Will HR Outsourcing ride the Third Wave?

There’s a common belief that the third in a series of ocean waves is the biggest. If it’s true for waves of change in HRO too, this latest wave of transformation in the industry will have a considerable impact. According to Anthony Hesketh in HRO Today transformation is back on the Outsourcing agenda, if indeed it ever went away.
 
We all understood the logic of the first wave of HR Outsourcing in 1999 – freeing up HR to focus on strategic aspects of the job, introducing standardization, self-service technology and Global Service Centers. It was this desire for HR Transformation that created ground-breaking Global HR Outsourcing deals with Exult-BP and ePeopleserve.
 
Back then HR consultants from the Big Four, heading for the exit, process-map and SLA template in hand, myself included, could be heard muttering under their breaths ‘every last large organization will want an HR portal and centralized HR service’, (while they hungrily signed-up to their dot.com share-options). Of course they didn’t.Innovation is a tricky business. Potentially great ideas get ignored because markets are too small, or the change doesn’t fit other people’s business models or match existing values. Sounds familiar?
 
The second big wave of change in HRO contracts came around 2006, including Unilever-Accenture, Johnson & Johnson – Convergys. These didn’t quite deliver our dream of pre-configured, hosted and e-Enabled services either. Instead, the services they offered were bespoke, tailored to clients’ demands and the particular nuances of their HR Operating Models. Still they had some success, given the industry grew to be worth billions of dollars.
 
In response to the economic meltdown of the last few years, organizations began thinking again, developing new business strategies, and new operating models. The HRO industry consolidated. Outsourcing contracts lasting a decade were thin on the ground when organizations couldn’t see where they might be themselves. Out of this has come the third and potentially most significant wave of transformation for HRO.
 
The focus for HR has shifted to employee productivity and engagement, deploying the right skills at the right time, mergers and acquisitions, and developing staff. HR needs to transform itself and the way it operates in order to deliver, enabled by organizational structures and processes better aligned to the businesses it serves. A greater share of the HR responsibility needs to be carried by line managers too.
 
The question for HRO vendors and HR Executives is what role will HRO play in the move to new HR operating models?
 
One way will be through more standardized HR services. HR needs to demonstrate value for money. Can a business justify providing employees with a personalized HR service when competitors get good results for less money using self-service processes. If HRO vendors can provide standardized services with user-friendly tools then there will be a sea-change in HR Operating Models.
 
HRO providers can also offer web-based tools to enable improvements in collaboration, productivity and managing the workforce. Delivering these tools, allowing buyers to avoid large upfront costs and access to the best solutions is an attractive proposition. Those HRO vendors who provide tools and services that help address organizations’ key talent management issues will thrive. Watch out for innovative market entrants building rapid market share with a credible HRO/SaaS model.
 
Transforming HR is about changing how people work and behave, not merely changing systems and processes.  Having worked on both sides of the HRO vendor/buyer fence, I have seen opportunities where skills gaps in managing change, managing vendors and transformation programmes could have been bridged. HRO vendors have been reluctant to share (or sell) their change management skills and can play a significant role in the move to new HR operating models by sharing their experience, knowledge and skills with organizations.
 
HRO will enable a leaner corporate function, by reducing central transactional HR work, pushing out more ‘people management’ to managers enabled with much better skills and tools. The onus is on HRO providers to be innovative and enable more self-service, for example by utilizing mobile devices for time-recording, checking schedules, benefits, vacancies.
 
HR Transformation is not back. It never went away. For HR executives to benefit from cost savings and to achieve their strategies, they will need to accept increasing standardization. Industry consolidation, technological innovation, economic pressures will all help to make this happen, and we could see HRO take off. All change is disruptive, outsourcing in the HR industry included. The early innovators of HRO had the right ideas at the wrong time. Now the conditions are right for it too.
 
This article was originally published in the Spring 2011 edition of HRO Today, by Andrew Spence.
 
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This entry was posted on Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 8:58 pm and is filed under HR Blogs, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Transformation, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

HR Transformer Blog – Most Popular Posts of 2010

Here are the most popular HR Transformer Blog articles from 2010.  Many thanks to all those who stopped by and provided ideas, links and comments.
 

1. Stop, Start & Continue – A Guide for HR Transformers

What will you Stop, Start & Continue in 2011?  Includes a useful PDF worksheet.

2. HR Transformation Articles of the Month

Add this link to your Bookmarks and browse over 90 different articles.  We trawl through the web to bring you a selection of the most interesting HR Transformation articles of the month. 

3. Future Trends in HR Operating Models

If you enjoyed reading this, check out our longer articles on What the future holds for HR , on Evaluation Centre (free, easy registration required).   Downloadable PDF article about the trends shaping future HR Operating Models.

4. HR Benchmarks – A Government Health Warning

Very topical subject, we did some analysis on UK Government HR benchmarks and attached the data in this article.  The original statistics have disappeared from the Government website, so we have had quite a few hits from Whitehall.  Also featured in the first online edition of HR Magazine.

5. HR Transformers on Twitter

11 Lists of great people to follow on Twitter, including consultants, HR practitioners, leaders, writers, analysts, techies and teachers.

6. Are you a HR Twitter Virgin?

Do you still know people in HR who have not used Twitter, surely not!  Here is a useful guide to get them started….

7. Top 5 Reasons HR Projects Fail

A golden oldie, but are we still making the same mistakes ?

8. HR Outsourcing – The Challenge of Picking Winners

In choosing a HRO vendor, a key question is How do you know they will last the course?

9. Why England Lose – Talent Management Insights from Football

Inspired by the World Cup, what can we learn from studying the management of football?

10. HR Survey Highlights Skills Gaps in HR

Very useful annual survey from ADP/HROA, see also this years findings in HR Transformation Delivers solid Savings of 25%

 

You can subscribe below to every new HR Transformer Blog article which will be delivered direct to your inbox.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Change Management, HR Blogs, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Transformation, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Top 10 HR Transformation Articles in November & December

 
We start 2011 with a bumper issue of HR Transformation blog articles from the last two months of 2010. In between meeting year end goals and wrapping presents, our HR bloggers, writers and thinkers are in a reflective mood with some thought provoking articles.
 
Out with the old and in with the new, we kick off with a couple of articles which aim to smash some of the myths surrounding ‘best practice’ in HR. Our HR Maverick presents the case on why we should dump the dreaded annual Performance Review, with some help from Mr. Deming.
 
