Human Resource training and development is the imparting of necessary knowledge and skills to a human resource professional in the organization. This is necessary for a number of reasons. HR professionals are very important for the organization. They need continuous upgrade of their skills and attitudes. Training them to bring them on par with the organization's goals and in tune with the industry trends is necessary, since well-equipped HR professionals are the means to ensuring optimal performance from the organization's employees.

Recruitment techniques

Since HR is engaged in what is perhaps the most important task for the organization –that of selecting employees who will become valuable resources –Human Resource training and development has to be focused on the right techniques for recruitment. Human Resource training and development should include ways by which the HR professional goes about finding the right candidate for every position in the organization.

This technique is not about just posting requirements on jobsites and bringing the candidate to the interview panel. Each interview has to be meaningful and effective. It is a session in which the employees who are going to become part of the organization are selected. For this to be meaningful, Human Resource training and development should be such that even a junior HR professional in the organization is able to make the right choice. Human Resource training and development should be focused on training the HR professional to understand requirements threadbare from the organizational perspective.

Send the right candidate for next round

The HR professional who is in charge of recruitment should be able to gather requirements from respective managers. When the candidate is finally passed on to the manager for a further round; there should be very less wastage of time. For this to happen, the HR professional should be in complete sync with the requirements. Technical or non-technical, the requirement should be thoroughly understood. When HR interviews a candidate, it should be a formality for the higher up manager to whom the candidate will eventually report. This is a technique that Human Resource training and development within the organization has to hone in the HR professional.

Policies and regulations

Another important work of HR's is to enforce policies and regulations. For this too, the HR of the organization has to be thoroughly trained. Human Resource training and development should be of such quality and relevance that no regulation should be out of place with the employees or out of alignment with company vision. In the first place, HR formulates rules for the organization. Although it makes rules and regulations in consultation with management; it should ensure that these reflect the organization's culture and are employee-friendly.

Staying tuned to organization is important

When a policy is unpopular, it is HR which gets rapped. Human Resource training and development should be such that these rules are not only in line with the organization's ethics and image; they should be popular with employees, as well. In fact, Human Resource training and development should be of such standard that it should be able to identify any discrepancy and be able to come up with suggestions to managements at the time of formulation itself. All this would become possible only with sound Human Resource training and development.

Both the content and the new digital format are fantastic. As someone who appreciates maximizing time, effort and outcomes, it was great to read articles that are thought provoking, accessible and, oh so timely. And, if it couldn't get any better, there is a strong alignment of this special edition with the upcoming 2013 Global Conference focused on Renewing Organizational Vitality, April 14^th – 17^th in Denver.

It's great to post one's reactions to journal articles (as I've done below) and engage in virtual dialogue (which I'm hoping will happen). Yet, given the connection of these articles to Global Conference topics, I'm definitely looking forward to further "live and in person” discussions during the conference. In particular sessions such as Monday morning's Bridging the Gap: Eliminating Impediments to Business Performance by Building Talent Flexibility and Capacity or Monday afternoon's 3 Provocative Ideas: "Inspiring Creativity, Energy and Innovation", or Tuesday morning's Organizational Approaches to Unleashing Energy, Vitality and Innovation

All the articles in this issue of the journal are thought provoking. There are a number of topics from this journal that really resonated with what I've been observing and experiencing recently in my work.

Simon L. Dolan's and Yochanan Altman's Managing by Values: The Leadership Spirituality Connection made the connection between the "…instrumental values of the real business world and the spiritual needs for experiencing life that sustain it.” And yet, they also observed in their conclusions that, "The ‘experiencing of life,' as an existential agenda is often missing from the pages of management journals.” I couldn't agree more and would add: it should be incorporated into our B-school and higher education management curriculum.

Joseph McCann's and John Selsky's article Being Purposeful in Turbulent Environments, spoke to a critical topic for all organizations – how to sustain high performance in the face of unending, disruptive change. They identified the need for highly developed adaptive capacity, consisting of agility and resiliency. Citing five essential capabilities needed for adaptive capacity, the first, "purposeful” caught my attention. We often think of individual's seeking their life purpose and organizations having a purpose for existing, but they offer an intriguing way to look at the "purposeful” capability across the full spectrum of a whole system: individual, team, organization and the meta level (ecosystem).

Then reading The Changing Tides of Careers, by Edie Goldberg, the connection with a "purposeful” capability and the concepts presenting in Dolan's and Altman's article is further strengthened as her research bears out an emerging new employee perspective on "career success”. In contrast to a more traditional "career success” definition involving "…tangible items such as title, money and power” her research identified a new, emerging definition. Coined as the "Contemporary” perspective, career success is defined as involving "…a more intrinsic means of satisfaction such as being challenged, being able to fully utilize one's skills, having impact and the ability to achieve work-life balance.”

So, all in all, I give a big thumbs up for the People and Strategy journal, Volume 35, Issue 4.

What is your take on this journal? It would be great to start a ‘virtual' conversation prior to the conference followed by more robust ‘live' conversation in Denver at the conference!

I propose another, more constructive way for organizations to think about their employees: as consumers of the company’s mission, culture and rewards programs. External customers trade with companies based on their perceptions of the value proposition represented by the organizations’ products and services. Similarly, internal consumers (employees) select organizations for the value proposition they offer. People come to work with a mental briefcase full of something employers want: the human capital (skills, talent, knowledge and behaviors) employees own. This intangible asset, combined with other organizational resources, creates value for the enterprise.  In return for this currency, employers provide a bundle of enticements to get people in the door, to encourage them to be productive and to discourage them from taking a job across the street.

However the deal between individual and organization may be constructed, the most effective companies borrow a page from the procedure manual of the strategic marketing function. They apply the marketing concept to employee-employer exchange. The marketing concept relies on two fundamental philosophies: that firms design their value propositions by first analyzing and understanding the needs of customers; and that they should then find financially prudent ways to meet those needs better than the competition. Contrast this idea with the production concept ("if we make it, they will come”) and the sales concept ("if we sell it hard enough, they will buy it”). The production concept can work when competitors offer a limited array of features in their offerings. The sales concept may succeed when consumers lack information about what else is available in the market. In the 21st century world of work, however, competition for talent is intense. Employees, moreover, have extensive knowledge of the employment deals offered by rival companies. In this environment, the production and sales concepts are largely out-dated, bell bottoms and go-go boots in a world of skinny jeans and Manolo Blahniks. An organization’s goal, of course, should be to start with the marketing concept but also take selected elements from the other two philosophies to build a coherent value proposition strategy. It flows like this: understand your employees needs and values, define reward offerings that address these, be economically prudent in delivering rewards and communicate to the employee population in a clear and compelling way.

Thomas O. Davenport, Senior Consultant, Towers Watson
Co-author, with Stephen D. Harding, of Manager Redefined: The Competitive Advantage in the Middle of Your Organization

The views and content expressed in this blog post constitute the opinion of the blog author and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of the author’s employers, supervisors, nor do they represent the view of organizations, businesses or institutions the author is a part of.

I wouldn’t say that it’s widespread, but there are (and have been) enough examples indicating the need to do something more thoughtfully and intentionally to close the gaps. Plus, like many, the current economic environment, and subsequent cost constraints, has limited how often we can turn to the external market for talent. We had and still have to find a ways to accelerate internal readiness and back in 2008 we changed things up a bit in terms of our approach.

