Re-thinking Talent

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour show the topic is 'Re-thinking Talent'. 

Set for Thursday July 8, 2010 - 8PM EDT - Call in 646-378-1086

It seems like the long economic malaise in the US and many other countries has altered almost everything that was previously known (or at least assumed) about the nature of work, the social contract between employers and employees, and the ways that individuals and organizations have to operate in order to succeed (or even survive).

In response to these changing and perhaps forever changed conditions, a slew of books, blogs, and articles have been written advising the individual in how to adapt to this new world.  Go out there and work harder/smarter/better etc.  Go do the work you love since the work you have to do may not be there tomorrow.

The recession in particular is forcing a new generation of workers to think differently about work and nature of their future relationship with an employer, or more likely the many employers they are going to have in their working careers. Workers and candidates have been forced to adapt, but what about organizations?

Are the organizations that need to have access to and support from ever more capable collections of talented staff doing enough to adapt themselves to this new environment? What approaches and strategies for talent acquisition make the most sense in a world where compensation, benefits, and long-term security can no longer be promised? Does traditional internal career pathing even make an impact on the modern employee that fully expects a short tenure at an organization?

Lots of questions, and hopefully some answers tonight on the show. Joining us to talk about these issues will be Susan Burns from Talent Synchronicity and Jennifer McClure from Unbridled Talent.

If nothing else, we will keep you entertained up until the big LeBron James announcement.

Culture and the Workplace

This week on the HR Happy Hour show Grant McCracken the author of 'Chief Culture Officer' will be our guest to talk about the importance of understanding cultural trends to the corporation.

As Chief Culture Office so persuasively presents, culture strongly influences what products resonate with the public, the brands that endure and thrive, and in some ways participate in the formation of culture, and even the design and makeup of our living spaces. 

While it may seem like the observation and analysis of cultural trends is more of a concern for marketers, product designers, advertising agencies and such, I think there are several important implications for those in the HR and Workforce space as well.

Just as culture and cultural trends influence consumer behavior for products and services, it is reasonable to think that they influence the market for talent. After all, the talent acquisition and retention functions have many similarities to the consumer market, and employees have been described as 'consumers' of work.  Corporations 'sell' their distinctive bundles of value, (compensation, training, prestige, etc.) that hopefully attract the desired mix of employees that 'pay' with their time, effort, and expertise. 

So if we buy the idea of people 'consuming' work, and so many signs point to a marked increased in temporary and contract work, more career shifting, shorter tenure with organizations, and more flexible and fluid definitions of the very idea of work, then thinking about talent through this consumer prism is not that much of a stretch.

Here are a few quick ideas on how consumer oriented cultural trends could influence talent management.

Customization of Careers

A day or two ago as I was checking e-mail and scanning Twitter I noticed someone I follow asking for recommendations for some new musical bands to check out.  Within a few minutes about a half dozen suggestions were tweeted her way.  She replied with thanks and indicated she'd set up a custom Pandora station with those bands in the rotation. 

More and more products and services can be personalized and customized, is it fair to say that current and potential employees will come to expect similar levels of customization in their jobs? If an organization offers the same, cookie-cutter package to everyone will they be able to effectively compete for talent that demand and more and more receive personalization and customization in many other areas of their lives?

Feeding the network

Chief Culture Officer makes a compelling argument that products and services that offer the consumer the opportunity to 'feed their networks', that is share experiences, help to co-create, and ultimately add value to their friends and connections will have the best chance for enduring success. Could the same be said for organizations?  Those organizations that openly advocate for  their employees, support their participation in social networks, and otherwise demonstrated added value to the employee beyond the comp and ben equation may have an edge in the never-ending competition to attract and retain their best talent.

Work spaces

As discussed in Chief Culture Officer, one of the important approaches to understanding culture and anticipating trends is to study consumers in their homes, to see how they live and interact with and consume products and services.  Even the very design of homes and neighborhoods is essential data for the Chief Culture Officer. Homes are not designed the same way today that they were even 20 years ago.  Tastes, changing activities, and increased preferences for more open spaces tend to alter how homes get designed and used. Shouldn't office or work spaces also try to reflect changes in attitudes toward space? 

One of the trends in design the McCracken notes is the relatively recent increase of 'great rooms' in American homes.  These are large, central, and open spaces designed for congregating, interacting, and living.  If these more open, collegial type spaces are desired at home, is it possible that workplaces should also adapt to reflect this cultural trend?  Should designers of work spaces consider how people's changing attitudes can be leveraged to create more meaningful and ultimately more productive work spaces?

