Staff change brings new opportunities
Following is a guest post from Debra S. Ben Avram, CAE, CEO of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a member of ASAE's 2010-2011 Executive Management Section Council.
It seems there's always something happening with staff. Once one issue is solved, three more pop up. The same seems to go for staff changes. It's not uncommon for staff change to happen; in fact, it's something you can put money on and expect to win. How we deal with that change—whether we create the change or it happens to us—is the real challenge.
In this month's Executive IdeaLink, the article "Managing Staff Change: Panic or Possibility" looks at some ways to embrace staff change as an opportunity to examine your organization and how its structure aligns with your strategy. Rather than finding someone right away to fill an empty slot, consider taking time to analyze how the organization's needs have changed and modify the position or your staff structure to better address those needs.
How have you done this in the past? Have you met any resistance to hitting the pause button before moving forward to hire someone new? What new areas of your strategy were you able to focus on by redesigning a position or your structure?
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Comments
Wise leaders and managers hire slowly. First to make sure they truly understand the organization's needs and second to absolutely assure the candidate is the best possible fit for the work and the culture. In most every instance, a pause well communicated to those who might offer resistance will be viewed as a leader conducting due diligence. It is interesting how often one finds the previous full-time work actually only required part-time effort or no longer needs to be done at all.
In those unique situations where the work simply cannot wait, there are interim specialists at all skill levels who can step in temporarily to assure immediate continuity and forward motion while the evaluation is underway. Thinking strategically, thoroughly exploring options for accomplishing the tasks and searching for the optimum talents to fulfill those re-defined goals are key to building a sustainable creative and competitive edge vital to success in the marketplace.
Posted by: Kerry C Stackpole, CAE | December 23, 2010 9:09 AM