CEOs' Top Priority: Talent Management

In the latest PwC 14th Annual Global CEO Survey of 1,201 business leaders in 69 countries CEOs said that talent management is their top priority up from 3rd place last year. 55% of US respondents said they were going to increase their headcount in 2012. In contrast 51% globally said they would increase headcount. In addition, 75% of US CEOs plan to make major changes to their talent management strategy over the next 12 months.

This response ties into the Kiplinger Letter forecast that the private sector will add 100,000 to 150,000 jobs a month during 2012.

This is hoping that HR executives are on the same wave length as their CEO and that they have already developed their hiring and talent management plans of the coming year.

Edge - Check Your Sharpness

Every HR professional thinks they are on the cutting edge of something new. Well, almost everyone, there are the 60% who are in this field because they like people. The other 40% are in it for much more. So this is directed to the 40% group.

When I say, "have you checked your edge" I mean just that. How sharp are you today, and for that matter everyday. To be in the inner circle your "EDGE" has to be sharper than the majority of the other C-Suite members. How do you do that you say? Here are some thoughts for you to check your "EDGE":

• have you changed your thinking to reflect the current environment, and I mean, business, cultural, human capital, and external forces
• are you situated correctly on the right side of the CEO
• do you understand the meaning of thoughtware
• can you react correctly to a disaster (and I don't mean business continuity)
• can you execute flawlessly
• do you know your staff's abilities if you were absent
• are you on the same page that you should be with the C-Suite executives
• can you think freely - uninfluenced
• can you heard cats
• can you distinguish what is legitimate and what is not?

Think about these things and check your "EDGE" against them. If you cannot execute these effectively you are not as sharp as you should be and will get caught in a cultural and business crossfire someday.

EDGE is extremely important and should be evaluated daily to keep at the top of your game.

Disaster Recovery 101: What You Need to Know

Computerworld, 11/16/11 - With various parts of the country still reeling in the wake of tornadoes, earthquakes, too-early snowstorms, hurricanes and wildfires, the past few months have taught us that no geographical area is safe. There's never been a more compelling time to develop or fine-tune a disaster recovery and business continuity plan for your business.

Disaster recovery is, quite simply, being able to continue your mission-critical business operations after an interruption of some kind. Companies must be able to resurrect their applications and processes -- their entire business operations -- at the point they were before the outage occurred, says Robert Amatruda, research director for data protection and recovery at IDC. And this is true whether the outage resulted from a natural disaster, a server or storage system malfunctioning or "someone pulling a plug they shouldn't have," he says.

While business continuity is about being able to keep functions going, disaster recovery means being able to get everything back to whole again, explains Carl Pritchard, senior risk-management consultant at advisory firm Cutter Consortium. "The difference is business continuity is keeping the patient alive. Disaster recovery is getting them back to being healed and walking again," says Pritchard, who is also the author of Risk Management, Concepts and Guidance, 4th Edition.

Fantastic Quote to Remember!

"There is no such thing as can't, only won't. If you're qualified, all it takes is a
burning desire to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward, go backward. 

Whatever it takes! But you can't blame other people or society in general. 

It all comes from your mind. When we do the impossible we realize 

we are special people." --Jan Ashford

CEO Confirmation

Last week I met with a good friend of mine to discuss his business and what I have been doing since I left the corporate world. This person is a CEO of a couple of Internet business all linked to the same type of information. Needless to say he is ultra successful and has capitalized on data streaming over the Internet.

Our discussion went from business strategy, to joint ventures, to new opportunities, and to HR. The discussion on HR really re-enforced what I have been saying since 1978. An HR professional needs to be head deep into the business, know all the ins and outs, products, development, and how to market. This person and I worked together for a couple of years after we bought his company. Since I had an opportunity to meet him early on doing the due diligence and acquisition of his $300+M company, he forged a great working relationship and respect for one another.

His comment to me said it all" you are a business person with great knowledge and understanding on how to run a successful business". This is what a CEO should say about his/her CHRO. Does your CEO say that about you and what have you done to fully understand your business and integrate yourself into the day to day operations? Oh, don't forget talent management, succession, and all the other CHRO duties!!

Employee Engagement? In a Business, It Needs to Start at the Very Top

A fish rots from the head down, as the saying goes from my friends in Maine. While the word rot sounds offensive, let’s just say it starts from the top.


This week, I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine who is the CEO of a major company , an a true entrepreneur when I mentioned employee engagement. This is a topic I have blogged about now for over 3 years and is still top of mind in the HR world as it should be. This friend jumped on the topic and went on for 40 minutes on what CEOs should do to drive employee engagement from the top. 

This CEO met with the senior staff and employees daily and kept in front of them on the business climate, strategy, and new product development. He also had many teams of employees testing products, and asked them to act like consumers. Employee surrounded themselves with the business, and I will tell you even during these economic anemic times his business is going strong at 15% year-over-year growth. 


How does your CEO engage employees? 

