Can Compliance be Strategic?

Last night on the HR Happy Hour Show I tossed out the idea that perhaps to further the HR organization's ability to pursue more strategic objectives and more value-added activities, that the traditional 'compliance' related functions be spun-off to another part of the organization, (perhaps finance and accounting).

My (shallow) reasoning was simple: if HR departments are truly getting bogged down in compliance and and administrivia, why not spin off those functions to another department (or outsource them)?

Shedding those non-strategic processes, I proposed, would really empower the HR organization  to focus on strategic planning, aligning the workforce and their skills and capabilities with the organizational objectives, and equipping line managers with the tools and abilities they need to succeed.

A win-win right?

Well, some of the guests on the show, China Gorman, Mike VanDervort, and others did not like the idea. They essentially said that giving up the control of these processes to accounting (or someone else) would not be a mistake and that HR has to own those processes.

So here is my question:

If HR needs to get more 'strategic' and compliance and regulatory issues are in the way, can you just outsource, spin-off, or otherwise de-couple them from the real value that HR can deliver to the organization?

Can compliance really be strategic?

You can listent to the entire conversation, and the rest of the HR Happy Hour 'Is HR Dead' Episode here:

Social Software in the Workplace

This week analyst firm Gartner published its 'Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace',  a review and categorization of 35 different solutions that in one form or another support internal employee 'teaming, communities, and networking'. Flickr - dsevilla

It is an expensive piece of research, but if vendor Jive Software is making copies available via its site here, (registration with Jive required).

I don't want to get into the never-ending debate on whether these analyst reports are biased or not, or even if the Magic Quadrant model is all that helpful, but I point out this research to illustrate for the HR community (the primary readers of this blog), how diverse and crowded the market for internal social software has become.

If you believe that organizations can achieve significant competitive advantage by more effective internal communication, collaboration, and teamwork, then you as an HR pro and leader will almost certainly be called upon to either participate in either a software selection project, lead an internal deployment of collaboration technology, or devise ways to design and implement performance, recognition, and compensation programs that reflect the impact of collaborative tools in the organization.

There are really several keys for the HR leader in approaching social software:

One - Identification of the business issues that can be solved by more frequent, effective, and sustainable collaboration and expertise and information discovery.

Issues centered on Research and Development and Marketing collaboration may require a different set of tools than ones between Account Management and Customer Support.  A large company in numerous countries and locations typically faces much different challenges than a smaller, single location enterprise. The point is that your organization's challenges are unique, and blanket approaches, 'Let's get everyone on Yammer', may not really solve any specific business problem.

Two - Assessment and selection of the best technologies that will support the solutions identified in step one.

The 35 solutions listed in the Gartner report, while all broadly defined in the 'social software' category, have unique feature sets, characteristics, capabilities, costs, and in some cases deployment options.  HR leaders will have to invest the time to develop a better understanding of market segment that they likely may not have much familiarity with.  Fortunately many of the solutions have free trials, or other low-cost options for targeted pilot projects.

Three - Design and implementation of the technology solution accompanied by change management, communication, training, etc.

Definitely part of this step is the development of new performance management metrics and possibly compensation plans to support the project's goals. 

Four - Evaluation of the solution and the implementation.

Are employees adopting the new collaborative technology and the associated changes in process? Do metrics like content creation, participation, activity, etc where you want? And most importantly, is the solution meeting the desired business outcomes?  Many organization are absolutely littered with rarely updated wikis, or internal blogs with only sporadic posts and comments. The causes of failure vary from the wrong technology being chosen, a company culture that does not embrace the new collaborative process, or perhaps a lack of adequate change management and communication to the employees as to the benefits of the new technology and process. 

Five - Refinement of the technology itself, or the process based on the evaluation in step four.

Does the organization need some additional or enhanced system capabilities? Have the employees taken the system to places you had not considered, but they find valuable? Unlike traditional enterprise software, where business processes are usually clearly defined and employees simply follow user instructions, with these collaboration tools employees will almost always adopt ways of working and using the tools that you as the HR leader and implementer had not considered.  Hopefully, your initial projects were successful, and now you can plan ways to expand the footprint of the solution to more employees in the organization.

For HR, the opportunity to help drive superior business performance by designing and implementing strategies to increase and reward effective collaboration has never been more apparent. Understanding the related technologies that support these initiatives is a critical component of the process.

In the next few weeks I will highlight some of the specific solutions reviewed in the Gartner report, particularly some of the newer ones, to try and provide some assistance in your learning process.

What do you think, do you feel as an HR leader prepared to drive internal social software adoption?

A Spirited Carnival of HR

Today the HR Bartender is serving up a fantastic Carnival of HR - the Halloween Spirits Version.

A fantastic selection of posts from your favorite HR blogs sorted by the author's favorite beverage.Flickr- Steve Snodgrass

I recommend you check out the Carnival, some of the posts that I particularly enjoyed were:

Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership shares An Appraisal System Carol Bartz Can Love

Lisa Rosendahl at “Simply Lisa”, on her Social Media and HR stories.

and

Michael Krupa at InfoBox with his post, Is HR Afraid of Technology?

Great job Bartender!

Is HR Dead? - The Reading List

Thursday night October 29 at 8pm EDT the HR Happy Hour show will take on the topic, 'Is HR Dead?'.

