The Emerging Impact of Digitalization on HR

SUMMARY OF THINK TANK SESSION #3 | NEW YORK | JUNE 2019

The Emerging Impact of Digitalization on HR

© 2019 The RBL Group, Inc.

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Playbook: Social Citizenship Responsibility 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................03

What Do Technological Changes Mean for How HR Operates to Increase Impact on All Organization Stakeholders? ...........................................................................................................................................................03

1. General Societal/Context Technology Trends ..........................................................................................................04

2. Implication of Digital Trends .......................................................................................................................................05

Implications of Digital Trends: Individuals ..................................................................................................................05

Implications of Digital Trends: Organization ..............................................................................................................06Implications of Digital Trends: Conclusion .................................................................................................................08

3. HR Digital Trends ...........................................................................................................................................................09

Josh Bersin HR Trend #1: Accelerated Pace of Core Technology Market ...............................................................10

Josh Bersin HR Trend #2: New Talent Management Software (Talent Experience not Management) ...............10

Josh Bersin HR Trend #3: Well-Being Market Explodes ............................................................................................13

Josh Bersin HR Trend #4: Engagement, Pulse, Culture Platforms Grow.................................................................13

Josh Bersin HR Trend #5: New Generation of Learning Platforms ..........................................................................14

Josh Bersin HR Trend #6: Analytics and AI ..................................................................................................................15

Josh Bersin HR Trend #7: Employee Experience ........................................................................................................16

HR Digital Trends: Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................18

4. Intersection of Information and Digital Agendas Leading to Need for Guidance .............................................19

HR Digital Evolution .......................................................................................................................................................19

HR Analytics ....................................................................................................................................................................20

Combination of HR Digital and HR Analytics ..............................................................................................................20

5. Organization Guidance System (OGS) ........................................................................................................................22

Why Is an Organization Guidance System Valuable? ................................................................................................22

What Would an Organization Guidance System Offer? ............................................................................................23TalentOrganizationLeadership

How Does an Organization Guidance System Work? ................................................................................................30Assessment/DiagnosisInterventions for ImprovementPrecision Navigation for Informed Choices

What are Our Overall Aspirations for an Organization Guidance System? ...........................................................30

6. HR Impact on Business Digital Agenda ......................................................................................................................32

Build a Business Case ....................................................................................................................................................32

Facilitate a Digital Business Team ................................................................................................................................33

Articulate Digital Business Outcomes .........................................................................................................................34

Audit Current Digital State ............................................................................................................................................34

Craft Digital Business Plan ............................................................................................................................................34

Implement the Digital Business Plan ...........................................................................................................................35

Implementing Digital Business Plan: Conclusion .......................................................................................................35

Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................................................36

2 TheRBLGroup ©2019

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Emerging Terms In New Digital AgeFigure 2. Emerging Organizational CapabilitiesFigure 3. Digital HR AgendaFigure 4. Core HR Platforms Shifting Focus to Experience (Josh Bersin)Figure 5. Core HR: Many Disruptions Coming (Josh Bersin)Figure 6. A New Model of Management (Josh Bersin)Figure 7. The Evolution of Talent Systems (Josh Bersin)Figure 8. 2019 and beyond: A New Set of Talent Applications (Josh Bersin)Figure 9. Employee Experience: Moments That Matter (Josh Bersin)Figure 10. Massive Investment in Talent Acquisition Tools (Josh Bersin)Figure 11. Trust: Proliferation of Diversity and Inclusion Tools (Josh Bersin)Figure 12. From Wellness to Well Being to Performance (Josh Bersin)Figure 13. Employee Engagement Market Evolves (Josh Bersin)Figure 14. Convergence of Talent Applications Ahead (Josh Bersin)Figure 15. The New Corporate Learning Market (Josh Bersin)Figure 16. Learning Experience Market Grows Up (Josh Bersin)Figure 17. 2019: People Analytics Is Shifting (Josh Bersin)Figure 18. Defining Responsibility and Ethics with AI and Data (Josh Bersin)Figure 19. Evolution of Talent Sentiment Concepts (Josh Bersin)Figure 20. A New Era Service Delivery Model (Josh Bersin)Figure 21. Digital HR AgendaFigure 22. Evolution of HR Analytics (Dick Beatty)Figure 23. Combining Phases of Digital HR and Phases of HR Analytics Figure 24. Point of View on TalentFigure 25. Assessment of Talent CapabilitiesFigure 26. Point of View on OrganizationsFigure 27. Capabilities that Help an Organization WinFigure 28. Point of View on LeadershipFigure 29. Assessment of Leadership BrandFigure 30. Point of View on HRFigure 31. Assessment of HR DepartmentFigure 32. HR’s Role in a Digital Business AgendaFigure 33. Steps in a Digital Business Plan


INTRODUCTION

No one doubts that technology has and will change not only our daily lives (how we shop, travel, eat, social-ize, and so forth), but also how organizations operate and how people work in organizations. Sometimes, fast changing and complex emerging technologies feel overwhelming: Internet of things, artificial intelligence, robots (chatbots), blockchain, cloud computing, augmented (virtual) reality, robotic automation, machine learn-ing, genetic editing, neural networks, and so forth. At a very simple level, all these new technologies are about accessing digital information to make better decisions. For example, an analog watch tells time; a digital watch is a smart machine used to access exponential information for everyday tasks.

If and when HR professionals access this digital information through technology, they should be better able to deliver value to their organization. We held a two-day think tank with RBL Institute partners to sort out the question:

What Do Technological Changes Mean for How HR Operates to Increase Impact on All Organization Stakeholders?

To explore the emerging impact of digital on HR, we were privileged to hear from two thought leaders. Josh Bersin has 30 years of experience as an industry analyst, researcher, educator, and technology analyst cover-ing all aspects of corporate HR, training, talent management, recruiting, leadership, and workplace technology. He shared his latest ideas on trends in the digital HR space. Obed Louissaint is Vice President at IBM and leads talent acquisition, global mobility, technical talent, people analytics, skills, performance management, workforce management, and employee experience. Louissaint is curating a set of talent-based acquisition and develop-ment offerings to ensure IBM has the skills to win today and in the next era and to drive engagement of IBMers.

