klingerii – advisory services

Jag fick en bok av av en modig människa häromdagen. Det var Maria Mattssons debut som författare.  Eller rättare sagt, jag fick en gåva. En gåva om att vara modig mot sig själv. Att öppna munnen. Att våga välja. Och välja bort. Att finna sin väg och livsform. Nu. Inte senare.

”Livsformen” är en personlig gåva av relevanta erfarenheter och en livsformel, levererad i bokform.

Hennes gåva – för det är en gåva – är snyggt förpackad i en grafiskt läcker form, med papper som känns fint när man drar fingret på det. Hennes formel är kommunicerad via snygga fonter och relevanta bilder som utstrålar liv och harmoni.

Vad väntar du på människa? Det är nu allt händer! Just nu! Inte igår. Inte sen. NU!

Som bok är den personlig och fylld av energi. Det är som att öppna ett fönster på ett tåg som drar förbi en dånande omvärld. Väcka den lust och dröm som finns i varje människa!

Jag sträckläste den och fann mina egna tankar ta form i Marias meningar. Att ta ansvar för sitt eget energikonto berör alla. Det finns så många som inte hinner andas. Reflektera. Som lever någon annans liv. Inte sitt eget.

Maria delar med sig och uppmanar. Att äta ordentligt. Att tänka. Men inte för länge. Handla också. Det går. Det gjorde hon. Det kan du. Det borde du göra. Det är ditt liv. Ingen annans. Det handlar om att respektera sig själv. Att äta vad du behöver. Inte vad som marknadsförs. Och det här med mediciner och piller. Börjar det inte gå för långt?

Vad finns det för alternativ?

Boken är relevant. Marias budskap är relevant. Kanske känner du igen dig? Kanske börjar du att gråta? Dags att vakna? Dags att välja din livsform! Dags att välja det som är bra för dig.

Jag är både stolt och avundsjuk över Marias gåva. Maria är modig. Och generös. Om du öppnar boken så öppnar hon dina ögon för att tänka om. Det finns många som mår bra. Det finns många som inte mår bra. Fysiskt och psykiskt. Vi ser dem inte alltid. I tid. Maria är en väckarklocka och en energikick. Utelämnande. Modig. Nu har hon gått vidare och vill att du gör det med. Det går. Träffa henne själv.

Lite avundsjuk är jag. Hon har ”skrivit den där boken”. En egen stil. Som denna recension. Full med energi. Läs den! Ge bort som den gåva! Om bara en vaknar så har hon lyckats.

Lycka till och tack,

Sven

Maria finner du lättast via M&M inspiration:

http://www.mminspiration.se.

Ni som känner mig vet att jag är en obotlig optimist, innerst inne. Att vara realist är inte detsamma som att vara pessimist. Att säga att allt tyder på globalt finansiellt kaos under hösten och en bit framöver tills de stora kapitalflödena har bestämt sig vart de skall ta vägen är inte pessimistiskt. Det är en ganska realistisk slutsats även om den förhoppningsvis är fel.

Foto @sudde

Att se ett mörkt gigantisk moln orättvist röra sig långsamt till din relativt lugna plats på havet och säga att ”nu blir det blåsa av” är inte pessimistiskt. Det är en realistisk bearbetning av indata i realtid kopplat till tidigare historiska erfarenheter. Har man tur rör sig molnet någon annanstans och drabbar någon annan realist. Det är gott sjömanskap att se detta moln, att surra prylar, att koka upp varmt vatten i termos, att dubbelkolla riggen, att reva i tid, att sätta förväntningar på besättningen att det kommer bli jobbigt en stund, att försöka sova en stund… Kanske är man en trimmad besättning som övat olika scenarier, eller ännu bättre seglat genom en och annan storm tidigare och därmed samlat på sig lite erfarenhet.