Honeywell went back to some basic talent management principles. We challenged leaders to succession plan to the role, not the person (i.e. the incumbent), by first identifying the critical success factors for key roles in terms of skills, experience and behaviors. These success factors generated an exemplar profile, the "Michael Jordan” (in honor of Chicago) of whatever role we were focusing on. Honeywell used this profile as the basis for an assessment and then took a group of potential successors and assessed them against the profile. From the assessment, we got a baseline of how well the potential successors stacked up against what right looks like. We obviously want everyone to "be like Mike,” but how far away are they and how much development effort is required to get them ready? This data then served as a great platform for targeted, individual development for those identified as potential successors.

This overall approach and framework has been used over and over again for a variety of key positions and I look forward to sharing the process and tools with you in October during my session, "Build Over Buy: Accelerating Internal Readiness to Close Succession Gaps” at the 2012 HRPS Strategic Talent Management Forum.  

Jeremy Bradish leads all organizational development, design, talent management, performance management and talent development activities within Corporate, as well as across EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. In his strategy & functional transformation role, Jeremy is responsible for development of the overall HR strategy and annual operating plan. Jeremy works with the businesses and HR centers of excellence to set standards for quality and performance while ensuring that the HR function meets its financial commitments to the Company. Jeremy joined Honeywell in 2008 having previously served as Vice President, Learning & Development at Equifax. He previously held a number of notable human resource leadership positions at companies such as Dell and Accenture (fka Andersen Consulting). 

Top leadership matters, of course, but it’s not all that matters. In the same Economist Intelligence Unit report, managers further down in the organization said they believe that the motivational ability of an employee’s immediate line manager is the main driver of engagement. They put senior executive values and vision farther down the list of engagement factors. It strikes me that many chief executives need to realize that operational managers, through their efforts to guide, motivate and develop employees, have a more direct influence on production, customer service and strategy execution than…well, than executives. Great C-suite leaders may keep the boat sailing toward the New World, but without great managers, it will sink before it gets there.

Recent research by Towers Watson confirms that the effectiveness of the immediate line manager is a critical factor in employees’ ability to sustain high levels of engagement during challenging times. We define engagement as the rational, emotional and motivational connections between employees and the companies they work for. Employees can sustain high levels of engagement when their work environments support productivity (that is, employees are enabled) and promote personal well-being (they feel energized). When engagement, enablement and energy come together, the result is sustainable engagement. In our 2012 analysis of the global workforce, quality of supervision emerged as the #4 sustainable engagement driver.

It falls to human resources management to lead the way in improving employee engagement and the factors that sustain it through difficult periods. HR certainly faces some challenges in achieving this goal. Our data indicate, for example, that 65 percent of the global workforce is either disengaged or unable to consistently sustain high levels of engagement (see the graphic below). Their organizations may suffer as a result – they may fall short in innovation, customer service or operational efficiency. I believe that there is no more important element of HR strategy than to improve the processes – recruitment, promotion, training, measurement and rewarding – required to build a population of supervisors and managers who can increase and sustain employee engagement.

Sustainable Engagement = Engagement + Enablement + Energy

Thomas O. Davenport, Senior Consultant, Towers Watson
Co-author, with Stephen D. Harding, of Manager Redefined: The Competitive Advantage in the Middle of Your Organization 


The views and content expressed in this blog post constitute the opinion of the blog author and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of the author’s employers, supervisors, nor do they represent the view of organizations, businesses or institutions the author is a part of.

The current landscape for culture measurement is full of pricey, time-consuming, and resource-intensive solutions that include surveys, interviews, observations, and various combinations. In our study, the most common ways that organizations measure culture were a combination of survey and other methods (51%) and just surveys (31%), with custom-designed measures being preferred over off-the-shelf instruments (66% vs. 34%). Given the amount of resources and logistics involved with focus groups and interviews, considerably fewer companies relied on this approach (only 12%).

All of these methods have their plusses and minuses (from what we know, flossing seems to have no drawbacks if done properly). According to our participants, what they liked the most about the methods used by their organization was the ease of use and getting useful information. What they liked the least about the methods were the resources needed to implement and analyze the results.

Culture measurement may seem complex and overwhelming, but it can also be a positive experience -can flossing really be a positive experience? In addition to the beneficial outcomes we mentioned in our previous blog (e.g., greater organizational commitment and engagement), our participants reported numerous reasons for why their company measures culture.

The challenge in culture measurement lies in finding solutions that are not too resource-intensive, allow companies to engage employees in the process, and provide valuable information. Right now, there aren't too many solutions out there that meet all of these criteria. However, that doesn't mean companies need to settle with what's out there either.

About Critical Metrics, LLC
Critical Metrics, LLC, a Seattle-based consulting firm, that helps clients understand what drives employee and customer success. We do so by focusing on employee and customer measurement and analytics. For additional information, including additional survey findings, please contact David Youssefnia, Ph.D., President of Critical Metrics, LLC via email david@critical-metrics.com or telephone 206.436.3470.

How will readers benefit from this new learning tool?
The book offers a unique opportunity for HR professionals to educate themselves on the key concepts and tools that are central to our 21st century HR practice. Topics address the five HRPS pillars of knowledge: talent management, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, HR strategy & planning and building a strategic HR function. These foundational HR tools are presented from different points of view which allows the readers to independently discover the right solution for themselves without over-dependency on the so called "best practices" or individual guru's approach.

In addition, a learning guide accompanies each set or articles to facilitate discussion and development among employees, organization leaders and students - it's a great for a lunch and learn session.

More than 120 authors, consultants, academics and practitioners from around the globe contributed their perspectives. Why is there such a broad range of contributors to the book?
The broad range of contributors is deliberate. We engaged the best thought leaders in the HR profession to participate in a discussion of central concepts and issues that are on the minds of those of us who shape strategies and those who work with business clients on implementing them.

Complimentary copies of Point Counterpoint: New Perspectives on People & Strategy were distributed to attendees at the 2012 HRPS Global Conference. What have you heard about the book?
The participants have acknowledged that not only the topics selected, but the presentation of those topics in the Point Counterpoint format was unique and particularly helpful to the practitioners currently working in the field. It gave them the understanding that there were no ultimate truths, but there were ultimate options for them to choose from and thus enrich their professional repertoire.

Where can HR professionals purchase Point Counterpoint: New Perspectives on People & Strategy?
Copies are available for purchase through a variety of online retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the SHRM Store.

First, like flossing, findings revealed that although most employees and senior leaders think that measuring corporate culture is important (and we’ll support that hunch in a moment), few companies measure it, and even fewer do it well. 

Next, both flossing and culture measurement have positive benefits. Just as flossing leads to healthier teeth and fewer cavities, companies that measure corporate culture had more engaged and committed employees, as well as employees who understood the culture and were aligned in their view of that culture.  

Lastly, just as flossing is linked to other positive health outcomes like reduced incidence of heart disease, both cultural understanding and alignment are linked to important business outcomes. Employees who understood organizational culture were more committed to and satisfied with the organization, were less likely to leave, and were also more likely to recommend the organization as a great place to work. Employees who were aligned with each other and with senior leadership in their view of culture were more committed, more satisfied, and less likely to leave than those who perceived misalignment.

Ok, so if measuring culture is beneficial, why doesn’t everyone do it? The most common reasons companies did not measure culture had to do with not seeing the need to do so and poor leadership buy-in. Other responses included "We don’t know how to do that” or "We hadn’t thought of it before.” Only a few participants talked about such reasons as lack of resources or people. 

It seems that companies are paying lip service to culture. Everyone talks about how important culture is, and the results of our study show us the great benefits of measuring culture and having an aligned culture. Yet, few actually dedicate time to measuring and understanding their culture. Those companies that do focus on culture (think Southwest Airlines and Zappos.com) continue to benefit from having strong cultures with increased customer loyalty and stronger internal and external brands. But before culture can become a competitive advantage for your company, it needs to be understood and reinforced within your organization, and culture measurement is the first step in this process. Our study’s results show us that not measuring and monitoring your culture can be a costly mistake. Clearly, culture matters. Culture is becoming one of the most powerful competitive differentiators for recruiting and retaining talent and building a strong internal and external brand.

