Revolutionary HR Tech: Part 1 - Clean Data for All - #HRevolution

Note: For the rest of this week, (or longer if I can't manage to get it all done in time), I am going to run a short series of four posts inspired by a session at last weekend's HRevolution event in St. Louis that I facilitated along with the fantastic Mike Krupa. 

In the session, we asked four teams of attendees to imagine, envision, describe, and articulate a new (or at least new to them), kind of revolutionary HR technology solution that would improve or enhance some aspect of HR, talent management, recruiting, strategy, etc.

The teams were each given a context to work in that roughly correspond to the major sub-types of HR technology tools today: Administration, Talent Management, Culture/Brand, and finally Insight/Analytics. The teams came up with some really clever and thought-provoking ideas in a really short time, and I thought it would be fun to share them (as best as I can recall them), here and try to keep the HRevolution discussions on this topic moving forward. We will consolidate all 4 revolutionary HR tech ideas into one paper that we will post here and on the HRevolution site as well.

Ok, let's hit the first HR tech idea - from the 'Administration' team, a tool called 'Oscar.'

The idea: Every HR tech project plan starts or has near the start, a step called 'Clean up the data.' And that step is miserable. Over time and with growth, most companies possess numerous systems for HR and workforce processes and functions. And with the growth of an organization's systems footprint, the challenge to keep data not just in synch across systems, but to ensure the data is 'clean' (accurate, up to date, correctly formatted, validated, etc.), becomes daunting.

While the Admin team is aware that there are some existing HR technology solutions that help integrate HR data across systems, the team felt like simple file-transfer type information from System 'A' to System 'B' is not good enough. After all, if the Employee's date of birth is not correct in System 'A', then sending over that bad piece of data to System 'B' does nothing to help with the real issue - inaccurate employee and workplace data that can lead to a myriad of downstream problems.

So that is were 'Oscar' comes in. 

Oscar is a tool that would sit over an organization's existing HR technology solutions and would serve to monitor, audit, validate, and clean, (or at least raise exceptions as needed), the core elements of the organization's HR data set. Think employee names, dates of birth, employee ID numbers, locations, salary, hours, and many more potentially. These kinds of data elements usually exists in multiple platforms, systems, and can be acted upon in numerous ways, which often results in data getting out of alignment, or 'dirty'. Oscar would learn where to look for these conditions, and raise alerts to the needed administrators, HR analysts, managers, and employees as needed to ensure action is taken before 'bad' data gets propagated.

Think of it as a kind of an HR-based identity theft monitoring tool that instead of being on the lookout for a gang of shady credit-card spoofing thieves, instead is constantly waiting patiently and vigilantly for bad HR data to raise it's ugly head, and to take action to stamp it down.

I think this is a cool idea, and definitely one that HR pros, especially in larger organizations would love.

Would it be complicated to build? Sure.

Does it, or elements of it, probably exist in other tools already? Maybe.

But is it a 'revolutionary' idea for HR tech? Most definitely.

So that is the first idea, stay tuned in the next few days for what the Talent, Culture, and Insights teams cooked up.

Final note: Big, big thanks to our HRevolution 2015 sponsors - Globoforce, Quantum Workplace, and The Arland Group. 

PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 224 - iCIMS and Talent Acquisition Technology

HR Happy Hour #224 - iCIMS and Talent Acquisition Technology

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Guests: Madeline Laurano, Colin Day, Adam Feigenbaum

Recorded Wednesday November 4, 2015

LISTEN HERE

This week on the show, HR Happy Hour hosts Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane were at the recent iCIMS Analyst Day in San Diego, where they sat down with fellow analyst and official 'Friend of the HR Happy Hour' Madeline Laurano in Part 1 of the show, to talk about trends in HR and recruiting technology, and followed by a conversation with iCIMS CEO Colin Day, and COO Adam Feigenbaum about the state of the Applicant Tracking System, and the broader market for Talent Acquisition technology.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or by using the widget player below, (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through). 

iCIMS has developed a substantial list of customers for its talent acquisition technology suite, and has made a commitment to talent acquisition as its primary focus - sort of unique among large, established HR tech companies, many of which are or have been pushing to develop or acquire additional or adjacent capabilities.

iCIMS has made a big bet that customers will understand and value what a provider solely focused on Talent Acquisition can offer, and on the show you can hear direct from iCIMS execs on why they have elected to stick with their core competency and how that benefits their customers.

This was a really interesting and fun event. Thanks to iCIMS for having myself and Trish out at the event, and also thanks to Madeline, Colin, and Adam for taking the time to be a part of the HR Happy Hour Show.

And don't forget the HR Happy Hour Show is available on iTunes, and on all the major podcast player apps for iOS and Android - just search for 'HR Happy Hour' to find and subscribe to the show and you will never miss a new episode.

Grantland, Simmons, and how talent (still) is hard to hold on to

Last week media giant ESPN decided to abruptly shutter the website Grantland, the sports and pop culture site, (and which was  pretty literary for a sports and pop culture site), that had been founded and led by Bill Simmons. Simmons was let go, (or more accurately, informed his contract would not be extended), in the spring, following a series of clashes with ESPN management over Simmons' comments about the NFL and its commissioner Roger Goodell.

