Month: November 2021

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Why CEO’s Want HR to Transform Itself

Human Resource departments are facing an unprecedented demand to become analytic and data-driven. But few are answering the call. What should HR practitioners and consultants do to respond?

A few years ago, I substituted for a VP-HR of a major company who died suddenly. For four months, I attempted to pick up the pieces while seeking a replacement. I discovered that he didn’t leave much of a structure behind. Everything, it seemed, was in his head.

Fast forward to today, and HR organizations are under increasing pressure due to the COVID-era need to digitize functions. CEO’s have longed for HR Departments which look more like Finance, Operations and Sales, whose employees are digitally savvy.

Unfortunately, there are few HR teams I have worked with who have sufficient skillsets and mindsets to embrace technology, analyze data and provide dashboards. Case in point: after facilitating numerous strategic planning retreats, only a single presentation by HR stands out in these areas.

Such was the situation before COVID. Now the pandemic has widened the gap. HR, with low tech skills, has stayed in the same position, watching others surge ahead with new capabilities. This observation is backed up by global research from the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR). Some 60% of HR Professionals say they are falling behind their more tech-savvy colleagues in terms of efficiency and impact.

What can local Human Resource Practitioners do to catch up and close the gap?

  1. Embrace the CEO’s Perspective

Perhaps what scares C-Suite leaders more than anything else is that the pandemic has made HR’s role more important than ever. But, it’s also annoying them at the same time. Why?

They don’t have visibility into staff-driven operations. While most agree they must make fresh investments in people to thrive in a new economy, they lack the data.

For example, while they are painfully aware of talent gaps, HR usually cannot predict what happens after key roles are filled. Will individuals stay? For how long? And should they be paid at the 25th or 75th percentile of the average wage? To what effect?

When such quantifiable questions can’t be answered, it’s easier for executives to invest in a new piece of equipment. After all, it usually comes with an easy-to-understand cost-benefit ratio.

Unfortunately, I only know a couple of CEO’s in the Caribbean who have HR backgrounds. As a result, most leaders don’t intuitively understand the invisible tradeoffs HR must make. And without data, no-one can offer a clear, numbers-driven explanation.

The solution is for HR to think like CEOs who need to implement big, fact-based decisions.

  1. Hire and Train

Maybe not surprisingly, the AIHR survey showed that the best place to develop such talent is at the bottom of the organization. Often, the newest and youngest employees in HR are the most digitally proficient. They are the ones who should drive improvements by picking up new capabilities and teaching them to others.

At the same time, hiring savvy mid-career HR professionals may help fill critical gaps – if they can be found. But the most difficult choices surround those HR team members who don’t have the capacity to grow fast enough. Their future might be grim as their lack of quantitative skills makes it hard for them to find employment.

All these changes add up to a major investment in talent acquisition and development within HR. However, most organizations have not recovered from the deep cuts made in training budgets during the 2008 recession. Arguably, this led to the problems we see today.

  1. Be Strategic

The fact is, most HR departments aren’t in a position to advocate for these investments on their own. They need the company’s entire strategic plan to call for a transformation in staff and talent in order to thrive in the future.

This kind of widespread change requires informed leadership from the top. Consequently, HR must focus on educating other executives using tools such as analytic reports and dashboards. This approach could ultimately lead to the game-changing decisions that can drive any or all other strategies the company pursues. As CEO’s know from painful experience, trying to make big changes with the wrong people in place will fail.

What would it be like to have a top class HR function in your organization? While the global standard has suddenly been raised without warning, take this as an opportunity rather than a rude surprise. Everyone will benefit when HR steps up to the challenge of transforming itself to use analytics. While it probably won’t be the first unit to do so, it has the potential to influence all company functions.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.

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Becoming a Data-Focused Company

In the past few years, what opportunities has the shift to online business created for local companies? Your firm may be automating its processes, but is it also converting the data being collected into competitive advantage?

In 2003, I started a virtual organization: CaribHRForum. With less than 10 people at the start, it drew together HR practitioners I met in the Caribbean on various trips. New digital technologies were just emerging, and I believed they could be used to close the distance. Consequently, we adopted a centralized online mailing list to initiate a region-wide discussion.

The small group grew to add a website and a podcast – CaribHR.Radio. But the rapid growth outgrew the tools we were using and became overwhelming.

Thankfully, newer technology emerged in 2019 in the form of virtual community software – Mighty Networks. For the first time, an affordable, private internet platform could bring together thousands in the same space.

That same year, by coincidence, I apprenticed behind the scenes of a virtual conference. While I had been a speaker at prior events, now I learned how to host a summit or big event. It was a thrill, and I vowed to make it available to the members of CaribHRForum.

Then COVID-19 hit, and interest in online networks grew. It hasn’t stopped – CaribHRForum recently concluded its second virtual conference, one of the biggest in the region. With free registration, thousands are able to connect with HR experts, consultants and colleagues for the very first time.

But this is only the public side of the story. Hidden away from view, an important inner transformation based on data is also underway.

1) Industry Data Using Linkedin

What are the drivers of customer behaviour in your industry? You may want to have more than anecdotes to make decisions, but don’t have access to anything concrete.

We had the same problem, but the platforms we use have obliged by developing better data and analytic capabilities.

For example, on Linkedin we have learned that there are 23,000 HR professionals in the region, spread across 21 territories and countries.

By offering multiple Linkedin events on a range of topics, the platform tells us what this cohort is interested in learning. Our webinars and conferences advertised on the social network have served as a continuous pipeline. Each one adds new potential members. The cost? Just our time, as the network doesn’t charge for this service.

Furthermore, we have run paid Linkedin advertisements. While these are not cheap, they allow us to target each country’s HR Professionals with great precision. As such, we have steadily “trained” our Linkedin account to recognize people in our audience. Now, it’s a valuable tool: an analytic partner that outstrips our use of Instagram, Facebook and Google.

But the point is that they all offer data which gives us powerful insights into our efforts, and their results. They also track a storm of information on audience behaviour: views, clicks, and conversions which are impossible to gain from other face-to-face methods. Together, we can paint a picture that becomes clearer as they add new features.

2.) Community Behaviour Using Mighty Networks

While social networks have become great assets, our community platform on Mighty Networks has also improved its analytics. Now, we can track the overall behavior of our members as they transition from being newbies to more mature contributors.

From this data, we are able to predict which new topics are trending. From there, we can tweak the members’ journey and make timely improvements. As a result, we can better meet their overall purpose: to become better professionals. The data indicates which events and training we should offer.

3) The End Result: a New Organization

What else do all these data-driven insights allow for? Apart from the obvious internal benefits to us as hosts, they also enable more pluses for potential sponsors. As we uncover deeper interpretations, we offer sponsors more than exposure. Today, we can give them a better understanding of the audience and its unique behaviour.

In other words, the availability of analytics has transformed CaribHRForum. Scaling up from our small example, you may see how any organization can transform itself using data. The mere existence of this new information could be disruptive to an industry.

Perhaps your company is similar. You probably don’t intend for it to become a data-driven organization, but as you conduct more online business, consider this outcome. In fact, you may not have a choice.

The availability of fresh, easy-to-collect data in your industry could become a way for your company, or a competitor, to gain a permanent advantage. Don’t hesitate to include this likely scenario in your strategic planning.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com.