WEBINAR: The Difference Between Performance and Potential

A couple of weeks back I wrote about a fun and hip way to re-imagine the traditional 9-Box grid that is commonly used by HR and Talent pros when assessing talent. But since most of our organizations are neither fun nor hip, it is pretty likely most of us are going to stick with 'Performance v. Potential' approaches to talent reviews and assessments.

And that is cool, I am, ahem - hip to that.

But just because we all are familiar with the concepts of Performance and Potential, that doesn't mean we are getting the most value from these ubiquitous grids, and that we can't learn a thing (or nine), about how to make them, and the process itself more valuable to organizations, leaders, and employees.

That's where my friends at Fistful of Talent come in, with the latest installment of the surprisingly popular (and FREE) FOT Webinar, this one titled The Difference Between Performance and Potential: A 9-Box Primer for Smart HR Pros to be held Wednesday, March 25th at 2pm EDT.

What will you get for an hour's worth of your Wednesday? Read on...

The gang at FOT will show you how to take the next step in your performance management platform by sharing the following goodies:

1. A rundown of how smart companies create 2-dimensional performance management systems using performance vs potential, and how that approach sets the table for a host of talent management activities using something called the 9-Box Grid.

2. A deep dive into the differences between performance vs potential in any company, including a roadmap for how any company just getting started with performance vs potential can begin building the process to consider both inside their organization.

3. We'll break up the seriousness of the topic by considering where Individual Members of the Jackson Family, the 3 Versions of Van Halen and Husbands/Boyfriends of the Kardashians fall on the performance vs potential scale.  You know, just to help you relate.  And to stop taking ourselves too seriously.

4. Since most of you have more experience with performance than with potential, we'll share some thoughts and data related to common traps and derailers when you build out your definition of potential at your company (hint - the more you tie it to what it REALLY takes to be successful at your company across all positions, the better off you are).

5. We'll wrap up our time together by sharing a list of 5 Things You Can Do From a Talent Management Perspective Once You've Launched Performance Vs. Potential/The 9-Box.  Hint - All of the things we'll share make you more strategic and less transactional as an HR pro, and they let you have high level conversations about talent with the leaders of your company.

You've been aware of the ying/yang relationship between performance and potential for years - why wouldn't you want to help your company get started to understand the same set of truths?  Join FOT on Wednesday, March 25th at 2pm EDT for The Difference Between Performance and Potential: A 9-Box Primer for Smart HR Pros and we'll give you a great roadmap to refreshing how your company views performance and talent.

VIDEO: Fun with the quantified workplace

The coolest thing you will see on the Internet today, (excepting for cats, bunnies, and 'which superhero would you be' quizzes), comes to us courtesy of the Sid Lee Agency in Paris who have Arduino-powered sensors hooked up throughout their office, and they brought the data together in a single dashboard.(click for a giant version of the dashboard)

The result is a really interesting and clever view into the inner workings of the workplace in real-time.

Check out the video below, (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through), but better still, just head over to the live dashboard to see the real-time updates.

Pretty neat, right?

And I think the best HR/Talent play in the dashboard is on the lower right, where Sid Lee has a tile showing current number of job openings at the agency. Clicking that tile takes you to the firm's career site, (which, not for nothing, is woefully unappealing to look at compared to the activity dashboard. Come on HR/Recruiting, pay attention to UX would you?)

I totally dig this, and I am not even sure why. It's just cool to look at I suppose. Like cats and bunnies and superhero quizzes.

Have a great Wednesday.

On not being active on a social network

I was having a real business (I swear) conversation with a colleague recently, when the subject turned to another person (Person X) with which both myself and my colleague are very well acquainted. I mentioned that I had not heard from Person X in quite some time, and I wondered why this person had not taken time to contact me (the context, of which the specifics don't really matter), was that in my view this person really should have reached out to me on some things and he/she had not for a long time. 

My colleague said something along the lines of 'Person X is really active on Facebook. Just post something on their wall if you want to get in touch with him/her.'

And I kind of cringed for two reasons I suppose. One, I don't really want to do 'business' on Facebook, and two, in truth I don't really want to do anything on Facebook. I have an account there sure, I am not a Luddite, but I don't check it all that often, I never post anything other than my blogs and the HR Happy Hour Shows that auto-post there, and for the most part I just ignore the site. I still am reasonably active on Twitter (mostly for professional reasons) and for personal/social kinds of things, I use Instagram.

But that's just me. Most folks have their preferred ways of online social interaction, for both their business and for their personal reasons, and I don't suggest that anyone's approach is wrong or right or even that anyone should agree with me.  But to this situation with me and Person X, who is (it seems) conducting a lot of business via Facebook, it looks like unless one of us moves to change our preferred methods of interaction, we will keep missing each other for the most part. I guess that is just how it is.

