Consultant's Corner

It's a Small World: Two Views

srumsey — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:05:17 GMT

Two experiences this past weekend emphasized for me - again - both the incredible advantages, and disadvantages, of today's technologies that enable us to be connected to one another 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. First, the experience that reminded me of the disadvantages. It's a fairly mundane story, actually. I took Friday off. That's it - I took the day off from work. Except that, even though I took the day off and was driving with my husband through to my high school reunion, I still "attended" a team meeting via cell phone. The reason I attended this meeting on my day off? I am pretty sure I attended it simply because I could, because I had the technology that enabled me to do so. So, why not? (Thank heavens I have wonderful colleagues who promptly reminded me of the need for work-life balance, and that when I say I am taking the day off, I really need to take the day OFF.) The lesson: just because technology allows us to do something, we don't have to do it.

Now, for the amazing experience that reminded me of the advantages. Saturday night was the big class dinner at the reunion, and during the meal I sat next to a terrific classmate sharing our current professional endeavors. This friend shared his newly acquired knowledge of my employment with Knowledge Infusion with another classmate and his spouse a little later. Turned out that this other classmate and spouse know several KI folks through professional affiliations. Further, the spouse already knew who I was, simply because we have so many connections in common on Facebook, and she had seen my name a lot, as I had seen hers. The funniest thing about this? As she and I were talking, I was getting emails from my KI colleagues asking if I knew or had met her, as they had seen on her Facebook status that she was headed to the same reunion I was heading to. So, here we all were: talking real time with each other, communicating virtually with various KI colleagues through email and mobile Facebook on our Blackberries. Technology enabled all of us to recognize and connect with each other, realizing the many different ways our paths cross in life. The lesson: sometimes, when technology enables these amazing opportunities to connect with terrific people, we should take advantage of them, and follow up with a face-to-face interaction when possible.

At Knowledge Infusion, we work with organizations to implement technologies that enable human interaction and collaboration. We also remind our clients that technology is nothing more than an enabler, that as humans, we still need to use our judgment about when using technology is wise (e.g., to facilitate making new friends), and perhaps not so wise (tipping work-life balance too far to the work side). It's helpful to remind ourselves of this every once in a while.

Click Here to Apply

neil.jensen — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:11:37 GMT

I spent the last several days working with a client to select a Talent Acquisition solution that will enable and fuel their pipeline of external talent. The two days of evaluation covering multiple vendors was a tough slog filled with equal amounts of delight and disappointment. As in any vendor evaluation, the client was able to get a first hand look at each vendor's ability to fulfill their business outcomes and determine what gaps may exist between stated requirements and product capability.

At the end of the two days, the team of evaluators launched into a spontaneous review of career websites across multiple industries. Taking advantage of the projection system, we looked on screen and walked though the candidate experience as they made their way through the career website, reviewed job openings and finally applied online. Needless to say, the exercise was eye opening.

Short of a few bright spots, the sites that were viewed offered an overall candidate experience that was down right awful. You could tell that little attention was paid to the candidate during the implementation. Instead of being top of mind and the primary driver, the candidate experience was an afterthought that resulted in confusing steps, circular navigation, and no compelling reason to continue with the process.

Given the talent crisis that has been much publicized, corporations must take the necessary steps to ensure the process to apply for a job online is simple and easy. As the war for talent heats up, candidates will have little patience with sites that are confusing and don't follow an intuitive path. They'll also make decisions about that prospective employer simply based on the experience they have on the careers site. Those companies that pay close attention to the candidate experience and make it simple and easy to apply online will produce a significant advantage in attracting and hiring top quality talent.

It's Time For Talent Management To Grow Up!

andy.gebavi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:20:40 GMT

How "Mature" Are Your Organization's Talent Management Processes?

Many organizations we engage with view Talent Management like it's some kind of exotic new discipline. The reality is that the functions usually associated with Talent Management (Recruitment, Performance Management, Learning and Development, Career Planning, Workforce Planning, Succession Management, Compensation) have been around for a long time. New technologies are allowing organizations to tie all these processes together and get true visibility into the business impacts of these functions.

We can usually tell how "grown up" our client's are by asking some key questions around the following areas for each of their Talent Management processes:

What are the business drivers of the process? We're often met with a blank stare here.
How frequently do you perform the process? Once per year or is it a constant, ongoing process?
How standardized is the process across your organization?
What kind of visibility does the process provide into key measures and organizational trends?
Who owns the process? HR or the business - or both?
What technologies support the process? Technology is an enabler of increased standardization, visibility, and process integration
How integrated is the process with other talent management processes?
What metrics do you use to measure the effectiveness and business impacts of your process? Often, another blank stare here.

