Article - The Age of Technology will Save Us

2015

Damon Lovett

KnowledgeSource, Inc.

5/20/2015

The Age of “Will Technology Save Us”

The Age of “Technology will Save Us” (cont.)

KnowledgeSource, Inc. | 2015 | All Rights Reserved 1

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear

an HR professional use the term “The Future of Work?”

(Yeah, me too) From a pure business perspective, the

concept focuses on company culture, environment, and

how we treat our employees & clients. Ultimately, this

changes how organizations operate and is supposed to

help attract (marketing), engage, and retain top talent.

Note: I have a range of thoughts and ideas that cover

everything from leadership expectations to performance

management in this presentation but the 2 central

messages we should take away are:

1. Transformation is change: Change has typically

been hard for HR to handle, much less drive.

However, the expectations within the enterprise

have changed and ages-old and layered

complexity should no longer be considered the

norm or acceptable.

2. Technology is not the magic bullet: It’s there and

rapidly advancing so for those who can embrace

it and allow it to enhance the user experience, it

can provide a robust and clean user experience.

The old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t play

in HR anymore. Now, it should be “if it ain’t broke…YES

it is!”

Varied Approaches to HR Service Delivery There are varied approaches to HR Service Delivery but

let’s narrow it down to the 2 most prevalent:

People First: Widely successful organizations/leaders

(i.e., Virgin, Google, Amazon,

etc.) focus on their belief in the

power & value of their people;

human beings. If the employee

is engaged, empowered, and

happy, then innovation and

excellence coms naturally. Profit & Efficiency First: We

should all want to be as wildly

successful as those noted above. However, some leaders

adopt a “the more profitable we are, the better we can treat

our people” angle. Flashy vendor ROI/Cost Savings

pitches trump the client experience (thus “technology will

save us”).

Regardless of the approach, HR still finds itself asking

what business leaders want and struggling to lead or even

facilitate the conversation. In his “From the CEO”

editorial in the May 2015 HR Magazine, Hank Jackson

contends that “there is a gap between what business

leaders want and what HR can deliver,” with no

improvement in recent years. Attempts to repackage &

refocus the “HR silos” and terms like HR 2020 are not

helping and merely mis-interpret industry/enterprise

strategy and direction.

It is possible that this is the reason HR Technology

vendors are selling so well to the C-Suite – in many cases,

bypassing HR altogether - who then hands it down to HR

to deliver (again receiving - not driving).



Planning Ahead How far does HR look into the future? According to the

PWC Future of Work Report, only about 20% of HR

professionals believe they are prepared to “meet the needs

of a workforce that demands more freedom, autonomy,

and flexibility.”

So, what’s “Transformation” got to do with it? In many ways, Transformation is another term that many

business functions have taken on in recent years to

describe change – or at least a perception of change.

According to good ole’ Webster’s Dictionary,

Transformation “is a complete or major change in

someone's or something's appearance, form, etc.”

Unfortunately, Transformation has been equated to a mere

Tech Swap in most cases and it is hard to fathom that any

organization, department, or leader can create or manage

true transformational change utilizing the current-state

resources at their disposal.

The real focus should be on the overall transformation of

the HR Service Delivery Model.

Talent-Centric HR Service Delivery From an HR Service Delivery perspective, we must define

the specific services to be delivered through the HR

organization vs. directly through management/leadership

or technology. Like it or not, managers will determine

whether or not HR services succeed or fail - period.

Employee engagement studies repeatedly show that

managers have a direct impact on performance &

retention. “When Managers understand and actively

support their key role in guiding employees through the

sometimes complex policies and procedures, Managers

are acting as “HR-by-proxy” and have a direct impact on

engagement and productivity. Successful HR departments

understand the importance of the Manager role and are

assertive in educating those responsible for managing

people within the organization. Setting up consistent yet

flexible metrics for managing people is an essential

element for motivating management behaviors to support

the HR Service Delivery model.

While the various HR processes are “owned” by the HR

group, those same services are reliant on all the players

involved in providing Human Resources support

throughout the organization. The Manager plays a critical

role in interpreting and delivering HR services and are

ultimately responsible for engaging, motivating and

shepherding employees through the tasks of everyday

activities but they are also responsible for providing the

employees with a view of future roles and responsibilities

within the organization.

