Since it's Labor Day weekend, this is my shortest blog post to-date ... although I have to admit, this ONE SENTENCE distills much of my 25 years of 'lessons learned' from implementing HR Technology solutions:
Success is more about project governance, people management, change management, vendor management, end-user involvement/ownership, marketing and post-implementation infrastructure optimization than it is about making commercially viable software do what it's supposed to do.
Have a restful holiday weekend all!
Sg
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Embracing social networking to drive business results
With 400 million active Facebook users and 80 million registered LinkedIn users, the need for social networking and interaction has secured and validated its place in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Moreover, large-scale economic uncertainties fundamentally change the drivers that attract, motivate and retain employees, including the need to perhaps socialize more during challenging times.
This viral trend, however, has posed an interesting challenge for organizations that want to capitalize on the potential business benefits of social networking and collaboration without making work so ‘social’ that employee performance suffers. Organizations therefore have to optimize the mix of non business-related social networking -- with business and job performance-related social collaboration … as these two clearly bleed into each other and can’t easily be de-coupled. A purely social contact today can become a critical business or job-relevant contact tomorrow, and someone who is not a contact today can become a social or business contact tomorrow.
Most large companies now have ‘social computing’ policy guidelines in an effort to ensure that company-sponsored (through technology platforms) social networking doesn’t cross over to ‘diminishing returns’ in the form of minimal company benefit – or worse, company liability. As an example of appropriate social computing policy, employees should be advised that when they discuss the company or company-related matters, they should write in the first person; and also make it clear that they are speaking for themselves.
In the midst of all the excitement being generated by social networking, and particularly, its potential to drive business benefits when guided appropriately (e.g., social learning, social collaboration-infused innovation, social networking as a driver of productivity, retention and engagement), I will offer-up one tip for organizations looking at the Talent Management Suite market:
You may recall when “embedded analytics” were being claimed by nearly every HCM solutions vendor, even when it might have been more aspirational than a reality. Well, “embedded social collaboration” may be a quasi-universal vendor claim that is at that same stage. Trust but verify!
This viral trend, however, has posed an interesting challenge for organizations that want to capitalize on the potential business benefits of social networking and collaboration without making work so ‘social’ that employee performance suffers. Organizations therefore have to optimize the mix of non business-related social networking -- with business and job performance-related social collaboration … as these two clearly bleed into each other and can’t easily be de-coupled. A purely social contact today can become a critical business or job-relevant contact tomorrow, and someone who is not a contact today can become a social or business contact tomorrow.
Most large companies now have ‘social computing’ policy guidelines in an effort to ensure that company-sponsored (through technology platforms) social networking doesn’t cross over to ‘diminishing returns’ in the form of minimal company benefit – or worse, company liability. As an example of appropriate social computing policy, employees should be advised that when they discuss the company or company-related matters, they should write in the first person; and also make it clear that they are speaking for themselves.
In the midst of all the excitement being generated by social networking, and particularly, its potential to drive business benefits when guided appropriately (e.g., social learning, social collaboration-infused innovation, social networking as a driver of productivity, retention and engagement), I will offer-up one tip for organizations looking at the Talent Management Suite market:
You may recall when “embedded analytics” were being claimed by nearly every HCM solutions vendor, even when it might have been more aspirational than a reality. Well, “embedded social collaboration” may be a quasi-universal vendor claim that is at that same stage. Trust but verify!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
What to call HR Technology implementations to increase odds of success
I’ve ended my brief hiatus from blogging in which I was heads-down on white papers and other HR technology projects. I will try to get back to roughly a bi-weekly blogging schedule.
As the title of this blog post implies, I feel a change is in order with respect to how HR technology implementations are labeled, marketed and positioned within organizations. Whether we want to admit it or not, many HR technology implementations do not live up to expectations – either in terms of empirically measured ROI, or anecdotally reported perceptions of the new system or module. While there are many useful articles and blog posts about causal factors, perhaps we haven’t adequately considered the need to simply call these very strategic initiatives something else. Why?
For one thing, there’s a legacy here that cannot be ignored so easily … a few decades of HR systems being owned by the HR function and designed more from an administrative, compliance or transaction-processing perspective. Consequently, line managers (the true stewards of Talent Management) didn’t exactly view the announcement of a new HR system as cause for celebration. Even Integrated Talent Management Suites have not always proven to be so integrated or designed from a “what’s in it for the user?” perspective.