There is nothing like a little in-depth analysis and self-examination of the HR function to rile up the community and this topic certainly has been poked and prodded for the last several weeks.

Since the instructor in me wants to be sure everyone is well-prepared and ready to jump in to the conversation I thought I would assign some pre-reading, to get us all on the same page prior to the show. Flickr - KiltBear

In the blogosphere as far as I can tell, the most recent 'Is HR Dead?' conversation started with this post:

'Is Human Resources Fatally Flawed' - Lance Haun at Rehaul

It was followed by numerous responses (or rebuttals if you prefer), a few of which are listed here:

'HR is Dying: Yes? No?' - Laurie Ruettimann at Punk Rock HR.

'HR - Not Dead Yet' - Mike VanDervort at Human Race Horses

'to HR, on news of your death' - Fran Melmed at free-range communication

'HR is Dead: Some Mourn, Some Celebrate, and Others Say "What?"' - Mike Haberman at HR Observations

'HR is Obsolete! Isn't It?' - Joel White at Joel's Views

'Human Resources Departments: I've never understood the point of them' - Sathnam Sanghera at the UK Times Online

And in the last week or so:

The Future of HR - Mark Stelzner at Inflexion Point

'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' - Maren Hogan on 'Marenated'

Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series Again, Nietzsche, and Other HR Thoughts - Frank Roche at Know HR

The HR Profession, Business Leaders and the Future of Work - Sharlyn Lauby at HR Bartender

But if you think this is somehow a 'new' discussion, it really isn't, the top Google result (at least at the time of this writing) for the phrase 'Is HR Dead' was this piece from 2003 on Workforce.com.

And of course we should not forget this gem from March 2009 - Memo to CFOs: Don't Trust HR - David McCann writing on remarks from Professor Beatty for CFO Magazine.

So you have your assignments, catch up on your reading and join the discussion on the HR Happy Hour Show, Thursday October 29, 2009 8PM EDT, call in 646-378-1086. Frank Roche and Mike VanDervort are set to appear, and perhaps another special guest or two as well.

What do you think, is HR Dead? In need of revival?  Need to be scrapped and re-built from the ground up?

It should be a great show!

Social Media and the Student

My good friend Deirdre Honner, the HR Maven is giving a speech to 800 MBA students today, focusing on 'Social Media and the Job Search'.  I am sure she will do a fantastic job sharing her insights, strategies, and resources to help equip these students for a better chance of success in their upcoming job searches.

Much has been written about how to leverage social media in the search, some excellent resources are here, here, and here.

So rather than try and improve upon, or at least add to the existing body of information on using social media in the job search, I'd rather try and talk to what I think are some strategies that make sense for the MBA (or really any college or grad student) to leverage social media, more to support their studies and by extension, position themselves for upcoming job searches.

Get Familiar - a key to leveraging social media in your studies and beyond is first understanding the environment in your specific area of interest or expertise. If you are focusing on accounting for example, are there Ning networks, or professional association communities where like-minded practitioners congregate?  Or are there a few key LinkedIn groups that you should join?  Some disciplines like Marketing have a very vibrant Twitter presence.  Or it could be the local organizations that present professional development events and social meetings are the best approach. The key is to start listening and observing to determine the best ways to invest your efforts. Understanding a bit about how your particular interest is represented in social media is a key to understanding the best use of your time.

Collaborate - in school it is certain that much of your time and energy will be spent on group projects. Learning how to effectively collaborate with peers, under time pressures, and at times with limited ability for face to face meetings is a critical skill to master both in school, and in the corporate world. A mastery of working in groups as well as managing group performance will likely be the primary differentiating skill in management in the future. Heck, it probably is that way today. I think the most successful team leaders will have a good understanding of two key aspects of team collaboration, one, the conditions that are necessary to foster effective collaboration, and two, the core social technologies that are available to support these activities.

Claim - It is standard advice for students and job seekers to setup up a LinkedIn account, and possibly a Twitter account to use for networking and connecting with recruiters and other professionals.  That is of course a sound strategy, but if you are really interested in making more of an impact in social media and positioning yourself as a future leader, you really should consider starting your own blog. For me, no one heard of me, took me all that seriously, or sought me ought for advice or opportunities until I had established some credibility in the space via this blog. I do think in many ways having a business focused blog is a key to set you apart from the crowd. It can demonstrate your reasoning ability, your mastery of your subject matter, and of course your writing capability. Being 'public' with your thoughts on a blog forces you to improve.  You absolutely will get smarter by blogging.

Connect - Certainly the prime motivator for students and early career professionals in using social media is to network with other professionals. These can be professionals in your specific area of study or expertise, your geographic region, or some combination. When I need some advice, assistance, or the name of someone in a particular organization in order to solve a problem, or otherwise improve my course content, or my ability to deliver, I turn to my network first. And I have to say in the last year, my network has never let me down.  But I can only leverage that resource because I (try) to consistently give back to my network and to the community at large, (see 'start your own blog' above).  I promise you will get back way more than you give in the long run.

So that is my advice, but really the best advice I can really give is listen to Dee, she has seen it all, and I would pay to hear her speak and you guys are lucky to have her as a presenter.

And in the spirit of connecting and giving, feel free to connect with me, my contact information is on the blog, and I will be happy to help in any way I can.