2010
The New HR Analytics
Jac Fitz-enz deserves congratulations on the publication of his most recent book, The New HR Analytics. He notes in the preface that, “This book has been twenty-five years in the making,” and that “We are on the threshold of the most exciting and promising phase of the evolution of human resources and human capital management. We’ve gone from the horse and buggy to the automobile to the airplane. Now it’s time to mount the rocket and head for the stratosphere.”
I hope (and expect) that Jac is right. Business intelligence tools are ever so slowly making their way into the people side of the business—and it’s about time. Jac’s newest book helps move the ball forward, and for that, he has my thanks!
2010
HR told to prove its worth
With significant public sector budget cuts on the way in the United Kingdom (and elsewhere, of course), HR directors are assessing what they need to do to preserve their jobs.
According to senior HR leaders quoted in a new article in the UK’s HR Magazine, what HR personnel need to do is “give the business good, pragmatic, common-sense solutions…the future of HR is about realising how what you do can affect the organisation’s finished product.”
As we’ve mentioned once or twice previously, one of the most important things that HR professionals can do is focus on adding value to the organization by determining what people-related factors are the most important in improving organizational performance.
While McBassi provides such services to our clients, we also provide free documents on how to begin doing this yourself (go here and download “A Guide to Using Your Human Capital Data to Improve Business Results.”)
2010
The Achilles heel of the HR profession…
…is measurement.
There are a variety of reasons why this is so. HR folks are often not “numbers people.” Analytic skills are in short supply in most HR departments. Good data to evaluate HR programs and initiatives can be hard to come be, and the impacts are often ubiquitous and hard to pin down.
But perhaps the most fundamental problem is that all too often HR folks are doing measurement and evaluation for the wrong reason – they are doing it to “prove their worth” and/or to justify budgets. This motivation immediately undermines the credibility of the findings and implications – even before they are produced.
The right reason to undertake HR measurement/evaluation is to provide actionable insight for continuously improving organizational performance. I’ve spoken to many HR professionals who are moving in this direction.
It is impossible to overstate the significance of this shift in mindset. When they make it, HR professionals find that their world changes (for the better).
2010
Trends in HR leadership
New report from PricewaterhouseCoopers finds that large companies are now less likely to hire HR executives from another functional area, compared to 10 years ago.
This finding is something of a surprise, as many had believed that HR leaders were increasingly coming from outside the HR function, bringing to HR additional business expertise that would make possible a more strategic contribution from HR. The report speculates that this trend may even suggest that there’s simply not much demand for a bigger HR role within the corporation.
We’re more inclined to think that it’s a reflection of the historically limited role that HR has played, and that the PwC data suggests HR remains ripe for a major evolution driven by those forward-looking HR professionals who are looking to earn a ”seat at the table.”
At a minimum, however, the numbers certainly suggest that HR as a whole continues to face a headwind in its efforts to make a greater contribution to the organization. This underscores the need for developing solid, actionable business intelligence on the people side of the business.
2010
3 ways for HR professionals to improve their strategic impact
Our work with clients has taught us that there are three key ways that HR professionals can increase their effectiveness, become more strategic, and enhance the business impact of their work:
1. Systematically seek employee input in hiring decisions
Most HR professionals would agree that “hiring” is squarely in their bailiwick—it’s a primary responsibility of the HR function. But in our work with clients, we often find that HR fails to fully tap the wisdom of their workforce. Appropriate employees (including front-line employees) should be directly involved in the hiring process. It turns out that when you find effective, efficient ways to involve the right employees in making selection decisions, you end up making better choices that then drive a wide array of key performance indicators – from employee retention to safety to financial results.
2. Leverage social networking to drive learning and business results
Yes, yes, I know. There’s a lot of hype about social networking. But increasingly “social networking” in all of its many forms and permutations is how people (and organizations) learn and get work done. So ignoring this important – although admittedly “messy” – evolution and blending of work and learning is risky. Sitting on the sidelines on this one puts the HR function at risk of isolation and irrelevance.
3. Help employees fix broken work processes
Some HR professionals would say this is “not my responsibility.” But the most strategic (and effective) HR professionals who I know are in there with their sleeves rolled up – helping employees to identify and fix broken work processes. It’s one of the most critical domains overlooked by HR – often because of the profession’s obsession with measuring and maximizing employee engagement.