Process Automation Run Amok? A Traveler’s Tale

May 25, 2012

This is my first post in awhile, due to multiple business and personal factors, some of which will become evident as my tale unfolds. As a longtime HCM technologist, I’m generally a fan of automating processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness wherever possible. However, there are times when automation can go too far. I recently experienced this firsthand in the wonderful world of business travel, and I hope that my “tale of woe” has some lessons learned that can be applied to our world of HR Technology.

As a longtime Northwest / Delta user, current Platinum Medallion member, Million Miler, and native Minnesotan, I almost always fly out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP). However, due to my 13-year-old son Ryan’s AAU basketball tournament Mother’s Day weekend (I know, spousal points off for that one…;-) in the Des Moines area, I made a reservation to fly out of DSM  through MSP to LAX on Sunday, May 13 to make a Monday morning client meeting in Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, my mother passed away (unexpectedly swiftly) due to pancreatic cancer on Friday, May 11, which required me to stay home to make funeral arrangements. In the midst of all the chaos of schedule and transportation changes, I thought it would be a relatively simple matter to modify my reservation to simply get on the MSP->LAX leg of my scheduled flight. I was sadly mistaken. Although the change fee would be waived due to the circumstances (with proper verification, of course), I was informed that I would have to in effect rebook the fare, at an additional cost of $733 (more than doubling the cost of the original ticket). I spent over three hours talking with various service representatives on the Delta Platinum Service and Customer Care lines, to no avail. Everyone said they were unable to do anything about the situation. In the end, the least costly option was for me to purchase an additional one-way flight from MSP->DSM for an additional $411.80. I had to leave my house at Noon, fly down to DSM, immediately get back on the same plane, fly back to MSP, and then wait for the MSP->LAX flight.

In addition to being out the cost of the extra flight, I spent four additional hours of travel time on Mother’s Day, which impacted not only me, but also my family in the aftermath of my mother’s death. Words can’t adequately express how frustrating, ridiculous and nonsensical this whole situation was to me. So, after some thought, I wrote a complaint letter to Delta, which included the following paragraph:

 I would like your perspective / rationale on how this situation was handled. It seems clear to me that your automated systems have run amok, as it appears that no one had the authority to override such an obviously stupid situation. If this was a case of unwillingness rather than inability on the part of your service staff, then I might feel even worse about your airline.

Let’s step out of the story for a moment, and draw some parallels to our industry and organizations by asking the following questions:

  • How do your employees and managers feel when they interact with your technology-enabled HCM processes? Is there any ability for various levels of authority to override workflows when the outcome is “just plain wrong?”
  • Do you have escalation levels clearly defined, so that an employee or manager can appeal an outcome and have the matter quickly discussed and resolved?
  • Are those in the “chain of command” empowered to do what is right for the “customer” (e.g., the employee or manager), or are they hamstrung by technology and/or policy – “I’m sorry, but the system won’t allow me to…”
  • Does everyone on your team have a clear idea of who their customers are, including goals, needs, and expectations?

So, how did my sad story end? Kudos to Delta – less than 15 hours after I submitted my compliant, I was contacted by an Executive Customer Care Rep (read – Tier 3 support). Along with a profuse apology, I was refunded most of the cost of the extra leg that I purchased, and received a travel voucher towards a future flight. This at least somewhat compensated me for what I had experienced, although it clearly would have been a much better solution to have avoided all the extra travel in the first place.

In my view there are some clear lessons from this tale that can be applied to our daily lives in HCM technology:

  • System support of HCM processes need to be flexible and include the ability to override “normal” outcomes in order to account for special situations. Override ability should not be indiscriminate (that would result in chaos), but only be given to certain critical roles.
  • Clearly define escalation levels for all major processes, so that special circumstances can be evaluated and resolved in the shortest time possible.
  • When an outcome occurs that is clearly wrong and stupid, own it – respond quickly and do what is necessary to make things right. Then, evaluate where you might make process and system changes to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence.

As always, I look forward to feedback and additional insights from you – comments are always welcome!

