Consultant's Corner

Staying On-Course During Times of Uncertainty

bonnie.tichman — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:43:48 GMT

I was employed in the Recruiting and Staffing industry post 9/11, and after enduring the most horrific event in our nation’s history, it truly felt as if the business world stood still. We saw the contingent staffing market rise modestly as companies tried to fill workforce gaps, but full-time recruiting took more than a year to rebound due to hiring freezes across industries and regions.

We have to remember that economic cycles are periods of change just like the seasons. Just a couple of years after 9/11, the housing market boomed. The sense of affluence was everywhere with home values skyrocketing; which, of course, caused many Americans to borrow beyond their means, which brings us to today.

In addition to being one of the world's wealthiest men, Warren Buffet is also known for his common sense investment advice. According to him, “A market downturn, doesn’t bother us. For us and our long term investors, it is an opportunity to increase our ownership of great companies with great management at good prices. Only for short term investors and market timers is a correction not an opportunity.’- Warren Buffett

As HR professionals, how can we help our organizations continue to strive to be great companies, with great management? How can we stay on-course in terms of our HR goals, strategies and execution plans, or adjust our course slightly, without stifling progress?

During the tough road that may lie ahead, it is our time to take action. Here are 5 key things HR can do to make a difference during this economic downturn:

1. Realign with new business strategies and validate existing ones. Partner with the business - - and be a part of the business. Understand what goals and initiatives are changing and the associated talent implications. Realign your talent strategies and programs to support the business, in measurable business terms. This may include preparing for possible downsizing, specialized high-volume recruiting to upsurge select products and markets, and realigning remuneration schemes to drive the right goals and behaviors.

2. Realign with your executive stakeholders and develop new champions. Work closely with your business partners and some influential managers to ensure that your talent plan meets their needs. In addition, encourage them to be “champions” of your plan and to spread the word among their colleagues and team members about its relevance and impact.

3. Reduce the bottom line to increase the top. This is the ideal time to evaluate your existing HR technology portfolio and processes and determine how to get the most mileage from existing investments. This may include re-tooling of processes to drive further efficiencies and deeper leverage of inherent product features and functions to advance talent management initiatives. Often times, strategic programs can be ‘self-funded’ by redirected the efficiency savings to finance new initiatives.

4. Seize the moment. Use this downturn to weed out below average performers. Now is a vital time to partner with managers by conducting critical skills assessments and by educating them on effective performance management processes and rating of employees as we enter the year-end cycle. There will likely be some highly skilled candidates that become available in the labor pool, and you may need to free up positions in the case of hiring freezes.

5. Communicate and motivate. Seventy-one percent of workers think that their company leaders should be more forthcoming in discussing the current economic situation and its impact on their company, according to new research from Weber Shandwick. This is a pivotal time to be focused on retaining your top performers and improving productivity through such tactics as expanded training, non-monetary incentives and redeployment of key workers to high impact initiatives. By being more forthcoming and proactive, employers can win more loyalty from their employees.

Wailing or Engaging?

srumsey — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:02:20 GMT

How does your organization keep employees engaged during tough times? There's good evidence that organizations that can keep their employees engaged when the economy takes a dive are those that are most successful in the long run.

Keeping employees engaged is not the same as keeping them satisfied. Engagement drives performance - employees understand where the organization is going and how it is going to get there. They know how they fit into the organization's big picture, and what is expected of them. Unnecessary barriers that inhibit working effectively are removed. Employees are held accountable for their work, and experience the adulation of work well done, as well as the consequences when performance does not meet expectations. Feedback is timely and meaningful. Rewards are comensurate with performance and value contribution. These are the ways to engage employees. Enhanced employee engagement is a critical busienss outcome that drives organizational performance. At Knowledge Infusion, we work with organizations every day on better enabling these outcomes through people, process and technology.

What likely does not work at all, and may indeed backfire? Distributing motivational "stuff": posters, mugs, lunch bags, and other chatzkes. Have you heard of Despair, Inc.? Or "The Wailing List"? I bet your employees have. This is an organization that has made a statement parodying the motivational "stuff" industry. As you can imagine, their website becomes pretty popular in tough economic times. If you see Despair, Inc. "Demotivators" popping up around the office, that may be an indication that all is not well on the engagement front.

The good news about the drivers of employee engagement? Most of those things are behavioral - how leaders and managers do their jobs. And behavior changes don't cost a lot of dollars. Behavior changes do require concerted focus and effort, though. So here's my question: can organizations afford the costs of engagement during rough times? Or maybe the better question is: can organizations afford the costs of non-engagement? Would love to hear your thoughts...

