HRE Column: Making Better HR Decisions Using HR Tech

Yes, you may have noticed that I have been writing a little bit less frequently here on the blog. The combination of a ton of travel in September, helping deliver the largest HR Technology Conference ever, and keeping the growing HR Happy Hour Podcast Network going are all taking up quite a few cycles lately. But I am still writing over at Human Resource Executive where my latest column just posted.

The piece is titled How Technology Helps Us Make Better HR Decisions and is a reflection on some of the more important topics in HR and HR Tech today - data, and making sense of data, and understanding how modern HR tech can help us make better HR and Talent decisions.

Here's an excerpt from the piece on HRE:

With the HR Technology Conference just completed a few weeks ago, I have had some time to attend a few industry events, record new episodes of the HR Happy Hour Podcast, and give a presentation on data, technology and decision-making in HR and talent management.

In preparing for that talk, I referenced two highly recommended books, How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellberg; and Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb. While neither book is “about” HR—or even the workplace—both provided some excellent frameworks for thinking about information, data, technology and AI, and had great examples of how understanding these “non-HR” concepts can help those of us in HR get better at making talent decisions.

I thought I’d devote this month’s column to sharing a few ideas from those books and my own personal thoughts on how we might want to view our people challenges a little differently.

1. Data don’t always mean what you think they mean.

How Not to Be Wrong opens with an extremely interesting tale from World War II. As air warfare gained prominence, the challenge for the military was figuring out where and in what amount to apply protective armor to fighter planes and bombers. Apply too much armor and the planes become slower, less maneuverable and use more fuel. Too little armor, or if it’s in the “wrong” places, and the planes run a higher risk of being brought down by enemy fire.

To make these determinations, military leaders examined the amount and placement of bullet holes on damaged planes that returned to base following their missions. The data showed almost twice as much damage to the fuselage of the planes compared to other areas, most specifically the engine compartments, which generally had little damage. This data led the military leaders to conclude that more armor needed to be placed on the fuselage.

But mathematician Abraham Wald examined the data and came to the opposite conclusion. The armor, Wald said, doesn’t go where the bullet holes are; instead, it should go where the bullet holes aren’t, specifically, on the engines. The key insight came when Wald looked at the damaged planes that returned to the base and asked where all the “missing” bullet holes to the engines were. The answer was the “missing” bullet holes were on the missing planes, i.e. the ones that didn’t make it back safely to base. Planes that got hit in the engines didn’t come back, but those that sustained damage to the fuselage generally could make it safely back. 

Read the rest at HRE Online...

You can also subscribe on HRE Online to get my monthly Inside HR Tech column via email here. I promise it will be the most exciting email you will ever receive. 

Thanks for checking out the column, the blog, the podcasts, the 'Alexa' show, and all the nonsense I'm now in my second decade of churning out. 

Have a great weekend!

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 340 - Creating the Employee Driven Learning Organization

HR Happy Hour 340 - Creating the Employee Driven Learning Organization 

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane 

Guests: Helen Rossiter, West Marine; Connie Costigan, Saba

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve and Trish recorded live from the Saba Insights 2018 Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona to talk with Connie Costigan from Saba and  Helen Rossiter from West Marine, a 250+ location retailer on how they have created an employee centric learning organization.

By empowering employees to take control of their career planning and learning and development opportunities, West Marine has created a culture that enables and supports continuous learning, collaboration, and has created opportunities for employees to expand their skills and grow their careers. Instead of seeing retail, hourly employees as fungible assets, West Marine has invested in learning and development and has seen the beneifts of these investments. It seems really simple, but most organizations still have not made the connection between people, development , and business results as West Marine has experienced.

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

This was a really interesting and fun show - thanks to Helen, Connie and everyone at Saba for having the HR Happy Hour Show at their event.

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

HRE Column: Five Things I'm Looking Forward to at HR Tech #HRTechConf

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 - 5 Things I'm Looking Forward to at HR Tech.

From the piece:

This is the last Inside HR Tech column prior to the HR Tech Conference in September and, since I am pretty well consumed at this point with the final plans for the event, I want to use this space to reflect on the HR-tech market and the themes that have emerged during this year’s planning for the event.

Great HR is simple and complex at the same time.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last several weeks working on one of our featured sessions, “What It Takes to be a Most Admired Company for HR,” a panel discussion featuring the CHROs from several of the world’s most well-known and successful companies (Delta Airlines, Walt Disney Co. and Accenture, to name a few). After talking with each of these CHROs about their business, their challenges, and their approaches and philosophies about the role of HR, I’ve noticed two important things. One is that every one of these leaders spent most of our conversation talking about their company’s culture and the role of HR and the CHRO in building, strengthening and promoting their culture. 

The other is that, while each CHRO focuses intently on culture, how that manifests in specific HR and talent practices and programs is very different in each organization.

Succeeding with HR technology is paramount for HR.

I talk with many executives from the leading HR-technology-solution providers and, in the past year or two, the phrase “customer success” has come up more than ever. Now that cloud-based SaaS delivery of HR technology is the de facto industry standard, providers have been forced to focus on the success of their customers as a primary driver and metric. While that focus is a positive development for customers, it is not enough to ensure your organization is truly set up to succeed. And since the HR-tech market keeps growing, even understanding your options is becoming more difficult. This complexity and the importance of customer success with HR tech are why we focus so heavily on this topic at HR Tech, with a series of expert sessions covering both the “functional” elements of success (such as business case, vendor selection and implementation teams) as well as the more “technical” aspects (including cloud migration, integration and testing)....

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 coffee mug personalized with a picture of me. Well, maybe. 

Finally, you can still register to attend the HR Technology Conference, September 11 - 14 in Las Vegas. Use my code STEVE300 for $300 off your conference pass.

Thanks and have a great day!

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 336 - Hiring Success with Recruitment Automation

HR Happy Hour 336 - Hiring Success with Recruitment Automation

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: Madeline Laurano, Aptitude Research Partners

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve Boese is joined by Madeline Laurano of Aptitude Research Partners to discuss some new research they've recently published on Recruitment Automation. More than just a method to make recruiting processes more efficient, modern recruitment automation technologies are focused on candidates - helping to create trust, improve the method and frequency of communication throughout the hiring process, and to create more personalized recruitment experiences. 

Additionally, Madeline shared specific examples of how and where recruitment automation technologies can be leveraged throughout the hiring process, and offered some advice for organizations looking to get started with these modern, innovative technologies and approaches to recruiting automation.

You can find the full report we talked about on the show at www.aptituderp.com.

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

Thanks to Madeline for joining us, it was a fun and interesting show!

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts - just search for 'HR Happy Hour.'

WEBCAST: Discovering the Next Great HR Technology Company Final Four Reveal #HRTechConf

Quick note for a 'I can't believe summer is almost over and the HR Technology Conference is only about two weeks away' Monday.

Today at 4PM EDT on a special LIVE Webcast I will be joined by George LaRocque, Lance Haun, Madeline Laurano, and Ben Eubanks - the experts who helped select the seven semi-finalists in the HR Tech Conference's 'Discovering the Next Great HR Technology Company' competition.

On the webcast we will reveal the Top Four vote-getting companies who came out on top of our online voting process and who will advance to participate and present next month at HR Tech. We will also, by random draw, pair up each Finalist company with one of our expert coaches who will help them get ready for the big stage.

Register HERE to see the Final Four companies revealed LIVE in this special webcast on Monday August 27th at 4PM EDT featuring expert coaches George LaRocque, Ben Eubanks, Madeline Laurano, Lance Haun, and host Steve Boese.

It should be really fun, hope you can join us at 4PM EDT today!