Key Considerations The HR Service Delivery Model is designed to incorporate

both generalized and specialized HR services and

strategically leverage integrated automation (i.e., case

management, knowledgebase, portal, HR Technology

applications, etc.) to support intervention, information

management, and the tracking/reporting of actions and

events to provide a robust user experience.

It is ok to ask consultants what other clients have done in

certain scenarios (i.e., Best Practice). However, a true

non-biased advisory services firm can either choose to

either help or hurt:

Help: A solid advisory services firm will always guide

the client based on business strategy and requirements and



should truly focus on a People-Process-Technology

approach. Forget “best practice.” It is great to share what

other clients have done in certain scenarios BUT

consultants should truly focus on replacing the client’s

current state (whatever that is) with a People-Process-

Technology approach. Challenge the client when the

terms “that won’t work here” or “that’s not the [ENTER

COMPANY NAME] way” are used as barriers. When the

client says “you don’t understand our culture,” take it as a

compliment!

Hurt: Assume that the “soft stuff” (Talent Management,

Engagement, L&D, etc.) is still just fluff, continuing to

merely focus the client “streamlining” the components

below, and implementing a great core (HR, payroll,

Benefits) technology and support model.

What seems to be missing in many cases is the how. If

our business is people, there is an investment and HR has

to be able to build the business case proving why an

investment in the “soft stuff” adds value. Data drives

discipline in how we operate, perform, deliver, etc. Better

understand who I have, what I don’t have, what I need,

why I need it and when. HR must start with the foundation

(i.e., core, payroll, etc.) but they tend to stop here too.

They get tired of the ongoing project lifecycle and feel

defeated, lose interest.

In approaching HR Service Delivery logically, we have

found that it is best to follow these key considerations:

Culture & Behaviors

What will differentiates our delivery model and

value proposition?

How do we want to be perceived by internal and

external stakeholders?

What are cultural barriers to changes in HR

Service Delivery that will need to be addressed?

What behaviors do we need to effectively change

(employee, manager, HR, leaders, etc.)

People & Organization

How will we organize?

How will we staff the model?

What competencies will be required?

How will we manage the change?

How will we communicate the changes?

How will we train/transition resources?

What governance structure will we use?

How do we create an award winning HR Service

Delivery Model (not just structure/value)?

Process & Services

What services do we offer?

How will we improve our delivery?

What management updates will we need? How

will we provide this?

How will we measure efficiency vs.

effectiveness?

How will we bill for services?

What service level agreements will we have and

with whom?

How do I provide services (by industry, by

organization, etc.).

Technology & Sourcing

How will we manage “employee facing” access?

What tools will we use?

Data capture

Knowledge management

Case management

Transaction processing

How will we handle employee data and “back-

end” processing? (The opportunity for data &

analytics is too important to miss)

Governance (HR Demand Management)

How will we manage the new delivery model and

service offerings



How will we measure performance

How will we engage the business, operations,

leadership, and HR on a common direction

How will we support the demands of the business,

our employees, and HR

Breaking Bad When challenged to deliver truly transformative HR

services, technology is often looked at as the

transformation; largely because technology is the tangible

that HR can build a case around to sell to the C-Suite. A

prime example of HR’s reliance on “Technology will Save

Us” is the now-antiquated performance review. Once

looked at as the only way to tangibly and systematically

measure the performance of the workforce (and

subsequently the enterprise) was through performance

review technologies that allows managers to not only rate

employees against set competencies and goals but to also

rank employees against their peers.

In a statement in the Wall Street Journal recently that said

“Can a year’s worth of work be boiled down to a stock

phrase like “meets expectations?” They also refer to the

70% of Intel’s workforce who receive a “successful”

rating (the second-lowest label) as the “Walking

Wounded” and how it seriously deflated morale. How sad

is that? As companies reinvent management by slashing

layers of hierarchy or freeing workers to set their own

schedules, performance ratings—which grade workers on

a 1-5 scale or with labels like “on target”—stubbornly

hang on. Companies like Gap Inc., Adobe Systems Inc.

and Microsoft Corp. abolished such ratings after leaders

decided they deterred collaboration and stoked staffers’

anxieties. Yet other companies are having a harder time

letting go.