To answer the above question about the emerging impact of digital on HR, we organized our work into six sec-tions:

1. General societal/context technology trends

2. Implication of digital trends

3. HR digital trends 1 to 7

4. Intersection of information and digital agendas leading to the need for guidance

5. Organization guidance system

6. HR impact on business digital agenda


1. GENERAL SOCIETAL/CONTEXT TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

The future of work is already here with major changes in industry after industry. No industry is immune: hospitality, automotive, retail, financial services, health care, education, media, and even food delivery have all experienced major upheavals due to technology. The digital fundamentals make information available anytime, anywhere, anyhow with an emphasis on speed, connectivity, convergence, volume, and digitization. According to Josh Bersin, 83% of CEOs expect AI to radically change their business in the next 3 years.

Figure 1.0 shows some of the emerging terms of the digital and information revolution. As these technology-related terms become services and tools, businesses have to respond to change much more rapidly.

Figure 1. Emerging Terms In New Digital Age

3-D printing

Analytics

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Automation

Big data

Biotech

Blockchain

Cloud computing

Cognition

Connectivity

Convergence

Digitalization

Drones

Experience economy

Gamification

Internet of things

Machine learning

Machine vision

Mass customization Quantum computing

Renewable energy

Robots/chatbots

Sensors

Social media

Social networks

Sustainability

Virtual reality

We could spend a lot of time reviewing these general trends, but others have done this work more thoroughly. The simple message is that technology enables digitalization which is transforming nearly all aspects of every-day living, every industry, and each organization. As IBM (through Obed Louissant) suggests, the internet era of global standardized processes is being replaced by the digital era of big data and AI.


2. IMPLICATION OF DIGITAL TRENDS

With the onslaught of technology, individuals and organizations have to adapt and change.

Implications of Digital Trends: Individuals

Many have summarized the benefits and liabilities of technology on individual lives. Technology opens access to sharing information (e.g., Twitter or Instagram), managing relationships (e.g., Facebook), participating in leisure (e.g., video games), and satisfying wants more easily (e.g., shopping). At work, technology acts as an assistant to enable people to focus on the more creative and intuitive tasks more than the more standardized, repetitive activities which can be better done through technology.

But, technology can also be distracting. Information technology leads to internet engagements of web surfing, chat rooms, gambling, video games, and other technology-related addictions as one of the behavioral side-effects of those who rely heavily on technology, and such reliance is high. The “average” US worker works 47 hours a week with 20% working 60+ hours per week. The “average” US worker now spends 25% of their day reading or answering emails. The average mobile phone user checks their device 150 times a day.

Over reliance on technology is not always positive. From data on national surveys with over 500,000 American teenagers …

• Those who spend more time on social media (Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram or smart phone) are more likely to agree with “the future seems more hopeless”.

• Those spending time in sports, doing homework, or socializing had fewer mental problems.

• Those who gave up Facebook reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week.

More broadly, the US surgeon general recently stated that loneliness is more serious a health problem than opiates. To illustrate this rising problem, the number of Americans with “no friends” has tripled since 1985. The U.K. has just named a Minister of Loneliness to create policies to deal with the challenge of social isolation.

Three studies illustrate the potential personal downsides of technology. Brian Primack and his colleagues sur-veyed 1,787 US adults aged 19 to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms outside of work. The survey also gauged social isolation by asking participants questions such as how often they felt left out. It turns out that the people who reported spending the most time on social media — more than two hours a day — had twice the odds of perceived social isolation than those who said they spent a half hour per day or less on those sites. And people who visited social media platforms most frequently, 58 visits per week or more, had more than three times the odds of perceived social isolation than those who visited fewer than nine times per week.

HB Shakya and NA Christakis studied the impact of online social interactions. They assessed the associations of both online and offline social networks with several subjective measures of well-being. They used 3 waves (2013, 2014, and 2015) of data from 5,208 subjects in the nationally representative Gallup Panel Social Network Study survey, including social network measures, in combination with objective measures of Facebook use. They investigated the associations of Facebook activity and real-world social network activity with self-reported physical health, self-reported mental health, self-reported life satisfaction, and body mass index. Their results showed that overall, the use of Facebook was negatively associated with well-being.


Robert Waldinger found that social connections are really good for us. Loneliness kills. Their study also found that it is not just the number of friends you have, and it’s not whether or not you’re in a committed relationship, but it’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.

In organizations, there are tradeoffs with the advent of technology. While technology enables people to avoid routine, standardized tasks, it also may isolate people from each other.

Implications of Digital trends: Organization

While technology encourages organizations to source “hard” skills (programming, coding, analytics), there are a number of groups who have identified “soft” skills (like goal setting, managing relationships, communication, adaptability) required for the future workforce (e.g., World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs). These softer skills enable more cross-unit and cross-function work and the use of technology to help organizations turn digital information into business impact. Without recognizing and navigating these softer skills, organizations may gain technical know-how, but not be able to turn increased information into sustainable action.

At IBM, technology (particularly automation and AI) and reputational risk that may come from an adverse event (e.g., losing money or missing a window of opportunity) require rethinking skills. They focus on the increasing scarcity of critical technology-enabled skills, the half-life of knowledge when skills are out of date quickly, and digital learning disruption. To respond to these skills requirements, IBM often accesses talent more than owns talent through contract employees, gig economy, or other new labor platforms.

Organization: Creating an employee experience. In particular, organizations succeed or fail to the extent to which their employees make knowledge productive. When well-intended and skilled employees do not give their best efforts at work, organizations are not as successful. Figuring out how employees give their best ef-forts at work is not a new topic. Business leaders and management researchers have studied for decades topics like motivation, morale, satisfaction, commitment, engagement, and now “experience” (the emerging term). Technology has informed the understanding of employee experience by focusing on the user. Everyone has had the chance to be a user of a website. If a user does not have a positive experience (easy to use, reliable, deliver what is wanted), the user logs off and even the best technology is useless.

Likewise, employee experience at work needs to grant each employee a positive work setting where personal needs are realized. In our recent work, we have suggested that organizations need to create settings where employees increase their ability to believe, become, and belong.

Technology alone will not ensure this experience, but it can enable it by giving people more choice of what they work on (e.g., more creative and engaging tasks), where they work (in collaborative office spaces or remote work) and how they work (part time, full time). Technology that enables organizations to have more flexibility in creating an employee value proposition will likely have employees with better experiences that lead to custom-er experiences and investor results.