Fördelen med att bli äldre är att man upplevt en hel del skit innan. Det är en ännu större fördel om man kunnat dra lärdom av respektive kaos. Mina stora geopolitiska livshändelser är väl oljekrisen 72, Solidaritets utveckling i Polen i början av 80-talet då vi i Skåne tog emot polska ungdomar för andra insikter, finanskrisen 1992 då jag som nyutexaminerad civilingenjör direkt fick gå till arbetsförmedlingen, dot.com bubblan som drabbade många sparare, 9/11 som vände upp och ner på allt, finanskrisen 2008 som ledde till stora omstruktureringar och nu under hösten 2015 … statsskuldskollapsen och dess inverkan på företagsklimatet. (?)

Har man väl sett en Heffaklump är det mycket enklare att hantera sin skräckblandade förtjusning nästa gång man ser den igen: Envar har skyldighet att sprida sina erfarenheter vidare till de som saknar erfarenhet.

Under finanskrisen 2008 jobbade jag även då med outsourcing, efter ett antal år i ledande roll för med det som idag kallas strategisk HR & Talent Management i Norden såväl som Nord-Europa. Finanskrisen 2008 var lite obekväm där initiativ och priroriteringar över en dag blev extremt taktiska med fokus på positivt cash-flow, kostnadsoptimering, outsourcing, stora omstruktureringar och avskedningar.

Jag kommer ihåg att jag under finanskrisen 2008-2009 var på ett frukostmöte inne i city där vi diskuterade vad HR skulle göra, från omställningsprogram till omstruktureringar, vilket var en extremt deppig diskussion om Heffaklumpar. Någon refererade till varvskrisen som ”vi minsann tog oss ur med Karlskrona-andan, så vi kan fixa det även nu” (dvs. då, 2008). Jag påpekade att med varvskrisen så gick många från produktion till tjänster. Då (2008) skulle sannolikt många från leverans av tjänster lokalt till tjänster globalt. En helt annan spelplan och med färre alternativ för individen som blir uppsagd

Men vad skall alla människor göra då? Hur skall vi hantera kostnaden?

Jag minns att jag syrligt påpekade att det blir till att bita i det sura äpplet. ”Du sitter på ett taskigt hyreskontrakt” sa jag. I den bästa av världar hade du haft en del scenario diskussioner om hur en sådan här kris skulle påverka bolaget, vilka i din organisation som är kritiska för fortsatt utveckling, vilka avdelningar du kan sälja, skall outsourca och vilken kompetensförskjutning som skulle bli nödvändig för fortsatt konkurrenskraft. Har du (som HR) inte gjort det arbetet har du helt enkelt tecknat på ett för långsiktigt hyresavtal (med kompetens / förmåga som inte behövs).

Det är detsamma som att vara en god sjöman. Att vara förberedd. Att förstå molnets väg och uppkomst. Att ta kontroll av situationen och sprida hopp i besättningen och kortsiktigt och snabbt prioritera andra saker för att ta sig igenom stormen.

• Förstå och tolka omvärlden som påverkar företagets affärsmodell och hur man tjänar pengar
• Omprioritera arbete för ren överlevnad, stärka sin position eller minimera riskerna
• Välja en besättning som funkar i alla väder givet förutsättningar
• Motivera besättningen så att de känner att förtroende att ta ansvar även när det blåser
• Fatta jobbiga faktabaserade beslut i kris-situationer i god tid
• Insikt av orsak och verkan ombord där du befinner dig
• Ha rutiner för att kolla företagets sjöduglighet, just in case
• Individen måste ha delat ansvar för sin anställningsbarhet och användningsbarhet
  • Detta löser man genom att löpande tala om för de anställda, och facket för den delen med, om sin affärsmodell, hur man tjänar pengar, vilken kompetens som krävs långsiktigt
• I den bästa av världar började man göra detta efter förra krisen så att nästa gång det blåser upp till storm är båten redan optimerad.

Med det sagt kan jag inte vara nog tydlig. HR måste skaffa sig förmågan, intresset och att bygga organisatorisk förmåga. Jag är tveksam om detta skett. Individen måste vara delaktig. För att detta skall ske behövs insikt, ansvar, nya processer, ny teknik och en annan kultur.  Detta är inget nytt.Det har varit på agendan länge nu. Nu är det upp till bevis snart. Har HR gjort sitt hemarbete?

