Achieve Your Vision through Strategy Mapping

"My company has spent a lot of time developing a strategy and we need to execute it, but I'm lost. What do I do?"

"I have a good grasp of what our organization's strategy is, and I know what I need to do to help us achieve it, but I'm not sure how to convey this to my employees. What's the best way?"

If these questions sound familiar to you, you're not alone. Most of us understand the importance of developing strategy, and many of us have participated in strategy-planning sessions. We also hear a lot of talk about execution and the need to carry out the strategic plans we create.

The problem, however, is that many of us don't always know where to go after that. We can identify strategies for achieving success, and we know that we have to act upon them--but we're not sure how to go about doing it. That's where strategy maps come in.

Read the rest of the article to learn more about strategy maps and how they can help you carry out your organization's mission and vision. Then visit our website to find out more about FlashPoint's strategic-planning services.

Laws and Rulings Affecting HR

Barnes & Thornburg LLP, the law firm with which FlashPoint is affiliated, regularly issues Labor and Employment Law Alerts of interest to those in the HR field. Click the links below to read recent issues. (The information presented should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion. Visit Barnes & Thornburg's website for more information about its Labor and Employment Law department.)

• Rule Requiring Federal Contractors to Display Labor Law Poster Takes Effect Soon
• Supreme Court Holds Clock Restarts upon Recent Application of Old Policy
• Department of Defense Rule Puts Contractors Requiring Arbitration of Claims at Risk
• U.S. Supreme Court Invalidates Years' Worth of NLRB Decisions
• Department of Labor Provides Guidance Regarding Whether Donning and Doffing Protective Gear Constitutes Compensable Time
• Department of Labor Broadens Definition of "Son or Daughter" Under FMLA

Upcoming Events

Indiana Chamber HR Workshops
FlashPoint sponsors the Indiana Chamber's 2010 HR Training Series. Sessions take place in Indianapolis. More information is available at 800.824.6885 or the Chamber's website.

• Indiana Wage and Hour Law Seminar, July 22

Other FlashPoint Speaking Engagements
FlashPoint regularly presents at conferences and association meetings. We hope to see you at the following events!

• 2010 Indiana State Human Resources Conference, Indianapolis, August 18--Krista Skidmore and Andrea Moore will discuss "Linking Learning and Development to Organizational Strategies" (more information at the Indiana State Council of SHRM website). 

FlashPoint's consultants present on a variety of matters related to human resources, business strategy, and leadership development--so if you're looking for someone to talk to your organization, visit our website to check out the topics on which we speak . You'll also find links to speaker biographies as well as a list of organizations for whom we've presented.

See You at the State Conference!

FlashPoint is proud to serve as a sponsor for the 2010 Indiana State Human Resources Conference, to be held August 16-18 at the Westin Hotel and Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

For HR professionals in Indiana, this is one of the most exciting events of the year, and we're doing our part by planning lots of activities. Our colleagues Krista Skidmore and Andrea Moore will be presenting one of the sessions (see details in the "Upcoming Events" section above), and we'll also be exhibiting. Be sure to visit our display at the opening "Everything Legal" session on Wednesday the 16th, then stop by our booth in the HR Marketplace the next day.

We'll have more information in next month's issue of eFlash. In the meantime, we encourage you to register. The conference sells out every year, so sign up soon; early bird rates are good through July 1. To register or to learn more, visit the Indiana State Council of SHRM website.

Training Tips from ASTD's Annual Conference

In May, Andrea Moore, Senior Consulting Manager at FlashPoint, attended the American Society for Training and Development's International Conference and Exposition in Chicago. Over the course of four days she attended many educational sessions and networked with industry leaders across the globe; she walked away from the conference with practical tools and new insights regarding training and development programs. Below are snippets of information that she found particularly valuable:

• Let your program objectives drive the level of evaluation; as you are developing your learning program, identify what you will evaluate based on what it is you hope you to accomplish.
• When positioning learning initiatives with the senior leadership team, use action words such as "reveals" and "increases."
• Remember this simple process for holding a coaching conversation: FUEL

F--Frame the conversation

U--Understand the current state

E--Explore the desired state

L--Lay out a success plan

• Stop evaluating training; evaluate how well the participants use the training to get results.
• Incorporate humor into your training by being positive and in the moment; observing people, places, and pun opportunities; and reflecting fun.
• For management training, you must reframe what the job of a manager is; the purpose of a manager is to make sense of the messy middle.

Congratulations and Celebrations

FlashPoint is proud to celebrate the accomplishments of our clients and our team members. We offer congratulations for the following successes.

• Chambers USA: A Guide to America's Leading Lawyers in Business annually ranks the nation's top lawyers and legal programs and recently named Barnes & Thornburg's Labor and Employment Law department in Indiana in the first tier of programs. The publication also highly rated several of B&T's labor and employment attorneys.
• Ken Yerkes, chair of Barnes and Thornburg's Labor and Employment Law department, was recently elected a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. The college recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves in the field.
• The Indianapolis Museum of Art recently opened 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. The park, which offers contemporary art in an ever-changing outdoor environment, has received accolades in the national press, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

We Want You to Like Us (and We'll Bribe You with a Prize If That's What It Takes)

At FlashPoint, we're always looking for opportunities to share our thoughts and ideas, and one way we're doing so is through social media. We regularly post to Facebook and Twitter, and we invite you to follow us. When you do, you'll receive HR tips, links to items of interest, thought-provoking questions, and an occasional update of what we're doing both inside and outside of the office.

So find us on Facebook and "like" us (if the link we provide here doesn't work, search for FlashPointHR). Or catch our tweets by following us @FlashPointHR.

If you're following us by July 16, you'll have a chance to win a prize. On that day we'll enter the names of our followers in a drawing and will give the winner a copy of Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0. This best-selling book helps readers understand and focus on developing their top natural talents. It includes an online StrengthsFinder assessment, a customized report, and an action-planning guide. Our own staff members have taken the assessment and have incorporated it into team building. It's a great tool, and we're glad to share it with one of our fans!

Participants Needed for Central Indiana Nonprofit Compensation Survey

Charitable Advisors, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm that focuses on expanding the capacity of nonprofits, is conducting a salary survey of central Indiana not-for-profit organizations. As those in the HR field know, having current salary data on hand is vital to building and maintaining effective compensation programs--so the information the survey collects will be a valuable resource to the community.

If you oversee compensation at a central Indiana nonprofit, we encourage you to participate in the survey. There is no cost to participate, and responses will be consolidated so individual organizations will not be identifiable. To take the survey, visit the survey website. Charitable Advisors indicates that once it compiles the data, it will post the final report to this website as well.