We’ve previously defined the corporate university (click here to read the blog post “Defining Your Corporate University”) and with this clarity and consensus in mind, we are ready to get started.

Well, not quite yet. We still have more clarifying to do so that we can determine the purpose and establish an initial build-out plan.

This diagram illustrates the different phases of university development and is a great guide to start the initial build-out. Depending on your resources, urgency, and current state, you may be ready to start with any of these phases. Your first step, then, is to determine where you want to be and where you are in the life cycle of university development.

Source: Adapted from Jansink, F. (2005). The knowledge-productive corporate university. Journal of European Industrial Learning, 29(1), 40-57.

Many companies with whom we work on university development want to see results right away. But even though you’re being strategic about the entire university design process, you’re not going to be in the Strategic Phase until you’ve laid some groundwork. That groundwork requires thoughtful planning on how the university will need to function operationally and what tactics need to be put into place to achieve the strategic objectives.

If it hasn’t become apparent to you already, you will realize that one person can’t build a corporate university on their own. We will talk about that further in a future post, but in the interim, I’d love to get your thoughts on this life cycle. Do you agree with these phases? Are there any phases missing?

Linda Dausend is a consultant at FlashPoint. She consults with clients on talent management, helping to align their human resources programs with organizational strategies.

Stay tuned for more from Linda in this blog series about corporate universities. It’s easy to get our blog updates! Just look for Feed Subscription in the right column of our blog and enter your email address. Our blog updates will be delivered to your email inbox.

Image: wandee007

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When I conduct goal-setting clinics for organizations, I often ask, “How many of you make new-year resolutions?” The majority of the group typically answers in the negative.

Why do they answer that way? They may have cast resolutions aside because in the past their goals were too big. Often people begin with a significant goal (lose 50 pounds or quit smoking), run into some barriers, get discouraged (didn’t lose 50 pounds), see that the goal is too much, and give up. Big goals are great, but if you want to achieve your objectives you need to break them down into smaller “chunks of achievement.”

In addition to establishing goals tied to focused organizational objectives, I encourage you to set personal professional goals. A recent article from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) outlines how more organizations need HR professionals who have expertise in compensation and benefits, project management, and technology. Reading this article helped me identify my personal professional goals; my focused plan revolves around how I will improve in all of these competencies, what the metrics for success will look like, who/what will help me, and how I will break it down into chunks of achievement.

Analyze where you are, where you want to be, and what actions you will take, with chunks of achievement built in throughout a specified timeline. Identify barriers that may crop up as you’re progressing to your goal and how you will fight them. Recruit resources to assist you in being accountable to your goals. And celebrate all along the way. 

I would LOVE to hear about your resolutions for 2012. Please share in a comment. We’ll hold each other accountable!

“To resolve” is a great way to start the year!

Linda Dausend is a consultant at FlashPoint. She consults with clients on talent management, helping to align their human resources programs with organizational strategies.

Image: dream designs/freedigitalphotos.net

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I am often asked for guidance from clients, friends, and colleagues about how best to manage their increasingly heavy workloads. While I certainly don’t have “the answer” to this ongoing challenge, I do have one simple strategy and a mindset that has served me well over the last couple of years in managing all of the activities of my life.

First of all, my philosophy around time management is at the heart of this strategy; my belief is that it’s not the “stuff” of life that creates stress and frustration. It’s how you approach it that creates the feeling of challenge. The “stuff” of life is always neutral; it’s your attitude about it that makes it what it is.

This mindset is incredibly empowering, as it gives you a feeling of control over your life experiences. The reverse is that you allow your calendar and activities to have control which causes a feeling of perpetual frustration and spinning your wheels.

So, what can you do to create a feeling of control? Begin your day in a way that sets a positive tone. By starting the day in a rushed, hurried manner, focused on activities (the news, emails, packing lunches, etc.), you perpetuate the challenge of feeling out of control.

Consider this . . . upon waking, you make your way to a comfortable place in your home. In this comfortable place, you give yourself the gift of silence—allowing thoughts to rise and fall without judgment, paying attention to your breathing, basking in the quiet presence of the morning. In these few minutes (yes, just a few minutes) of quiet reflection, you are renewed and much more prepared to react to the events of your day in a positive way.

