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#TChat Recap: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

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How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment 

Managing talent is an art form. It is a delicacy few have mastered, and even fewer, have come to understand. Essentially, managing talent is about managing people, and aligning their goals with your organization’s vision. Employees are a reflection of leadership’s ability to instill and align organizational goals with the goals that employees share. Performance is driven through engagement, communication, and most importantly, transparency of what the organization’s vision is. This week, #TChat’s community was joined by Andre Lavoie, CEO & Co-founder of Clear Company; & Matt Norman, a Dale Carnegie Training franchise president, both whom relayed a vital message about organizational transparency.

They understand and know that managing employees and driving performance is about aligning talent with an organization’s vision through transparency. It starts when:

Leadership has to own the recruitment and onboarding process to begin aligning talent with the organization’s vision. Before you can accomplish this, you must know:

Creating organizational transparency begins when you realize what resources you need to achieve your strategy, then recruiting and the rest can start to fall into place. This matters because:

Here’s the wonderful catch about understanding your talent needs and aligning employees with your company’s vision. It makes your people want to stick around. Employee retention helps drive organizational growth and the vision that fuels it. This is why:

 

If you build a culture that gives employees access to your organization’s vision then your talent grows with you. At the end of the day, it’s not always about the “bottom line,” it’s about your people. An engaged workforce is productive, it’s happy, and it’s most likely to stick around. To achieve organizational transparency leaders have to hold employees accountable and must be able to continuously measure their performance to consistently align talent with your company’s vision in real-time.

Want To See The #TChat Replay? 

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to our guests Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman for teaching us real-time talent alignment. Click here to see the preview and related reading.

#TChat Events: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment.

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on leadership?

We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture. Become A Contributor Now!

Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, June 4!

Next week’s #TChat Show: How To Have A Transformative Onboarding Experience For New Hires with guests Todd Owens.

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

5 Steps To A Completely Aligned Workforce

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“What on earth is Talent Alignment?”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question, it honestly wouldn’t matter because it’s an answer I love giving.

Talent Alignment is a goal-based, totally transparent series of processes that will change every facet of how you recruit, onboard, manage and lead your employees.

Think of talent alignment as a playbook for your entire organization that everyone can see in real-time. In many organizations today, that playbook is hidden or non-existent and seeing results of your entire organization in real-time.

Right now, many organizations have a talent cycle but it’s a vicious one. Vicious is disconnected, fractured and frustrating to top talent – in short, it’s a talent management, communication and culture problem all rolled into one. Here are the ways you can take your talent cycle from vicious to virtuous:

Step 1: Recruit Smarter

Knowing you need to hire and knowing why you need to hire are two separate things. Using talent alignment within your company makes it easy to see which holes need to be filled. All of the sudden, your job requirements are more focused and specific, your onboarding process is streamlined and your employees aren’t threatened by the new addition, because they know exactly what she is working on…and towards. It also gives HR and recruiting a seat at the table in terms of the strategic mission and vision for the company.

Step 2: Communicate Better

The key is to link your teams’ everyday efforts to overall goals, and to make it easy for managers and employees to visualize how work flows up to larger company strategies. By aligning all the middlemen you can ensure your team gets the right message every time. This approach empowers employees because they know precisely how their daily tasks fit into the larger picture.

Step 3: Build Trust

Companies that show what the goals are and individual accountability to reaching them can more easily pick out all-start employees, connect their employees in ways never possible before and create an open and trusting environment. Gossip, backbiting and the glass ceiling aren’t issues when goals and achievements are out in the open. Performance and engagement become natural by-products when alignment and transparency are “baked in”.

Step 4: Get Rid Of Pointless Tasks

A recent survey of more than 2,000 workers showed a whopping 98 percent think annual performance reviews are unnecessary. About a quarter of that group were HR professionals. This is waste of time and money. Today’s workforce works faster, smarter and in more places than the workforce that implemented annual reviews. Stop this senseless practice and use the budget and time for transparent reviewing. A continuous feedback loop between colleagues, leadership, and employees allows your HIPOs to get even better and your less productive staff matriculate or “self-select”. Research suggests that transparent review processes and a continuous feedback loop between managers and employees may even make adequate performers up their game.

Step 5:  Nurturing, Training And Growth

Performance. Each team member should know their results compared to expectations. In “The 3 Signs of a Miserable Job,” Patrick Lencioni says that we engage in our work when we can measure it.

Behavior. Most leaders don’t subscribe to a Machiavellian approach to performance. We know that the means are often more important than the ends. We need to sustain performance, our health and our relationships.

Engagement. Emotional connection to the organization and to the team drives commitment, quality and culture. Team members who hide from tracking objectives are either scared or apathetic. Either reveals development opportunities and succession potential.

Alignment. Organizations need empowered and independent thinkers…within the framework of the organization’s goals. Structure brings freedom and innovation. In crew, each rower does his part by following the cadence of those ahead and modeling for those behind in the boat.

Our workforce needs empowered and independent thinkers…within the framework of the organization’s goals. Structure brings freedom and innovation. Just like memorizing a playbook before the season, a virtuous talent cycle based on alignment allows us to improvise, commitment to organizational goals allows us to be entrepreneurial, reallocating resources, budget and shifting goals whenever and wherever they are needed, coming full circle.

(About the Author: Andre Lavoie is the CEO of Clear Company, the first talent alignment platform that bridges the gap between talent management and business strategy by contextualizing employees’ work around a company’s vision and goals. You can connect with him and the Clear Company team on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

ClearCompany is the first Talent Alignment Platform that bridges the gap between talent management and business strategy by contextualizing employees’ work around a company’s vision and goals. Our patent-pending portfolio technology empowers organizations to maximize the strategic contribution of hiring, learning and performance initiatives by realizing the potential of their most valuable asset: their people.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Preview: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

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The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, May 28, 2014. #TChat Radio starts at 6:30 pm ET (3:30 pm PT) and the convo continues on #TChat Twitter chat from 7-8 pm ET (4-5 pm PT).

Last week we talked about the inspire or retire leadership theorem, and this week we’re talking about how to visualize real-time talent alignment.

Employee turnover is a common challenge for organizations of all shapes and size and industries. It’s an overgrown and thorny path that leaders and HR teams walk bare foot daily, with no compass to guide them. This wild “talent cycle” can create poor climates and cultures where your people are forced to scramble and hire reactively each time an employee makes a move toward the door.

Focused on the people not the processes combined real-time talent alignment technology allow leaders to better visualize their human capital investment, while simultaneously engaging employees and driving performance.

Join #TChat co-creators and hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as we learn more about visualizing real-time talent alignment with this week’s guests: Andre Lavoie, CEO and co-founder of ClearCompany; and Matt Norman, a leadership and sales consultant and a Dale Carnegie Training franchise president.

Sneak Peek: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

We spoke briefly with our guests, Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman, to learn more about real-time talent alignment. Check out our YouTube Channel for videos with other #TChat guests!

Kevin Wheeler: Moving From Transactions To Engagement – 4 Recruiting Trends

Afton Funk: From Short-Order Cook To Chef: Talent Alignment Gets You There

Abigail Tracy: Offer Your New Hires Training, Not Free Doughnuts

Meghan M. Biro: How To Succeed At Real-Time Talent Alignment

China Gorman: How Great Companies Attract Top Talent

We hope you’ll join the #TChat conversation this week and share your questions, opinions and ideas with our guests and the TalentCulture Community.

#TChat Events: How To Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment

TChatRadio_logo_020813 #TChat Radio — Wed, May 28 — 6:30pmET / 3:30pmPT Tune-in to the #TChat Radio show Our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman talk with our guests Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman!

Tune-in LIVE online this Wednesday!

#TChat Twitter Chat — Wed, May 28 — 7pmET / 4pmPT Immediately following the radio show, Meghan, Kevin and our guests will move to the #TChat Twitter stream, where we’ll continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. Everyone with a Twitter account is invited to participate, as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: Why are organizations reactive vs. proactive when hiring and retaining talent? (Tweet this Question)

Q2: How can companies better align recruiting & onboarding to improve long-term performance? (Tweet this Question)

Q3: What role does learning and development play in real-time talent alignment? (Tweet this Question)

Q4: How can companies build and sustain a desirable, stable culture? (Tweet this Question)

Q5: How can business leaders promote a vision of continuous workforce performance? (Tweet this Question)

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, and in our new TalentCulture G+ community. So feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!!

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday.