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Posted by Ron Hanscome

Executing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – Step 5: Technology

May 23, 2012

HRchitect has been involved in approximately 2000 HR technology related projects for hundreds of companies of all sizes and industries across the world. We have gained tremendous insight that we love to share with you so that you can benefit from the experience, and the lessons learned from others. With 15 years in business behind us in working with many of today’s leading companies, let us best position your company for a successful future with Talent Management Systems!

Successfully executing the ITM concept requires a holistic approach that includes embracing ITM as a philosophy, developing a strategy, applying science & measurement disciplines, breaking down process barriers, selecting and implementing enabling technology, and sustaining the new solution over time.

Five previous posts around this subject have given you an overview of our seven-step process for a successful approach to ITM and covered the first four steps – Philosophy, Strategy, Science & Measurement, and Process Now we move on to step #5, Technology (bet you thought we would never get there!).

Step 5 – Technology

 

Fundamental question:  What technology (or technologies) best optimize our ITM processes?

Armed with philosophy, strategy, science, metrics, and a high-level process redesign, the ITM project team can now develop the ITM technology strategy (e.g, the timing and sequence of ITM technology-enabled process changes), document requirements, and select the ‘best fit’ enabling technology (or technologies) for the organization. It is critical for the project team to focus on the real requirements of the business in order to avoid being led astray by the “bells and whistles” of vendor demonstrations (most of which end up never being implemented).

To that end, we recommend the following in this step:

  • Make sure that the ITM technology “tail” is not wagging the “dog” – the ITM technology strategy must be linked to the HR / ITM strategy, which itself should be linked to the overall business strategy
  • Ensure a balanced evaluation of all decision drivers developed in the Strategy step, not just functionality and cost. Other decision drivers include Vendor Viability, Ease of Integration/Interoperability, Package User Experience, Package Configurability, Technology & Scalability, Service & Support, and Global Capability – and it is important to conduct a ranking exercise as a framework for making the best technology decision (see HRchitect’s Decision Drivers white paper for a full treatment of this topic).
  • HRchitect advocates the use of scenario-based evaluations versus exhaustive checklist-style RFPs; scenarios of your critical ITM use cases will force vendors to explain how their application will meet your business needs, and not just the availability of a particular feature.
  • Those vendors that pass the RFP stage should be invited to a comprehensive product demonstration that is based on a script developed by the project team. This ensures an ‘apples to apples’ comparison of vendor offerings, and should be formally scored by team members.
  • Identified finalist vendors should be subjected to proper due diligence, including discussions of financial status, review of publically available financial data, customer reference checking, and negotiation to arrive at the chosen vendor package.

We’ll address the next step in successful ITM execution, Implementation, in the next blog and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by mattlafata

Executing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – Step 4: Process

May 14, 2012

HRchitect has been involved in approximately 2000 HR technology related projects for hundreds of companies of all sizes and industries across the world. We have gained tremendous insight that we love to share with you so that you can benefit from the experience, and the lessons learned from others. With 15 years in business behind us in working with many of today’s leading companies, let us best position your company for a successful future with Talent Management Systems!

Successfully executing the ITM concept requires a holistic approach that includes embracing ITM as a philosophy, developing a strategy, applying science & measurement disciplines, breaking down process barriers, selecting and implementing enabling technology, and sustaining the new solution over time.

Four previous posts around this subject have given you an overview of our seven-step process for a successful approach to ITM and covered the first three steps – Philosophy, Strategy, and Science & Measurement. Now we move on to step #4.

Step 4 – Process

 

Fundamental question:  Which practices maximize process efficiency, effectiveness and business value?

Clearly, some level of process redesign must occur in order to maximize the impact of new technologies – otherwise it is very difficult to justify the cost, time and energy spent on the project. Guided by outcomes of the previous steps in the methodology, this phase examines the major ITM processes and assesses which integration ‘leverage points’ (data, process outcomes, metrics that can be shared between ITM functions) are critical to success. Some examples of ITM leverage points include:

  • Recruiting – ‘Resume’ data gathered on an applicant becomes part of the talent profile, where it can then be accessed by multiple ITM functions. Results of candidate assessments are used to build the initial learning plan and as a base for performance management.
  • Performance management – outcomes of an appraisal process can drive learning (performance gaps result in recommendations from the learning catalog to reduce the gap), compensation (ratings drive merit and bonus allocations) and succession planning (high performers may be flagged to participate in successor related activities).
  • Career development – based on the mix of data in an employee’s talent profile combined with career aspirations, an employee’s designated career path could trigger adjustments to learning plans as well as participation in a succession plan, or even an internal recruiting effort for a position on the employee’s career path.