What if you did this for just a few minutes each morning before you jumped into the activities? I suspect your results would be similar to mine. By consciously starting my day in a reflective way, I have experienced the following results:

• I have little to no stress in my life and much less worry
• I feel prepared to handle whatever life has to offer
• I am confident about my ability to act in a way that represents my values
• I am less reactive and much more thoughtful about the choices I make
• I step into the day with a clear mind and an open heart
• I carry a relaxed, peaceful feeling with me

You are in the driver’s seat. Between sleep and action, give yourself time to transition and leverage the quiet of the morning as a time for renewal. You and those you influence throughout the day deserve it.

Andrea Moore is a Senior Consulting Manager at FlashPoint; Andrea focuses on leadership development, training and performance improvement solutions, and one-on-one coaching.

Image: Paul

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As we all know, Indiana is not known for being environmentally progressive. If there’s a top ten list on which we’re bound to be included, the list of least green states is one of them (followed no doubt, by the list of most obese states and the list of states with the most smokers). So imagine my surprise the other night when I noticed on msnbc.com an article titled, “Subaru of Indiana: America’s Greenest Carmaker.” I had to check it out.

Based on the headline, the article appeared to be primarily about Subaru of Indiana’s impressive stature as the nation’s first zero-landfill auto factory. (The plant recycles 98 percent of its waste and generates power by incinerating what it can’t reuse.) But as soon as I started reading, I discovered that the heart of the piece was really more about the plant’s HR programs and how they’re tied to the organization’s strategic objectives.

As the article points out, Subaru of Indiana invests heavily in its people in order to achieve its environmental goals. It provides employees with intense training to learn tools and techniques for reducing waste. It offers financial incentives to employees who find better ways of working. It leverages its environmentally friendly brand and its excellent pay and perks to stand out as an “employer of choice” and draw top talent. The results have been astounding: even amid the recession, the plant didn’t lay anyone off, and now it’s in a position to expand.

At FlashPoint we emphasize again and again the need for HR professionals to become strategic players in their organizations. The “Subaru of Indiana” article illustrates well this key point. At Subaru of Indiana the leaders had a key objective—to produce no waste (thereby reducing costs, improving efficiency, and increasing profits). Clearly, the HR staff got on board, making sure that they understood the goal, that managers and employees bought into it, and that workers had the resources they needed to achieve it. HR integrated the company’s strategy into all of its programs—including hiring, training and development, performance management, and compensation—and now the plant is reaping the rewards.

It’s an environmental success story—AND an HR success story—the Hoosier State can be proud of.

George Hanlin is a consultant at FlashPoint.

Image: bulldogza/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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So far in our discussion of the ten fundamental principles for business success (see the February 14, 2011 post to review the ten principles), we have delved into the environment in which our businesses operate and the fundamental components of our business’ management systems.  Today we will discuss our organizations’ process systems. 

First, let’s define what we mean by process. A process has three components:

• A desired output
• An input that will be transformed into the desired output
• A system of work that accomplishes the transformation from input to output

Second, a good process will achieve a business result in a way that meets the following three criteria:

• Effective and efficient- A process is a way of organizing work so that the work can be effectively and efficiently performed.

• Effective management- A process is a way of organizing work so that it can be effectively managed. In other words, the work is organized so that management has the ability to plan and track performance and fix problems. The work must be organized so that managers have visibility into the process and some control over its performance.

• Competitive advantage- Processes should provide a competitive advantage. Ultimately, the difference between companies is in the hundreds of activities required to create, produce, sell, and deliver products and services. What separates one company from another is how each chooses to perform these activities (via processes). A company can perform these activities differently, perform them better, or perform them faster than competitors.

This should give us a good idea of the critical importance of strong process design and management in our organizations!   It tells us that:

• Organizations are only as good at delivering goods and services as their processes are
• Individuals ability to work, or improve work, is limited by the processes they work within
• A good performer cannot overcome poor, weak, or confused processes
• Automating processes (including information technology) is a waste of money if it is used to facilitate a poor process²

 Third, every organization is a giant processing system made up of many, many different processes.  Examples of processes include operations management processes, customer management processes, innovation processes, regulatory and social processes, support processes, and hundreds of sub-processes³.

