Today I was pondering something..... just for a change.....
Historically, HR has always been a somewhat fence sitting position between the business agenda and need, and the people in the business doing the work to deliver that agenda (hopefully).
Back in the day, and I do remember it well enough, it was Personnel, lots of forms, lots of paper, lots of group hugs and holding hands and making everyone 'happy' - or at least that way the theory.
Then along came HR, lots of forms, lots of paper, lots of terrific jargon, acronyms and it became a domain of those with educational qualifications far more so than those who had just been 'people oriented administrators'. HR was a fun place to be in many ways, pushing the business agenda, really seeking ways to operate strategically, and asking questions about the business and what the team could do to deliver the agenda.
And then came HCM (Human Capital Management). My reading and research at the time suggested this was very much about metrics, and demonstrating how HR contributed to the bottom line - balanced scorecards, and any other number of tools aimed at turning a people function into a value metric that showed the ROI for every process, function and piece of paper. It didn't look to me like HCM was ever really going to fly, whilst the city bankers may be all about their bonus payments, and capitalism continues to thrive (or destroy the world depending on your perspective and mortgage commitments), there are very few human beings who would regard themselves as 'capital' anything in the 'asset' sense. Is its failure to launch more about the fact no one really said Human Capital was about using the individuals knowledge, skills, wisdom etc? Maybe?
And now, we are back at People, its not Personnel, no indeed, People. Of course it resonates because ultimately business is about people, customers, the workforce, and everyone in-between. The concept of 'people' seems in the theory to be about bringing together the best of all of the above elements, strategy, metrics, a seat at the table (an elusive beasty), and cultural practices that also show that business is about people, flexible working, diversity, flexible benefits, robust and fair reward and recognition.
We formerly HR and now People Practitioners are in an enviable place, on the cusp of another transition that will hopefully deliver on the dreams and goals of everyone who has gone before. The ever present talk of workforce demographics are in no small way I think responsible for the changes, Gen Y aren't obsessive about mortgages, cars and having the latest everything, they realise their own humanity and wanted to be treated like people, we (as in me and my compatriots) from Gen X are somewhat the same, although we still do perhaps have a little bit of the Boomer mentality - just see how many 30 somethings are living in the burbs in their 4x2 with the BMW 4WD and the 4WD pram in the family room..... but I love Gen Y - yes, there is that 'grumpy old man' moan about their fashion, their music and all that, but, what they are helping humanity to do is realise that being human is what counts and I think that is an awesome achievement.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
The Evolution of Talent Management 1.0
2011 was a fascinating year in HR - particularly in terms of recruitment and talent management.
Business finally realised in many segments that the 'war for talent' was perhaps real - and the need to present a strong talent strategy, both retaining it, attracting it, and developing it were key to riding out the storm that is the ongoing GFC, brain drain and so on.
I remember well the days when recruitment was a process, and am grateful that recruitment has moved into Talent, and Talent has become a more strategic function allowing practitioners who work internally to actively participate in the business, to foster and grow relationships and to really gain a depth of understanding that previously wasn't there.
Developing capability and skill as a talent practitioner at this time is still an evolution - but there are some core skills that I would recognise as being critical to the path of success:
Build your relationships - understand your people, listen to them more than you talk to them, and develop your ability and skill in being recognised as a value add in the business, not an overhead. Understand the culture, and remember, each team can often have its own culture which is distinct to that of the broader organisation - the same can be said for country or state in the case of global or national organisations. Network Network Network with everyone.
Learn about the functions - what is it that X job actually does, why does it do it, and how does it contribute to the big picture. This is a little bit like (read almost identical to) Job Analysis and Design, but if you as a Talent professional don't understand the nuts and bolts of every role you are working with - how can you truly identify the best people to do it?
Social Media - grow your network, join groups, set up Google Searches, become an active participant in groups and discussions. Forums such as LinkedIn really allow us the opportunity to get our names and companies out there, to listen to real time market occurrences, to identify those who are active and who perhaps have opinions that will bring value into your business. Create your own social media brand, and link it to your business if permitted to do so. People generally connect with people more than Brand - so, be positive, be informative, be helpful and be relevant, and you might well find useful connections and potential talent will find their way to you. An interesting test, how many 'connections' do you have compared to how many 'followers'?
