Today I thought I would talk about our fitness level. No, I'm not recommending Peloton bikes or NordicTrack Vaults. I am recommending a bit of self assessment, though. We all share this century's pervasive health problem--yes, rumor has it that sitting has taken the place of cigarettes as our most damaging daily practice. But I think we in Human Resources have had a health problem with a longer history.
How many of us actually consider "walking the talk" as a required daily exercise? I'm not saying that we don't work out at all. But how often are do we overlook or bend our own fitness guidelines? I'm just checking in to make sure our playbook actually keeps us healthy.
Just like saying we're working on cardio when we're making yoga our regular go-to, there are a number of areas of our work where there's a mismatch between our intentions and our actions. As a result, our organization draws its own conclusions about how fit we are to lead. Let's take a look at a couple of areas we where we can up the intensity.
Business alignment. It's essential to understand the jobs that we are responsible for. We can't do our most basic work without this understanding. But how many of us can explain how each job contributes to business performance? We certainly know the answer for high contribution jobs, but all jobs deserve that same insight. Articulating this line of sight takes work, but it is almost improper to overlook the impact of swathes of jobs because they are deemed less important (until they aren't).
Compensation philosophy. You're kidding yourself if you think your department doesn't have one. And you're especially self-deluded if you think that everyone in the C-suite shares the same principles as you do. You may not want to create a doctrine, but when you, your colleagues, and managers make decisions, you all need to share the same point of view. As Ann Bares wrote, "Your compensation philosophy isn't what you say. It's what you do. . . What gets recognized and rewarded? What should get recognized and rewarded?" Each design or policy meeting should start with this discussion, unless your department has a formal position to present. Here, especially, it is critical to walk the talk so others can model Human Resources' practices.
Pay transparency. Our roads are paved with so many good intentions. But starting with the basics, do our employees really understand our total compensation offerings yet--so they could explain them accurately? And really, what progress have we made towards sharing pay range structures? Check out this Compensation Cafe article on pay transparency for insight into achieving your goals (not just thinking about them).
Competencies. We all have them on our performance management forms, but do we really understand them yet? We should be asking employees to focus on these select behaviors chosen because they will help differentiate our company's performance from our competitors. But when's the last time you did a strategy refresh on your competency selections? They should be adjusted as your business strategy shifts, replacing those that have become less relevant. Here's a Compensation Cafe article that should help.
Margaret O'Hanlon brings deep expertise to discussions on employee pay, performance management, career development and communications at the Café. Her firm, re:Think Consulting, provides market pay information and designs base salary structures, incentive plans, career paths and their implementation plans. Earlier, she was a Principal at Willis Towers Watson. A former Board member for the Bay Area Compensation Association (BACA), Margaret coauthored the popular eBook, Everything You Do (in Compensation) Is Communications, a toolkit that all practitioners can find at everythingiscommunication.com.
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