For example, IBM has created a social pulse to quickly access employee attitudes and respond faster. In one case, IBM banned employees from using Uber, but through social pulse learned that employees were frustrated with the decision. Within 9 hours, it was clear that this Uber-ban was not well received and within 16 hours, Di-ane Gherson, head of HR, responded. This quick response process in a very large global company signaled that employee’s views were valued and acted on. IBM also has created patented algorithms to predict an employee’s likelihood of leaving. This private analytic tool has saved IBM $333m with a 214% ROI. Through analytics, IBM has personalized training and compensation choices that help employees have a better experience at work.


Organization: Creating an agile organization. In addition to technology creating an updated employee expe-rience, technology creates a new organizational logic. We have suggested (as have others) that “organization” is less about morphology (structure, roles, rules) and systems (strategy, structure, rewards, processes) and more about capabilities (what the organization is known for and good at doing). Many capabilities have been critical for organizations to succeed (see Figure 2) with agility being the emerging required capability in this digital age.

Figure 2. Emerging Organizational Capabilities

Technology advances are re-writing the rules of the game for how organizations win in the marketplace. Organi-zations may have talent, customer focus, innovation, collaboration or a strong culture, but if they lack agility, they will likely not succeed. Agility is the ability to anticipate and/or quickly respond to emerging market oppor-tunities. We defined agility through four characteristics (with a clear outcome), the ability to…

• Create a future: agility focuses on shaping something new in the future more than revising or updating the past.

• Anticipate opportunity: agility emphasizes opportunities more than evolutions; it disrupts and envisions what can be.

• Adapt quickly: agility has a sense of pace or speed, to move quickly or to act fast and encourages adapta-tion or tweaking.

• Learn always: agility implies learning so that events become patterns that are sustainable over time.

Talentcompetence, workforce, people

Customer Focusconnection, service, anticipation

Innovationbreakthrough, invention

Collaborationteamwork, cross functional

Cultureidentity, shared mindset

Agilitychange, speed, disruption

Time Past Future


In a world of unrelenting change, agility matters at four levels:

• Strategic agility. Strategic agility is less about what an organization does to win now and more about how to build a capacity for continual strategic change. It means continually and rapidly updating choices about where to play and how to win.

• Organization agility. Organizational agility enables the organization to anticipate and rapidly respond to dynamic market conditions. More agile organizations win in the customer and investor marketplaces.

• Leadership agility. Leadership agility represents the ability of leaders at all levels of the organization to learn, grow, and change. Learning agility (sometimes called resilience, growth mindset, perseverance) not only makes more effective personal leaders, but also establishes agility norms throughout an organization.

• Individual agility. Individual agility is the ability of people and leaders to learn and grow. More agile indi-viduals find personal well-being and deliver better business results.

Technology now requires increased organizational agility, so that the organization can create a future, antici-pate opportunity, adapt quickly, and learn always, but technology also helps create strategy, organization, leadership, and individual agility. Through technology, companies can simplify and reorganize work, but only 16% of companies have a program to do so. Technology shifts from work being done exclusively by people (full time, part time, or contingent) as captured in workforce planning to worktask planning where much of the work is done through automation.

Implications of Digital Trends: Conclusion

Again, no one doubts that technology is changing our world (see 1.0). Technology has implications for individu-als away from and at work and for organizations that shape employee experience and create agile capabilities. Essentially technology and its digital implications have created a context where HR must move into a more digital state. When electricity became the new thing, it shaped an abundance of opportunities (and challenges). Likewise, technology (e.g., AI) is the new thing that will shape a host of organization practices.


3. HR DIGITAL TRENDS

Technology enables a digital HR agenda that improves and disrupts HR services. We have categorized these HR improvements into four phases (see Figure 3): efficiency, innovation/effectiveness, information, and connec-tion/experience. We see HR technology efforts moving through these four phases so that it has more impact.

Figure 3. Digital HR Agenda

4. Connection/Experience• Build emotional connection (belonging)• Create social network • Share experiences through technology

3. Information• Share information for business impact• Access structured and unstructured data• Bring external information inside

2.HRInnovation/Effectiveness• Use technology to upgrade practices in people

(staffing, training), performance management, communication, and work

1.HREfficiency• Build technology platforms to efficiently manage HR

processes; often through existing firms (Oracle, SAP, Workday)

Josh Bersin is known as “the” thought leader on HR digital trends. He has captured a somewhat similar evolu-tion of digital HR (figure 4) and identified 7 digital HR trends that we will review below.

Figure 4. Core HR Platforms Shifting Focus to Experience (Josh Bersin)


Josh Bersin HR Trend #1: Accelerated Pace of Core Technology Market

From 2009 through 2019 approximately $16B was invested in new HR technologies, with over 2,900 firms today offering efficiency or innovation focused apps and solutions. Figure 5 lays out the host and types of these in-novations in HR solutions:

Figure 5. Core HR: Many Disruptions Coming (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #2: New Talent Management Software (Talent Experience not Management)

As discussed briefly above, the new metaphor for employee sentiment is the employee experience, or how the employee is treated at work. This focus on employee experience is a new model of management (see Figure 6). Trust is an increasingly illusive characteristic of how people work together in social settings, political par-ties, and organizations. Talent experience is about creating a trusted enterprise where employees can flourish (believe, become, and belong – as discussed above).

Figure 6. A New Model of Management (Josh Bersin)


To establish a more trusted enterprise, talent systems have evolved (Figure 7), which has, in turn, led to a new set of talent applications and innovations (Figure 8) focused on the employee experience (Figure 9) and a whole host of talent acquisition (Figure 10) and diversity and inclusion tools (Figure 11)

Figure 7. The Evolution of Talent Systems (Josh Bersin)

Figure 8. 2019 and beyond: A New Set of Talent Applications (Josh Bersin)


Figure 9. Employee Experience: Moments That Matter (Josh Bersin)

Figure 10. Massive Investment in Talent Acquisition Tools (Josh Bersin)


Figure 11. Trust: Proliferation of Diversity and Inclusion Tools (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #3: Well-Being Market Explodes

Well-being has become a catch phrase that captures how employees are treated at work (related to employee experience and connection). Google has experienced a 4x increase in searches for well-being in the last four years. Wellness apps around financial stressors, health, rewards, and lifestyle are used more than Twitter. Well-being is increasingly related to business performance (see Figure 12)

Figure 12. From Wellness to Well Being to Performance (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #4: Engagement, Pulse, Culture Platforms Grow.