After a few months of muddling along, Grantland, now devoid of Simmons (and many other talented writers and editors who left Grantland after Simmons), has now been shuttered for good by ESPN, who in a statement indicated they have 'decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.'

Without Simmons, there really could be no Grantland, and certainly ESPN doesn't need a Grantland wihout the founder, leader, and most popular personality on board anyway. The 'core' site of ESPN.com is one of the web's most visited properties after all. Any Grantland talent that remains with ESPN can be absorbed by ESPN.com.

But despite the demise of Grantland, it is still worth making a couple of observations about what happened with Grantland/Simmons, and how this episode in Talent Management / Employee Relations might offer a couple of lessons or things for the average HR and Talent pro to consider.

1. No succession plan, no future

While Grantland had dozens of staff, including some acclaimed, award-winning writers, the face, inspiration, and key to the entire endeavor was Simmons. There was simply no other, singular, talent that emerged over Grantland's four year run that could rival/replace Simmons in this role. It could be argued that once ESPN released Simmons from his duties earlier in the year, that they always knew Grantland would be closed soon after. But if they had developed or at least identified a plausible candidate to assume Simmons' place as the leader of Grantland they would have had more options. Simmons dominated Grantland to an extent that it made no sense to continue it without him, regardless of if ESPN would have like to see it continue.

2. The best managers understand the role and importance of the best talent

The job of leadership is to get talent to produce and create, and this does not work by threatening with rules or by levying discipline. And managing the very best talent is probably the hardest challenge for the manager, even harder than managing out poor performers. How much leeway do you give the best talent? How many rules do you allow them to dodge or break? How much freedom do you give top talent to create, unencumbered by roadblocks and rules? 

What for organizations is next in importance after finding and hiring the best talent? Finding and hiring the right managers that can confidently, carefully, and diplomatically get the best work out of these talented folks while at the same time keep the other 95% of the workforce from hating them.

3. The best talent, brand-building talent, is very hard to find and keep

ESPN certainly helped build Simmons into the star media personality he has become. But ESPN also certainly had underestimated the value and power of Simmons popularity. Over the years ESPN seemed almost as interested in controlling and keeping Simmons toeing the company line as they were in supporting and positioning Grantland for success. That attitude might be effective (and needed), for the 95% of the staff who are just good to very good, but it almost never works or sits well for that 5% of employees who are really elite.

There are very few talents like Simmons out there. And the more that management tries to tell these talented people what to do and how to act the more they are going to be alienated and look to move on.

Talent still runs the world. Even if leaders like to think otherwise sometimes.

Have a great weekend!

HRE Column: A Golden Age for HR Tech

Here is my semi-frequent reminder and pointer for blog readers that I also write a monthly column at Human Resource Executive Online called Inside HR Tech that can be found here.

As usual, the Inside HR Tech column is about, well, HR Tech, (sort of like I used to write about all the time on this blog), and it was inspired by the recently concluded HR Technology Conference.

I once again kind of liked this month's column, (I suppose I like all of them, after all I wrote them), but felt like sharing this one on the blog because it touches upon what has been in the past a pretty popular topic with HR leaders today - how to make the most of their HR technology investments.

Here is an excerpt from the column, HR Tech's 'Golden Age':

If it seems like I have been a little obsessed with the just-completed HR Technology Conference and Exposition^®,it's because I have been. For most of the year, I work on the planning of the conference (formats, speakers, session themes, etc.) and from speaking with so many HR solution providers, experts, analysts and HR leaders -- both before and at the event -- I have come away from this year's event amazed by the quality, depth, breadth and sheer number of options HR leaders today have at their disposal when it comes to innovative HR-technology solutions.

I'd like to try and break down three such technologies that were on display at the HR Tech Conference, and hopefully share some thoughts on how HR leaders can take advantage of them, and of what is possibly HR tech's "Golden Age."

HR continues to move toward becoming a data-driven discipline. While this isn't a new theme, there is movement toward more advanced HR-technology solutions for data visualization, data consolidation and tools for more data-informed decision making. At the HR Tech Conference, this trend becomes even more prevalent, given the sheer number of exhibitors and demonstration sessions. Two companies worth noting participated in our "Awesome New Tech" and "Awesome New Startups" sessions.

Read the rest over at HRE Online..

Good stuff, right? Humor me...

If you liked the piece you can sign up over at HRE to get the Inside HR Tech Column emailed to you each month. There is no cost to subscribe, in fact, I may even come over and wash your car or cut the grass for you if you do sign up for the monthly email.

Have a great day!

Generations in the workplace, ranked

I have been to a few events lately, and thus have been subject to at least some 'Generations in the Workplace' content. Since many of you might still be confused/concerned/bored to death with discussions on Generations and work, I humbly submit to you this subjective, unscientific, and 100% accurate breakdown of how the generations stack up in the workplace.Source - UNC Executive Development

Here goes...

5. Millennials

4. Traditionalists/Silent Generation

3. Whatever comes after the millennials (I know that technically these folks are not yet in the workplace but that doesn't stop people from talking about them like they are already our bosses)

2. Baby boomers

1. Gen X

You can comment if you like, but if you disagree with me, then clearly you must be a Millennial.