Leadership + Management – Page 15 – Pinnacle HR Solutions

Compliance: It’s Not Just About Avoiding Risk

Some businesses think staying in compliance is all about reducing risk and staying out of trouble. But companies that approach compliance as a way to help achieve their overall business objectives will do far more than avoid fines. They’ll build organizations that produce happy and productive employees, loyal customers, and a healthy bottom line.

The relationship between compliance and culture

For business owners, industry rules and regulations are a fact of life, and they can be used in several different ways:

As a threat to keep employers in check
As a set of rules to keep employees in check
As a helpful tool to make your workplace better, safer, and more pleasant for everyone

Now, which one of these three tactics do you think is going to make your business a more enjoyable place to work? Entice new employees to jump on board? Result in a more engaged and productive team?

Yes, you can control your team with threats and rules, micromanage behaviors with fear-based incentives, and rule with a culture of discipline. Or you can use compliance as a way to help you take care of your people and your business.

What’s your motivation?

Let’s think about some of the various aspects of compliance and approaches you may have taken or witnessed in the past.

Harassment

Is your main goal to avoid expensive litigation? Or is it to create a healthy workplace where everyone feels comfortable and respected?

Discrimination

Are you following EEO practices because you’re afraid of being sued? Or are you committed to fostering a diverse workforce with a variety of talents, viewpoints, and experiences?

Payroll

Are you paranoid about compliance because a screw up will cost you back pay plus any added fines and penalties? Or do you value your employees and want to make sure they feel appreciated and get paid correctly?

Benefits

Are you offering health insurance, sick time, and leave options because the law says you have to? Or do you want to invest in keeping your employees happy, healthy, and productive?

Privacy

Do you worry about data security because breaches are expensive and there are fines for releasing confidential information? Or do you truly care about your employees as people and want to protect them and their families?

Licensing

Do you require your staff to have proper qualifications because you don’t want to pay fines or be shut down? Or is it because you want to give your employees the tools they need to succeed and your customers the best service possible?

Safety

Are you checking the OSHA boxes because you’re terrified of the cost of a fine or accident? Or are you genuinely committed to making sure everyone on staff makes it home safely after their shift?

How you view compliance matters

The approach you take to compliance says a lot about the approach you take to running your business and taking care of your employees. If you’ve been looking at compliance as nothing more than a rigid set of rules you have to follow, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Short-sighted businesses view compliance as a necessary tool to control staff and protect the organization. But merely wanting to avoid claims isn’t an inspiring motivator.

Innovative, big-picture organizations see compliance as a natural extension of their business philosophy and strategy.

They will find opportunities to align their compliance practices with their purpose, values, and vision.
They will look beyond the rules to see why they are important and how they can support the things that matter to their employees.
They will associate good compliance practices with good business.

These kinds of organizations will also involve their employees in their compliance processes, giving them a sense of ownership and accountability. Engaged staff members can then become happy advocates and active participants in the creation and implementation of policies that create inclusive, safe, and healthy workplaces.

Some companies will continue to look at compliance as a set of boxes to be checked off, and they will technically be meeting their obligations. On the other hand, businesses that choose to embrace compliance as an opportunity to live out their people-focused values are those that will build the best cultures and attract the best talent.

Why not be one of them?

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners

Photo by Shopping King Louie

Are Self-assessments a Waste of Everyone’s Time?

Ugh. The dreaded self-assessment! Employees hate filling them out and managers aren’t quite sure what to do with them. Many on both sides will find themselves wondering if employee self-assessments are a useless, redundant activity.

If you’re in the yes camp on this one, it’s understandable. But perhaps you might want to start seeing them (and using them) in a new way.

There are two sides to every story

Employees may be asking themselves, “Why do I have to fill this stupid thing out? It’s my supervisor’s job to review my performance. Not mine.” And yet these same employees may come out of a one-sided performance review wondering if their boss even knows what they do all day.

The truth of the matter is that there are two perspectives going on at any given time. And unless workplace communication is interactive, clear, and happening on a regular basis, those two perspectives may not cross paths much. This is where a self-assessment can come in handy.