Put the Right People in front of the Right People - Think about the future, what is on the horizon for your business - have you spotted a connection that just says 'wow' to you? Is it someone who could really bring that 'wow' to your team - there may not be a role today, but there may be one tomorrow, so why not connect, and link up your connection with your business brand, and perhaps even with some of your managers who might be looking for someone with the 'wow' factor (I know, wow factor - very cliche and usually applied to architecture or home design, but if it works.....)
Engage the talent and treat it respectfully - People connect with people, treat people generously, warmly and with respect and they will remember it. Treat them like a number and it's unlikely they will remember you fondly and likely they will tell their friends about their experience. Communicate, listen, be honest and be upfront. Be positive and help people to understand your business, don't just direct them to a website, talk to them, share your knowledge, and create an experience that will bring them back time and again.
This is my little piece of wisdom for the day, it really is about being 'human' in what you do, being strategic and operational at the same time, working positively with your colleagues and representing your company as the best place to be, walk the talk.
Talent Management has evolved - people expect more, people are not 'human capital' and indeed perhaps people are not assets either, the knowledge they have may be one or both of those things, but fundamentally people are people, and we each have talents and skills that can and do make a difference every day.... so, my goal is to continually improve the way in which I engage, learn and work with people, be they internal, external or any other option you can think of, fundamentally to be a better person, and to always have respect for others capabilities and skills, and I believe and hope this will allow me to be a participant in the evolution of Talent Management....
Business finally realised in many segments that the 'war for talent' was perhaps real - and the need to present a strong talent strategy, both retaining it, attracting it, and developing it were key to riding out the storm that is the ongoing GFC, brain drain and so on.
I remember well the days when recruitment was a process, and am grateful that recruitment has moved into Talent, and Talent has become a more strategic function allowing practitioners who work internally to actively participate in the business, to foster and grow relationships and to really gain a depth of understanding that previously wasn't there.
Developing capability and skill as a talent practitioner at this time is still an evolution - but there are some core skills that I would recognise as being critical to the path of success:
Build your relationships - understand your people, listen to them more than you talk to them, and develop your ability and skill in being recognised as a value add in the business, not an overhead. Understand the culture, and remember, each team can often have its own culture which is distinct to that of the broader organisation - the same can be said for country or state in the case of global or national organisations. Network Network Network with everyone.
Learn about the functions - what is it that X job actually does, why does it do it, and how does it contribute to the big picture. This is a little bit like (read almost identical to) Job Analysis and Design, but if you as a Talent professional don't understand the nuts and bolts of every role you are working with - how can you truly identify the best people to do it?
Social Media - grow your network, join groups, set up Google Searches, become an active participant in groups and discussions. Forums such as LinkedIn really allow us the opportunity to get our names and companies out there, to listen to real time market occurrences, to identify those who are active and who perhaps have opinions that will bring value into your business. Create your own social media brand, and link it to your business if permitted to do so. People generally connect with people more than Brand - so, be positive, be informative, be helpful and be relevant, and you might well find useful connections and potential talent will find their way to you. An interesting test, how many 'connections' do you have compared to how many 'followers'?
Put the Right People in front of the Right People - Think about the future, what is on the horizon for your business - have you spotted a connection that just says 'wow' to you? Is it someone who could really bring that 'wow' to your team - there may not be a role today, but there may be one tomorrow, so why not connect, and link up your connection with your business brand, and perhaps even with some of your managers who might be looking for someone with the 'wow' factor (I know, wow factor - very cliche and usually applied to architecture or home design, but if it works.....)
Engage the talent and treat it respectfully - People connect with people, treat people generously, warmly and with respect and they will remember it. Treat them like a number and it's unlikely they will remember you fondly and likely they will tell their friends about their experience. Communicate, listen, be honest and be upfront. Be positive and help people to understand your business, don't just direct them to a website, talk to them, share your knowledge, and create an experience that will bring them back time and again.
This is my little piece of wisdom for the day, it really is about being 'human' in what you do, being strategic and operational at the same time, working positively with your colleagues and representing your company as the best place to be, walk the talk.
Talent Management has evolved - people expect more, people are not 'human capital' and indeed perhaps people are not assets either, the knowledge they have may be one or both of those things, but fundamentally people are people, and we each have talents and skills that can and do make a difference every day.... so, my goal is to continually improve the way in which I engage, learn and work with people, be they internal, external or any other option you can think of, fundamentally to be a better person, and to always have respect for others capabilities and skills, and I believe and hope this will allow me to be a participant in the evolution of Talent Management....