These are just a few observations, perhaps you can think of some other examples of how an understanding of culture can help the HR and Talent professional.

Let me know what you think.

Facebook and Talent Management Technology

Recently Talent and Learning Management vendor SumTotal Systems announced a set of new integrations meant  to present information from the system, "where employees live most, applications like Microsoft Outlook and Facebook". In Facebook, for example, and employee could see updates and alerts from the SumTotal system, and connect with their internal colleagues without leaving the Facebook site.

While most would not argue that corporate workers spend ridiculous amounts of time in Outlook, the idea that enterprise Talent Management systems should be connected with Facebook and LinkedIn is certainly an interesting and new development.

Heck, pretty much every day I see a new article or study on organizations that block access to Facebook and LinkedIn. But that is not really the 'core' issue as I see it.

I think the important message is not really about social networks and their use in the workplace, but rather a signal that the 'enterprise' platform as a required destination for employees and managers will erode in importance. More and more the 'official' home page or portals are going to be supplanted by interactions with the 'enterprise' information and processes via external networks (LinkedIn, Facebook), other internal enterprise tools (Outlook, intranets), and mobile (iPhone, Blackberry). If employees and line managers only have to visit a tool or system to accomplish one specific task, and that task is not somehow incorporated into their 'normal' workflow, the likelihood of adoption and effective utilization is far lower. 

You may have a fantastic system, full of incredible content, but if no one goes there to leverage that content then it may as well be not there at all.

Additionally, as the definitions of work shift, and the relationships that talent maintains with organizations become more fluid, much more versatile and agile tools for talent management will be needed.  Certainly part of the versatility will derive from embedded integration with Facebook and LinkedIn, but the larger work that remains is to convince organizations and vendors that their fancy home pages and dashboards, while interesting and exciting to look at, might not matter one bit to the employee and manager that never wants to visit them. 

For some time it has been fashionable in marketing circles to declare that the corporate web site is 'dead' and that no one really cares what is on there, I wonder if one day enterprise systems home pages will 'die' as well and be replaced with a collection of widgets, add-ons, browser toolbars, and mobile applications.

The Cradle of Coaches, or Celebrating your Ex-employees

Note: It's 'HR and Sports' this Friday on the HR Happy Hour show, and in that spirit, I figured I'd try some posts with some kind of sports angle. Apologies in advance, Kris Dunn over at the HR Capitalist does these type of posts way better than anyone else, in fact you should probably stop reading this and click over there right now.

Still here? Ok here goes:

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In American college athletics it is not uncommon for coaches to have some success at smaller programs at lesser-known schools, then move out and up to higher paying, more prestigious jobs at so-called 'major' universities, like Ohio State, Notre Dame, or Florida. It does seem that almost every year one of these highly lucrative positions is filled in this way.

One of these smaller programs is the Miami University of Ohio. Miami of Ohio is known as the 'Cradle of Coaches', based on the numerous legendary coaches that worked there, and then went on to have remarkable success at larger, more well-known universities as well as in professional football. Just some of the coaches that have Miami roots are Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian, and Jim Tressel.

Ara Parseghian - Time Magazine - Nov. 20, 1964The interesting thing is that Miami is not the only smaller program to have had this experience, but by embracing it, and celebrating the achievements of former coaches once they have left Miami, they have created a kind of sustainable competitive advantage for talent compared to their most likely competitors for coaching talent.

Any candidate for an opening at Miami would absolutely know of this rich history of successful coaches moving on from Miami to the highest echelon of the profession.  And for a highly competitive field like collegiate coaching this is a huge selling point.  Come and coach here at Miami, and we can help you on your path to becoming the next National Coach of the Year at whatever 'big' school you go to next.  They take advantage of this legacy by fully embracing it, in fact they are planning to erect statues of many of the legends that built the 'Cradle of Coaches' history.

How many 'regular' organizations do you know that celebrate the achievements of ex-employees in such an explicit manner? Think of organizations that typically recruit new graduates or early career professionals.  A compelling factor for the best talent among them might very well be, 'What can I do next with the experience I gain here?'  For smaller companies,or ones in the non-profit or educational sector that can't usually compete evenly on salary and benefits, this may be one source of advantage that can be exploited.

Instead of limiting your pitch to the potential career paths within your organization, what about highlighting some of the success stories of people who left and then went on to achieve success in other places, or as entrepreneurs? Instead of just having current employee testimonials on your corporate job site, why not try and include interviews with some of your most famous alumni who would be willing to talk about how their experience with your organization set them up for long-term professional success?