To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

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#TChat Recap: Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem

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Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem 

Leadership is one of my favorite topics to write about, mostly because; people are so passionate about this topic. Of course, it also relates to recruiting and retaining your most valued talent. And why wouldn’t people be interested in this? Leaders are at the center of every workplace, or at least they should be. As our good friend and #TChat guest this week, Thomas S. Narofsky, Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer for the Narofsky Consulting Group, pointed out, “Leadership is your business and you don’t get a free ride.” For those of you that understand this, take a brief moment to pat yourself on the back, but that’s not what became very clear tonight. What became clear is that leadership development must come from within first and then extend into every organization.

Simply put, if you want to grow leaders and inspire greatness, you need to create a seasoned leadership pipeline that inspires the next generation of leaders you’ll need for tomorrow. If you want to inspire leadership, then your vets have to be able to show compassion, provide mentorship, and guidance towards the leaders of tomorrow. As a leader, eventually, you must learn to pass the torch. If not in Olympic fashion, you must do it with the desire to focus on people and their development.

Thomas S. Narofsky knows that:

Remember, leaders are the center of your workplace, because ideally, an engaged workforce is what surrounds them because they are people focused. Smart organizations know that growing leaders is more than just seeing their financial investments returned. Truly:  

And that’s what we call a win-win scenario. But the journey doesn’t just end there. The reason we develop leaders is because:

If you fail to communicate why leaders are important, then how do you expect to set the pieces to the puzzle where they belong? Yes, leaders are important. They need to be developed. So you start training future leaders by:

That last sentence sums it all up. You can’t expect your organization to grow and flourish if your leadership lacks the selflessness it needs to put ideas that are in the best interest of everyone ahead of their own, and perhaps, their ego. Remember, leadership needs to be nurtured and grown internally through your current leadership.

Want To See The #TChat Replay? 


Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to our guest Thomas Narofsky for teaching us about his inspire or retire leadership theorem. Click here to see the preview and related reading.

#TChat Events: Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem

TChatRadio_logo_020813

#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to Inspire Or Retire Leadership Theorem.

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on leadership?

We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture. Become A Contributor Now!

Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, May 28!

Next week’s #TChat Show: How to Visualize Real-Time Talent Alignment with guests Andre Lavoie and Matt Norman.

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

Skill Gap Stats: 9 Reasons To Thank Recruiters

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While unemployment numbers are looking great, the same can definitely not be said for under employment. Those numbers are sky-high. Additionally, those who are lucky enough to be employed full time are keeping their titles just a little too long for their liking, largely in part because they don’t have the skills to move on up. Tenure and the “good ‘ol boy system” mean nothing if the minimum required skills simply aren’t there. While 72% of educational institutions believe recent graduates are ready for work, only 42% of employers agree, according to a McKinsey study. Tweet this stat.

Candidates and employees aren’t the only ones less than thrilled about this skills disconnect, employers are taking hard hits for every day that goes by with too few (or the wrong) people on deck. CareerBuilder conducted a study on companies losing money due to the skill gap and here are some of the findings.

  • 54% of employers currently have open positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates. Tweet this stat.

So it’s not just you, and your recruiting team doesn’t suck. Everyone is hurting to fill specific talent needs right now (or at least half of everyone anyway). The inability of companies to fill key roles is costing them more than they probably know. If you’re a company exec and you’re faint of heart, you shouldn’t read on.

  • On average, a company loses more than $14,000 for every job that stays vacant for 3 months or longer. Tweet this stat.

How many position are currently at that 3-month mark in your organization? Those costs add up quickly in a number of areas that most leaders wouldn’t have even considered. Employees are citing lower morale due to increased workload, lower motivation and more mistakes at work. Organization members aren’t the only ones suffering, your customers are too. Customers are seeing declines in customer service. When people are wearing thin, it always shows.

If you’re thinking that this mythical “skill gap” can’t possibly be the reason your recruitment team isn’t delivering is because it only exists for tech workers, you’re dead wrong. The following fields are reporting the hardest hits in lack of talent.

  • Computational and mathematical
  • Architecture and engineering
  • Management
  • Healthcare
  • Installation, maintenance and repair

Tweet this list.

So what’s behind this seemingly increasing issue in today’s workforce? While some of the causes that employers are pointing their fingers at are avoidable, there are a few problem areas that are pretty far beyond control, for the most part. Here are the reasons that employers feel are the driving factors behind the skill gap.

Let’s get this straight, employers are losing out big time, workers are getting frustrated with their lack of career advancement opportunities and there are still around 4 million unemployed Americans. Here’s one last stat from CareerBuilder’s survey findings:

  • 99% of job seekers said that they would feel more loyal to an employer who invests in training them.  Tweet this stat.

Beefing up training programs and making stronger investments in employees does seem to be the obvious answer here. The key to covering the skill gap is already on the payroll; it’s your current workforce. Find and tap into the hidden potential of your workforce by investing in training and offering career counseling. An investment in learning and development can end up not only benefiting your current workforce; it can improve customer service, increase engagement, nurture innovation and act as a strong attraction and retention tool.

(About the Author: Sean Pomeroy, CEO of Visibility Software, has worked in the Human Resources industry since he graduated from Radford University with a Bachelors in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. After working in HR as a generalist for a government contracting company, he moved to the HR Technology arena and began assisting companies in the selection and implementation of HR software.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

photo credit: vancityhotshots via photopin cc

How To Use Instagram To Recruit: 5 Easy Steps [Infographic]

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By this point, most of us have come across the term, “social recruiting.” With the rising importance of fostering a successful and sustainable company culture and hiring people who are not only the right professional fit but the right cultural fit as well, employers and human resource professionals have started to turn to the power of social media networks, like Instagram, to help with their recruitment efforts. Instagram is a photo-sharing app that recently surpassed 150 million active users and counting – 70 percent of whom log in to the site at least once a day. That’s a huge pool of potential employees!

A few articles have surfaced about how some companies have started to use Instagram from a recruitment perspective. Vocus, a cloud-based marketing and public relations software, hired a marketer with a background in social media to manage the employment brand, including their activity on Instagram. Instead of taking the traditional HR approach, Veronica Segovia created a separate Instagram careers account (@vocuscareers), specifically for the hiring side of the business. Segovia published a blog post announcing their presence on Instagram to both employees and candidates, which included guidelines on how employees could get involved. “We looked at Instagram as an opportunity to make contact with passive candidates, to show them that Vocus is a cool, fun, young company”, says Segovia.

But the question remains, can you really recruit candidates for a job through Instagram? The answer is yes, but it has to be a combined effort. Instagram is most effective as a complement to other social media channels – so it’s best if your company is already using other social media sites (as you should be!). Before launching the @vocuscareers Instagram account, the company had been actively brand building on other channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Images posted on Instagram can be repurposed for other corporate social profiles, such as the aforementioned, helping extend your reach. The real focus with Instagram should be on maintaining the image of your brand, which aids in the recruiting process by attracting people who want to be more familiar with your company.

So where do you start? We’ve put together an infographic below that outlines the ways that Instagram is most useful and how to use it properly for recruiting, employee engagement and brand building in 5 easy steps.

Recruiting-With-Instagram-WEB

Do you have an example of using Instagram to aid in your recruitment or employee engagement efforts? We would love to hear about it. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Written by Rachel Scott | Infographic by Tara Burt

(About the Author: Rachel Scott has a diverse background in advertising and communications that includes everything from working as a Research Assistant for the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology, working in the Public Relations department for CJSF 90.1 FM, to her most recent role as Marketing Assistant at Clevers Media, a marketing and consulting agency based in Vancouver, BC.

Currently Rachel is the Marketing and Content Manager at Boost Agents. Boost Agents brings together growing, forward thinking organizations and qualified creative, marketing and communications professionals through our timely and ethical process to make the perfect cultural fit. Whether you are a candidate (job seeker) looking to boost your career and need someone to help take you to the next level, or a client looking to grow your team, we’re excited to be part of the process with you.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

Photo Credit: Twin design via bigstock

 

#TChat Recap: How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes

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How Talent Centric Recruiting Improves Business ROI 

You know, it used to be that employees were complacent; they kept their heads down and focused on their work, and it got done. It was business as usual, and then, magic began to happen. Employees became self-aware and management could no longer get away with its robotic-systemic approach to doing things. Since then, the world of work has been playing catch up. Going from process-centric thinking to cultivating a talent-centric mindset. Why? Employees are people, not just components to your business. They matter.

This week on #TChat, powerhouse guest Elaine Orler, President and Founder of Talent Function, joined us to discuss the business about talent-centric recruiting and its current state. According to Elaine:

Simply put, recruiters and hiring managers have to shift their approach to a more talent-centric one. And here’s why:

Developing a talent-centric recruiting mindset and culture has to be held accountable past the hiring process. Why? Because measuring performance is what drives the world of work today. Fortunately, we have talent analytic tools that can help tell us how much fun we’re having.