It's Time to Believe

neil.jensen — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:40:04 GMT

During the holiday season we are asked to believe in many ways. Whether this belief be faith based, be about Santa Claus, or the belief that peace on earth and good will toward men is each of our jobs everyday, we are asked to believe in intangible concepts that require us to take a leap.

In the spirit of the season, I'm going to ask you to believe and take a leap with me. What I ask of you is not to believe that a man in a red suite can make it down your chimney and deliver gifts to your children, but that the roles we play in the HR industry can be performed in a very different way and have profound impacts on the business. What I ask you to believe is that we can change HR to be a function that delivers true business value. Knowledge Infusion has long been a believer that HR can be a function that leads the business and changes the game. We work with clients everyday to create HCM and Talent Managment StrategyMaps that lay out the roadmap to build an HR function that delivers business value.

While this began as an intangible concept three short years ago when Jason Averbook and Heidi Spirgi founded the company, it is one that has shown many tangible results. Are you ready to believe you can change the game?

You outsourced my termination?!?

neil.jensen — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:06:59 GMT

I've always been a firm believer that just about anything can be outsourced. If there's a function that you can't or don't do well, there always seems to be someone out there that can do it for you for a small fee.

Inc.com recently reporting on a new spin in the outsourcing market - the notion of the outsourced termination. While outsourcing some functions may make good business sense, the concept of outsourcing terminations takes the game to a whole new level. With the talent shortage that is quickly becoming more and more of a reality, the image you present as a company to future and even past employees has never been more important. As talent becomes scarce, you may just find yourself in a situation where you are recycling the same people you let go just a few months prior. By outsourcing terminations and leaving talent with a negative impression, the job of future talent acquisition only becomes harder.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20071101/meet-rebecca-shes-here-to-fire-you.html

In support of working mothers

neil.jensen — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:33:31 GMT

Working Mother magazine today named MetLife as a 2007 Working Mother Best Company. This is the ninth consecutive time MetLife has been honored with this distinction. As a current customer of Knowledge Infusion, and one of my primary clients, I've had first hand experience working with the wonderful individuals at MetLife - many of them working mothers (and fathers). MetLife truly is an organization that embodies and promotes the talent management programs that make it possible for working mothers to have a positive work/life balance and get the most out of a fulfilling career and a robust family life.

As we get deeper into the much publicized ‘war for talent,' programs such as the ones utilized by MetLife will be increasingly more important to fuel the talent pipeline. MetLife is demonstrating early in the game that by utilizing creative talent programs such as telecommuting, compressed work week, emergency child care, and flextime, you can tap talent-rich segments of the workforce and enable them to become a catalyst in fulfilling your business objectives and strategy.

Congratulations to MetLife and the entire HR team on this much deserved distinction.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Swim. Bike. Run. Shoot. Kill?

neil.jensen — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:20:21 GMT

On a recent flight home to Phoenix from the east coast, I picked up a copy of Outside Magazine to help pass the time and to help fuel my passion of the outdoors. To my pleasure, the issue showcased an article about a Navy SEAL and his pursuit of the sport of Triathlon. To my surprise, this same article also emphasized one of the talent management principles that I continually work with clients on - critical roles.

The article highlighted the US Navy's efforts to recruit qualified candidates for its SEAL program. You see, the US Navy has identified the SEAL as a critical role that enables success in modern warfare and is making special efforts to recruit candidates that stand an increased chance of success in that role. To recruit for SEALs, the Navy has broken away from their traditional recruiting methods such as high school fairs and strip mall recruiting offices, and has gotten out into the environments that contain the talent that can excel at what they will ask them to do. They've taken the notion of critical roles and applied it in a way that ensures a higher rate of success. By focusing recruiting efforts in talent rich environments such as triathlon events, surfing competitions, water-polo matches, and lifeguard competitions, the Navy has increased it success rate from 26% to over 40% for candidates that can make it through their insanely difficult qualifying school (BUD/S).

As the US Navy has shown, the ‘peanut butter' approach to HR process and practice just isn't working anymore. Applying the same processes and level of effort to all jobs and roles within your organization ends up inflating costs and inevitably wasting precious time that could have been dedicated to the critical roles that differentiate your business in the market. By focusing on critical roles and applying special handling to these roles, you increase your success rate and enable a critical component of your talent pipeline.

Knowledge Infusion works with client's everyday to define their Talent Management strategy focusing on critical roles and the integrated Talent Management technologies that support them.

Link to Outside article