And here is our big challenge- all of these processes must work together in order to ensure optimal performance (and competitiveness). Therefore, it is vital that we understand how each process in our organization operates. AND… we must understand how each process affects every other process in our business.  This means we must look at the performance of our processes as a whole; we must take a systems view of the giant processing system that makes up our business. ¹

Unfortunately, many managers and performance improvement practitioners do not have a detailed knowledge of their companies’ processes. This makes it very difficult to manage or improve performance or to meaningfully impact organizational results^1. When we do not take a holistic view and develop a deep understanding of our processes, our performance improvement efforts can actually cause more harm than good. Pulling any lever in the process system will have an effect on other parts of the organization. It is not uncommon to see a process fix in one area cause a problem in another because we failed to look at the whole system!

Successful performance of the organization requires us to constantly balance, adjust, and work to integrate all aspects of the organizations processes ⁴. Answering, without hesitation and in great detail, the questions below will help get us started on the path to effective process management and improvement.  Next time we will discuss how to gain a strong understanding of our organization’s technology systems.  

Bill Mugavin is a consultant at FlashPoint. Bill focuses his consulting in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, and leadership and management development.  

Process Questions¹²³⁴⁵

1. What are the key processes in your organization?
2. How does each key process support the organization’s structure?
3. How does each key process support the organization’s strategy?
4. How are key processes interrelated and aligned with each other to ensure optimal performance (efficient and effective)?
5. How do  key processes provide the organization with a competitive advantage?
6. What triggering events initiate each process (what causes the process to kick in)?
7. What are the results expected by the customer and other stakeholders for your key processes?
8. What are the main sub-processes (usually 5 +/-2) for each of the key processes?
9. What major variations or factors could cause a change to occur in the process (desired or undesired)?
10. What major internal and external departments or functions participate in the process (in other words, how must people work across functions to ensure the desired output is achieved?)
11. Who are the individual performers responsible for working each process and what are the main steps they carry out in each process?
12. How is each process supported by technology, equipment, forms, documents, or any other means?
13. How do you measure process performance and what are the key performance indicators for each process?
14. What quality management practices and measures are in place?
15. How are the processes currently performing?
16. How effectively are  key processes managed and who is responsible for managing each process?
17. What tools are used to measure process performance (Gantt charts, spreadsheets, reporting systems, Six Sigma tools, etc.)?
18. What process improvement methods and models are in place?

References

1. White Space Revisited (Rummler, Ramais, and Rummler, 2010, p.10)
2. Organizational Intelligence (Silber and Kearny, 2010, p.192)
3. Strategy Maps (Kaplan and Norton, 2004, pp.65-163)
4. Management- Revised Edition(Drucker, 2008, p. xviii)
5. Workflow Modeling(Sharp and McDermott, 2009, pp.137-138)

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A recent blog post associated with Indianapolis Business Journal caught my attention and inspired me to comment. The author poses some thought-provoking questions about women entrepreneurs. FlashPoint has at least two of them so I shared my thoughts on the blog and want to share here with you too.

Here is a link to the post on Small Biz Matters hosted by Focus Editor Norm Heikens:

http://www.ibj.com/small-biz-matters/2011/04/06/where-are-the-wildly-successful-women-entrepreneurs/PARAMS/post/26380

Here is my response:

FlashPoint Principals Krista Skidmore and Andrea Cranfill at GROWCO 2011, Inc.'s "Grow Your Company" Conference

While I don’t have a ready answer to some of the questions posed, I do have an answer for this question: “Where are the wildly successful women entrepreneurs?” I know two of them. Krista Skidmore and Andrea Cranfill are cofounders and principals of FlashPoint, one of Indiana’s largest human resource consulting firms. (Disclosure: I am the marketing manager for the business and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t enter this conversation!) Where are they? They’re out growing our business.

Jennifer Holme’s point [Jennifer authored a comment on the post too] about women not promoting themselves or actively seeking recognition might be somewhat true for FlashPoint. Beyond project deliverables, we spend a lot of time creating extra value for our clients. Client relations have always been our top priority. For us, it’s less about differentiating ourselves from male entrepreneurs or focusing on the fact that our business was started by women. It’s more about being relevant to our clients and helping them achieve their business goals. Through that process, we’re achieving ours.

In the last four months, FlashPoint has added three full-time consultants to handle our growing workload and a business development associate to further grow our client base, bringing our staff total to 16. We are soft launching a new suite of services called Clearly HR. These are streamlined services with a lower, fixed cost for small businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities. Clearly HR complements our fully customized work and was developed to fill a need that we continuously found unmet in the market.