The ‘love/hate’ relationship HR has with Social Media illuminates the dichotomy HR sometimes finds itself in – on the one hand in its traditional role as “enforcer” and on the other side as an “innovator”. We highlight a couple articles that will appeal to both sides, from Malcolm Gladwell to Mashable.
 
At Glass Bead Consulting we are embracing social media in HR. Jon Ingham and myself co-hosted a Connecting HR Twitter chat one foggy evening in Amsterdam, from the HRO Summit Europe Conference  – read more about our discussion.
 
Do you know your “HR Cost per employee”?   Is it $1000 or nearer to $3000 per employee or? Read up on some recent trends before the CFO taps you on the shoulder and asks you…
 
Talking of costs, cost cutting is in at the top of British Government’s agenda, as it looks for ways to allocate more resources to frontline services. We have three insightful articles on the case for HR Shared Services from a UK perspective.
 

Finally, we hope you enjoy our latest 10 of the best HR Transformation articles and a big thank you to all those that come back to us with ideas and suggestions to share with the HR community. Do keep in touch with any of your future Top 10 articles and suggestions -  @AndySpence on Twitter.

 

1. In Search Of HR Tech Best Practices, by Naomi Bloom

In this article Naomi Bloom reflects on the quest for best practice in HR Technology and HR Transformation. 
 
We have all seen the sales pitch of “this system will transform how you deliver HR Management.”   However, in Naomi’s view this won’t happen unless you are willing to redesign your HR processes.  She writes that “If you don’t have proven competency models for your key roles, you won’t get competency-centric HRM, no matter what the software does”.
 
Naomi outlines three types of practices that are amenable to process improvement through automation, outsourcing & process redesign. Read more about her big P processes, little p processes, and business rules in this excellent article.
 
Another person to tackle HR “Best Practices”, is Ron Ashkenas, in the Harvard Business Review. He answers the question “Why Best Practices Are Hard to Practice” and according to Ron, there are two main reasons.   
 
Lack of Adaptation – companies are so different, it is rare that a practice developed in one place can be applied elsewhere without significant customisation.
 
Lack of Adoption – companies that utilize a borrowed process or tool without full leadership support and commitment, think that just having the tool itself will generate the desired results.
 
In our view, somewhere along the line someone in the organisation needs to think deeply about how to actually implement organisational strategy. This will nearly always involve the challenging task of asking people to work in a different way. If this change uses tools, theories or methods derived from Systems Thinking, Lean, 6-Sigma or ‘some Blu-Tack, Post-It notes and elastic bands’ then so be it. It doesn’t really matter which tools and methods are used as long as the change works.
 

2. The Future of Human Resources and Social Media, by Sharlyn Lauby, aka HR Bartender, on Mashable

The adoption of social media at home and work seems to pose some problems for HR. The challenge characterises HRs’ struggle to deliver true value in its role as Business Partner. 
 
There is a balancing act; on the one hand HR needs to maintain one of its traditional roles of policing policies and keeping managers’ noses clean. On the other hand, HR is required to improve employee performance, engagement and be Technology Champions looking for new tools that can transform the workforce, help them to be more productive and ensure the ‘stars’ stay at your company. 
 
For sensible tips on Social Media Policy, read The Future of Human Resources and Social Media, from Sharlyn Lauby, aka HR Bartender, via Mashable.
 
For the HR police…
If you are worried about your employees flippantly using Facebook all day, then imagine what the introduction of the telephone must have done to “Staffing Managers” or whatever our HR predecessors were called !  Humorous and thought provoking cartoon here from Competitive Futures,The Telephone – a disruptive technology.
 
For the social media revolutionaries…
Those that get a little carried away, with “vive de revolution” approach when it comes to Social Media will find this article interesting “Small Change – Why the revolution will not be tweeted", by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker.
 

3. HR Costs Rebounding?   from Michael O'Brien in HRE Online  

Do you know your HR Cost per Employee?
 
A new report, from PricewaterhouseCoopers/Saratoga “2010-2011 US Human Capital Effectiveness Report”, finds that this key HR statistic is returning to pre-recession levels.  The report finds that HR costs-per-employee rose in 2009, to $1,569, up from $1,462 per-employee in 2008 and close to the pre-recession average of $1,610 in 2007.
 
In our view, HR cost per employee is a very useful metric – much more useful than the traditional “HR:Employee Ratio”. It takes into account the amount of outsourcing, relative cost of the HR function and is easier to make comparisons.

 

 

4.  Performance management: looking in the wrong place from Glyn Lumley, aka HR Maverick 

Do you currently run an annual performance management process where line Managers sit down with their team members and discuss their performance, sometimes with a link to remuneration and improving contribution? The Systems Thinkers, such as Glyn Lumley, say that this process is not only a complete waste of time, but is also destructive to morale.
 
According to Glyn, Improvements to organisational performance does not happen one employee at a time. The problems are in organisational systems and processes – it’s here that we will find the real opportunities for improvement.
 
An article referring to System Thinking, is not complete without a quote from Dr. W Edwards Deming. “The supposition is prevalent … that there would be no problem in production or in service if only our workers would do their jobs in the way they were taught. Pleasant dreams. The workers are handicapped by the system, and the system belongs to management.”  
 
If you don’t get improvement in performance, then why bother? Wouldn’t it be better to invest time and cash in initiatives that deliver better results?
 

5. Service Levels for HR Services Delivery – An Evolution, from Jim Koenig – Equaterra

So you have an SLA in place, however your managers say that “the service levels are all green but we are still frustrated”.   Jim Koenig from Equaterra show the evolution of service levels along the continuum from tactical to measuring both tactical and strategic health.
 
On too many occasions we see SLAs as a bureaucratic step, rather than as a useful way to manage service relationships.
 

6. A systems thinking guide to outsourcing for the sceptical public sector leader, from the Systems Thinking Review

If you are a public sector leader (Chief Executive, politician, manager), your budget has been obliterated and you know you have to save money. Some of your peers are jumping headfirst into outsourcing and you are considering doing exactly the same. You hesitate. Who hasn’t heard of the outsourcing horror stories? This is a good article with some useful questions if you are thinking of outsourcing, with free PDF attachment.
 