About Critical Metrics, LLC 
Critical Metrics, LLC, a Seattle-based consulting firm, that helps clients understand what drives employee and customer success. We do so by focusing on employee and customer measurement and analytics. For additional information, including additional survey findings, please contact David Youssefnia, Ph.D., President of Critical Metrics, LLC via email david@critical-metrics.com or telephone 206.436.3470.

For HR professionals, the effects are hard to miss. From employee and manager self-service portals to the growing number of social media elements in performance and learning management, the technology employees expect to find in the workplace is changing. How will this shift–the consumerization of IT–impact the way an organization recruits, engages and manages its workforce?

I've invited a few industry thought leaders to weigh in:

Bob Calamai, Director of HRM & Development at NYU/SCPS

Brandy Fulton, Vice President of HR Operations at Citrix Systems, Inc

Rob Garcia, Vice President of Product at UpMo

Kevin W. Grossman, Chief Strategy Officer at HRMarketer.com

According to a survey conducted by Avanade, 73% of executives consider the consumerization of IT a top priority, and 79% will make new investments in embracing this trend in 2012. What factors are driving this?

Fulton: Things that we used to treat as exceptions are becoming the new normal. From road warriors to an increasing number of workers working from home–mobility is huge. Add to that the generational expectations of a workforce who are digitally enabled from day one. If you treat each of these as an individual event, you have a dozen different problems and solutions you have to come up with. But if you look at it holistically, you'll see that there's a shift happening that you can enable by changing your infrastructure. Embrace the consumerization of IT, and the ability to provide people with the variety and flexibility and mobility they need–you can do all of that.

Garcia: Consumer technology is moving and improving faster than any powerful, all-knowing IT team can ever keep up with. The days of uniform and top-down IT infrastructure are far gone due to an inundation of consumer devices in the enterprise. Also, employees want to engage at work in their own terms, through the platforms they know best. I believe CEOs have finally realized this can work to their advantage, as employees are investing their own money in staying current, rather than company resources.

Grossman: It's all about improving efficiencies, reducing redundancies and increasing productivity and revenue. For example, lowering annual equipment expenditures by offering allowances for employees to buy their own devices for both business and personal use. Also providing self-service access to all sorts of internal systems for both employees and managers can make for a more adaptable organization regardless of size.

There's a widely-held view that access to consumer technology (social media, the Internet, mobile apps) will offer too many distractions, and negatively impact productivity. Do you agree or disagree?

Calamai: Though I sometimes share the concerns of my baby boomer cohorts, I'm convinced that those who use and embrace these technologies are equally adept at both determining what's useful in the workplace, and–as importantly–can navigate between personal and professional use.

Fulton: The Internet, email, social media, mobile apps–all of those things that potentially represent a distraction from business are also enablers of business. Where would marketing be without social media? Where would people who do research and development be without the Internet? You have to remember that employees love to be treated like adults. They want respect and trust and they want you to enable them to be successful. And if you’re giving them all of the tools to do their jobs, they'll appreciate it.

Garcia: Consumer technology definitely has the potential of becoming a distraction—all the more reason for executives to jump in and define policies that enable and encourage positive and productive usage of such technology. But I don't agree with this sense of ill-fated, inevitable negative impact to productivity. When aligned with company goals, the possibilities are endless: from allowing dispersed team members to collaborate more effectively, to tapping into the knowledge of the crowd, to even allowing the workforce to self-organize and fill job openings and project resource requests.

Where is the greatest opportunity for human resources to embrace the consumerization of IT in their organization? Recruiting? Learning and development? Performance management?

Fulton: We need to make sure that the systems we use to drive recruiting and attraction, talent management and performance management are stepping forward into the modern era. More importantly, if people are able to do talent management tasks in a simple way, it saves them time and keeps the focus and the substance of the conversation where it should be–on employees relating to each other.

Calamai: Companies are slowly shifting away from the annual performance evaluation, and slowly moving toward less formal performance feedback. These types of sharing and information-gathering mechanisms work really well and are easy to use for that purpose. There's a lot of conversation around the need for HR to position itself as a more strategic and consultative, rather than administrative and transactional, function. How might consumerization help (or hurt) efforts to that end?

Grossman: To me it's obvious: it'll help if it's executed efficiently and effectively. Improved technologies, predictive data analytics, autonomy, impulse control and self-management—all of this means less employee relations nightmares, less time spent micro-managing, and more time freed up to guide and grow the enterprise into the 21st century.

Garcia: It can help tremendously. The human resources function is about people. Social and consumer technologies are about people. A new employee-centric world is emerging and HR can be the hero of the day by embracing it and leveraging such technology to engage the workforce differently, more productively. It is a paradigm shift, though, so it’ll come with a transition cost in times and resources.

As the HR Analyst at Software Advice, Kyle Lagunas regularly reports on trends and best practices in workplace technology--specifically in HR, Recruiting, and Talent Management. He can be contacted at kdlagunas@softwareadvice.com.

HR People & Strategy (HRPS) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2012 Walker Award. Scott Mondore, Shane Douthitt and Marisa Carson of Strategic Management Decisions received this unique award for their article, "Maximizing the Impact and Effectiveness of HR Analytics to Drive Business Outcomes,” which appeared in Volume 32, Issue 2 of People & Strategy journal.

Named after HRPS founder James Walker, the award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the HRPS quarterly People & Strategy journal that best advances state-of-the-art thinking or practices in human resources management. The criteria for the award include the following:

• Importance to the discipline
• Originality/fresh
• Quality of writing, including original submission
• Compelling topic
• Raises strategic thinking
  
• Practical implications for business and people
  

"It was a very competitive year and this year's winners hit the award criteria spot on. The work was timely, research-based and written to practitioners in a very accessible way,” said Joseph McCann, Ph.D., People & Strategy Executive Editor.

"It is an honor to receive the Walker Award from HRPS,” said Scott Mondore, Ph.D., managing partner of Strategic Management Decisions. "As the premier outlet for the latest strategic thinking and practices for human resources, the People & Strategy journal was a great fit for our approach to HR analytics – bringing together information for senior HR leaders to make strategic investments across numerous processes, while also making analytics practical and actionable for front-line leaders.”

Scott Mondore, Ph.D., is currently a managing partner of Strategic Management Decisions (SMD) and is the co-author of two books, "Investing in What Matters: Linking Employees to Business Outcomes” and "Business-focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results” both published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Mondore has significant experience in the areas of strategy, talent management, measurement, customer experience and organizational development across numerous industries.

Shane Douthitt, Ph.D., is also a managing partner of Strategic Management Decisions (SMD) and is the co-author of two books, "Investing in What Matters: Linking Employees to Business Outcomes” and "Business-focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results.” Douthitt has significant experience in the areas of measurement, training, talent management, executive assessment and coaching and organizational development across a variety of industries.

Marisa Carson, Ph.D., is a senior consultant with Strategic Management Decisions (SMD) and is the co-author of "Business-focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results.” Carson has extensive experience in the areas of HR data analytics, employee selection and assessment, performance management and succession planning.

The award was presented at the 2012 HRPS Global Conference, May 6 – May 9, at the Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan in New York.

To view the award-winning article in PDF format, visit www.hrps.org/walkeraward.

