FIVE WAYS TO SHOW YOUR STAFF YOU CARE

Recruitment is expensive, and companies pay a premium for experience, so it makes sense to keep staff churn low. In addition to that, good staff morale boosts productivity and attracts and keeps the best people.

Organisations and employees alike need to recognise that their relationship will only survive if both parties believe they benefit. I don’t believe that anybody turns up for work to do a bad job, but I do believe that they are likely to do a better one if they feel valued by the company.

Here are five things a company can do to show they value their employees:

1.  Have a clear career path.

Nobody wants to be stuck in a rut. It’s human nature to strive for better. Does your organisation have recognisable job titles and a clear route to advance from one to the next? Employees will do a far better job when they can relate performance to progression.

2.  Have regular one-to-ones

I mandate my direct report s to have an absolute minimum of 30 mins one-to-one a fortnight with their direct reports, and most respond by scheduling more than that. The employee should dictate the topics for discussion at the meeting; they might have a particular work issue lying heavily on their mind, or a concern about recent statements from the Executive, or they might have career concerns. Whatever it is, give them the opportunity to air their point and respond to them as honestly and openly as you can.

These sessions often turn into useful coaching sessions, where you have the chance to improve the skill of your direct report and if you listen actively – or ask outright – you will find invaluable feedback to improve your own performance.

3.  introduce skip reviews

I’m a big fan of having one-to-one meetings with employees one level below my direct reports. True, it’s logistically impossible to do this on a fortnightly or probably even monthly basis as the numbers grow exponentially, but I try to do at least two a year with each employee.

Not only does it send a message to the employee that you aren’t sitting in your ivory tower with little interest in them or their careers, it also helps you sense-check the quality of line-management service they are receiving from your direct reports, because I truly believe that line management is a service as much as a way to ensure value for money for the company.

4.  Meet appraisal deadlines on time, every time

Nothing screams “I don’t care about your development” louder than being late with objectives setting and the end of year appraisal. If you cannot manage your time well enough to produce SMART objectives on time for all your direct reports then you need to seriously consider some time management training for yourself.

Similarly, if you can’t be bothered writing their appraisal and attending the appraisal one-to-one with them in time for the deadline set by the company you are clearly lacking in the pastoral care element of your management.

Bosses who take time and effort over objectives, mentoring and appraisals can be tough but fair with employees and will earn their respect and commitment.

5.  share the gems

“Leaders are readers”, so the saying goes. If you are like me, you regularly trawl the web and read books for the latest trends/opinions/innovations in your field.

Often, you will find some really valuable pieces, giving you pause for thought and perhaps something to add into your work or management repertoire.

Don’t keep these to yourself. If you think you’ve found something useful identify whom amongst your direct reports would also benefit from the information and share it with them. Not only will they appreciate your interest in their development, but they might become even better employees in the process.

Over to you – what ways does your company demonstrate its commitment to its employees?

Steve Syder RPP, FAPM is an interim Director of Programmes & Projects and RPP Assessor based in London. His web site is www.stevesyder.com

FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE AND MOTIVATE YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY

In one recent assignment as Director of Programmes & Projects the role of PMs there took me by surprise. The organisation had little understanding of project management – thankfully, because that’s why they needed me!

The work carried out by PMs differed wildly across the organisation, with some doing a fairly recognisable PM job whilst others were little more than admin assistants. There was also no standard project management methodology in place. Small wonder, then, that morale was low and attrition rates high.

Setting the wheels in motion to establish a company-wide methodology was the logical and easy first step – basing it largely on the APM Body of Knowledge (BoK) and PRINCE 2 and ensuring that all PMs gained PRINCE 2 certification and began to prepare for APM qualifications.

What I considered to be far more important was to create a meaningful career path for project managers, sending out a clear message that their contributions are valued within the organisation. These were some of the things I did:

1.  Used the APM’s Competence Framework

Given my history with the Association for Project Management (APM), the APM’s Competence Framework was the logical starting point.

APM’s Registered Project Professional (RPP) process elevates 27 key competencies as the ones to be most closely evaluated when assessing a candidate for RPP status. We identified a subset of those, being the 20 most relevant competencies for PMs’ day-jobs in the company.