Traditionalists Will Not Succeed in HR In Today's Environment

This is not a controversial subject at all I would think given the environment today. If you want to get into HR today, you need to understand business and economics, and I do not mean just the rudiments. You also still have to be people oriented but that is not why you get into this field. Here is why traditional HR people will not succeed today:

• Your CEO wants business people, not just people people,
• You have to have a close and intimate working relationship with your CEO and executive team,
• HR should not be focused on administration like it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago,
• You have to think like a business person and understand the economics of business,
• You have to talk business speak, not HR speak and people need to know you can back up your business speak,
• You have to add immediate value and ROI in everything you do,
• If you do not understand and grow and retain talent, you are out,
• You need to be smart about social media and how to attract the right talent to your business,
• If you do not understand global competition and exchange you lose,
• You have to know how to adjust to changing environments like driving a Formula One race car,
• You need to be flexible, act with speed, and decisiveness and have the RIGHT answers and solutions,
• You need to be compassionate yet honest in your discussions with people, not beat around the bush like most HR people,
• Phoneys will not make it today and that will cut out about 50% of the HR people in corporations today,
• You have to be someone who could potentially take the COO/CEO position some day.
• You need to understand and explain balance sheets and corporate accounting & finance.

And you can fill in all the other blocks on how to make it today in HR. This is just the tip of the iceberg on what it will take to be in HR today. Do you agree? 

Have You Hardwired Your Workforce?

In an economy like what we are experiencing today, good news today, bad news in Europe tomorrow after the bell,  one of the first budget cuts we see is usually in training & development. As all HR and astute CEOs know, training is one of the key life bloods of an organization that builds your workforce skills and is a launch pad for growth.One of the key elements for continuing training of your human capital is instilling that training is important to them and that they should take the time to expand their skills, grow their competencies, and make it a ritual in their working lives. It is an investment in their capital assets. So how do you do this? Here are a couple of important guidelines:

1. make sure there is a solid training strategy that ties to the corporations' goal/objectives
   keep the training budget as much in place as possible
2. make sure your managers buy into the training strategy
3. managers must emphasize that training is important to them
4. offer eLearning options for your employees through companies like SkillSoft
5. provide time each week for learning
6. show the outcome of skills training so people see the end result
7. post notices on your intranet regarding skills training
8. make sure that you subsidize if not pay in full the training that people take that is relevant to their current position or one that in next in line for them. There has to be a solid ROI.

These are just a few areas where you as managers and leaders of organizations can ensure that you build and maintain the most competent workforce that will help you drive revenues and profits. It will also help reduce turnover and build loyalty within the organization.

How Quick Can You State Your Strategy?

I have had a couple of exchanges on Linkedin regarding my post that if you cannot explain your strategy in 20 minutes you don't have a coherent strategy plan at all. Larry Bossity said this 10 years ago ""If you can’t describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven’t got a plan."


The comments from my Hr practitioners and constituents have said that if you cannot explain your strategy in 5 minutes you don't have a plan. well, I disagree because I be neither of the two who said it should only take 5 minutes couldn't even talk fast enough to get the strategy plan out in 5 minutes. I am not totally contradicting them but questioning how comprehensive their strategy would be  if they had 5 minutes to tell it to the board or executive team. 


Now, I will say that I am talking about an HR strategy not an overall corporate strategy. I am also not saying that an HR strategy should take any longer but when you piece all the components together that will take more time as they weave into the corporate strategy. 


Tell me what you thoughts are on this issue either on Linkedin (www.linkedin.com/williamgstevensjr)  or at wgstevens2@gmail.com 

CHROs Leadership

Courage, Now...

No doubt, CHROs and their leadership teams are facing unprecedented pressure to make decisions and deliver results in uncertain and vexing times.It made us think of Harry Truman as he as he contemplated actions to end WW II. 

"To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone."

Courage, not a fear to act, is at the top of the agenda for CEOs and their CHROs. 

The Koblentz Group, wish to share two leadership trends that we are observing in our most forward thinking and courageous clients. Each trend suggests opportunities for CHROs to deliver tangible value.

**CEOs are under increasing pressure from their boards to become truly serious about succession planning and talent management.

Many CEOs speak about the value of leadership capital but few have supported the investment of organizational commitment and funding, to make it work. Boards are demanding tangible plans and now are tying CEO compensation to talent accountability.

CEOs are taking notice! And, CEOs are looking for your guidance.

This creates a real opportunity for CHROs to create significant value by advising their leadership on all the elements of developing and instituting an effective process, investment and benefits.

**As the economic malaise continues, our clients are laser focused on leveraging the basics.

CEOs are asking CHROs to provide key insights on the strategic use of their organization's associates.

"Do we have the "right" talent, in the "right" place to “leverage” the current uncertainty?"

"Can we, as company leaders, put aside politics, personal ambitions and corporate fiefdoms to assure we see issues, challenges and opportunities with clear optics?"

These questions are often over looked or too easily dismissed as simple. This introspective exercise creates opportunity for CHROs to create value with their leadership by reexamining what is presumed to be obvious.

It takes courage for any CHRO to challenge the "givens" and the "simple." Yet, Koblenz's clients who are willing to invest in digging deep on fundamentals have found this type of "examining our basics" approach, yields significant results.

No doubt 2012 will be challenging.

Times will not always be as in the current.

reprint from the Koblenz Group Blog