Monday, 6 February 2012
And so to... a candidate experience
Life is full of interesting experiences right? Highs and Lows? Good things and bad things? Awesome things and things that, well, frankly suck!, and, as we age, albeit reluctantly, we learn to accept that one will usually follow the other, but in the final analysis we hope to find the overall experience has been more of the good, the high, and the awesome than the alternatives.
However, currently it seems my choices are taking me to more of the low places than the high. Hmmm, perhaps hindsight is a wonderful thing, indeed, it actually is, and the premise that we learn from our experiences isn't always true, more often than not I fear that we are move pavlovs dogs than we might like to think - or at least that 'eccentric' me likes to think.
The candidate experience, the classic example of human beings repeating the same thing over and over, and yet oddly, and I am entirely very guilty of this myself, expecting a different outcome. Job Boards, bang bang bang, off goes that Cv and the standard (or perhaps customised just to make the recruitment consultants job that much easier) cover letter.... and back comes either silence, or the now ubiquitous 'thank you but other candidates more closely met our requirements' email.
As companies, and as recruiter agencies, something much be done. The experience isn't pleasant for anyone, candidates grow disillusioned, and the recruiters manning (personing) the incoming tide of applications just grows weary.
I've been pondering an idea, an idea that takes the all too common dating site and slightly tweaks it, I mean, dating, thats never really fun, you never really know if it will work out until well after you're sharing a fridge, a wardrobe, and get to the point where you can use the toilet while the other person is in the shower.... soooooo
Job Boards, and linkedIn profiles, why don't we try something new.....here's where my brainwave comes in.... instead of the status quo.... lets create profiles that we then have former bosses, former friends, current bosses and current friends review, you know, pick your skills and abilities then ask others to secretly rank you on a scale (i know, its all abit yuk I hear you say).... but, if you then take that, and ask it to search out job thats match the rankings you have got, does that not imply or suggest it is likely it will match you with jobs you can do, that are more likely to be the right fit. Of course, the flip side of the coin in, the job needs to be 'ranked' as well, thats where the manager comes in, the former holder of the position, the peer group and perhaps even the client group.....
So, what do you think, it is just one of my 'eccentric' random ideas, that I might well patent because who knows maybe it makes sense, maybe it would make the candidate experience a better one, it may well mean recruitment people can really actually tell if the person is a match rather than assuming from a self written and all too often underplayed resume.... so, would that create a better experience for all?
However, currently it seems my choices are taking me to more of the low places than the high. Hmmm, perhaps hindsight is a wonderful thing, indeed, it actually is, and the premise that we learn from our experiences isn't always true, more often than not I fear that we are move pavlovs dogs than we might like to think - or at least that 'eccentric' me likes to think.
The candidate experience, the classic example of human beings repeating the same thing over and over, and yet oddly, and I am entirely very guilty of this myself, expecting a different outcome. Job Boards, bang bang bang, off goes that Cv and the standard (or perhaps customised just to make the recruitment consultants job that much easier) cover letter.... and back comes either silence, or the now ubiquitous 'thank you but other candidates more closely met our requirements' email.
As companies, and as recruiter agencies, something much be done. The experience isn't pleasant for anyone, candidates grow disillusioned, and the recruiters manning (personing) the incoming tide of applications just grows weary.
I've been pondering an idea, an idea that takes the all too common dating site and slightly tweaks it, I mean, dating, thats never really fun, you never really know if it will work out until well after you're sharing a fridge, a wardrobe, and get to the point where you can use the toilet while the other person is in the shower.... soooooo
Job Boards, and linkedIn profiles, why don't we try something new.....here's where my brainwave comes in.... instead of the status quo.... lets create profiles that we then have former bosses, former friends, current bosses and current friends review, you know, pick your skills and abilities then ask others to secretly rank you on a scale (i know, its all abit yuk I hear you say).... but, if you then take that, and ask it to search out job thats match the rankings you have got, does that not imply or suggest it is likely it will match you with jobs you can do, that are more likely to be the right fit. Of course, the flip side of the coin in, the job needs to be 'ranked' as well, thats where the manager comes in, the former holder of the position, the peer group and perhaps even the client group.....