Not only are Skidmore and Cranfill business leaders but they are community leaders serving on boards such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Arts Council of Indianapolis, Humane Society of Indianapolis, and Indiana Humanities.

Their talent is well-rounded, deep-seeded, and fully accessible. So, here’s FlashPoint! We’re crushing our sales goals, exceeding our client expectations, and having fun all the while. Now don’t get me wrong, we like awards and attention, and we’re working to earn some of that too.

Joellyn Detjen is marketing manager at FlashPoint and helps tell the company’s story.

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 We are discussing ten fundamental principles for business success (see February 14, 2011 post to review the ten principles). If we put these principles into practice in a consistent, disciplined manner, we will realize steady and significant progress toward our business goals. Principle number one is to understand your business. In the March 2^nd post we discussed the importance of understanding the environment in which our business operates. Today we will focus on understanding the fundamental components of our business’ management system.

Let’s start out with three simple concepts about management to ensure we are on the same page:

Management is:

• The process of working with and through individuals and groups and other resources (such as equipment, capital, and technology) to accomplish organizational goals¹.

The fundamental insight underlying all management science is:

• That a business enterprise is a system of the highest order…and one thing characterizes all genuine systems: all the parts are interdependent.
• What matters in any system is the performance of the whole.
• Successful performance of the whole system requires managers to constantly balance, adjust, and work to integrate all aspects of the organization².

 The critical actions of management are:

• Alignment of the organization’s goals, strategies, and priorities with the reality of the external environment (see March 2^nd post).
• Setting expectations for all aspects of the business.
• Ensuring effective and efficient operation of internal processes and systems.
• Closing any gaps between performance expectations and actual performance.
• Supporting performers as they execute the assigned work³.

 Therefore, if we are to:

• Align our organization’s goals, strategies, and priorities.
• Balance, adjust, and integrate our business systems.
• Ensure the effective and efficient operation of our internal processes.
• Accomplish organizational goals…

We need to be able to answer, without hesitation and in great detail, the 16 questions below.  Remember, a very important concept that will guide our exploration of all ten principles is “questions are the answer”.  Answering these 16 questions will help deepen our knowledge and understanding of our organization’s management system.  

 After you read through the questions below, use a 5 point scale to rate your understanding of your business environment (1 signifies no knowledge, 5 signifies very knowledgeable). Then, start working on finding the answers you need! Next time we will discuss how to gain a strong understanding of our organization’s process systems.  

Bill Mugavin is a consultant at FlashPoint. Bill focuses his consulting in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, and leadership and management development.  

Flashpoint is committed to helping building strong organizations and helping client’s connect their business strategies to their people strategies. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bill (317 735—3875) or Jeremy King (317-221-2617). We would love to learn more about you and your business.

References

1. Blanchard and Hersey, 2001, p.9, Management of Organizational Behavior- 8^th edition.
2. Drucker, 2008, p. xviii, Management- Revised Edition.
3. Rummler, Ramais, Wilkins, 2011, p.54, Rediscovering Value.

Questions to help you understand your business’ management system

1. What is your organization’s mission?
2. What is your organization’s vision?
3. What are your organization’s values?
4. What is your organization’s strategy and value proposition (low cost leader, product leader, complete customer solutions, etc.)?
5. What are your organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)?
6. What is your organization’s customer value proposition?
7. What is the profile(s) of your customer(s)?
8. What are the attributes of your products and services?
9. What is your corporate brand image?
10. What is your organization’s culture?
11. What is the availability of qualified leaders at all levels to mobilize your organization toward its strategy?
12. Are individual, team and departmental goals and incentives linked to attainment of strategic objectives?
13. Is knowledge with strategic potential shared throughout your organization?
14.  What are your organization’s performance goals (strategic objectives, measures, and targets)?
15. What initiatives and operating plans are in place for achieving your organization’s key performance goals?
16. What is your organization’s structure?

• Do people who do similar or closely related work typically report to the same manager or management group? 
• Do managers have a reasonable span of control?
• Is decision making authority placed at the lowest possible level?
• What are the locations and regions your organization operates in?
• What are the hours of operation for each location?
• What cross functional relationships and interdependencies exist across departments or business units?
• Are business and support unit goals and operations are aligned with your corporate vision/strategy?

