StrategyDriven

The StrategyDriven family is proud to introduce Lucas D. Ives as our newest contributing author!

Lucas is a dynamic facilitator and training consultant who excels at creating and delivering captivating training material geared to the business professional. He currently serves as a Consultant for Verizon Wireless where he designs curricula used by specialized wireless technicians as well as thousands of customer-facing service professionals. His experience ranges from highly technical operations and troubleshooting manuals to trainings on customer service skills and professionalism.

As a Consultant, Lucas has drawn on his exceptional skills of negotiation, collaborating with project leaders, vendors, and manufacturers to design exceptional training curricula. He has built and maintained constructive relationships with company leadership, resource management and quality teams to ensure productivity of the development and training teams to which he belongs.

Prior to consulting, Lucas served the Wireless Data Technical Support department as Senior Trainer. In this role he earned the 2006 Training Team Leadership Award, as well as the highest possible level of every certification offered, some of which include:

• Achieve Global, Stellar Service
• The GIFTed Trainer, Customer Focus Inc.
• WDTS Foundation Training
• Initial Wireless

Lucas graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts degree and has earned several certifications in training and adult learning theory. He is a member of the American Society of Training and Development.

Popularity: 35% [?]

---

If you're new to StrategyDriven, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

There are 52 weeks in a year. So a full-time employee works 52 weeks in a year, right? Wrong…

In fact, employers typically pay employees to not work 10 percent or more per year. Consider these common benefits:

• 2 weeks or more of annual paid vacation (US average = 2.6 weeks)
  Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• 2 weeks (10 days) of paid holidays per year (US average = 2 weeks)
  Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
• 2 weeks (10 days) of yearly sick leave (US average = 1.6 weeks)
  Source: Compdata Surveys
• 1 week (40 cumulative hours) of professional development training, workshops, and conferences (US average = 1 week)
  Source: American Society for Training and Development

Taken together, these benefits reduce the average employee’s time dedicated to production activities from 52 to 45 weeks per year; a productivity loss of 13.5 percent. This level of effort is further reduced as an employee advances in tenure and is awarded additional weeks of vacation. It is this phenomenon that is critically important to strategic planning.

An Example…

Consider two 100 employee organizations, one with an average employee tenure of 7.5 years and the other an average tenure of 16 years. Each company provides employees with a vacation benefit that increases every five years:

1 – 5 years of service: 2 weeks of vacation annually

6 – 10 years of service: 3 weeks of vacation annually

11 – 15 years of service: 4 weeks of vacation annually

Over 16 years of service: 5 weeks of vacation annually

The first company, with an average employee tenure of 7.5 years expects to pay out 300 person-weeks of vacation benefit annually. The second company, with an average employee tenure of 16 years expects to pay employees a total of 500 person-weeks vacation annually; 200 person-weeks of vacation benefit more than the first company. To compensate for this added loss in employee availability, the second company will have to hire five additional full-time employees. Assuming these employees receive a total (salary and benefits) annual compensation of $100,000, the second company realizes a workforce liability of $500,000 more than that of the first company.

Planning Implications

The impact of accrued vacation benefits is significant; reducing capacity without effecting costs. Subsequently, planners must understand the potential for and impact of upcoming changes in vacation benefits in order to adequately prepare their organizations for this impending challenge.

Strategic Resource Planning

Strategic resource planning is performed at an organizational level. These planners must understand the aggregate changes to the organization’s overall vacation benefit payout so they can:

• identify aggregate personnel resource shortfalls
• adjust the company’s projected work capacity based on those shortfalls

and develop a strategic plan that accounts for the capacity loss with one or a combination of the following:

• projects to be eliminated
• product and/or service offerings to be reduced
• staffing increase and the associated expansion in the human resources budget
• additional overtime to be paid and the accompanying human resources budget increase

Project Resource Planning

Project resource planning occurs at a tactical level where a vacation benefit change for even one team member can drastically impact the ability of the project team to achieve its timetable. Therefore, project managers must be aware of changes to the amount of vacation awarded individual team members and then work with each individual to schedule vacation at times that are both convenient to the individual and practical for the project.

Production Resource Planning

Production resource planning also occurs at the tactical level. Unlike project planning, however, some production facilities cannot be shutdown for periods of time to afford mass vacations like those that occur around holidays. Managing time off for production workers, therefore, often has associated with it rules governing the number of persons allowed to be on vacation at any one time. These policies ensure that a minimum number of critical staff is always on duty thereby ensuring continued production.