The ultimate goal of the Process step is to develop high-level redesigned processes that are appropriately woven together to deliver improved business outcomes, more efficient / effective ITM processes, and the best utilization of enabling technologies. Note that HRchitect does not advocate detailed process redesign until the Implementation phase, when a detailed fit/gap analysis of the selected technology can be done; the project team should again apply the 80/20 rule and focus on a high-level redesign that is sufficient to drive selection of the enabling technologies.

We’ll address the next step in successful ITM execution, Technology (yes, Technology doesn’t happen until the 5th step), in the next blog and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by mattlafata

Executing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – Step 3: Science and Measurement

May 10, 2012

HRchitect has been involved in approximately 2000 HR technology related projects for hundreds of companies of all sizes and industries across the world. We have gained tremendous insight that we love to share with you so that you can benefit from the experience, and the lessons learned from others. With 15 years in business behind us in working with many of today’s leading companies, let us best position your company for a successful future with Talent Management Systems!

Successfully executing the ITM concept requires a holistic approach that includes embracing ITM as a philosophy, developing a strategy, applying science & measurement disciplines, breaking down process barriers, selecting and implementing enabling technology, and sustaining the new solution over time.

Three previous posts around this subject have given you an overview of our seven-step process for a successful approach to ITM and covered the first two steps – Philosophy & Strategy. Now we move on to step #3.

Step 3 – Science

& Measurement

 

Fundamental question:  What tools and methodologies will enable us to best measure and predict outcomes?

Another critical element that is unfortunately often neglected or totally absent in ITM implementations is the application of the science of individual and organizational psychology to strategy, processes, and technologies. Note that it’s not just about the individual employee – their skills, competencies, performance, etc. – but also how organizational elements like culture, HR program effectiveness, and linkage to business outcomes can impact both individual and organizational performance.

One area where the application of science is extremely important is pre-hire assessment. Providers of scientifically validated assessments have partnered with many customers to demonstrate dramatic overall improvements in traditional HR measures. As an example, Kenexa (a leading provider of assessments) reports that one customer experienced 26% higher performance review scores and 40% fewer counterproductive incidents after an assessment was implemented for a key job category; another customer showed a direct improvement in customer satisfaction of 32% compared to the period before the pre-hire assessment was put in place. A retail customer of SHL (another leader in the assessment space) reports that associates that scored well on the pre-hire assessment sold on average $12 more per hour – a significant impact to the business when multiplied by the sales force of 6,000+ employees.

These examples show that the application of science to ITM processes can make a dramatic difference to workforce performance, and thus substantially improve business outcomes. Science can be applied in more than just the area of pre-hire assessments; it plays a key role in analyzing the impact of changes to process and technology and developing a ‘closed loop’ metrics feedback system, which leads us to the second component of this step – measurement.

It is not possible to overstate the importance of developing a strong foundation of measurement to support ITM. The HR function has historically been a laggard in this area, with a prevailing opinion that HR is “about people” and that “it’s just too hard to measure HR – it’s too soft.” We believe that this attitude is a cop-out, one that has its historical roots in the lack of analytical thinking skills resident in many early HR practitioners. Lack of understanding and expectations by senior business leaders has also been a contributing factor, and the dearth of user-friendly HR reporting and analysis tools has also had a part to play. Whatever the reasons for the lack of HR measurement in the past, it is clear that there is no excuse for this mindset moving forward. As one senior HR leader of an HRchitect client recently put it, “What gets measured gets done. We must continually strive to increase the measurement acumen of the HR function in order to increase the impact of HR program investments on business outcomes.”

In this methodology, the definition of the measurement framework is best accomplished via dialogue with stakeholders throughout the organization. We recommend that project teams conduct a role-based analysis to determine critical metrics. This usually results in a very large pool of potential metrics. Although it is tempting to try to ‘boil the ocean’ and give all roles everything, it is much more realistic to prioritize the metrics list based on the number of roles needing a given metric, impact to the business, ease of delivery, and other criteria. The result will be an initial subset of metrics that satisfy the 80/20 rule, and a plan for delivering extensions in phases over time.