Obviously, in depth analysis is required to determine how to improve your organization's processes. But by asking key questions you can learn quite a bit about where your organization is now, and where you want it to be in 1, 3, 5 or 10 years.

So what is your organization? Toddler? Kindergartener? Adolescent? Adult?

Pay Stub Generates Employee Relations Issue?

neil.jensen — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:38:28 GMT

Jennifer was excited to be working in her new job. She had always wanted to work for such a great company and she had finally gotten hired into a role that would jump start her career. Sure this was an entry level job, but she hoped it would be the foot-in-the-door she needed for a long and prosperous career.

It had been two weeks since her first day and all experiences had been positive. She enjoyed working for her manager and all of her new colleagues couldn't be nicer. To cap off her first two weeks, Jennifer looked forward to receiving her first paycheck. Jennifer checked her email to find the pay notice for her first check. She opened the message to find a PDF of her pay stub and she excitedly opened it. As she scanned the information, Jennifer was horrified to see her official company title listed as "ADMIN_ASS." In a stunned state of shock and disbelief, Jennifer picked up the phone and contacted the Employee Relations department to get to the bottom of this.

While the above story seems a bit far fetched, it's actually a true story. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but this really did happen. As it turns out, during the implementation of the core HR and Payroll system, a few shortcuts were made. One of these shortcuts resulted in a very bad experience for a new employee exited to be onboard and part of the team. In this case, a careless effort soured the opinion of a new employee and greatly diminished her opinion of the company she had always wanted to work for.

The employee experience is critical in today's employment market where finding and engaging great talent is growing increasingly tougher. Examples like this show that EVERYONE involved in the service delivery of HR must take great care to ensure they provide a first rate experience.

Some Assembly Required

neil.jensen — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:26:12 GMT

It was late on the evening of the 24th of December. Our children had gone to bed and my wife and I had pulled all the gifts out of the closet and began the task of putting things together. I drew the short straw and landed the elaborate train set that boasted over 100 pieces boldly on the outside of the packaging. How bad could it be I thought? Well, over an hour later when I had finished putting it together with no less than 3 extra pieces and no logical place for them to go, I knew what the warning "some assembly required" was really telling me.

As I shake off the after effects of what seems like a week long holiday celebration and prepare myself for the New Year, I can only think how this story has similar meaning to those of you contemplating a Talent Management technology initiative. Just like the instructions on the package warned that some assembly would be required to make that train set work, so must you adequately plan to implement your Talent Management software. As much as hosted solutions and software as a service give you a great platform from which to build, it doesn't do it itself. There is no magic box that, once turned on, will solve all your organizational ills. Talent Management software initiatives take work. They take planning and careful execution that if done right, will provide much traction with the talent in your organization. Knowledge Infusion has long advocated that technology initiatives are really 40% about the people, 40% about the process, and only 20% about the technology that enables the rest of it to work.

As you approach the New Year and begin to plan your Talent Management technology initiatives for 2008, take care to spend the time up front to really think about the people it will impact and the process you will have them go through. As great as the technology has become, it won't do the change management for you. Remember, some assembly is required to make your Talent Management technology initiative work.

And now is when I tell you your baby's ugly

neil.jensen — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:07:22 GMT

As a Knowledge Infusion consultant, it's my job to work with organizations to define their HCM and Talent Management strategies and create actionable plans to begin to execute on that strategy. As part of this process, we do an extensive review of the existing HR Technology infrastructure and conduct discovery interviews with stakeholders to glean current insights. Once complete, we analyze and synthesize the data collected to determine elements of the initial recommendation list. We then conduct an iterative review of the material and begin to refine the list to arrive at the final recommendation set and action plan. This entire process is aimed at creating a strategy poised to deliver not just HR value, but business value.

Often times during this process, I run into issues that are tough to deal with. I uncover significant deficiencies that will be a challenge for the client to deal with and overcome. This sometimes comes in the form of a series of bad or misguided technology decisions that detract from achieving stated goals. When I find myself in these situations, I am compelled to speak up. It's my obligation to tell the client what they may not want to hear in order to get them where they want to go. It's my job to deliver the bad news and turn it into a plan that aims to transform HR. It's through this approach and committment that together with clients, we develop a strategy that is not only achievable, but also produces true business value.

Stating the Obvious on Software Evaluations – Final Installment

david.barron — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:13:48 GMT

Contributed by David Barron – david.barron@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

This final installment is dedicated to a good friend of mine, Jim Durham.

