Development in the Role of Human Resources Leadership

In order to be recognized as a successful HR leader, there are three roles you must manage. 

• first is the ability to implement organizational strategy. 
• second is controlling the strategic planning process by sorting through the positive and negative outcomes associated with making a decision. 
• lastly, one must manage the formulation of a strategy to protect against the negative effects caused by unexpected outcomes.

Have you and can you manage these key roles?

from EzineMark.com

Happy Holidays and Festive New Year!

I want to wish you all a very happy holiday season and prosperous new year

New Ideas and Innovation From Human Resources

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking when was the last time you, the HR leader, came up with a new innovation or idea that led to increased revenue for your company?  I don't mean reductions in staff or reorgs that led to decreased fixed costs but real innovations or ideas that the company took on that grew the revenue stream.

So what do I really mean, well, it could be a new product line, a technology innovation, product redesign, production change that led to faster to market achievements. The things that most HR people do not get involved in on a daily basis. I have said early on in my career that HR is a revenue stream not a cost center. When I first mentioned that at my first HR job in Boston most people thought I was nuts.

I think it is incumbent for all HR practitioners to be so involved with the business that they provide daily input into the operations that lead to revenue gains. This is what the senior executive team looks for and most important the CEO of his team. So, I will ask the question again "when was the last time you provided a new idea or innovation that led to increased revenue and profit". This is part of your job!

Talent Edge 2020: Blueprints for the New Normal

As companies worldwide struggle to move beyond the great recession of 2009, many business leaders are adjusting their talent strategies to meet the shifting demands characterized as the “new normal.”

While the inclination may be strong to revert to strategies that served them well prior to the economic crisis, many executives seem to recognize that the forces shaping future talent needs, such as globalization and an aging workforce, continued to accelerate during the downturn and now require new talent strategies to position their companies for success.

To bring these issues into clearer focus, Forbes Insights and Deloitte launched Talent Edge 2020—following in the path of the 2009-2010 survey series, Managing Talent in a Turbulent Economy. Based on a survey of 334 senior executives, this first Talent Edge 2020 study aims at exploring talent strategies, concerns of global companies, and unfolding employee trends as companies confront a fresh set of challenges that could influence the next decade and beyond. 

To download a pdf of the study, please fill out the following information. The report will appear in a new window. If you experience any trouble, please send an email to: insights@forbes.com.


a reprint from Forbes Insight

Sharing Knowledge

I just spent a week in Mexico at a great resort and had a lot of time to think. There was a global environment conference near Cancun where thousands of people were sharing their knowledge on how to save the environment.  So began my thinking process. 


There are a lot of retired practitioners of HR that have faded away or just left business totally to spend time playing golf, sailing, reading, tennis or some other athletic sport. But what they have not done is passed all that great business knowledge on to the next generation of HR practitioners. What a shame that is to not share that great knowledge. 


I am sure there are those who will say that business has changed, technology has passed them by and I say to that, not so. Dealing with people, executives, managers, and other policy related items have not changed and that is the rub. 


So my challenge to you is find an avenue for passing on your HR and business knowledge. Get involved, I have through my blog and a local community college. 

LinkedIn Thinks Publishers Need Yet Another “Share This” Button

It’s no secret that professional social network LinkedIn is actively working on making its platform more socially connected. In the past year, the company has launched a deep integration with Twitter, the ability to follow a contact or company, a better groups functionality and enhanced sharing on the site. And a few months ago, the professional social network launched LinkedIn Signal, which allowed users to apply the professional social network’s filters to Twitter’s firehose. Today, the network once again adding another social feature with the release of a brand new official Share button.

Similar to the Facebook Like button or the Tweet button, publishers can now embed a branded LinkedIn share button with a few lines of code onto their sites. The “Share on LinkedIn” button will allow readers to share content (i.e. news, white papers, presentations) with your professional social network on LinkedIn.

If you click a LinkedIn Share button on a publisher site you’ll be asked to login with your LinkedIn account, and then you’ll be able to share a URL (with the network’s shortener) in your status update box. The button will also show how many shares have been made for a particular piece of content.

At launch, Bloomberg.com, Forbes.com, and SiliconValley.com will be integrating the new button. The network initially rolled out the Share button on the Huffington Post a few months ago. A universal Share button definitely makes sense for the professional social network, whose members tend to share content like news and presentations with contacts. Developers has created WordPress-plugins to add similar functionality in the past, but an official Share button from LinkedIn gives both publishers and the network compelling data on what type of content readers are sharing with their professional contacts. But with the growing number of “Share This” buttons on the web (Tweet, Like, Buzz, Digg), the “Share” real estate on blogs is growing competitive. Not every publisher will want a plethora of share buttons populating their site.