Compounding this challenging legacy is the fact that the terms “next generation HR system” … “new HR system” … and/or “new Talent Management system” have been so broadly used within customer organizations – often before they were ready to materially change business outcomes -- that they’ve lost much of their meaning and ability to change attitudes toward broad adoption.
There’s perhaps yet another reason to call HR technology implementations something else – the words "technology implementation." Most astute observers of large-scale, complex technology implementations would probably agree that for every technology implementation considered widely successful, there is one considered a train-wreck. So, there you have it -- the double whammy syndrome of labeling these initiatives “HR Technology implementations.”
A logical candidate for re-naming these projects might be more reflective of what they really are --- or should be – “Foundational Change Management Initiatives" ... in which technology will be a major component. These endeavors are truly aimed at changing hearts and minds about how people should be managed for competitive advantage, using technology as an enabler. This is an "inside-out" transformation, brought about by such techniques as being open about perceived take-aways (and offsets), identifying and converting those “on-the-fence”, promoting major benefits at the individual stakeholder level, etc. The most successful change management efforts are designed to impact at a very personal level, not at the level of how processes will be better or more efficient for the organization.
Every time I hear about an HR technology implementation to optimize and enable HR/Talent Management processes, I quickly ascribe 3 things to the effort: (1) the change management dimension has been short-changed once again; (2) an overly simplistic, process-centric view of Talent Management / Human Capital Management which will likely prevent holistic thinking about the Talent Agenda; and (3) no more than a 50/50 probability of resounding success due to (1) and (2).
As the title of this blog post implies, I feel a change is in order with respect to how HR technology implementations are labeled, marketed and positioned within organizations. Whether we want to admit it or not, many HR technology implementations do not live up to expectations – either in terms of empirically measured ROI, or anecdotally reported perceptions of the new system or module. While there are many useful articles and blog posts about causal factors, perhaps we haven’t adequately considered the need to simply call these very strategic initiatives something else. Why?
For one thing, there’s a legacy here that cannot be ignored so easily … a few decades of HR systems being owned by the HR function and designed more from an administrative, compliance or transaction-processing perspective. Consequently, line managers (the true stewards of Talent Management) didn’t exactly view the announcement of a new HR system as cause for celebration. Even Integrated Talent Management Suites have not always proven to be so integrated or designed from a “what’s in it for the user?” perspective.
Compounding this challenging legacy is the fact that the terms “next generation HR system” … “new HR system” … and/or “new Talent Management system” have been so broadly used within customer organizations – often before they were ready to materially change business outcomes -- that they’ve lost much of their meaning and ability to change attitudes toward broad adoption.
There’s perhaps yet another reason to call HR technology implementations something else – the words "technology implementation." Most astute observers of large-scale, complex technology implementations would probably agree that for every technology implementation considered widely successful, there is one considered a train-wreck. So, there you have it -- the double whammy syndrome of labeling these initiatives “HR Technology implementations.”
A logical candidate for re-naming these projects might be more reflective of what they really are --- or should be – “Foundational Change Management Initiatives" ... in which technology will be a major component. These endeavors are truly aimed at changing hearts and minds about how people should be managed for competitive advantage, using technology as an enabler. This is an "inside-out" transformation, brought about by such techniques as being open about perceived take-aways (and offsets), identifying and converting those “on-the-fence”, promoting major benefits at the individual stakeholder level, etc. The most successful change management efforts are designed to impact at a very personal level, not at the level of how processes will be better or more efficient for the organization.
Every time I hear about an HR technology implementation to optimize and enable HR/Talent Management processes, I quickly ascribe 3 things to the effort: (1) the change management dimension has been short-changed once again; (2) an overly simplistic, process-centric view of Talent Management / Human Capital Management which will likely prevent holistic thinking about the Talent Agenda; and (3) no more than a 50/50 probability of resounding success due to (1) and (2).
Saturday, June 26, 2010
4 “Tricky Nuances” in Talent Management
On the heels of my last post on the careful use of predictive tools in screening job candidates, I have included some musings below on 4 other “tricky nuances” in talent management.
1. One of the predictors of “employee retention risk" that I’ve used in models is “recency of training.” Just like a prior ‘job-hopping’ pattern can foretell whether a job candidate might be EITHER a good or bad hiring decision (depending on the job), training an employee could have polar opposite effects on employee retention -- based on the broader "work experience" context.