7. Is HR too big to innovate?, from J.Keith Dunbar, from DNA of Human Capital blog

Keith Dunbar asks a good question: “is HR too big to innovate?”
The recent 2010 IBM Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) Study identified three key areas requiring attention.
 
1. Cultivating creative leaders
2. Mobilizing for speed and flexibility
3. Capitalizing on collective intelligence
 
All three of these focus areas will rely heavily on the ability of HR to innovate itself at a pace that keeps up with the global changes taking place.
 
A key question for HR is; are we too big to innovate?
 

8. Mobile Apps are Ringing up HRO, Linda Merritt from HRO Insights Blog

What are the killer apps for mobile devices in HR Services?
 
From mobile workers submitting an expense claim, commuters with access to their teams holiday schedule, approving a training request while waiting for the bus, Gary Bragar from Nelson Hall, outlines how Mobile Apps will stimulate the HRO Market.
 
For buyers using SaaS HRO platforms, providers will be developing mobile apps that meet the needs of multiple clients, as well as rolling out applications as they become available by the provider of the underlying HR system (usually Oracle or SAP.)
 

9. What Next for HR, Connecting HR at HRO Europe, from HR Transformer Blog

I enjoyed speaking on the expert panel at the HRO Summit Europe Conference in Amsterdam with Peter Cappelli, Jon Ingham, Nigel Perks, Jane Owen Jones. Jon and myself carried on the conversations from the Plenary Expert Panel and opened up online with a #HRChat – you can read the transcript here…..watch out for other HR Chats, at Connecting HR site.
 

For those at the conference or interested, here are the views of Jon Ingham and Gary Bragar as they give their highlights of the conference themes in HR Transformation and HR Outsourcing.

 

10.  Shared HR services the way forward for local authorities

Here are three different articles on the use of HR Shared Services in UK public sector.
Shared HR services the way forward for local authorities. Two East Midlands authorities in the UK, are to team up the HR services in an effort to cut costs and improve efficiencies. Leicestershire County Council and Nottingham City Council have signed a partnership deal to share HR and other administrative functions in a bid to save more than £2 million per year.
 
HR ‘must lead from front’ on MoD cuts. HR staff numbers in the Ministry of Defence will be reduced by half over the next two-and-a-half years but, at the same time, the austerity measures facing the public sector present the profession with a “phenomenal opportunity”, according to Jonathan Evans, director, civilian personnel.
 
Gus O’Donnell [head of the civil service] described the challenge we face as the leadership challenge of a generation. “I think it is not just a generation but a number of generations,” he said. “It is important that HR leads from the front. HR is uniquely placed to make a difference and we have got to make that difference now.”
There are 85,000 civilians in the MoD but, as announced in last month’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, over the next three to four years this will be reduced by 25,000 – nearly 30 per cent.
 

Shared services ‘not a panacea’ for cost-savings. “Shared services have been heralded as a panacea to solve the [public sector spending] problem,” continued Shoesmith. “It is one option but there are many others. £81 billion is a lot of money to lose out of public services over the next four years, but the cuts can be delivered in a variety of different ways.”

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 29th, 2011 at 9:54 am and is filed under Change Management, HCM, HR Benchmarks, HR Blogs, HR Business Partner, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Project Management, HR Shared Services, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Tools, HR Transformation, HR in the UK Public Sector, Leadership, Social Media, Talent Management, Top 10 HR Transformation Articles, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

What Next for HR? Connecting HR at HRO Europe

From Rangoon to London to the canals of Amsterdam, the smell of transformational change is in the air.
 
I will be at the HR Outsourcing Europe Summit (Twitter hashtag #HROEurope or follow @HROEurope ) in Amsterdam this week discussing topics in HR Transformation and HR Outsourcing.
 
I will also be joining a distinguished Plenary Panel discussing, “What next for HR ?  How HR leaders should be confronting the coming decade.” This will be hosted by Dirk Olin, Editor of HRO Today and HRO Europe
 
The panellists will include :-

- Peter Cappelli, Director of the Centre for Human Resources, The Wharton School

- Nigel Perks, Chief Human Resources Officer, BT Global Services

- Jane Owen Jones, Founder, Lloyds Masters

- Andrew Spence, Founder, Glass Bead Consulting

- Jon Ingham, Executive Consultant, Strategic HCM

 
One of themes of the discussion will probably be the impact of Social Media on HR. Rather than talk about how Social Media will change our workplaces, here is an opportunity to join in. I will be chairing (@AndySpence on Twitter) the 3rd Connecting HR Chat, #cHRChat, with Jon Ingham, @JonIngham, at the conference.
 
Connecting HR is an online community “getting more HR people involved in social media since 2010". 
 
Here are the details, we look forward to continuing the discussion!
Date – Wednesday 17th November
Time – 4pm GMT, 5pm CET, 11am EST
Twitter HashTag – #cHRChat and for those at the conference #HROEurope
What to do – just join in and remember to use the hashtag #CHRChat with every Tweet!
Still not sure?
Here’s a couple of articles to get you go going :- Still a HR Twitter Virgin ? or still need some inspiration?  HR Transformers on Twitter
 
Here are some questions to get the #cHRChat started :-
1.       What are the current drivers for HR Transformation?
2.       What role does outsourcing play in HR Transformation?
3.       Will social media transform HR?
4.       Also which will be more influential on transforming HR in the next 5 years (1) Social Media (2) Outsourcing (3) Oracle Fusion ?
 
Looking forward to some great transformational discussions on Wednesday!
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 11:07 am and is filed under HR Blogs, HR News, HR Outsourcing, HR Shared Services, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Transformation, Social Media, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Top 10 HR Transformation Articles in October

Hopefully everyone survived Halloween, this month we see who is giving a ‘HR trick’ or a ‘HR treat’. The clocks may have gone back here, but this month we have some forward thinking articles on topics such as;  the evolution of HR systems, how L&D and HR should be more intimate, some ‘fear and loathing’ on LinkedIn, “100 is the answer, now what is the question?” with more on HR ratios and benchmarks.
 
Finally some tips from a ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ on how to manage consultants effectively and we’ve offered our own insiders tips.

 
Here are 10 of the best HR Transformation articles from October.  Thanks to everyone who has sent their Top 10 ideas, this is much appreciated -  @AndySpence on Twitter.
 

1.  The end of “here’s one I prepared earlier” – from the HR Maverick Blog, aka Glyn Lumley

“We (HR) no longer create value by just serving employees, but by making sure that services we offer inside the company align to expectations outside the company”  argues Dave Ulrich – Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan.
 
