Category: Performance Management

Please enjoy this guest post from Dominique Molina.

When your business grows to the point where you need to start hiring people to work for you, you know you’re doing well. It means you’re growing, and it’s a big step forward in terms of just how successful your business can be. It also means you need to spend some time figuring out exactly what those employees are going to do, and how they’re going to do it. Do you need part-time employees? Full-time? Do you need occasional help? How you answer those questions will help determine how those employees are classified.
Employee or contractor?
Everyone who works for you is going to fall into one of two classifications: employee or contractor. The first thing you need to determine when hiring a worker is whether the individual is an employee or contractor.
The IRS looks at three specific areas to determine whether a person is your employee or whether they’re a contractor:

• Behavioral issues. This has to do with who makes the decisions about how, where, and when a worker performs a task. If you specify exactly what is to be done, when, and where, and you even go so far as to specify which tools that the worker has to use to do so, you’re more in employee territory than you are in contractor territory.

• Financial issues. How finances are taken care of during the course of business matters, as well. For example, a significant financial investment required by the worker puts them more in the contractor category. Whether payment for services is guaranteed, or whether pay is on an hourly or flat basis matters, too. Even the question of whether the worker has the opportunity for financial profit or loss during the endeavor factors in here. The more financial responsibility that rests on the worker, the more likely they should be classified as a contractor.

• Relationship. Your intent, as well as the worker’s intent, matters too. Things like written contracts, whether you’re paying for benefits like vacation time or a retirement plan, your terms for discharging or terminating the worker, and whether the work that the worker does is integral to your business all determine the relationship. Someone who does a job that can’t be done by others that’s business-critical is probably an employee, as is someone to whom you pay for sick days.

As you can see, it’s not always cut and dried. While there are some obvious types of workers that are employees, for some it’s more nebulous.

Which is better?
From a financial perspective, it’s usually better for a business to classify workers as independent contractors whenever possible. That’s because there are many rules and regulations that apply to employees that don’t apply to independent contractors. For example, with employees you have to:

• Withhold payroll and federal income taxes.
• Pay your share of the employee’s FICA taxes.
• Pay the employee’s FUTA tax.
• Provide benefits as required by law, such as overtime pay or even health insurance.
• Meet any state requirements for employees, such as withholding state taxes.

These are things that you don’t have to hassle with for independent contractors.

The penalty for misclassification
If you classify one of your employees as a contractor without a verifiable and reasonable basic, you can be looking at a number of penalties. You can be liable for the worker’s employment taxes, as well as uncollected Social Security and Medicate Tax. This can create a bit of a tax nightmare, leaving you with a significant tax burden that can be very difficult to pay. On top of that, you’ll likely be looking at penalties and fees.

What to do when it’s not entirely clear
If you have some doubt about how to classify a particular worker, you should most certainly talk to your tax advisor. They can help you make sure you get it right.
Beyond that, you can also work together with the worker to determine their classification. If the worker is amenable, you can develop a contract that explicitly addresses some of those three categories of evidence. That will certainly help you build your case, should the worker’s classification ever be challenged.
Finally, you can fill out the SS-8 form. This form is sent to the IRS, who will then review your worker’s circumstances and determine whether or not they can be classified as a contractor or must be classified as an employee. It does take about six months to get a determination.
Getting your employees correctly classified can have an impact on your bottom line, as well as your tax burden. Do it right the first time.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Author bio

Dominique Molina is President of the CertifiedTaxCoach.org, a professional organization that helps tax professionals deliver thousands in tax savings to their clients. Dominique has compiled many resources for members, including powerful accounting templates, a tax-specific engagement letter template, and the most comprehensive tax training in the industry.

During the past twenty years, the landscape of communication has changed. It seems that everyone has a cell phone and a portable internet-enabled device. These devices have been great business tools that have allowed us to get answers quicker and keep informed of important events and news. They have also facilitated the globalization of business and helped us keep track of kids. There are many positive things that have resulted in development of these products.