As attention to talent pivots from competence to engagement, there are innovative apps that track the evolu-tion of engagement (Figure 13) and work to provide a convergence of talent applications (Figure 14).


Figure 13. Employee Engagement Market Evolves (Josh Bersin)

Figure 14. Convergence of Talent Applications Ahead (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #5: New Generation of Learning Platforms

Careers in organizations are going through dramatic change. We have written about the pivot from career stages to a career mosaic where an employee can make multiple moves throughout their career. The evidence for this new approach comes from Deloitte studies:

• 58% of companies are redesigning or planning to redesign their career model (Deloitte HC Trends 2017).

• While 33% of companies promote vertical career moves, 67% now promote horizontal or project-based career progression (Deloitte HC Trends 2017).

• 83% of companies expect to have an “open” or “highly flexible” career model within the next 3-5 years.

• Learning and career management software is the #1 fastest growing segment in HR technology.


These career innovations have spawned a host of new learning platforms (Figure 15) that focus on learning experiences (Figure 16).

Figure 15. The New Corporate Learning Market (Josh Bersin)

Figure 16. Learning Experience Market Grows Up (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #6: Analytics and AI

As a result of the above 5 HR technology trends, the HR analytics and HR world is changing (see Figure 17) with increased attention to ethics and responsibility in information management (see Figure 18). Note: see the dis-cussion on an Organization Guidance System for examples of the new world of analytics and HR.


Figure 17. 2019: People Analytics Is Shifting (Josh Bersin)

Figure 18. Defining Responsibility and Ethics with AI and Data (Josh Bersin)

Josh Bersin HR Trend #7: Employee Experience

Again, as discussed above, employee experience is the rebranding of evolving ways of thinking about how to fully engage employees (see Figure 19).


Figure 19. Evolution of Talent Sentiment Concepts (Josh Bersin)

Key concepts of employee: DefinitionsandExamples Exemplary authors

ExperienceUser (employee) experience, particularly with technology; flex-ibility; employee life cycle

Working to create personalized, authentic experiences from the sum of everything related to the employee at work

Tracy MaylettJacob MorganBen Whitter

Engagement Well-being, meaning, contribu-tion, learning, healthy happiness, flourish

Having intrinsic attitudes that de-note employees’ enthusiasm for their job so that employees give their best

Marcus Buckingham Gallup GroupPatrick LencioniDavid MacLeodMartin Seligman

CommitmentIdentity, high-commitment work systems

Being connected to (or binding one to) one’s job or teammates or goals of an organization

Thomas BeckerEdward LawlerEdward Locke John P. Meyer

SatisfactionAffect, attitudes, equity

Identifying the extent to which an employee “likes” the job and aspects of the job (affect)

Arthur BriefBarry Staw

MotivesDrives, self- determination

Defining the personal factors that drive people to accomplish more (e.g., personal needs or drivers)

Abraham Maslow David McClelland

Motivation (expectancy, behaviorism, goal setting, attribution, job character-istics)

Exploring forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine the forces’ forms, directions, intensi-ties, and durations

Edward DeciRichard HackmanFred HerzbergGary LathamDouglas McGregor

This new focus on employee experience will have a new service delivery model for meeting employee needs (see Figure 20).

Figure 20. A New Era Service Delivery Model (Josh Bersin)


Digital HR Trends: Conclusion

The seven trends defined by Josh Bersin do an incredible job of capturing the evolving agenda for digital talent. As he notes, there are a dazzling array of innovative talent-related apps that drive both more efficient delivery and innovation in talent services. One of the questions we often run into is how to sort through this incredible array of innovative HR apps. We have identified 5 criteria to know which of these “latest and greatest” technol-ogy innovations deserve more attention.

1. Focus outside-in. Ask: to what extent does this new digital technology connect its solution to external customers and investors? Many of the new technologies improve HR processes, but they are not linking these improvements to customers and investors who generally determine a firm’s future. We have written about the importance of an outside-in perspective, but many technology platforms are exclusively internally focused with no reference to customers or investor outcomes. So, in the promotion material, how clearly is the new technology linked to external (customer, investor, community) impact?

2. Build on previous practice and research. A computer science academic colleague said that well-intended students often approach him with the “latest and greatest app” that will dramatically improve the world. They are often disappointed when his advice is to “take a coding class” and “learn how to code.” Without basing new ideas on sound principles and practices, the new apps are on sandy soil, not firm foundations. Does the new innovation build on previous work? Does it complement and extend solid research or technol-ogy? Often the digital innovation has no roots in previous work and no research to support the claims. For example, much of the “current” employee experience work does not build on the previous employee experi-ence work (see Figure 19) so it essentially reinvents what has been done.

3. Offeranintegratedsolution. Increasingly, HR practices in one area impact those in others (e.g., an organi-zation’s hiring, development, rewards, and communication processes should reinforce similar messages). It is hard to have a career discussion without having implications for training and development, performance review, and engagement. HR technologies that offer innovation in only one HR area are unlikely to be as suc-cessful or sustainable as those that integrate across many HR practice areas.

4. Deliver on strategy and goals. Sometimes the technological solutions are so exciting that they seem to be the “end” not the “means.” HR should always create practices that enable businesses to win in their mar-kets through design and delivery of strategic goals. How will the technology solution help with the current strategic challenges? Will the information gathered help shape or deliver on the current strategic question? How will the technology enable strategic choices? When entering a busy freeway, cars don’t create their own new lane but merge into an existing lane of traffic. Likewise, new technologies generally should not create completely new strategic approaches but help move forward existing strategic agendas that win in the mar-ketplace.

5. Fit with values and culture. To get admitted to the Directors Guild in Hollywood, you have to have experi-ence; but to get hired to get this experience, you have to be in the Guild. This same catch-22 exists with new technology. To get accepted, you have to have satisfied clients; but to get satisfied clients, you have to be accepted. Being the beta test site for a new technology increases risk but may also increase opportunity. To make it through the Directors Guild catch-22, a new director needs to build a relationship of trust with a producer. Assuming the beta risk comes when the technology creators share the culture and values of the company. Make sure that you are not just buying a technology app but forming a relationship with the cre-ator of the app who will be a thought partner for future success.


