Succeeding with HR Tech, Five, Make it Six Things HR Needs to Know

I did a Human Resource Executive Webinar on Tuesday titled 'Suceeding with HR Technology, Five Six Things HR Leaders Need to Know (and an HR Technology Conference Preview), and while it would be hard to share the information shared in webinar in full, I thought I would pull out the FiveSix 'Remember This' kinds of takeaway slides to share here, along with a little of the pithy commentary I dished out on the live Webinar.

Also, if you head over to www.hrtechconference.com, you can probably access a recorded copy of the webinar when it posts in a day or two.

(Email and RSS subscribers may need to click through to see the images)

Number One: In the Pre-Contract stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

Always. Be. Negotiating. Don't fall in love with the first demo you see or with the vendor that takes you out to the swankiest dinner at HR Tech. Play the long game if you can. You have just about all of the power before the contract is signed.

Number Two: In the Planning stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

We, all of us, humans primarily, are terrible at estimating how complex most undertakings actually are, and how long they will take to complete. Planning for HR tech projects is not immune to this phenomenon. Take your time, find some experienced implementers, challenge your assumptions, and be realistic about your organization's willingness, capability, and capacity for change when you set goals and milestones down. And it might not hurt to add another 15% for 'you never knows'.

Number Three: In the Teambuilding stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

One of the surest ways to limit your success with HR tech projects is to fail to devote the necessary resources for the needed time to the project, and get them some relief from their normal, day jobs. Almost every large project struggles with this to some extent. Getting a resource for 10 hrs/week does not automatically free that resource up from their normal duties, and you just may have added 20% workload to a key person you are counting on for the project.

Number Four: In the Managing Relationships stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

Your HR Tech project team will likely consist of a slew of different groups and organizations - core team, project sponsors, vendor staff, external consultants or SIs, and maybe even independent contractors. Managing the ownership, accountability, and communication across and among these different groups is so important, and a skillful and savvy project manager spends a ton of his or her time in this area.

Number Five: In the Technical Considerations stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

While many of the technical tasks have migrated from customer-owned to vendor-managed in the HR Cloud environment, most medium to large scale HR Tech projects have important technical considerations, chief among these are the integration needs from cloud solutions from different vendors, as well as the integrations from HR cloud solutions to legacy and sometimes on-premise downstream or upstream systems. And be mindful of the Planning Fallacy from a few steps ago when planning, scoping, and finding resources for your integration tasks.

Number Six: In the User Adoption stage of the project, here's my one thing you need to know/remember:

Most people don't like change. We like what we know, but maybe would not mind it if things were just a little bit better or faster or easier or more enjoyable. A good approach to user adoption is to couch and describe the change you are creating as the beginning of a movement towards something better, not necessarily a complete overhaul of systems, processes, and the way people work. We like 'better'. We don't always like 'different'. It's a subtle difference but maybe one that will make user adoption efforts and results more effective.

Ok, that's it for my Top 6 things to remember. If I would have had more time on the Webinar I could have come up with more, but these are a decent starting point. We will be hitting all of these topics in much more detail at the HR Technology Conference in September - use my code STEVE300 to get $300 off the best rate available when you register here.

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 329 - Re-imagining and Redesigning Employee Performance Management

HR Happy Hour 329 - Reimagining and Redesigning Employee Performance Management

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Host: Steve Boese

Guests: Laurie Zaucha, VP Human Resources and Organizational Development; Tom Hammond, VP Corporate Strategy and Product Management, Paychex

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by Laurie Zaucha and Tom Hammond of Paychex - one of the largest HR technology companies who have completely redesigned their internal performance management processes.

Paychex is both a major player in the HR Technology space - they have over 650,000 clients and process payroll for 1 in 12 US workers, and is a large, complex, and dynamic technology company with over 14,000 employees.

On the show, we talked about how Paychex has evolved their performance management processes to a new format and structure called the 4x4 - four simple yet important questions, reviewed four times a year by managers and employees, which has helped to keep employees focused on their most important goals, enabled managers to do more coaching and development, and helped the organization become more agile and responsive to changing customer and business needs.

If you are an HR leader stuck between the traditional annual performance process, and the newer totally unstructured, feedback-driven tools that have become trendy but may not actually keep employees and the organization overall remain aligned, this 4x4 approach to performance development may be just the right and most impactful balance between the two.

You can listen to the show on the show page here, on your favorite podcast app, or via the widget player below:

Thanks to Laurie and Tom for sharing their insights and for hosting the HR Happy Hour Show.

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on Apple Podcast, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'.

HR Executive Column: Thinking about Design Thinking in HR

I have been a little slack in posting links back to my monthly column over at HR Executive Online but fear not gentle readers, I have not abandoned this essential public service.

So without further delay, here is the link to my latest Inside HR Tech piece at HR Executive - How to Make Design Thinking Work for HR.

From the piece:

Why are so many HR leaders talking about design thinking?