However, It also seems that it is difficult for many people to go one minute disconnected from their network of friends and colleagues. I witness this in every place from the board room to the church pew. And in this world where we can be reached anywhere via phone, or text, or email we can actually work longer hours and spend more time attending to the needs of our business. But in doing so, are we actually doing what is best for the business?

Having the ability to talk to anyone at almost any time from anywhere gives us little time to think and reflect. In addition to taking this time away from us, technology has hampered natural succession planning in organizations. Before some of these constant communication devices were available, leaders took time to choose someone else to “be in charge” while they were out of the office. Their made their choices wisely and based on skill. They took time to develop them to make good decisions and handle a number of issues so that the business would run well in their absence.

Upon their return, they were able to quickly identify the employee’s strengths and further opportunities for development because the employee was given an opportunity to do the job without restraints. They were forced to make the decisions and handle whatever came up. There is no better learning for adults than that experience. However, today we spend thousands of dollars on trying to create perfect simulations so that employees can learn how to handle real scenarios. We also complain that we have a talent shortage. I would guess there are many worries in organizations today about what they will do if x employee leaves.

My advice, let x employee take a vacation without his blackberry and see what happens. Remember the best way to learn is experience.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

A HR Fable.

You get a resignation notice from a top performing manager. You weren’t prepared. You have been talking about succession planning, but other priorities got in the way. Now you have the notice. So what do you? This is an important role and will be key to the future success of the company. Knowing the spot can’t go vacant, you take a look at the team and offer the position to the top performer. The top performer tells you he’s not ready. You know that he will be fine. You tell him that, hand him a set of keys and get busy on those other priorities.

A couple weeks later, the newly minted manager calls you. He has an issue. Actually, he has a couple issues. As you listen, you can’t help thinking to yourself, “why would he do that?” Instead of asking him, you tell him how to handle the situation. You even complete all the necessary paperwork for him and have it ready. You tell him that you will sit in on the conversation he needs to have with his employees if he wants. He says he’s not ready to do this on his own, so you take over and have the conversations. You already did the paperwork, so you might as well.

A few months later, you get another notice. This time it was from the top performer you just promoted. You think to yourself, “I need to get to that succession plan.”

There are so many lessons one can take from this scenario. Here are just a few.

• You can’t predict every turnover situation. You will get surprised. Life happens and people leave for a number of reasons. Be prepared.
• The best individual contributors aren’t always the best solution to an opening. They don’t always make the best managers. Build the model. Whether it’s a competency model or other model, you have to know what skills, knowledge and attitudes are necessary to succeed in key roles. Develop those skills in your high potential employees. (Oh and make sure you have a way to identify high potentials)
• Make sure the employee wants the job. If they think they aren’t ready, they might not be ready. If you think they are ready, help them find their confidence.
• Have a plan for those who are newly in positions. Have a mentor or a coach available to them. And don’t do for them what they need to do for themselves. Guide them. Coach them.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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I have had skin issues for a while. Since my symptoms have progressively gotten worse, I decided to finally see a dermatologist. The first question he asked was what type of products I use on my face. I was slightly annoyed by his response when I told him I only use this expensive department store brand especially for problem skin. He seemed to think that this may be partly to blame for my issues. I immediately thought that he didn’t know what he walking about, but agreed to stop using it. So over the next few months, I continued to visit the doctor and tried some of the medications he suggested. I wasn’t getting the results I wanted so I assumed I made a bad choice in doctors and vowed to never see him again.

A few months later as I was looking in the mirror, I realized that my skin seemed better that day. In fact, it was almost clear. And even as I stood there with the evidence right in front of me, I wasn’t connecting the dots. I wasn’t making a connection. As I reached for my make-up, it hit me. I never stopped using the make-up I had used for the past twelve years. I had changed everything else I put on my face, but I was still using the same make-up. What if it was the make-up that was causing my condition? I hadn’t even considered it since the product I was using was specifically designed for my condition. But here it was, the evidence right in front of me. I realized that in the previous two days, I hadn’t worn any make-up. And now my face was clear (well, almost clear).

I thought that I had followed all the directions from the doctor even if it was reluctantly; however, I hadn’t. I missed that one crucial step. My reaction to him was that he didn’t know what he was talking about. When all that time, it was me. I didn’t follow all the directions.