Of course this is part of LinkedIn’s broader strategy of bringing LinkedIn to any sites or platforms that people may use in their professional life, including Twitter and now blogs. The big question remains as to whether LinkedIn will plug-into Facebook’s social graph. CEO Jeff Weiner said recently that a social hookup with the world’s largest social network would depend on the value of the integration.


a reprint from Tech Crunch

The Art of the Deal - Not Trump

I thought it would be important to mention the art of the deal when talking about mergers and acquisitions. There is an important part that HR plays that really is not talked up in the media or among executives. That is "the final say in a deal".


If you look at the posts I have made over the years on M&A activities you will see a consistent pattern. That is that the lead HR person really looks at balance sheets, agreements, policy contracts, and the like in a totally different light that say the CEO, the finance team, the legal team. Yes, a different light than the legal team!!!. 


Since we are driven to understand the written relationship between people and the business we have to look at these thing differently. My feeling is that the lead HR acquisition person should lead the due diligence team and not the legal team or finance. Why, they MISS things, yes they MISS things. So the next time you are on a DD team stand up and take the lead, show your stuff, and make the M&A process a success. 


So, are you on board with this or do you see it a different way? Let me know. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very happy and joyous holiday

William G. Stevens
Blog Publisher

Human Capital Institute Picks Human Resources Strategy for the 21st Century as a Top Blog to Read

The Human Capital Institute, the global association for strategic talent management has chosen "Human Resources for the 21st Century" as one of the top 100 human resources blogs to read. I am delighted that the institute has recognized the importance and influence this blog has on human resources and the on-going development of HR strategy.

HCI's Center for Human Capital Excellence (CHCE) is the global clearinghouse for thought leadership, best practices and innovation in strategic talent management and new economy leadership.

Five Minute Management Course

Lesson #3

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.



They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'


'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone.


'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'


Puff! He's gone.


'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after Lunch.'

Moral of the story:



Always let your boss have the first say.

Talking Heads- Ten Principles for Social Media Marketing Success #2

Today it is the norm to communicate, consort and associate with each other over social networks – it’s almost weird not to.  So much so, that the likes of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Linkedin have become household names and collectively generate millions of dollars in revenue.  Many other businesses use social media and social networks to gain a competitive advantage in the world of business, which requires them to be up-to-date with the advancements and changes of technology that they are using. 

MeetTheBoss.tv has interviewed some of the most influential C-level executives within the industry including: Julian Persuad- MD of Google, Ken Mandell-VP Advertising Sales of Yahoo! and Ji Hee Nam-VP Digital Media MTV.   In this program these executives explain the difficulties of having to adapt constantly to an ever-changing sector and the advantages of being part of a new generation of business.

A very engaging interview from MeetTheBoss.tv on the new way in which marketing and brand organisations have to work with today’s technology and digitalisation.  Chuck Brymer, who was elected President & CEO of DDB Worldwide in 2006 gives his insight to the ever-advancing nature of marketing which runs parallel and works hand-in-hand with the new types of social networking and telecommunications.  In this interview he highlights the importance of keeping people engaged with the product and acknowledge their feedback and authorise their participation to improve it: “You no longer own that property.  It’s owned by your customers.”  Brymer explains, in this way brand managing is not invasive and is a 2-way dialogue solely between the customer and the company, B2C.

Learn from the experts, sign up and watch for FREE at MeetTheBoss.tv

From the Front

In the past month, Joel Koblenz had conversations with three highly reputed CEOs of mid cap public companies where the specific topic was their expectations for their CHRO leader and where that leader could truly create value. While a sample of three is certainly not scientific, the themes we heard were remarkably similar.


Here is what we learned;

First, while all three CEOs sought the contribution of their CHROs, none, when we inquired, could really delineate tangible strategic benefit and accordingly, none really understood the full breadth and value of the function. All admitted that the impact of human resources was the least understood and appreciated. This is interesting as every successful CEO know that talent and how it is acquired, managed and motivated is the backbone of any successful enterprise.  What flummoxed the CEOs was how to make their company’s talent more effective.

Secondly, the CEOs spoke about investing in leadership and their development and strategically aligning their talent with flexibility to take advantage of opportunities and/or meet critical challenges. They viewed this as the direct responsibility of their CHRO as the leader of this effort and the manager of human/executive capital. All three felt that their CHRO’s were too structural and bureaucratic with little knowledge the basic tenets of change management and none, in their view, truly appreciated the operating levers of their business units. One commented that their CHRO was the culture keeper of,”what was/is and not what will be.”

Even with a small sample, it is clear that CEOs are seeking CHROs that will act as a strategic human resource advisor. This creates a great opportunity for HR executives to play a pivotal role linking strategy and operating models with the necessary executive talent to execute “the plan.” Talent management centered on a,” just in time” focus.