Upsides for employers

Alignment: Having your employees do self-assessments gives you a window into how they view their role, their priorities, their performance, and their strengths and weaknesses. If your team’s perspective doesn’t match what you’re seeing or what you expect, now you have an opportunity to talk about it and to create a plan to bring everyone to the same page. If your respective visions aren’t in alignment, that’s a problem. And one you may never hear about without this simple exercise.

Insight: Most leaders are responsible for more than just one person. In some cases, significantly more. Chances are you don’t have time to keep track of each of your reports’ actions and activities on a regular basis. Failures you will likely hear about, because they often interfere with progress. But every day successes can often slip by unnoticed.

Empowering your employees to track their own progress and results not only requires them to be more aware of and accountable for their progress, it also gives you additional insight and details. For even more impact, make sure your assessment encourages honest feedback on the challenges of the position. This will and alert you to specific issues that may be holding your team back.

Focus: A well done self-assessment won’t look like a freestyle diary entry. It will be a tailored questionnaire designed to track employee progress, successes, and challenges. To maximize the value of the exercise, you’ll want to create a self-assessment that addresses goals, priorities, processes, results, training, and career development. Give your employees enough time to thoughtfully fill out their assessments and turn them in well in advance of your meeting. This will help bring focus and structure to your performance management process.

Benefits for employees

The self-assessment process may seem uncomfortable for many. But evaluating yourself in the context of your work can have some positive upsides.

Establishing your worth: It’s easy to get caught up in the busy day to day of simply “doing your job.” If someone were to ask you spontaneously at the end of the day/week/month/year what you accomplished during that time period, you might just draw a complete blank. But filling out a self-assessment requires you to carefully review what you’ve been working on and what you’ve accomplished.

You may be pleasantly surprised at just how much you contributed to your team and your organization. Not only does this build confidence, it allows you to articulate your value and advocate for your future career path— at your current or future employer.

Creating a record: Not all supervisors are good about providing proper feedback and reviews. Proactively conducting a self-assessment will create a record of your performance, and a paper trail to back it up. If your boss is a fan of pushing off formal reviews or not doing them at all, a self-assessment can be a great way to bring up the subjects you want to discuss in another forum or with another manager or career mentor. Having this record will also help you update your resume if and when the time comes.

Providing perspective: Ideally, you and your manager will be on the same page about your job description, expectations, goals, and processes. But that’s not always the case. Taking the time to document your understanding of your role in the organization, what tasks and results are most critical, the key challenges you face, and how you see your position evolving can be enlightening not just for you, but for leadership as well.

Your experience and knowledge of the position puts you in a unique spot to offer constructive feedback and ideas. They key word here is constructive. If you decide to use your self-assessment as a vehicle to list off all of your complaints, it’s not going to serve you well. But if you use it to confirm, clarify, and develop your role, both you and your manager can benefit greatly.

What are you waiting for?

If you’re an employer, create an employee self-assessment system and start putting it to good use. If you’re an employee, stop dreading filling yours out! Instead, treat it like a helpful advocacy and communication tool it was meant to be.

Content provided by
Q4iNetwork and partners

Photo by WAYHOME studio

Spending Too Much on Coffee? There’s a Business Lesson Here.

Did you start your day with a stop at your favorite coffee shop?

Let’s stop for a moment and think about the experience— and the reasoning behind it.

It’s about more than coffee

You could have made your coffee at home, saving time and money in the process. So what made you go to down to that coffee shop instead? There are likely several reasons:

The coffee is better than what you make at home.
You know what you’re getting. It’s the same every time.
The staff is friendly. Maybe they even know your name. Or your drink.
The overall experience makes you feel happy and satisfied.

Yes, you paid a premium for your morning beverage of choice. And let’s be honest. You’ll probably go back tomorrow and do it again. Because the value you get from going there is worth the time, money, and effort it takes to make it happen.

But what if it wasn’t?

What if your favorite coffee shop decided not to invest in the quality of their product and their employees?

What if every time you went there, you got a different experience, a different employee, and a different tasting drink?

