Are You Ready for The Future of HR?

"I feel like I have been brought out of the dark ages." That's the phrase that continually ran through my mind during my experience at the #IBMInsight conference. It was absolutely amazing! From learning about 3D printer cars that are made of a plastic that could save lives - Local Motors (whose CMO is a women) Elle Shelley +Elle Shelley to listening to an IBM Executive converse with Pepper the Robot built with Watson intelligence, to learning how analytics helped a cyclist win the Great American Road Race, to hearing entertaining back stories about several films made by Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, it was truly unforgettable!

It was also an honor attending as a representative of my corner of the world -- Human Resource/Talent Management as a member of the IBM Futurist-Influencer Program. Many from the program were there for the specific purpose of considering a #Newwaytowork. Pondering the question, "How can we have a #smarterworkforce?" (I use these hash tags so you can continue to follow the conversation on twitter) while also contemplating, "What's the meaningful intersections between this, mobile, social and commerce?"

We spent a full afternoon engaged in "masterminding". It truly felt like a "think-a-thon"! And what was produced reflected reimagining our future from the impact of wearable tech in human resources to new roles such as HR Analytics, which we dubbed the HR "data whisperer".

I learned new terms like "cognitive computing" while being reminded of terms that have been in the marketplace for a while yet not widely used such as predictive analytics. I saw how Watson Analytics  can enable talent management, recruiting and other human capital management functions to be easier, quicker, more efficient and effective. The future is bright!

Need a simple def. of 'cognitive computing" (I know I did) @EasyAnalytics1 #IBMinsight #NewWaytoWork #IBMAnalytics : pic.twitter.com/GMxiT1EIiU

— joanncorley (@joanncorley) October 29, 2015

But the point of this post is not only to share a few brief highlights (...there is sooooo much more!) but to also share some concluding thoughts for my fellow HR colleagues.  If you've heard me deliver my talk The Ripple Effect - The Power of Your Personal Brand in HR -- the following will nicely compliment it.

1.  Accept the fact technology is here to stay. I know "technology" is a broad term, but I'm intending its use as such because it's scope of impact in our industry is broad --consider: smart phones, email, apps, texting, mobile learning, software (for just about anything), the cloud, byod (bring your own device), tablets, data, video conferencing, video calling, webinars, e-learning, mobile learning, virtual collaboration, virtual classroom, tele-commuting, social connecting...and I'm sure you could add more.

Its now embedded in just about every aspect of our work -- how we interact, how we communicate and how we deliver work. Though many in our field have not been early adopters, if you've yet to be "an adopter",  I'm imploring you -- resistance is futile. Adopt or become irrelevant and inept as an HR professional. And, by the way, the longer you resist the more you impede the growth and profits of your company!

Please know, "Let's get the the tech person," will no longer fly -- you are the tech person, whether you choose to believe it and own it or not! Acceptance, adoption, and integration of technology into your role and responsibilities are now a human resource competency.

2.  Numbers and Measuring Matter - data will become the darling of effective talent management.  If you've never heard of "The Hawthorne Effect" that's a great place to start. Measuring is absolutely necessary to any business success. You cannot change what you do not see. You cannot manage what you do not know. Measuring changes things.

Everyone is familiar with the use of numbers in accounting to assess a business, how about numbers related to the people of the business. Those carry equal if not greater weight in that the people drive and influence the ultimate numbers of the business. People numbers can be anything from performance management to analytics for the best resource to recruit the most successful employees. (Watson can tell you that!)

Get comfortable with using numbers, learn how to collect and analyze them, make your knowledge and use of them a professional competency.  There's a section in my book 15 Shifts -The Essential Guide to Transform Your Talent Management, that shares 4 different and common examples of how to use numbers to determine roi. This and many other activities can help you become acclimated to the role numbers can play as a meaningful talent mangement companion.

The first 2 bring me to number #3.

3. Please don't be the kind of professional that has to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming, begrudging change. I invite you to be the kind of professional that leads the way, risks the blunders, embraces the potential benefits, saying, "see what happens when we do this!" ... all in service to those you manage, the success of the business that employees you and to your own career.

Tweet: Please don't be the kind of professional that has to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming, begrudging change.

Why? The reality is the future of work is now! What you perceive to be in your future is already in someone's present and for some their past.  I have the opportunity to travel all over the country getting a realist view of the state of our profession and it is amazing the breath of differences in human resource knowledge as well as personal and professional technology adoption. In some cases, honestly, it's down right shocking!

So I say, "Rally the troops! Encourage the resisters, proudly display the banner - Let's Create the Future Now!" We have so much to gain and what we have to loose is what probably needs to be lost! Arm and arm HR brothers and sisters everywhere, with diligence, commitment and inspiration, let's march onward and future-ward!