Regardless of the planning mode, it is important to properly characterize the availability of personnel resources and to recognize changes over time. When estimating the number of individuals needed to provide a service, complete a project, or work an assembly line, planners must consider the employees’ effective work weeks, not the number of weeks in a year. Not doing so will lead to under staffing, in turn resulting in overtime, cost overruns, and potentially employee dissatisfaction and attrition. While using employee and organizational data is best, absent quantified information planners should consider the 45 week year as the standard for employee availability.

---

Nathan A. Ives is a Strategy & Operations Manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, a StrategyDriven contributor, and co-Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over fifteen years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at numerous Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Popularity: 30% [?]

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag posts on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 3a - An Interview with Forrest Breyfogle, author of Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics explores how to achieve organizational performance improvements through the use of the Integrated Enterprise Excellence system. During our discussion, Forrest Breyfogle, author of Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics: Golfing Buddies Go Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard and CEO of Smarter Solutions, a global management coaching and consulting firm specializing in the design and application of innovative enterprise-wide performance measures and business solutions, shares his insights regarding:

• the importance of an integrated approach to organizational performance improvement
• how using the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) model at the enterprise and project levels can drive performance improvement
• acquisition of critical option value insights through the use of the Design of Experiements (DOE) approach
• how other business managment approaches such as Total Quality Management (TQM), the Theory of Constraints (TOC), SMART goals, and ISO 9000 are related to the Integrated Enterprise Excellence system

Additional Information

Complimenting the outstanding insights Forrest shares in Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics and this special edition podcast, are the organizational performance improvement materials and resources found on his website, Smarter Solutions (www.SmarterSolutions.com). Forrest also offers free one-day seminars throughout the United States. For additional information regarding these seminars, click here.

As mentioned in the podcast, Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics, is just one of four books in the Integrated Enterprise Excellence series which includes:

• The Integrated Enterprise Excellence System: An Enhanced, Unified Approach to Balanced Scorecards, Strategic Planning, and Business Improvement
• Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics: Golfing Buddies Go Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard
• Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume II - Business Deployment: A Leaders’ Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard
• Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume III - Improvement Project Execution: A Management and Black Belt Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard

Final Request…

The strength in our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider voting for us on Podcast Alley by clicking here. Casting your vote for the StrategyDriven Podcast improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast !

---

Forrest W. Breyfogle III, author of Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume I - The Basics, is CEO of Smarter Solutions, a global management coaching and consulting firm specializing in the design and application of innovative enterprise-wide performance measures and business solutions. For over 15 years, Forrest has advised company leaders and their teams on how to improve their organization’s performance through the use of his Integrated Enterprise Excellence system. In 2004, Forrest received the prestigious Crosby Medal from the American Society for Quality for his earlier book, Implementing Six Sigma. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the University of Texas Center for Performance Excellence. To read Forrest’s full biography, click here.

Nathan A. Ives is a Strategy & Operations Manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, a StrategyDriven contributor, and co-Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over fifteen years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at numerous Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Popularity: 45% [?]

“LinedIn’s simple philosophy: Relationships Matter”

LinkedIn
www.LinkedIn.com

About the Resource

LinkedIn is a free online networking service connecting 24 million experienced professionals worldwide. Members create biographies viewable by the internet community that include as many of the following attributes as desired:

• background summary and photo
• current and past employment experience including company, position, and job description
• education including school, degree conferred, years attended, special activities, and recognition
• membership in professional groups and associations
• honors and awards received
• industry affiliation
• personal, professional, or business website links

LinkedIn allows members to build their networks by connecting with other members they know through current or past business, school, or personal relationships. Members can further expand their networks by joining one or more corporate, alumni, and/or professional LinkedIn groups and by getting introduced to other members through people they know. LinkedIn also offers paid subscriptions that give premium members tools for finding and reaching people outside of their network.

Benefits of Using this Resource

Networks are an increasingly important part of every professional’s career. LinkedIn helps members build and maintain their network as well as affording them the opportunity to:

• find potential clients, service providers, subject matter experts, and partners
• post and distribute job listings
• find high-quality passive candidates
• be found for business opportunities
• search for employment opportunities
• leverage inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

The quality of these opportunities is further validated by the recommendations members provide for others with whom they have a relationship.

Final Thought…

Relationships, not business card networks, are a cornerstone of every successful professional career. LinkedIn is a premier tool for helping experienced professionals stay connected with those in their network, however, it cannot create or maintain relationships. Professionals must personally develop and nurture the relationships within their network. It is through active relationships and quality interactions with others that the full measure of LinkedIn’s benefits can be realized.

Popularity: 33% [?]

“The cowards never started, the weak died on the way, and only the strong survived.”

The Pioneer’s Creed

 

 

 

Popularity: 39% [?]