Team Building - Performing effective onboarding

Once promising new hires have been selected, the next step for organizations is to complete effective on-boarding of their new hires. The on-boarding process introduces new hires to the organization as functional workers and links them to the knowledge that they need to be strong performers right from the start. The on-boarding period has been called one of the most critical times for businesses and new hires. This brief period, often no more than 90 days, is a make-or-break moment for both sides. Workers have to show their knowledge and ability to perform in role, but companies also need to ensure workers are mapped to the appropriate resources and contacts within the organization to successfully execute their assignments, notes leadership transition expert Michael D. Watkins. His groundbreaking book, The First 90 Days, points out that nearly a quarter of all workers enter new roles each year, and bringing these workers smoothly into their new roles gives organizations significant competitive advantages.[1] Workers who were hired with clear metric to support their acquisition by the organization know what is expected from them, easing the on-boarding process. Companies then simply have to ensure that the most effective training is given near the start of the work contract to bring potential top talents up to speed quickly and ready to execute on behalf of the firm.

Stephen Wise

http://www.IntegrationProfessionals.com

Team Building - Power of Standards

Addressing the modern staffing challenges and business environment challenges to hiring and developing quality team members begins by identifying the true needs of the organization. In this way, the power of standards and competency development tools can be harnessed on behalf of the organization.

Standards and competency development tools help organizations navigate the challenges of modern staffing with clear goals. They have a clear picture of the elements that most influence talent performance at their organization, and a solid program for developing the talent that exists within their corporation. With standardized metrics for evaluating potential and incoming hires, effective on-boarding practices, and ongoing competency development program, firms can discover and develop performers that have the potential to be top performers. 

ESTABLISHING CLEAR HIRING METRICS 

Clear hiring metrics begin long before the talent search with the establishment of competency models for all key roles. These models should be developed as a joint initiative between line staff and recruitment teams so that they accurately reflect the current expectations for each role. Once defined, these competency models offer a number of benefits to the organization when approaching staffing challenges. Competency models for each role to be filled establish clear hiring metrics and remove gray space from candidate evaluation, benefiting the organization both in the present and in the future.  Competency models:

1. Ensure a match between the current workforce needs and available talent pools
2. Guide recruiters toward the skills and proficiencies needed for current talent gaps and anticipated talent needs
3. Save firms money by helping to avoid hires that are a poor fit for the organization's needs[1]

By removing the mystery and hire costs from the talent selection process, firms will be able to pull better-quality candidates from their available talent pools. No longer chasing talent which will not ultimately meet their needs, firms can focus on the right candidates to secure more critical team members for open positions.

Stephen Wise

www.IntegrationProfessionals.com

Team Building - Competency Development

Standards for hiring and competency models for roles benefits the firm when it is time to develop competency building systems. With clearly defined deliverables and expectations for team members, developing skills and training for skill gaps becomes a more scientific and precise process, preventing waste in training expenditures and misunderstandings about the purpose and potential of training programs. Competency models and standards help employees and employers alike with developing meaningful career plans and career paths. Building proficiencies for success in current and aspirational roles provides workers with direction and motivation for continuing the employment relationship, a key incentive when companies are competing to maintain their talent pools.[1] With quantifiable performance standards, companies can also separate truly high performers from other staff members, allocating development and training dollars where there is the greatest potential for long-term returns on the development investment. These competency models need not be static entities. Instead, once standards have been put in place, it lays the foundation for a continuous improvement model. Both organizational and individual performance standards can be upgraded and enhanced with time, ensuring that the organization remains on a path to growth, market leadership, and competitiveness.[2]

How confident are you with the project forecast?

As every project progresses through it's lifecycle, the team’s forecast will evolve. The forecast value may move up or down, however, the accuracy of the forecast should always increase. The basis for increasing accuracy is that all estimates are forecasts with some level of uncertainty and as the project progresses the unknowns/uncertainty will decrease. This holds for forecasting any of duration, work effort, or cost. There are two important concepts in the below figure:  1)      We see the team’s forecast (solid middle line) moves up and down as time progresses; and,  2)      the range in value between the High and Low Estimate decreases in steps at each phase.

A key action for the Project Manager is to communicate to all stakeholders that early estimates have higher uncertainty. As part of communication with management and finance stakeholders, I usually ask for a reserve to be added onto my estimates based on the higher uncertainty of estimates and potential negative impact of risks. This amount can be progressively reduced and “given back” as the project progresses over time. Some types of projects inherently have high uncertainty during initiation and planning. For example, integration of custom software. When faced with projects involving high level of unknown, the Project Manger should use “Three-Point Estimating”. This technique will include the full range of possible values of the estimate and

 reduces bias that can lead to a highly optimistic or pessimistic estimate.

I usually create custom fields within Microsoft Project 2010 to capture and calculate the three point estimates. The approach is also called PERT. The formula is PERT Estimate = (Optimistic Estimate + 4 X Most Likely Estimate + Pessimistic Estimate) / 6.  Other project teams that work on a high number of similar projects will develop good enterprise knowledge for making estimates. An example would be an energy and gas company that knows 2 resources can lay pipe at 20 metres per hour and the material cost is $150 dollars per foot. Estimates in these situations can be very accurate, from an early stage. A Project Manager may have little control of the level of uncertainty or risk when handed a new assignment. However, appropriate application of the concepts above will lead to successfully managing and quantifying estimates of duration, effort, and cost. 

Stephen Wise

www.IntegrationProfessionals.com