Plans are plans and rarely do they unfold overtime as anticipated.  CEOs are all under pressure to deliver results regardless of market and competitive conditions. In the CHRO, progressive CEOs are seeking a “partner” who is willing to accept the risk of recruiting/ developing leaders to meet the requirements of the unknown. The CEOs all pointed out that while today’s environment is uncertain, the honing of leadership depth is an “investment” that all three CEOs were ready to make and their boards were willing to support.

Koblenz's  advice is to show commitment, courage, and great care at tuning up your approach to developing and retaining leadership. This is a perfect storm opportunity to work closely and build a new level of trust with your CEO, executive team colleagues, and perhaps with your board of directors on a critical front of mind strategic challenge .. leadership depth and succession.

By Joel Koblentz on October 5, 2010

Thinking With No Boundaries - Red & Green Lights

I attended an HR conference last week in Atlanta and was  amazed at the number of senior HR practitioners who were so set in their thinking. The topics ranged from how to acquire talent to how to organize the HR department. Most of the participants had at least 10+ years in HR with a minimum of 6 in a senior management role. 


So what was so amazing? Let me tell you my observations and what I see as an outcome from them:

• managers were not interested, for the most part, to use social networking as a recruitment tool, not even Linkedin - my outcome from that is they are missing key passive job seekers and not utilizing the latest technology to get to talent. 
• Many were not even beginning the process of looking at the changes in health care and how it would affect their current plan designs - outcome is they will miss out on savings and current tax advantages. But with the changes in the mid-term elections they may have saved a lot of time of the Obama health care agenda is repealed. 
• Most still have a traditional HR department designed organization - outcome to me is the HR managers reporting to these people are not on the line and cannot get to problems and solutions until the issues become full blown fires. Where are these people and how can they be at the table with the CEO recommending solutions.
• Some, more than some, do not have a clear reporting relationship  with their CEO - outcome is they do not have the CEOs ear and the issues are softened by the reporting relationship (IE: reporting to a CFO, COO, or CLO)
• Most have not challenged their organization with employee self-service - outcome is this will keep the HR department in a more administrative role than a strategic role.
• Most of these HR practitioners do not know the full scope of their product lines - outcome is how can you be a business partner if you do not know the business?
• and finally, most are still doing the managers job in performance appraisals, compensation and salary administration - outcome to me is they are doing the managers job and he/she should be doing these things with HR as the final gatekeeper. 

I would be interested in what you think about these issues and how you would resolve them in your organization. 

Meet the Boss - Warren Gatland, Coach of Wales National Rugby Team on Success

MeetTheBoss.tv has an exclusive video interview with Warren Gatland, the recently re-signed Head Coach of the Wales National Rugby Club.  The New Zealand-born coach gives an insight to his emphasis on leadership and successful coaching skills for the national side. Gatland explains to MeetTheBoss.tv that the most important way to measure success in any circumstance, is to “over achieve.”  Moreover, he adds that as a coach in Rugby Union, his role as leader is not about dominating and overpowering the team but empowering them and building trust, loyalty and honesty.

Check this video out on http://www.meettheboss.tv/

Which Key Human Resource Function Has The Greatest Influence On Management’s Opinion Of HR?

If one could list the five major functions of a quality HR department, what would those five functions be and which of those have the greatest impact on management’s opinion of HR?


This question was asked in a number of human resource groups on the professional networking site Linked In. There were approximately 41 individuals who responded to the question and provided a broad range of thoughtful, intelligent answers. This article is a summary of the thoughts and comments provided by human resource professionals and consultants. The purpose is to make the information available to all and allow additional comment and debate.

“I don’t think it’s about which HR function has the greatest influence but rather which HR person. That person most assuredly will be the one who builds credibility as being a business person first and an HR professional second.”



In reviewing all of the comments and responses, a few general themes became clear. A major theme that seems to be important is the idea of human resources as a strategic, business-focused function. Many respondents used language that implied a strategic value to the functions and capabilities of HR. Clearly, respondents felt it was very important for HR to demonstrate commercial sense, knowledge of the business, the competitive landscape and a strategic understanding of how the business needs to develop.
“I think these are all great answers. But the one I have found to have the biggest impact of an HR professional on upper management is to have an understanding of the business. By truly understanding what the company does, who they are, what services they provide and where they want to go, uppemanagement will be more likely to see HR as a business partner, and not an administrative function."

Therefore, it is perhaps reasonable to assume that there are HR functions that are clearly focused on the commercial and strategic aspects of the business. Additionally, it might follow that most HR professionals would include those in one of the top five or six functions of a quality human resource department.



As a follow up to this, many people made comments about human resource functions and the importance of those functions connecting together in support of the business.