The degree to which training increases/decreases the odds of an employee leaving (voluntarily) is often related to whether the skill(s) they are being trained in are valued more internally vs. externally. Presumably, something valued more internally (e.g., being skilled in a company-proprietary technology) means the employee will likely be compensated, engaged and generally treated better than if they were to leave … so better retention usually ensues. Conversely, if an employee picks-up a new skill or set of skills (e.g., Six Sigma Training) when the market is hungry for those skills –AND the organization is not expending much effort (or money ) to engage and secure that employee, the training offered can certainly result in creating an “employee retention risk.”
2. A tricky scenario that relates to compensation is where an excellent or above-average performer gets a very modest (or even meager) salary increase due to being on-top of the range for their salary grade. In an organization of say 10,000 employees, it’s certainly conceivable that 3-5% (or 300-500 employees) will be in this situation. If the average salary for this group is $70,000 and the average (small) increase given is 3% … that company has doled out $630,000 to over $1 million and will likely derive very little if any benefit from that! [Refer to #3 below for a possible way to mitigate this situation.]
3. A more technical situation where compensation can serve as a dis-incentive … Take the case of a married couple in the U.S. filing a joint tax return with a combined taxable income of $65,000. One of them then gets a nice 10% salary increase for being a great contributor -- cause for a nice dinner out -- or is it? Well, for married couples filing jointly, $68,000 is the cutoff between the 15% and 25% tax brackets. Consequently, this couple’s income (after taxes) is actually decreased by $8,000 after one of them gets a healthy 10% raise! How does an organization avoid rewarding employees well but getting the opposite of the desired effect?
One answer is to have an HR manager and a corporate accountant review a list of all employees potentially in this situation; and perhaps offer a non-monetary reward if the employee so chooses; e.g., flex hours or non job-specific training. At the very least, they should communicate with those employees to advise them of the consequences (e.g., short and longer-term) of this year’s comp adjustment.
4. I’ll end with an example in the realm of competencies … specifically, what might occur when the value an organization attaches to a certain competency changes in a material way? Case in point from investment banking … I suspect a few Wall Street firms (the ones that seriously signed-up for less risk-taking) have been thinking a lot lately about how to re-tool their workforce from a competencies standpoint. With “risk management” and “sound judgment” likely being valued much more in these firms, they must quickly transition to these “newly valued” competencies in a way that is minimally disruptive to the business.
1. One of the predictors of “employee retention risk" that I’ve used in models is “recency of training.” Just like a prior ‘job-hopping’ pattern can foretell whether a job candidate might be EITHER a good or bad hiring decision (depending on the job), training an employee could have polar opposite effects on employee retention -- based on the broader "work experience" context.
The degree to which training increases/decreases the odds of an employee leaving (voluntarily) is often related to whether the skill(s) they are being trained in are valued more internally vs. externally. Presumably, something valued more internally (e.g., being skilled in a company-proprietary technology) means the employee will likely be compensated, engaged and generally treated better than if they were to leave … so better retention usually ensues. Conversely, if an employee picks-up a new skill or set of skills (e.g., Six Sigma Training) when the market is hungry for those skills –AND the organization is not expending much effort (or money ) to engage and secure that employee, the training offered can certainly result in creating an “employee retention risk.”
2. A tricky scenario that relates to compensation is where an excellent or above-average performer gets a very modest (or even meager) salary increase due to being on-top of the range for their salary grade. In an organization of say 10,000 employees, it’s certainly conceivable that 3-5% (or 300-500 employees) will be in this situation. If the average salary for this group is $70,000 and the average (small) increase given is 3% … that company has doled out $630,000 to over $1 million and will likely derive very little if any benefit from that! [Refer to #3 below for a possible way to mitigate this situation.]
3. A more technical situation where compensation can serve as a dis-incentive … Take the case of a married couple in the U.S. filing a joint tax return with a combined taxable income of $65,000. One of them then gets a nice 10% salary increase for being a great contributor -- cause for a nice dinner out -- or is it? Well, for married couples filing jointly, $68,000 is the cutoff between the 15% and 25% tax brackets. Consequently, this couple’s income (after taxes) is actually decreased by $8,000 after one of them gets a healthy 10% raise! How does an organization avoid rewarding employees well but getting the opposite of the desired effect?
One answer is to have an HR manager and a corporate accountant review a list of all employees potentially in this situation; and perhaps offer a non-monetary reward if the employee so chooses; e.g., flex hours or non job-specific training. At the very least, they should communicate with those employees to advise them of the consequences (e.g., short and longer-term) of this year’s comp adjustment.
