by J David Childs

Created on: March 06, 2009

Introduction

How many times, as the telecommunications manager of the enterprise, have you received a document of a set of best practices that your company's leadership has decided to chase this year? How many of these broadly stated best practices appeared to be relevant to your operations? You may have even attended executive summit meetings where you get to shake the hand of the president or CEO (and it is the only executive attention you get for the year or longer) before her presentation to the summit attendees.

Well, if you are striving to manage your telecom organization as efficiently and effectively as you can, it is up to you to figure out how your team's efforts apply to these ambiguously stated best practices. The practices all roll up to support the corporate mission, which (if compelling and accurately representing what your corporation does to serve the market(s) it is targeting) your operations has input to each strategic point. Albeit some input may be slight, but relevant just the same.

Let us consider the applications of ten best practice statements and how they might apply to the telecom organization.

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Follow ing is a list of ten best practices that one may receive in some variation, but with the same tenet. After each best practice is how a telecom may support the statement with action and operational practice.

Best Practice Number One - Attract and retain the "right people"

Application: Okay. A no brainer. Attracting talent may reside more on the packaging of what Human Resources can do, but in any case, make your department relevant to your employees. If they are talented and are happy, they are going to want to include their friends, a great source for new talent.

* Hire telecom experts when you can. As with most enterprises and most large companies, you may have to confer with the boss before you hire, and you always have inherited a team where there may be some real duds.

* Do you have an employee develop plan for each employee? If not, how do you give them a complete assessment of their performance without one? Just like with any plan, the objectives a re clear and attainable. Examples are formal training, cross-training, cross-functional tasks, academic pursuits. . .

* Once a quarter for reviewing each employee is not too much. Your company may require only once a year, but if you would meet with each direct report once a quarter, you have time to redirect or change behaviors, as well as improve performance

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