The Authority on Talent - Webcast June 16

So here is the premise:

An authority is defined as the undisputed expert in a particular field. And, just as the CFO is the authority on finance and CIO the authority on IT, HR leaders are emerging as the authority on their organization's greatest variable expense—its people.

Does that description, the HR organization being recognized and respected as the organization's 'authority' on all things related to its people, seem to fit your views and the manifestation of your HR reality?The obvious image. Sorry.

Can 'HR' really be that ubiquitous to truly understand or at least appreciate the intricacies, nuances, particulars, and practicalities of the thousands of individuals that may be working in the organization, and each one's personal and unique set of attributes and circumstances that ultimately drive and effect individual and organizational performance?  It is a tall order for sure, and if you as an HR leader buy into the premise, HR as the 'authority' on people or talent or whatever you call the humans that work in your organization, then having the right tools, processes, education, and technology to make that vision a reality will be of prime concern.

This 'Authority on Talent' premise was floated by the folks over at Plateau Systems and this week on, Thursday June 16th at 12 Noon ET, I will join Kris Dunn and Mark Stelzner for a free webcast/conversation called 'Authority on Talent', to talk about this idea, and some of the ways HR professionals can raise their standing in a kind of organizational pick-up game. 

KD, Mark and I will talk about HR’s role as the Authority on Talent in the organization, focusing on the following questions: 

• What do HR leaders need to establish this authority?
• What’s different now from previous “seat at the table” moments for HR?
• What role does technology play?

These are kind of big questions, and while important, there is also the sense that we have been around this same block a few times before, and over the years all we really seem to be doing is re-phrasing the questions, churning out the same fundamental recommendations, while in reality not much at all is changing. It could be that while the questions are still the 'right' ones to ask, the expected and obvious answers are letting us down. Or it could be that we should be re-framing the conversation completely, and recognize that what HR has been trying to do for the last, well forever, just isn't working and it is time to change the geometry of the conversation.

I suspect like many conversations of this type, the truth is somewhere in between. But finding that truth sure isn't easy and while I am not at all convinced in an hour this Thursday that Kris, Mark, and I can truly get you or anyone any closer to that truth, one thing I can promise is that it will be an enjoyable, lively, and perhaps even provocative ride.

Thanks very much to the folks at Plateau Systems for putting together this webcast, and for trusting the three of us not to embarrass you (too much).

You can learn more and register for the free webcast this Thursday June 16th at 12 Noon ET here.

And if you do tune in this week - the Twitter hashtag for questions, comments, and snarky remarks is #TalentAuthority.

Apps for Everything - Notes from Lumesse Conference

This morning at the Lumesse Journey 2011 User Conference in Austin, Texas both Lumesse CEO Matt Parker, and CTO Martyn Arbon shared their observations around talent management, business software, and more directly their sense of the future of talent management technology.

In both presentations, Parker's that described the journey that has led to the current incarnation of Lumesse, (the company formerly known as Stepstone Solutions); and Arbon's, which provided more insight into current state and near-term Lumesse product roadmaps; both gentlemen described the increasing 'consumerization' of business technology, and the need for technologists, particularly in the HCM space, to effectively create and deploy flexible, easy to use solutions that will more and more resemble the look and feel of consumer-based applications. 

We have heard about this trend for some time now, certainly creators and developers of business applications have taken inspiration from popular and eminently usable consumer sites like Amazon.com and Ebay for years. But this approach has up to know been directed mainly about user interface improvements, attempts to streamline translational processes, and with the goal of improving HR organizational efficiency by driving more processes out to the employees and managers in the form of Employee Self-Service, (ESS) and Manager Self-Service, (MSS).

But the problem with ESS and MSS for many organizations is that many employees and managers really hated it. It forced employees and managers to use systems that they did not find all that friendly, following processes that were proscribed centrally and were not that flexible, and using systems that may have been in theory personalizable to some extent, but in practicality were often too difficult for the average employee and manager to use in anything other than their delivered, default configuration. ESS and MSS were kind of the like the old VCR machines in your parent's house, the time of day always blinking on 12:00.

So where this next generation of HCM solutions for core HR, for Recruiting, or for Talent Management process support has an opportunity to really become more transformational and leveraged more fully and effectively throughout organizations will likely be driven by how well suppliers of these technologies can adopt and adapt the latest 'consumerization' trends to the enterprise - apps, mobile support across platforms, and easily personalized.