Who is the most successful ex-employee from your organization right now?

Are you using that story to your best advantage?

Finding the right talent (that I already have)

How can I find the right employee (one I already have)?

Recently, I heard high ranking information technology leader complaining about the lack of completeness of Flickr - Tambako the Jaguaremployee information (correct office phone number, IM names, etc.) in the corporate LDAP directory.  This leader was relying on the technical system used to provision corporate network computing resources to be a data store for employee 'profile' related information.

Now an employee office phone number probably does belong in an LDAP system, I can't argue with that, but external IM user names?  Surely, the LDAP system is not the best place for these.  And how about elements of the profile that are not related to 'devices' (phones, computers, etc.).  Things like experience, skills, interests, connections, and career plans.  All these, and many other attributes, combine to paint the full picture of the employee talent profile.

It is no secret that companies are under extreme pressure to leverage their internal talent, when faced with enormous marketplace challenges, and for most, little to no ability or funding to seek external talent, either new hires or contractors. 

So let's take an example of a possible situation where an organization might need to rapidly leverage the 'rich' employee profile data it needs to capitalize on an opportunity. A logistics and distribution organization, in an effort to expand to a new line of business and capitalize on a market opportunity, enters into agreements to begin supplying services to a high-end retail chain, it had not previously served. The challenge - identify rapidly a project team with the necessary skills, competencies, experience, and contacts to support sourcing new product, developing new distribution strategies, and with an understanding of the higher end of the market than they usually support.

Employee Profile Data - Sources

Legacy HRIS systems - These are typically decent repositories for basic information about the employee profile that may help our company assemble their project team.  Things like position or assignment history, demonstration of growth in salary grade or level might assist the Project Leader in assembling a team. But key information would certainly not be present in a typical HRIS, thing like career aspirations, competencies, training plans, and experience prior to joining the company. Many of the larger ERP-based systems may have the capability to 'fold-in' this kind of talent profile data, but most implementations of ERP do not extend very deeply into these areas.

Talent Management Systems - all good Talent systems will contain aspects of the key data needed to build the project team: information on past performance, current skills and capabilities, and possibly information on training and development that the employees have taken. These are all key pieces of the puzzle. Recently some larger Talent Management vendors have developed more rich 'profile' capabilities, SuccessFactors being one. Usually missing from these types of systems, especially ones that very rigidly look to automate performance management processes, are indications of employee 'fit' or perhaps desire to be included in this type of project team.  The information gleaned from these systems can tend to the strictly analytical, and not give the Project Leader any 'soft' insight.   And finally, these systems are not in place today in many, many organizations.

Internal Social Networks - In the last couple of years the market for so-called 'Corporate Social Networking' has grown rapidly. The idea is to deploy a platform or solution that provides the employees sort of a 'Facebook' like experience, usually augmented with the knowledge management and creation features of blogs, wikis, rss, and forums.  These systems usually have a profile feature that allows the employee to supply much of the same data they would typically post on popular external social networks. They can also utilize the Twitter concept of 'following' other employees to keep aware of the contributions of content, comments, and other information for the key influencers in their internal network.  These systems provide the Project Leader with a wealth of information relevant to the building of the team, they can review specific work products and content created by employees, they can see feedback left by other employees, and the profile data can typically be mined for keywords or 'tags' that may indicate the right experience or inclination for participating on the new project.  Some vendors to consider in this space are SelectMinds, HiveLive, and Socialcast. This really is an emerging space, and relatively few organizations have deployed these internal networks.

External Social Networks -  Jason Averbook from Knowledge Infusion has stated 'LinkedIn knows more about your employees than you do'. The truth is, many (or most) of your employees are providing vast quantities of personal and professional information on external sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Key information like employee authored statements of skills and aspirations, former employers and assignments, third-party recommendations of their work, and some insight into their networks both inside and outside the company that they may be able to leverage to make the new project a success. Did any of your employees formerly work for the high-end retailer you need to serve? This information is likely on LinkedIn.

Should your company simply encourage employees to register for these sites, provide their information, while you take advantage of the information and profile data for essentially almost no cost? Of course the downside could be your competitors for the same talent could mine the information as well, but honestly they probably are already doing just that.

That really just scratches the surface of the various options that organizations face when trying to develop a strategy for capturing, analyzing, and making actionable their strategic talent data. Most larger organizations may be utilizing some kind of combination of the above approaches, or may have even built custom systems to help locate talent and deploy talent (the big professional consultancies for one).

Lots of options, lots to think about, a complicated topic.

I would love your thoughts and comments.