Suddenly, the value you once perceived is gone. Now it’s a crap shoot. Maybe you’ll get a good cup of coffee, maybe you won’t. Instead of investing in a positive way to start your day, you’re merely gambling.

And odds are you’re not going to be willing to take that risk for long.

What your customers want

To keep clients from heading out the door and down the street, your business needs to provide both quality and consistency.

In other words, your team needs to have the tools and training to be able to deliver on the promises your marketing makes.

This requires investing in your processes and your employees.

It’s not rocket science. We’re talking about the basics here:

Hire good people.
Train them well and often.
Compensate them appropriately.
Put processes in place that ensure quality and consistency.
Build a culture that places high value on customer and employee experiences.
Hold everyone accountable to the standards you have set.
Let go of people and processes that aren’t serving you or your clients well.

Yes, this list may sound simplistic, but it’s uncanny how many businesses skimp on these things to make an extra buck or two.

The problem is that skimping on quality and consistency will cost you way more in the long run than you will ever save in the short term.

What does your team need?

Depending on what kind of company you’re running, there could be a variety of things. But here are some key items worth investing in.

A meaningful purpose
A defined sales process
A clear vision of what the customer experience looks like
Happy, engaged employees to deliver on that experience
Strong leadership that isn’t afraid to make difficult decisions
An organizational culture that attracts and retains top tier talent

None of these things will happen overnight. But investing in them can have a huge impact on the long-term success of your business.

If you don’t know how to make these things happen on your own, invest in the necessary professional development, coaching, and training get you there.

It can’t just be talk

If the sign in your window says you offer the best cup of coffee in the world, you’d better not be serving up the instant crystals.

Talking about quality is one thing but producing and maintaining it is another. It takes work. And time. And yes, even money. But if you make quality, consistency, and an amazing customer experience integral parts of your brand, your customers will keep coming back for more. And telling everyone else about it.

Because the only thing better than the best cup of coffee in the world is sharing it with a friend.

Photo by Somsak Sudthangtum

Keeping Your Marketing Efforts on Track

Is your marketing based on a detailed, well-thought-out strategy and plan? Or are your efforts simply a compilation of random marketing activities you think you should be doing?

Random activities will keep you busy for sure, but will they keep you focused and get you where you need to go? Or will they just result in frustration and abandonment?

If you want your marketing to be more than just a bunch of tasks on a list, you’ll want to take the time to evaluate what you’re doing. And more importantly, why you’re doing it.

Not sure where to start? Make a list of everything that falls into your marketing bucket, and then ask yourself these key questions for each one:

1.) Does this activity align with our brand?

It’s easy to think that any marketing activity will be good for your brand. But there’s a big difference between brand recognition and brand strength. Just because people know your name doesn’t mean they want to be associated with it.

Some businesses instinctively say “Yes!” to every brand opportunity that comes along, without thinking about whether or not it aligns with their core company values and goals. Sponsoring an event? Partnering with another organization? Considering product placement? It’s critical to evaluate whether or not these things make sense, not just from a monetary and/or exposure perspective, but from value alignment and PR perspectives as well.

Before you do any marketing or sales activity, ask yourself the question, “Does this portray what we want to say about our organizational brand and identity?” If the answer is yes, consider this question again from your target market’s point of view: “Will our key customer demographic feel good about this? Is it consistent with our mission, our image, and our why?”

If the answer to either of these questions is no, strike the activity from your list. And do it completely guilt free. Your time and resources can be put to better use elsewhere.

If you feel good about the opportunity and the value alignment, then by all means, participate. But always assess the activity and the results after the fact to see if it lived up to your expectations and purpose.

2.) Does this activity inspire client engagement and loyalty?

It’s easier to keep a happy customer than to win over a new one. Client loyalty and engagement not only helps you hang onto your biggest fans, they can also lead to genuine, heartfelt referrals. Which leads to more happy customers!

Keep this question in mind when considering any marketing task or activity. Yes, marketing can bring you new leads and customers, but putting the majority of your focus on future clients at the expense of your current clients is a huge missed opportunity.

A single happy customer who consistently sings your praises and recommends you can be much more valuable than a giant pile of cold leads.

3.) Why are we doing this?