We then encouraged PMs – and by that I mean anyone on the PM career path from Project Administrator to Programme Director – to complete a self-assessment measuring his or her experience against those 20 competencies. This enabled them, in agreement with their line managers, to create SMART objectives targeted to boost their overall competence whilst at the same time contributing to the organisation’s goals.

2.  Introduced Continuing Professional Development

Hand in hand with that we introduced the notion of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Log and encouraged PMs to maintain one, logging a minimum of 35 hours per annum – the APM’s minimum requirement.

This process is a two-way street; project managers give genuine consideration to their own development and the company has to show commitment to training and development.

3.  Made line management a service

All line managers were mandated to hold one-to-one mentoring sessions at a minimum of once a fortnight, and they were given personal objectives that ensured they also completed all mid-year and end-of-year appraisals on time and to a high standard.

This made the project managers feel valued and gave more evidence of the organisation’s commitment to their development.

4.   Introduced “Lunch & Learn” sessions

We introduced “Lunch & Learn” sessions – a monthly gathering of the whole PM community with a guest speaker, internal or external, to speak on a topic of interest at a one-hour session where a finger buffet is provided (sometimes known as “Brown bag” meetings). For example, we have had presentations on the APM and on agile project management amongst other topics. We video these sessions to ensure that anyone who cannot attend, e.g. we have overseas PMs, can catch up via the company wiki.

Attendance was optional but we always saw a very high turn out, and I don’t think it was because of the quality of the catering.

The response from the PM community was quite dramatic. At the first few meetings PMs were introducing themselves to each other, such was the level of “partitioning” between the divisions. They decided independently that completing a self-assessment, although private to them and their line manager, should be compulsory for all PMs, and those PMs lacking qualifications such as PRINCE 2 and MoR (Management of Risk) began asking for training.

Their status has been raised within the company and many are telling me that at last they feel “valued” and believe there is a recognisable career path for project managers at the company.

All of this has raised the standard we require from our project managers and we are attracting and keeping excellent people. Ironically, with a self-assessment matrix and a CPD Log we have armed our project managers with a great “Sales brochure” should they want to move on, and at the same time the attrition rate in the PM community has shrunk to zero. That confirms to me my belief that if a company demonstrably values its people it will reap the benefits.

Over to you – what have you or your company done to improve and motivate a group of subject matter experts?

Golf Ball Trialling

A non work-related blog this time, as I thought I’d share my recent experience of trialling different golf balls. I’ve always given a lot of thought to which ball to use; I think it’s mad to put a lot of effort into choosing clubs and a putter, possibly even having them all custom built, or at the very least custom fitted only to hit every shot with the first ball you find in your bag.

However, at a golfing event at the weekend I spoke to a Titleist ball specialist who persuaded me to get off my butt and actually go out and put some balls through their paces. I chose six balls, for reasons I’ll come on to, and spent a couple of hours on an almost deserted course seeing how they performed around the green, at short and longer distances and with my driver.

I made the whole test as objective as possible and promised myself that I would in future play the ball that scored highest in my tests. I left price out of the reckoning; golf’s my passion, so if I have to pay a bit more for better results I’ll do that, but I realise cost might be a factor for some players choosing a ball so I’ll include all the performance figures anyway.

I was very surprised at the final outcome, and immediately purchased a dozen of the “Winning” ball, which was one I would never have bought based on everything I have read about golf ball selection.

For information, my handicap has fluctuated between 16 and 19 over the last two years. I have no connection with any golf equipment manufacturer or with any of the sellers I list below. I just like golf.

Ball Selection

The six balls I trialled, reasons why and best price I could find:

Ball	Reason	Best price (Dozen new white)
Callaway Hex Warbird	I was given them by a rep. at Wentworth	£14.90 from www.golfonline.co.uk
TaylorMade Rocketballz (2013)	Changed to them a couple of months ago because all my clubs are now TaylorMade and they are performing well so I thought the balls might.	£19.99 inc P&P from www.americangolf.co.uk
Titleist Velocity	Given to me by the Titleist rep. who persuaded me to do this test.	£21.99 inc. handling fee from www.golfgeardirect.co.uk/
Bridgestone e6	I’ve played them for a year because they promise low spin speed and therefore straighter shots off the driver. Online ball selection sites suggest they are a good ball for high handicappers	£22.74 from eBay store
Titleist NXT Tour	I won them in a recent competition	£28.99 from www.ishop.co.uk
Titleist Pro v1x	Given to me by the Titleist rep. who persuaded me to do this test.	£29 inc. P&P from eBay store

The Tests

I hit two of each model for each test. This was the order I tested in:

1. 10yds chip on to the green with a 9 iron – common shot for me as my second shot doesn’t hit the green that often.