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This is post number two in the series, For Success, Focus on the Fundamentals. Over the coming months, we will discuss ten fundamental principles for business success (see February 14^, 2011 post to review the ten principles). If we put these principles into practice in a consistent, disciplined manner, we will realize steady and significant progress toward our business goals. Principle number one understand our business. Today we will focus specifically on understanding the environment in which our business operates.

Before we dive into understanding our business environment, we need to cover a very important concept that will guide our exploration of all ten principles- “questions are the answer”. In every post, I will provide you with a list of questions to help you deepen your knowledge in the area we are discussing. It will be your job to find the answers. Finding the answers will take time, effort, and will-power. But remember, business leaders who search out the answers will generally be very successful. Those who do not will be marginally successful or fail.

Silber and Kearny write in their book, Organizational Intelligence (2010, p.44), “History is full of organizations that failed to understand their operating environment or simply failed to adapt to change in their environment. On the other hand, there have been many spectacular successes where organizations have spotted trends in their operating environment and capitalized on these.”

In today’s business world, the operating environment is global! Consider how to answer the questions below for each of the geographic regions your organization operates within. For example, question 1a asks how the threat of military invasion may impact your business operation. Certainly this is not a problem for your Chicago office; it is a very real consideration if you also have an office in Libya.  Question 3h asks about the core values of the predominant culture of a country. This question also applies to different regions within the United States. For instance, how employees are recruited, trained, and motivated may be different in India versus the United Kingdom, or in Manhattan, New York versus Port Saint Joe, Florida.

Remember- you must answer the questions in terms of how they impact your business!! This is not a current events quiz. While it is good to have a general knowledge of business and world affairs, you only get a bang for the buck when you apply your knowledge to helping your organization thrive within the environment(s) it operates within.

After you read through the questions below, use a 5 point scale to rate your understanding of your business environment (1 signifies no knowledge, 5 signifies very knowledgeable). Then, start working on finding the answers you need! Next time we will discuss how to gain a strong understanding of our organization’s management practices.

Bill Mugavin is a consultant at FlashPoint. Bill focuses his consulting in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, and leadership and management development.  

Flashpoint is committed to helping building strong organizations and helping client’s connect their business strategies to their people strategies. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bill (317 735—3875) or Jeremy King (317-221-2617). We would love to learn more about you and your business.

Questions to help you understand the environment in which our business operates

1      What political conditions are affecting your organization?

• Risk of military invasion
• Government policies in the home country
• Intergovernmental relations and alliances
• Intra-country relations among different ethnic and religious and tribal groups
• Stability of governments and geographic regions
• Legislation that governs business and trade (GATT, WTO, Big 8 Summit, NAFTA, etc.)
• How the government enforces existing laws
• What nongovernmental groups lobby for laws that impact business
• The attitude of the government toward consumer lawsuits

 2.    What economic conditions are affecting your organization?

• Global and national economic conditions (inflation, recession)
• Type of economic system in the countries of operation
• Government intervention in the free market
• Comparative advantages of the host country
• Exchange rates, interest rates, inflation rates and the stability of the host country currency
• Efficiency of the financial markets
• Infrastructure quality
• Skill level of workforce, Labor costs, Unemployment rates,  Labor-management relations, Job market trends and Turnover trends, Recruitment trends and techniques
• Business cycle stage (prosperity, recession, recovery)
• Economic growth rate
• Capital availability
• Levels and distribution of wealth globally and nationally
• Rates of savings and debt among consumers
• Consumer spending patterns and discretionary income (individual, corporate, national, and global)

 3.     What social conditions are affecting your organization?

• Projected growth, now and projected, worldwide
• Age distribution (bookers, gen-x, gen-y, etc)
• Family structure (single parents, married, extended, grandparents living in house)
• Gender distribution
• Geographic distribution
• Education levels
• Ethnic and racial make-up
• Core values of the predominant culture of a country
• Core values of the subcultures in a country. How do they clash, and where is there common ground?