4. INTERSECTION OF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL AGENDAS LEADING TO NEED FOR GUIDANCE

Technology is here to stay [section 1 above]; it provides information that shapes individual lives and organi-zational behavior [section 2 above]; and it has enormous implications for talent and human capital [section 3 seven trends]. But, we need to move forward to fully answer the question for this playbook:

What do technological changes mean for how HR operates to increase impact on all organization stakeholders?

For HR to operate differently and turn the context, implications, and trends into action, we hope we can offer HR professionals specific direction on how to do so.

This direction comes from combining two of the most compelling trends in HR today: HR digital and HR analytics.

HR Digital Evolution

Figure 21 (repeated Figure 3) shows four phases of the digital HR agenda. Much of the work to date resides in phase 1 (efficiency) and phase 2 (innovation). The 2,900+ apps that Josh Bersin refers to and many of his trends focus on apps that deliver efficiency and/or innovation, particularly in talent.

Figure 21. Digital HR Agenda

4. Connection/Experience• Build emotional connection (belonging)• Create social network • Share experiences through technology

3. Information• Share information for business impact• Access structured and unstructured data• Bring external information inside

2.HRInnovation/Effectiveness• Use technology to upgrade practices in people

(staffing, training), performance management, communication, and work

1.HREfficiency• Build technology platforms to efficiently manage HR

processes; often through existing firms (Oracle, SAP, Workday)

We found in our research that information management (asymmetry) is the most critical capability to deliver business results. Traditionally, access to information gave leaders power because they had more information than their employees. Today, with open access to information through technology, information is less about power and more about the ability to make better business decisions.

HR departments can influence information asymmetry by hiring information experts (e.g., software engineers), ensuring that external information guides internal decision making (e.g., predictive analytics), and bringing rigor to both structured (statistical) information and unstructured (observational) information. Sixty percent of oc-cupations could have up to 30% of their activities automated including radiologists, design engineers, market re-


searchers and HR professionals. They are being replaced by big data analysts, social media experts, cloud build-ers, app developers, and other types of information specialists. Software engineering jobs will grow at a rate of 18.8% by 2024 which is triple the rate of overall job growth rate. HR can help source and secure this talent.

In addition, HR can ensure that external information comes into an organization to inform decisions. HR analyt-ics is not just about using information to improve HR practices (see Phase 2 above with HR scorecards and HR insights) but more about accessing information to make better business decisions. In this regard, HR can be the architect of prioritizing key business decisions, then sourcing information both outside and inside the organiza-tion to improve those decisions.

Information that delivers business results may be structured information that is found on a spreadsheet and accessed through statistics or it may be unstructured information that is found in customer and employee experiences and accessed through thoughtful observation.

HR Analytics

Figure 22 shows the evolution of HR analytics. The scorecard reports what has been done; the dashboard offers insights about what is happening now; predictive analytics highlights interventions; and impact focuses on how this relates to desired outcomes.

Figure 22. Evolution of HR Analytics (Dick Beatty)

Combination of HR Digital and HR Analytics

Figure 23 shows where we think HR professionals can provide increased impact on all stakeholders. Today, much of the digital HR work resides at phases 1 and 2 and the analytics work in scorecards and insights (or dashboards). For HR to fully add value, we want to move the field to information and experience about an inter-vention (with predictive analytics) and impact on key outcomes. We call this creating an Organization Guidance System (OGS) as discussed in the next section [5].

ImpactStarting information with business impact and predicting what will drive the business.

InterventionUsing information to test alternative hypothesis and interventions (research).

InsightHaving information that draws on predictive analytics and trends, often in the cloud.

ScorecardHaving information that tracks performance in the past and future; focused inside.


Figure 23. Combining Phases of Digital HR and Phases of HR Analytics

Phases of AnalyticsScorecards Insights Intervention Impact

Phases of Digital HR

Connection (experience) Organization Guidance

SystemInformation

InnovationToday’s HR world

Efficiency


5. ORGANIZATION GUIDANCE SYSTEM (OGS)

In World War I, the Allied Powers and Central Powers each had about equal bombing power and accuracy. By World War II, the Allied Powers had further developed their missile guidance systems than their new opponent the Axis Powers, which enabled the Allied Powers to have more target accuracy. Over the decades since, mili-tary guidance systems have become more precise to focus on a specific target, and also provide the ability to make real-time, on-going maneuvers to deliver desired outcomes.

Likewise, guidance counselors help students determine where they want to go and then make suitable adjust-ments in their choices to reach their aspirations. Organizations offer investors guidance on their upcoming financial results to signal the future. In the digital world, autonomous vehicles depend on software that senses information to provide guidance for the car to safely reach a desired destination.

In each of these (and many other) cases, a guidance system establishes aspirations, then provides information leading to desired results.

We believe the time has come to create an Organization Guidance System (OGS) that can be used by business and HR leaders to provide course-correcting to enable more effective organizations. An Organization Guidance System is a bold ambition. It combines and moves beyond scorecards that report what has happened, dash-boards that offer current information, and predictive analytics that show what might happen into an integrated guidance system that enables more effective organizations.

Why Is an Organization Guidance System Valuable?

As we report work from Josh Bersin [section 3 above] there are over 2,900 HR apps on the market with a recent 3-years expenditure of $16 billion. While this dizzying array of digital information offers dazzling insights into organizations, this myriad of innovative ideas overwhelms business leaders who struggle to sort out which ideas to use. An Organization Guidance System clarifies not only the desired outcomes of organization investments but also the pathways to reach these outcomes and the precision adjustments required to make sustainable progress.

Guidance goes beyond scorecards (what has happened), dashboards (what is happening), and even predic-tive analytics (what will happen) to offer guidance on what should happen given desired outcomes. Perhaps the classic story in predictive analytics is a father receiving a congratulations call from a retail outlet about his becoming a grandfather to a new baby boy. The store calls him because they can predict this event because of his daughter’s purchases. The story often ends with the father’s surprise at this information. Guidance starts where this story ends. What are the options for how the father (soon to be grandfather) would want to respond to this situation (joy, concern, frustration, etc.)? Then, given how the father would like to respond, what are the activities he could engage in to accomplish his goals? The “guidance” would lead him to clarify outcomes and pathways to achieve those outcomes.