It’s easy to get caught up in a set of marketing activities you feel you should do. Some marketing guru says you HAVE to be on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. But do you? It all depends on what you are looking to accomplish.

When it comes to marketing, one size does not fit all. To be effective, you’ll want to center your marketing goals, strategies, and activities around your business model, your ideal customer profile, and your specific objectives. Are you looking to create brand awareness? Generate leads? Build credibility in your industry? Expand your feel-good factor? Depending on who you are as a business and where your customers are, Instagram may or may not make sense.

You can waste a lot of time and resources listening to every marketing recommendation that comes your way. Even more so if you attempt to implement them all.

Before you jump into the next big marketing idea, pause. Back up. Take some time to think about what you want for your marketing, your brand, and your client experience. Then ease back in, choosing your activities carefully and strategically based on those things.

4.) Can we do this?

Coming up with a solid marketing plan is one thing. But implementing it is another. As you are evaluating your choices, you’ll need to consider these key components as well:

Brand identity – Are you clear on this? Choosing a clear marketing strategy without a defined brand is nearly impossible.
Staff and resources – Do you have the budget and capacity to take on the marketing activities you’ve chosen?
Internal processes – Do you have the team and systems you need to follow up with new leads, take on new clients/orders/requests and provide a great customer experience?
Accountability and results – Are you choosing activities and/or metrics that can be tracked and quantified? If not, how will you know if your work is paying off?

Once you’ve defined who you are, what you want to accomplish, and whether or not you have the necessary tools, people, and resources to make it happen, you can put together a marketing strategy that doesn’t just keep you busy, but keeps you on the forefront of your clients’ minds. And keeps your organization moving in the right direction.

Photo by David Carillet

Just Be a Better Healthcare Consumer, Will You?

As healthcare woes continue for businesses and individuals alike, there’s growing sentiment from some benefits brokers that patients just need to become better consumers of healthcare. But there are others who realize it’s not that simple, and who are committed to shouldering some of that responsibility— and making a difference.

Common healthcare consumer advice sounds something like this:

Spend more time shopping around!
Put as much thought and effort into looking for a surgeon as you do into looking for a car! Or a microwave! Or some other fill-in-the-blank item!
Get recommendations on hospitals and doctors!
Do price comparisons on procedures!
Just be healthy to start with!

Often, these things are said with much vigor and enthusiasm. And many exclamation points! As if it’s a simple, basic idea no one has thought of yet. Or as in, “Why aren’t people doing this already?!?!?!”

Well, for lots of reasons. Including the fact that the current healthcare landscape makes it nearly impossible.

It ain’t that simple

When employees think about employee benefits, they see themselves as patients, not as consumers. And that’s a very different dynamic.

Consumers have choices. And time. And alternative options.

Need a new car?

You’re not going to die if it doesn’t happen today. And you probably know a mechanic or two who can give you some pretty solid advice. You could also check out the latest Consumer Reports, which will provide extremely detailed information on which cars perform the best on every factor imaginable. Once you’ve decided what you want, there are all kinds of places you can go to make that purchase, and the MSRP and Kelley Blue Book values make it easy to know if you’re getting hosed or not. More importantly, if you don’t want to rush this purchase, you don’t have to. You can take the bus. Or carpool. Or get a Lyft.

Now, let’s say your appendix goes out.

It happens pretty quickly and you’re in extreme pain. And let’s be honest, it’s probably the middle of the night. Decision making is impaired at best, and comparison shopping is out of the question. There’s one, maybe two hospitals in your area. No sense in getting a recommendation or asking how much an appendectomy costs. You’re stuck with the doctor on call— and whatever random price point the facility decides to set. What’s it based on? You have no clue. You can request an itemized bill after the fact, but you’ll have to jump through hoops to get it. And then what? There’s no option to get your money or your old appendix back. There is only an arduous battle over charges, coverage, networks, and payment plans.

Comparing patients to consumers only goes so far

Patients are often at an extreme disadvantage, even when they don’t need emergency surgery.

The system isn’t set up to be patient friendly. It’s set up to be profit friendly.

