Monday, January 14, 2019

Why companies should implement employee goal setting

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In most companies, the employees are as important as any resource, which is why they should be engaged in organizational activities. One of the many ways to do so is to involve them in goal setting. A 2017 research by McKinsey shows that employee goal setting can elevate employee performance and benefit the organization as a whole.


Some of the advantages of its implementation are the following:

Linked personal goals to overall business objectives: It is normal for employees to set for themselves goals and dreams. But if they see that their personal goals and expectations are aligned to the business priorities, they can be motivated to improve their performance. According to McKinsey, 91 percent of companies that have successful performance management systems employ workers whose personal objectives are correlated with those of the business.
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Increased accountability: Because employees are involved in the establishment of collective and individual organizational goals, it could give them a sense of ownership and purpose in their work. This can encourage better performance and motivate them to give their best.

Professional development: Through employee goal setting, not only can organizational goals be formulated, the business leaders can come up with a list of employee goals and milestones that are geared toward developing their skills and building their experiences.

Seattle, WA-based business consultant Emile Haddad has helped organizations build a culture of excellence within their workplaces. He has also taught many employees about the different skills they need to attain professional success. Visit this blog to read similar articles.


Tuesday, December 11, 2018

For employees who’ve written but haven’t sent that resignation letter

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At one point or another, almost every adult has entertained the idea of leaving their company. Many of them actually push through. For the plethora of reasons to resign, there are corresponding considerations. And many of those who resign ignore the latter and pay dearly.


First of all, many exiting employees forgo consultations with their immediate superiors before handing in the resignation letter. Oftentimes, they find out after they’ve left that they would have been given incentives to stay. They discover later on that had they voiced their concerns, management would’ve listened and made changes.

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Then there are employees who quit their job without fallbacks. They believe the money they saved will tide them over the next few weeks or months without a job. What they fail to consider is that finding a job isn’t as easy as it sounds. Many employees who’ve resigned went through their savings like a scorching knife through heated butter and ended up relying on the good graces of people such as their parents for the basic necessities.


Having backup plans (yes, not just one) is probably the best course of action if one really had to resign. However, before handing in that resignation letter, ask management first if there’s anything that can be done to alleviate your situation at work.


Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business coach who believes that a company’s success is dependent on the condition of its employees. With this in mind, he devises seminars and lectures that unlock workers’ strengths and hidden potentials. For more articles like this, visit this blog.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Take care of the family business through succession planning

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Most of the time, when entrepreneurs start a business, they never think about the day when they would have to leave it. The experience might be the same for executives who have been key players in the same company for decades. Developing a well-founded succession plan ensures that one’s legacy will remain long after they are gone.


Through succession planning, a business owner or executive can identify potential leaders in the organization by assessing their skills and qualities that would be helpful for the continuous growth of the company. A well-developed succession plan can help the board to handpick the most qualified leaders in the organization and provide them with training and coaching if necessary.


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Developing a succession plan makes the future of the family business and the intentions of the owner clear to every person involved. Critical business processes must be written clearly in the plan. High-performing employees must be maintained through training and development. High-potential performers must by kept engaged through focusing on their opportunity to grow within the organization.


An executive of the business or business owners themselves must create an exit strategy wherein the company would still run smoothly without them. Succession planning promises leadership continuity, but not the company’s long-term success. Consider a family business’s succession plan as a kind of insurance that would help the business succeed both during and after developing a plan set for the future. A long-term map for the future secures the company’s efforts and the business owner’s legacy.


Emile Haddad, a Seattle, Washington-based business coach, has taught many employees about the different skills they need to achieve professional success. For similar reads , head over to this page.

Why is branding crucial in any company?

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Every major company in the world can be identified by simply looking at their logo. This is why corporations pour millions of dollars toward branding efforts. Do keep in mind that branding is more than just coming up with a logo. Here are some key reasons why branding is crucial for any company.


Branding is an encompassing element that is founded on customer experience. When a person sees a company logo, they can already tell what the brand is all about. In the tech industry, Apple stands out as a premium brand just by looking at its logo. It’s clean, simple, and attractive. The same characteristics can be seen throughout the entire company. From its website and products to its staff uniforms, branding is translated to every type of service the company offers.

Image source: rsm.nl

Branding also promotes recognition. If your company is in a field with hundreds of competitors, standing out can save the business. If your brand is easy to recognize and understand, customers will more likely be drawn to it. Just make sure the product can live up to the brand and customer’s expectations.


Lastly, branding isn’t just for external publics. While customers trust the brand, employees are given directions by the brand. They become ambassadors of the brand and all it stands for. Without a good philosophy behind the brand, it would be difficult to believe in the brand itself.


To build a culture of excellence within the workplace— this is the primary goal of Emile Haddad as a business consultant based in Seattle, Washington. He pursues the said objective by, among others, resolving cultural prejudices in the office and inspiring workers to perform their job harmoniously with others. To know more about his work and advocacies, visit this Facebook page.