“We have to connect the delivery of our activities with their business impact. We’re delivering talent so that clients are served by smarter people. We’re delivering motivation so that we generate better solutions for customers. We deliver employee relations so that we retain a stable and knowledgeable workforce our customer’s value. We deliver all these things so that our company’s people create superior value for stockholders.”

These comments imply a relationship between the delivery of talent and the achievement of strategic objectives. This might mean that talent acquisition and recruitment would be very important.

“I would like to say that recruiting the right person for the right place, keeping in mind business requirements and retaining him as per organization requirement is so important that he or she should be kept by any mean, i.e. motivational or tools.”
This would also imply that talent management is very important.

“I really believe talent management will have the biggest impact on the perception of HR.”



Respondents also commented on the importance of being trusted by those managers they support. The issue of trust with respect to HR is one that Quorum has seen come up in a number of ways.



Yet the negative perception of human resources by management continued to surface and some comments seem to express a deeply felt frustration.

“Unfortunately HR is yet widely considered as a support function and not an initiative (innovative) one. And the fact of the matter is that when HR tries to be initiative (innovative), the management would shoo them off by saying, "You don’t understand the market. Please do what you are asked to." Unfortunately, this is the fact! But if we don’t understand the market, then how do we provide them the best of the available human resource to do the business?”


Given the breadth and range of responses, the individual functions that were listed by respondents, were organized in their order of importance. These were then grouped into nine major categories. Only those respondents who gave a list of important functions were included. Some respondents seemed to agree with a particular list, but did not provide their own. In this case, that particular list was not included twice.


As an example of how functions were categorized, functions like change/transformation management, leadership succession, organization design, organization development and succession planning were all grouped in the category organizational development. Functions like delivering HR information, HR metrics, HRIS (human resource information systems) and HR reports for decision making, were all put in the category of analytics.



The top two issues of importance from the survey were: Talent Acquisition 83%, Business Knowledge & Strategy 72% .

For more information please go to the Quorum website at: http://quorumassociates.com/thoughtleadership/five-functions-of-a-quality-human-resource-department

If you are not in the top two categories you are really not a true HR leader.

How Leaders Set Themselves Apart From Others

The question I am sure every employee asks is "what makes him a great leader and not me?". Well I know that I asked myself that question when assessing people I have worked for over my career. I think Jack Welch has said it best in his book "Winning". I have always been a fan of Welch and have read all his books and even was a stockholder of GE for many years. In his latest book, "Winning", I think he really articulates what leaders do and after re-reading this book for a 2nd time it finally hit home. So, what leadership knowledge has Jack imparted upon us, here are his eight key points:

• leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, constantly assessing their progress and evaluating them along the way
• leaders make sure people breath the vision set, not just see it
• leaders get into people's skin, through positive energy and optimism
• leaders establish trust and credit. There is transparency and candor with their style
• leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions
• leaders probe and question how things are done to see additional opportunity or new methodology
• leaders inspire risk taking
• leaders celebrate

Also ask yourself does your CEO possess these qualities and if not how does your business rank against the competition. I would like to hear your comments. Also link to Meet the Boss.TV for more on leadership.

Holding the Silence: Powerful Listening

Silence may mean quietness or refraining from making any noise. Some powerful synonyms
are stillness, hush and calm. The dictionary concludes that silence means not speaking, ignoring
something, to suppress something or to stop someone from making noise. Silence can be powerful within communication systems, including, ironically, mere conversation. As you have surely found, that silence properly placed in a heated argument can bring an element of strategic leverage and emphasis. Silence on the other end of a phone line can speak volumes or invoke fear and insecurity.



Certain personality profiles cause people to talk more than others. Many times leaders struggle
with silence for various reasons. Some reasons leaders and managers resist silence is the fear of what may fill the silence from the other person. Also, some just think they have more important things to say. Other leaders just are insecure and resistant to the fact that others possibly have a better idea or solution.



Silence, on the other hand, can be like dynamite in a conversation. As a great coach learns to
hold silence, as a leader why not try it on for size? When someone listens, really listens to you, how do you feel? Do you feel understood? Do you feel appreciated? Do you feel that you have value? Holding your silence as a team member speaks will give you better insight and understanding. I believe that as you practice using silence when other leaders are speaking with you that you will become more powerful because your discernment and wisdom will go up and up. You will transform into a powerful listener who hears and understands.



Next time a friend or family member is telling you a story, work hard at holding the silence.
Sometimes it can become so heavy you can barely hold on. Practice this. You will be amazed, as I have been, at how you will hear more and understand more as you keep quiet. Listen behind the story. As you keep silent try to hear the essence of what they are saying. As a leader or manager this will serve you well. It actually could be life-changing for you.