Companies that have moved away from ratings say their

employees feel better about their jobs, and actually listen

to managers’ feedback instead of obsessing over a

number. (Microsoft)

The Gap’s new approach dumps ratings in favor of

monthly coaching sessions and frequent employee-

manager conversations. But HR executives had to

convince leaders that the move wasn’t “sacrilegious,”

according to Eric Severson, the company’s co-head of

human resources. A 17-year veteran of the company, said

it was strange at first (she was used to scanning her review

for her rating and bonus number). She now talks more

frequently with her manager, so she has a better idea of

where she stands, a process that she’s found less stressful

than worrying about her rating.

ADOBE: As noted in the April 2015 HR Magazine,

Donna Morris writes about her transformation of the old

and outdated performance management philosophy at

Adobe Systems, Inc. “We hired the very best, and then

we brought them into an organization and on an annual

basis said, ‘you were exceptional when you came in, but

now, relative to your peers, you’re only average.”

Adobe had long ago adopted the stack ranking

performance management process — a forced distribution

system requiring managers to rank employees on a curve,

cutting the bottom 10 percent from the organization. The

system was popularized in the 1980s, when General

Electric Co.’s then-CEO Jack Welch touted it as a central

component to the conglomerate’s high performance.

By the beginning of 2012 - buoyed by a broader strategy

shift at Adobe, Morris, with the support of her team and

the company’s senior leadership, made the call to ditch the

stack-ranking system. Its replacement: “Check In,” an

approach of more frequent, informal performance

conversations, centered on deconstructing the prim rating

and reporting structure of the annual review in favor of

quarterly, monthly and even daily performance

conversations. Now, a little more than two years in,

company executives say Check In has sparked a change in

Adobe’s culture. Voluntary attrition — employees

deciding to leave the company on their own terms — is

down 25 percent in the past two years, Morris said.

Adobe’s stock price has also experienced a steady climb,

which the company attributes to its revamped business

model.



Technology has allowed – and in many ways fostered – a

more collaborative, team-oriented environment that is

harder to measure and nearly impossible to rank. In this

broken model, most leaders are forced to conduct annual

or bi-annual performance reviews that are at best costly,

time consuming and often a one-way monologue with

staff, knowing that the overall system is not working.

According to Dan Vander Hey, Principal Consultant at

KnowledgeSource Consulting, “Organizations need an

entirely new approach to managing performance because

appraisals are often a monologue rather than a dialogue

[and] stifles discussion.” Dan goes on to note that

appraisals are too infrequent and stressful, but

opportunities like Climate Review conversations (whereas

managers & employees review things like Job satisfaction,

Morale, and Communication) are becoming more

mainstays. “We also see Performance Reviews turning

into more of a Strengths & Talents conversation where

there are opportunities to discuss growth and expectations

with the following type of questions.

• What are my expectations as manager?

• How are you performing to those expectations?

• What can we do to help you meet my

expectations?

• Are you committed to meeting those standards in

the future?

When focusing on transformation and the client

experience, it is wise to consider all generations and not

spend too much of your time & resources courting any 1

demographic. As the Millennial generation moves into the

workforce, incorporating their expectations (yes, the hip

work atmosphere of the leading technology companies,

great onboarding experience, etc.) can be a positive and

transformative move. However, not considering the needs

and expectations of the Gen X’ers and others who are here

now and getting the job done today does the organization

a disservice.

So, what’s important to the employee?

Keep in mind that employee goals & objectives may not

even slightly resemble those of the organization - some

cases, not even close. Consider multiple engagement

approaches; different demographics have different

expectations (one size does not fit all). Also keep in mind

that technology is never a magic bullet. Assuming that

millennials are “tech savvy” and expect a more robust

(often complex) technical environment to keep them

challenged and engaged would be a big mistake.

