Chief Human Resources Officer

Unleashing Hidden Potential: Identifying Employees with Underutilized Skill Sets

June 20, 2023 by DERGEL Executive Search Leave a Comment

Realizing the full potential of your workforce is an effective way of maximizing your already available resources.

As team leaders, one of your critical responsibilities is to identify employees who possess hidden or unrealized skill sets. By recognizing and leveraging these untapped talents, you can unlock new opportunities for innovation, drive productivity, and foster a culture of growth. Here are some effective strategies to identify and harness the hidden potential within your workforce:

First: Recognize the Value of Underutilized Skill Sets

This refers to the talents and capabilities that employees possess but are not expressed or utilized in their current roles. Often, these skills go unnoticed or unacknowledged, resulting in missed potential and opportunities for both individuals and the organization. As team leaders, it is essential to recognize the value that lies within these untapped talents and the impact they can have on business growth.

Encouraging Open Dialogue and Employee Feedback

Creating an environment that encourages open dialogue and employee feedback is crucial for identifying previously unknown skill sets. Regularly engage in conversations with your team members to understand their career aspirations, interests, and skills beyond their current roles. Encourage them to share their ideas, talents, and areas where they feel they could contribute more effectively. Actively listen to their perspectives and take their input into consideration when making talent management decisions.

Conducting Skills Assessments and Talent Audits

Conducting skills assessments and talent audits can provide valuable insights into the underutilized skill sets within your organization. Implement a structured assessment process to identify the diverse skills, experiences, and expertise your employees possess. This can be done through self-assessments, performance reviews, or utilizing external tools and assessments. A comprehensive talent audit helps identify hidden talents, strengths, and areas for development, enabling you to align individuals with roles that leverage their full potential.

Encouraging Cross-Functional Collaboration and Job Rotation

Cross-functional collaboration and job rotation initiatives offer opportunities for employees to showcase the diversity of their skill sets. Encourage collaboration across departments or teams to foster knowledge sharing and the exploration of new perspectives. Implement job rotation programs that allow employees to gain exposure to different roles and responsibilities. Additionally, this will lengthen the list of substitute workers available in other departments, should somebody be sick or leave the company. These methods not only help identify hidden talents but also enhances employee engagement, promotes development of a diverse skill set, and nurtures a culture of continuous learning.

Providing Opportunities for Upskilling and Reskilling

Smart investing in your work force is a great way to upgrade the overall potential of it; upskilling and reskilling programs can be easily accessible and a great win. Start by identifying skills gaps and providing targeted training programs to enhance the employees’ capabilities. Offer professional development opportunities, workshops, mentoring, or access to online learning platforms to empower employees to expand their skill sets and take on new challenges. By investing in their growth, you enable employees to invest their potential back into the team.

Empowering Employee-Led Projects and Initiatives

Create a culture that encourages employees to take the initiative and lead projects aligned with their skill sets. Provide a platform for employees to propose and execute innovative ideas that leverage their unique talents. Encourage and support employee-led initiatives, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and promoting a sense of ownership. These projects can result in new business opportunities, process improvements, and the discovery of previously unknown talents within your workforce.

Google famously implemented a policy called “20% time” where employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their workweek on projects that are not necessarily related to their primary job responsibilities. This initiative has led to the development of successful products like Gmail, Google News, and AdSense, all of which originated from employee-led projects.

3M is known for its innovative culture, partly due to its long-standing “15% Rule.” The company allows employees to spend up to 15% of their time working on projects that are not directly related to their job roles. This policy has resulted in numerous breakthrough innovations, including the creation of the Post-it Note.

Recognizing and Rewarding Achievements

Acknowledging and rewarding employees who demonstrate their skill sets is crucial for fostering a culture that values their potential; when the employees themselves feel valued, they will find personal incentive to buy-in and grow with the team. Implement recognition programs that celebrate individuals who go outside of their assigned roles, showcasing their unique skills and contributions. Recognize achievements through promotions, bonuses, public acknowledgments, or career advancement opportunities. These shows of appreciation reinforce the importance of leveraging diverse talents and encourages other employees to showcase their hidden potential.

Identifying employees who have less obvious strengths is a strategic imperative for team leaders. By fostering these and other techniques you can unlock the hidden potential within your workforce. Embrace the power of untapped talents, and your organization will reap the benefits of innovation, increased productivity, and a thriving culture of growth.

Do you have any comments, questions, ideas, or suggestions of how to effectively find and foster hidden talent? Share with us at: [email protected]

Elevating Conflict Resolution: Strategies for Upgrading Organizational Effectiveness

June 13, 2023 by DERGEL Executive Search 1 Comment

Conflict is an inevitable aspect of any organization, but how it is managed and resolved can greatly impact and benefit productivity, morale, and overall success.

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Upgrading your conflict resolution practices are essential for fostering a healthy environment and maximizing team performance. It may not be as daunting as you imagine to effectively upgrade your organization’s culture surrounding this topic, here are some easy ways to begin:

Foster a Culture of Open Communication

Establish a culture that values open communication and encourages employees to express their concerns and viewpoints. Create channels for transparent and honest dialogue, such as regular team meetings, feedback sessions, and anonymous suggestion systems. By promoting open communication, you can address conflicts early on and prevent them from escalating into larger issues.

Embrace a Constructive Mindset

Adopt a constructive mindset towards conflicts, viewing them as opportunities for growth, innovation, and improved relationships. Shift the focus from winning or suppressing conflicts to finding mutually beneficial solutions. By embracing a positive perspective, team leaders set the tone for a culture that values open communication and collaboration.

