Not moving forward could cost you everything

My amazing client Michelle has a great Elderly care business. She cares so much about making sure her clients are happy and well taken care of. All of her staff are carers at the heart and so their clients and their children were happy with the service. However, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated processes of the business were being neglected.

They were aware of this and knew that a CQC inspections was coming up and so started to prepare for it; getting their paperwork up to date and restructuring their organisation. However, the day to day running of the business and keeping their many many clients cared for meant that their reactive work kept trumping their proactive planning and documenting work.

This meant that when they were inspected, the findings were not favourable as they were unable to produce the documentation necessary to evidence their great work, team management and development.

This led to them getting a CQC expert in to help them get into shape and hire additional staff to get their backlog covered.

The positive is that this situation was the kick the business needed to really get into shape and professionalise for sustainability and growth. However the lesson came at a high price!  The cost of fixing what they knew was broken affected their profitability and they lost some customers due to the unfavourable CQC report.

The lesson here is clear, even if you think the change needed in your organisation may rock the boat with your team. You still need to take the action. Your business deserves the very best chance of success and that means that difficult conversations may need to take place.

Remember –

Be clear about the rationale for change – Make it clear why you can’t continue to run your business in its current state.

Get input from your team – Take suggestions from your team, they’ll often have bug bears that they’d love to see changed and they may also have the ear of your clients/customers.

Short term pain for long term gain – Most people are change adverse, but when they see the benefits.

You can never communicate too much – Clear transparent communication with your team will help to keep everyone motivated during the change process.

Set realistic timelines – Rome wasn’t built in a day. So plan accordingly, especially as you’ve got to balance your client needs with your business needs.

If you need support bringing your change plans to life, schedule a call to discuss how we can help you.

How to complete a Change Management project with a smile

Yesterday my one OK two minute HR Tip was about allowing things to take time!

I always say that the thing that makes HR so interesting is the people. Everyone behaves differently and those reactions are what can make life as a manager so challenging!

Not that long ago I went all the way to Inverness to close down an office and make all the 80+ staff redundant. This wasn’t a one hit meeting, I’d been visiting the same office every month for the last 5 months. Meeting with unions and staff, dealing with queries and getting to grips with all the little details that ensured the ending would be smooth and the staff would be as happy as possible.

The interesting thing was that no matter how I prepared, every meeting came with a new challenge or issue that I needed to find a solution to. It was like playing pass the parcel; every layer revealed something new!

Whether I’ve been consulting on changes and opportunities that come about from business growth, or the need to save money and create efficiencies. Reactions aren’t always what you expect. I’ve have staff say “No” to promotions or that they’d prefer to take redundancy rather that re-interview for their role, and then cry when they receive their redundancy confirmations.

Timing is everything!

I’ve learnt to allow extra time in my plans as everything takes a little longer than you’d envisage, and no one wants to be stressing, trying to cram everything in at the last minute.

There's no time limit for how long the period of consultation should be, but the minimum is: 20 to 99 redundancies - the consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect. 100 or more redundancies - the consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect.

Even if you aren’t making redundancies you should still give a reasonable time for consultations and take into consideration things like holiday’s and those on maternity leave or long term sick.

Remember to allow time for:

• Preparing documentation
• Union Consultation (where appropriate)
• Group consultation meetings
  • Start
  • Update
  • End
• Applying for roles (where appropriate)
• Interview process (where appropriate)
• Outcomes
• Handovers (where appropriate)
• Notice periods (where appropriate)

Taking time to prepare and address all of the issues that came about in Inverness meant that when the final confirmations were handed out, I received hugs and best wishes rather than anger and frustration. And for me that is the ultimate sign of a job well done.

If you need help with your change management, get in touch and we’ll give you all the support you need

Are your Job Descriptions up to date?

I have to be honest, I’ve personally never had a job description (JD) that was up to date for more than three months at a time, but that’s because I’ve always recognised that to progress my career I needed to do more than my JD.

That being said, it is always good to keep track of how roles are changing and developing within your business.

This week I met with client of mine to discuss an upcoming restructure that has come about because of business growth. We had already established the new structure and additional roles that would be needed.

So we looked at what needed to be removed from his role to ensure that he was able to focus on the important elements, which would ensure the business continued to thrive, and then reviewed the existing JD’s for his team, so we could add some additional responsibilities.

What was interesting was that some of the tasks that the CEO was doing were already in his teams JD and that there was even one individual who did not have a job description at all! Needless to say that has been rectified and we have formulated a plan of action, for consultation and implementation.

It is really hard effectively recruit, set objectives and monitor success without having an up to date job description as a foundation document. Also when dealing with under-performing staff it is important that their job descriptions are correct, as you could be disciplining then for under-performing a task that they morphed into with no training or support.

A JD doesn’t need to be pages and pages, or a To Do list! Just ensure it covers the following:

• Job Title
• Who the role reports to, and other key stakeholders
• Where the role sits within the team, department and business
• Key areas of responsibility and the deliverable's expected
• Required education and training
• Soft skills and behaviours necessary to excel
• Location and travel requirements

And Remember NOT to include:

• Internal terminology, jargon or acronyms
• Anything that could be considered discriminatory
• Writing a Wish List

As a business owner you wear many hats, it’s important for your personal growth, as well as that of your business to ensure that you have an effective and efficient team, where responsibilities and objectives are clear and transparently communicated. Having up to date job descriptions is a big part of that.

Growing Pains are SO Painful!

When I was a teenager I dislocated my knee, not doing anything particularly adventurous! I had a growing complication; my bones and the ligaments supporting them, were not growing at the same rate! I managed to dislocate my knee three times in four years. Every time was painful, I had my leg in plaster from my thigh to my ankle for 6 weeks and then had to have physiotherapy to rebuild the muscles that had wasted away. I hated being on crutches and unable to be as active as I wanted to, but the things I remember most is the first time I was able to be active again.

There are all sorts of changes going on an Eden Mayers HQ – We are changing office location, working with more and more amazing entrepreneurs and our career development offerings (because not everyone wants to run their own business) is really scaling!

It has meant making decisions about where to focus our energies and deprioritising some things I really want to do, to focus fully on other things I really want to do!

Change is hard, but I’ve learnt through years of supporting others through change, that there are a few things you need to help it go smoothly:

Detail the Rationale – Be clear about why the change is necessary.

Detail the steps – Have a clear plan, with steps for part of your change project.

Celebrate each milestone – Don’t wait until the end to celebrate, each achievement is worth celebrating and having some fun will energise you for the next step.

Take a break – Change can be all consuming, it’s good to do some tasks that are unrelated to it. Also, taking time to step away, can give you more perspective.

Try these tips and growing pain won’t be such a pain.