How often does this happen in your workplace? How often do we seek advice from the experts, then discount it and blame them for their crappy advice?

Next time you seek advice, follow it. All of it. Be open and let go of your deeply held beliefs of how it is supposed to be.

And remember when giving advice, people don’t argue with their own evidence. Help them discover it on their own and you will help them change.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

From time to time most teams experience a falling out among team members. If not quickly resolved this can have a significant impact not just on the people in dispute but also on their colleagues.

Here are a few thoughts to help your team to deal with the discord: Continue reading “Ways to Resolve Conflict in Your Team”

Employee’s excitement and motivation is at its peak when first hired. However, it is common that after settling into a routine of the daily grind, the excitement and motivation begins to wane. Before that happens the employer has an opportunity to reverse the trend. Parties everyday is impractical but team building days that happen once, twice or even three times a year can build moral among the entire workforce.

Team-Building is Important to Employee’s Sense of Belonging
Team building is the most important term. The purpose is to include everyone and to encourage those that tend to keep to themselves to join into the activities. Employees learn things about themselves and the ones around them that they never knew before.

• Misunderstandings can dissolve when seen from a different perspective
• Alliances are formed when faced with a dilemma to work through
• Personalities are exposed in new and different ways
• Ideas come to those that free themselves from the “it is how it has always been done” mentality

Team-building days are fun as well as challenging.

There is going to be a Team-Building Day – Now What
It is easy to talk about a team-building day but making it happen may be more challenging. Deciding what to do and where to do it involves making many decisions, consideration of the cost and what would make the greatest impact. Why not let the employees plan the day? The details would be different for a small business compared to a large business of course. A small business may include only a few employees while a larger business could include a hundred or more. The type of business would also make a difference – would outdoor challenges be best or would a cooking class be better?

What is the best Team-Building Event
Team-Building events are often thought of as outdoor challenges like rock climbing and obstacle courses. They may even include a trip to another state or a cruise to an exotic island. While those are great ideas they are not the only way to improve employee motivation. The state of the economy over the past several years has caused many businesses to change their extravagant ways. In some ways that is a good thing because often simple is better. Employees interact with each other instead of their surroundings. Getting to know each other is easier when there are fewer events.

Asking the employees what they would like may be surprising. Special training to improve their positions in the company, working together for a charity or taking hands on cooking class given by a celebrity chef may be exactly the right plan.

Team-Building Days Improve Employee’s View of their Job
Employees that love their jobs appreciate the benefit of a team-building day. Positive events also affect employees that have begun to dread going to work every day. Create a scrapbook to remind each employee and the employer of what is good about where they work now and in the future.

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For more resources, see our Library topic Team Building.

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Written by guest writter Tom Tolladay, event organiser for Chillisauce.

I am a working actor and a working trainer. For both professions, you could say I am a performance critic. In my other life as a psychologist, I see a wide range of similarities.

Instead of comparing business and theatre definitions of performance, I thought a good way to present this issue is to highlight aspects of Performance Psychology, which is related to all three.

To get us started, we don’t need a deep, reflective definition. A simple definition from Wikipedia will suffice:

“Performance psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses upon the factors that allows individuals, teams, and groups to flourish and to achieve their aim of being the best. It engages the performer on how to be successful by developing the power of the mind and to practice mental skills training in their daily lives.”

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that many of these factors are the same, similar or overlap. Performance psychology looks at three basic areas: sports, business, and performing arts and entertainment. The evolution is different, but as we look at training techniques and basic mental skills involved we see striking similarities. The same goes for goal setting, which is explored as a part of each separate area of interest.

Sport psychology is rather new in the field, going back only to the late 1800s and early 20th century, when Norman Triplett conducted experiments involving cyclists. He and others in the area realized that focusing on the mental as well as the physical is important to performance. And, I’m sure we would agree that is true in our business or professional lives as well as personal that our mental take on things affects our physical prowess, our energy, our motivation, and, of course, our results.

