for 2010 will focus on properly communicating our compensation plans. Here’s to a wonderful New Year’s and a great start to 2010!
Darcy Dees, CCP works as the Compensation Manager for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Louisville, CO. She has worked with RBR for nearly 10 years helping to develop many of the compensation and performance management programs the company uses today. She spends what little free time she has hiking and reading.
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of Darcy Dees. Content published here is not monitored or approved by Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc.
Image: Creative Commons Photo "Ingredients" by Gill Rickson
Darcy this was a great post, thank you! It was just what I needed this morning as I make begin to make the transition from my precious spreadsheets to manager training and communication materials.
Posted by: Windsor Lewis - CCP, GRP, PHR | 12/30/2009 at 11:34 AM
Windsor – Thanks for reading, and I’m glad it fit with what you’re working on right now!
Posted by: Darcy Dees | 12/30/2009 at 12:52 PM