1. Careers
your questions answered
❱❱ I’ve been asked to head up an employee
involvement initiative within our company, but
where should I start? people on
the move
This is a huge topic and you need do is create an environment where
❱❱ Klaus wucherer
© ALEx HINDS
to establish what is expected of you. individuals find their own motivation.
Putting in place a new system of One example is money. Many people Klaus Wucherer of Ger-
involving employees in their work will believe this is a motivator, despite evi- many has been elected as
require a range of knowledge dence of people who are dedicated the next president of the
and skills, including an and doing a good job while working International Electrotech-
understanding of alongside others who are paid the nical Commission. He has
psychology for same, but do significantly less. been president of DKE,
individuals and Your first task is to identify the the German national committee of
groups. The more demotivators – those things that are the IEC, since 2000 and previously
traditional prob- stopping people doing a good job. served as executive vice-president of
lem-solving and Typical areas include poor communi- Siemens.
project man- cation, poor structures and processes
agement skills that hinder getting work done. It is The Business
❱❱
will also be generally a fairly long list with micro- conTinuiTy insTiTuTe
needed. Presum- management and a lack of ownership During its recent AGM, the Busi-
ably whoever has as the most visible symptoms. ness Continuity Institute elected four
asked you to lead If you get as far as putting in place new members to its board. A record
this project has seen systems that encourage involvement number of 20 candidates stood for
something in how you you won’t be disappointed for ideas. election and the successful candi-
operate that they valued. People working within their organisa- dates were Steve Mellish, Kathleen
Apart from hard skills you tion generally want it to succeed – Lucey, Louise Theunissen and Rob-
must have shown softer people skills both for continued employment and to erta LaRocca.
including empathy and coaching. tell their friends and family.
As with anything, the key to suc- Whatever you come up with you ❱❱ auTomoTive council
cess is in understanding the current have to sell your idea carefully. Deal- Following its creation in November
situation and putting together a plan ing with people is the most difficult 2009, the members of the Automo-
to deliver the organisation’s objec- part of a manager’s job and the tive Council have been announced.
tives. It may seem obvious but if you rewards of employee involvement The council will be jointly chaired by
have been asked to look at improv- are some of the least certain. To Lord Mandelson and Richard Parry
ing employee involvement then there have a manager believe there will Jones, with David Smith of Jaguar
must be a perceived problem with be significant improvement through Land Rover and Gordon Murray of
how staff currently work and you need giving employees more say in their Gordon Murray Design as deputies.
to understand the reasons for this. work may go against their experience Other members come from organi-
Typical reasons are more to do and possibly against their tendency to sations such as Honda, Caterpillar,
with the working environment than in- command and control. But if you are Arup and SMMT.
dividual people’s attitudes. Many man- able to release some of this human
agers still believe they motivate staff, potential, the rewards in terms of qual- ❱❱ sharon moore
but this is a fallacy – the best you can ity and productivity are tremendous. Chiltern International, a global clinical
research organisation, has appointed
Dr Sharon Moore as its executive
vice president, global quality and
medical Affairs. Dr Moore is a physi-
please email your useful links cian with 15 years of industry experi-
career questions www.employment-studies. ence and has previously served as
and job moves to co.uk an investigator and authored several
editorial@thecqi.org www.hrmguide.net publications.
52 | JANUARY 2010 | qw www.thecqi.org
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