Remember that silence brings a calm to a conversation and the peace may even extinguish
some heated emotions. It could be that you will desire to have some communication coaching or have a coach demonstrate holding the silence in your sessions to model the technique. If you have a meeting coming up or a crucial conversation, attempt to hold the silence and see what happens. This one technique may change your leadership style and bring some great power to your influence.


a reprint from Rick Forbus of TROVE, Inc

Increasing The Use Of Variable Pay For Employees

Recent Hay Group research from several hundred organizations across all industry sectors indicates planned 2011 base salary increases for all employees are at a median of three percent. This reflects an uptick relative to March 2009, when salary increases were at a low point of two percent for most employee groups and zero percent for executives. Ten years ago, median salary increases ranged from 4.5 to five percent and then tracked fairly steadily at four percent from 2005 to 2008. While the past three years have seen the lowest base salary increases most employees have ever experienced, planned increases for 2011 are slightly higher versus last year, and are consistent across most employee groups.
a reprint from Hay Monthly Nesletter

The current economic outlook in the US continues to cause most businesses to exercise caution in growing their fixed costs, particularly base salaries and benefits. Organizations who survived the immediate challenges of a deep and wide-reaching downturn have emerged to a more cost-conscious and performance oriented business landscape. Fundamentally, the recession has caused organizations to get leaner and focus on activities that bring the greatest returns to the organization. Difficult choices are being made as available money has to be earned via performance and allocated to those areas (and people) most critical to business success. While the focus remains clearly on the bottom line, increased labor productivity and performance will be a core driver of profit growth going forward.

The performance-oriented, post-recession world in which organizations are operating has significant implications for line managers and HR professionals. Hay sees many organizations with a relentless focus on performance, as they seek to reverse some of the sloppy performance management practices that crept in during the boom years. Today, managers are looking for ways to balance the cost of reward programs and limited pay increases with the need to attract, retain and engage key talent. Because of this tension, many organizations are emphasizing both their variable pay and ‘total’ reward programs – engaging employees in non-monetary ways.

While there is not a significant change in pay increases for the coming year, the mix of pay is changing. As organizations emerge from the recession, they are shifting more of their focus from fixed compensation (i.e., base salary) to variable pay. In fact, recent Hay Group research reveals that organizations have increased (or plan to increase) the proportion of variable pay in their employees’ pay programs versus those who have decreased the proportion of variable pay in their employees’ pay reward package by a two-to-one margin. This change is partly cost-driven, as those organizations with higher proportions of variable pay tend to have more flexibility to cope with economic volatility.

This same research indicates that 66 percent of US companies (and 71 percent of companies globally) have recently changed or are considering to change the performance metrics in their variable pay programs. The top reason cited by organizations for making changes to their variable pay programs was to better align these programs with the changing business strategies (61 percent globally, 69 percent US). In the US, other top drivers were to create better line of sight between corporate and individual performance (39 percent), to improve organizational or team performance (37 percent) and to ensure market competitiveness (30 percent).

A significant legacy of the economic downtown has been a concentration on the bottom line and a trend away from ‘soft’ metrics, such as employee satisfaction, to hard, financial metrics. This is underscored by more than half (56 percent) of companies in our study reporting that they are placing increased emphasis on financial metrics such as revenue or profit in their variable pay programs. Another 21 percent plan to increase the emphasis on operational improvements such as efficiency and productivity measures. An emphasis on financial metrics can encourage employees to be focused on short-term financial gain without proper consideration of the risks to long-term sustainability, company brand or broader social concerns. The most successful reward strategies encourage an effective balance of short term and long-term goals, and recognize the need for a balance between financial, operational and human capital measures.
Approximately 40 percent of the organizations in the US and nearly half of companies globally have already increased or are planning to increase performance thresholds (which trigger a payout) in plans. But, during this time of change it is important that organizations are fully aware of the consequences that raising performance thresholds can have on employee engagement. Many employees have picked up accountabilities from colleagues who have been downsized, have seen limited or no pay increases over the past two years and if the variable portion of their compensation is even more difficult to earn, they may become further disengaged, just when companies most need them on board.
Hay's research found that while 80 percent of US companies agree that variable pay reinforces performance within the organization, only 55 percent believe that their variable pay programs are clearly understood by their employees. Recognizing this disconnect, 53 percent of US companies have already changed or plan to change the way they communicate variable pay programs to their employees. Variable pay programs can only work if they are understood by employees and managers. More often than not, a simple straightforward program aligned with business priorities is much more effective than a sophisticated program that is difficult to understand. We see many organizations seeking to distill programs communications down to core messages.
Hay sees many organizations working harder than ever to align their reward, performance and business strategies, either because their business strategy has changed or because alignment to the business strategy was not already optimized. In practical terms, this means ensuring that the right performance metrics are used and that reward programs are closely tied to those metrics, performance and rewards are appropriately differentiated, supporting performance management processes are in place and leaders have the capability and commitment to implement and communicate reward programs effectively.

