Make your Shared Services team happy this Christmas

Make your Shared Services team happy this Christmas

By: Simon Brown, Leading Shared Services Management Consultant, The end of the year many of us are looking forward to the festive season and a holiday break to end 2010 on a high note...Simon Brown shares his thoughts and experience on how to best exchange positive feelings in our shared services teams, reflecting back on what has been done in 2010, and start or continue to plan positively about what 2011 has to offer.Earlier in my career when I was taking up my first Shared Services Director role, I sought advice from a fast- tracking Strategic HR Director on how to motivate and engage my new shared services team.... She was aged about 28, but clearly on a high trajectory to the top and I was expecting something profound from her, based on the latest psychological model or state of the art "total rewards" incentive scheme.But her advice was simple: "Make them happy, Simon, Take them out for meals and buy them drinks!"I followed her advice, in the same way I followed her meteoric rise to SVP and Head of HR for the company I worked for at the time. I ran several "Away Days" for the team, meals out at fun restaurants, shopping in Brighton, visits to stately homes and famous old buildings, theatre trips, and drinks in the happy hour cocktail loungesAnd it got people talking, helped the team to be more open with each other, seeing ourselves in an informal setting beyond our serious work persona.Apart from the happy hour events and the days out, I have discovered a few other points which can help enhance the office environment:Be transparent and honest, Encourage an environment of trust Accentuate the positive Be open about mistakes made and learn from themSo given that it is nearly Christmas and for many a time to exchange gifts, I am sharing a few of my humble learnings as gifts to youwhich I hope will inspireyour team:1.Motivation is key, in the same way an energised and effective shared services team iskey as the essential engine room producing transactional excellence in your HR, Finance or IT function.2.The most important ingredients for creating and sustaining motivation in your shared services team members include:Challenge and stretch in the role, Respect for work done, Successful outcomes, Delivering on deadlines set and seeing results, A variety of work tasks and assignments, Feeling empowered to make decisions, Opportunity for personal and career development, Reward - not just monetary Thebiggest de-motivators for Shared Services teams include:Internal politics within the function Lack of recognition Work overload Lack of clear responsibilities Belittling of contribution Lazy team-players Negative criticism Poor managerial guidance So for leaders of shared services teams, you can make all the difference by actively playing the role of, leader, coach and motivator.Maintain face to face contact with your people regular 1 to 1s and team meetings as a routine engender an environment where to give and receive feedback is the norm.(Kurt Vonnegut said: "Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions!" )These regular sessions, reaching beyond discussions about today's urgent work task challenges, help you to get to know your people as whole people beyond the work persona. You can involve them in the decision making process, demonstrate your interest in them, and make them feel needed and critically important to the business.Next week: Simon discusses how 'recognition for a job well done' is rated as the top motivator of employee performance.This article was originally published on www.ssonetwork.com http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/make-your-shared-services-team-happy-this-christmas-3837996.html

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