4.    What technology conditions are affecting your organization?

• The value of science in the culture
• Fields of science in which “hot breakthroughs” are being made
• The percentage of government and private money available for research and development
• Changes in products and services that incorporate technology
• The lifespan of any technology
• The regulation of technology
• The protection of technological innovation
• Technologies impact on product offering
• Impact on cost structure
• Impact on value chain structure
• Rate of technological diffusion

 5.    What environmental conditions are affecting your organization?

• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Solid waste produced
• Liquid waste discharged
• Energy consumption
• Recyclability
• Clean water consumption
• Overall environmental footprint

 6.    What legal conditions are affecting your organization??

• Antitrust laws
• Pricing regulations
• Taxation- tax rates and incentives
• Wage legislation- minimum wage and overtime
• Workweek
• Mandatory benefits
• Industrial safety regulations
• Product labeling requirements

 7.    What industry conditions are affecting your organization?

• Competition
• Supplier bargaining power
• Buyer bargaining power
• Threats of new competition
• Threat of substitutes

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This week alone, I have read a number of articles urging me to adopt the latest trends or methods in such areas as leadership ethics, production/performance systems, social media, cloud technology, and employee engagement. I believe staying current with business trends is important (as you will see later). However, in my twenty-four years of management and consulting experience, it is not the latest business trend or management method that helps business leaders achieve their goals.  Eighty-percent of success comes from a strong, consistent practice of business fundamentals.

 Billionaire Warren Buffet believes, if we want our businesses to succeed, we need to, “Focus on the fundamentals. Practice them with the ruthless discipline of a master.” Basketball great Michael Jordon agrees. “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” Focusing on the fundamentals is hard work. It takes a great deal of time, effort, concentration and will-power. But, business leaders who diligently execute the basics are very successful. Those who do not are marginally successful or fail.

 Over the next eleven months we will discuss ten fundamental business principles. If you put these principles into practice in a consistent, disciplined manner, you will realize steady and significant progress toward you business goals. The ten principles are:

1. Understand your business
2. Operate from a systems perspective
3. Recognize the priorities of key internal and external stakeholders
4. Employ a systematic and consistent performance improvement model
5. Proactively evaluate business opportunities
6. Target opportunities with the greatest potential for impacting organizational goal achievement
7. Implement pragmatic, results oriented programs and initiatives
8. Execute with excellence
9. Keep up with business  trends (in and outside of your industry)
10. Demonstrate courageous leadership

 We will explore each principle in detail. We will start with five essential factors we must understand about our business:

1. The environment our business operates within
2. The philosophy and strength of our management team
3. The primary and supporting processes of our business
4. The people who make up our business
5. The technology that enables both process and people

My post on February 27^th will discuss understanding our business environment. Until then, think about the ten principles. Are you practicing any of them? At what level and with what amount of skill are you practicing them?

Flashpoint consultants have deep experience and expertise in organizational, leadership, and management development. If you have any questions between now and February 27^th, please feel free to contact me (317 735—3875) or Jeremy King (317-221-2617). We would love to learn more about you and your business.

Bill Mugavin is a consultant at FlashPoint. Bill focuses his consulting in the areas of organizational development, workflow and process improvement, training design and delivery, management and leadership development, and coaching.

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Here it is again—that wonderful time of the year! No, I’m not talking about the holidays (though they are indeed pretty terrific), but instead the time when many of us conduct annual performance reviews for our employees and provide merit increases for the next year.

If you’re a manager and are budgeting for merit increases, FlashPoint has helpful data for you. Julie Bingham, our senior consultant, regularly keeps up-to-date with the latest compensation-related research and trends. Julie’s a member of WorldatWork, the national compensation and benefits professional association, and she recently received results from WorldatWork’s 2010-11 salary budget survey:

• The national average merit increase in 2010 was 2.5 percent, and the national average projected 2011 increase is 2.9 percent.
• For the central U.S., the average increase in 2010 was 2.5 percent, and the projected 2011 increase is 3.0 percent.
• For Indiana, the average increase in 2010 was 2.5 percent and the projected 2011 increase is 2.9 percent.

According to Julie, this data includes those organizations that offered or plan to offer no increase (that is, it includes zeros), and if you exclude the zeros, the data comes in slightly higher.

Julie also notes that other sources, including the 2010-2011 Mercer U.S. Compensation Planning Report, indicate similar trends.

Earlier this year, Julie wrote an article on regaining control of your compensation programs, with six steps you can take to assess and adjust them. As you consider your merit increases and other compensation-related issues in the new year, it’s a great resource. You can find it here.

Meanwhile, best wishes as you wrap up your year-end HR projects (including those performance reviews—mine is December 15) and as you prepare for 2011. And amid all the hoopla, don’t forget to take time to enjoy the other activities the season has to offer! Happy holidays!

George Hanlin is a consultant at FlashPoint.

Image: nuttakit

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