Meet The Boss TV Launches Exclusive

Watch now an electrifying exclusive:  A video teaser of an interview with Lamborghini CEO Stephen Winkelmann, who makes revelations on the concept debuting in Paris. An exclusive report with the name and specification of the car will be published on next Thursday.  MeetTheBoss.tv has interviewed Stephen Winkelmann, President and CEO of Lamborghini, who has made some revelations on the new technological demonstrator that will be introduced at the 2010 Paris Motor Show next week.

This special concept - previewed by Lamborghini with a series of teaser images - "will be the blue print for all future Lamborghini models."

The full video interview will be available at MeetTheBoss.tv on next Monday.

On next Thursday we will reveal the name of the car, along with the full specification, so stay tuned...

http://www.meettheboss.tv/broadcast/?contributorFullName=stephan-winkelmann&mediaTitle=lamborghinis-drive-into-the-future---trailer&mediaFileId=533&utm_source=29sepMC&utm_medium=VAR&utm_campaign=AF

Also, we are officially launching ‘Your Voice’, an opportunity for those who have good, short, snappy tips or advice that they would like to share to others.  We will showcase these videos on our website, so you could be watched by thousands of C-level executives!  Learn more:

http://www.meettheboss.tv/broadcast/?contributorFullName=anna-gilligan&mediaTitle=upload-your-video&mediaFileId=531&utm_source=29sepMC&utm_medium=VAR&utm_campaign=AF

To register to Meettheboss.tv got to http://www.meettheboss.tv/Register/?promotioncode=IHRS01 and put in promotion code- IHRS01

SlideRocket Takes On PowerPoint With Web-based Interactive Presentations

Chuck Dietrich, CEO and founder of SlideRocket, has a problem with PowerPoint and other presentation platforms: They haven’t fundamentally changed in 25 years. Enter SlideRocket, an online presentation platform that brings interactivity and collaboration to a market otherwise dominated by Microsoft’s PowerPoint.


SlideRocket allows users to create slideshows in which viewers can post comments and answer polls in real time, turning a stale presentation format into a collaborative meeting tool. Presentation authors can invite people to attend presentation-centered meetings remotely through the Web as well as in person.


SlideRocket’s launch comes at a time when business collaboration programs have become increasingly important, but more fragmented. Of course, remote Web meetings are a commodity feature available through Cisco’s WebEx and Citrix’s GoToMeeting. But those are largely used today to present conventional PowerPoint slides: The presentations take place over the Web, but they don’t otherwise make use of the medium.

SlideRocket users can pull live data from the Web like Google Docs and Spreadsheets for their presentations, so when the documents are updated the presentations are, too. Users can embed video and Twitter streams and other forms of media through the SlideRocket interface with plugins for YouTube, Flickr and other sites. SlideRocket offers tools for third-party application developers to create new ways to integrate content in SlideRocket presentations.SlideRocket also has a marketplace with stock photos, video and sounds to help users spruce up their presentations — for which SlideRocket takes a small cut of the revenue.

Presentation authors can get some feedback as to how long users spent on slides and the responses to various polls and what kind of comments users left on slides. Premium users have access to a dashboard that presents analytics on viewer feedback to help presentation authors tailor their slideshows to their audience. The subscription service costs $24 per user per month to have access to analytics. SlideRocket also has a free version that gives users access to all the presentation tools.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based company was founded in 2006 and has raised about $7 million from a seed round and its first round of funding. Dietrich said more than 100,000 companies use SlideRocket, including a number of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 100 list — though he wouldn’t specify which companies.

reprint from Venture Loop

Is Your HR Productivity App Saving You Time?

The smart phone market is really hot with the Blackberry (who really started the ball rolling),  IPhone (pure leader in mobile technology, and  Android (quickly catching up to IPhone), and other phones on the market today. And let me not forget the IPad for analytic use not games and pictures. There a over 1M applications for the phones today and HR applications are no exception. Mobile apps are really helping HR professionals today in our continuous loop connectivity.

Since time is a precious commodity today it makes real sense for HR to be in the forefront of productivity applications as they manage large and decentralized workforces. Companies that use mobile apps have seen a strong return on their investment and helps keep the HR executive and his/her staff connected 24/7. There are some companies that have developed their own apps which makes good business sense and there are those off the shelf (so to speak) as downloads.