2. Chip over bunker on to green with 60º LW.

3. Full PW from 120yds.

4. Full 5 iron from light rough.

5. Driver off tee.

I excluded “Feel” from the tests because I don’t have the finesse to appreciate the difference except when I use something like a Top Flight, which I find so hard it feels like a brick.

Results

For each of the tests I ranked the balls from 1 to 6, 1 being the best performance, 6 being the poorest. If I hit any duff shots I excluded them from the results. So, the lower the number, the better the result.

Chip to green 9 iron

1. Pro v1x

2. NXT

3. e6

4. Velocity

T5 Rocketballz

T5 Callaway

Not too much difference in performance here if I’m honest but the top two did seem to get up off the ground more easily and have a nice, controlled roll to the hole on landing.

I was disappointed to see the Rocketballz – my current ball of choice – tie for fifth spot.

Chip over bunker, LW

1. Pro v1x

2. Callaway

3. Velocity

4. e6

5. Rocketballz

6. NXT

I could see all the balls spin in the air on this test, but the Pro v1x seemed to have that bit more and the landing was very controlled.

I was disappointed again to see the Rocketballz perform so poorly and very surprised to see the NXT come out in last place.

120yds PW

1. NXT

T2. Rocketballz

T2. e6

4. Velocity

5. Pro v1x

6. Callaway

I was very surprised to see the Pro v1x come fifth, but this perhaps highlights the weakness of the testing because I was using a small sample size for each ball.

5I from light rough

T1. Pro v1x

T1. Rocketballz

3. Velocity

4. e6

5. Callaway

6. NXT

The Pro v1x and the Rocketballz got up really well and flew straightest of all the balls on test.

Driver

I hit the balls more often with the driver than anything else because my scoring stats show that if I get a bad drive away I tend to score badly. This is contrary to Titleist’s argument that “You only use the driver 14 times a round so you should choose a ball that performs best round the greens” but I’ve collected my stats over a long period of time (years!) so I know my drive is important.

1. Pro v1x

T2. Callaway

T2. Velocity

T4. NXT

T4. e6

6. Rocketballz

Even Titleist admit that there is only about 5yds difference off the driver between their longest ball and the shortest, but when I hit shots off the sweet spot the Pro v1x positively zinged off the face and was straighter and longer than anything else I hit. I’d expect the Callaway to do well when I hit it well because it’s a harder ball and I was shocked to see the e6 and Rocketballz score at the bottom.

Overall, there wasn’t too much between first and sixth place when I struck the ball well; the acid test will be when I play a few rounds when inevitably there will be some poor drives – it’s all a matter of how bad the result when I don’t hit it off the sweet spot.

Aggregation

I added up the scores for close and middle distance to give me a little more information on which to base my choice of ball for this Saturday’s monthly medal. Remember, the lower the number the better the result:

Close (pitch and chip)

Pro v1x – 2

Velocity – 7

Callaway – 7

e6 – 7

NXT – 8

Rocketballz – 10

Middle distance (PW & 5I)

Rocketballz – 3

Pro v1x – 6

e6 – 6

Velocity – 7

NXT – 7

Callaway – 11

Next, I added up the total scores for all the tests:

Pro v1x - 9

Velocity – 16

e6 - 17

NXT - 19

Rocketballz – 19

Callaway - 20

Conclusion

The sample size – two of each model for each test except the driver - was quite small, which makes results less reliable. On another day if I were swinging the club better or worse I might have recorded different results.

Nothing I’ve written is intended to suggest that anyone else will achieve the same results, or to recommend a ball to anyone else; it’s just what I found. It’s also surprisingly time-consuming and less surprising to know that it’s not easy to find a time to do all this on the course without making a nuisance of yourself. I deliberately picked early evening when the weather was grey so the course would be quiet and I only had to call three people through in two hours.

If I take the results as pretty reliable for me it’s fairly clear that I like the Rocketballz primarily because of what I achieve with it for my second (and third!) shots on each hole. I frequently leave the green scratching my head in wonderment how I managed to be so close to the green in two and still walk off with a poor score. Perhaps the performance of the Rocketballz in this test go some way to explain that, and vindicate Titleist’s view.