By creating a virtual learning environment with easy access to content, experts, and fellow peers, you take employees out of their normal work environments and set them in a more comfortable learning space. Moreover, you offer a meeting space which is more convenient than the fixed location of a traditional classroom.                

One benefit of creating a virtual learning environment was demonstrated by a University of California-Berkeley professor who had a class that met Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Mondays and Wednesdays, attendance in the lecture-style class averaged around 100 students. But on Fridays, attendance would drop to just 20 students.              

To see if he could regain just a few students from the lure of an early weekend, he created a virtual environment and offered the Friday class online. Attendance quickly went back up to the levels reached on the other days. And, as an added bonus, the number of questions asked during the class also increased. In person, students asked about 4-5 questions while online, 40-50 questions would come in the same time period. This again demonstrates that people feel more at ease asking questions when they can remain anonymous, or at least are not face-to-face with their peers.

Another good example is a large technology company that was able to educate 2,000 partners spread across 81 different countries using a virtual environment. Had they tried to do this in the physical world, the barriers would’ve been astronomical. The cost of travel (and personnel being out of the office) alone would have been exorbitant. The time factor to reach those partners country-by-country (or region-by-region) would have greatly slowed the process down as well.

Instead, they used a virtual environment that included information in seven languages and chat translations for 50 languages, all available to everyone at the same time. The program was completed quickly, and the company was able to gather data on usage that will help them make it even better as time goes on.

HR stands apart within an organization. The department interacts closely and regularly with everyone from temps to the executive level. Virtual environments can make those interactions simpler and better, by connecting people in innovative ways and offering content both educational and informative.

Eric Vidal is the Director of Product Marketing for the Event Services Business Segment at InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing and collaboration services provider. He can be reached at ericv@unisfair.com.

Some of their customers use the VisionTime system to underpin an improved work-life balance for employees. For others, because of the nature of their work, they see VisionTime as a huge asset in managing their fixed hours and staff schedules. 

Managers have an enhanced workplace control, a particularly vital consideration in these challenging economic times. On the Flextime website, learn how all of this is done in a modern way; how it reduces absenteeism, overtime and staff turnover. More here. 

According to the FlexTime, companies can improve job control and employee well-being with a little flexibility. They conducted research that revealed two key findings:

1. Flexible working offers the employee a greater control over his/her job 
2. Employees respond favorably if provided with a greater control over their jobs

Computers, the Internet, smartphones and more: The world has changed, and the workday is changing right along with it, encouraging organizations to reconsider how working time should be utilized and managed.  There is now a winning combination. On the staff side, new working time arrangements bring a personalized job control leading to reduced absenteeism & job turnover. Meanwhile management can see that these technology advances can also bring corresponding workplace controls – not envisaged even 5 years ago.   

As we appreciate that introducing such new arrangements and technology requires workplace change, many organizations utilize our trial system, to first see how it can work out.   

Is your company currently employing a flexible work schedule? If yes, is it working well? If no, are you considering moving in that direction?  

Peter Cappelli, HRPS Board member and George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resource, participates in this Bloomberg Singapore Sessions round-table discussion with prominent industry experts on topics related to leadership and executive development in Asia and Asian business schools.

Hear the latest on The Talent Wars, featuring Peter Cappelli:

 
(Source: Bloomberg)

Most of those present agreed that many of the core qualities we look for and respect in leaders haven’t changed much over the decades and centuries – and probably won’t change even as we continue to move into this new century.  In fact, the group agreed that the only real shifts they anticipated in what will be required of leaders are the ability to think truly globally, and the capacity to lead through continuous and substantive change.

Ms. Goodwin, in particular, noted the constancy in our assessment of good leadership: she felt that her biography of Lincoln was so popular partly because Lincoln occupies such an important place in our nation’s history – but also partly because he demonstrated key, timeless leadership attributes.

Since our Leading model is based on precisely this premise, I wasn’t at all surprised. But it was great to have our observations and conclusions supported by such an august group! 

We’ve all seen this phenomenon (especially as HR professionals): a situation where the ‘appointed leader’ is not the ‘accepted leader’; where the person with the title is not the person people look to for key decisions or wise counsel, not the person they trust in difficult times.

Think about it this way: throughout most of human history, choosing one’s leader was a life and death decision. Choose badly, and you and your family were much more likely to starve to death, or be overrun by invading enemy hordes.  Having the capacity to choose good leaders was a powerful group and individual survival mechanism.  And even though our decisions about the leaders we follow may not be so critical today, tens of thousands of years of evolution doesn’t evaporate in a few generations. The attributes we’re wired to look for in leaders before we will fully accept them and ‘sign up’ to follow and support them haven’t really changed.

I’m thrilled to have been asked to speak on this topic at the upcoming HRPS Global  Conference. I’m so looking forward to sharing these timeless leader attributes with you, talking about how to encourage the leaders in your organization to become more ‘followable’ – and helping you think about how to develop these attributes in yourself, as well. See you in New York!

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus International, a consulting and training firm that focuses on leader readiness. She serves as coach and advisor to the senior executives of such companies as GE, Time Warner Cable, TJX, NBC Universal and Union Square Hospitality Group. Andersen is the author of Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers (Portfolio, 2006), Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Outthink Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change (St. Martin’s Press, May 2009), Leading So People Will Follow (Jossey-Bass, October 2012), and the author and host of Being Strategic with Erika Andersen on Public Television. Erika blogs at erikaandersen.com and at blogs.forbes.com/erikaandersen/.

James Gilliam of CareerBuilder.com says that the HR virtual environment is a "game changer.” He believes that being able to connect with worldwide audiences at any time allows organizations to move beyond the limitations of time and place more easily as well as "wow” prospective employees like never before.    

While the Internet makes company information and reviews readily available, virtual environments allow HR to elevate brand impressions while still vetting candidates thoroughly. For example, multimedia presentations embedded in a website featuring employee testimonials and words from the company president can serve to entice prospective candidates.  

But perhaps most importantly, with a physical job fair, when it’s over it’s over. Whereas a virtual job fair can remain open as long as the organization chooses. Visitors can still collect information and ask questions, greatly extending the value of resources invested in its creation. This makes a virtual job fair not only more cost effective, but also capable of reaching far greater numbers than a traditional one. 

Virtual career fairs also make it simple for organizers to collect detailed information on attendees’ behaviors. HR professionals can learn what was interesting to candidates and which links and resources were most popular, but also find out what information was lacking, so they can make improvements for future events.    

The bottom line is that virtual events can reach more interested candidates for a fraction of the costs associated with traditional job fairs, putting another advantage in the virtual environment column.    

Be sure to check back again next time as we wrap up our analysis of the impact of virtual environments on HR. This time, we’ll address changes in employee training and education.

Eric Vidal is the Director of Product Marketing for the Event Services Business Segment at InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing and collaboration services provider. He can be reached at ericv@unisfair.com.

For the first time in history, four generations are present in the workplace. Each has their own skill set, communication styles, work habits, and values which inevitably clash and create a challenging dynamic for traditionalists, boomers, generation X-ers, and millennials alike.

Perhaps the biggest clash is that of millennials and other generations. Employees struggle in dealing with this group calling them, "tech-savvy, entitled, high maintenance, silver spoon-fed brats.” The fact is, millennials are not better or worse than any other generation – they are just different. They have an enormous skill set, and they will shape the landscape of business in years to come – if we learn to work with them.

Here are five tips for managing and engaging your millennial employees:

1. Provide feedback – early, and often. Millennials may give the air that they are confident,but this doesn’t mean they don’t want to improve. Millennials want to learn, grow, and develop.Unlike boomers, they will not benefit from only an annual review. They expect to be given constructive feedback on a daily basis. Be open, honest and direct and meet face-to-face. Share your management philosophy and style.
   