Here are some metrics that recruiters and hiring mangers should be measuring:

Thanks to technology we’re able to measure our success and failure. A knighted necessity in today’s business world. However, we must not forget about the big picture and that is:


Yes, people do matter and they are why we innovate. Employees are the driving force behind work. They hold the keys to the success factors of your business. If you want better a ROI, then develop a talent-centric mindset.
 

Want To See The #TChat Replay?


Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to our guest Elaine Orler for showing how talent centric recruiting can improves the bottom line in business. Click here to see the preview and related reading.

#TChat Events: How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes

TChatRadio_logo_020813

#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to How Talent-Centric Recruiting Improves Business Outcomes.

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on talent-centric recruiting?

We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture! Become A Contributor Now!

Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, May 21!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

 

5 Ways To Simplify Your Hiring Process

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Hiring managers and recruiters often have something to say about the behavior and lack of professionalism of candidates.

But maybe it’s time to look in the mirror. Have you ever considered that your recruiting practices might be wasting people’s time, confusing applicants and driving away top candidates?

Leading organizations focus on all the touch-points with their customers, suppliers and, yes, candidates. You need to start caring more about your candidate’s overall experience and exceeding their expectations. Here’s how:

Offer Clear And Specific Job Descriptions

Deliberately vague-sounding job descriptions irritate candidates. They make it seems like you don’t know what you’re looking for, haven’t spent enough time to profile the job, or that you’ve hastily cut and paste from another job you filled. Poorly written job descriptions give a bad impression.

Great recruiters don’t take shortcuts. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Instead, use specific language. Sit down and write a list of tasks included in the job. Remember to explain what’s in it for them, as well; it’s not all about you. Applicants will self-screen if they don’t like what they see, which will save you time later.

One of worst things you can do is to go through the motions of advertising a job when an internal person has been chosen or the deal is already complete. Job seekers have enough stress without being exposed to ghost openings.

That doesn’t mean there’s never a time and place for an open-ended job posting, but tread carefully.

Make It Easy For Qualified Candidates To Apply

The trend is to require prospective candidates to apply online, usually through a Web portal. That’s great if it works. If this is how you receive applications, however, you should try it yourself, noting exactly how long it takes to upload a resume (and hope it doesn’t crash or hang). Any frustrations you feel will be felt even more by the applicant, and if it takes too long, he will walk away. Ask yourself: Is my application process too tedious?

Also make sure to confirm receipt of applications, as that’s not only polite but also necessary to show you have it on file. The candidate needs to know the application didn’t just fall into a black hole. This is the single most voiced complaint by candidates, so take it seriously.

Speed Up The End-To-End Process

Some hiring cycles take months on end. Look for bottlenecks where you can take time out of the process. Candidates have other opportunities, too, and you don’t want to get to selection time only to find the person you want has a better offer.

Be honest and upfront, letting candidates know about how long it will take from start to finish and how many interviews they’ll likely will have to endure. One way to limit the inconvenience, cut costs and speed up interviews is to use video or Skype, especially for out-of-towners.

Communicate… And Then Communicate Some More

Keep your candidates in the loop every step of the way. You can even call them when you have no real news, as applicants always appreciate knowing where they stand.

Where possible, use the candidate’s preferred method of communication. Don’t call them at work; instead, leave a message or text and ask them to call you back, not forgetting to add your contact details. (It happens.)

After an interview, give some feedback, even if to simply say goodbye. Email is fine, just keep it short and professional and address the candidate by name. No one wants a “Dear Sir or Madam” letter.

What candidates hate most is the dreaded silence. Tell them the next step and make sure you follow through as promised. Do what you say you will do.

Treat The Hiring Process As A Marketing Opportunity

Candidates can be customers and customers can be candidates. Give them open access to you, as it lets them feel like they are in control of the process. The goal is to leave your applicants with a warm feeling of your organization, even if they were ultimately not successful in their application.

Social media provides an open platform and is the first stop for disgruntled or poorly managed candidates. The last thing you want to see is your company being trashed on Twitter or Facebook for failing to meet expectations.

Do your best to give every person who wanders across your job advertisement an easy road. A good test is to ask a colleague — or, even better, your manager — to apply and see how long it takes.

Your hiring process should be simple enough to attract people who are not even looking. That’s when you’ll find the best candidates, which will make both them and you happy.

Originally Posted on Brazen Careerist on April 29, 2014.

(About the Author: Elaine Porteous is a freelance business writer with a specific interest in HR strategy and talent management. She writes for niche trade journals and creates content for corporate websites.)

(Editor’s Note: This post was adapted from Brazen Life, with permission. Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, it offers edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

Do you have great content you want to share with us? Become a TalentCulture contributor!

Photo Credit: Maridav via bigstock

Reinforce Employee Empowerment Today

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As a business manager or owner of a company, there are many things you can do to reinforce employee empowerment with the self-will to strive for success. This is an important and critical factor in the success of your business as well, because a motivated, empowered work force will obviously perform much better than one in which morale is low and employees harbor feelings of resentment and disillusionment.

The most important aspect of motivating your employees is showing them you value their work, input, and contributions to the business. A simple thank you of acknowledgement often goes a long way in making an employee feel as though he or she matters, and listening to their concerns also shows respect for them and your willingness to make the business better as a whole.

Don’t Make It A Thankless Job—Acknowledge Your Employees

Too many business managers today simply expect their employees to perform their duties, and offer no real incentive or appreciation. Believe it or not, a paycheck just isn’t incentive enough to perform to the best of one’s ability. Employees are not machines, they want to feel appreciated, and they want to be able to express their opinions or concerns and be treated as though their words actually mean something.

If you find that you are having problems motivating your employees, you may want to examine your own actions as a manager or business owner. If you feel that you have been doing everything you can do to motivate your workforce and it just doesn’t seem to be working, you may want to consider hiring speakers to motivate employees in business conferences. Doing so at a company event, such as a picnic or catered dinner is the perfect way to say “thank you” to your employees for their hard work and dedication while, at the same time, capitalizing on the good vibes and encouraging even more empowerment through the use of the speaker.

A Motivated Employee Is A Productive Employee

Communication is ever important in the business world. Being able to communicate your needs and goals clearly to your workforce ensures that employees are well aware of their task requirements, and can proceed with little direction required. Trusting your employees to do their jobs effectively and professionally means you are empowering them, and that will translate to improved motivation and productivity.

If you feel you are somewhat lacking in the communication department, that is nothing to feel ashamed about. Not everyone is an excellent communicator, but you can easily learn the skills needed to become one. In the meantime, if you would like to better motivate your employees but feel you don’t possess strong enough communication skills to do so, you can rely on speakers to motivate employees in business conferences.

In addition to hiring a motivating speaker, you can practice improving other areas of your management skills, including placing value on your employees, involving them in business decisions and inquiring about their input, managing employees more efficiently rather than just throwing work at them and expecting it to be done, and giving feedback on projects as they progress.

All of these actions contribute to cultivating a more effective and happy workforce. If you can manage this, you will quickly find your business will benefit from a workforce that is glad to come to work, rather than one in which morale is low and a feeling of resentment and disenchantment festers. A workforce with low morale means less productivity, more mistakes, and more employee turnover as disgruntled employees look for other employment opportunities elsewhere.

Lastly, do not forget to offer your employees some sort of reward if they’ve performed exceptionally well or completed a big project on time. This can be something as simple as a small gift, or you may elect to take your workforce to a company dinner or other sort of fun outing. Such acts are strong indicators of recognition for employees, and they will certainly appreciate the gesture as much as you appreciate their efforts.

 

(About the Author: Norah Abraham has been a freelance writer since 2005. She attended the University of Boston and graduated with a Bachelor in English Literature. She loves public speaking and motivates people in her own comic style. She loves gadgets and techie stuffs. In her career, she has written dozens of Press Releases, Articles, and Essays.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

TalentCulture World of Work was created for HR professionals, leadership executives, and the global workforce. Our community delves into subjects like HR technology, leadership, employee engagement, and corporate culture everyday. To get more World of Work goodness, please sign up for our newsletter, listen to our #TChat Radio Channel or sign up for our RSS feed.

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#TChat Recap: Building A Culture Of Resiliency

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Building A Culture Of Resiliency

Tonight, #TChat-ers took to Twitter and made their voices heard loud and clear on #TChat Events, even if it was only through a 140 characters. The reason being is because our community, along with this week’s guest: Michael H. Ballard, a resiliency expert who specializes in developing and delivering workplace programs, know that building a culture of workplace resiliency is about adaptability and creating a model that allows it to flourish in. It’s not about finger pointing or being afraid to fail. It’s about getting back up when you get knocked down. What other way can we move forward if we don’t?