HRchitect finds it useful to categorize metrics according to the following taxonomy, which is based on metrics complexity versus impact:

Figure 1 – HCM Metrics Taxonomy

 

  • Information Distribution – these HR metrics are simple, fairly easy to gather, and sent out to stakeholder roles periodically (e.g., standard reports)
  • Metrics Delivery (Dashboards) – as we move up the complexity scale a bit, this category includes ratios and graphical depictions of data delivered to a role; more sophisticated capabilities include the option to drill down to the underlying details from summary metrics.
  • Contextual Embedded Analytics – another step up in both complexity and impact, this category includes metrics and analysis that is embedded into the supporting technology in order to provide ‘just in time’ information needed by a role to make a decision.
  • Correlated Analytics – this category of metric takes data out of the HR silo and links it with enterprise financial and operational information to understand the impact of HR program investments.
  • Predictive Modeling – this “Holy Grail” of measurement is to use historical and current data to predict future results – this is the most complex of all measurement categories, but has the potential to deliver the greatest impact, once the organization is able to accumulate longitudinal data for robust trend analysis

To show how this taxonomy plays out in an ITM function, here is an example from Performance Management:

 

Figure 2 – Performance Management Metrics that Matter

Beginning at the bottom left are metrics commonly delivered via standard reports – useful, easy to gather, but more focused on the efficiency of this ITM process. Metrics in the middle of the chart are more commonly delivered via dashboards or embedded analytics, and move into the realm of effectiveness. Finally, those examples in the top right are related to correlation and prediction; complex to accumulate and analyze, but of great value in determining the impact on the business.

As an ITM project team works to identify the initial metrics subset and extensions, is it likely that the first delivery will have a higher ratio of efficiency metrics, as it will be important to deliver the standard data that roles are expecting. However, we recommend that at least some effectiveness and impact metrics be included (1 or 2 minimum per ITM function) in order to prove the value to HR and the business, and to build momentum for future delivery of the extensions to the measurement framework. In this way, the project team can team science with measurement to define critical organizational metrics for roles and stakeholders within the organization; this will ultimately drive improved linkage to business outcomes in subsequent phases.

We’ll address the next step in successful ITM execution, Process, in the next blog and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by mattlafata

Executing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – Step 2: Strategy

May 7, 2012

Two previous posts around this subject have given you an overview of our seven-step process for a successful approach to ITM and covered the first step – Philosophy. Now we move on to step #2.

Step 2 – Strategy

 

Fundamental question:  What are the high level focus areas and desired outcomes?

Once an organization’s leadership has made the commitment to ITM at the philosophical level, the next step is to develop a coherent strategy to get from the current state (often a disconnected result of a haphazard, reactive evolution of processes and technologies) to the desired state (a comprehensive, seamless flow of interconnected information, processes and technologies). HRchitect believes that there are four critical elements to an ITM strategy:

  • Business linkage – the strategy must link to business outcomes and organizational goals in order to be successful. The time has long since passed where HR can afford to have its ITM strategy disconnected from the organization. To do so risks the HR function in that firm becoming irrelevant to the business and its leaders. The best way to ensure linkage is for the project team to work collaboratively with a broad set of roles (“from the washroom to the boardroom”) to understand and document their critical issues, pain points, and “what if” dreams for the future. Once gathered, this information can be validated and prioritized to drive strategy development.
  • Demographic/cultural differences – organizations that operate across multiple geographies stand a good chance of having different (sometimes profoundly different) approaches to ITM, not to mention divergent processes and technologies. There may also be significant differences by location within geography if the business has grown via acquisition or merger. Understanding these variations will be critical to developing and refining the new ITM strategy, processes and downstream communication programs to best meet the needs of workers in all locations.
  • Key job categories – another critical component of developing a sound ITM strategy is to determine which job categories (aka “job families” or “key talent segments”) in the organization disproportionately affect business results. Not all jobs are created equal, and HR thought leaders are coming to the realization that the HR investment can no longer be spread equally like “peanut butter” across all job categories. Understanding the key jobs enables senior leaders to target the investment of HR dollars towards those jobs that most impact the business.