“When you learn to respond positively to challenges that you are presented with, yourperformance in training and in competitions will be affected by your emotional reactions to those challenges. Therefore if you can master your emotions, you will have the power to use those emotions as a tool to facilitate individual and team performance. Physical skills, physical fitness and mental skills are the building blocks of the complete athlete that produces outstanding sports performance. The difference between a great performance and a good performance or between winning and losing is often related to mental rather than physical abilities.”

We all know the importance of goal setting in all three areas, not just with sports. Setting long term vision and short-term goals motivate us. By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you’ll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. Communication, commitment, collaboration (buy-in and negotiation) is required for effective goal setting.

What’s the best way to look at goal setting. In 1990, Lock and Latham published their book called “A Theory of Goal-Setting and Task Performance” outlining five principles of goal-setting.

It’s called Be-SMART. You’ve probably heard of it.

• S – Specific (or Significant).
• M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
• A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
• R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
• T – Time-bound (or Trackable).

To have the principles of goal-setting is important, but to motivate these goals must have:

• Clarity
• Challenge
• Commitment
• Feedback
• Task Complexity

Now, we are beginning to see the Business/Professional Psychology side as corporations and business professionals need to empower people, including themselves in they are a one-man shop, to seek high levels of mental capacity to deal with the stressors of a changing environment. It’s more on the radars of corporations but smaller companies need to recognize it, too. A corporate executive in order to deal with the stressors must constantly seek to revitalize his or her motivation, strive toward self-mastery, and reinvent him or herself to adapt the company to change. In essence, the corporate or business professional athlete should be constantly renewing and reinventing.

As trainers we need to develop training programs designed to allow individuals to respond creatively and with a renewed sense of enthusiasm to the pressures and demands of work and life. Self-awareness, we know is the foundation of change; renewal will help us regenerate and refocus our energy on new stressors, and quite simply strategy and tactics will give us the tools to deal with those new stressors.

Ironically, Performing Arts Psychology has been around longer than the two above. As long as there have been artists there have been people and institutions trying to find ways to enhance artistic performance, but the ideas and goals are the same. This specialty deals with the psychological factors associated with participation and performance in areas such as dance, music, acting, radio, and public-speaking and stresses direct, real-world application of psychological research findings to strengthen, compliment, and improve the artist/performer.

While not using the same words, we are still talking about enhancing performance, be it on stage, in the factory or on the playing field. Theatre, in particular, has always delved into the mental aspects of performance. I’m sure the other performing arts have done the same, but I am closer to “acting” so I will focus on what I know best. There is something to be said about how most of the acting approaches focus on the mental aspects of the craft, but Stanislavsky with his method and the Meisner with his more improvisational method come immediately to mind. Both are deeply internal in approach. Each seek a mind over the body or physical approach to the art. What the mind sees, the body will do. So, mastery of the conscious mind is very important, and all methods strive to keep renewing and reinvent (sometimes in an obvious way) the individual performers.

“Fundamental peak performance proficiencies” cut across the three primary areas. Attitude, motivation, concentration, preparation, coach-ability, being a team player, leadership, or the ability to relax under pressure, are all attributes the peak performer possesses under any conditions. Peak performers have the ability to be self awareness, to self program, to visualize, to think critically and creatively, and to control effort.

Mental training is key to making all this work. The five main aspects of mental training are:

• Relaxation
• Mental Rehearsal
• Focusing
• Positive affirmation
• Visualization

With all of these commonalities we can do little wrong. There must be something right for these diverse areas to come up with the same elements to do the job.

Performance psychology involves assessment and intervention strategies that enhance an individual’s performance and personal growth. It is said that Performance Psychologists are the chameleons of the practitioner world and I agree. Coming from all three worlds, I see the intersections and application clearly. I guess that makes me a chameleon of sorts myself, but I must say in the area of performance, it certainly doesn’t hurt.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

That’s it for me. Check out my website for more writings on various topics, including theatre performance and basic communication. My new book, deemed by some to be an item for every trainer’s toolkit is available at most e-book retailers for a very low price. My gift to you for the holidays, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development takes a look at the way we have complicated the learning process, and how much of we need to know in many cases is to remember how we got those complicated ideas in the first place. Happy training.

