There has always been debate in Human Resource circles about whether it is best to hire an internal candidate for promotion, or to bring in an external candidate. Pro’s and con’s abound for each of these circumstances. But as Kim Thomson notes in her article ‘So you’ve passed someone over for a promotion – now what?’, the fallout of internal hiring can present more than a little awkwardness.
While the article notes that some businesses shy away from hiring internally, there are ways of avoiding isolating the individuals passed over for promotion opportunities. Some are intuitive, while some require a conscious effort on the organisation’s behalf. In essence, the article puts forward points such as the need for fair and consistent protocols and clear selection criteria, which are seen as crucial, as is the need to be clear about what technical capabilities, as well as professional or interpersonal capabilities are required in the role. A consideration may need to be given regarding the formality of approach taken – some businesses now suggest mirroring the external recruitment process, in that internal candidates still apply, interview and experience the same feedback processes as would an external candidate.
Additionally, being upfront and honest is seen as crucial, while still demonstrating care and compassion for the individual, but importantly, do not fall into the trap of sugarcoating the feedback or providing vague feedback in the circumstance of unsuccessful candidates. This may mean having the courage to explore with the candidate areas in need of improvement to be a successful applicant. This places importance on the mode of communication. It is recommended to go into such conversations with a plan of what needs to be said and the outcomes you hope to achieve – this will improve the quality of the feedback and minimise the likelihood of being caught up in the emotions of the conversation.
The article emphasises that when providing feedback, timeliness of feedback is crucial. Absolutely ensure the successful or unsuccessful candidate hears the news first from HR or a senior manager – not the rumour mill. A key aim is to set people up for success, if you knock back a candidate, consider making a time to meet with them to help develop a plan to assist them realising their ambitions, and where possible put plans in place to help them develop their capabilities.
Lastly, avoid putting candidates forward who are not yet ready for the role, instead, be open and honest with them about their not being ready, but again, be looking to have conversations around how the organisation can assist the candidate developing towards such roles, perhaps considering elements such as mentoring or coaching.
So while it can be difficult to let someone down in an internal hiring process, there are ways for the parties involved to ultimately benefit. After all, in-house hiring can be an effective and efficient option for organisations, and can assist in staff retention by incentivising staying with the employer.
So it’s time to pop the question, but before rushing into such a commitment have you thought about how and when you will ask? About the way you will phrase the question? About whether you are committed to following through on the answer? No, I am not referring to a marriage proposal, I am referring instead to the staff survey. Often treated as a "tick-a-box" part of organizational life, staff surveys can be a powerful tool if used with real intention.
Employee surveys come in various forms:
Climate Surveys – measures employee satisfaction, opinions, attitudes and perceptions. Simply put, how does it feel in our organization?
Culture Surveys – measures whether employee views currently align with those of the organization. In other words, are the way things actually done around here the same as what the organization says it does?
Engagement Surveys – measures staff commitment, motivation and purpose regarding their role and the organization.
Pulse Surveys – a miniature (5-15 questions) version of any of the above. Provides a brief check-in and are typically used in between more comprehensive staff surveys.
If you are looking to survey your staff, I would recommend reading this article for more detailed information on how to be intentional with your surveys. A few of the key points are below:
If you want to get into the nitty gritty of how to choose an actual tool for administering the survey, this article provides some key considerations for those analytically excited among us. The most important thing is to be intentional, as staff will see through your efforts to simply tick the box. Ensure that you have a plan ahead of time for communicating and following through after the survey. After all, the purpose of measuring engagement is to improve it!
2021 is just a few weeks away, and here is a quick snapshot of what the ABS team is looking at for the new year.
Peter Williams:
2021 will continue to see ABS provide quality teaching and administration of our programs of study and the pastoral care our students have come to expect from us. With Avondale restructuring and the school of Business amalgamating with the school of Arts, there will be a number of new challenges and changes taking place which will no doubt keep us on our toes for some time! It will be interesting to work closely with colleagues we may not have previously worked alongside of given they were part of another faculty. This might bring new opportunities for collaboration in teaching or research. Peter will continue a research project in the area of Educational Administration, which he is excited about. Peter will take also some Long Service Leave in the second half of the year, where he plans to be more involved with his kids on a daily basis (He has volunteered for the walk to school each day!), repaint an entire house inside and out, read and write guilt free for pleasure, and take long walks on the beach with Melina. There will be plenty of tailor, bream and flathead fishing taking place, and he plans to complete a 3500 piece Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron with Elijah and Isiah, and help Amira learn to tightrope walk!
Lisa Barnes:
2021 should see both my children at Uni, and my new position as Head of the new Arts and Business School, so things are looking great for 2021. Hope you all get some family time in over the holidays and are ready to start the new year refreshed. Good bye 2020, hello 2021.