Likewise, there are wonderful sites to learn about our personal predispositions. One of our favorites is the Mar-tin Seligman 24 character strengths. Over 5,000,000 people have taken the test to discover how they rank on these 24 character strengths. This test is a great scorecard of who I am, a dashboard of my strengths, and a bit of a prediction about where those strengths will lead. But, this is not yet a guidance system. A guidance system would suggest that I pick one or two of the strengths that I would like to improve (e.g., creativity), then offer me experiences and actions to help me develop this character strength.


A final example related to retirement planning. If I am 40 years old and have retirement savings of $200,000, I know what I have done (scorecard) and where I stand (dashboard), and what I will get if I continue my present journey (maybe $1,000,000 by age 65). But guidance asks the question, “what would you like for retirement by age 65?” If the answer is $3,000,000, then I need a pathway to make that happen, with specific actions and decisions.

Currently, HR is littered with so many apps, tools, and ideas, that it is difficult to know which ones to use to guide me to a desired outcome. Merely implementing a new app is a bit like investing in the latest hot stock without an overall plan to prepare for retirement, or saying I want to develop my creativity character strength, but don’t have a pathway to do so.

WhatWouldanOrganizationGuidanceSystemOffer?

Simply stated, an OGS articulates desired business, customer, and investor outcomes, then offers guidance to at-tain them. In our work at the RBL Institute, we have written over 30 books, hosted over 45 think tanks (with play-books and pod casts), offered over 150 mini forums with short essays for application, and consulted with hun-dreds of companies on how to help an organization serve all of its stakeholders inside and outside the company.

The OGS begins by defining desired outcomes, in terms of how well a business operates. Based on research by academic colleagues, we have created an overall measure of business success:

How would you compare your organization unit’s performance over the last three years to your main competi-tors’ performance on each of the following dimensions? (1-substantially worse to 5-substantially better)

1. Profitability (e.g., EBITD)

2. Growth in revenue/sales

3. Quality of products, services, or programs

4. Development of new products and services (e.g., % revenue from products/services in last 3 years)

5. Customer or client satisfaction (NPS, customer share of key customers)

6. Market share

7. Attraction of required employees (% offering accepted ratio)

8. Labor productivity (e.g., sales per employee)

9. Retention of key employees (regrettable loss)

This 9-item scale offers a comprehensive view of business effectiveness and a focus on which business or stake-holder results matters most: Financial, (questions 1,2), strategic (questions 3 or 4), customer (questions 5 and 6), or people (questions 7, 8, 9).

Then, through our work, we identified four general pathways to create effective or winning organizations.

Talent. The raw ingredients of any organization are its people who bring competencies (skills to get work done today and tomorrow), commitment (engagement and energy), and contribution (work experiences with pur-pose, opportunities to grow, and a sense of community). Figure 24 reports the work we have done on talent. This work is divided into five general categories, each with specific actions:

• In: How able are we to bring the right people into the organization (setting standards, sourcing, securing, orienting)?


• Through: How able are we to move people through the organization (training, careers, performance review, rewards, communication)?

• Out: How able are we to keep and let go of the right people (retention, removal)?

• Commitment: How able are we to create behavioral engagement or commitment of our people?

• Contribution/experience: How able are we to help employees have a positive experience through belief (meaning), become (learn and grow), and belong (connect with others)?

With data on these five areas, we can offer guidance on how to manage talent for business success (see Trends in Talent playbook).

Figure 24. Point of View on Talent


Figure 25. Assessment of Talent Capabilities

1. Set standards: We set clear standards about who we should hire .

2. Source talent: We source talent from the right places .

3. Screen talent: We evaluate talent to determine if they meet standards.

4. Secure talent: We hire the right people.

5. Steer/orient talent: We help new employees be successful in their new job or role .6. Create a workforce plan: We have a workforce plan for ac-complishing key tasks.

7. Assess employees/Manage performance: We have clear standards and evaluate how well employees met the standards.

8. Develop employees: We find ways to invest in and help em-ployees become better.9. Manage employee careers and promotions: We manage careers and succession opportunities.

10. Allocate rewards: We provide financial and non financial rewards to ensure consequences.

11. Communicate with employees: We share information with employees so that they know what is expected orientation).

12. Retain our best employees: We have the ability to keep our top performers.

13. Remove appropriate employees: We dismiss employees who do not perform.

14. Create an employee value proposition: We have a clear employee value proposition to match what employees get from work based on what they give.

15. Track employee sentiment: We have good ways to track employee emotional response to work (e.g., engagement survey, productivity).

16. Have a shared purpose (believe): We help employees find personal meaning from work because their personal values match the organization purpose.

17. Provide employees growth opportunities (become): We give employees opportunity to learn and grow.

18. Feel part of a community (belong): We encourage employ-ees to feel part of a community at work.

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Talent Capability AssessmentPlease rate how well our organization deploys these talent prac-tices. Check one box in each row.


Organization. Winning in the marketplace comes from turning individual competencies into organization capa-bilities that make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Teamwork delivers business results more than talent; the workplace more than workforce; cultural systems more than skills. Over the last 30 years, we have worked to redefine organizations less by their morphology (structure, roles, rules) and more by their capabili-ties (see Figure 26 for books). The essential message of these books is that an organization is less about roles and rules or even systems and more about the capabilities required to win in the marketplace (e.g., agility - see Organization: Creating an Agile Organization above), information sensing (see 4.1 above), and other capabilities like collaboration, learning, managing culture, innovation, or customer centricity.

In this work, we have identified 12 general capabilities (see Figure 27) that create an identity in the marketplace (e.g., a part of a firm’s brand), confidence with investors (e.g., Google’s ability to innovate and Marriott’s abil-ity to create intangible market value), and reputation in the community. We can assess the extent to which an organization possesses these capabilities and the extent to which they help an organization desired outcomes.