For example, a recent HRchitect in the oil & gas industry identified engineers, geophysicists, land surveyors, and land negotiators as their key job categories; due to a combination of aging current incumbents and a shrinking pool of entrants from college, competition was becoming fierce between this organization and rival firms. These jobs became a special area of focus and investment for HR – not only recruitment, but retention as well.

  • Characteristics of top performers – finally, a good ITM strategy must understand the characteristics (e.g., skills, competencies, abilities, knowledge, experience, motivation, preferences, aspirations) of the top performers in key jobs – this will enable the organization to ultimately target recruiting and performance management activities to find more employees that fit the mold of the top performers, and therefore drive improved business results.

Based on the organization’s ITM philosophy and these essential inputs, the project team now must develop an ITM strategy that articulates the programs that will be put in place, how the various HR functional areas will work together, and the timelines for implementing the supporting solutions. The Strategy phase should also include prioritization of software selection Decision Drivers.

We’ll address the next step in successful ITM execution, Science and Measurement, in the next blog and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by mattlafata

Executing Integrated Talent Management – Step 1

May 4, 2012

HRchitect has been involved in approximately 2000 HR technology related projects for hundreds of companies of all sizes and industries across the world. We have gained tremendous insight that we love to share with you so that you can benefit from the experience, and the lessons learned from others. With 15 years in business behind us in working with many of today’s leading companies, let us best position your company for a successful future with Talent Management Systems!

Successfully executing the ITM concept requires a holistic approach that includes embracing ITM as a philosophy, developing a strategy, applying science & measurement disciplines, breaking down process barriers, selecting and implementing enabling technology, and sustaining the new solution over time.

Step 1: Philosophy

 

Fundamental question to ask yourself:  What is our overall approach to managing talent?

Integrated Talent Management is first and foremost a philosophy that should permeate and connect the entire employee lifecycle. When people are in jobs that fit their knowledge, skills and attributes, and are given an opportunity to learn and develop their careers in an environment of accountability, they become the competitive factor that enables organizations to outperform their peers in the global marketplace. To make this a reality, potential adopters of ITM need to break down barriers between their disparate HR functions and the rest of the enterprise. This will likely require a good deal of change management for the HR function as well as the organization at large, because HR in most organizations today operates in functional silos, with limited sharing of information, disjointed processes, and separate technologies. Because the change to an ITM approach will require substantial effort across the enterprise, leaders must consciously embrace the change in philosophy and mindset – otherwise the effort will be doomed from the start.

The fundamental question above has multiple sub-questions and branches that should all be considered in testing and refining your organization’s ITM philosophy:

  • Does our general approach to managing people vary by worker level (e.g., hourly, salaried, manager, executive), worker type (e.g., regular, part-time, contingent), or any other major variable?
  • What needs to change to make an ITM approach feasible (e.g., breaking down HR functional silos, better change management processes, HR restructuring, organizational restructuring, new leadership)
  • Is our organization willing to sign up to make the needing changes, and is there executive sponsorship for this endeavor? Note that the real challenge is maintaining the same level of executive sponsorship throughout the entire ITM program – this requires ongoing education / communication with senior leadership, keeping them up to date with progress and reinforcing the need for continued support, even in the face of complaints from the “resistance.”

We’ll address the next step in successful ITM execution, Strategy, in the next blog and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by mattlafata

Executing Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – A Proven Seven-Step Methodology for Success

April 30, 2012

HRchitect has been involved in approximately 2000 HR technology related projects for hundreds of companies of all sizes and industries across the world. We have gained tremendous insight (and continue to every single day) and feel an obligation to share our expertise, and our war stories, with you. After all, with 15 years in business behind us in working with many of today’s leading companies, we’ve gained a unique perspective on the very puzzling world of HR technology.

First introduced as a concept in the mid 2000s, Integrated Talent Management (ITM) has become a major focus, and a major challenge, for many organizations today. Fulfilling the vision of ITM continues to drive many corporate HR departments, and is one of the hottest development issues facing Human Capital Management (HCM) software vendors. 