• Har du börjat kompetensinventera besättningen, hur skall du kunna omfokusera?
• Vet du vem som är kritisk och ifall dessa är lojala till dig, vem skall du lita på?
• Hur lång tid tar det för dig att skaffa all fakta om alla kostnader och andra variabler
  • För hela organisationen?
  • För alla enheter?
  • För alla individer?
• Har du byggt en företags- eller organisationskultur som är anpassningsbar även när det börjar blåsa?
• Har du och CFO enats om att HRs roll är bygga organisatorisk förmåga och inte compliance.

”I hårt väder måste alla vara goda sjömän”

Vill du veta mer?

• Förstå molnet på horisonten just nu, det vill säga den pågående statsskuldskrisen. Läs  Martin Armstrongs Bloggdagligen den närmsta månaden som komplement till medias vaga bevakning: http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/
• Stärka din HR-förmåga på kort och lång sikt, ta ett seriöst snack med mig själv och Zalaris om HR transformation och Outsourcing: www.zalaris.com
• Jag kappseglar själv som pitman i en X35:a med projektet Rocket Racing Team. Vi har blivit riktigt duktiga i just hårdvind. Du kan följa oss på: https://www.facebook.com/rocketracingteam?fref=ts
• Varför HR skall ändra fokus rekommenderar jag Deloitte 2015 HCM trend report:  http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

Deloitte chapter 7 brings all the current challenges for HR and the organisation into one big soup of overwhelmed employees. This has been identified in earlier Deloitte reports over the years.

“74 % of respondent think their workplace is complex or very complex” – Deloitte

No-one is surprised, or? The way we work is changing dramatically, all the time. The service industry is global whether you are global or not, as most services are available in a globally distributed eco-system of what we call the “workplace” today. Cross border management of companies in consistent post M&A situation, manual processes that can’t keep up and increasingly compliance to be adhered to builds up. It’s not a sustainable situation for the individual who mentally is 20 years behind and / or lack sufficient structures, systems and behavior. Many does not have a proper role description, goals nor a tool to assess if they need development to manage the role.  It’s sad that school does not teach student to learn and drive projects the same way. Cross border. Unknown project peers. World of Warcraft is closer to current collaboration across borders than school is.

I can’t resist to bring back a favorite illustration by Heskett : The Service-Profit (value) Chain from 1994. It has served it’s pedagogic value many times for me (even though the box called Employee Satisfaction should be replace by Employee Engagement to fit the reality of 2015, irrelevant if you are an innovator or a doer):

Anyway, Heskett was a sort of pioneer to identify what drives what in service. Since 1994 we have learned that a client can be loyal even if they are dissatisfied or unhappy. So with employees.

To solve all the lack of clarity leading to stress, box 1 – workplace design, today should be all about simplification, focus, automation and using smart services instead of being a slave under the same technology. You need to be able to focus and make own sensible decisions given your mandate, assuming it’s clear. If not, the system should know if you have the mandate, given your current role, etc.

For strategic HR it’s not very hard to make a business case with a strong ROI by assessing the manual time spent on keeping inconsistent (or even non-existing but still very relevant) processes alive and replace the same with a service/or outsource it using an out-of-box solution/service. Even a good enough solution/service may be way better than as-is for many companies whom have “no clarity at all”. Create a culture of change. Starting small is likely better than status quo.

Then also add the business value of having non-obsolete, nor redundant, real time data captured using e-forms with embedded rules, policies and mandates for all transactional master-data along the Employment Life Cycle.