How to boost competence in the workplace

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In any workplace, it’s easy for some employees to fall into a rut with their work. Their tasks and responsibilities could become less challenging over time. They might not be presented with new responsibilities or they could simply be giving the bare minimum out of contentment. To be able to rely on colleagues and team members, leaders have to cultivate their respective competencies. Here are some ways to boost competence in the workplace:


Offer voluntary training

While mandatory training can also improve competence, making it voluntary reveals employee willingness to learn and improve. The medium of the training could vary from hands-on training to online modules they can access through the internet after work hours. Keep in mind that your intentions should be made clear. It should be established that employees who undergo the training have higher chances of being given more responsibilities in the company and are more likely candidates for a raise or promotion.


Coaching

Coaching is a more direct approach at helping select employees improve. You can assign specific tasks or responsibilities that are new to some members of the team while guiding them through the basics. This forces them to step up and allows you to see whether or not they take any initiative in the new role.


Shadowing

If you deem a certain role too taxing to be addressed by simple coaching, you could allow your team member to shadow you as you work. This is especially beneficial in developing people skills and handling clients face-to-face.


Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business coach who believes that a company’s success is dependent on the satisfaction and development of its employees. Following this, Emile devises seminars and lectures that unlock workers’ strengths and hidden potentials. For more reads on improving office efficiency, visit this website.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

People, Not Machines, Have The Power To Eliminate Workplace Discrimination

Discrimination in the workplace has been a perennial issue that besets human resources departments of companies.  Addressing the misdemeanor, known to be practiced even at the highest rung in an organization, has been a struggle, usually executed through issuances of stringent parameters, conduct of series of conscientization seminars, sanctions, and punitive measures.


However, total elimination of workplace bias, several industrial psychologists claim, is a very difficult feat in consideration of peoples’s subtle cultural nuances ingrained by geographical and demographical differences, accounting to the so-called unconscious bias.  This being the case, there have been attempts to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for the daunting task.


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Technology pundits, echoed by social media, hail AI to smother unconscious bias at workplaces.  Through machine programming, AI can be put into action by expertly designed platforms or apps that could diagnose potential discriminatory deeds or situations in every aspect of official functions.  As automated contraptions are bereft of human frailties arising from the cultural context of upbringing, AI will not only liberate management from anxieties of potential lawsuits but is expected to give way to a more balanced gender and demographic patterns in organizations.  


However, this seems not to be the entire case.  A machine learning startup, an initiative by Asia-based Youth Laboratories, turned up a disconcerting result in its photograph evaluation of attractiveness of more than 7,000 candidates. A big percentage of the 44 winners were white, only a handful were Asians, while only one was dark-skinned. Another corroborating experiment to this was the Twitter bot Microsoft’s Chabot- Tay from which offensive, racist, anti-feminist and anti-Semitic tweets cascaded shortly after its launch.  

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Algorithms that are fed into machines are developed by human minds which can’t be totally bereft of biases.  AI can only function satisfactorily dependent on the data being fed to it.  In other words, elimination of biases is still largely the turf of people’s intervention.

Seattle-based business coach Emile Haddad’s edgy approach to business consulting has led to the formation of entrepreneurial strategies that explore the mental and emotional condition of workers. These tactics include the extreme discouragement of cultural biases within the workplace. For links to similar articles, visit this page.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Need For Speed? Learning And Leadership Grapple With Big Workplace Changes

Some articles are making the case for expedited learning, especially as workplace cultures evolve. The learning experience is largely served by technology. The influence of digital resources, as evidenced by actual use, can no longer be discounted as a valuable learning tool.

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They also pose a problem. There is constant worry that the speed of information production far outpaces the speed of learning. Consequently, new training methods are focusing on improving learning skills to favor speed.

Quick studies are some of the most prized candidates in starting and mid-level positions nowadays. But it’s not just the non-executives who are welcoming a revolving door of innovations both in corporate culture and operations. CEOs, business consultants, real estate developers, and ultimately, the fearless investors lose sleep over the overnight sensations. New workplace philosophies. The next big technology to bank on. The next investor who knows and sees the light. The next fund source.

The so-called “speed of search” almost guarantees that the largely millennial workforce will adjust to the pace accordingly. More sober trainers and teachers, on the other hand, maintain a healthy skepticism and will not budge from the idea of learning as a process. As implied, a process takes time and patience. And it plays out in environments where adaptation is necessary. Adaptation, meanwhile, takes time to prove itself.

Image source:information-age.com


So, there are probably two sides to the need for speed. On the one hand, companies have to absorb innovations favorable to their operations. Leadership will have to deploy appropriate manpower for this. Organic employees, on the other hand, will be forced to vary either their skills or knack for improvisation.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle, Washington-based business coach who has taught many employees about the different skills they need to achieve professional success. These skills include handling information wisely, managing emotions sensibly, and making decisions rationally. For similar articles, read this blog.