Vital 3 elements for career management

Organizations are often interested in designing career management or career progression frameworks, Whatever be the sophistication that you want to build into it there are three basic factors that must go in to the design considerations to ensure that from a people perspective these systems can attain desired success (goals of your framework or system).

a) What the individual wants (Aspiration)

b) What he / she brings to the table (capability or Competency)

c) What the organization wants (Need)

If you have an imbalance or misalignment between these three you are bound to fail in meeting either the individual or organizational need

For simplicity call them ACN.

The three need to be in alignment for an kind of successful program you want to drive. If you have identified A and C but there is no N then for the organization there is no meaning to invest in the same.

Similarly if individual wants A and there is N but no C then it is a decision about whether to Train and Build and at what Cost.

Organization may have the N and individual the C but the individual has a different A then you run the risk of losing the employee so look for other individuals with the same A.

Pretty Simplistic indeed, but in hindsight doesn't everything look so.  

Knowledge Management,How HR can Influence

In an earlier post I had written about Knowledge Management and how it is relevant today and can't be ignored in the context of today's business.  Read Here.

In this post I will try to explore how HR can play a role in facilitating knowledge management.  While the context may be more specific to services industries it can be extended to any other industry.

As companies have diversified and spread their operations across geographical and state boundaries and as technology has provide ample ways to stay connected and share work seamlessly, it is very common to find teams working across multiple locations requires remote teams to come together and deliver solutions and it is here that knowledge management processes play a key role in the collaborative effort.   In such an environment the willingness of team members (employees in general)  the aspect of give and take needs to be forthcoming.  The willingness is addressed by driving the culture of sharing and caring.  Explained below, are seven areas of influence whereby  the HR function can play an important role in enabling learning and sharing knowledge through a collaborative effort.

Creating a Culture for Knowledge Sharing

Espoused Value of Learning & Sharing: HR Should Influence That

As highlighted earlier, culture plays a significant part in ensuring sustenance of the knowledge management effort.   The effort to create a culture of learning and sharing starts right from the directional strategy of the company. The organization should design and deploy experiential and cognitive learning programs  throughout the year to sharpen the understanding of the core values of the organization understand how learning and sharing as a value is manifest in resultant behaviors and to  percolate the values into day to day working.  Through these programs employees can be made ready to deal with situations when there is a defocus or a deviation from the very values you want to promote and instill among your teams.  The knowledge management efforts get a key boost through the value of  Learning & Sharing.   Apart from a pivotal role of being custodians of the processes to ensure value adherence  HR can play a key role in embedding the knowledge sharing culture by reinforcing this in induction and hiring process.  

Create a Knowledge Sharing Platform

HR can influence knowledge sharing through appropriate reward and recognition programs that Communities of Expertise (CoE’s) can aspire for and thereby bring together people working on related areas of functional and technical expertise.  These can be areas for e.g. Engine Optimization and tuning in an automobile company,  or infection prevention post surgery in a hospital ICU, or process throughput design in a process plant.

Apart from sharing explicit and tacit knowledge the CoE’s also help in creation of knowledge assets and artifacts like case studies,  white papers, Points of view etc.  Some companies have even gone to the extent of aggregating these expertise platforms and created learning universities or knowledge universities that drive creation and sustenance of knowledge within the organizations.

HR needs to implement a structure to sustain these knowledge platforms by designing appropriate governance structures and putting right kind of metrics in place to drive effective implementation and roll out.  These kind of processes and structures are not easy to copy and duplicate.  It is culture specific and driven by the fact that the substance is more important than the form that these systems take.

Capability Building

In a diversified multilocation organization dispersed organization learning will be effective only if it reaches the audience irrespective of time, space and distances.   HR Technology enablement  focus should ensure the deployment of learning through e-Learning modules accessible seamlessly across the globe.  Technology today can ensure right access to learning modules, libraries and other learning platforms that are accessible across the globe and available real time to employees.  

Compliance and Intellectual Property

Another important role for HR is by being an integral part of addressing any issues on violations of  knowledge copy rights and intellectual property. Any transgression or violations are addressed and necessary action is taken by the company's Ethics Redressal Committee of which HR is usually a key governance stakeholder.   The HR team should ensure  that principles of natural justice are followed during any such scrutiny in alignment with the corporate guidelines on value and ethics. 

Staffing & Resourcing Intelligence

One of the key areas by which HR can influence knowledge management is by ensuring  visibility on availability of right competencies across businesses and ensure staffing on a real time basis.   HR can also play a pivotal role in creating this internal system that provides various resourcing and staffing managers and business leaders with information on the availability of right resources and capabilities that are required for the delivery of customers’ business requirements. 