HRchitect defines Integrated Talent Management (ITM) as a comprehensive approach to maximizing the engagement, performance and effectiveness of the workforce by deploying integrated processes and enabling technologies. ITM technologies are a subset of HCM, and include recruiting, onboarding, performance & goals, learning, compensation, succession, career development, talent pro­file/competency management, assessments, workforce planning, communication & collaboration, and metrics & analytics. The power of the ITM approach principally resides in how firms can design processes and supporting technologies to leverage the natural linkages between these functions to enhance overall workforce efficiency and effectiveness.

Over the past three years the world has gone through a significant period of economic turmoil that had a ripple-down impact on overall HCM technology investments; many projects were deferred or cancelled during 2009-10. Of course, many talent-related needs in organizations remained; unfortunately, many HR departments were forced to “make do,” at best making only incremental changes to existing processes and systems. As the recovery gained momentum in the last half of 2010, business budgets were developed for 2011 to address much of the pent-up demand for all sorts of new HCM solutions (including ITM). Therefore, many firms are now trying to weave disparate HR processes and technologies into a comprehensive approach to maximizing workforce performance. For most organizations this is a challenging, multi-year project that involves much more than deploying technology or re-designing processes; HR and business leaders must take a strategic and thoughtful approach that firmly links Human Resources (HR) to organizational goals, strategies and outcomes.

Through a series of blogs, we’d like to outline a seven step leading practice methodology for successfully executing the ITM concept.

Methodology Overview

Many initial attempts to implement ITM have been unsuccessful due to the tendency of project teams to jump directly to technology selection, process redesign and implementation before thinking through all of the strategic issues involved with a major change of this type. Successful ITM execution requires a top-down approach incorporating the following seven components:

Image

Each step in this methodology has a fundamental driving question that must be addressed in order to proceed to the next step.

It is important to note that this seven step methodology for executing ITM focuses on business goals and objectives (the “What”) before addressing lower-level concerns like processes and technologies (the “How”). As a result, a firm can have multiple ITM technologies from disparate vendors, and still be executing a comprehensive ITM strategy. This broader, more inclusive definition is critical, given the state of the vendor marketplace that is attempting to fulfill the ITM vision of many organizations.

Successfully executing the ITM concept requires a holistic approach that includes embracing ITM as a philosophy, developing a strategy, applying science & measurement disciplines, breaking down process barriers, selecting and implementing enabling technology, and sustaining the new solution over time. Organizations that utilize HRchitect’s seven step methodology will increase their chances of successful ITM execution, and thus position their workforces to become a long term source of competitive advantage.

We’ll address each of the seven steps in upcoming blogs and please let us know how HRchitect can assist you to get maximum benefit that comes from Integrated Talent Management.

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Posted by hrchitect

The Evolution of Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – More Leverage Points

April 10, 2012

We went through some of the leverage points that come out of the recruiting/onboarding process in the last post. Now you have some talent onboard and it is time to look at what’s next with linkages in other parts of ITM. Again, when all of this is working together, the positive impact is greater than can ever be achieved on their own.

Learning Management – Information on both available, required and completed learning events can be linked to multiple functions, including:

Performance Management—tying the learning event catalog into the appraisal process can help managers select learning events that can help the worker address performance gaps.

Compensation—completion of learning events can automatically feed skill-based pay (where utilized).

Succession Management—weaving learning information into this process will enable the firm to identify what learning events are available to help prepare successors for their most likely assignments.

Career Planning—as workers compare themselves to potential positions, knowing which learning events are needed to improve talent profile gaps adds value. A key trend that has emerged over the past three years is the growing awareness of the need to capture and codify informal learning events in addition to the formal instructor led (classroom and virtual), and on-line events in the traditional learning catalog. Informal learning consists of many potential types, including on-the-job training, job shadowing, mentoring, and reading assignments; each of these can become part of the organization’s learning catalog, and linked to competency, skill or other profile elements to drive improvement recommendations.

Performance Management – This function contributes to ITM with the following leverage points:

Learning Management—performance gaps highlighted in the appraisal process can be tied to specific learning events, thus improving the effectiveness of manager feedback.

Compensation—as firms move toward increased use of pay for performance (including multiple types of variable compensation), appraisal results should drive payouts commensurate with actual performance.

Succession Management—performance ratings should be linked to this process to help identify consistently high performers that otherwise might be missed.