Figure 26. Point of View on Organizations


Figure 27. Capabilities that Help an Organization Win

1. Talent: We attract, motivate, develop, and retain talented and committed people at all levels of the organization (workforce, people, intellectual capital, competence)

2. Agility: We make change happen fast (change, adaptability, flexibility, cycle time)

3. Strategic Clarity: We create a shared agenda and broad com-mitment and engagement around our strategy (strategic unity, purpose, new rules of the game, mission, vision)

4. Customer Centricity: We foster strong and enduring relation-ships of trust with target customers (NPS, market share, custom-er share, customer intimacy)

5. Culture: We create and embed the right culture throughout the organization (shared mindset, firm identity, values)

6. Collaboration: We work together to make the sum more than the parts (teamwork, cross functional, alliances, coordination)

7. Social Responsibility: We establish a strong reputation for positively managing planet, philanthropy, people, and political agendas (CSR, ESG, social citizenship, triple bottom line)

8. Innovation: We create new products, services and ways of working that are commercially successful (product creation, curi-osity, knowledge management)

9.Efficiency:We reduce the costs of our business activities (standardization, reengineering processes, streamlining)

10. Accountability: We set and meet commitments on time and within budget (execution, discipline, performance orientation)

11. Information: We assess, access and use information to im-prove decision making (predictive analytics, dashboards, score-cards)

12. Leverage technology: We exploit and apply latest techno-logical trends (digital age, AI, machine learning, internet of things)

Leadership. An individual leader matters but creating collective leadership brand throughout an organization matters even more for sustained business, customer, and investor results. We have worked over the years to articulate what is means to be an effective leader and to build effective leadership (see Figure 28). In particular, we have identified six steps to creating a leadership brand (Figure 29).

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Organization Capability AssessmentPlease rate the extent to which your business is good at these capabilities (what the business is good at doing and known for) to deliver strategy in the future. Check one box in each row.


Figure 28. Point of View on Leadership

Figure 29. Assessment of Leadership Brand

1. Clarify business case for leadership: We have a clear busi-ness rational for why leadership matters for business success

2.Definewhateffectiveleadersknowanddo:We have a definitive leadership competency model that defines the knowl-edge, skills, and behaviors of leaders that will deliver strategy (leadership profile, standards, expectations)

3. Assess leaders: We have a rigorous assessment of the quality of individual leaders and of our overall leadership group (leader-ship pipeline

4. Invest in leaders: We appropriately invest in ways to develop leaders throughout the organization through training, devel-opment experiences, non-work experiences, coaching, and so forth (individual development plan, leadership academy, career development)

5. Measure impact of leaders: We make sure we measure the impact of leaders’ personal competencies and leadership orga-nizational investments on key outcomes that matter to monitor leadership impact (Moneyball)

6. Ensure reputation: We make sure that leadership reputation shows up with internal (employee) and external (customer, inves-tor, community) stakeholders (intangibles, leadership capital index)

Human resources (HR). While business leaders are primarily responsible for talent, organization, and leader-ship agendas, HR professionals and the HR departments where they work also impact sustained organization

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Leadership Brand AssessmentPlease rate the extent to which your business is good at the six phases of leadership development to deliver strategy in the future. Check one box in each row.


success. We have studied extensively how the characteristics of an effective HR department (see Figure 30) and offer a nine item assessment for determining the quality of the HR department (Figure 31).

Figure 30. Point of View on HR

Figure 31. Assessment of HR Department

1. HR Reputation: Our HR department is known for our knowl-edge of the business context including general business trends and external stakeholders (customers, investors).

2.HRContext/Definitionofsuccess:Our HR department focuses on the future; our customers are the business’s customers and investors.

3. HR Strategy: Our HR department delivers the talent, leader-ship, and culture to increase customer share, investor confi-dence, and community reputation.

4. HR Design: Our HR department is organized around platforms of resources that enable businesses to reach their goals. HR is an ecosystem designed to meet each business’s market opportunities

5. HR creating capability: Our HR department is able to define and create the key capabilities that help our organization win in the marketplace.

6. HR Analytics: Our HR department relies on HR data based on the business impact. The business scorecard is the HR scorecard.

7. HR Practices: Our HR department offers integrated solutions tai-lored to customer and investor expectations who co-create them. 8. HR Professionals: Our HR professionals demonstrate compe-tencies that deliver value to key stakeholders and business results

9. HR Work Style: Our HR department anticipates business chal-lenges and proposes new solutions through relationships with outside stakeholders.

HR Department AssessmentPlease rate the extent to which your HR department meets these criteria of HR effectiveness. Check one box in each row.

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An OGS informs choices in each of these four paths to ensure that ideas have sustainable impact.

How Does an Organization Guidance System Work?

To make informed choices along each of the four paths above, we have identified three phases of an OGS: as-sessment/diagnosis; intervention; and precision navigation.

Assessment/Diagnosis. Any guidance system starts with information that sets a baseline, defines outcomes, and monitors progress. Assessments can be made in each area as described above.

• Talent: How well do we invest in practices that improve talent and bring people into and move them through the organization, increasing their commitment and enhancing their work experience?

• Organization: How well do we identify and create the capabilities (e.g., agility/speed, right culture, innova-tion, collaboration, efficiency, information asymmetry, etc.) to win in our market?

• Leadership: How well do we invest in creating a leadership brand that ensures our leaders deliver on our promises to customers?

• HR: How well does our HR department deliver valuable insights for business, customer, and investor out-comes?

Numerous assessments of these four pathways can now be unified into a set of diagnostics that can be mea-sured online (for free) to determine their current state.

By doing these assessments, we can create an “organizational quotient” (like IQ, EQ) that lets business and HR leaders know how they perform, how they perform relative to the global average, and where they can improve to deliver on their values outcomes.

Interventions for improvement. Like the adjustments to missiles, personal careers, autonomous cars, or other initiatives, the OGS offers insights on how to improve along each of the four pathways. There are literally thousands of interventions that can be made to improve each pathway (including utilizing the 2,900 HR apps). For example, to create a stronger leadership brand, organizations could do many initiatives ranging from rela-tively simple (e.g., read a book, listen to a TED talk) to moderately demanding (attend a course, receive coach-ing) to complex (create a leadership capital index for investors).

An OGS would offer business and HR leaders a menu of choices, each of which has a degree of difficulty to implement and a relative impact on the desired outcome. From this array of intervention choices, business and HR leaders can improve organization performance along each of the four paths.