The #TChat discussion began by asking a simple question, what is a resilient workplace?

Michael brings up an interesting point about giving employees the training required to problem solve and create. Without the right kind of guidance and model for employees to apply their set of skills, then how does workplace resiliency ever get built?

 

Yes, a resilient workplace should be able to adapt quickly to its own strategies and goals. It has to create a model for resiliency.

It’s through this model that leaders and organizations can promote trust, transparency, and optimism that harness cohesive awesomeness around your workplace. Remember…

 

Resiliency has the resources (trust) and tools (transparency) to bridge leadership and employee engagement together.

 Want To See The #TChat Replay?

 

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to our guest Michael Ballard for teaching us how to build a culture of resiliency. Click here to see the preview!

#TChat Events: Building A Culture Of Resiliency

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to How to Build a Culture of Resiliency.

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on resilient workplaces?

We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture! Become A Contributor Now!

Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, May 14!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

Photo Credit: Lean In Collection, Getty Images

#TChat Recap: #Dice141 and the Candidate Experience

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Improving The Candidate Experience

Candidate experience, it can sometimes feel like a moving target to increasingly burdened recruiters and HR Pros, but is it really so far out of our reach?

Last night we discussed how to make candidate experience a “given” for everyone involved and we had an amazing group  with Shravan Goli, Johnny Campbell and Steve White! Someone from every sector weighed in on making the candidate experience golden.

We started with the most obvious question of all. What do candidates really want? HOW can we deliver a solid candidate experience without knowing the answer(s) to that question?

 

 

#TChatters Agreed That…

    • Tech communities provide a valuable service not just for recruiters but for tech talent as well. (Hint: Don’t spam and neglect to provide value!)
    • It’s not all about recruiting, show your current employees the love too.
    • Candidate feedback formula = timely + respectful + contextual
    • InMails may not be the way to a talented techies heart.
    • Tweets may attract tech talent, but the job description or ad is the real clincher.

 Want To See The #TChat Replay?

 

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

Thanks again to guests Shravan Goli, Johnny Campbell and Steve White for showing us the way to true candidate experience.

 

Click here to see the preview!

Related Reading:

Meghan M. Biro: Your Employer Brand Owns The Candidate Experience

Gerry Crispin: Net Promoter Score and Candidate Experience

Nick Price: Candidate Dispositioning – What does it mean and why does it matter? 

Siofra Pratt: How To Dramatically Increase Your Job Views on Twitter

Christopher Young: Incentivize Recruiters for a More Successful Hiring Process

#TChat Events: A Better Candidate Experience Means A Better ROI

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to A Better Candidate Experience Means A Better ROI

Note To Bloggers: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on candidate experience? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture! Become A Contributor Now!

Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about building resilient workplace cultures.

Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, May 7!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our new Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

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#TChat Recap: It's All About Gratitude People!

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Taking Thanks To The Bank

Employee engagement doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, one of the simplest ways to start engaging your fellow employees is with gratitude, which is just what we discussed last night at the ever busy, and FUN #TChat with Lisa Ryan and Teresa Andreani. How can being grateful actually drive your organization forward?

While those of us who have been on the receiving end of gratitude in business realized how important it is to thank the people who work with and for you, it seemed that just as many #TChat-ers had suffered at the hands of a nitpicky, downright ungrateful boss or coworker. And you guessed it! The work always suffers.

 

 

It sounds like a lot of the responsibility lies with leaders but employees have responsibility too.

 

 

#TChatters Agreed That…

  • Leaders must show gratitude from the top down.
  • Nothing is less expensive than a smile.
  • Employees can benefit from showing gratitude too.
  • Gratitude is useless when not sincere.
  • Gratitude may just be the first step in becoming a better leader.

 Want To See The #TChat Replay?

 

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to guests Lisa Ryan and Teresa Andreani for introducing us to gratitude as a building block for leadership. Click here to see the preview!

Related Reading:

Meghan M. Biro: Create A Vocabulary That Inspires Employee Engagement

Susan Gaier: Three Steps to Improve Employee Engagement

Melissa Dawn: The Best Ways to Reward Employees

Damon M. Banks: A Positive Workplace Culture Is Simply Good Business

#TChat Events: Employee Engagement And Putting Thanks In The Bank

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to Employee Engagement and Putting Thanks in the Bank!

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on gratitude and employee engagement? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture! Become A Contributor NOW! (ummm, click)

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about how a better candidate experience can create ROI in your organization with Dice! Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, April 30!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

photo credit: chris zerbes via photopin cc

#TChat Recap: It’s All About Gratitude People!

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Taking Thanks To The Bank

Employee engagement doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, one of the simplest ways to start engaging your fellow employees is with gratitude, which is just what we discussed last night at the ever busy, and FUN #TChat with Lisa Ryan and Teresa Andreani. How can being grateful actually drive your organization forward?

While those of us who have been on the receiving end of gratitude in business realized how important it is to thank the people who work with and for you, it seemed that just as many #TChat-ers had suffered at the hands of a nitpicky, downright ungrateful boss or coworker. And you guessed it! The work always suffers.

 

 

It sounds like a lot of the responsibility lies with leaders but employees have responsibility too.

 

 

#TChatters Agreed That…

  • Leaders must show gratitude from the top down.
  • Nothing is less expensive than a smile.
  • Employees can benefit from showing gratitude too.
  • Gratitude is useless when not sincere.
  • Gratitude may just be the first step in becoming a better leader.

 Want To See The #TChat Replay?

 

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to guests Lisa Ryan and Teresa Andreani for introducing us to gratitude as a building block for leadership. Click here to see the preview!

Related Reading:

Meghan M. Biro: Create A Vocabulary That Inspires Employee Engagement

Susan Gaier: Three Steps to Improve Employee Engagement

Melissa Dawn: The Best Ways to Reward Employees

Damon M. Banks: A Positive Workplace Culture Is Simply Good Business

#TChat Events: Employee Engagement And Putting Thanks In The Bank

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time?

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to Employee Engagement and Putting Thanks in the Bank!

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on gratitude and employee engagement? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We Want To See You On TalentCulture! Become A Contributor NOW! (ummm, click)

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about how a better candidate experience can create ROI in your organization with Dice! Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save The Date: Wednesday, April 30!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

photo credit: chris zerbes via photopin cc

#TChat Recap: The Culture Advantage. Quantified.

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Building a Cultural Advantage with Tim Kuppler

Culture has long been thought a nice to have by stakeholders and HR pros alike, but how much of a business advantage is it really? Last night, the bright minds and leaders of #TChat worked together with special guest Tim Kuppler to answer THAT very question.

We started at the top…literally asking how leaders knew that cultural change was in order.

@TalentCove said:

A1. When they see their employees only doing the bare minimum and not going the extra mile. #TChat

and

@marksalke said:

A1: If every action requires someone’s approval, you might need a culture makeover.

Isn’t that the absolute truth?

These #TChatters are preaching to the choir, so how to get the message of real culture change to everyone? In fact, where would one start changing an entire culture?

A2. Monitoring employee engagement on a regular basis will help you discover what works and what doesn’t.  said HerdWisdom, quickly echoed by Clear Company who stated:

A2. Monitoring goals closely and rewarding for the completion of them.

Okay, that makes sense. Goals and engagement are both extremely important, not only from the perspective of changing the culture and really making employees feel heard.

But coming down like a hammer was NOT recommended by our culture warriors:

@lotus-yon said: A3 A punitive environment is detrimental to innovation. Leaders at all levels should empower employees to take risks.

#TChatters Agreed That…

  • Leadership is ultimately responsible for cultural change.
  • Each employee could take responsibility for their own “corner” of culture.
  • Confidence is essential for culture building
  • Failure must be allowed
  • Employees must be allowed to take ownership and lead in some cases

Want to see the #TChat replay?

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Tim Kuppler, co-founder of The Culture Advantage and CultureUniversity.com for taking us on this company culture overview! Click here to see the preview!

Related reading:

Nancy Rubin: Your Corporate Culture: What’s Inside

William Powell: Focus On Your Employees, Key To Workplace Culture Success

Damon M. Banks: A Positive Workplace Culture Is Simply Good Business

#TChat Events: What is the Cultural Advantage?

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#TChat Radio — Are you plugged in to #TChat radio? Did you know you can listen live to ANY of our shows ANY time? 

Now you know. Click the box to head on over to our channel or listen to Engagement and Putting Thanks.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!

If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you!

We want to see you on TalentCulture! Become a contributor NOW! (ummm, click)

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about building a cultural advantage and how they can help both engagement and workplace happiness. Sign up for the newsletter to get the scoop on next week’s guest, topic and questions!