Two important trends have emerged over the past several years in the performance management arena. The first is an increased interest in the concept of calibration—how best to normalize performance ratings across the enterprise to take into account inevitable variances in rating by different supervisors. The second is a continuing drive towards pay for performance by tightening the linkage between performance appraisal results, goals achievement, and compensation. Vendors have responded by delivering product enhancements to address both of these trends

Workforce Planning & Metrics – Even though unemployment in the U.S. remains high, many firms still find it difficult to fill certain skilled positions (this is particularly true in the high tech, healthcare, and oil & gas industry segments). This has driven substantially increased interest in workforce planning solutions. While this discipline is still in its infancy in most organizations (this has not changed much over the past three years), it holds a central role in ITM. Done right, workforce planning must include the external view of labor availability as well as the internal analysis of the workforce and projected needs. The results of workforce planning should both feed and be fed by the other ITM functions in a sort of ‘closed loop’ feedback/response system. For example, the workforce plan should drive which positions will be recruited over the next year, and results of the recruiting process (e.g., longer hire cycles for certain positions) will impact the next iteration of the workforce plan. Poor performance results for some needed competencies may cause adjustments to the workforce plan, such as expanding or reducing the number of planned staff with those competencies. And none of this will work properly without a strong foundation of metrics and workforce information management, as the right ratios and indicators must be tracked through all of the ITM functions.

Offboarding – This function has received much less attention (and consequently, usage) than onboarding, even though the same tools and processes (in reverse) can and should be used to facilitate the proper exit of workers from the organization. Regulatory compliance (e.g., Sarbanes Oxley in the U.S.), has driven the need to ensure appropriate cessation of system access privileges upon termination, while other regulations such as COBRA mandate timely notification and processing of benefits continuation. Some analysts have coined the term “Enterprise Transition Management (ETM)” to describe onboarding and offboarding (and even the use of these tools to process workforce mass changes due to internal restructuring/downsizing/M&A), but this term has not yet entered into common usage.

We hope you found this useful in regards to the benefits of Integrated Talent Management. We’d love to help your firm realize these benefits so let’s talk!

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Posted by mattlafata

The Evolution of Integrated Talent Management (ITM) – Leverage Points

April 9, 2012

We recently talked about the Talent Profile as being the linchpin of successful ITM and everything revolving around it. We also talked about some of the important “leverage points” or linkages. Let’s branch out a little bit and talk about some of the other important linkages in ITM that, when working together, multiply each functions’ impact.

Assessments – Over the past three years there has been an increase in the general market realization that assessments can add value to each ITM function. This has led to an expansion of the use of assessments beyond their historical niche in recruiting and leadership development. Of particular importance is the need for assessments to be validated as defensible instruments for recruiting, measuring talent profile “gaps,” and measuring progress against profile gaps as well as achievement of objectives.

Recruiting – A significant amount of information is collected during this process; in traditional talent management this data just sits in the applicant tracking system (ATS), never to be used again. ITM strategies try to leverage recruiting data within multiple other functions, including:

Learning Management—profile gaps identified during recruiting assessment can drive a learning program designed to move the worker towards full proficiency.

Performance Management—recruiting assessments can form a base record for monitoring potential performance gaps.

Succession Management—job and experience information gathered during the recruiting process can become part of the ‘internal resume’.

Career Planning—job requirements (e.g., competencies, education, experience) used for recruiting can be leveraged by employees and contingent workers to determine potential fit for other positions in the organization.

The past three years has seen a significant growth of interest in the twin concepts of candidate relationship management (CRM) and managing external talent pools. Organizations want to cultivate longer term relationships with potential candidates by establishing communication channels (e.g., e-mail, text, social networks, collaborative websites) to let them know about job openings of interest and to communicate the firm’s employment brand. The goal is to maintain a connection with high performing workers of interest as their careers develop, so that they can potentially fill a role with the organization in the future. Vendors have responded to market interest by building tools to facilitate CRM (some more than others); they have also moved aggressively to delivery better integration with social networking tools as an aid to recruiting—another strong growth trend for this function.