I was genuinely shocked at the performance of the Pro v1x for my short game. I’ve always thought it was a ridiculous argument that a ball Tiger Woods uses (OK, I know he uses the Pro v1) could possible be the right ball for a high handicapper but the tests suggest otherwise.

So long as the Pro v1x doesn’t punish my off-centre drives more than any of the other balls I ought to be able to score better with it because of its superior performance round the green.

I started this test with no expectations of the Callaway and the NXT because they were only included because I was given them. I expected the e6 and the Rocketballz to perform well because all the research I had done told me they were good balls for my handicap and game. I expected the Velocity and Pro v1x to be erratic for anything other than round the green because of their spin speeds.

I consciously tried to avoid keeping a running score as I did each test because I didn’t want early results to influence the way I approached later tests. In the event, when I did total it all up, I was genuinely surprised to discover the Pro v1x had performed so well. Only time will tell of course, but I’ve bought a dozen to see what happens to my stats.

As I said earlier, I’m not recommending any ball to anyone, or making claims that these tests were in any way scientific, but I recorded them in case people were interested. I’d really like to hear what people think and if you have done any of this kind of testing of your own.

Valuing Staff and Developing Careers

When I started my new role as Director of Project Management at OpenBet the role of PMs here took me by surprise. OpenBet as an organisation had little understanding of project management – thankfully, because that’s why they needed me!

The work carried out by PMs differed wildly across the organisation, with some doing a fairly recognisable job whilst others were little more than admin assistants. There was also no standard project management methodology in place. Small wonder, then, that morale was low and attrition rates high.

Setting the wheels in motion to establish a company-wide methodology was the logical and easy first step – basing it largely on PRINCE 2 and ensuring that all PMs gained PRINCE 2 certification.

What I considered to be far more important was to create a meaningful career path for project managers, sending out a clear message that their contributions are valued at OpenBet.

Given my history with the Association for Project Management (APM), the APM’s Competence Framework was the logical starting point.

APM’s Registered Project Professional (RPP) process elevates 27 key competencies as the ones to be most closely evaluated when assessing a candidate for RPP status. At OpenBet we identified a subset of those, being the 20 most relevant competencies for PMs’ day-jobs in the company.

We then encouraged PMs – and by that I mean anyone on the PM career path from Project Administrator to Programme Director – to complete a self-assessment measuring his or her experience against those 20 competencies. This enabled them, in agreement with their line managers, to create SMART objectives targeted to boost their overall competence whilst at the same time contributing to OpenBet’s goals.

Hand in hand with that we introduced the notion of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Log and encouraged PMs to maintain one, logging a minimum of 35 hours per annum – the APM’s minimum requirement.

All line managers were mandated to hold one-to-one mentoring sessions at a minimum of once a fortnight, and they were given personal objectives that ensured they also completed all mid-year and end-of-year appraisals on time and to a high standard.

Finally, we introduced “Lunch & Learn” sessions – a monthly gathering of the whole PM community with a guest speaker, internal or external, to speak on a topic of interest at a one-hour session where a finger buffet is provided. For example, we have had presentations on the APM and on agile project management amongst other topics. We video these sessions to ensure that anyone who cannot attend, e.g. we have PMs in Australia and Canada, can catch up via the company wiki.

The response from the PM community has been quite dramatic. At the first few meetings PMs were introducing themselves to each other, such was the level of “partitioning” between the divisions. They decided independently that completing a self-assessment, although private to them and their line manager, should be compulsory for all PMs, and those PMs lacking qualifications such as PRINCE 2 and MoR (Management of Risk) began asking for training.

Their status has been raised within the company and many are telling me that at last they feel “valued” and believe there is a recognisable career path for project managers in OpenBet.

All of this has raised the standard we require from our project managers and we are attracting and keeping excellent people. Ironically, with a self-assessment matrix and a CPD Log we have armed our project managers with a great “Sales brochure” should they want to move on, and at the same time our attrition rate in the PM community has shrunk to zero. That confirms to me my belief that if a company demonstrably values its people it will reap the benefits.

Steve Syder is Director of Professional Services at Openbet, the world's leading provider of interactive gaming and betting solutions. He is a Fellow of the APM, an RPP Assessor and a contributor to the 6^th Edition of the APM’s BoK.