Our HR Maverick develops this, and says “HR needs to work alongside those who understand what drives customer behaviour” and highlights the importance of ‘feedback loops’ from the customer – a key source of information about external business conditions.  Glyn continues to use ideas from Systems Thinking to “help us develop HR practices able to respond to the world outside.” A great post.
 
 

2. The evolution of HR Systems – from Josh Bersin

Josh Bersin highlights his findings about HR Technology from the recent HR Tech conferences. "Integrated Talent Management" is officially the new product category and in this article Josh outlines trends in the emerging Next Generation HRMS Market. The Bottom line according to him is “industry consolidation, continuous innovation, and SaaS together are continuing to change the market for core HR and talent systems.”
 

3. If I could change one thing about HR – from Nick Shackleton-Jones, BBC's manager of online and informal learning – Guest Post on XpertHR

If I could change one thing about HR.…Nick Shackleton Jones’ wish list includes a more coherent relationship between HR and Learning & Development (L&D).
 
Nick pinpoints specific areas which would benefit from a more joined-up approach including on-boarding, performance development and mandatory training.   “Successful organisations will depend to a much greater degree on their ability to share what their employees already know.”
 
We completely agree, L&D interventions need to be completely aligned with the HR Strategy and overall organisation goals.   The strategy needs to answer current questions such as:
·         What does our workforce need to deliver?
·         What skills do we need, where are the gaps?
·         How do we embed this into our organisation?
·         How do we link skills with performance and the recruitment of new talent?
 

To answer this requires the full suite of tools from both HR & L&D.   In this context, any silos between HR and L&D does not make sense.

 

4.  The HR Ratio Or "How Many Employees Does It Take to Screw Up an HR Department?" – Mike Haberman, HR Observations

This does sound like the beginning of a dodgy joke involving a ‘light-bulb’, but Mike makes a serious point. The answer of course is “it depends”. Mike outlines the factors that influence the answer.
 
In our view, when assessing a HR function against its organisational goals, it is crucial to ask the right questions.   Simply asking “what is our HR Ratio?” and how does it compare to others will not help achieve organisational goals.
Too often organisations start with the answer
 “100 employees to 1 HR FTE”
rather than obsess about asking the right questions.

 

5. Is Benchmarking Destructive? – in Consulting Magazine, reporting on a Booz & Company article

In the same vein as the previous post, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi from Booz and Company think that benchmarking encourages organisations to focus on what their competitors are doing, rather than their own capabilities.
 

We couldn’t agree more with this view as too often we find organisations worrying about external benchmarks when it is not clear why their HR Ratio is much bigger in a particular region or business.  

For more on UK Government HR Benchmarks, see our post -  "HR Benchmarks – A Government Health Warning"

6. What we teach, How we learn – A Guide for Workplace Learning and Engagement – From Benjamin McCall and others at RestartHR

This free PDF download from Benjamin McCall and various HR superstars is all about ‘learning’ and comes highly recommended. Some great questions and learning points for those involved in training and development as their day job, or those that rely on L&D outcomes.
 

7. Fear and Loathing on LinkedIn – from Steve Boese on Fistful of Talent

Steve Boese highlights a new tool on LinkedIn, called the “LinkedIn Career Explorer” to help users visualise potential career paths for college students.
 
LinkedIn has already been a revelation in terms of networking, but eventually its real power might be enabling a more efficient matching process between talent demand and supply. If most of your current and future talent pool is publically available in one place, then the only people with “Fear and loathing” will be the traditional recruiters.
 
We also like this article from Sharyln Lauby aka the HR Bartender, on Mashable.

 

8. What future for the NHS staff record – from Vince Lammas at Attractor Consulting

Vince Lammas poses a good question about the future of the UK NHS HR System called Employee Staff Record (ESR).   This is possibly the largest HR and Payroll system in the Word serving 1.3 million employees (however, if any of our HR Transformer Blog readers happens to work for the Chinese Army, Wal Mart or Indian Railways, let us know if you have a system to compare to the NHS)
 
The ESR system was implemented over the best part of a decade and is now in place in all NHS Trusts in England and Wales.  The original strategy had ambitious plans to use a common platform to deliver shared services, however this was not fully realised and we now have a situation where we have about 600 Trusts all delivering HR processes in 600 slightly different ways, each with their own Payroll, L&D & Workforce Planning managers and teams.
 
On top of a government spending freeze (real time cut) there will be pressure to transform the NHS workforce to do more with less, and HR needs to be well positioned to delivery this. A well planned programme to provide more effective HR services using HR Service hubs could be helpful.  So there is a burning platform for change, but do we have the political will to allocate more resources to front-line service and provide better value for the taxpayer?
 

9. Central Government is rubbish at managing Management Consultants – Flip Chart Fairy Tales

According to Rick, public sector organisations, especially central government bodies, are often hopeless at defining what they want consultants to do. Rick has used his experience working as a consultant to share some lessons learnt with working with public sector buyers. 
 
We have worked on both sides of the fence, and here are three tips for managing consultants :-
1.       Only engage when you know exactly what you want and how it fits with your overall strategy
2.       Always look for opportunities to train and develop your staff with new skills
3.       Define your outcomes from the start, and consider packaging up deliverables into phases so you can agree scope ‘step-by-step’
 

10.  Recapping the Not-so-Dog-Days of HRO’s 2010 Summer – from HRO Insights

Lynda Merritt from analysts Nelson Hall offers a summary of the key deals in the HR Outsourcing market in 2010 so far this year. Three big acquisitions have recently closed – ACS and ExcellerateHRO, ADP and Workscape, and Aon and Hewitt.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 10:45 am and is filed under HR Benchmarks, HR Blogs, HR Business Partner, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Tools, HR Transformation, HR in the UK Public Sector, Social Media, Talent Management, Top 10 HR Transformation Articles, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Top 10 HR Transformation Articles in September

As October swings into action with Europe pitched against the US in Golf’s Ryder Cup, read the latest and greatest array of articles – find out who we think has scored a birdie, eagle, albatross or even a bogey!
 
Dan Pink illustrates his arguments for ‘what motivates us’ by using an innovative animation.  Two academics give very different and extreme views about the ‘one thing that they would change in HR’. We also have some more top tips for designing HR organisations from the ‘20 second rule’ to 13 lessons learned from HR Shared Services implementations, all useful stuff. And finally if you do find yourself on the road a lot with work or in unusual environment we have 37 productivity tips for working anywhere. 
 