So what applications make sense today, here are a few that you should look into or better yet use to keep on top of your game:

• Payroll apps - to monitor pay cycle issues and fixed cost concerns
• Talent acquisition - to keep up with the active and passive job seekers 
• Workforce management -  managing an existing diverse human capital group
• Learning and development - managing training budgets and activity
• Peer and management reviews - performance management & process approvals
• Marketing and product cycle reviews, and 
• Internet/intranet site management

These apps have migrated from the desktop/laptop to the smart phone at lightning speed. My advise is get on the band wagon and start utilizing these productivity tools so you can stay in front of your business and employee base. If you are worried about security work with your IT group; if your company is  slow to adopt - push them and lead the way because a recent poll says that there is a 13% increase in productivity utilizing mobile apps. Steve Bogner of Insight Consulting Partners in Cincinnati as that "putting mobile into action is always going to lag the hype". If you are an innovative and strategic HR executive then you need to lead the charge within your company.

Innovative HR Strategy Has Linked Up With Meet the Boss.TV

My blog has linked up with Meettheboss.tv to broaded your view of the executive suite and the impact that HR has on company profits, innovation, and strategy. This is a significant step forward for my blog to expand your vision into the executive suite and to gather first hand information on the CEO experience.

To access Meet the Boss go to http://www.meettheboss.tv/

New Trends In Hiring

Organizations are planning to increase hiring as the economy recovers but are making significant changes to their recruitment strategies according to research from Job Search Television Network (JSTN), a leading video and social media based recruiting company. Cuts to recruiting staffs and budgets during the recession have resulted in a greater emphasis on lower cost, efficient technological solutions. The report notes increasingly targeted use of social media in the recruitment process.



Roger Stanton, CEO of Job Search Television Network, commented:

"LinkedIn and Facebook with links to video has been hot for a while, but now we’re seeing clients ‘micro-target’ employees using niche blogs and LinkedIn groups. For example, one of our clients successfully uses niche blogs to locate workers with very specific types of financial service backgrounds. They started doing this when a new blog showed up on JSTN’s client metric report. When they posted a video to the blog, it quickly became a ‘home run’. Clients are finding sites they weren’t aware of because JSTN’s video provides highly detailed traffic metrics and they can make changes on the fly."

The study also considered the proportion of viewers who go on to apply for the position advertised.



Roger Stanton explained:  "We will usually see an enormous spike in viewership for a position right after a video is placed on websites and social media. With clients hitting average conversion rates of viewers to applicants around 18.8 per cent, the video is far exceeding other sources. In some cases, the conversion rate is as high 45 per cent! That can mean thousands of people have seen the video for a job, at very little cost to the employer and it provides very powerful employment branding. The candidates who do apply are more likely to be a more qualified fit for the job, since they’ve seen the video and have responded based on the compelling information they have viewed."

The study found renewed interest in Employment Referral Programs (ERP) in the recruitment process, but again with a different emphasis.

"The idea of ERP programs is coming back in a big way, because it is so much faster and cheaper if you can get a referral from your current employees. The difference this time is that since e-mail readership is going down, particularly among younger employees who prefer social media, companies are using video messaging. The video can be placed on a company’s Facebook page, blogs, etc. and is far more likely to get watched and sent to friends via mobile phones. And again, the traffic results can be closely tracked for ROI [return on investment] purposes."

The study identified mobile phones as the third major trend in hiring for 2010.



"We knew when payment systems started being developed for cell phones that mobile would replace computers as the center of our digital lives. This is why JSTN was created with the ability to TEXT ID videos to mobile phones. Now with smart phones penetrating the market at exponential rates, we’re seeing this really take off. Looking forward, research states that by 2014, over 66 per cent of all mobile data traffic will be video [Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2009 - 2014]. One of our clients regularly sends job videos to prospects on cell phones with amazing results. Not only does the receiver actually view the video, they also usually forward it to numerous contacts in their network. The video quickly goes viral."

Roger Stanton concluded: "What these trends point to is that we are truly becoming a video-centric society, with much of that centering on mobile phones. Companies are recognizing that if they want to reach prospective hires, this is where they need to be. And with tight budgets, its not surprising they would turn to these technologies now to reach new candidate pools at low cost while maintaining professional identity. As we come into the fall hiring season, which will ramp up in earnest right after Labor Day, you’ll really see these trends as play out in the workplace."

What changes have you made in your hiring practices? Drop me a line at wgstevens2@gmail.com

Inspiring Others

American business people are uninspired. Are you surprised? Don't be. According to a recent Maritz
Research poll the fact is that only ten percent of the work force look forward to going to work; and most point to alack of leadership as the reason for this. "But it doesn't have to be that way. All business leaders have the power to inspire, motivate, and positively influence the people in their professional lives," according to a recent story in Business Week Online.



Inspiring others should be an aspiration of leaders. We do not live in a vacuum or lead in a vacuum, so the
way we use our influence is important. Motivation is a closely related action that is usually a result of good
leadership skills and influence. Inspiration is an interesting concept. To inspire means to stimulate someone to do something, or to provoke a particular feeling. It can also mean to cause some form of creative activity. My favorite meaning to the word inspire is to breathe in. In essence, when we inspire others we are breathing into them the influence and factors that will cause them to become a better form of who they presently are. The opposite of inspire is expire. It may be a stretch, but when we use our influence in destructive ways, even unintentionally, it may literally “kill” someone’s motivation and creativity and desire to become better. 