That's a long pre-amble to a shorter, more obvious point. We, or most of us surely, if we are actually busy with real work, family, friends, etc., simply can't be that active, present, and aware of all the things that are going on in our industries across the myriad of social platforms (and in-person events), all of the time. After some time of trying to keep aware and active of industry people and news and events and even opportunities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, (and often using multiple personas or accounts), I think at least for me, that eventually you have to settle on the one or two that you either enjoy the most, or, get the most value from. For me, it is Twitter and Instagram. For others, like Person X, it seems to be Facebook.

And that small difference, that seemingly insignificant divergence in preferences, (and yes, I know that I could just CALL this Person X, but who does that any more?), actually does become pretty significant over time.

Back in the day, when you as a 12 year old kid moved away from your home town you basically lost all contact with your circle of friends and had to start all over from scratch in your new town and school. Even though you could have still stayed in touch with your old friends, you almost never did. It just was too burdensome to call or send letters or postcards when you could just walk outside and interact with your new friends instead.

That is kind of how I look at my old friends/associates over on Facebook now in a way. Sure, I could go over there and see what is going on, but it's just easier to not do that, and stay where I have become more comfortable. So I am missing out, I guess. So be it. That is what not being present on a platform can do to you in 2015. 

Person X, give me a call sometime.

Stable, but not still

So this past Sunday morning I have to admit getting caught up in a several hour Law & Order marathon - that staple of American basic cable TV. To the unnamed friend of mine who got me hooked on these old dramas - thanks, I was probably watching too much English soccer anyway.

On one of the episodes the District Attorney dropped a fascinating line about a theory of law that he subscribed to, something along the lines that while there always will be fundamental principles that form the foundation of law, (and right and wrong), that changes in society, technology, values, etc. over time, demanded that the law be flexible and changeable over time.

This concept in law was first popularized (as far as my 8 minutes of extensive research was able to ascertain), by the American legal scholar Roscoe Pound, who said, famously, that "The law must be stable, but it must not stand still."

Pound contended that the law should adapt, slowly, to changes in society, and argued against the idea that the law should try to force or influence society to change. Pound fought the notion of a largely unchanging Common Law, a position not always in the majority then as now.

Why bring this up? 

Because the Pound maxim, "The law must be stable, but it must not stand still" could just as easily apply to most of what we do in HR and talent management and in trying to lead in organizations today. It is really easy and fun and less restrictive to talk only about radical change and disruption and need to move 1,000 MPH in modern business, but the truth is very few organizations are architected to operate in that manner, and even the ones that do probably fail as often as not.

Pound's take, that have a stable, (Note - 'stable' is not the same as 'rigid'), while simultaneously understanding the need to change, to evolve, to in his words, to not 'stand still', is about the most practical advice for the vast majority of organizations and settings today.

Stable, but not still. I dig that. Nice, shot Roscoe.

Now, back to the last hour of the Law & Order marathon...

Have a great week!

PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 206 - Live from Benefitfocus OnePlace

HR Happy Hour 206 - Live from Benefitfocus OnePlace 2015

Recorded Wednesday March 11, 2015

Hosts: Trish McFarlane, Steve Boese

Guests: Shawn Jenkins,  Shan Fowler

Listen to the show HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve did a live show from the Benefitfocus OnePlace 2015 event in Orlando, Florida, (Trish was on assignment this week at the Peoplefluent event in Miami).

On the show Steve was joined by Shawn Jenkins, President, CEO, and Co-founder of Benefitfocus and Shan Fowler, Benefitfocus' Director of Marketplaces. Benefitfocus provides robust, modern, and powerful technologies for the management, communication, and the employee experience with their benefits programs -both for employers as well as carriers and exchange providers.

On the show, Shawn and Shan shared some of the history of Benefitfocus, and how Benefitfocus' offerings help employers and providers to meet their goals of engaging, educating, and providing the most effective benefits programs for their employees and enrollees.

One of the most important ways that average employees interact with workplace technologies is how they interact with their employer's benefits technology. From annual open enrollment, to periodic live event type changes, and even in ongoing benefits for health and wellness - these employee experiences are critically important ones, impacting employee's engagement, well-being, and helping them to take care of themselves and the welfare of their families.

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Additionally, Shawn and Shan shared some of the important decision drivers that bring organizations to invest in more robust and powerful benefits technologies than the ones often present in 'core' HR systems, and the basic steps that organizations follow to get the new benefits platform up and running in rapid fashion - often in as little as 120 days.

We also lamented again (well, just Steve), about the terrible winter weather, we talked college foootball fan affiliation, and Shan was given the title of 'Best beard ever for a HR Happy Hour guest'. 

You can listen to the show here, or using the widget player below, (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through, or go to the show direct link)

Check Out Business Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Steve Boese Trish McFarlane on BlogTalkRadio

As always, you can listen to the current and all the past shows from the archive on the show page here, on our HR Happy Hour website, and by subscribing to the show in podcast form on iTunes, or for Android devices using Stitcher Radio (or your favorite podcast app). Just search the iTunes store or your podcast app for 'HR Happy Hour' to add the show to your subscriptions.

This was a great show, and many thanks to Shawn and Shan for being a part of the fun.