ASK THE EXPERT PANEL SERIES
Real PEOPLE. Real SITUATIONS. Real SOLUTIONS.
Overcome the "Peter Principle"
The Peter Principle is the outcome of employees who are promoted into jobs for which they are not well suited. The promotion is based on his or her performance in a current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. This process can go on indefinitely, until an employee is promoted to a higher position with responsibilities that he or she cannot fulfill. The Peter Principal poses a problem, as it predicts that employees will eventually rise to positions where they experience skills gaps.
- Do you know someone who was promoted to a higher position with responsibilities that he or she cannot fulfill?
- Do you wonder why your once high-performing employee became a less-than effective manager?
Get It Right the First Time
Hiring managers face the challenge of how best to match the right people to the right jobs. Appointing the wrong person to a job can cost as much as two year’s salary when taking into account training costs, employee relations disputes and stressful working environments. It is even more costly to keep the wrong person in the wrong job. Job fit is placing the right people with the right skills in the right job. An effective leadership trait is matching “A” players to roles best suited for their skills.
- Do you manage an employee whose skills are not aligned with his or her position?
- Do you know a person with a job that does not make good use of his or her knowledge, skills and abilities?
Right Person, Wrong Job
Location: LDC Auditorium
NOW OPEN TO ALL EMPLOYEES!
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Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 01:00 PM
Learning & Development Center | 4501 Leeland Street Houston, TX 77023
Harry Hayes, Chief Operations Officer and Director of Solid Waste Management
Harry J. Hayes serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the City of Houston. He was appointed by Mayor Annise Parker on April 1, 2014. As COO, he is responsible for oversight of the Houston Police Department, Houston Fire Department, Public Works & Engineering Department, Fleet Management Department and the Municipal Courts Department. Coordinated budgets for group of departments are more than $2.6 billion and employ approximately 15,000 employees, more than two-thirds of the City of Houston’s workforce.
In addition to serving as the City’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Hayes continues to serve as the Director of Houston's Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD). As Director, he manages daily operations of the largest municipal solid waste collection system in the Southern United States, which is composed of approximately 423,000 households and provides nearly 55 million customer visits annually. As Solid Waste Director, Mr. Hayes is also the City’s Disaster Debris Manager and was in service with this role during Hurricane Ike in 2008, the largest Gulf Coast Storm on record. Mr. Hayes oversaw record-breaking debris recovery efforts, collecting more than 5.6 million cubic yards of debris.
Mr. Hayes has been employed with the City of Houston for more than 21 years. He received a B.A. in French from Texas Southern University in 1988 and has completed foreign studies at the Universite de Bordeaux in Talence, France. Mr. Hayes served as both an enlisted member and an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves where his work assignments included human resources, operations and supply management.
Mario C. Diaz, Director of Aviation, Houston Airport System
Mario C. Diaz is Director of the City of Houston Department of Aviation. He is responsible for the overall management of the Houston Airport System’s three aviation facilities: George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) and Ellington Airport (EFD) – and its more than 1,400 employees. He is one of the industry’s leading authorities in the study of future developments in commercial aviation.
Mr. Diaz was instrumental in the effort to gain public support for the addition of international flights to Hobby Airport in 2015 by Southwest Airlines. Under his leadership, Intercontinental Airport welcomed the first Airbus A380 to Texas as Lufthansa launched the flight in the newly renovated Terminal D, which underwent an aggressive makeover to handle the double-decker jet.
Prior to his appointment in 2010, Mr. Diaz was the deputy general manager for Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. He began his career in Atlanta in 1999 and was responsible for ensuring the daily operational activities of the world’s busiest airport.
His 17-year career with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began in 1981 and included key management positions in leasing, finance, marketing, operations and properties. During this period, Mr. Diaz also served 18 months as the assistant director of the redevelopment program at John F. Kennedy Airport. He also worked at Newark Liberty International Airport and Teterboro Airport.
Viveca Sonberg, Assistant Director of Management Support Section, Public Works and Engineering
Viveca is a Senior Assistant Director with the Public Works and Engineering Department of the City of Houston. As the chief human resources officer, she oversees various responsibilities directly affecting the management of the workforce. These include organizational analysis, workforce planning, succession planning, talent management, performance development, employee relations, safety, security, and environmental hazard management, workers’ compensation, contract compliance and internal audits.
Viveca graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University Of Texas School Of Nursing. She worked for fifteen years in health care in a variety of roles and agencies in the Houston metropolitan area. While in nursing management roles, she found a love for the challenges of workforce management in the work place. With this passion and the expertise she gained, she progressed to an executive role at the Harris County Hospital District. Here, she served for eight years overseeing all aspects of compensation and salary administration for the multi-facility comprehensive health care organization.
In 1998, she proudly became a City of Houston employee. She joined the Human Resources Department overseeing Salary Administration, the Employee Assistance Program and Employee Records Management. Ten years ago, she transferred to Public Works and Engineering as the department’s chief human resources officer. Since that time, her responsibilities have expanded to include those noted above and serving as a member of the department’s senior executive leadership team.
She is nationally certified as a Compensation Professional and a HR Professional. She looks forward to sharing her experiences with you.
Julie Landry, Executive Recruiter, Human Resources Department
A a ten-year veteran of the city of Houston, Julie Landry serves as the Executive Recruiter with the Human Resources department. Her focus is sourcing candidates on behalf of the city departments for highly specialized positions. She partners with internal clients to get a clear vision of their objectives and hiring needs and works with them from the initial sourcing through onboarding. Her methods include researching and developing recruiting leads through networking, tracking candidates and monitoring a variety of social online channels. She assesses candidates to ensure qualification match and compatibility and offers guidance to hiring managers.
In her role as Executive Recruiter, Julie has attracted top executive talent, such as the Chief Procurement Officer, Director of Risk Management and Citywide Compensation Manager.
Prior to her work as the city’s Executive Recruiter, Julie successfully managed the city’s workplace giving drive, the Combined Municipal Campaign. Under her leadership the CMC experienced several record-breaking years raising over a million dollars in employee pledges. Her experience outside the city included 4 years as Promotions Manager for the Houston Rockets and Comets as well as working in event management for 104.1 KRBE.
A life-long resident of the Houston area, Julie earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in marketing and a minor in management from the University of Houston Downtown.
We are the Center for Excellence!
Website: http://www.houstontx.gov/ldc/
Location: 4501 Leeland Street, Houston, TX, United States
Phone: 832-395-4900
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Twitter: @cohldc