Longtime readers might know that I founded and co-host with Trish McFarlane the popular HR Happy Hour Show, a podcast covering HR, HR tech, HR leadership and more. In the last several months, a number of the show’s guests—HR leaders from Red Hat, T-Mobile, General Motors and NBCUniversal, for example—have brought up a phrase that, even as recently as last year, I don’t recall hearing.

That phrase is “design thinking,” and while you probably have heard the term, you might not have considered it from an HR or HR-technology point of view. Design thinking has been described as an iterative process that tries to understand a business problem, as well as who and what it is impacting. Those using this strategy challenge existing assumptions and approaches to solving a problem, and ask questions to identify alternative solutions that might not be readily apparent. Design thinking is a solution-based approach and usually prescribes a series of specific phases, stages and methods to help designers and business teams arrive at improved, user-focused solutions.

Since I’ve been hearing so much lately about this idea, I thought it would be a good topic to explore for this column.  I’ll look at each of the typical stages of a design-thinking process, their application, and how we can leverage these ideas as we evaluate, deploy and manage the HR technologies.

Empathize

The first stage in the design-thinking process is gaining an understanding of the business or people problem you are trying to solve. This is different than trying to determine the list of detailed technical requirements for a new HR system or the specific elements that need to be included in a new course for first-time managers in the organization. Design thinking suggests that the designer or the project leader thinks deeply about the people who will be impacted by a new solution or process, engage and spend time with them to better understand their motivations and challenges, as well as develop a deep appreciation for any physical or environmental characteristics that are important to the solution. But the key to making this information-gathering stage successful is empathy, which can help designers and leaders to get past their own assumptions and gain insight into users and their needs.

Read the rest of the piece over at HR Executive Online...

And remember to subscribe to get my monthly Inside HR Tech column via email on the subscription sign-up page here. The first 25 new subscribers get a new set of steak knives. Well, maybe. 

Thanks and have a great day!

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 328 - SHRM Annual Recap with My Daughter

HR Happy Hour 328- SHRM Annual Recap with My Daughter

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Hosts: Trish McFarlane

Guest: Carleigh McFarlane, Trish's daughter

Listen to the show HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, host Trish McFarlane is joined by Carleigh McFarlane.  Trish and Carleigh attended the SHRM Annual conference, with Carleigh being a junior blogging ambassador.  As a high school freshman, Carleigh's perception of what is happening in the work world is quite unique.  

Carleigh attended sessions, participated in her first vendor product demo, walked an Expo floor for the first time, and much more!  Tune in to hear how the upcoming generation feels about the workplaces they will be joining in a few years.  This was a really engaging and interesting conversation with a student who is interested in the future of work - thanks to Carleigh for joining Trish.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, on your favorite podcast app, or by using the widget player below:

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcast, or your favorite podcast app - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'. 

Have a great weekend!

Fourth of July Rewind: The Best Introduction Ever

NOTE: Reprising a post from July 6, 2016 - enjoy before you fire up the grill!

This is the best speaker/performer/sportsman introduction that you will hear all year - maybe ever.

It comes to us courtesy of the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest held on July 4th and delivered by Master of Ceremonies George Shea, as he introduced competitive eating legend, and former champion Joey Chestnut.

Forgive the very shaky quality of the video embedded below (email and RSS subscribers click through), as it was recorded by me with my phone from a DVR replay of the event.

Trust me, you want to give this a minute and a few seconds to watch/listen.

Here's the full text of the intro, in case the dodgy audio was tough to decipher:

Two years ago on this stage he asked his girlfriend to marry him. And then last year one week before the contest the wedding was called off. And then on the 4th of July he lost the title of World Champion. And he was beaten and he was broken and he was alone. And nothing that he owned had any value, and his thoughts had no shape and no meaning. And the words fell from his mouth without sound. And he was lost and empty-handed, standing like a boy without friends on the school yard. But then he remembered that he is Joey Chestnut. And there is a time for pain and there is a time for punishment. A time for doubt and a time for dominance. A time for forbearance and a time for fury. And there is never, ever a time for submission. Ladies and gentlemen, the former champion of the world here to take back what was once his  - Joey Chestnut!

Did that bring chills down your spine, or what?

Awesome.

Why write about this, or bring attention to it at all?

Because it is a perfect example of someone, (Shea), going the extra, extra mile. It is a master class in combining facts, context, emotion, and excitement to make his audience interested in and excited about what is about to happen.

Because it is an amazing 1:15 showing a person (Shea) at the absolute top of his game. And not for nothing, shortly after this introduction, Chestnut went on to reclaim his Nathan's Hot Dog Champions title, (and Mustard Belt).

The next time it is your job to introduce someone for a speech or a presentation you'd do well to watch Shea's introduction of Chestnut a few times to find some inspiration. 

And the next time I get introduced for a presentation, I am going to demand that George Shea gets the job.

Happy 4th of July!