Taking Care of Your People Takes Care of Your Business
~Kathy Albarado

In an economy where every dollar is cautiously and carefully spent, the most important investments become apparent. Most companies readily admit that the secret to their success is their employees. So even in a down economy, investments in employee programs are on the rise.

Organizations with strong employee development initiatives achieve a critical competitive advantage. In fact, according to a Towers Perrin survey, companies with the largest percentage of engaged employees experienced a nearly 20% increase in operating income. By engaging employees through professional development and training programs, employees believe the company values their efforts and feel a part of the organization's overall success.

Offering Multiple Channels of Learning
A clear trend emerging among these innovative companies is to offer a diverse array of learning channels. The benefits of offering different learning approaches can include increased retention, a positive effect on company culture and productivity, improved ability to effectively recruit, enhanced quality of work, and increased organizational expertise. Reduced opportunity cost also occurs when employees are assimilated into an organization more rapidly. Two forward-thinking organizations, Dewberry and Métier, offer customized programs, with a variety of delivery methods to cater to individual learning styles and preferences.

Dewberry's Blended Learning
Dewberry, a professional services firm, recognizes that people learn different ways so they utilize a blended learning approach. This approach offers employees a variety of learning channels as part of The Dewberry Learning Center including: classroom, software, mentoring, coaching, one-on-one, seminars and brown bag lunches, among others.

One key to Dewberry's blended learning success stems from involving internal resources such as corporate leadership to host or participate in the programs. The active involvement of top executives impresses upon employees the seriousness of the training and demonstrates that their efforts are valued.

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Stretching Original Dimensions

On June 3rd, winners of the 2010 Helios HR Apollo Awards™ were announced at the event's largest gathering in its four year history. "This year's winners are truly extraordinary in designing and implementing employee development initiatives, despite a challenging economy," said Kathy Albarado, president and CEO of Helios HR. "We are witnessing a trend in organizations offering an increasing number of leadership development opportunities through support of philanthropic efforts in their community."

The phenomenal initiatives submitted by the finalists and winners during the survey submission process are a testament to the commitment undertaken by these organizations to improve and develop their most valuable asset.

Data gathered during the Apollo Awards nomination survey indicates that despite current economic conditions, 72% of respondents reported an increase in operating income in the previous 12 months. In addition, the following trends and initiatives were shown to be most effective in engaging an organization's workforce:

• Document career paths and formalize succession plans
• Identify cost-effective ways to provide training
• Consider multiple channels for training delivery and communicating training opportunities
• Use coaching to prepare supervisors to lead
• Identify formal and informal mentorship opportunities
• Solicit feedback and measure results

On August 5, Helios HR will host a best practices roundtable to discuss in-depth the findings from this survey and how to implement these programs to stretch your organization's original dimensions.

Register for this seminar under Upcoming Events.

2010 APOLLO AWARD WINNERS CIRCLE
Photography by Rachel Smith

• Taking Care of Your People Takes Care of Your Business
  

• Stretching Original Dimensions

Upcoming Events

July 20-22 - National Veteran Small Business Conference & Expo. Helios HR, in partnership with Cherry Beckaert & Holland and Watkins Meegan Drury, will present a workshop entitled "Strengthening Your Contracting Labor Practices" at the NVSB Conference in Las Vegas.

August 5 - Apollo Awards Best Practices Seminar Participate in a discussion and in-depth overview of best practices and trends in employee development initiatives by comparing Washington-area employers to national trends.

Helios Blog Postings

The Neuroscience of Leading
One of my leadership coaching clients had a challenging week. A direct report filed a grievance against her that my client feels is completely unfounded.

How would you react in that situation? Thanks to what neuroscientists refer to as the "negativity bias" of the brain, most of us wouldn't handle it very calmly.

I recently interviewed two experts on the neuroscience of getting along with others. Dan Goleman (author or Emotional Intelligence, Social Intelligence, and several other best-selling books) described the brain's natural reactivity. He explained, "The brain is wired so that if the amygdala [the threat detection center in the limbic system] thinks there is danger, it can hijack the rest of the brain in a second. The neocortex, or the thinking part of the brain, takes much longer to get the message. So, the amygdala is able to use kind of a hair trigger mechanism when it thinks there is danger to take us over before we have the full rational understanding of what's going on."

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About Helios HR

Helios HR provides human resources outsourcing, consulting and recruiting services that optimize your workforce and HR operations. With Helios, you gain a strategic business partner with a keen eye on your organization's culture, growth, business strategy and budget.

Additional information is available at www.helioshr.com

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