   
2. Give them structure. Unlike boomers and Xers, millennials want to be told exactly what todo. Their entire lives, their days have been structured while parents, teachers, tutors, nannies,and coaches have told them exactly what to do. In the workplace, they struggle with taking initiative and prioritizing. Now, don’t give them a step-by-step action plan for each of their tasks, but do schedule "check points” for their assignments, and make time to answer their questions.
   
   
3. Tell them why. Millennials have been taught to ask why. Growing up, when they asked their parents and teachers "why?, they got answers other than "because I said so.” As a result, they genuinely want to know the reasoning behind why things are the way they are at work. When they ask why, they expect an answer. Never give them a project without explaining the big picture. Tell them why it’s important, even if it seems obvious to you. Give definitive reasons for policies and procedures.
   
   
4. Offer career advice. Not all millennials are job hoppers. It is important that you offer opportunities for growth and development according to their individual needs. Show them away that will allow them to change paths within the same company. Encourage them to join industry and professional organizations.
   
   
5. Offer flexibility. Millennials value a parallel life, and work-life balance is incredibly important.They are digital natives who believe that technology allows work to be done anytime,anywhere. Consider flexible work hours and trust them to work from home on a case-by-case basis.

Remember: millennials are not better or worse, they are just different. Take advantage of their positive attitude, ability to multitask, technical skills, and multicultural awareness. Don’t be afraid to defy the golden rule and treat them the way they want to be treated, as opposed to the way you want to be treated.

Brad Karsh is President and lead trainer at JB Training Solutions. An accomplished public speaker and author, Brad has been featured on CNN, CNBC, and Dr. Phil and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, and many others. Brad is an advice columnist for Yahoo! and he is author of Confessions of a Recruiting Director (Prentice Hall Press, 2006). Prior to starting JB Training Solutions, Brad spent 15 years at advertising giant Leo Burnett in Chicago. He began his career in Account Management, working on clients including McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and Pillsbury. He then moved into HR where he was responsible for hiring and training hundreds of employees.

We often hear from organizations that a key challenge in adopting an analytics-based approach to HR is "getting all of our systems (i.e. HRIS) in one place so that they can talk to each other.”  

Although system integration is important, it is not the key to successfully implementing analytics as part of your HR strategy.

Here are five practical paths that organizations can take to achieve the goal of creating an HR strategy based on analytics.

1. Big Analytics Behind-the-Scenes
   Data collected at organizations are typically housed in different places (i.e., on different servers/platforms). When data are housed in this manner, analytics can be conducted behind-the-scenes by gathering the relevant data – including business outcome data - from the disparate platforms. The process is not sexy, but executives don’t need to know how the sausage gets made. 
   
   
2. Big Analytics and Big Integration
   The integration of multiple HR platforms can be a huge undertaking for big companies. Organizations in this position can put together a comprehensive approach in which the analytics (and impact!) begin immediately while an IT transition plan is executed in tandem. The key here is to do the real cause-effect analytics work behind the scenes and expose the leaders to the outputs of the analytics – make them want more.  This is an approach that is quite effective because getting executives excited about analytics now, but spending multiple months/years to integrate data will reduce that excitement very quickly.
   
   
3. Start Small—Generate Interest
   Many organizations think that they have to examine all of their HR data at the same time to conduct rigorous analyses and have a meaningful impact. Not true. Start with one HR process or piece of talent management data and show how it impacts an important business outcome. A great one to start with is your employee opinion survey. Using cause-effect analytics, you can show which specific attitudes have a direct impact on important business outcomes (e.g. profit, productivity, safety, turnover). Use this initial analysis to get leaders bought into the process of HR analytics.
   
   
4. For Small Business—Start Strong
   Small businesses often have a distinct advantage when it comes to integrating their HR data and conducting analytics—they don’t have old legacy technology platforms or vast quantities of data….yet. Strong analytics can be done within small businesses in much the same way as in large businesses. The focus is typically on individual performance, so having a strong performance-based culture and performance management tools are keys to analytics success.
   
   
5. Have Integration, Need Strong Analytics
   It is scary to think that putting all of this data in one place and paying a company to house it all will actually increase costs for your organization. Warehousing your HR data in one place is a good thing, but the critical next step is to pull together the business outcomes from other functions to show how HR has a cause-effect relationship with those business outcomes and calculate an ROI.

The good news is that any of these paths can be taken quickly and effectively, and all will lead you to being a business partner by showing the impact of HR on real business outcomes.

Scott Mondore, Ph.D., is currently a managing partner of Strategic Management Decisions (SMD) and is the co-author of "Investing in What Matters: Linking Employees to Business Outcomes” and the upcoming book:"Business-focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results” both published by SHRM. Mondore has significant experience in the areas of strategy, talent management, measurement, customer experience and organizational development across numerous industries. Mondore holds a master’s degree and doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia. He can be reached at smondore@smdhr.com.

Shane Douthitt, Ph.D., is currently a managing partner of Strategic Management Decisions (SMD) and is the co-author of "Investing in What Matters: Linking Employees to Business Outcomes” and "Business-focused HR: 11 Processes to Drive Results.”Douthitt has significant experience in the areas of measurement, training, talent management, executive assessment and coaching, and organizational development across a variety of industries. Douthitt holds a master’s degree and doctorate in Industrial/Organizational psychology from the University of Georgia. He can be reached at sdouthitt@smdhr.com.

Research on motivation and the role of the brain points to many important insights for leaders and managers trying to respond proactively to burn out on their teams. Most importantly, leaders must understand that all motivation—whether at work or at play—shares the same neural pathway. Tapping into that pathway is the job of the leader—and understanding the brain can help. Here’s more about the brain and motivating your team as written in my book, Primal Leadership:

In a technical sense, our guiding values are represented in the brain as a hierarchy of emotionally toned thoughts, with what we "like” and find compelling at the top, and what we loathe at the bottom. The strength and direction of those emotions determine whether a goal appeals to us or repels us. If the thought of helping disadvantaged children, for example, or of working with people at the top of their game, thrills us, it will be highly motivating.

All of this occurs in the brain’s prefrontal areas—the seat of attention and hence of self-awareness—which monitor feelings about preferences. Circuits in that part of the brain, then, harbor our positive feelings, quietly bringing them to mind over and over as we struggle toward a goal. Pleasant thoughts thereby operate as a sort of cheering section, urging us on over the long haul. From a neurological standpoint, what keeps us moving toward our goals in life comes down to the mind’s ability to remind us of how satisfied we’ll feel when we accomplish those things—a capacity residing in the circuitry between the amygdala and the left prefrontal lobe.

No matter what drives our passion to do our best work—whether it be the pure excitement it brings, the satisfaction of learning to do something better, or the joy of collaborating with highly talented colleagues (or simply the money we earn)—all the motivators share a common neural pathway. Passion for work, at the brain level, means that circuits linked to the left prefrontal cortex pump out a fairly steady stream of good feelings as we do our work.

At the same time, left prefrontal-based brain circuits perform another motivational favor: They quiet the feelings of frustration or worry that might discourage us from continuing. This means we can take in stride the inevitable setbacks, frustrations, and failures that any worthy goal brings us. We can see the hidden opportunity or the useful lesson in a reversal and keep going.

How well those prefrontal circuits prime motivating feelings and control the discouraging ones makes the difference between a pessimist, who dwells too much on what’s wrong and so loses hope, and an optimist, who keeps going despite difficulties by holding in mind the satisfaction to come when the goal is met.