Engagement Matters Employee engagement impacts nearly every efficiency

measurement used in business today; healthcare costs,

productivity & performance, customer satisfaction,

retention, and the list goes on and on. According to a 2013

Gallup report, only 30% of the workforce is engaged in

their work; leaving 70% disengaged and not reaching their

full potential. (Gallup, 2013) This is not to say that 70%

of the workforce are “low performers” and it would be

nearly impossible to get the same results from the “sliding

scale” performance ranking system of yesterday that

seems to be the vein of HR’s existence and the kryptonite

of morale & motivation. The report goes on to estimate

that disengagement costs the US Economy $450-550

billion per year and finds that “managers who focus on

their employees’ strengths can practically eliminate active

disengagement” within the enterprise.

Managers are ultimately responsible for engaging,

motivating and shepherding employees through the tasks

of everyday activities but they are also responsible for

providing the employees with a view of future roles and

responsibilities within the organization. Like it or not,

managers will determine whether or not HR services

succeed or fail - period.



Interestingly enough, Gallup also finds that the

generations near the end of their careers are more engaged

than those at the beginning of their careers.

Engagement in the workplace starts with leadership!

What should leaders know? To truly manage engagement,

you again have to focus on the experience (user

experience, client/stakeholder experience, etc.) as well as

approaching the learning & development (L&D) of your

workforce from a more streamlined and “on-demand”

angle. The Learning Management System (LMS) market

started in the late 1990's by companies like Skillsoft, CBT

Systems, NetG, DigitalThink, and Ninth House Networks.

These companies started building online courses more

than 15 years ago with the intent of transforming the way

people incorporated enterprise knowledge into their jobs.

However, as we are continually expected to do more –

with less – L&D has taken on a whole new dimension and

is focusing on delivery of knowledge in 3 key areas;

• peer-to-peer collaboration

• video on demand

• education in smaller bites.

Business Leaders…Take Note A major hurdle in getting to a state of much-needed

transformation is the inability for some leaders to take

ownership and make decisions. Highly successful

leaders are transparent (what you see is what you get).

52% of Gen Z’s and Gen Y’s state that honesty is the most

important quality for being a good leader. (Schawbel,

2014) This transparency establishes confidence, creates

buy-in, and builds trust. Transparent leaders are respectful

and trusting of their staff and they are open & honest about

motivations and decisions. Unfortunately, the fear of

making a decision and failing at execution has hobbled the

department and fostered an environment in which other

executives make the decisions and then require HR to

execute.

Some decisions made outside the focus of HR are more

technical in nature and lead to what we like to call a “Tech

Swap” vs. true transformation. Again, this is where the

“Technology will Save Us” mentality comes into plan. In

the widely popular The Second Machine Age, Authors

Brynjolfsson and McAfee contend that the "Internet of

Things" (the comprehensive digital networking, learning,

mapping , etc.) is creating the next industrial revolution

that is replacing (vs. complimenting) human cognition, in

that computers ultimately do work that used to involve

people for manual, routine, and information-based tasks.

We are now seeing the automation of middle-management

jobs that are highly cognitive and non-routine as well.

(The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity

in a time of brilliant technologies (First Edition.), 2014).

Simply put, you cannot automate humanity. Creating a

rock-solid HR Service Delivery Model takes HR out of the

“stupid stuff?” and allows them to be much more of what

the business needs today; strategic, proactive, client-

focused, and yes…transparent!



About KSI KnowledgeSource (KSI) is a market leading global

HR Transformation consulting firm specializing in

HR Service Delivery, Strategy, HR Technology, and

Transformation. KSI provides consulting services to

many of the largest known global companies and

brands, in helping them assess, align, define, manage

and execute against a successful transformation plan.

Established in 2010 by industry veterans with

extensive backgrounds from both the consulting and

practitioner side, KSI leverages experience-based

consultants in order to

drive project results, not

project fees.

About Damon Damon Lovett is a Senior Consultant with

KnowledgeSource, Inc. His unique mix of practitioner,

vendor, and consulting experience has helped companies

simplify complex processes and leverage sustainable

technologies to improve service delivery and overall

business effectiveness.

Damon is a HCM industry

recognized leader in HR

Transformation,

Technology, and information

management based on his

extensive experience helping

companies from various

business sectors apply

people, process, and

technology strategies and

best practices that deliver

results.

Documents

Article - The Age of Technology will Save Us