Don’t forget we are delivering a HR Transformation MasterClass in Budapest on November 9/10 so if you are interested then please do get in touch – we are looking forward to a great conference with some tasty goulash washed down with a glass of Bulls Blood!
 
Here are 10 of the best HR Transformation articles from September.  Thanks to everyone who has sent their Top 10 ideas, this is much appreciated -  @AndySpence on Twitter.
 

1.  The surprising truth about what motivates us – Daniel Pink presentation for the RSA

Do the structures, policies and processes in your organisation produce motivated people? 
 
This is a lively presentation by Dan Pink author of the book,  Drive – The Suprising Truth about What Motivates Us. Pink challenges some workplace and academic assumptions about human behaviour in the workplace, for example “if you reward something do you get more of something you want?”
 
The topics themselves are intrinsically interesting, especially for anyone involved in leading or designing organisations, or are grappling with the issues of reward and motivation.
 
One of the features of this presentation commissioned by the RSA is its innovative use of animation. We highly recommend you view this 10 minutes clip which can be found on You Tube.
 

A refreshing and inspiring bit of communication is summed up as  “Our motivations are unbelievably interesting” – we couldn’t agree more.

 

2. If I could change one thing about HR – Guest posts on XpertHR from "Grumpy Lecturer" and Dr Anne Marie McEwan

Not another thing to change about HR I hear you call!
 
This series been one of the most interesting series in the online HR space…here we have two rather contrasting academic views.
 
 
“There is nothing wrong with the current version of Human Resources Management (HRM) – it has achieved mass levels of false consciousness about employment.”
 
In this view, many in HR have lost sight of the fact that the employer controls the employment relationship and that HR is merely complicit in social-engineering and a ‘managerial sleight of hand’.
 
From an anonymous academic to the views of Dr Anne Marie McEwan – who would completely abolish HR.
 
Dr McEwan reminds us that serendipity works – and cites some inspiration from Brian Eno and Stafford Beer. Our organisations structures do not seem to support serendipity. If you think of the large silos between IT, HR and Finance – you can relate to this point.   Read more about the suggestions to design organisations to support serendipity and bring together experts in HR, IT and FM.
 

Well done to Michael Carty et al at XpertHR for this stimulating series of articles.  

3. 13 Lessons from HR Shared Services Implementations  – from Human Resources IQ

Implementing HR Shared Services is hard work. However this model does work and for many organisations is a key enabler to HR Transformation. 
 
Here are 13 lessons learned from successful implementations that will help steer you down the right path when establishing your own HR shared services.
 
We have seen all of these, so well worth reading along with some excellent suggestions.

 

4.  37 productivity tip for working from anywhere – from Mashable

Some useful productivity tips here for Nomadic types. In the last 3 years I have worked in some diverse places in addition to the usual planes, trains and automobiles….an 18th Century Psychiatric Hospital, comfy amongst the curtains and soft furnishings of a large retailers HQ, under trains and trams in an enormous train repair depots and have found a favourite quiet spot to work in the inspirational British Library in London (keep it quiet though).  So for all those who send emails from airports, trains and coffee shops typing into the palm of your hand or with a laptop perched on your lap – this one’s for you!

 

5. The 20 second rule - from Charlie Judy at HRFishbowl Blog

A useful anecdote from Charlie Judy, and a good tip for anyone designing for any HR Operating Model Design.
 
“Just focus on making every transaction as crisp and clean as possible. Recognize the person on the receiving end of your services has a finite number of seconds in their lifetime. Stop screwing around with those seconds and take only what you really need.”
 
Don’t forget the customer – who will ultimately make or break your HR operating model design.

 

6. Management Methods, Models and Theories – from Value Based Management

This web-site is a useful resource for an outline of management theories, models and methods. If you would like to refresh your knowledge, looking for inspiration or simply want to keep up with the newly qualified MBAs – you know where to go.
 

7. IT and HR: should they merge? – from Dan Pontefract at TrainingWreck blog

A thought provoking article from Dan Pontefract on opportunities for HR and IT to work more closely together and sit under the same structures. 
 
One of the goals of HR Transformation is to provide the workforce with the best tools to manage and this requires specialists who understand both workforce demands and HR technology. Having nimble, specialist teams and applying them to business problems works for some organisations. Why not throw in Finance and Facilities Management as well and develop responsive teams…see Dr McEwan’s article above.

 

8. Does your HR function complicate things? – from Ron Ashkenas at Harvard Business Review

Ron Ashkenas gives a couple of examples of overly complex HR processes.

It was probably a lot worse when there were multiple organisations all managing complicated processes. HR Transformation does deliver benefits and cost savings by standardising and simplifying processes – see our recent article on HR Transformation delivers solid savings of 25% according to survey. This article comes up with some useful advice for those transforming their HR functions.

 

 

 

9. Naomi's Questions For Oracle OpenWorld 2010 – from Naomi Bloom at In Full Bloom

For those who didn’t get to Oracle Open World in sunny San Francisco last week, our analysts online have kept us up to date.
 
Just in case Oracle are feeling too comfortable, Naomi Bloom poses some challenging questions, actually the first 21 look hard enough but wait till you get to the ‘toughies’ which start after question 22. We hope these were answered by Oracle at Open World, if not then Naomi will keep us informed.
 

10.  Hey, aren’t I the customer here? – from 1.00 FTE

We have sat through quite a few vendor presentations recently with clients and on the whole, they were better for the fact that we told the vendor exactly what was required. 
 
No more than 5 minutes on your corporate history please and we would like to meet the consultants who will actually be on the project (the smooth tongued Account Executive is still invited, but we really want to meet the earnest project manager who we will be working with).

This cartoon rang a bell – tell the vendors what you want to hear in the presentation…

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 9:19 am and is filed under Change Management, HR Blogs, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Shared Services, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Tools, HR Transformation, Top 10 HR Transformation Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

HR Transformation Delivers Solid Savings Of 25% According To Survey

According to the 2009 Global HR Transformation Report (conducted by HROA in association with ADP), HR Transformation generates cost savings of 25% over a period of around 3 years. This is the 6th annual survey and you can download the fascinating 2009 report here.
 