Save the date: Wednesday, April 23!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels!

How Deep Does Engagement Really Go?

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A recent Gallup poll found that engaged employees display an unexpectedly strong commitment to their work. Almost two-thirds (63%) of workers whom Gallup classified as engaged in their jobs would not leave their current position if they won $10 million in the lottery. This commitment did not translate as strongly with those workers disengaged counter-parts. Only 42% of disengaged workers, and 20% of actively disengaged workers polled say they would continue to work in their current job.

Beyond the Paycheck

Looking at those numbers, we can safely say that the majority of engaged workers embrace the benefits of having a job they love, beyond the paycheck. Although the number of engaged workers who would stay is impressive, there really isn’t that many engaged workers. So, we’re really left with a slice of a slice of the workforce who would stay.

What can employers offer to make that slice bigger –to increase commitment beyond the paycheck? Companies can get extremely competitive with their compensation practices, but that won’t necessarily translate to commitment, engagement or retention. Pay is merely one piece of the puzzle.

Shared Values

The 2012 Global Workplace study by Towers Watson revealed that 27% of employees who plan to leave in the first year on the job, cite feeling disconnected to the organization. In order to establish shared values, the organization has to make it a priority to establish and communicate those values. Values, culture and mission should be a part of all recruiting initiatives, from branding efforts to the hiring process.

Workplace Relationships

67% of employees say that good workplace relationships are a reason they would stay in their current position. This has a lot to do with the environment, communication and culture that employers should be creating and fostering for their workers.

  • Employers need to put a strong emphasis on cultural fit in the hiring process.
  • Provide a safe social collaboration platform to their workforce.
  • Create an environment free of judgment and full of questions. One that is conducive to learning from one another.

Recognition

Immediate and varied recognition can impact effort and retention by up to 87%. That’s a pretty drastic increase that comes along with the cheapest and easiest piece of the engagement puzzle. Recognition is so simple, it has proven benefits and it feels good to give and receive; yet leaders are notoriously stingy with their acknowledgements.

Employers at all levels of the organization need to first recognize the benefits of creating a culture of recognition. Simply acknowledging and rewarding workers can have such a dramatic affect on the entire organization. HR pro and founder of Blogging4Jobs, Jessica Miller-Merrell said:

“It Starts at the Top. Any type of culture shift within an organization must have senior leadership support. It’s that simple because without them walking the talk, the change won’t happen. No way no how.”

Feedback

Soliciting feedback is considered by many employee engagement experts to be the most effective tool in increasing engagement. Employers make some valiant effort and spend some serious dough on improving the things they think are the issues.

Well, how about working on the known issues? They will only be identified through the solicitation of employee feedback on a regular basis. 33% of employees said that a lack of open, honest communication has the most negative impact on employee morale.

Don’t get me wrong, competitive compensation coupled with effective and relevant benefits are vital to keeping great talent in-house, but there’s so much more to creating an engaged, committed workforce. Honestly, compensation is the easy part, and that’s why so many companies aren’t going beyond the paycheck to ensure that their workforce is satisfied and heard.

The idea of winning the lottery is a pretty cool barometer for workplace commitment. Would you stay in your current position if you won $10 million tomorrow? We want to know! Leave a comment –would you stay or would you go?

#TChat Recap: How Employee Assistance Programs Engage And Nurture Talent

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Employee Assistance Programs Help Talent Grow

Who would have guessed that programs built to assist employees keep them happy and healthy? Even more, these happier and healthier employees do their job better and strive to keep successes coming, both for themselves and the organization. Of course, the #TChatters already knew this little bit of wisdom and were happy to shine a light on the bigger picture.

Jen @JRW_SocialMedia said:

“A1) EAPs show employees that they matter enough to invest in. ”

and

@TFreedomToWork said:

“A1: by showing that an employees’ needs are top priority! Employees engage when they feel they’re needed ”

These #TChatters sum up how EAPs affect morale perfectly. Everyone has those times when home life finds its way into the office, especially with, as @HireQ_Inc descibed, the “always-on” lifestyles employees are now living. Assistance programs will help maintain a working office while still being sympathetic to the emotions of your employees and coworkers.

Working in an environment with differing personalities is overwhelming. People are complex and sometimes that causes tension, but without all those individual talents (and weaknesses), a team wouldn’t be a well-oiled machine. Of course, accepting personality differences is easier to say than do, so what can an employer do to help?

@15Five said:

“Q2 With our current culture we have personal development workshops that we rotate, so far it is transcending our team’s well-being ”

EAPs bear more than just emotional advantages though. Many companies offer lifestyle training courses and can even encourage employees to give up smoking or aid in weightloss as @BarbBuckner pointed out.

Basically, employees benefit from assistance programs and when employees are happy, they are more productive.

#TChatters Agreed That…

Employees and employers both have a responsibility in maintaining a productive workplace and in order for companies to both nurture and assist talent, there needs to be:

  • Encouragement
  • Flexibility
  • Mutual Respect

Employers should be actively encouraging the use of provided assistance programs while recognizing that in a world of humans, tough times happen. @TranslationLady said it is essential to “honor disconnection” and allow employees to have time away from busy work weeks. When there’s flexibility in the workplace, there’s less pressure. Above all, respect the individuals who spend their week in the office, keeping a company going.

@GreenChileAddict said:

“A4 .Treat and respect me as an adult. Think of me as a three dimensional employee not as a tangible asset. ”

Want to see the #TChat replay?

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Mark Sagor and Mark McAuliffe, Global Staffing Manager for Waters Corporation for giving us a look into EAPs and managing talent! Check out Mark Sagor’s blog at compeap.com. Click here to see the preview or check out the related reading.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!! If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you! 

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about building a cultural advantage and how they can help both engagement and workplace happiness. Tim Kuppler is going to be our radio guest and Nancy Rubin will be our moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend (and if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter do so! You get all the questions early!)

Save the date: Wednesday, April 16!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

We want to see you on TalentCulture! Become a contributor NOW! (ummm, click)

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Make Your Meetings More Successful (And Shorter!)

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It’s 9:15 a.m. and you’re just getting into the rhythm of your day. The phone rings, and on the other end of the line, one of your colleagues unexpectedly asks you to attend a meeting that starts in 45 minutes. Although you respect your colleague and would like to support her, you had plans for your morning and are getting closer to a few deadlines of your own. How would you respond to the meeting invitation?

  1. Stick to your existing plan and graciously say “no.”
  2. Be a “team player” and let your colleague know that you’ll attend the meeting, but clearly set a boundary that you won’t stay longer than one hour because of your own deadlines.
  3. Ask a few questions about the anticipated goals and importance of the meeting, then evaluate whether your own priorities match and if the specific contributions you could make are likely to impact the outcome of the meeting. Make a committed yes/no decision based on those factors.

If you chose response one or two, you may be an over-collaborator. Response three is the preferred answer because it focuses your decision around two critical factors: your highest priorities and your value-added contributions. To get more done at work, these are the two factors that can help you escape the inertia of unnecessary collaboration and join your efforts with others only when it counts.

Routine collaboration drains time

Of course, collaboration by itself isn’t bad. Problems occur when routine collaborative efforts and unclear mandates produce a toxic sludge known as meeting soup. On a bad day, we may view meetings as the biggest waste of time in our working lives. On a good day, we may look at meetings as the chance to connect with people and discuss important matters. The reality for most of us is that the quality of our meetings falls somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. According to most estimates, managers and employees spend anywhere between 25 and 80 percent of their time in meetings. (Click here to tweet this stat.)

For a full-time employee, this translates to time spent in meetings that ranges from 520 hours to 1,664 hours (or 65-208 full working days). What’s the rationale for all the meetings? It’s the “need” for collaboration.

Selective collaboration boosts performance

To reduce your meeting clutter, make it a priority to collaborate in the right way, at the right time, with the right people. This kind of selective collaboration is about intentional partnering that boosts the chance of success by aligning the required strategic skill or resource with the essential contributors in the simplest way.

Think of selective collaboration as a career move for you, not just a chance to escape the unproductive, routine meetings and conversations that fail to push your goals forward.

Moving away from routine collaboration — even when professional or cultural norms dictate it — can deliver a greater return on your efforts because it aligns with your highest priorities and features your value-added contributions. Getting great work done by delivering clear and consistent contributions is one of the best ways for you to stay at work.

The first step is learning how to choose when, how and who you collaborate with. Yes, you’ll have to learn how to say no. Yes, there may be some short-term negative reactions to this. But your elevated contributions to top priorities should ease those concerns quickly.

Instead of relying on partnerships that are dictated by circumstance and opportunity, you’ll seek out collaboration opportunities that serve a specific purpose.