As Martyn Arbon correctly noted in his talk this morning, no two people have the same exact set of applications loaded on their iPhones, even if said people perform the exact same role in the organization. Traditionally enterprises have deployed or made available to staff a general set of access controls and capabilities for systems and tools based on high-level, and fairly generic set of definitions. 

If you were a staff recruiter, or a purchasing agent, or an office manager, then you received the same set of tools and systems as the other staff recruiters, purchasing agents, or office managers. It did not really matter if you worked in a different style, a different location (perhaps remotely), had more or less appetite and expertise in technology, etc.  This 'role-based' access dominated, (and still dominates), most technology deployments. But what consumerization or 'appification' is doing is fundamentally changing employee's demands and expectations of what enterprise technology should and needs to support - the ability to tailor capability and functionality at a true personal level, i.e., just like their iPhones work.

The first wave of consumerization of business technology was mostly about user interface improvements and porting tools to the web, this next phase, at least for the companies that will be successful at it, is about delivering a much more personal, flexible, and truly individual experience.

The team at Lumesse spent a lot of time this morning showing that they have these ideas in the forefront of their strategy and thinking - which is certainly an encouraging sign for their customers.

The 8 Man Rotation - Ebook

Today I am really pleased to support the launch of a little not-so-secret project that has been in the works for the last few months - an Ebook called 'The 8 Man Rotation', that I have the pleasure and honor to have played a small role in creating.

The good Dr. Matthew Stollak, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at St. Norbert College, author of the excellent True Faith HR blog, and one of the most passionate sports fans I know hatched the plan to collect, curate, and organize some of the best 'Sports and HR' blog posts written in the last couple of years from a fantastic collection of writers, and create a free Ebook from the hundreds of pieces.

The roster of contributors for The 8 Man Rotation Ebook reads like a who's who of dudes whose better athletic days are far behind them, but whose passion for sports, and the lessons and insights sports can offer to our profession, our workplaces, and our relationships continues unabated, and in spite of withering criticism from some who would hold that the endless sports analogies are tiresome and irrelevant. Haters.

The starting lineup:

Kris Dunn - The HR Capitalist

Lance Haun - ReHaul.com

Tim Sackett - The Tim Sackett Project

Matt Stollak - True Faith HR

and little old me.

The Ebook covers topic ranging from Workforce Planning and Strategy, to Recruiting, to Performance and Talent Management. Of course with a heavy mix of basketball, football, and baseball mixed in.

The PDF version of the Ebook can be downloaded here, and also can be accessed on Slideshare here (also embedded below, email and RSS subscribers may need to click through).

 The 8 Man Rotation Ebook

View more documents from steveboese

Many, many thanks to Matt Stollak for having the idea for the project, sifting through many hundreds of posts about LeBron James, and compiling this really awesome publication of which I am proud to be a small part.

Now download the Ebook and keep it handy while you watch the NBA Playoffs tonight!

The Story of Garrett Jones

The Minnesota Twins have a well-deserved reputation as an organization that knows how to judge talent, to select, train, and consistently produce a steady stream of high quality players.  This organizational capability to find and develop so-called 'home-grown' talent is critical for a team like the Twins, who historically have had significantly lower salary budgets than many of their rivals like the Yankees and Red Sox.

Some of the top players that have been brought through the Twins system past American league Most Valuable Players Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, as well as pitching great Johan Santana (now currently playing for the Mets).  By consistently making smart draft choices, having a consistent philosophical approach that is embedded throughout all levels of the organization, and by actually providing real opportunity for these home-grown players at the major league level, the Twins are contenders for the division and league title most years.  They are in a way a kind of baseball version of the NBA's Utah Jazz, my friend the HR Capitalist's favorite team.

With that background, I want to share a bit of the story of Garrett Jones, an outfielder now playing in the major league for the Pittsburgh Pirates, ( a team I took a shot at recently). Fans of the Pirates certainly, know some of Jones' story.  A player with 10-plus seasons toiling at various levels of baseball's minor league system, never really getting much of a chance to see if he had what it took to succeed in the big leagues.  In fact, Jones was in the minor leagues for so long, a little known baseball rule called the 6-year free agent rule, granted him his release from the club that owned his contract late in 2008 and allowed him to sign with the Pirates organization.

The club that 'owned' Jones for the 6-plus years?

The Twins.

One of the primary reasons Jones never got much of a chance with the Twins (about 30 games in 2007), was the presence of the star Morneau, who played the same position as Jones, as was one of the games best players. To be fair, Jones' minor league career did have some down points as well, so the Twins could also be forgiven for having some doubts about his upside.