Two main factors are driving HR Transformation programmes in various sectors:
 

 - Every department is required to justify its existence with an eye to costs. Reducing those ongoing costs and managing them is vital for both the short and the long term.

 - The right people are needed to transform organisations, enabling managers to perform more effectively. Allocating more resources to strategic HR is the key to making this happen.

 
At its best, HR Transformation re-aligns HR resources so that managers can manage their business and people more effectively.
 
Our observations on the 2009 survey are as follows:
 

- 76% of recipients in the survey achieved or exceeded their savings targets. 35% delivered cost savings of 6-15%. At Glass Bead Consulting we have seen a wide range of outcomes, but savings of 20-30% are certainly achievable with a well managed programme.

- Cost reduction is the main reason why organisations transform HR. Other main reasons include freeing up internal HR staff to focus on strategic issues.

- Having the right expectations in the planning stage develops credibility. Installing new HR systems and simplifying processes requires much effort, but the behaviours of line managers also require time to change. However the survey has found that companies are getting progressively better at estimating the amount of time required to make the necessary changes. They are also becoming better at anticipating the outcomes that will result from these changes.

- HR Outsourcing has increased from 7% in 2008 to 12% in 2009. However with that said, it is still the least popular strategy used at present. Single process outsourcing is by far the most popular process. 65% of organisations still use Request for Information (RFI) when selecting an HRO partner.  A good HR Outsourcing Advisor should know the HRO vendors, their offerings and of course their strengths and weaknesses.  Although the HR vendor market is complex and rapidly changing, (see our article HR Outsourcing – The Challenge of Picking Winners) we can usually short-list straight away, saving the time and expense of issuing an RFI.

- Skills remain the biggest hurdle to achieving a successful HR Transformation Programme. This is consistent with last year’s survey results. You can read more on our HR Transformer Blog article HR Survey Highlights Skills Gaps in HR.

 
The HR Director of a global bank recently told us that finding HR professionals with the right skills was very difficult. The skills in demand included commercial prowess, a project management mindset and the ability to think about delivering HR services on a consultancy basis.
 
A different skill set is required yet again in order to deliver an HR Transformation programme. Getting the right mix between internal team members and external consultants can be a real challenge.
 
The skills required for transformation include:

- HR technical architects

- Project/Programme management

- Process analysis, design and implementation

- Managing the business case for change

 
The message is clear – you should always plan skills transfer into your budget and programme. This will ensure new skills are utilised in after the dust has settled on the new HR Service Centre or HRO contract.  We feel many people in HR departments would agree with this.
 
We would be interested to know your thoughts and comments. Does the 2009 Global HR Transformation Report reflect your own experiences of HR Transformation, or have you had different experiences?

 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 18th, 2010 at 4:02 pm and is filed under HR Benchmarks, HR Business Partner, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Shared Services, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Transformation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Top 10 HR Transformation Articles in August

“There are more questions than answers” as the old song goes, and in some philosophical circles you can’t get the debate going until you have agreed on the question you are attempting to answer.  In August, we ponder some powerful questions asked by some of the most perceptive HR analysts, consultants, gurus and futurists. 
 

         If you could change one thing about HR, what would it be?

         What will managing tomorrow’s people will be like in 2020?

         With large change programmes, should we “transform” or “tweak”?

         Is SaaS in HCM all that it is cracked up to be?

         Finally, if management consultants are so bad, why are they still around?

 
Here are 10 of the best HR Transformation articles from August.  Thanks to everyone who has sent their Top 10 ideas, this is much appreciated -  @AndySpence on Twitter.
 

1.  Managing Tomorrow’s People. The future of Work to 2020 – from PwC

This article delves into the drivers that will shape our future working lives. With refreshing insight, it develops three possible Worlds as a context to understanding future organisations. Find out whether the future really is Orange, Blue or Green. 
A great article which highlights some of the challenges of people management in the future, and some opportunities for HR.
 

2.  Debunking Some HCM SaaS Myths – from Jim Holincheck @ Gartner

In this article, Jim Holincheck, managing VP at Gartner Research, debunks some prevalent HCM SaaS myths.   Propositions such as  “SaaS is only for less complex problems”, and interestingly, “Saas is less expensive” are analysed with Jim’s usual clarity.
His perspective on SaaS in HCM is not negative, “I actually do believe that it is the future in HCM solutions. However, it is a not a panacea.”
 

For those interested in this subject, check out “HRO SaaS Uptake – What, How Much and Where?” making the link to HR Outsourcing, from Gary Bragar at HRO insights.

3. If I could change one thing about HR – Guest post from Glyn Lumley on XpertHR

What would you change about HR? This is a great ‘guest post’ on XpertHR from Glyn Lumley, otherwise known as the writer of the HR Maverick Blog. There have been lots of interesting responses, but this was our favourite so far. Find out “Why” we think this was a thought provoking article. 

Well done to the XpertHR team for posing this great question and opening it up to Guest Bloggers Contact Michael Carty if you would like to contribute your response.

 

4.  Turn Your HR Audit into a Strategic Audit – from Cathy Missildine-Martin at Profitability through Human Capital blog

Cathy poses 6 questions that are fruitful to ask at any time, but particularly before embarking on a HR Transformation programme.

 

5.  The Future of HR - Mark Stelzner at Inflexion Advisors

According to Mark, HR has 3 paths to choose from : “do nothing”, “break it apart” or “radically transform”.   Read the 20 page slide deck and decide which option makes most sense for your organisation.

6. Your Workplace in 2020: Gartner's Predictions – from the New York Times

How will people work 10 years from now? Gartner outlines 10 major changes that will occur during the next 10 years.
"People will swarm more often and work solo less.”  Find out if swarming is as unpleasant as it sounds.
 

7. Think Big, Act Smart Reducing Uncertainty in Transformational Change – from Booz & Co


Do you “transform” or deliver change through continuous improvement initiatives? This 12 page pdf from Booz & Co does not offer anything particularly new, but this subject is definitely worth thinking about before embarking on critical (and expensive) change programmes.
 
Many thanks to Dave Millner at Kenexa,  @Kenexa_HR_Inst on Twitter, who passed on this article, Dave consistently provides the best HR Transformation, HCM and leadership articles through his tweets.
 
If this article gave you a headache, we can rely on Dilbert to provide some light relief from Transformation!