Sometimes the missing piece is motivation, and that can be found through a partnership with some individual or group who’s driven, focused and inspired. Other times, the missing piece may be technical, strategic or organizational. In these instances, the mix of skills, abilities and access to resources serves as the driver for selective collaboration.

Selective collaboration gives you a tool to accomplish tasks that otherwise wouldn’t be feasible alone. The restraint of choosing high-potential collaboration allows you to avoid wasting time when collaboration itself is a substitute for lack of creativity, vision or accountability.

There’s reciprocity with this as well. When invited to collaborate with others, accept the invitation only when the best mix of skill and contribution can be aligned in an effective way. It’s not about being selective because you “have better things to do”; you choose the moments where your impact can be the greatest.

When in doubt, you can use the following list to confirm the opportunity for selective collaboration. If you can agree with each item, it’s time to schedule a meeting.

  • I have identified a clear learning and performance outcome for this collaborative effort.
  • The outcome will clearly support one of my priorities.
  • I know what I can contribute to make the collaboration a success.
  • I understand what my collaborator(s) can deliver and their contributions make it better than going it alone.

Jesse Sostrin is the author of Beyond the Job Description. He writes, speaks and consults at the intersection of individual and organizational success. Follow him @jessesostrin and visit his site here.

Photo Credit: fmgbain via Compfight cc

When the Workforce Is Given the Chance to Readjust

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“Did you ever see the film where the man is given spectacles, that make the world look upside down. He falls about the place but in time he somehow readjusts. And when they take the glasses off, the eyes he’s always had see sky below him, and he falls again…ah, but you hold that thought, and I’ll hold that thought…” –Ben Folds

That’s when I asked the analyst in the room what she thought. The fact that companies go from a centralized to decentralized to outsourced to resourced talent strategy; one that impacts how often they review and retool their talent technology ecosystem, every couple of years.

It’s not just a vicious cycle either; she said it’s like a pinball machine where the shiny metal ball of frenetic change criss-crosses, jumps and banks between all of the above, eventually hitting the glass so hard it shatters. The bumpers and flippers and flashy lights may get replaced on the inside over time, but the shattered glass remains, making it difficult for individual contributors to navigate.

Combine that, she told us, with the economic, social and cultural forces bending that “light” in ways unimagined by most — two global busts in less than a decade, with the latter still in a 12-step recovery program; the rise of social networks, 24/7 mobile connectivity, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and the informed consumer; the Millennial drive for more work flexibility including virtual work and unlimited time off when needed (and how it’s now permeated every generation in the workplace); the business case for both efficient employer and entrepreneurial employee for increased contract and project work; the longing for an elevated “why of work” and greater emotional commitment, the aspirational employee engagement grail.

And it’s only the beginning of how dramatically the world of work is changing, multiple pinballs ricocheting over and over again. Add to that leadership change after leadership change propels the pinballs faster and faster, changing teams and strategies and technologies with each plunger pull.

All the while the individual contributor sees sky below, and falls again; the last pinball sinking into the bottom center hole.

It’s a wonder we attract, recruit and retain the right people at all. But we do thankfully, because there are those organizations:

  1. That are talent-centric, not process-centric. They focus on the employee regardless of title, classification or generation, for profit and non-profit alike. These are the organizations that encourage flexibility and engagement, and understand the bevy of business outcomes that follow — the extra discretionary effort, the collaborative ideas, the drive to revenue growth and customer retention, and so much more.
  2. That encourage the individual to shine self-paced. They continuously develop and readjust to the constant barrage of change, that deploy the configurable talent acquisition and talent “engagement” systems, while at the same time not wasting ongoing time or resources on those who can’t. It doesn’t do the organization or the workforce any favors when it’s not working for either party, especially when the individuals can’t adapt and produce. Authentic leadership also means knowing when to let go, not just when to celebrate.

Which is why when the analyst said “it’s these moments that matter,” the perpetual candidate-to-employee “customer experience,” I smiled.

Because in time the workforce always readjusts when given the chance.

photo credit: ktpupp via photopin cc

#TChat Recap: Wholehearted Leadership For Employee Engagement

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Wholehearted Leadership = Employee Engagement

Wholehearted leadership is not hard to define. At least not if you hang out with the #TChat crew. In fact, there are four main areas that make up wholehearted leadership and they just happen to be the same things that drive employee engagement:

  • Growth
  • Recognition
  • Trust
  • Communication

These are qualities that not only build employees up but create great leaders within the workplace. Trust was one that really resonated with the crowd, not surprising with the stat that many disengaged employees tend to leave managers, not jobs. Many employees who decided to leave a company or who felt disengaged to the point of being a detriment to the organization point to misalignment with company values.

It’s possible that a lot of candidates simply look past all the warning signs during the interview process, but perhaps a little more likely is the fact that employer branding is starting to look like much of the same. Is it any wonder that the same top value that drives employee engagement and builds wholehearted, quality leaders is trust?

@SJAbbott said:

Trust. It’s the root of everything that moves an organization forward.

and

Employees are engaged when their interests align with the employer’s vision & mission

Basically, people know an enthusiastic and wholehearted leader when they see one, and FAKES? are easy to spot. In fact, fakes can be easily spotted by what they won’t allow in their “space”.

What Showed Up:

On the upswing post-recession what seemed to show up was that “leaders” were not accurately assessing the talent around them. Some common threads of not so wholehearted leaders:

  • Assuming that employees were just happy to be employed.
  • Being evasive or obtuse with employees.
  • Not supporting employees’ efforts to learn or grow.
  • Failure to communicate beyond facts and figures.
  • No ability to show how work is done or…truly lead.

It seems that in order to truly engage employees (and affect ROI and the bottom line in the process) a leader must be always….leading. Isn’t that interesting? So what DOES a wholehearted leader actually look like? Some examples:

  • Wholehearted leaders say “thank you” and show gratitude.
  • Wholehearted leadership gives opportunity to team members so they can grow.
  • Listening is a big part of wholehearted leadership.
  • A wholehearted leader will encourage opinion, honesty and sometimes, even dissent.

Stuff You Can Do

Didn’t have time to attend? Test these baby steps toward wholehearted leadership (whether you have a title or not):

  1. Don’t wait for someone to select you at work. Volunteer for a new and exciting project.
  2. Practice active listening in your next meeting, without formulating your responses while others are speaking.
  3. Become fully invested in whatever initiative is moving forward in your department.
  4. Be as honest as possible about your position and projects.
  5. Increase communication with all your colleagues by informing them of progress and next steps before they have to ask.

Want to see the #TChat replay? 


Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Kevin Kruse for giving us a look into wholehearted leadership! Check out his website kevinkruse.com. See the preview or check out the related reading, click here.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!! If you recap #TChat make sure to let us know so we can find you! 

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about EAP programs and how they can help nurture your employees within in the workplace. Mark Sagor is going to be our radio guest and Meghan M. Biro will be our moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend (and if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter do so! You get all the questions early!)

Save the date: Wednesday, April 9!

The TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

We want to see you on TalentCulture! Become a contributor NOW! (ummm, click)

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The Authentic Side Of Leadership #TChat Recap

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The Importance of Authentic Leadership

What is authentic leadership? Well, the answer to that question is a millionfold, as we learned last night on the latest #TChat. Everyone seemed to have a definition to go into the bucket when it came to leadership that was…real. In order to be authentic, some surmised you have to be true to your style of leadership and perfect THAT, not necessarily try to fit into someone else’s definition of what leadership could, should and would look like to them.

We’ve heard that leaders should be everything under the sun; from assertive to humble, servant to conqueror, honest to canny, tyrant to buddy. Where does the aspiring leader look to find their answers? One answer may come from inside the team:

@lori~translation lady said:

A1: Authentic leadership means collaborating and empowering because you can accomplish so much more with teamwork and community. #TChat

That was echoed in many sentiments. Your team often informs just what kind of leader you need to be. In fact, the authentic leader would do well to study the “following” styles of his or her team before settling on a “my-way-or-the-highway” leadership style.

@terriklass said:

A1. Authentic leadership means being able to share all sides of us. Being truthful of who we are. #tchat

What Bubbled Up:

Regardless of varying ideas of what defined authentic leadership, there were qualities that no one could argue with (or at least no one did!). They were:

  • Honesty
  • Transparency
  • Empathy or Heart
  • Team-oriented or holistic
  • Action-oriented

What’s not in there? Careful attention to share prices and nary a mention of productivity. Efficiency is a KPI to which many leaders are held. How do we emulate the above characteristics (or allow our leaders to emulate them) while still ensuring we get our gosh-darn jobs done? That too, nearly always falls to the leader:

  • The leader is usually the most selfless person in the room.
  • A leader ensures that her team is reprimanded in private.
  • A leader keeps the workload manageable for his team.
  • True leaders use honesty to motivate the team, rather than hiding crucial information from them.