So the Deloitte four ingredient-recipe in this chapter is a major relevant step back to basics in order to fit with our new reality:

1. Make simplification a business and HR priority

• simplify the work environment
• acknowledge that there is a problem
• eliminate time-wasting and complex processes
• develop a business case to justify redesign

(This is to a great extent Heskett box 1, bullet  1, but it is a process now, a LEAN approach to improve, adjust and learn) 

2. Get email and unproductive meetings under control

(No comments. Heskett box 1, bullet 2,  job design, what is my role, what is my objective and my focus, how do I close my capability gap => leading to what meetings/communication are relevant and my own ability to focus on what matters and say no)

3. Invest in more integrated, simpler technology

(Shop some leading edge software/service and start using it, learn from it, fail and improve, succeed. No SW or service company can survive today without simplicity and best practice propositions. Personally I am very impressed by the openness and integration of SAP HANA to leverage and combine relevant HR data and other data from other ERP systems). 

4. Implement design thinking and process simplification within HR

“Design thinking is a new process that brings user interface designers, process experts, and graphics  people together to make work systems more functional and easier to use. HR teams should serve as an organizational role model by removing steps and using design thinking to implement “just enough” process and technology to help people get the job done” – Deloitte

(Comment. Maybe HR needs to think like service product development company? There are a lot of good content out there in the subject of service design to consider for Heskett box 1) 

Personally I think the coming revolution is already here with its multiple generational workforce to work together on selected processes and projects in a globally distributed eco system of temporary peers chasing innovation together for whatever reason. Let’s assume it good for mankind.

Designing Heskett box 1 seems to be a futile attempt to be in control of people that can’t be controlled in a more and more project driven society. Nevertheless, whoever is to do anything needs to have the right tools. HR owns this box and needs to show leadership. It’s easier than ever. Excellence in core  HR is a necessity but is not a money making machine unless it’s what you do for a living, like I do.

So HR, are you up for it? As Ted Turner said. “Lead, follow or get out of the way”

Read the full and good report from Deloitte at http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

Please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss this topic and share your own view.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden

Sadly enough, using social media in the business still seems to be some kind of news in HR space, at least according to Deloitte 2015:

More than 60 % of survey respondents believe they are weak at leveraging social media data on employees to improve recruiting, engagement, and employment brand:

• HR data strategies are expanding by harnessing and integrating external data from social media platforms and other external sources
• the trend is accelerating as more employee data appears online
• 39 %  of surveyed companies are now leveraging social data to support efforts 

I am not going to dwell on this topic at all. It only underlines the need to start transforming HR. When employees have higher social media impact scores than their CEOs I – at least – think this subject should be taken more seriously.

Good news is that it easier than ever to get started. More good news is that there are a lot of start-ups out there, ready to be part of changing your business model also when it comes to HR functions, as a partner (worse case). There are also plenty of out of box tools that enable you to get started in 10-12 weeks with social collaboration. I and Zalaris can help you. As with many changes, you need an internal champion, a person that likely is different from the staff you already have. (See reinvent HR.)

If you are a business leader, in- our outside HR, and wants to understand the opportunities from transitioning your business into digital positioning, I recommend a contact with digoshen.com. They are good people whom have helped many leaders already.

Please read the full and good report from Deloitte at http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

Personally I am fascinated by the upside from taking this subject more seriously.

Please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss this topic and share your own view.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden

As an engineering physicist I sincerely love numbers. I was also a big fan of using HR analytics and HR business score cards in general when I worked with HCM. The beauty from twisting numbers and matrixes and their correlations is obvious to me. I know it does not make any sense for many others though and I don’t blame them. Math is considered boring for the majority of people. Many can’t even predict their own private cash flow. Many can’t interpret or make sense out of a bubble diagram. But getting analytics has actually never been more easy. Technically there is no stopper and you don’t need to like math.

Gartner in general expects the Big Data hype to calm down soon. It has reached it’s hype peak.  Big Data is everywhere. Everything should be smart. Why start in HR if you have not started at all in more obvious benefit areas? This is why I believe Deloitte use the expression “stuck in neutral”. It won’t take off soon in HR. Unfortunately as it’s easier than ever to get started and demonstrate some new value.