When working around great leaders I have found that they have a way of inspiring others through their
leadership behaviors, management tasks and compelling communication. Communications coach and author
Carmine Gallo, in his new book, Fire Them Up!, reveals basic skills common to the leaders who best know how to inspire their employees, colleagues, customers, and investors. The book is a great study of techniques needed to lead organizations and inspire teams to perform at a higher level. After studying their communication "secrets", Gallo came up with seven skills that he believes can easily be adopted to your own professional communications:

• Demonstrate enthusiasm constantly
• Articulate a compelling course of action
• Sell the benefit
• Tell more stories so people relate to the realness of it
• Invite participation
• Reinforce an optimistic outlook
• Encourage potential

Continuous learning opportunities, executive coaching and small group interactions regarding ongoing work

will promote higher achievement in the team. Creating an environment in which the team members are expressing their potential and continuously learning and improving can only affect the culture and deliverables for the better.

Do You Have A Crisis Management Plan

There has been little discussion on the Internet and print media about crisis management. When you look at how BOA, Merrill Lynch, and the banks handled the media during the financial crisis you would expect that these big firms would have had a crisis management plan.  


Crisis management planning is an integral part of business today, big or small. I can tell you from first hand experience and I do not mean business continuity planning. So let me tell you a little story. Back in 1988 or early 89 to quickly summarize,  the Boston area was rocked by a young 8 month pregnant woman who was killed by a so called black man in her car where she was a passenger after coming from Lamaze classes . Also wounded in this tragic murder was the girls husband who told police it was a black man that entered their car to rob them and shot his wife and him. Well if you were reading the papers or the Today Show you would have heard about this terrible incident. The person who was murdered was Carol Stuart, an employee of mine in Newton, MA. 


Back to crisis management. There was an immediate meeting with the VP, HR and hi directs on what to do, we corded off the building from reporters, sent out an immediate email to all employees and made sure that the media only spoke to one (1) person from the company. Needless to say at that time we did not have a director of communications or PR person. The reasoning behind this was to protect our employees from the media and to make sure there was a consistent message to the press. In the end, our crisis management plan worked and it saved the company from undue scrutiny, protected the employees, and managed the benefits flow to the widow/family.


Again, if you remember the case 3 months later it was found out that the husband killed his spouse for the life insurance money because the family business (Kakass Furs) was in financial trouble. Needless to say having paid the husband the life insurance claim was a mistake and since that time the carrier now requires a final police record of a case before payment is determined. 


Last but not least if you do not have a crisis management plan you should. HR should be at the forefront of this along with the head of communications, or PR, along with the CEO. 

Organizational Change

Let's say you need to move your business in a new direction. You are hoping the evolve the skill set of your staff, revamp your product and service lineup, and find new ways to partner with those in your industry.

So you've done a lot of research, worked through many different strategy ideas, analyzed the technological systems requires to make this change, and come up with a vision for your future. Maybe you've even created a PowerPoint presentation to communicate this change, and scheduled a roadshow to meet with each group in your company to get them on board.

But now, you are a few months into the shift, and finding it tougher to affect change. System roll outs are progressing, senior leadership has been working with you to revamp product and sales offerings, and others in your industry are impressed with your vision. And yet, the change comes more slowly than you would like, and at every turn, you find an entrenched business practice, a team that isn't developing as you had hoped - a ship that can't turn.

Organizational change is hard. It requires more than just the proper systems, technological savvy and strategic direction. Why? Because it's easy to get a room full of 100 people to clap at a PowerPoint, but difficult to align and balance the needs, fears, motivations, and skills of those 100 people.


Sure, we try to pretend that this doesn't exist. That every employee isn't motivated by logic alone, but perhaps some deeper human emotions. I don't mean that anyone has any ill-will, just that human beings are a funny bunch. And shoving them into a gray cubes and asking them to drink the PowerPoint Kool-Aid doesn't always have the intended results.


Below are some ideas to help organizational change:

• People Want Something To Believe In
• People Want To Be Involved, Not Managed
• Make It Seem Like Their Idea
• Personal Goals Must Be Aligned With Professional Goals
• Make it Easy to Feel A Sense of Achievement
• Make It Fun

So I'll ask you do you do these things in your organization and who leads the change, hopefully the keeper of the culture, the HR leader. Thanks to Dan Blank for some of this information.

In Memory of Those Who Lost Their Lives

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. 

With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization’s big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organization’s members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity.

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change directions, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in training and employee development.