Warrick Long:
Next year is looking to be every bit as busy as 2020 for me. There is a mountain of work to get units ready for the start of semester, with some units moving to an additional online format, some needing a refresh, and one brand new unit to be set up from scratch. There are also a lot of commitments for training and development of some schools, boards and leadership teams. There is also the anxiety and stress of seeing the Worlds Greatest Granddaughter starting big school! She assures me she will be fine. All of this happens in the context of uncertainty whether we face a new wave of pandemic restrictions that might change everything.
Whatever your 2021 is looking like, remember that ABS is here to help you, just give us an email or call and we will do what we can to support your business.
While 2020 presented some now well-known challenges, it still contained a few highlights: While some would say there are no highlights, but for us at ABS we actually achieved a whole lot in 2020 and the ABS team once again punched above its weight:
Thank you to all our supporters and stakeholders – we really appreciate your help in our success.
Like everyone else this year, the ABS team is very much looking forward to having a bit of a break over the yearend to try and reset for the new year. We thought you might like to know what it is that we are all looking forward to:
Peter Williams:
The Williams’ family will spend their Christmas break at Stuarts Point. Amira (8), Elijah (6) and Isiah (4) all love to camp, so we will once again go to the lengths of setting up our tent under the tarp and call it home for a week. The kids will be afforded some freedom to explore on their bikes while Melina puts her feet up with a book (hopefully!). We’ll then return to some more comfortable accommodation and Peter will spend as much time fishing as possible from both the beach and his 11 foot tinny! There will be some day trips further afield to South West Rocks, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen, and the nights will be set aside for reading for pleasure! There will be copious amounts of food, some family stopping by (not too much though!), and some true enjoyment of another Australian summer! Covid will be given as little thought as possible, and unlike previous years, not too much reflection on the year will take place.
Lisa Barnes:
We all know that COVID-19 has brought all of us some challenges, but the positive for our family is that we will all be home for Christmas on actual Christmas day, rather than some day or week either side of that due to work commitments (my brother is a pilot for QANTAS). For us this is a rare occasion, and to celebrate we have nominated by brothers place for the day, yes this means no cleaning beforehand – yet another bonus for me!! We will be definitely having a “staycation” and enjoy our local beaches (you know the ones that the tourists don’t know about 😊). Both my children are now mobile (I have 2 x P platers now) and both will be on holidays, so I expect minimal taxi driving duties for the first time ever – bring it on!!
Warrick Long:
The Long crew are going to be chilling out with all the family. There are books to read, Christmas movies to watch, woodwork projects to build, gardening to do and cricket to watch (Australia needs my coaching from the recliner). We will also spend a fair amount of time in the spa. Kerrie and I are also planning a little trip up to Foster for a few days. Of course, the Worlds Greatest Grandkids will be a major part of our holiday time!
We all hope that you too can manage some downtime this year end.
Over the past few months, the senior leadership team has reexamined a number of areas of Avondale’s operation, including the way in which its courses are delivered – from a structural perspective. Our current approach has been to operate six schools within two Faculties, that then report through to a central structure.
One of the aspects that stood out when analyzing the current approach was the considerable number of academics involved in keeping the whole structure operational. There appeared to be a duplication of layers in the decision making process, with many of the same people represented at two or even three of the different committee levels. In addition, each Faculty had a Faculty Dean, an Assistant Dean (Learning & Teaching) and (until recent times) an Assistant Dean (Research). All essentially doing the same role, with a relatively small number of students. At the School level there appeared to be a similar duplications of resources, with each School requiring a Head of School and a School Committee responsible for its day to day running.
The conclusion from the analysis was that it would be best to take the two smallest schools and to merge them into an existing school, forming a single four-school faculty. When considering the best approach to take with the Avondale Business Schools (currently one of the two smallest schools) external advice was taken as to the best fit. We found that in the majority of cases where Business had become part of another school, it was within an area that also offered a Bachelor of Arts degree. This was the decision we eventually made, creating the School of Arts and Business.
One of the downsides of these restructures can be the resulting loss of identity. The business degrees offered by Avondale for example, have been within the branding of the Avondale Business School, a distinctive unit that has gained traction in stakeholder awareness and engagement. We are pleased that this will be maintained with the new School of Arts and Business, so that the nomenclature of the Avondale Business School continues.
Selecting a Head of School within a merger of this type can also be a challenge, as each area naturally wishes to preserve their focus and identity. In navigating this appointment we were pleased to offer the position to Associate Professor Lisa Barnes, current Head of School for Business. In addition to her experience in the business area, Lisa brings a strong interest and involvement in the Arts. This includes a post-graduate qualification currently being completing within the School of Arts here at Avondale (Counselling).
I do not doubt there will be challenges in bringing together the School of Business and the School of Arts in 2021. What we do have however are staff committed to making it work and who will be working collaboratively to make this new school a strong and successful one.