Failing to understand why you need to combine different data sources with different data owners across the organization may represent a major mental challenge to build a business case for HR analytics. Practically seeking related funding to combine data from HR together with sales and other operations across the organizations, with functional and operational leaders HR never met or worked with before, is another obvious challenge, even more if HR still is regarded as a pure cost of operation reporting to CFO.

Many stakeholders are involved to get to the same table to do something no one really understand why they should do with HR in the first place beyond the very basic (but obviously not so basic after all if you ask me) benefits, as highlighted by Deloitte, such as:

• Understanding and predicting retention
• Boosting employee engagement based on prediction
• Expanding the sources of talent and improving the quality of hires
• Profiling high performers in sales and customer service
• Drive compliance behavior
• —

HR analytics is not about what-you-can’t-measure-you-can’t-control, only. Deloitte means there is a strong business case in general “… reducing turnover, improving sales productivity, and increasing the quality of hires (which) all have a tremendously high ROI”

If HR is not trusted advisor when it comes to business decisions, see my previous reflections and the full Deloitte report, why spend money at all in this area? HR needs to reinvent itself and seek external partnership with scarce combination of skills that can help them look smarter, become more business oriented and in the end evolve as trusted business advisors.  Service is, after all, a people business and HR is on the supply chain side. HR also needs to ally with IT, finance and other core operations. I apologize for sounding arrogant but the entire Deloitte study clearly demonstrate that a fundamental change is needed. Maybe not for you, but for the rest of us.

Of the respondents surveyed by Deloitte only 8 % consider themselves strong in HR analytics (!) which, for me, is a surprisingly low number. Much of the technically advanced capabilities may come out of the box from leading HR cloud solution providers today, for both core HR as well as strategic HR.

I claim you could get started and up and running within months.

Consider the Deloitte survey statistics:

• 55 % are week to utilize HR & talent operational scorecards
• 63 % are weak at correlate HR data to business performance.
• 62 % are week to conduct multi-year workforce planning
• 71 % are weak to use HR data to predict workforce performance and improvement

The need to build new HR capability is compelling and different compared to some years ago. Now it’s also about the prediction of the future and maybe even manipulate what will happen, not only making conclusions and get-well plans based on what happened and the latest employee survey.

Much of the logic is in the minds of people could and should be automated, like spotting that trainees are likely to leave the company within 2,5-3 years. Employees sudden increased / changed activities on social media may also be a clear sign that change likely is underway (attrition?) as likely as your spouses’ new look and gym visits.

“Companies that excel in talent and HR analytics can be positioned to out-compete and outperform their peers in the coming years. Without early, substantial investments, however, it is difficult to get traction. Companies should therefore make a serious commitment to this discipline, search for robust solutions from their core system vendors, and hire people into HR who have an interest and background in analytics and statistics.” – Deloitte

In HR specifically cloud solutions on the market come with good enough packaged solutions. The bigger challenge is the necessity to start with a business problem and break it down to HR logic. The technology is ready. HR may not be. The core systems may not be. Transform them or outsource them. Why wait? Create a culture of change. Start small. Start with a real problem.

I really recommend to read the full and good report from Deloitte at http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

Personally I have analyzed and worked with HR scorecard and made sound business advice and drafted business tactics and strategic moves for very large organisations. It’s not that complicated, but you need to like it. If you don’t like it you need a side kick. One of those data scientists everyone is talking about.

Please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss this topic and your own view.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden

The topic of “Reinventing HR” is my favorite area as it represents one key driver of my personal professional passion. Reinventing HR is not the end of means itself, it’s reinventing “HR” – to something  we believe “HR” should be able to deliver but can’t deliver today. Maybe the value proposition we expect HR to deliver should be delivered by someone else? As long as someone owns it I am happy, let’s call this someone HR. Since we live in a global and digital service industry it should be a no issue or news by now, or?