Facilitator & User

While HR plays a role in enabling knowledge sharing, the HR function is also a significant user of  the knowledge management framework and infrastructure.  All HR communication to the associates on various organizational policies, processes,  procedures,  change initiatives etc, are communicated through multiple collaboration mechanisms such as Email,  Bulletin Boards on the intranet, web chat tools,  the Knowledge Management portal etc.  There is a significant use of collaborative tools such as Pod Cast and Webcast Sessions for sharing and communicating information on real time basis with participants across the globe and these are extensively used by the HR teams.   By being an early adopter and consistent user of the KM tools HR has the onus to lead by example in driving the culture of  knowledge sharing.

Conclusion

As highlighted in previous sections HR does play a key role in driving an organization’s knowledge management efforts. HR can set an example by being both a proponent and user of the knowledge management processes.   HR can play an active part as a custodian of key processes that facilitate knowledge sharing as well as facilitate the creation of a culture for knowledge management.   Operationally organizations face a challenge of lack of time or less  band width of managers.  It is here that a robust communication effort and creating awareness by sharing and highlighting success stories, case studies, informal sharing etc., are vital.  HR can also influence the adoption of knowledge processes by including relevant component in the performance appraisal thereby driving adoption and usage in the early stages of adoption.  Thereafter it is the constant reinforcement of practices, recognizing and rewarding adoption of knowledge management processes that would play a key facilitation role.   In the coming years with more and more emphasis on knowledge and management of knowledge for competitive advantage HR will play a vital role in enabling a key and vital strategic lever. 

Comfort Zone Trap and How to Get Out of It

Comfort Zone can be understood as "a settled method of working that requires little effort and yields only barely acceptable results".   As humans we often get into this trap (whether in personal or professional life) and need to be egged on or put in substantial effort to get out of the same.

Is it possible to come out of the comfort zone?  Experience and research shows yes. You can get out of a comfort zone surely... but to do that you need to understand what is your comfort zone and gauge and understand where you stand.  Measuring your comfort zone is really possible.

To understand a bit about comfort zone...

Generally we feel "bit nervous" and it is a likely indication we are not in our comfort zone. It is a mental condition where we believe we 

Problem Elimination, Not Problem Solving Should Be the New Focus

I met Ballu, a good friend, sometime back.  He happened to be of the very sociable types who always had a tale or two to tell.  Here is an interesting one he narrated.

"Some time back I happened to be in a review meeting and one of the things being discussed was a tool to automate some of the work being done by the people engagement managers.  The biggest selling point was that there are many problems that the team had to address and hence an automated tool would help them manage this in a manner that is simple, gives them flexibility and lets them be mobile and at the same time come up with wonderful snapshot of the problems solved.  This was the problem solving mind-set. And the natural tendency is for people to feel very happy to able to help address and solve problems. And our systems recognize this.  People are rewarded, they are encouraged, they are praised. And the problems continue to appear… from somewhere or the other….and it seemed like there is a factory for manufacturing problem that keep appearing and people waiting to solve them."

Our conversation continued… “How long will this solving the problem stuff continue?.  The next thing was to look for an alternative which was “eliminating the problem”

What we realized was that the more people came up with stories of how they solved a problem the more they were rewarded the more they were glorified…. they were promoted,  they had a great future....and That was the problem.

We needed to change our view point and look at focusing on “problem elimination”. rather than "problem solving"  Remember from my earlier blog on FOCUS.  (Click Here To Read the Focus Blog). So if your choice can be from among two things…solving the problem to eliminating the problem then the one you focus on gets the attention. .

There are some of you (or many..) who would have experienced that the same problems are recurring time and again. What problem we solved last year is up again the next year.  The problems faced by the predecessor are repeated just the way it happened earlier. 

When we focus on “problem elimination” the attention shifts from the problem of how to handle problems to a new way of looking at it… how to eliminate the problem.   What problem elimination means and how it can make our lives (both working and otherwise) more relaxed and enjoyable is what we shall explore in a coming post.

Wearables in the Workplace: What you can expect

Wearable devices are gaining ground all the world over.  India is not far behind.  As per IDC Data published recently, in Q1 of FY 17 over 400,000 wearable devices were imported into the country.   While the early adopters of wearable devices are fitness enthusiasts and other experimenters soon the world of work will find them make a foray on the floors.   Some of the ways in which organizations can think about wearable devices to help improve the work organization are captured below.

a) Link fitness to incentives:   While few innovative organizations have started off by linking fitness to  external social responsibility and causes like sponsoring NGO's for miles clocked in future there will be lot of pressure to link fitness adoption to incentives. This will help directly bring down the cost of health insurance for the company.  Wearable devices will play a key role in this with real time data from employees being used to track adoption as well as adherence to wellness program and fitness regimes.  With escalating health care costs and insurance bills it would be the right direction for organizations to encourage and incentivise fitness.