 

8. In The Know v1.29 Transformation in HR – from John Sumser from Two color Hat

Three links to HR Transformation videos here from John Sumser, with perspectives from Bayer, Jack Welch and Mercer’s Karen Piercy.
 
Also, check out our HR Transformation Knowledge Bank which includes some more videos.
 

9. Importance versus Effectiveness Gap…Closing…Slowly – from Keith Dunbar – The DNA of Human Capital

Assessing the difference in perception between “importance vs effectiveness” for areas in HR is an excellent tool in our experience. Keith Dunbar used this to great effect at a recent conference. The No.1 human capital challenge was “Defining skills, knowledge and capabilities to execute business strategy.” My concerns continue that there is such a wide gap between importance and effectiveness – find out Keith’s views on how to bridge the gap.

10.  If management consultants are so bad, why are they still around?  – from Rick at Flip Chart Fairy Tales

Finally, a question we ask ourselves every morning on our way to work!  Who better to address it than Rick from Flip Chart Fairy Tales. 

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Change Management, HCM, HR Blogs, HR Business Partner, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Shared Services, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Tools, HR Transformation, Leadership, Top 10 HR Transformation Articles, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Top 10 HR Transformation Articles in July

Here is our pick of the HR Transformation articles in July, many thanks to all the writers, analysts and bloggers included.
 
The World Cup is over and congratulations to our Spanish friends!  In the duller moments of the World Cup, some of us started to extrapolate wildly from sport to matters of leadership, talent and the nations’ emotions. AON bought Hewitt, a significant move in the rapidly developing HR Outsourcing Monopoly Board  as the industry continues its consolidation. In HR Technology, find out who is the 800lb Gorilla in the corner and when will it start swinging it’s weight around? The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a key relationship for HR, and Charlie Judy outlines useful tips for maintaining and nurturing this relationship. And making a tenuous link from Finance to Math(s), the analyst, Thomas Otter, provides a career tip and calls for more maths skills in HR. And finally, we always like to look into our HR crystal ball, and Graeme Codrington outlines 9 workforce trends for the coming decade.
 
Thanks to everyone who has sent their Top 10 ideas, this is much appreciated -  @AndySpence on Twitter.
 

1.  HRO’s Summer Gets Hotter – Aon to Acquire Hewitt -  from Linda Merritt, Nelson Hall

There has been further movement in the HR Outsourcing and HR Consulting industries with AON buying Hewitt.  The industry analysts have been busy, but we don’t believe this is ”a sad, bad day for HR Outsourcing?”, as Horses for Sources report. Linda Merritt at Nelson Hall reports this deal is about growth, at Glass Bead Consulting we also see this market growing in the coming years.

 
The global HRO market now has five major global HRO providers – IBM, Northgate Arinso, Xerox/ACS, ADP and Accenture.    We also expect to see some of the Indian based providers up there in the next couple of years (HCL, Wipro, TCS, Infosys and Caliber Point)

So all is not lost, this market is developing and this should ultimately be good news for buyers – watch this space as the HRO Monopoly game continues….

2.  The Care and Feeding of Your CFO – from Charlie Judy, at HR Fishbowl

According to Charlie, if there’s one position in the organisation that most HR leaders have trouble connecting with, it’s the Chief Finance Officer (CFO).

Charlie outlines some useful suggestions for maintaining a good relationship with the Finance community. One of our favourites is to create an “HR Dashboard” that you share with the CFO and their team monthly. Include turnover, headcount, FTEs, cost of benefits, payroll, hiring statistics.

 

3.  Reading Oracle's tea leaves from Bill Kutik, HR Executive Online

In HR Technology,

“The 800-lb. gorilla of HR technology sits where it wants to, talks when it wants to and, certainly, only to whom it wants to. “

Find out more about Oracle’s Fusion plans from the man in the know, Bill Kutik. Bill also gathers the opinions of other leading industry analysts.

 

4.  Nine key workforce trends for the next decade – from Graeme Codrington, Tomorrows Today Blog

Working out future workforce trends is important in designing HR Operating Models and HR Strategies. Graeme Codrington outlines some key changes including more older workers, more women in the workplace, unprecedented youth unemployment and generational conflict.

5.  Talent Management systems – Market update – from Josh Bersin

This is a useful overview of developments in the Talent Management Systems from Josh Bersin. This includes ADP’s acquisition of Workscape. Taleo introduces its Talent Intelligence Strategy and Saba introduces Saba Live.

6.   Bring on the math(s) and stats – from Thomas Otter, Gartner

Some Math(s) love in HR from Thomas Otter and Evil HR Lady.
 
“One of my suggestions to HR is to hire a good numbers person, someone with strong undergraduate or preferably graduate statistics.”
 

We couldn’t agree more, HR needs more number crunchers and not just to keep in with the CFO. HR Analytics is essential as our businesses, workforce and economies change.

 

7. When is a strategy not a strategy? – from Jocelyn R. Davis, Edwin H. Boswell and Henry M. Frechetter, Jr. at TLNT.com

Even as the business environment has become increasingly complex, many strategies have become increasingly simplistic. Some have become so abbreviated that they’re little more than catchy phrases.
This is an interesting article, which poses the questions, is it time to review the HR Strategy?
By the way, check out TLNT.com – the business of HR – a useful source of HR related articles.
 

8. Beginners guide to using social media for HR – Guest post from Natasha Stone on Steve Boese's excellent HR Technology Blog

Some useful and relevant advice from Natasha from Silicon Beach Training which covers Recruitment, Communications &  Social media policy. 
 
On the subject of Social Media, see our article “Are you a HR Twitter Virgin?”, and for those who are not, (ahem) see also our “HR Transformers on Twitter”.
 

9. World Cup Leadership Lessons – Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Harvard Business Review

As well as Leadership Lessons, the World Cup also stimulated some thinking about slightly less important matters, such as :-
 
·         Are there any Talent Management Insights from Football? – from the HR Transformer Blog
·         Why Sport is crucial for managing the nations’ emotions  - with Professor Cary Cooper quoting the great Bill Shankly.
 
If you think we were getting carried away making some wild extrapolations from kicking a ball around a pitch, then Laurie Ruettiman, from Punk Rock HR, brings us back down to earth,
 
“I don’t mean to break the hearts of HR and career bloggers out there, but the World Cup has nothing to do with work.”
 

So back to work it is, unless that is, you do actually work in Football.