“HR is at a crossroads. Once designed primarily as a compliance function, today’s HR organization must be agile, business integrated, data-driven, and deeply skilled in attracting, retaining, and developing talent. These business imperatives demand not only a new organizational model for HR itself, but also a massive re-skilling of HR professionals around the world. They also create an unprecedented opportunity for HR to play a preeminent role at the highest levels of business strategy.” – Deloitte 2015

Bottom line HR needs to move from compliance to a role of talent building, from generalists to consultants while leveraging their emerging capability of professional development and research. Despite that, when I google HR transformation in Swedish my top hits are still about books or other editorial entries that are at least two years old. The debate does not seem to be there at large, does it? It’s still a fluffy subject even though many companies are rolling out talent management solutions now, which is good and which they should as it’s easier and faster than you think. Start anywhere!

As a certified business transformation consultant I had the pleasure of meeting with the change master herself – Rosabeth Moss Kanter – who provocatively said one thing in a workshop I always carry with me:

“You can always put lipstick on a bulldog, but it’s still a bulldog” – RM Kanter

Her point was that some people you simply can’t change.

Deloitte supports this statement with surveyed facts like “nearly 40 percent of new CHROs now come from the business, not from HR”. My general take away is that whatever the vast majority of HR is doing today (at least 90 % of them according to Deloitte) they must improve or will never be able to do. Instead of “simply managing transactions, implementing policies, and developing programs, the new HR organization (should aim) to focus on understanding the needs of the business and delivering value-added solutions.”

Now, where do we find the champions of programs like that? Do we “put lipstick on bulldog” or do we search for new talents on the streets?  Talent War? In HR itself?

Every business and function today is facing disruption driven by technology and cloud based alternatives at lower cost, less risk, better quality, better mobility and process service. So does HR. Why  not adopt new technology and new delivery models already now, not at least in public space, given all the anticipated expectations in the future related to agility, the five generation challenges etc. I am still amazed that public organisations still renew old existing operating models where alternative vendors can never justify transition cost from comparing as is prices. Many private companies retain their old SSC operating models in house. I would not question this if the business expectation gap of HR was as wide as Deloitte claims. Something is wrong here on macro-level, not at least in public space. At Zalaris our core business is to do all the stuff current HR should move away from. All our core HR services are cloud based, multi-country enabled and compliant best practice service in each country we operate. (We also increasingly help companies transform HR aligned with the trends spotted by Deloitte.)

My strictly personal view, is that I don’t understand why companies keep outdated technology and delivery models (and its associated cost and inflexibility) in house given all the other focus areas that needs attention (statistically speaking), unless, of course,  you are a bulldog company, like us, or a bulldog professional, like me.

I could not agree more with the Deloitte recipe for success:

1. Design the HR organization to deliver solutions, consulting and service delivery as trusted business advisories
2. Create business-integrated “networks of excellence” with embedded experts within the business
3. Centralize strategic initiatives such as recruitment, development, employee relations, and coaching
4. Make HR a talent and leadership magnet

I really recommend to read the full and good report from Deloitte at http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

These are exciting changes and times in what we can call “HR” for anyone inclined to tag along. Please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss this topic, your target organisation design and new roles descriptions in your new HR ecosystem.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden

“…the transformation of the aging performance management
process is long overdue.” – Deloitte, 2015

A friend of mine was approached by his girlfriend:

• She: “You never say you love me ..”
• He: “I did! And it’s valid until further notice!”

Needless to say, they are not together today. Their interaction sums up current / historical performance management pretty good my view: “You want coaching? We had a coaching meeting last quarter? (What’s the matter with you???!!!)”

Deloitte claims that 89 % (!) of their respondents changed their approach to performance management last year or plan to to so next 18 month. How about your company? Are you in for a change as well? It’s all about workforce engagement in the end. So what engages people?

Per Frykman and Karin Sandin are two professionals I respect a lot. They document your professional reputation and help you understand  your passion and engagement by clarifying two general questions: How are you and when are you at your best? Is this how you spend your time, now? 