Last November in honor of Thanksgiving, I discussed the need to practice gratitude in a post. Studies on gratitude show that people who practice it have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood, are in better physical health, sleep more and are happier (The Positivity Company). And while these benefits of gratitude affect the practitioner of gratitude(sometimes referred to as one having a gratitude attitude) they also have an impact on the receiver of the practice. As mentioned in my post last year, it creates a win-win. In HR we are often looking for the win-win and we spend hours trying to figure out ways in which to create it and build it into our cultures.

So in an effort to build happiness within myself and others, I am going to take the first step in building a culture of gratitude by practicing it right here. Here are the things that I am thankful for all year, but seem to only write about during November. In the coming year, I will work harder to practice this all year.

1. My husband. Without the support of my husband, I would not be able to spend hours doing what I love. He takes care of the little things that get missed while I am learning all I can about HR.
2. My Job. I get to go to work every week and do what I love. I get to spend time trying to figure out how to build a better culture, how to bring in the best talent, and how to make real impact from the HR department.
3. My Other Job. I love being able to work with HR students. They are so excited to get started in the field. Their enthusiasm about is inspiring.
4. Carter McNamara. Carter started this wonderful resource of information that can be accessed for free. He has provided a platform for me to write about one of my favorite topics.
5. Fellow HR Bloggers. There is a big list of bloggers that I read almost daily. I am inspired by their passion for moving our field forward. While this list doesn’t cover all of them here are a few of my favorites:

Ask a Manager
http://askamanager.org

CARNIVAL OF HR
http://carnivalofhr.blogspot.com/

Fistful of Talent – Kris Dunn
http://www.fistfuloftalent.com

HR Schoolhouse – Robin Schooling
http://hrschoolhouse.wordpress.com

Ohio Employer’s Law Blog- John T. Hyman

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/

Rehaul by Lance Haun
http://rehaul.com

upstartHR by Ben Eubanks
http://www.UpstartHR.com

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

In the early days of my retail career, I knew I had reached the ultimate level of success, when I could leave on vacation and return to no other messages than, “welcome back.” See before I reached this point, I would come back to work (most of the time a day or two early just so I could what was really going on in my absence) and there would be a long list of things that I needed to handle; there would be all kinds of things ranging from angry customers, to incomplete projects, to a dirty store. Somewhere after years of getting frustrating by this, I figured out how to engage and develop a team of employees to give whatever was needed to get the job done. Up to that point, I had always been really good at setting expectations and keeping people focused at work while I was there, but what happened when I left?

The answer to that question depended on who was there, but I wanted that to not matter anymore. I wanted it to always be good. I wanted every customer, every day to have the same experience. So I went on a mission to figure out how to make that happen. And the only thing I had to change was me. I was already good at setting expectations and holding people accountable to meet them. I was also pretty good at training people to do their jobs. But most of all, I was good at demolishing discretionary effort. That extra effort required of people when no one is looking. Being good at this was easy; realizing it needed to change was a bit more difficult. But when it I did change, magic happened.

Make your own magic and stop doing the things that kill discretionary effort.

• Stop giving the answers all the time
• Teach the reasons why so that people can make educated decisions when you aren’t there
• If they make a decision and it is wrong, COACH them to see why another decision would be better
• If they make a decision and it is right, give them credit
• Thank them for just doing their jobs
• Let them do their jobs
• Refrain from stepping in and taking over for them- COACH later if needed
• Admit when you are wrong
• Be a good model every day
• Ask about their goals, help them get there
• Be flexible and open

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

GROUP DEVELOPMENT

Below is an idea for a team building activity focusing on the what happens when new members join a team.

Learning Objectives
1. To experience the process and feelings that arise when a new member joins
an ongoing group with defined tasks and roles;
2. To explore the coping mechanisms adopted by the individual and the group
to deal with entry problems;
3. To examine functional and dysfunctional coping strategies of groups. Continue reading “Free Team Building Activity: Group Development”