Onboarding – Once a candidate has been selected, the role of onboarding is to ensure as quick and effective a transition to fully competent performance as possible. Much of onboarding is administrative (e.g., facilitating secure access to buildings and IT networks /applications, ordering space and equipment, completing new hire paperwork and benefits enrollment, maintaining contact with new hires prior to their start date); however, it can significantly impact ITM by facilitating the transfer of competency and assessment information from recruiting to other ITM components. While some organizations (and vendors) consider onboarding to be a part of recruiting, others (including HRchitect) believe it has achieved a level of importance that merits consideration as a separate component. It is important to note that multiple vendors have rolled out onboarding applications, either as niche solutions or as part of their ITM suite.

Now that we have somebody “on-boarded”, we’ll tackle additional aspects of Talent Management and their linkages in a future blog.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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The War for Talent and the Talent Profile

April 6, 2012

In a recent blog, we talked about four “talent” areas that we feel companies must focus on today in the ongoing “war on talent” – understanding your talent, reviewing your talent, reaching talent and assimilating talent. We touched on the subject of the “talent profile” and thought we would expand on that a little.

First, our definition of the Talent Profile (and Competency Management) is that it basically functions to track employee skills, competencies, preferences, and other characteristics in one place for use by other Integrated Talent Management (ITM) functions. This also includes competency development/modeling and integration to 3rd party competency providers.

As an aside, and for some background before getting into the Talent Profile, HRchitect believes that the addition of the word Integrated to “Talent Management” continues to be a critical differentiator for many organizations. Although just about every firm has developed processes and systems for these functions, to this point they have tended to operate in silos, with very little connection of either process or technology. Even though many of these functions leverage significant common data and attempt to have the same outcomes (e.g., improved retention, increased productivity), oftentimes haphazard and uncoordinated implementations have caused results to be much less than optimal. The situation has often been exacerbated by focusing on technology enablement as a ‘quick fix’ to perceived issues, leading to a hodge-podge array of non-integrated technologies and processes. The bottom line for many organizations is a reduced return on their talent management investments.

After at least five years of intensive marketing of the ITM concept, we are starting to see an impact. Today even mainstream firms are trying to take a more strategic, comprehensive, and integrated approach to their talent-related functions. The goal is to structure programs, processes and technology in a cohesive manner that multiplies each function’s impact.

One reason firms are moving to holistic ITM strategies is the concept of ‘leverage points’ or ‘linkage’; that is, ways in which processes can be engineered to share information between functions and increase the overall impact of ITM investments. We’ll address some of the other major leverage points and trends for each ITM function in another blog, but let’s focus on the Talent Profile and Competency Management for now.

Over the past three years or so, firms have moved beyond basic skills & competency tracking to the concept of the employee “talent profile,” which captures additional important elements such as preferences (career, geographic, mobility), education, external work history, motivation, and other characteristics in one place. Robust competency management has become the linchpin of successful ITM, in that competencies are the best-fit basis of measurement for many processes. Competencies and other talent profile information needed by the firm are used to develop workforce plans, assess potential fit of candidates to open requisitions, determine knowledge/skill gaps that can be addressed by learning events, highlight performance gaps, drive skill-based pay programs, and identify candidates for succession management and career planning processes.

If you have been following HRchitect over the years, you know that we identified several years ago that competencies should be the primary “glue” that unites ITM functions (e.g., used in recruiting to assess fit with job requirements, in performance management to measure ongoing improvements, in learning to identify learning events that impact competencies, in succession management to identify ‘best-fit’ candidates for leadership positions, and in career development/planning to provide a way for employees to measure their potential fit for other positions).

Despite the emergence of less intensive approaches, firms have long struggled with a way to effectively keep competencies current and relevant in the face of continued business change. The concept of the Talent Profile has emerged as a more comprehensive, lighter-weight alternative to a full-blown competency management process—by tracking education, motivation, preferences, work experience, and education along with critical skills and competencies, organizations are able to engage the worker in keeping this information up to date. The results are improved accuracy and applicability of the information and less administrative burden.

We expect that the vast majority of ITM implementations over the next three years or so will include a Talent Profile, and that most current installations will complete one or more enhancement projects that expand the number and type of characteristics being tracked by the profile. It is also highly likely that profile search capabilities will continue to improve.

It is our hope that we helped you solve another piece of the puzzling world of HR technology and continued good luck as you better prepare for the ongoing war for talent!

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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