Implement Effective Conflict Resolution Policies

Develop and implement clear conflict resolution policies that outline the steps, procedures, and guidelines for resolving conflicts within your organization. Ensure that employees are aware of these policies and have access to the necessary resources, such as designated mediators or conflict resolution training programs. Providing a structured framework for conflict resolution helps ensure consistency and fairness in the process.

Promote Active Listening and Empathy

Encourage the practices of active listening and empathy among team members when resolving conflicts. Actively listen to all parties involved, allowing them to express their perspectives without interruption, seeking to understand the underlying concerns and emotions. Cultivate empathy by putting yourself in others’ shoes and demonstrating sincere care. Having a genuine interest in understanding their viewpoint is essential for this practice. Remember, these are called practices, because they are skills that are iterated upon and built over time. These empathetic approaches help build trust & spaces of open dialogue, which help to effectively resolve conflict more smoothly.

Encourage Win-Win Solutions

Move away from a win-lose mentality and encourage a focus on win-win solutions. Involve all parties in the conflict resolution process and seek outcomes that address the underlying interests and needs of everyone involved. Foster an environment where individuals feel comfortable suggesting innovative approaches to resolve conflicts. Encourage brainstorming and creative problem-solving techniques to explore alternative options. Build collaborative mindsets that prioritize compromise, creativity, and long-term relationship building. By finding win-win solutions, conflicts can be resolved in a manner that benefits both individuals and the organization as a whole.

Communicate Clearly and Respectfully

Effective communication is crucial in conflict resolution. Clearly articulate your thoughts, expectations, and concerns while maintaining a respectful tone. Use non-confrontational language, focusing on the issue at hand rather than attacking individuals. Encourage others to express themselves openly and provide a platform for their voices to be heard. Clear and respectful communication fosters a positive atmosphere and helps prevent misunderstandings.

Provide Conflict Resolution Training

Invest in conflict resolution training programs for team leaders and employees at all levels. Equip them with the skills and techniques necessary to navigate conflicts effectively. Training should focus on active listening, communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and widening emotional intelligence. By enhancing conflict resolution capabilities across the organization, you empower individuals to address conflicts proactively and constructively.

Seek Mediation and Neutral Third-Party Involvement

In complex or escalated conflicts, consider involving a neutral third party or professional mediator. Mediators are trained to facilitate constructive conversations and help parties find common ground. Their impartiality can help defuse tensions and guide the resolution process towards mutually beneficial outcomes. Engaging mediators demonstrates a commitment to fair and unbiased conflict resolution.

Evaluate and Learn from Conflict Experiences

Because conflict is normal, it is good to regularly evaluate conflict resolution processes and outcomes to identify areas for improvement. Analyze patterns, trends, and common triggers for conflicts within your organization. Use these insights to refine conflict resolution policies, training programs, and communication strategies. Emphasize a continuous learning mindset and encourage employees to share their experiences and lessons learned from resolving conflicts.

Upgrading conflict resolution practices within your organization is a vital step towards fostering a positive work environment, enhancing collaboration, and promoting productivity. Through these and other strategic upgrades, conflicts can be resolved constructively, leading to increased employee satisfaction, stronger relationships, and improved organizational performance.

Do you have any comments, questions, ideas, or suggestions of how to effectively preempt and resolve conflict? Share with us at: [email protected]

Video – The intersection between the CHRO, the Board and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)

September 8, 2020 by Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

You are invited to watch the first of our new CxO Interviews series.

Episode 1 of our CxO Interview series, features Tracy Gee, Chief People Officer at NACD.

In this interview we discuss the intersection between the CHRO, the Board and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), among other topics

The HR Leadership Disconnect

February 7, 2019 by Samuel Dergel Leave a Comment

“Our people are our most important asset”

— So says almost every CEO.

Yet most companies do not live up to this statement.

How do I know that most companies do not live up to this statement? I hear this from top HR Leaders every week. (Complaint No. 1)

Do you want to know what I else HR Leaders grumble about?

They complain when executives without HR experience become CHRO or Chief People Officer. Nothing makes the ambitious HR Leader that is in line for the top job more frustrated than when they get passed over by someone that comes from the business and ‘knows nothing about HR’. (Complaint No. 2)

Complaint No. 1 is valid. Forward looking HR Leaders that want Complaint No.1 to disappear need to embrace No. 2.

Let’s take a look at this real-life situation from the new this week.

Deirdre O’Brien, a 30-year Apple veteran, will now lead Apple’s Retail and People teams.

Apple’s Head of Retail retired, and the role was given to the Head of HR in addition to her current role. Now Dierdre O’Brien is Head of Retail + People at Apple. Dierdre is not an HR lifer – she has cycled through business leadership roles and is continuing on the path beyond HR. When she becomes CEO one day, wouldn’t you want her as your CEO?

One of today’s most iconic CEOs is Mary Barra of General Motors. She too spent time in HR in a senior leadership capacity. This has helped her not only understand the various facets of the business that she has cycled through during her career, she is now leading the dynamic people based changes and disrupting the transportation business in the process.

These are just some of the situations where business leaders are cycling through HR on their way to the top.

The pessimist can look at situations where the Head of People role goes to an ‘outsider’ from the business and says ‘this is not good for the company’.

An optimist (count me in here) looks at this and says that the best way to get a future CEO to truly understand that people are a company’s most important asset is for them to have an opportunity to do so.

My challenge to HR Leaders: Embrace the opportunity to have your business leaders get hands on HR experience. If you really care about the people and know that if is through people that your business will succeed, take the opportunity to support these business leaders become better People leaders.