Stuff You Can Do

Didn’t have time to attend? Try these five-minute new tricks to make baby steps toward authentic leadership:

  1. Try to figure out what your team needs by watching them take criticism and/or praise. Take notes.
  2. Write down your strengths (honesty, empathy etc.) and try to trace a path to how you can use those to reach specific KPIs in your organization.
  3. Check the recommended reading and add Cy Wakeman’s books and blogs to your reading list.
  4. Make a list of leaders who have inspired you personally (3) and mentors in the public eye you admire (10).
  5. Invite someone from the first list to coffee or dinner. Pay.
  6. Watch a speech or video of a person on the second list and write down what it is that makes you admire their leadership qualities.

Did you miss all the #TChatty goodness?

Well you can catch up by listening to this week’s #TChat Radio Show or taking a look at our Storify of the #TChat conversation.

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Todd DeWett for giving us an inspiring look into authentic leadership! Check out his site at drdewett.com!

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!! If you recap #TChat make sure to use this link so we can find you! 

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about wholehearted leadership and employee engagement. Kevin Kruse is going to be our radio guest and Nancy Rubin will be our moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend, and save the date: Wednesday, April 2!

Meanwhile, the TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

Think you have what it takes to write for TalentCulture? Submit an application to be a contributor NOW!

photo credit: Steven | Alan via photopin cc

Employee Engagement Is No Picnic

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Seriously, employee engagement isn’t spurred by casual Fridays or company picnics. Effective engagement efforts aren’t perks thrown at the workforce dartboard in hopes of hitting a bull’s eye. Employee engagement takes constant communication, change and growth.

We can talk about the benefits of employee engagement all day; but what it all boils down to in business, is the Engagement Profit Chain, as outlined by Forbes contributor and serial entrepreneur, Kevin Kruse (@K_Kruse).

Engaged Employees Lead to…

Higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to…
Higher customer satisfaction, which leads to…
Increased sales (repeat business and referrals), which leads to…
Higher levels of profit, which leads to…
Higher shareholder returns (i.e., stock price)

I believe that’s an end goal that we can all agree on, but many are going about it the wrong way. Picnics aren’t necessarily doing anything in the way of harming employee engagement efforts, but to be honest, they aren’t exactly doing anything to build it either. You can throw all the perks in the world at an employee and they’ll probably stay, but those perks alone won’t increase engagement.

Stop confusing engagement with happiness.

Too many employers are walking around believing that employee satisfaction and employee engagement are synonymous; and they’re definitely not. This is a critical distinction for employers to make. They can have a workforce of the happiest folks you’ve ever met, that doesn’t mean that any one of them are engaged in their work.

Ryan Scott, blog author on CauseCast, a corporate philanthropy and volunteering platform said:

“A satisfied employee might be perfectly content to punch in and out, performing his assigned job and nothing more. Alternatively, an engaged employee is emotionally invested in the success of her organization and brings a certain level of passion and commitment to her job. An engaged employee looks for meaning in her work and strives for a legacy of achievement.”

Now does that sound like something a picnic, or company logo t-shirt will do? Nope, sure doesn’t.

It is measurable.

So many employers are left in such a predicament. How, oh, how will we ever figure out our employee engagement issues? As a professional in the employee engagement field for some years now, I will share with you the most helpful and best kept secret about measuring employee engagement. Are you ready? Ask!

Employee engagement is completely measurable, with continuous feedback. That’s right –ask questions, collect data and make changes based off of it.

This always makes me think of the little kid who doesn’t want to mow the lawn. They don’t know how to get it started. It’s too big. They don’t know how to make it go. Many of the organizations that I have worked with in the past, don’t take on serious engagement efforts because they are concerned about just how big of a project they’re taking on. Then they start the mower, and realize it’s not all that bad.

It shouldn’t all come from the top.

No offense, but the top is usually where the “throwing perks at the workforce dartboard” tactics come from. Workers and managers at all levels of the organization should be involved in engagement initiatives. While it’s important for execs to lead they way, they could do a much better job at that with some real, front-line insights. Ideas that will make a change in the middle- and lower-level workforce, are going to come from them.

Employee engagement speaker Dave Zinger outlined 21 contemporary employee engagement tools and concepts. He recommends co-creating survey questions with employees. This practice will not only generate more relevant questions, it will also ensure that questions are not phrased or crafted to sway, or influence the answers.

Speaking metaphorically, employee engagement is definitely a picnic –a feast, in fact! However, company picnics aren’t getting us there. Employee engagement efforts can’t be a shot in the dark at making a few people happier, they have to be strategic and purposeful in order to be effective.

 

photo credit: Florian SEROUSSI via photopincc

Prospecting LinkedIn For…Everything #TChat Recap

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The Power of Professional Prospecting

If you’ve been working in the recruiting, workforce, HR or leadership space, you’re well aware of how LinkedIn can be used for…work. But there is more to the professional networking behemoth than sourcing and recruiting (not that it’s a slouch in that department either).

Professional prospecting, or “panning for sales gold” as I like to call it, was the subject of last night’s #TChat and our guest Viveka von Rosen had some incredibly interesting tidbits to share. The CEO of LinkedIn to Business and a published author (nab her book, LinkedIn Marketing in an Hour a Day, here) gave #TChatters inside information about how to use LinkedIn to unearth new deals and create additional opportunities from sales, leadership and yes, employment perspectives.

The Mainstays

“Dynamic LI profiles are ones tended to like a growing garden: with care & frequent watering” @DawnRasmussen is right. You get out of LinkedIn what you put into it. There are countless ways to update your LinkedIn profile and all of them add value to getting you MORE sales, more leads…more connections. So get in there!

Nearly everyone agreed that LinkedIn is a powerful tool, but the cons listed had to do with lack of visibility, frequent pulled support for favorite tools and an ever changing user experience. But in #TChat as in life, there were a whole lot more pros. Included in the list?

  • The breadth of information available on LinkedIn
  • The ability to find anyone via one’s own network
  • The third-party tools built to work with the platform (shout out to @rapportive)
  • The new and improved search UX

Stuff You Can Do

Didn’t have time to attend? Try these five-minute new tricks to make baby steps toward using LinkedIn for prospecting:

  1. Find and connect with those who have “viewed your profile”
  2. Search out people in your area
  3. Create buyer personas and make a target list and send personalized emails (you get 5 free!)
  4. Ask and answer questions in your chosen fields
  5. Join groups to get the inside track in your industry (you have up to 50!)
  6. Of course, change your profile URL to something recognizable
  7. Put keywords you think your target market or candidate will be searching
  8. Connect your Slideshare account and keep it updated

For the organization: Check out this article from our friends at Social Media Examiner on how to make the most of your company page. Jonesing for the unique #TChat interactions or want to see who said what?

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Viveka von Rosen for enlightening us on LinkedIn! Check out her full site at LinkedIn to Business. 

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!! If you recap #TChat make sure to use this link so we can find you! 

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be talking about authentic leadership. Todd DeWett  is going to be our radio guest, and Kevin Grossman will be our moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend, and save the date: Wednesday, March 26!

Meanwhile, the TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

Think you have what it takes to write for TalentCulture? Submit an application to be a contributor NOW!

Optimism: A Workplace Necessity #TChat Recap

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Bring Your Smile

Pharrell is always on the brink of what’s in and he knew that 2014 was the time to be “Happy.” Last night’s #TChat featured everyone’s (and Pharrell’s) favorite contagion: optimism.

The majority seemed to be on the same page with this one. Who knew that people like positivity? Our guest Shawn Murphy and his bright side of life attitude brought us right to the heart of the issue: “Optimism is about believing that good things are possible in the work we do.”

Bright Smiling Selfies

“Collaborating and allowing everyone to win.” @CASUDI makes a great point. All parts of an office must feel like they have brought something great to the table. Having an optimistic workplace starts with the attitude an individual brings to the office, but creating a positive work environment takes a whole team.

What can we do to bring the good vibes on? Breanne Harris of Critical-Thinkers.com said, “Finding solutions and innovating. Stop pointing out the problems and offer solutions. Optimism is everyone’s jobs.”

And this seemed to be a recurring suggestion. While the first (and sometimes hardest step) is learning to admit to problems, what a workforce really needs is possible solutions to the issues being faced.

Transparency and Communication

And as always, creating an honest environment leaves more room for managers and employees to share all challenges being faced. Alli Polin agrees: “When people see all the cards on the table, optimism isn’t blind. Share and communicate with each other.”