How does all of this apply to leaders and organizations? Motivation on the job too often is taken for granted; we assume people care about what they do. But the truth is more nuanced: Wherever people gravitate within their work role indicates where their real pleasure lies—and that pleasure is itself motivating. Although traditional incentives such as bonuses or recognition can prod people to better performance, no external motivators can get people to perform at their absolute best.

The implications for leaders and managers are clear: get to know your people. Understand what in their work is most "naturally” exciting to them, because that is where they will get the energy (through the pumping of critical brain chemicals) and motivation to do the full range of their work. By orchestrating a means for them to do the work they like most—which feeds them on a primal and neurological basis—you can leverage their energy and excitement into the rest of their work. By making a concerted effort to give your people more work that motivates them, you will be well on your way to counteracting the damaging effects of burnout, and moving your team and organization toward resilience and long-term sustainability.

Read more about Annie McKee and her HRPS Global Conference session, Revitalizing Leadership: It Starts with You.

• The level and quality of strategic HR content
• The executive involvement of leaders who have a track record of success with strategic development
• The level of engagement all of the members have toward the betterment of the organization. 
  

On-boarding

John Kotter of Harvard University wrote an article many years ago entitled the "Joining-up Process.” I still remember how he described this joining-up process, which we now refer to as on-boarding, like a marriage – if the honeymoon is bad, the marriage is headed in the wrong direction. Think about your own on-boarding experiences—what would you have changed? How did it change your relationship with your new spouse (employer/boss)? Here are some questions we could ask:

1. What is the process currently? What data do we have in hard facts or anecdotally to be able to rate our process?

• What is our philosophy in this area? How do we communicate this philosophy? Is it in our training classes? Materials?
• What is process like?
• Before hiring?
• What happens on the first day? Ongoing?
• Do people have equipment/resources?
• Does anyone know a new person is even coming and anything about him/her? Is the onboarding process occurring over time?
• What are our critical hiring areas?
• What are the worse parts of the onboarding process?
• Are new executives on boarded in a way that fosters immediate productivity and relationship building, and avoids "organ rejection?”
• Who is accountable for what in the process? Does it happen? Do we hold people accountable?
• Does the process include relationships and knowledge?
• How is the person really assimilated into the group?
• Is the GE assimilation process used for leaders? In this process key—areas are defined and then questions in these areas are generated by employees without the new leader being in the room, then the leader comes in and answers the questions.
• What tools do manager have to onboard people?
• Do we need to automate pieces? More pieces?
• Will this automation help the administrative as well as the emotional onboarding process?
• How will the automation be perceived by administrators, managers, new employees?

2. Assuming the rating is not what we would like it to be, are we willing to invest time and dollars? Where these should be invested first? How will be known if it is working?

Dr. Lynn Slavenski has worked in the field for over 25 years Dr. Slavenski previously held the position as CLO at a Fortune 500 company. Succession planning and talent assessment and management remains her passion. In 2007 she had a chapter on mentoring published in The Next Generation of Corporate Universities. She has been featured in CLO Magazine and has delivered over 50 presentations for professional organizations. She currently consults as a member of NTS for Fortune 500 and 100 companies.

Whether instruments are used before or after the talent review process, they can provide additional insights and clarifications. If you are going to use instruments here are some questions which may be useful to you:

• What type of instrument?
• Psychometric self
• Simulations – behavioral decisions/performance (generic/customized/online/in-person)?
• 360 surveys? Customized or off-the-shelf?
• Work experience?

• What categories of instruments could I use?
• Leadership?
• Derailers?
• Values?
• Specific key competencies (decision making, conflict, etc.)?
• Analytical reasoning?
• Combinations of the above? Other?

• Overall questions
• Predictability?
• Foundation?
• Ease of use?
• Length of time to take?
• Compatibility with each other?
• Cost?

• Why? When?
• Selection - Prior to hiring/placement whether internally or externally? Note: if prior to hiring obviously the instrument need be used as guide to ask the right interview questions and gathers specific behavioral data.
• Development – after hiring or after being rated as having the ability to move a certain number of levels or being designated as a high potential

• Who should be given these instruments?
• High Potentials?
• Every one at a specific level and above?
• Job categories (i.e. sales, customer service)?
• Combinations of the above?
• Participant & manager, so that manager can coach the person?

• How much assessment should we do - intensity?
• Light i.e. one online instrument
• Medium i.e. several online instruments in different categories
• Heavy i.e. assessment center (online or in-person), one or more psychometric, 360 survey

• Where and how should they be administered and the feedback given?
• In-person? Group feedback? Individual feedback?
• Remote (on phone)? Individually? Group (webinar)?
• Online (i.e. online simulations)

• How long - Duration? This is especially applicable if being used for development.
• One time
• Several over time?
• 3 months? 6 months? Year?
• Outcome?
• Feedback - 2-3 areas and ideas
• Draft Development plan mutually developed with a coach
  
  

What other questions would you add?

To hear success stories, case studies and new approaches to talent management, join HRPS at our upcoming workshop, Talent Management: Succession Planning and High Potential Development, February 23-24 in Tampa, Florida. Companies such as Bank of America, Coca-Cola Refreshments, UPS, Qualcomm, The Hertz Corporation and others will discuss how each of their organizations built their talent management strategies. To find out more about the agenda, visit www.hrps.org/workshop.

I hope you will join us for our next blog where we will take another piece of a talent management system and raise questions that need to be answered.

Dr. Lynn Slavenski has worked in the field for over 25 years Dr. Slavenski previously held the position as CLO at a Fortune 500 company. Succession planning and talent assessment and management remains her passion. In 2007 she had a chapter on mentoring published in The Next Generation of Corporate Universities. She has been featured in CLO Magazine and has delivered over 50 presentations for professional organizations. She currently consults as a member of National Training Systems for Fortune 500 and 100 companies.

Therefore one of the first questions is – How are we going to identify our people? Here are some broad alternatives:

1. Manager nomination - Given leadership competencies either overall or for specific jobs and definitions of high potentials, ask managers to rate competencies or overall competence and/or potential with the guidance of their human resource partner. The manager could be asked to provide a little or a lot of information and it could be reviewed and challenged by numerous levels of people – all the way to the CEO in a top level talent review meeting.
   
2. Assessments - Often times assessment vehicles may be used in conjunction with the above and may be more of a refinement and used, which is what I have always preferred but again the culture plays a role. More on this topic will be discussed in our next blog.
3. Talent Reviews - In either case, you will need to plan your talent review which is usually a series of meetings when specific people get discussed based on data and overall people issues for each area reviewed. More on this topic will be shared first-hand from Bank of America at our upcoming workshop, Talent Management: Succession Planning & High Potential Development in February. 

Talent Review Meeting Scheduling

• Do you do only by Business Unit or do you combine BU for cross-pollination exposure of high potentials? At all level? Top level?
• How many will you need?
• Depth - How many levels do you go down the first year?
• When do you begin to hit target date for CEO presentation?

Materials and Information Presented

• How much information are you going to ask leaders to complete?
• What will they present?
• Successors, High potential, 9 box square for performance and potential, promo ability ratings, readiness, risk of leaving, how meet or not meet key competencies or success factors for the job, development ideas, bios, career progression, work experience, accomplishments, competencies, development needs etc.?
• People issues facing their organization?
• Staffing ("get ‘em)”: Do we have talent for the jobs- do we have the pipelines? Are people available in the market place
• Development (grow ‘em)”: Do we have sufficient, effective strategies in place?
• Retention ("keep ‘em” – Are we able to keep our people? Do we know why some of our best people leave…or why they stay? Do we have a "pulse” on how our executives feel about their jobs and what we need to do to ensure their engagement?
• Openings which could be filled from across the company?
• What is too much and what is too little information? At the February workshop hear from Mark Effron on the answer to this.
• Will you computerize the data? How much?
• What will be actually printed, if anything? Given to whom? (i.e. printed only to CEO and Head of HR?)