b) Tracking employee movement and Safety:   Organizations can track movement of employees,  track entry and exit within the organization space and this can be a key tool to monitor safety of employees.  This could be very important in times of emergency situations needing evacuation of people at organizations.  If wearable devices are registered against individual names and consent provided to use the data it would be a great way to work collaboratively in the work space to track, monitor safety.  Those not registered could continue the manual route.  

c) Always Clued in:  Employees would get real time information relevant to their work wherever they move away from their desks or work stations.   Unlike laptops and tablet devices It is much easier to move around with a wearable and probability of being away is far less.   Email alerts, Flash information from organization communication channel or even push messaging can be easily enabled for all key relevant stakeholders in organizations.  Remember the days of pagers... similar scenarios can be worked out by organizations.  Hotels,  Hospitals,  Retail Stores, Airline operations can all benefit from such configurations. 

d) Mobile Learning:   A good start to real time mobile learning can happen through wearable devices.  There are complicated troubleshooting on shop floors which may need access to data which can be readily transmitted to the wearable for quick response on the shop floor.  Similarly information needed for spot decisions can be pushed on the wearable device for situations where there is need such as pricing negotiations,  deal closing,  evaluating alternatives etc.

There will be a sea change in the way people work and relate to their organizations.   Of course there would be some downside also on the organization behavior side with some feeling too much intrusion in their work space and spillover into their personal time.  Remember there was a time, not long ago, when you left office and were completely disconnected with whats happening at work.  Today you are almost all the time in extended office and work space including on weekends and holidays and cant' afford to be left out of the action and if you do stay out it is at your own cost sometimes. 

Quotes11

True Greatness is Covered with a Cloak of Humbleness !!

#Life # Reflections

Life's Car has no automatic version. You will surely need those ABC Controls.  to stay on track......Always Be Calm.

In Life When GPS Signal seems lost or is taking you on wrong track, Don't turn back.... Chart a New Course Towards Your Destination

 Don't fret and burst your emotions when you face a roadblock,..rather...... Let your spirit burst...like a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor.

 Every idea in waiting is like America before Columbus.

 What, you know you know not matters more than what, you know you know.

 Our learning journey would be much better if only we checked back as oftenas we do with our smart phones.

 The mind like the computer needs a recycle bin to junk away the useless thoughts.  And keep purging the bin every now and then !!!

 When true friends meet after years its only the alphabets in their namesthat matter and not those before and after.

OTHER POSTS 

Doing Away With Bell: What to Do?

Now Don't Junk the Degree Please

Problem Solving Versus Problem Elimination

Skill takes you till some point beyond that Attitude Matters.

One of Zig Ziglars famous lines goes like this…. “Your Attitude, not your aptitude determines your altitude”   How high you rise comes from how you approach things.  

Sample this…

There was a foundry foreman Jack who was supervising his workmen striking away at the sand moulding machine one morning.     A gentleman came and stood by and was observing.   The foreman said “Hi Steve,  It’s been long time I have not seen you”.  They both conversed about how they met twenty five years back at the foundry and how the technology was different then and how the foundry had only one workshop and now it had over 40 workshops across the state.

When the gentleman left one of the workmen came up to Jack and said.  “Jack, Wasn’t that our Chairman whom you just spoke to a while ago.   Is it true that both of you started work this foundry at the same time several years ago?”

“Of Course" Said the foreman,  "Both me a Steve signed up for work the same day 25 years back,  Today he’s the Chairman and I’m the foreman”. 

And he continued in the same breath…

“The only difference twenty five years back was that I came to work for the 1$ to the hour and he came to work for the foundry”

Yes, Cant’ be truer the point made by this simple narrative is that how you look at your work, your task, your role, your part in the play makes the difference in how you approach it.   You clearly see that Steve had an attitude to work very different from John.     So what Zig ZIglar said in his statement is best illustrated by the simple story.

In organizations up to a certain point one can go with a sour attitude.  Maybe a few notches up the entry level stack...beyond that you have to make way for your outlook, the way you see things, the way you conceive the world around you, the way you approach a problem, the way you solve it and essentially the way you get things done.

Arise, Awake and Find Your Altitude!!!

Going Digital : What Does It Mean for Human Resources

Everyone's talking about "Going Digital" but what really does it mean?  How does it affect organizations and what does it mean for HR.

