BE A BUSINESS OLYMPIAN

There can be no doubt that the Olympic Games are the epitome of human striving, of using every resource available to us to become the very best we can be. At the time of writing, the 21st Winter Olympics was in full swing in Vancouver, Canada, and already there had been a number of new Olympic records set. What makes a winner? But what does it take to become an Olympic winner? While the athlete is the one out on the field or teetering at the top of the ski slope on the big day, there is an enormous team behind each person that has led them to that point and, hopefully, on to the pinnacle of human achievement. Doctors, dieticians, physiotherapists, sports psychologists, coaches, support networks, practice partners, high-tech devices that chart progress, analyse statistical data and videos of performance – all play their part in the ultimate triumph of competing, and possibly even winning, at the Olympics. Training, planning, motivation and intelligence all go towards the ultimate reward. Business is booming This is not so far away from what it takes to be a winner in business, although in business there are degrees of winning. Company A might make the most at $10 million profit in a year, and company B might make $8 million – while company A technically won, company B has still made $8 million. How both these companies achieved their profits, however, is a different story, and one significant factor in their success is likely to be the effective use of their human capital. Just as with the athletes, behind every successful executive board there is a hardworking and motivated team. And IT plays an integral part in this. Staff cannot be productive without systems and processes that work efficiently and effectively, or the ability to gather, analyse and apply business intelligence (otherwise known as data) to best effect. And they will not improve in their jobs without ongoing training in these systems whenever any upgrade is made. Staff will not stay if they do not feel valued or empowered to do their job well. Keeping employees happy While systems, processes and business intelligence play a large part in success, they are only useful if you have the right staff or ‘human capital’ on board. Good staff can be hard to find – they need to be skilful in their given area, motivated and, ideally, loyal. According to the Seek Employment Index, IT is a popular place to be, with IT & T help desk and support roles listed as the most competitive occupations in the month of January – meaning that these roles are receiving hundreds of applications for each position advertised. Seek’s New Zealand General Manager, Annemarie Duff, adds: "Interestingly, the most sought-after employees in January were also in the IT & T sector. Consultants and functional consultants are the most sought-after employees, meaning these roles are hard to fill." Seek also runs a Satisfaction and Motivation survey, and IT Briefasked Duff what makes a good employer. She said the survey participants highlighted the following (in descending order of importance) when asked to consider the most important factors when looking for a job: salary, quality of management, variety and content of work, and career development opportunities. Duff adds: "When looking more specifically at managers, participants considered communication skills, openness and honesty, and the ability to encourage and listen to suggestions, as the most important qualities for your manager to have." In her experience, staff who are empowered, and have opportunities to grow and reach their full potential, are the most contented and ‘optimised’ workers. "Knowing that they are valued and their contribution is appreciated is also key," she says. Mirroring the positives that employees search for, the Satisfaction and Motivation survey found that the main reason respondents left their last role was to find a new challenge, followed by redundancy, bad management and not feeling appreciated.   Employee churn As we exit the recession, the Seek New Job Index is forecasting an increase in people changing jobs. Seasonally adjusted figures show that in January alone, the number of new job advertisements increased by 10.9% across the country, maintaining the growth trend observed since mid 2009. At the time of going to print there were more than 11,300 jobs advertised on the seek.co.nz site – of these 1419 were in the IT & T industry; that’s 13% of all jobs. Similarly, the Seek Employment Index rose by 6.7% in January, which is 17.6% higher than in July 2009. (This measures the number of new job ads placed on seek.co.nz, versus the number of applications for those jobs; an increase shows that new job ads are growing faster than the number of applications.) According to Duff, the Satisfaction and Motivation survey showed that 60% of respondents were looking to leave their current role within the next year, suggesting a significant level of churn ahead. IT Brief asked Duff if such figures were on a par with other economically developed countries. "This could be driven by the fact that many people have stayed in jobs they would otherwise have left during the last year or so because of the economic climate and uncertain conditions. As more new jobs are advertised, we may see this ‘churn’ come into action," she replies. Employers and managers would do well to keep this in mind over the coming year, since a high level of employee churn can be very costly to a company. While a certain amount of fresh blood can bring new ideas to a company and prevent it from stagnating, the cost of losing too many employees, or the wrong employees, to roles elsewhere can far outweigh the price of a pay rise. Grant Burley discusses the financial impact of employee churn in his column on p23.   Training needs As we have already seen, laziness and lack of learning do not an Olympic champion make. Added to this, the top reason for leaving a role, according to the Seek Satisfaction and Motivation survey, was the need for a new challenge. If an employee is not being trained or up-skilled and does not feel challenged by their job, they will move on. When IT Brief talked to the JRA Best Work Place 2009 award winners last year, they underlined the important role training plays in motivation and job satisfaction. Staff need to be confident enough to use the IT systems they have in place to the fullest extent. This time, two of our columnists tackle the different areas of the training continuum: regular writer Paul Matthews demonstrates how employers can save money by improving their staff’s digital literacy (p7), while ACE Training’s Tony Skelton discusses the need for ongoing IT training at all levels.   Intelligent business We have already touched on the subject of business intelligence, which was highlighted by one of the JRA Best Work Place 2009 award winners, Outward Bound Trust of New Zealand. Its Manager Systems & Finance, Diane Leyten, highlighted the centre’s CRM system as being the most productivity-enhancing IT system they had. It means that staff can access relevant information when they need it, in the format that they need it; they spend less time pushing paper and more time on the tasks that actually matter. Effective use of intelligence gathered by businesses leads to improved use of human capital too. Unified communications systems extend this intelligence further still, by enabling staff to know who is available and by what contact medium, making communication more efficient and effective. Business intelligence and communication extends outside the four walls of the office these days. Mobile workers, or so-called road warriors, need it to be able to access the same level of information, no matter where they are. ‘True mobility’ (as described by Vantex’s Steve Marson on p22) allows them to save time and energy, and focus more on the job, thus avoiding double-ups and mistakes, and increasing the dollars in the bank through higher sales, better customer service, or more effective collaboration meetings. Our columnists on pages 18-22 explore the importance of these technologies and give some advice concerning them. Human capital is a winner As you have seen, the breadth of what constitutes human capital is vast. From training, to computer systems that harness business intelligence, to good management and a challenging workplace, there are many aspects to this subject. Our final set of columns covers a number of disparate subjects, all of which have a part to play in the human capital story. Just as the successful Olympic athlete has a varied and large team of experts behind them, so too does the subject of human capital. Take away any one of those facets and success could be denied. As we go to print, a total of 32 gold medals have been awarded at the Winter Olympics – and it is only day seven.