If you're feeling as if you need some help accelerating your professional competencies, impact and value as a meaningful strategic business partner, you'll want to learn more about my Talent Management Practitioner Mentor Program to be launched in early 2016. Though in early stages of development, here's a link to let me know you're interested in learning more as the program unfolds - click here  By the way, this is not you're typical certification program. This is hands on realtime mentor/coaching experience where you and the powers that be will see tangible results.

It's Time To Stop Perpetual Bad Practices With Employee Training

You're sitting at your desk contemplating a call you just received from the Director of Dept. "A". "We have a problem," you heard from the other end of the phone, "One of our managers is really struggling to get the production out of his team we need. It seems as if no one really wants to work with him. What can we do? We need this fixed now.  Isn't there a training or something we can send him to?"

As you think through the conversation, you let out an audible sigh, "Here we go again."  This seems to be a continual challenge and not just with this department, but a few others. You think to yourself,  "We've sent a few managers to off site management seminars, but for sure we've not seen the substantial, meaningful skill development we really wanted. Clearly something needs to change."

Yes, in fact something really does need to change -- it's time for a reboot! Many of us have experienced being at our computer when it becomes clogged and stalled from all the activity we've done -- to the point it's barely functioning. In some cases, the only way to clear the activity so that it can function properly again is to reboot. That's the way I feel about talent management -- particularly in the area of training and development. We need to clear out the way we've been doing things and come at it fresh.

We all know the scenario shared above is very common for many in our industry (human resources) and for the leadership of our companies. And when I say we really need to reboot, I say that with deep conviction and a bit of frustration. I've been in this industry for many years and have observed the same approach and type of thinking to those kinds of phone calls.  It must stop!

I could go into the reasons why, but for this post I'd like to focus on what needs to change. Please read carefully...

In short, there needs to be a fundamental shift in...

=>  what decision-makers need to know in understanding behavior 

=>  how it aligns with business processes and strategies

=>  and how to achieve that alignment to get the desired outcomes

This is a desperately needed leadership / decision-maker competency.  (When I reference decision-maker, I am including anyone who is responsible for making decisions in managing talent and approving the funds to do so.) This competency I consider the ability to adequately diagnose and prescribe the appropriate procedures/tools/resources to effectively and profitably address the concern.

What's unfortunate is most don't know how to and/or have been trained to see learning or "miscellaneous training resources" as the only solution or prescription because that's what they've been exposed to -- that's all they know. It's a huge perpetual bad practice in our industry!  

The challenge is compounded when leaders outside the human resource department rely on the department to "have the answers".  They see them as the human management experts. In many cases it truly is the blind leading the blind.

"In so many cases a training or "bandaid" is prescribed when surgery is what is truly needed."

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Abraham Maslow, "If you only have a hammer, you'll see everything as a nail." Many human resource departments and desision-makers are only functioning with a hammer, "Let's send them to a training or create a e-learning course."

So much money is wasted because of the inability to adequately diagnose what's happening in our organizations and prescribe appropriate solutions, exacerbated by not embracing effective options. Money is thrown at problems without properly understanding them. This practice is extensively described in Chapter 11 of the book Working With Emotional Intelligence, by Dr. Daniel Goleman.

Tweet: Money is thrown at problems without properly understanding them.

With all this in mind, here are a few key tips to address this and a video recommendation that further explains them.

1. Determine if there needs to be knowledge gained or behavior changed.

Sometimes learning something new, gaining knowledge about a certain topic is absolutely necessary and a learning seminar, workshop or e-learning module is a good way to achieve that -- or it's a good start.

If on the other hand behavior change is desired, a capability that needs to be gained or skill developed  please know that this will require more time, commitment and both personal and peer attention. 

This is best achieved via individual and/or group coaching in conjunction with acquiring relevant knowledge. In our practice, we call this approach coaching roundtables (integrated, experiential training -- learn more here)  Achieving desired behavior change must include constructive accountability over a period of time.

2. Check your learning to application ratio in terms of attention and spending.

Do a review or audit of how you/your company have approached learning and development this year. Has there been more time, attention, planning and money applied to the learning piece vs. the application side?

For most companies this truly is an out of balance ratio. I'd say 90/10.  At minimum it should be 50/50. With my clients we look at 40/60 or 30/70 (attention to application should be equal to or more than the learning side). This may vary depending on timing, need, subject or skill.

In diagnosing and prescribing you want to see a progression of progress in your results: 

Knowledge => turned into = >Know-how (becoming capable) => turned into a => Skill (something done really well)

Important point: Being capable precedes being skilled. A skill is not necessarily something one knows how to do, it's something one knows how to do well... and that takes time! One can be capable of something without necessarily being skilled at it.

As our industry continues to evolve to meet the new challenges in our 21st economy, we must take a step back, approach our work from a fresh perspective and absolutely stop the perpetual bad practices that have been going on for years in this area. How we work with training and developing our talent must change!

If you just implement the 2 tips above -- that could make a significant difference. Here are some additional resources:

Video - Training & Decision-making - Talent Talk Youtube Channel

You can always email me for a no cost / quick consult as well: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors.com