Start with Your Attitude

Sure, it’s easy to say you want a more positive workplace, but when it comes down to it, if you aren’t working to make a difference, then it’s all just a pretty dream. Christopher Lind may be talking about employees, but the truth is that everyone could stand to hear this bit of advice: “Ask questions and engage leadership. Sometimes you have to make your own way and not wait on others.”

Check out Megan’s article How To Make Work Matter to learn the ways to get started in your office. Speaking of making your own way, take a peek at all that was discussed last night on last night’s #TChat with our Storify presentation!

#TChat Insights: Creating a Culture of Optimism

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Shawn Murphy for joining us! Learn more about Shawn Murphy at Switch&Shift.com.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!!

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll be getting down to what you really need to know about social media. Nancy Rubin is going to be our guest moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend, and save the date: Wednesday, March 19!

Meanwhile, the TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

Notice a difference in this week’s recap? That’s because we’re on the verge of launching our newsletter. Stay tuned for sign up details and you can receive #TChat questions before anyone else, get insight from Meghan on the week ahead and more!

 

photo credit: peyri via photopin cc

Disrupt HR…NOW! #TChat Recap

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(Editor’s Note: Looking for details from the week’s #TChat Events? See the Storify slideshow and resource links at the end of this post.)

Muppets. Cake. And Disruption.

What do those three things have in common? They were all featured on last night’s #TChat.

We knew the topic would be controversial just as much as we knew the host would be her gracious self. But despite her Southern cool, Jennifer McClure is here to change the game and she wants to take #TChatters along for the ride.

Jeremy Ames seemed to crystallize the evening when he said: “In some ways, HR is becoming more organization-specific, which means that the most important skills vary company to company.”

The very definition of what we do is changing. So we might as well bring on the chaos of disruption!

Learning to be OK with Chaos

“Complacency is definitely the work place killer.” We can’t even count how many times this gem was retweeted. (I mean, we can. We have stats, but still, it was quite the belle of the ball statement.) First uttered by 15Five, it’s so true. Complacency kills pretty much all relationships, why not the ones we experience at work?

How can we avoid complacency? You’ve got it. Change. And change is the very thing HR is usually brought in to manage. Change = Chaos in the minds of many of our most prevalent practitioners. The trick then, is making change a good thing.

While it’s nice to talk about potentially changing our workplaces, it must be more urgent than that, as the workforce is not-so-slowly changing around us. Emilie Meck said: “You can’t use yesterday’s ideas today and expect to be in business tomorrow.” And it’s not just a slide in a presentation, people, change is afoot! But speaking of presentations….

 

The first step towards true disruption is authenticity. And not the tired old authenticity that is really just more energetic corp-speak, but true authentic experiences within the enterprise, being shared by employee ambassadors because they are AWESOME and not because management said you have to tweet 5 times a week.

@VirginPulse Being authentic is really important – it’s how you start to build cultures.

As you pursue authenticity are you paying attention to those around you? Disruption is inherently IDEA driven and no man is an island when it comes to those. Pay attention to what your colleagues are proposing or maybe, what they are too shy to put forward.

@IgloooSensei Ideas are disruptive by nature. Consideration might be the most undervalued interpersonal resource #tchat

In fact most of the solutions presented to our questions (check out the preview here) were more systemic and low-tech. Look at the reasons HR should embrace disruption (we could get left behind) and the ideas to do so within an organization (giving employees an involvement in the success of the business).

#TChat Insights: Disrupting HR

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Jennifer McClure for being an amazing moderator! Learn more about Jennifer and Unbridled Talent here.

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about trends on the workplace talent frontier? We welcome your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we may feature it!! Check out this recap from Amanda Sterling.

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat Events, we’ll figure out how to create optimism at work and why it matters. Switch and Shift’s Shawn Murphy is going to be our guest moderator. See more information in the #TChat Preview this weekend, and save the date: Wednesday, March 12!

Meanwhile, the TalentCulture conversation continues daily on #TChat Twitter, in our LinkedIn group, and on our NEW Google+ community. So join us anytime on your favorite social channels.

Notice a difference in this week’s recap? That’s because we’re on the verge of launching our newsletter. Stay tuned for sign up details and you can receive #TChat questions before anyone else, get insight from Meghan on the week ahead and more!

 


Hiring? Promoting? How to Pick an A Player

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(Editor’s Note: Last week at #TChat Events, the TalentCulture community explored best practices in candidate screening with Chris Mursau, Vice President at Topgrading, and Jean Lynn, VP of HR at Home Instead Senior Care. Afterward, some of our participants expressed interest in learning more about how the Topgrading method works. In response, Chris shared this post.)

Do you have difficulty determining if a job candidate (or existing employee) is an A, B, or C Player? If so, you’re not alone — only companies with highly sophisticated HR methods have perfected that process. However, this article helps by providing an explanation of how Topgrading experts evaluate current and prospective employees. These distinctions offer a measurable way to assess talent and build a winning team.

In many companies, “A Player” refers to someone highly promotable. Topgrading definitions of A, B, and C are different. “A, B, and C” grades refer to current ability, not promotability. However, Topgrading takes a deeper look within the A Player category to assess promotability. Here’s how:

A Player: The top 10% of talent available for a position. In other words, an A Player is among the best in class. “Available” means willing to accept a job offer:

• At the given compensation level
• With bonus and/or stock that corresponding to the position
• In that specific company, with a particular organization culture (e.g. Family friendly? Highly political? Fast paced? Topgraded and growing?)
• In that particular industry
• In that location
• With specific accountability levels and resources, and
• Reports to a specific person (e.g. Positive A Player or negative C Player?)

In other words, if you’re a terrific leader, many more candidates will be “available” to you than a lousy leader.

A Player Potential: Someone who is predicted to achieve A Player status, usually within 6-12 months.

B Player: The next 25% of available talent below the A Player top 10%, given the same A Player criteria listed above. These employees are “okay” or “adequate,” but they’re marginal performers who lack the potential to be high performers and are not as good as others available for the same pay. B Players are unable, despite training and coaching, to rise to A Player status. If they can qualify for a job as an A Player, they should be considered for it.

C Player: The next 35%, below the A Player 10% and B Player 25%, of talent available for a job. C Players are chronic underperformers.

The only acceptable categories are A Player and A Potential. We further categorize A Players by promotability:

A1: Someone who is promotable two levels
A2: Someone who is promotable one level
A3: Someone who is a high performer, but not promotable

Example: The not-promotable store stocker, sales rep, or first-level supervisor who is an A3, is a high performer, an A Player — but just not promotable. These employees are high performers because they achieve their A-Player accountabilities, plus they’re terrific with customers, they’re totally reliable, they achieve excellent results, they’re highly motivated, super honest, and very resourceful at finding ways to be more effective in driving the company mission.

It’s important to value all of your A Players, including the many who are the heart and soul of your company — including the A3s who are terrific, but are just not promotable.

How Do A, B and C Players Differ On Key Competencies?
The following chart is a bit simplistic, because not all A Players are this great on all competencies, and not all C Players are this bad on all competencies. Also note: for management jobs, Topgraders look at 50 competencies — this chart features only 8. However, it provides some insight into the methodology:

Topgrading_Competencies Example

The Best Way to Identify As, Bs and Cs:
If you know the story of Topgrading, you know that this methodology has long been considered one the “secret weapons” Jack Welch used to improve General Electric’s success at picking A Players. In fact, the company’s success rate improved from 25% to well over 90%, using Topgrading to assess candidates for both hire and for promotion.

The methods are similar. Two trained interviewers conduct a tandem Topgrading Interview — and if there are internal candidates for promotion, rather than talking with outside references, the interviewers talk with bosses, peers and subordinates in the company.

It’s important to look for patterns of success. Bottom line, the “magic” of Topgrading comes from understanding how successful a person was in job 1, job 2, job 3, and so on, with the greatest weight given to the most recent jobs.

Summary: Extensive research shows that 75% of people hired or promoted turn out NOT to be A Players or A Potentials. Yet, Topgrading methods regularly achieve 80%+ success. For more real-world understanding of how this approach is applied, see case studies that demonstrate how companies improved from 26% to 85% on average, in hiring and promoting A Players.

Have you used Topgrading or other methods of assessing employee potential? What did you discover in your experience? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments area.

Mursau Bio Photo(About the Author: Chris Mursau is Vice President of Topgrading, Inc. He has been practicing, teaching and consulting with companies and individual managers on how to pack their teams with A Players since 2001. He has conducted over 2,500 in-depth assessments for internal and external candidates, helped hundreds of people achiever their A potential, and trained thousands of people in all things Topgrading.)

(Also Note: To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…)

Image Credit: Stock.xchng