And cumbersome
And inefficient
And mysterious

Have you ever tried to shop around for a doctor? There isn’t much to go on. Personal anecdotes from friends, relatives and the Internet— where we all know everyone is super reasonable.

Go ahead! Try to come up with a Consumer Reports style matrix with physician and hospital ratings, success and failure rates, accurate pricing, and comprehensive data based on specific experiential factors. An experienced employee benefits broker may be able to gain access to these kinds of numbers, but the typical healthcare consumer is straight out of luck.

Being better consumers of healthcare is difficult

Here are a few key reasons why:

1.) Lack of data

Navigating the healthcare system is nebulous at best, nightmarish at worst. Medical charges are based on a variety of factors that patients have little control over or even knowledge of: Contracts between doctors and hospitals, hospitals and drug stores, drug stores and pharmaceutical companies, employers and insurance providers, insurance providers and care providers, and the list goes on.

Plus, there’s that little thing called the Chargemaster, a comprehensive collection of prices for everything from alcohol swabs and IV bags to spinal surgeries and heart transplants. But here’s the fun part: Chargemaster pricing isn’t standardized and costs vary wildly from hospital to hospital. Historically, this information wasn’t even available to patients!

Recent regulations now require hospitals to post and update their price lists online. This may seem like a good fix, but it’s not as helpful as it sounds. This information can be extremely difficult to decipher, and exactly how these charges are calculated for each hospital remains a mystery.

Long story short: Your average Joe or Jane patient does not have access to the information necessary to make rational healthcare choices and decisions.

2.) Lack of power

The doctor/patient relationship is not an egalitarian one. The patient is sick, scared, and in perhaps in pain. They have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it. The doctor has all the knowledge, experience, authority, and power.

And yet somehow the frightened, confused, sick person is expected to take charge of the situation and become an informed consumer. How good are you at research, communication, and standing up for yourself when you have the flu? Probably not nearly as effective as when you’re well.

Expecting patients to take charge when they are feeling most vulnerable isn’t realistic. Their reasoning and decision making have been compromised. They just want to be taken care of. They want to put trust in their doctors and caregivers, not question everything they do.

3.) Lack of resources

If you’re lucky, you may be able to delay your elective surgery long enough to shop around. If you’re really lucky, you may have found a way to access reliable information on the best place to have it done. If you’re exponentially lucky, you have all of the time and resources you need to be able to go to that place.

The problem is that a lot of healthcare consumers don’t. Geographically, their options are limited. Physically, they can’t travel. Financially, they can’t afford to go to the next town or city or state. It’s quite possible they can’t even afford the visit they just had.

In a perfect world, everyone would be able to shop and spend where it makes the most sense. But in the real world, there are a whole lot of people who simply don’t have that option.

4.) Lack of control

“Just be healthier!” can be valid advice, but it’s not the ultimate answer.

The cold, hard truth is that even healthy people can become sick. Or get in a car accident. Or have a child with cancer.

Sometimes, stuff just happens. Despite the best of intentions. Blaming sick people for the cost of healthcare may seem reasonable— until that sick person is someone we know and love.

How employers (and brokers!) can help

A patient is just one person. But a business is a group of people with more resources and leverage, and access to an employee benefits advisor who knows the system inside and out.

Good brokers understand they can’t fix the problems at the core of the healthcare system.

Great brokers know they have the power to inch their way toward making positive change within it, and for the organizations and employees they are helping.

As an employer, you actually do comparison shop for healthcare. Every single year. And, you’re buying in bulk! This gives you a level of power that individual healthcare consumers don’t have. Use this leverage, and the knowledge of your benefits broker, to make choices that make sense not just for your business, but for those who need coverage and care.

Working with the right broker makes all the difference here. You can choose a broker that focuses on plans and premiums, or you can work with an advisor who is committed to helping you create the right healthcare strategy for your business and the build best benefits plan for your employees.

A quality advisor will also go the extra mile, helping to educate your workforce about the plan details, how to use it, and where to go for care— before they need it. The more your employees know upfront, the smarter choices they can make.

People really do want to be better health care consumers. They just need the tools to do it. Let’s all work together to make it happen.

Photo by Dmitriy Shironosov