Jones began the 2009 season once again in the minor leagues, but about halfway through the season, he was called up to the Pirates and proceeded to have an outstanding second half.  Jones hit 21 home runs and batted nearly .300.  For a perennial losing team like the Pirates, this performance was likely the highlight of the (sorry) season.  This year in the new season's first three games, Jones has already hit three home runs. 

The point of all this to me is that even organizations that pride themselves as great evaluators and developers of talent sometimes get one wrong.  Jones was plying his trade for the organization for many years, in fact for so long league rules allowed him to break away, and the Twins for whatever reason did not or could not give Jones the chance to prove himself at the highest level, helping both the team's fortunes, as well as improving Jones' career prospects. Professional sports, and the individual performance of the players themselves, are so closely monitored, scrutinized, and evaluated, that these kind of talent 'misses' are relatively rare.  Performance in sports is so measurable and public, that players possessing major league talent usually do end up in the major leagues.  Maybe Jones simply needed a change of scenery to really display his true ability, but in the end, at almost 30 years old, he is much the same player the Twins did not give much of a chance to.

Think of it, someone spends more than six years working for the organization, their performance, development, and potential on display in the most visible manner possible, and yet the organization (universally regarded as great talent evaluators) allows the player to leave, only to see him star for another team.

Maybe the Twins did not think Jones had the 'look' of a major leaguer or the talent ahead of him in the organization was clearly superior, whatever the reason his talents were not recognized.  But finally getting his chance with another team, he is turning in to a star.

I wonder if you look at the people in your organization right now, could you find similar untapped potential?

Are there people toiling away, solid performers, but not stars, maybe because they have not been given a big challenge, a lead role, or a big stage?

Will they eventually leave and hit the big time with one of your competitors?

Nah, you are a great talent evaluator, I am sure you have everyone pegged just right.

The Talent War Room

One of the highlights from Day 1 of The Conference Board's Talent Managment Strategies Conference was a session lead by Ed Colbert, Global Director of Organizational Effectiveness for Dow Corning Corporation.

Ed framed the entire session by sharing a story about how shortly after he was given his role as the Director of Organizational Effectiveness, with responsibility for Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Succession Planning, and Workforce Planning, he read an article about how the Director of Player Personnel for a major league baseball team went about his talent management duties.

The Pro Personnel Director's office had one wall covered with pictures of all his team's current starting players, with additional sections describing each players strengths and weaknesses, and some statistics indicating trends in the player's most recent performance. An adjacent area on the wall contained the same information for all the team's substitute players on the current active roster.

The next wall of the office contained pictures and player profiles of the organization's top prospects in the various affiliated minor league teams. These pictures and profiles were organized by role (pitchers, catchers, etc), readiness (players closest to be ready to contribute to the major league club higher on the wall), and color coded by overall 'potential' rating.

Finally the back wall of the office had pictures and profile information of players on other teams (both major league and their affiliated minor league teams) that this Director of Player Personnel was monitoring or tracking for as potential acquisitions for his team in the future. These players represented or had demonstrated both potential targets for filling current needs on his team's active roster, as well as more long-term prospects that seemed to match the team's philosophy or style of play.

As Ed from Corning read the article he came to the conclusion that this Director of Player Personnel had the very same job as he did. The goal of both roles was 'To put the best team on the playing field today, and ensure continued success in the future'.

Assessing the current players was performance management, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the players was talent profiling and development, examining the capability in the minor league teams was succession planning, and evaluating the external markets for players was talent acquisition and workforce planning.

In fact, Dow Corning has taken the sports metaphor so far as to title the internal communications leader their 'Sports Information Director' and some of their corporate recruiters as 'Talent Scouts'. The Talent Scouts are not just handed open Job Reqs to fill, but rather they are assigned an organization, department, or capability (similar to how the Director of Player Personnel manages the team's talent), and asked to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current people on their 'team', assess the likely pools of internal successors, and understand and engage the external community of potential talent to further develop Dow Corning's capability to put the best team on the field. It is sort of a 'mini' Player Personnel role, a more active and proactive approach, rather than simply reacting in classic 'search' mode when a position comes open and needs to be filled.

Finally, Ed made the point that while managing the player personnel for a 25-person baseball team is quite a bit more manageable than what most organizations have to grapple with, that the fundamental concepts are really the same. Keeping the process simple, even to the point of using the walls of an office, or even a 'Talent War Room', to keep abreast of the organization's key talent, and most critical roles are keys to a successful talent management strategy and the execution of that strategy.

I knew all that time I spend watching, thinking, and talking about sports would pay off.