Meeting Attendance

• Who will be at the meetings? i.e. Will the human resource person for business unit attend CEO meeting if all the senior staff is there or just top HR person and facilitator?
• Is the top level meeting going to be offsite?

Agenda

• What will the agenda for the year include – what do you want to emphasize?
• How long will each person have to present/discuss?
• How long is the review/s going to be- especially at the top?

CEO Preparation

• How and when will the CEO or other top officer be prepared for the meeting
• Does the CEO want certain issues emphasized?

Communications

• How much data do you shared and to whom? When? How? Who delivers?
• High potentials – do we tell them they are high potentials or do we tell them they have been chosen for a special development program? Other? What questions will they have and how will we answer them?
• What do we say to all managers about the process and next steps?
• How do we handle those who are disappointed or have been rated poorly?
• Other issues
• Who has access to what information?
• What will your follow-up process on actions be? When? And how? (In person?)
• Do you create challenging questions?
• How do you get commitment and input from the HR people?
• What will be the role of the HR consultant/partner for each area?
• Do you have the staff to process the data and prepare materials for the meeting that are perfect?
• Does the process fit our philosophy and culture?
• Will everyone be included at some point in time or is the intent to stop at certain levels?

Overall Questions

• Will the process designed really help the leaders and organization – is it worth the effort?
• Is the CEO going to support the effort?
• What are any potential problems and how will I overcome them?

To hear success stories, case studies and new approaches to talent management, join HRPS at our upcoming workshop, Talent Management: Succession Planning and High Potential Development, February 23-24 in Tampa, Florida. Companies such as Bank of America, Coca-Cola Refreshments, UPS, Qualcomm, The Hertz Corporation and others will discuss how each of their organizations built their talent management strategies. To find out more about the agenda, visit www.hrps.org/workshop.

I hope you will join us for our next blog where we will take another pieces of a talent management system and raise questions that need to be answered.

Dr. Lynn Slavenski has worked in the field for over 25 years Dr. Slavenski previously held the position as CLO at a Fortune 500 company. Succession planning and talent assessment and management remains her passion. In 2007 she had a chapter on mentoring published in The Next Generation of Corporate Universities. She has been featured in CLO Magazine and has delivered over 50 presentations for professional organizations. She currently consults as a member of National Training Systems (NTS) for Fortune 500 and 100 companies.

Designing is an "-ing” word. Almost all mature organizations are in constant motion, either considering or changing their organizational structure. However, it is essential to consider it as part of the talent management process since it is the picture upon which the pieces of the puzzle are drawn. Being in charge of talent management for many years and in various companies, I found that although organizations are constantly in motion, having managers look at their organization very carefully as part of the talent management review process at least annually is essential.

The answer to what is the best organization is a difficult question and there are only trade-offs among choices. The following may help you and your leaders think through the organizational design. The main steps are:

1. Understand Strategy
2. Diagnosis Questions
3. Determine critical success factors criteria for the organization design
4. Design
5. Pros/cons
6. Obstacle Analysis
7. Communications Plan

Here are some questions at that I have found helpful. – What other questions would you ask?

Strategy/Overview

• What is the overall mission /purpose/strategy of the area? What could/should it be? Does the structure make sense based on the mission?
• Based on strategy, should structure be based on geography, function, product, customer, matrix, centralized/decentralized, mixed?
  

Structure

• What is not working now? (Unclear roles, little coordination, flow of work disrupted, resources misused, reduced responsiveness to mark needs, turnover, no mechanism to work across boundaries)?
• How many layers are there in the department—could any layer/s be taken out to flatten out the organization—is the decision making close to the source of taking care of the work or are too many levels of approval slowing down the work?
• What is the span of control for each manager? (Are there any "1 ln1s” that could be eliminated – could some manager positions be eliminated?)
• Could any functions we outsourced?
• Could any functions be done by another area more efficiently? Is there any duplication of effort anywhere in the organization? Combine?
• What non-value activities could be eliminated (steps, processes, better needs?
• Is the responsibility for the tasks located in the same department where the work is actually done? (Usually accountability should be as close to the worker as possible.)
• Is the job balanced with the proper amount of division of labor or is it too segmented?
• Are there too many "pass offs” of work? (process not streamlined)
• Are there clear roles between workers within and between departments?
• Are people dependent on others to get parts of their job done? Should they be closer to them? Organizationally and or physically?
• What is the volume of work? Is it increasing, decreasing? Is it even between jobs?
• What’s automated? Is it working? What could be automated?
• What are best practices in other similar organizations?
• To what extent does the design limit or decrease the ability to motivate needed behavior?
• Are there economies of scale?

Informational Organization

• To what extent does the design conflict with the following factors?
• Current leadership styleCurrent communications?
  

Once you design options, consider the pros and cons of each and decide on the best option for your organization, then considering obstacles is important. No design will be perfect and if you have plans in place to overcome these potential problems, execution will go smoother.

Here are some questions. What other questions would you ask?

Design Criteria

• To what extent are there important design criteria (critical success factors) that have not been met by the proposed design?

Input

• To what extent does the design pose problems in relations with the outside environment? (External to company or other parts of company)
• To what extent will the design require significant additions to or reallocations of human capital, technical, or other similar resources? Technology? Regulatory?
• To what extent will the design create problems because of history or past practice?
  

Individuals

• To what extent does the design decrease the quality of fit between the requirements of the work and capacities of individuals?
• To what extent does the design limit or decrease opportunities to meet individual needs?
• To what extent does the design change influence patterns (politics)?
• How much resistance will be felt and
  

Skills

• What are the competencies needed based on strategy and design?
• In general, are the people in the jobs competent to do the jobs? (Overly competent – can some take on more? Or under competent – they need to go?)

Cost

• To what extent will the design require incurring additional costs (direct or indirect)?

Other Factors

• List any other factors where the design may have a significant impact. (Stress on individual, etc.)
  

What other questions would you add? Please share your thoughts here!

For more information on organizational design, join us for our January 10 webcast, Mastering the Complexity of the Multidimensional Matrix, presented by Dr. Jay Galbraith. And, be sure to watch for the January 2012 special issue of the HRPS People & Strategy journal on this topic spearheaded by editors and subject-matter experts Amy Kates and Greg Kessler.

To hear success stories, case studies and new approaches to talent management, join HRPS at our upcoming workshop, Talent Management: Succession Planning and High Potential Development, February 23-24 in Tampa, Florida. Companies such as Bank of America, Coca-Cola Refreshments, UPS, Qualcomm, The Hertz Corporation and others will discuss how each of their organizations built their talent management strategies. To find out more about the agenda, visit www.hrps.org/workshop.

I hope you will join us for our next blog where we will take another piece of a talent management system and raise questions that need to be answered.

Dr. Lynn Slavenski has worked in the field for over 25 years Dr. Slavenski previously held the position as CLO at a Fortune 500 company. Succession planning and talent assessment and management remains her passion. . In 2007 she had a chapter on mentoring published in The Next Generation of Corporate Universities. She has been featured in CLO Magazine and has delivered over 50 presentations for professional organizations. She currently consults as a member of NTS for Fortune 500 and 100 companies (.National Training Systems – Coaching and Training Leaders Worldwide --President – Dr. Marilyn Buckner)

• Dennis Nally, Global Chairman, PwC 
• Mary Teagarden, Expert on business dynamics in China and India
  
• John W. Boudreau, PhD, Distinguished Author
  
• Libby Sartain, HR Advisor and Distinguished Author
  
• Tom Waldron, Senior Vice President, People, Sam’s Club
  

First and foremost is a philosophy. What does your organization really believe about talent? Here are some key questions to consider. How would you answer them? And what other questions would you ask?