So, what do you think, it is just one of my 'eccentric' random ideas, that I might well patent because who knows maybe it makes sense, maybe it would make the candidate experience a better one, it may well mean recruitment people can really actually tell if the person is a match rather than assuming from a self written and all too often underplayed resume.... so, would that create a better experience for all?
Search results - the good the bad and the man horse....
So, a question is posed today by a colleague on immigration legislation in NZ - being the helpful character that I am off I head to the most widely used search engine in the world....
Some nano seconds after typing in my question, and indeed it was a question, up pop the usual number of responses (the number of characters exceeds the available space in this blog sadly). Now, one might expect that the most relevant information would appear at the top, after all, isn't that what search engines do these days? Alas, thwarted, evidently the most relevant link to finding our about employer sponsored visas for nz is a link to the employer sponsorship site for australia.... OK, so, is this then a question of, no one told the search engine concerned that they are in-fact not one and the same country?
Don't get me wrong, I love search engines, they are our friends, they are everywhere, and they are surely the best friend for any pub quiz fan who disguises a mobile device as a book, pen, glass of beer, or a flame..... but, seriously, sometimes one thing is not like the other and that is certainly true when you're talking immigration law.
Beware the evil search engine, never assume the first link is the right one. One could of course wax lyrical about the many types of search results one may not want to get, if you're ever perhaps unfortunate enough to be studying mythology and you want to check up what a centaur is, be sure not to type in 'man horse' - it will only end in tears!
Some nano seconds after typing in my question, and indeed it was a question, up pop the usual number of responses (the number of characters exceeds the available space in this blog sadly). Now, one might expect that the most relevant information would appear at the top, after all, isn't that what search engines do these days? Alas, thwarted, evidently the most relevant link to finding our about employer sponsored visas for nz is a link to the employer sponsorship site for australia.... OK, so, is this then a question of, no one told the search engine concerned that they are in-fact not one and the same country?
Don't get me wrong, I love search engines, they are our friends, they are everywhere, and they are surely the best friend for any pub quiz fan who disguises a mobile device as a book, pen, glass of beer, or a flame..... but, seriously, sometimes one thing is not like the other and that is certainly true when you're talking immigration law.
Beware the evil search engine, never assume the first link is the right one. One could of course wax lyrical about the many types of search results one may not want to get, if you're ever perhaps unfortunate enough to be studying mythology and you want to check up what a centaur is, be sure not to type in 'man horse' - it will only end in tears!
Friday, 3 February 2012
A Pig In Lipstick?
So today, I was listening to a podcast entitled 'pig in lipstick'. The intent of the podcast, or at least the speaker was talking about how HR needs to evolve and become a more relevant function within the business context.
The words, and indeed the very ideas resonated in my brain.
Evidently I am a little eccentric - or at least thats how one recruitment consultant referred to me last week, and its a label I wear proudly. All too often people hear me refer to Gattaca, that old Uma Thurman movie where she met her husband that didn't work out, but I digress. Anyway, for me, the premise of that movie or at least the workplaces shown in it are clearly where many people have gone before, and where many in HR would like us to continue to go - same same same bland dull and completely absent of any quirky eccentric ideas or people.
So, the Pig in Lippy - are you a traditional HR person, who has brought your 1990s thinking, forms, tools, processes and mindsets into the 2010s?
I am profoundly inspired by the podcast, I aim to be, act, and think differently on Monday, and to not passively accept that innovation is not possible or indeed desired in the HR space, no, my plan is to push, to challenge (more than usual) those around me to do, act and think differently as well.....
The words, and indeed the very ideas resonated in my brain.
Evidently I am a little eccentric - or at least thats how one recruitment consultant referred to me last week, and its a label I wear proudly. All too often people hear me refer to Gattaca, that old Uma Thurman movie where she met her husband that didn't work out, but I digress. Anyway, for me, the premise of that movie or at least the workplaces shown in it are clearly where many people have gone before, and where many in HR would like us to continue to go - same same same bland dull and completely absent of any quirky eccentric ideas or people.
So, the Pig in Lippy - are you a traditional HR person, who has brought your 1990s thinking, forms, tools, processes and mindsets into the 2010s?
I am profoundly inspired by the podcast, I aim to be, act, and think differently on Monday, and to not passively accept that innovation is not possible or indeed desired in the HR space, no, my plan is to push, to challenge (more than usual) those around me to do, act and think differently as well.....
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