When we talk about Digital evolution we are basically looking at changes happening either within or outside the organizations due to things like Social media,   Mobility due to communication devices like smart phones, tablets and other devices,   Analytics 

Shooting the Dark: Some Insight on Diversity

Women's day just arrived as it does every year.   Air India just boasted about its all women crew last night that would fly its 17 hour long haul flight from New Delhi to Newark.



 Often it is debated 


Diversity and Inclusion are like two sides of the same coin.  One side without the other is not worth the metal it is embossed on. 

Realizing Ones Potential: Success Criteria

This is a brief discussion on how and why some of of the most popular quests (phrases) related to individual success often run into a wall....  and more specifically in organizational contexts.   

We hear of catchy phrases  like "Give wings to dreams",   "Realize Your Potential",  "You Can, If You Will",  "Discover your hidden power"    and so on. 

The common belief among line managers and HR fraternity is that achieving this objective is a self driven phenomenon per se. One has to reflect, understand what he or she can do / cannot do and work deliberately and can achieve much much more than what was possibly thought he / she could achieve.   Maybe put them in front of some achievers who have "been there, done that" kinds and there will be some kind of osmosis of inspiration to the listeners / beholders.  

However reality is that in order to enable employees achieve beyond what they think they can,  for them to realize their potential we need a whole lot of inspiration coming from the managers in organizations.   Control freaks who are there to stifle creativity and show their teams how to align with them (the manager) are doing very little to create that environment.   

Instead of showing the team how to align with the mission of the company and drive excellence in the delivery of the services or of the product,  instead of  helping overcome obstacles that impede the successful execution of  organizations goals,  instead of  working along side with them to solve problems,  they are expecting the employees to align with their stifling ways.   Align with me and you'll be successful.   Does this statement ring a bell? Familiar ??  Most often it is not explicitly stated but rather an implicit coming forth as clear message to the team led by such managers.

So the need for managers is to inspire the teams to align with the organization, to inspire them to see how their job is contributing to success,  to inspire them to understand how their job / work is relevant to customers needs,  to inspire them to go beyond and connect the dots and to enable them to work without fear.....only then we can really set an environment where everyone can realize his or her potential.   

SHRM Conference Panel DIscussion 2015

In many industries entry level hiring still continues to be a major chunk of the total talent requirements in any given year.  In the IT industry for e.g.  about 10% of head count or more is added every year from entry level candidates.  The same is reflected for Business Process Services.  Hence it is very important Challenges in entry level hiring faced by Industry Today... Excerpts from Discussion as the last SHRM meet

Key challenges for BPS Industry included

a) Awareness of the industry

b) Curriculum and knowledge gaps

c) Low attractiveness of Tier 2 and 3 locations

Other Related links

Now Don't Junk that Degree Please

BPS Industry Need for Mainstream Curriculum

Bring Focus on How and Why in Performance Management

Everyone seems to be jumping right onto the band wagon.  Bell curve has become "passe"... So what's the in thing....  That's a million dollar question.

A clear mandate now would be to go back to the basics.  Pressure would now mount on such systems which have done away with Brother Bell to actually motivate performance and no longer manage it..

This is going to mean

a)  Regular and precise goal setting
b) Clarifying understanding and expectations of the goals
c) Reviewing periodically and being transparent on the achievement / non achievement
d) Understanding what went wrong and what could be done better.

Over and above is the substantive element that needs to be covered.

One objective of a good performance management framework is to drive the right kind of behaviors within your organization and its various entities.   How does this happen? By Setting Targets and Goals with qualifiers.  It is important to emphasize both "how" and "why" aspects when setting goals and not just the focus on "what".  It has to be a deliberate attempt and should not be left to chance.

Take for example the highest achiever of sales in Pharma Co (name is irrelevant).  Here was Madan the highest grosser on sales.  For eight quarters he clocked over 40% growth each quarter and was the star salesman two years in a row.  About 9 months later when a new drug was launched by the competition the skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard.    Madan used his smooth talking skills and network with stockists to off take and store more than they needed and the inventory went piling up finally leading to zero off take in two quarters when things got tough.

We don’t need to mention the fake invoice generation by “unscrupulous” employees to show higher sales.  This happens in various industries and google your way to “Billing Scams”

So if you are looking for good behaviors aligned to your organizations value system then you need to ensure the “desired behaviors” are brought into focus.

This can be done through combination of the Performance Management and the Competency System.   The PMS should focus on the goals the “how” and “why” along with the “what”.   The managers should ensure that they anticipate how things can “Go Wrong” and discuss these with their teams in the process of setting goals.   

The competency framework should ensure that the behaviors of the competencies (managerial and leadership) do cover behavioral aspects of “how” apart from defining the core job related behaviors of the given role.

Focusing on just numbers,  targets and deliverable s you might end up like the proverbial  missing the woods for the trees.