Do you know when you are at your best yourself? Do you know what is your next Big Thing? Check them out at http://dittprofessionellarykte.com/

My personal reflection is that the revolution or evolution in performance management right now is not about awarding. It’s about  enabling and help you do your “your next big thing”. Passion gurus like Robin Sharma and Richard Branson would claim the same. Instead of looking backward you should look forward and what is needed to succeed for you, in your role, with your profile. I firmly believe money is a demotivator (e.g. life sucks when you don’t get enough). More money beyond that will not really ignite your passion. We can debate the academic logic behind that statement.

When you say … attract sailors to join the current Volvo Ocean (Sail) Race – where they literally – right now at this very moment – risk their lives in obsolete spots where the international space station (ISS) is the closest spot of human contact, you consider what these sailors are able to do in this race, their next big thing and not what they have done before, only. Another good contact of mine –  Mats Bohman at practise.se (ex-Swedish SWAT instructor, now organisational consultant) – confirm they are helping companies to attract and leverage relevant competencies, right attitude and potential, and not get stuck on formal competencies and historical achievement, only.

The good news from Deloitte trend report is that the Bell Curve with its financial compensation from performance management reviews is out:

“Redesigned performance management processes may or
may not include year-end ratings, but across the board, they tend to focus less on evaluation and more on agile goal setting, regular feedback, coaching, and development. They shift the
focus away from forced-distribution rankings and much more toward helping managers coach people to succeed.” – Deloitte 2015

What I take from that is to disconnect the compensation from performance management review but rather build an agile workforce (including leaders) where you align people to roles where they are interested and/or able to succeed. Engage them and find ways for them to be innovative in their roles. You need an adaptive workforce, you need role based behavior, role descriptions and delegated mandates, you need a lot of transparency and clarity and you need to interact. There are tools emerging. If you think gamification is about playing daytime, think again or get out of HR. Look up behavioral economics or contact me.

“Innovative new performance management models are now becoming an imperative as businesses modernize and improve their talent solutions. Companies leading this transformation are redefining the way they set goals and evaluate performance,
focusing heavily on coaching and feedback and looking for new technologies to make performance management easier” – Deloitte 2015

I owned the performance management process  for 8,000 resp 22,000 people in IBM for some period of time. It was a flawless process executed on time and very time consuming. We always did it on time, compliance driven, however, what I found more valuable in the end was the power from having clarity on roles, team & individual objectives and mandate, updated skills assessment for those roles in order to get the proper support and learning (sic! read next reflection). Does all your employees have clear role descriptions? Do you still think being manager is a job role? (I don’t.)

OK, I agree. Someone needs to own the numbers. As Lou Gerstner said “teaming is not about holding hands ans singing Kumbaya-my lord”. If you don’t perform, despite all support and mandate and interactions you need to take some action. But as you should hire for the right reasons you should also fire for the right reason. Maybe you as a leader should be fired, if you failed to bring clarity, engage, explain what is expected, delegated trust etc.

“Today’s job market is highly dynamic and transparent. High potential young employees want regular feedback and career progression advice, not just “once and done” reviews.” – Deloitte, 2015

If you love your staff tell hem, show them and enable them to succeed. Their success is your success. If not, they will leave you and join someone else, that really do care, as it happened to my friend.

Is this topic engaging yet? If so, also read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi book on “Flow”. The algorithm for success- any role, any place on planet, is document in his Flow Channel. Stay in the channel of capability vs challenge. 

Zalaris will do the transactional HR (payroll etc) for you, as your plate is getting full in order to become a hero with performance management (as well!). With an agile workforce you also need to get the basics in place with your agile employee data management, e-forms with embedded processes to secure the right compensation for any given role in time, for any rehire, promotion, demotion etc. That is core HR. We can also help you get started with PM.

I really recommend to read the full and good report from Deloitte at

http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

By the way, employee engagement is really my personal passion. So please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss it with me.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden

In 2005, when I was Nordic HR Partner for  IBM Global Services — approaching 8,000 people where 50 % was from outsourcing – we rolled out the global workforce management initiative. Based on the concept of supply chain management in retail it was applied to our services professionals globally as a major enabler for the adaptive enterprise. To succeed you needed data capture, new policies, new roles, regularly updated relevant skills assessment, new behavior from individuals and leaders and a general mindset across the organisation to … adapt.

