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"Innovative
2 Oct 2019

Can Our Staff Innovate?

Innovation has drawn tremendous attention in the business world over the last decades and seems to be up on the radar screens again. The character of Innovation has changed over time from the traditional research-based theory towards the knowledge-driven approach that is based heavily on our social networks. It has made its way from the laboratory into all parts of business and personal life. …

by Amy BC Tan
"group
6 Mar 2018

Manager as Coach

To be a good coach is hard work. Coaching requires a set of skills that need to be built. The journey as a coach is a long but rewarding one. How will we know when we have arrived? “With the best of leaders, when the work is done, the project is completed, the people all say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” Lao Tzu…

by Amy BC Tan
"making
12 Jun 2015

Being a Mentee – How to Benefit from a Mentoring Relationship

When Odysseus gave the task of protecting, guiding and educating his son Telemachus to his old friend Mentor, he did this knowing that Mentor would be the best person possible to care for his only son during his absence from Greece. Since then, Mentor is synonymous for someone who is willing and able to provide guidance and support to bring out his Mentee’s very best – without any other personal agenda.…

by Amy BC Tan
20 Feb 2013

Lean Six Sigma and Innovation

Over the last decade, companies and organisations in nearly every industry all over the world have introduced Lean Six Sigma to increase customer satisfaction and to deliver impressive results. An outstanding example is General Electric, the company who has made Six Sigma as popular as it is today.

Another term that has drawn tremendous attention in the business world is Innovation. On the one hand, Lean Six Sigma works towards very low variation in processes with high efficiency. Innovation, on the other hand, seeks to find undiscovered, uncertain territory. Such efforts are rather inefficient. Innovation requires risk-taking, making mistakes and learning from failures.

Can a corporate culture be developed on both key thinking patterns in order to get the best out of Lean Six Sigma Efficiency and Innovative Solutions? Does it make sense to think Innovation Six Sigma?…

by Uwe H Kaufmann
11 Dec 2011

Managing Volunteers

Olympic Games are unthinkable without the invaluable support of thousands of volunteers. For most organising committees, this fact alone posts a major challenge in preparing and running the games since they often do not have experience in managing an army of unpaid workers. The always available IOC ‘cook book’ is not more than a good start, since the behaviour and attitude and hence the requirements for hiring and managing the crowd of helpers depends much more on the culture of the people with their upbringings, beliefs and traits, than it is influenced by instructions and SOPs. After all, an unpaid worker has nothing to lose. If he perceives being treated unfairly, he walks!…

by Amy BC Tan
11 Dec 2011

Managing Volunteers New

Olympic Games are unthinkable without the invaluable support of thousands of volunteers. For most organising committees, this fact alone posts a major challenge in preparing and running the games since they often do not have experience in managing an army of unpaid workers. The always available IOC ‘cook book’ is not more than a good start, since the behaviour and attitude and hence the requirements for hiring and managing the crowd of helpers depends much more on the culture of the people with their upbringings, beliefs and traits, than it is influenced by instructions and SOPs. After all, an unpaid worker has nothing to lose. If he perceives being treated unfairly, he walks!
Whilst it is not unimportant to continuously engage volunteers and measure their pulse rate before the game, it is most vital to do so systematically and with very closed follow up loop during games time. Therefore, a survey (Figure 1) was designed to measure the degree of satisfaction in the categories leadership, One YOG spirit, teamwork, job capability, job satisfaction, communication and work environment. On the satisfaction chart the meaning of each category was explained as follows:
  • Leadership: My manager communicates clearly, motivates and guides me, provides feedback and can handle difficult situations.
  • ONE YOG Spirit: I perceive the cross-functional relationship as built upon respect, mutual support, trust and team spirit.
  • Teamwork: I feel being part of a team built upon solidarity, team spirit, joy and optimism, i.e. Friendship.
Figure 1: EMO Chart to Measure Volunteer Satisfaction
  • Job Capability: I have received the training and introduction necessary to perform my tasks with Excellence.
  • Job Satisfaction: I am satisfied with my Job. I feel I add value by performing my tasks.
  • Communication: I feel I am part of an effective communication system. I am receiving all necessary information timely and clearly.
  • Working Environment: The working environment enables me to perform my tasks as expected by YOG.
By placing this chart at high-traffic areas such as at the entrance to the workforce rest area, it was made sure that it would be seen and used. This chart was continuously being monitored and interventions were derived by the respective Venue Workforce Managers and Venue Managers on daily basis. This EMO-chart (short form for the word ‘Emotional’) is a simple tool, that is combined with the so called I-have-something-to-say chart (Figure 2) that served the purpose of collecting any kind of feedback from volunteers they were not willing to share directly or express openly.
The job of the Venue Workforce Managers was to look out for signs of unhappiness and their root causes amongst the overwhelmingly very positive feedback. In many cases, this strategy has led to an early detection of issues that could be tackled before they could spread widely or grow into real problems. Such information was also fed back to the YOG Main Operations Centre (MOC) on daily basis and served as a way to provide measurements for workforce matters and hence create involvement of the other operational functions on workforce management. And, it has also been very useful for the MOC to share success stories from the ground.
Figure 2: I-have-something-to-say Chart
For example could a reason for low rating in the category ‘Communication’ be identified as disappointment about last minute cancelations of training events of some sports teams. Volunteers were ready to perform but the actors were not able to make it. The organising committee took appropriate action to ensure better and faster communication.
Even if you are not able to ‘fix’ all the issues raised by workforce on these charts, they already feel better if they have a place to show their state of mind – before they do it on Facebook. These simple tools offer a way to vent for those who are bothered by something that is not big enough to be brought to their boss’s attention. Or, they just don’t want to speak up openly. Let them speak anonymously first. After earning their trust they will tell you.

Conclusion

It seems that this kind of measuring the “pulse of the workforce” tightly is appropriate for volunteers only because they need to be treated nicely otherwise they walk. Does this mean our workforce in private organisations or in public service do not deserve this kind of treatment? Is it really enough to measure the organisational climate once a year? Definitely not.
This kind of chart has been seen at the entrance of the call centre of a bank in Germany because the management understands the link between the mood of front-line staff and customer satisfaction. They wanted to measure the pulse of their staff closely. The customer on the line can feel the smile – or the frustrated face.
Measuring the pulse of your workforce was not too necessary decades ago when most employees were desperate to get employed and would sacrifice to keep their job. Now, ask yourself how many of your staff need the job you offer so badly. Probably only those whom you do not need anyway.
by Amy BC Tan
"innovative
23 Nov 2011

What Makes a Good Leader for Change

In response to evolving conditions, you came to realise that your organisation must change. Change leadership consists of project sponsor, with overall responsibility, seconded by a project manager. These people will be your change agent – the ones upon which success of your initiative will rely.…

by Amy BC Tan
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