10.  Government Cuts: A view from the inside – from Karen Wise's HR Blog

Karen writes about HR in the NHS, and gives some interesting perspectives from the inside. The UK Government is planning to make up to 40% cuts to budgets. Karen outlines some of the challenges including demographics of the workforce and attitudes of the senior team.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 8:48 pm and is filed under HR Blogs, HR Careers, HR News, HR Operating Models, HR Outsourcing, HR Strategy, HR Technology, HR Tools, HR Transformation, HR in the UK Public Sector, Leadership, Talent Management, Top 10 HR Transformation Articles, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

Why England Lose – Talent Management Insights from Football

 

For England fans the World Cup is sadly over, our ears have recovered from the din of Vuvuzelas, and once again the England team has fallen from its precipice of unrealistic expectations.
 
The question of the day is “Why do England lose?”
 
To answer this, rather than ask the usual football pundits, we look to our ‘dismal’ friends the economists. Usually found researching and thinking about stagflation, economic stimulus and other boring stuff, when they turn their inquisitive minds to football, we discovered some interesting insights. From their findings we have identified some broader talent management lessons.
 
“Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained” is a book by Simon Kuper who writes a weekly sports column in the Financial Times and Stefan Szymanski, a Professor of Economics and MBA Dean at Cass Business School in London. The book draws on geography, economics, statistics and psychology. 

Why England Lose


The answer to the question of why England lose at football, is of course – they don’t. The authors did some number crunching on historical data of football games and using regression analysis determined how much of a given outcome (winning football games) can be related to a other factors (wealth, population size, footballing experience, home advantage).  The authors suggest that England are in fact over-performing.
 
The authors came up with some interesting findings about football, which we think poses some interesting lessons for management and in particular talent management. Sport played at the highest level really hones management techniques as every win and loss is played out in public. Getting the most out of your people is crucial, with small differences in individual performance making or breaking a season (and of course a towns’ collective heart).
 
The authors also looked to case studies of teams that have had great success, they looked for structural reasons rather than individual greatness or prowess.
 
Some lessons come from Olympique Lyon, who have progressed from a relatively obscure provincial club to rule French football, winners of Ligue 1 from 2001/2 until 2007/8.   In England in 1979/1980, this occured with Nottingham Forest  (before then even less known in football terms than Lyon) who won consecutive European Cups with the footballing management duo Bryan Clough and Peter Taylor.  More recently there are lessons from another modern French thinker of football, Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal Manager.

 
The authors highlighted 12 main secrets of the football transfer market, and from these we have pulled out 8 broader talent management lessons for you :-

 

1 – A new manager wastes money. Typically the new manager wants to make their mark by buying and selling players. This is usually disruptive to the team, with the manager unlikely to stay around long enough for this tactic to pay dividends. Would you let your new Executive ‘hire and fire’ and bring in their own team in the first few weeks? Or get them to utilise the existing resources, understand their strengths and weaknesses before filling capability gaps to match your strategy?

2 – Stars of recent World Cups are overvalued. You can pick the player who dazzles for their country in the big tournament, playing for their national pride, but will they deliver on a cold, wet evening in Blackburn in November?  A new recruit is “only as good as their last project” this cliché is simply not true. Don’t be dazzled by the last project – look for a consistent pattern of performance.

3 – Centre-Forwards are overvalued – goalkeepers are undervalued. Do you have to pay more for some roles because you are told you have to pay more for that particular ‘in demand’ new skill? Isn’t it more important to get the best people who delivery the core elements and pay them appropriately? Don’t be blinded by the flashy or those who ‘talk a good game’ – you might find it’s the goalkeeper who really keeps the company moving forward (and stops those painful own goals!)

4 – Use the wisdom of crowds. When Olympique Lyon think about signing a player, a broad group debate the transfer.  In England it’s usually the manager. The more collaborative system has proved to be successful and tends to avoid the typical mistakes in the transfer market. How can you benefit from the wisdom of crowds in recruitment, and implement a process where different views are taken into account?

5 – Gentleman prefer blondes. At least one big British football club noticed that their scouts recommended more blonde players – apparently in a field of 22 similar looking players, the blondes tend to stand out.  The club in question began to take this distortion into account when judging scouting reports. Sport is all about improving performance – there is no point in excluding a section of the population if they give your team advantages.  An example quoted by the authors is a decline in racism against black footballers since the 1970s. So you may have a diversity policy and track demographic data religiously – but are you missing out on the breadth of talent that can help your organisation really shine? Identify and abandon your organisation ‘sight-based prejudices’ and look for systematic failures – rather than individual mistakes.  

6 – Replace your best players even before you sell them. Do you wait for your trusty Finance Director to decide that it’s now time to spend more time in the garden or with the grand children? Have a succession management plan in place, so when the big day comes (and retirement is the nicest option here), you have someone who can fill the boots of the star players.

7 – Buy players with personal problems, and then help them deal with their problems. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were great football thinkers, they had their vices and this possibly gave them particular empathy with troubled players.  Once they identified a ‘more challenging’ player’s issue, they helped that player manage it.  Their motivation might have been altruistic, but the outcome was they got much better value out of the transfer market and better results. In football the attitude has been “we pay you a lot of money now get on with it” – as if mental illness, addictions, or homesickness should not exist above a certain level of income. The modern attitude of Arsene Wenger also helped Tony Adams through his own recover from alcoholism, see Adam's charity, Sporting Chance. We are not suggesting you make “personal problems” one of your recruitment selection criteria, but this is a real issue in maintaining a healthy workplace. According to the 2001 World Health Organisation, one person in four will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in their life. There is an ethical and strong business case for helping employees who are having a hard time. See the CIPD Factsheet – Mental Health at Work.

8 – Help your players relocate. Why spend £24 million on a new member of staff and then let them fend for themselves in a Hotel in a new country. Clough and Taylor found that many transfers failed because of problems off the pitch. Use relocation consultants or find some way of integrating new joiners into their new role in your organisation.  Didier Drogba spent months in a hotel looking for somewhere to live after training with Chelsea, how much faster would he have assumed his current form if his move, six years ago, had been better managed?

 
Before we blow the final whistle, here is our final thought – if we can learn something from football management, what can football management learn from talent management practices in other businesses?

 

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 5:57 pm and is filed under HR Blogs, HR Business Partner, HR Careers, HR News, HR Strategy, Leadership, Talent Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.

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