The idea of workforce on demand is an on demand operational model, nobody is waiting, no utilization loss etc. It’s a good model when you are there but to get there can be (is) extremely painful. What to do with (existing) employees who does not want to be ondemand?

To succeed you also need a role based organisation and a clear capability assessment per individual as well as an internal trading machine + individual willingness to travel to other countries (if this is in scope). You also need to team seamlessly between operations, finance and operations and add new workforce management polices given what time frame is in scope – now, this month, this quarter or next quarter. How many do the business need of what, why and when (e.g. who will secure the benefits or the reorganization)? How do you convince one BU to let go of an important individual for one project to engage in another – even more important project – keeping track of headcount cost and individual aspiration and interest.

“Eight out of 10 respondents surveyed cited workforce capability as being either  “important” or “very important” in the year ahead, indicating the demand for  skills that is driving a trend toward greater use of hourly, contingent, and contract workers. This trend highlights the need to  develop better processes, policies, and tools to source, evaluate, and reward talent that
exists outside of traditional corporate and organizational balance sheets.” – Deloitte 2015

Workforce on demand is not only about sourcing contingent workers from inside or outside, fill in on peaks via staff augmentation outsourcing for particular skills. You also need to pay them correctly for the role they have (temporarily), assess their performance, ensure they understand the culture of your company and also live your values (remember chapter 1, the naked organisation?).

The operation is called workforce management, the operational model is called workforce on demand, the future forecasting is called workforce planning and closing the gaps between what you have now and what you need sometime down the line is called workforce transformation, whereas the latter should be aligned with your business planning and when you set your learning budget. You’d be amazed how much learning is spent on gaining skills that the company really don’t need. As yourself? How much of your learning budget is allocated to build those skills you actually need?

“The on-demand workforce brings many challenges to organizations as they look at ways to integrate each workforce segment, such as hourly, salary, contingent, contractor, and vendor staff, into a complex ecosystem.” – Deloitte 2015

If you are a smaller flatter organisation like a retail chain you need to delegate much authority to the front line / show manager. You need an interface between business and HR who has opinions and understand both business and HR and can articulate what needs to be done. Workforce management is an ongoing activity, not a project, and will a be a key skill you cannot outsource. It links to scorecard with new variables of individual skills and aptitude. HR itself needs to be on demand and step out of the comfortable annual employee life cycle and facilitate teams that are dysfunctional, mitigate conflicts that will arise with new priorities.

Said that:it’s not enough to have a workforce management tool. You need to keep track of what people are doing, capture time, when and summarize what to pay them. It’s not that easy. However, it will represent a core skill of the future. You need to consider your payroll solution in parallel with you workforce on demand initiative. You need to assign someone that owns the HR scorecard and ensure you deliver the related KPIs on rolling basis. You also need to optimize / automate the process of Employee Data Management, simply because there will be not time for more manual work.

Remember  — this is when it get’s very fun to be in HR! This is very HR – my view- will be able to demonstrate most business value  —it’s action and fire and it’s for real … however you need to combine skills from business domain skills, HR analytic, verbal communication and understand the rule of engagement.

Some skills are so important that you can’t afford to not have them fully utilized. These people you should outsource. Data scientists are such people. Right now, everybody wants them, nobody really need them full time but everybody would benefit from working with them . However, the figures does not add up. These data scientists does not exist in pure numbers  Europe. Maybe in Russia but primarily in the US and in India. Don’t look in vain. Just a tip. You can also read McKinseys report on Big Data 2013.

Zalaris will do the transactional HR for you, as you will have your plate full to become a hero with workforce on demand. We can also build the forms with embedded rules to automate the entire employee life cycle. No data redundancy. In real time.

I recommend to read the full and good report from Deloitte at

http://www2.deloitte.com/se/sv/pages/human-capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

Please comment or reach out for a 1:1 to discuss workforce on demand vs paryoll.

Sven Hultin – Business Development Director at Zalaris, Sweden