In this installment, we will conclude the investigation on the six steps that I believe will lead companies to value in their software selections. The six steps are:

1. Define Desired Business Outcomes

2. Define the Decision Criteria

3. Assess the Potential Providers

4. Engage the Providers

5. Conduct Software Demonstrations

6. Selection

Final step – Selection

Once demonstrations are complete, there may or may not be a clear “winner”. There will probably be follow up items for most, if not all of the providers. Some follow up items may include: reference checks, parking lot items from the actual presentations, technology documentation, and maybe even a “sandbox” working environment. Remember the work (Define the Decision Criteria) done early in the process and don’t stray from it. The tendency is to see a product that “looks good” and start the decision process from a selection with backward validation. Don’t fall into that hole. Regroup as a team and make your decision based on your key criteria. Comparing providers side-by-side for each criterion through a slideshow and/or document are effective ways to ensure an objective and transparent decision.

When it comes to choosing a provider, keep in mind there is not always a perfectly right answer. In fact, oftentimes there is more than one viable solution available. Do not wait for the “silver bullet” and avoid “analysis paralysis” because you have multiple options. It’s easy to become overly concerned about making the wrong decision and waste time trying to find a single element that makes one better than the other, when both solutions are suitable to your needs.

Tip: If two providers are dead-even on most value-based criteria, focus on price as a differentiating factor and negotiate with both.

Thanks for reading this series and I look forward to providing more information in the future!

Software is only 20% of Talent Management Success

andy.gebavi — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:28:45 GMT

There... I said it. Sorry to burst your bubble software vendors. Having spent a large part of my career in the vendor community myself, I know that the software usually seems to get the starring role in Talent Management projects. But our experience at Knowledge Infusion with the clients we help is that the software plays - at best - a strong supporting role in successful Talent Management deployments.

In my opinion, the factors that play a much more important role are as follows:

Courageous Leadership: Whether it is an executive with vision who is not afraid of "rocking the boat," a middle manager that champions a project, or an influential front line member of the implementation team, it often takes courage to execute these projects. Courage to combat the inertia that exists in many organizations, courage to evangelize change and progress, courage to influence, cajole, and shepherd reluctant stakeholders. Governance goes hand in hand with leadership. It's important to have well-defined decision processes in place during the strategy and implementation phases of your project. Without one or more courageous individuals driving these initiatives, they have limited hope of success.

Strategy: Having a clear picture of what your organization is trying to accomplish over the short, medium, and long term is imperative. Your talent management strategy should be closely tied to the business outcomes you're trying to achieve. Ideally, your strategy should go beyond business process automation to impacting the bottom line of your business.

Business Process Work: As you evaluate and implement the software that will enable your strategy, significant time should be spent understanding the needs of your business and developing processes that will meet and exceed those needs. Ideally, your goal should be to quantum leap your business processes far into the future. Although some of what you want to do may not be possible with current technology, this exercise will lay down the groundwork for years to come. This work should be completed at a high level first, then fine-tuned to make best use of the technology solution you select.

Change Management (Deployment Excellence): Your approach should go far beyond training. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing. Create a buzz. Make it fun and effective. Although users will need to know how to use your new tools and processes, today's applications are very intuitive. To really drive a high level of adoption, you must pique users interest and energize them. Help them understand the big picture, as well as how they'll need to do things differently.

So, although technology is important, it is only one of many factors necessary to successfully change the face of Talent Management in your organization. It's important that you and your team realize that technology is only one piece of the puzzle. By looking at your Talent Management initiative holistically, and realizing it is much more than a technology project, your chances of success will be greatly increased.

Is this the end of the face-to-face meeting?

neil.jensen — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:36:55 GMT

I was told a story last week about a kick-off meeting for a software implementation that was done exclusively using virtual technologies. The vendor chose not to send the implementation team onsite, but instead did all introductions using conference call and web meeting. All future interactions are planned to be done over the web as well.

While I can understand how this can be an effective way to save travel time and money in the process of configuring software, I also see it running a big risk. In my opinion, nothing can replace the benefits of face-to-face human interaction. There is much to be gained by shaking hands and putting a face with the name. Starting a project such as a software implementation with a solid foundation based on common understanding can contribute to a successful outcome. Without establishing this foundation, small issues can become big issues leading to project failure.

While the outcome of this specific virtual kick-off meeting remains to be seen, I wonder how this practice will be adopted across the HR technology industry. With the rapid advancement of collaborative technologies, will there ever be a time when the face-to-face meeting becomes obsolete?