With the year we have had, it is only fitting that we have a graduation different to any other year. Unfortunately, with travel restrictions in place, international students and students living in other states were unable to attend the graduation ceremony, which left us with a small but very proud cohort of students graduating from the Bachelor of Business and Master of Management and Leadership programs.
The ceremony was small, but well attended by family and friends. The speech by Dr Warrick Long was both humorous and inspiring, and although there was an absence of handshakes, there was plenty of pride and congratulations handed out. Of our undergraduate students, some have already secured jobs to start in 2021, with others applying madly for positions available. The ABS treated our undergraduates (who could make it) to a light lunch and a review of the past few years, and you can see our socially distanced photo captured on the day. We congratulate all our 2020 graduates. If you can graduate in a pandemic, you can do anything!
It seems that suggested reading lists are the thing to do in year-end newsletters, so we at ABS thought we would follow convention and share with you 6 books that either we, or our friends, have recommend as being good reading over the holiday season. In no particular order:
1. Lead. By Karl Martin (Muddy Pearl, 2017). This comes highly recommended by my friend Lucy who has convinced me to read it over the year-end break. Lucy assures me that it is a very personal and challenging take on leadership as demonstrated by Jesus in the later chapters of the Gospel of John. My flicking through the pages has definitely whetted my appetite and I look forward to reclining in the spa with this book.
2. Freakonomics. By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (Penguin, 2005). I am an avid listener of the Freakonomics podcast, and am catching up on the back catalogue. Part of this involves reading the book that was the inspiration of the podcasts, where the authors, in a very relatable way, challenge much of the “established wisdom” and find out what the facts actually say. For example, does how your name sounds really impact your chances of getting employed? This is a great book for developing critical thinking skills without even realizing it.
3. Women and Leadership. By Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjolweala (Random House Australia, 2020). So many people I know have this book on their list for reading this year end, including our very own Head of School, Lisa Barnes. I bought a copy for my daughter, and hope to be able to borrow it when she is finished. Both authors are leaders at the highest level and have such experience to share. This is one of those books that needs to be read .
4. Messengers. By Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks (Random House, 2019). Growing up I had to fight hard to be heard amongst a family of talkers. It fascinated me who gets listened to and who doesn’t. This book tackles this head on and provides some sound tips on how to ensure your messages gets heard, noting that looking and sounding right is often far more persuasive than actually being right!
5. Team of Rivals. By Doris Goodwin (Simon and Schuster, 2006). I have been hanging out to read this book for so long, and this year I’m determined to read it. While it is a massive tome, it is considered a classic of modern leadership and management literature. Goodwin writes a biography of Abraham Lincoln that particularly explores how he was able to lead people, and how he was brave enough to build a cabinet that included his harshest political rivals. His success speaks for itself, and I cannot wait to begin this journey.
6. Servant Leadership in Action. Edited by Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell (Berrett-Koehler, 2018). Blanchard and Broadwell bring together contributions from forty-four servant-leader experts and practitioners to give some down-to-earth advice on what servant leadership actually means in the trenches. Another easy-to-read leadership book to relax during your break.
Happy Reading!
As the title proclaims, I am not a fan of nor good at networking, yet it is a “necessary evil” in the world of business. I was glad to read the article “networking in the New Reality” (read it here) by Noah Askin in a recent INSEAD Knowledge blog as it gave me some confidence and tips to step out of my comfort zone.
After building the case for networking – even during these challenging times – Askin provided three very simple steps for networking, which are listed below:
Simple but not necessarily easy for us high functioning introverts. Thankfully Askin expands on each of these to give really helpful tips and a rationale for each one. Askin finishes his advice by outlining a really novel idea to create an opportunity to grow your network of contacts. Why not reach out and have a go. There is everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
Boost happiness at work and your employees will have a higher level of life satisfaction. Do this, and your organisations’ profitability and health will also increase. These are the research backed claims from a recent McKnisey Quarterly article by Tera Allas and Bill Schaninger (read it here). The article notes that relationships with management are the top factor in employees’ job satisfaction. However, immediate bosses can also be the most stressful aspect of their jobs. So, in short, the article proposes that good bosses result in good performance.
Allas and Schaninger quote research that ’the “servant leader” mentality and disposition enhances both team performance and satisfaction.” Essentially servant leadership is the manager asking, “how do I make my team members’ lives easier – physically, cognitively and emotionally?”
Within the article are four proven practices bosses can adopt in order to put them into the servant leader mode, which are explained really well in the article, but summarised here:
In addition to these things the bosses can do, the article also suggests four ways the organisation can support better bosses. Again, the article expands and explains these, which are presented below in point form:
When organisational practices and bosses work together as servant leaders, employees work satisfaction increases, and so does profitability and health. Everyone’s a winner!