4. I’ll end with an example in the realm of competencies … specifically, what might occur when the value an organization attaches to a certain competency changes in a material way? Case in point from investment banking … I suspect a few Wall Street firms (the ones that seriously signed-up for less risk-taking) have been thinking a lot lately about how to re-tool their workforce from a competencies standpoint. With “risk management” and “sound judgment” likely being valued much more in these firms, they must quickly transition to these “newly valued” competencies in a way that is minimally disruptive to the business.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Predictive tools in Talent Management (e.g., Recruiting) – proceed with caution!
Fact: Pure scientific method actually includes testing the hypothesis -- and the opposite of the hypothesis.
Opinion: I believe this purist approach to science and predictive tools unfortunately evades many modern-day “salaried scientists” … including some I-O (Industrial – Organizational) Psychologists who develop assessment tests to predict job success or flag questionable job candidates … sometimes only looking to confirm what they believe to be true. This is probably a function of the intense pressure to get verifiable "scientific" results more quickly in order to demonstrate business value to internal / external clients.
Many recruiting experts would agree that “false negatives” (rejecting a job candidate that would have been a great contributor) are much more harmful to an organization than “false positives” (hiring a job candidate that turns out to be a bad hire). This is generally the case because – as Bill Gates maintains – losing a potential star developer to a direct competitor can be the equivalent of losing $1 billion over the career of that developer. In contrast, most poor hiring decisions are usually addressed / ameliorated within 3-6 months; so on average, they are rarely costing an organization over $40-50,000 for the average professional. So – potentially, a “false negative” can be 20,000 times more costly than a “false positive” --- ok, maybe worst case.
In this context, perhaps we should be concerned that many assessment tests given to job candidates include this particular item to generally screen them out:
• A previous “job-hopping” pattern is often used to predict which job candidates would likely not be an ideal hire, even though the opposite may well be true for certain positions or job situations. For example, a business development exec that changes jobs every 2-3 years probably has a considerably bigger network of contacts to call on … and likely even a broader selling skills repertoire, than a sales executive who has been with one or two organizations over a long sales career. Moreover, a job-hopping sales exec may have been so good that their Sales Comp plan did not adequately reward them, driving them elsewhere.
• The same job-hopping disqualifier or “yellow flag” as a predictive tool also runs counter to the notion that people who have worked in a variety of organizations are exposed to many different ways of doing things, including a broader range of best industry practices.
Bottom line --- predictive tools can be very powerful and useful in Talent Management (e.g., Recruiting), but caution should be exercised in the form of not applying the same conclusions across all types of roles, candidate / manager behavioral profiles and work situations.
Opinion: I believe this purist approach to science and predictive tools unfortunately evades many modern-day “salaried scientists” … including some I-O (Industrial – Organizational) Psychologists who develop assessment tests to predict job success or flag questionable job candidates … sometimes only looking to confirm what they believe to be true. This is probably a function of the intense pressure to get verifiable "scientific" results more quickly in order to demonstrate business value to internal / external clients.
Many recruiting experts would agree that “false negatives” (rejecting a job candidate that would have been a great contributor) are much more harmful to an organization than “false positives” (hiring a job candidate that turns out to be a bad hire). This is generally the case because – as Bill Gates maintains – losing a potential star developer to a direct competitor can be the equivalent of losing $1 billion over the career of that developer. In contrast, most poor hiring decisions are usually addressed / ameliorated within 3-6 months; so on average, they are rarely costing an organization over $40-50,000 for the average professional. So – potentially, a “false negative” can be 20,000 times more costly than a “false positive” --- ok, maybe worst case.
In this context, perhaps we should be concerned that many assessment tests given to job candidates include this particular item to generally screen them out:
• A previous “job-hopping” pattern is often used to predict which job candidates would likely not be an ideal hire, even though the opposite may well be true for certain positions or job situations. For example, a business development exec that changes jobs every 2-3 years probably has a considerably bigger network of contacts to call on … and likely even a broader selling skills repertoire, than a sales executive who has been with one or two organizations over a long sales career. Moreover, a job-hopping sales exec may have been so good that their Sales Comp plan did not adequately reward them, driving them elsewhere.
• The same job-hopping disqualifier or “yellow flag” as a predictive tool also runs counter to the notion that people who have worked in a variety of organizations are exposed to many different ways of doing things, including a broader range of best industry practices.
Bottom line --- predictive tools can be very powerful and useful in Talent Management (e.g., Recruiting), but caution should be exercised in the form of not applying the same conclusions across all types of roles, candidate / manager behavioral profiles and work situations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
