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.

Are You Complicating Your Employee Training Decisions?

I gotta say I've been around the block a few times when it comes to employee training. For those reading who are not familiar with my background, the short story is I've conducted several thousand professional development seminars though-out North America over the past 15 years. If you want the long story, here's my bio.

Through that experience here's a key conclusion I've drawn -- we over complicate employee training and development and therefore waste a tremendous amount of money. 


I believe there are several reasons why, which I'll address in upcoming posts. For now, I'd like to present a simple perspective on how to view and make decisions regarding basic employee training.


Before I do, I want to quickly make the distinction between training and development (a distinction our industry desperately needs to make).  I've experienced that in most cases when people use the word "training" what they really mean is the act of learning -- that is taking in new information. What they might be hoping for is development -- skill acquisition and/or behavior change.  We all know learning "about" a skill, does not a skill make.  That's why making this distinction as we plan our talent training and development strategy and spend our precious dollars is so important! So as you continue reading, I'll be making that distinction by referencing employee training as learning seminars.

Tweet: We all know learning "about" a skill, does not a skill make.

The Simple Perspective

I had the great fortune of working with a national public seminar company for which I delivered many topics. During the course of my time with them, I came to realize that related to key soft skills in the context of work performance, no matter what the topic was it all came down to just a few key themes. Additionally, a lot of the essential content could be repeated no matter the topic.

So, in working with private clients both in delivering learning seminars and one/one performance coaching, I've come to the conclusion that there are in fact basic individual employee competencies that should be a fundamental part of any company's employee training/learning plan. 


I'd like to present them via 4 questions and then the recommended behavior theme and corresponding learning seminar (in some cases the theme and the learning seminar topic are the same):

1). Can and in what way (style, attitudes, behavior) will they do their job...will they get the results desired? - execute key deliverables in the time allotted? - driven by how they think and behave

Behavior theme & learning seminar topics : self management, personal motivation = emotional intelligence (EQ)  | getting results/desired outcomes =  time & productivity management | ownership of work product, personal commitment to engagement = personal/professional branding | ability to learn, think, problem solve = creative, innovative, critical thinking

Part B of this is - can and/or are they using technology competently and efficiently to do that work

2). Can they work effectively with others?  understanding, respecting and learning to work with different work styles, personalities = emotional intelligence, team collaboration | rapport & relating style = communication

3). Can they be lead? (an element of #2) e.g. work well with authority / leadership - relationship to authority = EQ


4). Can they and are they willing to add value in ways beyond their job description? personal values = personal/professional branding | situational leadership = holistic leadership | EQ

5) Can they effectively communicate in writing. (Employees spend 70% of their time writing -- that is communicating in written form.)

In summary, beyond the question is someone capable of doing a job based on executing the functions of the job, you can see that success in any role (even at a management level) can be broken down to (assuming they are the right fit for the job)... "can I and am I willing to manage myself to get results and can I and am I willing to work constructively with others?"...and do I know how to...?


In my experience I am completely convinced that setting performance expectations through key, required learning seminars can help to minimize a lot of employee management challenges and provide support and a baseline for coaching and managing that performance for supervisors/managers.

In summary, if you had to choose what learning seminars to spend your precious budget on here's what the topics should be: 

1. Personal - Professional Branding => ownership, engagement, personal empowerment, individual leadership

2a. Time & Productivity Management => get it done, get results
2b. Using software/technology efficiently

3. Emotional Intelligence => work effectively with others, can be managed, lead

4. Team Collaboration (aka team building) => work effectively with different work styles/personalities

5. Creative & Innovative Thinking => learning to think in general and critically, assess, problem solve

6. Business writing


Now, no matter what the creative title is of a seminar (and there are many out there -- seminar companies are good at that for marketing purposes), these core learning seminars need to inform participants how to:

>  self manage, self motivate, take ownership

>  management time to get results and learn to be the most productive they can

>  work collaboratively and constructively with others, which includes working appropriately with authority and as well as peers

> learn to think and problem solve (this is an ownership element as well)

Your Next Steps

I encourage you to use this article as a baseline for reviewing your employee training philosophy, expectations and planning from a fresh perspective and in that consider the following action items: 


1). Consider the concept of individual employee core competencies.  What behaviors and attitudes do you want as a performance base line for every employee?


2). Review your decisions regarding any employee training you've done over the past year, particularly what topics were chosen. Compare those to the suggested core employee competency themes.


3). Look at where your training dollars are going -- how have they been spent?...(particularly as it relates to performance needs of your employees).

4). If this article resonates with you, you'll want to explore bringing our Employee Competency Seminar Series to your organization. Click here to learn more


5). View this additional information video on how to make the best decisions for employee training




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