• What is a high potential really?
• How long should a high potential stay in a job to be able to live with their successes and mistakes?
• What kinds of experiences do most high potentials really need to be success over the long run?
• How transparent should the system be?
• What should the individual’s responsibility be? Manager’s responsibility? Organization’s responsibility?
• What does development really involve?
• How much are we willing to invest in development? On whom?
• What does average mean? How long can someone stay slightly below average and stay?
• How ready should a person be to be moved?

Another cornerstone seems to be competencies. This also raises some key questions:

• What job(s) do we need competencies on?
• Should there be overall competencies and then specific ones for individual jobs?
• How should we create these competencies? How much effort time and expense should we invest?
• Who should be involved? Key officers? Broader base?
• What research is out there to start with?
• How many seem right – robust enough but not overwhelming?
• Do competencies have to be unique to us or can they be based on research, instruments etc.?
• Should/can we automate the collection and storage of these competencies?

The next cornerstone is accountability. Who is accountable for what and when? We talk a lot about holding leaders and others accountable but where does the buck really stop and how do you know it and enforce it? Is it in performance reviews, bonuses, their promotions, their salary increases? What really works?

The last cornerstone is values and culture. This is particularly interesting to me since I did my dissertation on corporate culture. When you think about it all the other cornerstones stem from this, and different cultures and sets of values produce very different talent management systems. I think the work of Edgar Schein on organizational culture and leadership is important to this area. Culture has important implications to successful execution of a talent management process. I was fortunate to be able to do some workshops with Dr. Schein – an incredible thinker.

What other cornerstones do you think should be considered? What questions would you add to the above?

Be sure to check back often for our next blog in our talent management series. We will explore the next piece of the puzzle – organizational design and structure. It seems like before we put people in the boxes we should be sure we know what the boxes should look like.

To hear success stories, case studies and new approaches to talent management, join HRPS at our upcoming workshop, Talent Management: Succession Planning and High Potential Development, February 23-24 in Tampa, Florida. Companies such as Bank of America, Coca-Cola Refreshments, UPS, The Hertz Corporation and others will discuss how each of their organizations built their talent management strategy around these cornerstones. To find out more about the agenda, visit www.hrps.org/workshop.

Dr. Lynn Slavenski has worked in the field for over 25 years. Dr. Slavenski previously held the position as CLO at a Fortune 500 company. Succession planning and talent assessment and management remains her passion .She currently consults as a member of National Training Systems for Fortune 500 and 100 companies.

This year's theme, of course, is Talent Tune-up: Creating and Leveraging a Talent Advantage. Acquiring and growing talent is always important, but in the current economy, where everyone is really thinking hard before spending money on anything, it's especially critical.

In a competitive situation, nearly every organizations will say "it's our people who make the difference." Yet how many of them really take the time and put the process in place to develop those people and help them go beyond what they can already do? Especially when the focus is on getting the work out the door?

At the Fall Forum, you'll hear from many HR leaders whose organizations have taken those steps to create a talent advantage. Fall Forum is focused on real-life case studies where ideas were developed and tried and lessons were learned. Whether you feel your organization is doing all it can or lagging behind, you're sure to find a story that will give you a new perspective on creating and leveraging talent.

The intimate setting is also very conducive to learning and sharing ideas. You'll have plenty of opportunities to connect with other strategic HR leaders and build your personal network of experts.

Remember, Fall Forum starts this Sunday. We hope to see you there!

Looking at results from the last two surveys, the top challenges reported by HR executives are not surprising:

• Ensuring an engaged and productive workforce,
• Retention of top talent,
• Developing leaders, and
• Aligning people strategies to business objectives.

To address retention and productivity risks, some organizations are responding to employee requests for more communication and greater training and development opportunities. However, where organizations are unable to address their retention risks through these means, there may be a need for further study--and to my way of thinking, greater innovation.

"Innovation” is easy to say but often difficult to create, especially when organizations are facing a weak economy and uncertainty in the markets. Still, the key to innovation is good ideas, and we still produce those — even during this slow recovery.

Take, for example, a presentation from last year's HRPS Fall Forum. Trina Soske and Mark Markovitz presented a variation on executive development. In their work at IBM, they shifted away from a traditional focus on individual leaders and instead designed their program around a group of leaders. Why does it make sense? Because executives at IBM, like the rest of us, work in groups where responsibility and authority is often shared and interdependent. In this group model, the organization's strategic initiatives sit at the center of the program and development occurs within a group jointly responsible for outcomes. One of my favorite phrases from that session: "Leadership is not an individual act.”

Looking at the list of sleep-stealers from the HRE survey, a leadership program like this might be a twofer—tagging development and alignment. It could even have a positive effect on all four of these top anxiety producers.

The process for improved outcomes at the organizational level begins with good ideas. Staying current with research and pilots/experiments conducted by leading organizations is a necessity for Human Resources professionals who have to maintain a pipeline of strategic and tactical options.

Now, while I can't say for sure that attending the HRPS Fall Forum 2011 will make any of us sleep better, I do expect that we will come away with some provocative ideas to consider. The topics up for discussion this year at the Washington, DC-area event are on-point with the top anxiety-producers for HR leaders listed above:

• Strategic Fluency and Business Alignment
• Engagement, Retention and Corporate Culture
• Acquisition and On-boarding
• Leadership Development and Succession Planning

This is where the HR value chain starts: good ideas, research, and credible experiments in real life.

One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we receive at HRPS events such as the Global Conference and Fall Forum is attendees wish they could keep the discussion going. This blog is an opportunity to do that.

We will be posting thoughts, ideas, opinions and information around HRPS’ five pillars of knowledge. Some will address thought leadership concepts lifted from our People & Strategy journal. Others will reflect breaking news of the day, lessons learned or hot topics. In all cases we’re hoping to engage a wide variety of strategic HR professionals in order to create meaningful conversation which can help us all to improve our organizations and our careers.

The one thing we ask is that you comment on the posts – whether you agree or disagree with them. The more discussions we can generate, the better it is for all of us. Of course, if you would like to become a contributor we’re always looking for those as well. See our "Become an HRPS Blogger” notice in the sidebar.

Again, welcome to the HR Management Strategies blog. We look forward to reading many lively discussions.

Lynn Tetrault
2010-2011 Chairperson

From the onset, I’d been asking myself the same question. Some questions that came to mind after I read the article is: What function does HR analytics play in your business? Are you responsible for driving the strategic direction of your company, and if so, how much emphasis do you put on HR analytics and metrics? Do you feel that using this evidence-based approach has assisted in improving the quality for individual and organizational performance?

In 2007, HRPS ran an article titled, "HR Metrics and Analytics: Use and Impact” in V.27 No.1 of Human Resource Planning. The authors Edward E. Lawler III, Alec Levenson and John W. Boudreau write:

If HR can make a strong case for being an important part of strategy development and implementation because of the importance of human capital, why does HR often fall short of being a strategic partner? At least one possibility is because HR lacks the type of analytic and data-based decision-making capability needed to influence business strategy. One of the reasons for this may well be because it lacks the right metrics and analytic models.

In their response, they address how HR can make a stronger case to be part of the strategy development. It seems that in nearly five years (based on my read of Bassi’s article), HR professionals have become a bigger part of the companies in which they work and more a part of this decision-making process. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.