Precision navigation for informed choices. All guidance systems monitor progress and offer adjustment suggestions in order to reach the desired outcomes. Likewise, an OGS offers ongoing, relevant, real-time, and actionable information to make better choices for the four pathways. This information comes in Software as a Service (SaaS) packages where leaders and HR professionals receive timely reports with insights on how to adapt to meet desired goals. This precision navigation helps leaders know when they are getting off target and how to adjust to deliver sustainable impact.

What Are Our Overall Aspirations for an Organization Guidance System?

The time is right to establish an OGS because a thorough body of knowledge exists for each of the four paths (talent, organization, leadership, and HR), and we are weaving them together to deliver business, customer, and


investor results. Coupled with the latest technological advances (e.g., SaaS packages), the OGS can be read-ily accessed, scaled, and personalized for organization effectiveness. We will prepare this OGS in partnership between RBL and CorpU, calling the project RBL.AI

Using online assessments/diagnostics, intervening relevantly, and advising with precision navigation choices along the four pathways will help business and HR leaders craft organizations that win for employees inside and customers and investors outside.


6. HR IMPACT ON BUSINESS DIGITAL AGENDA

A digital business agenda helps any organization access and turn data into information, use that digital infor-mation to make better choices, and ultimately add more value to the firm for all stakeholders. In recent years, HR professionals have become increasingly focused on adding value through strategic work more than admin-istrative work. To further this strategic HR focus, we have identified six actions HR professionals can pursue to help make a digital business agenda happen (see Figure 32)

Figure 32. HR’s Role in a Digital Business Agenda

Build a Business Case

For a digital business agenda to be accepted, employees need to have a shared awareness of and need for digital information that improves decision-making. HR wants to help employees recognize the dramatic implica-tions of technology advances that come from accessing and using digital information. Communication of this business case from HR should reduce employee fear about emerging technology disruptions and help them see artificial intelligence as an assistant or enabler. As smart devices (e.g., home automation) and technology as-sistants (e.g., Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant) become more widespread in personal use, employees may become more aware of their potential for improving work settings as well.

HR can facilitate communications additionally through blogs or videos, question/answer sessions, discussion forums or chat rooms, town hall meetings, recognition systems, and other means. The rule of thumb is that someone needs to hear a message (e.g., that AI enables but does not replace people) ten times for every one unit of penetration. This consistent, simple, and redundant messaging about the impact of the digital on busi-ness helps employees replace fear with hope, and pursue the digital business agenda without hesitation or trepidation.

Build a Business CaseCreate general awareness of digital trends

Facilitate a Digital Business TeamForm and facilitate a multi functional team

Articulate Digital Business OutcomesHelp define the business outcomes of digital efforts

Audit Current Digital StateHelp perform an audit of the digital state

Craft Digital Business PlanHelp shape and implement for the digital business

plan with steps and accountabilities

Implement the digital business planCreate and deliver implementation plan


Facilitate a Digital Business Team

Some firms have mistakenly made the “IT” function the steward of the digital business agenda. Building an overall digital business agenda requires a cross-functional team because each business function accesses infor-mation to make better overall business decisions.

• Marketing provides information about current and future customer trends to tailor and customize custom-er solutions.

• Finance accesses information on the economics of technology investments and their impact on shareholder confidence and value.

• Information technology builds the hardware and software, and deals with other technology issues (e.g., privacy, security) in order to build the backbone of good information.

• Operations requires information to understand the supply chain and the operations of the organization.

• HR provides employee and organization information required to make change happen.

In addition, HR professionals should be gifted at creating and managing a high-performing team to ensure that this collection of different functional specialties works together to deliver on the digital business agenda.

Articulate Digital Business Outcomes

A digital business agenda must deliver business outcomes that matter. The digital team should ensure that these outcomes are defined, tracked, and woven into an accountability system. HR can lead the facilitation of these outcomes since HR professionals have skills in performance management, which requires clear expecta-tions and outcomes.

In general, the digital business outcomes follow the logic of a balanced scorecard and might include outcomes such as:

• Financial:

• Increased revenue from digital information as information creates new markets and products.

• Reduced costs as digital information creates operating efficiencies through lean manufacturing, auto-mation, sourcing, or other mechanisms.

• Increased investor confidence as investors recognize the digital agenda that will help a firm adapt to future opportunities.

• Customer:

• Increased revenue from targeted customers (e.g., complement market share with customer share of key customers) through digital information on them.

• Increased net promoter scores as customers experience more positive interactions with the firm in ways that work best for the customer by connecting with them through technology.

• Increased customer loyalty as retention grows with more customer information.• Organization:

• Increased ability to track key information sources to build key capabilities—such as innovation, collabo-ration, service, and change—that are required to win.

• Increased ability to create the right culture that turns customer promises into employee actions by monitoring and measuring the right culture.


• Employee:

• Increased productivity by having employees focus where their unique talents add the most value by tracking employee data and desires.

• Increased employee sentiment as employees find meaning and purpose from working in the organiza-tion by connecting people through technology.

HR professionals can work with the digital business team to facilitate the selection of those specific outcomes that would be most relevant for their business. These outcomes then become expectations that HR weaves into communication plans as well as compensation packages.

Audit Current Digital State

Digital business agendas don’t happen by chance; they require management attention. This attention often begins with a digital business audit to set a baseline for the use of digital information for business results and also assess the extent to which digital information is used in the multiple functions of a business to improve decision-making.

HR professionals have experience doing leadership 360 assessments where leadership competencies are as-sessed by multiple assessors, and organization (or culture) audits where the systems in an organization are assessed as a baseline score. With this background, HR professionals can help the digital business team form an audit by selecting audit questions and then collecting data from multiple perspectives (like a 360).

The outcome of this audit is a baseline that can be used to track progress in the digital business agenda.

Craft Digital Business Plan

The fifth action in creating a digital business agenda is to prepare a digital business plan. This plan, prepared by the digital business team, turns awareness into desired outcomes. Often an organization has a template for planning. If so, this template can be adapted to a digital business plan. If no planning template exists, the four steps in Figure 33 can be readily adapted to the digital business plan. By asking the questions about vision, goals, actions, and follow up, an HR professional can work with the digital business team to prepare a plan that gives a company confidence in achieving their digital business outcomes.


Figure 33. Steps in a Digital Business Plan

Step Questions Digital ApplicationVisionWhat are we trying to do?Where are we headed?

Is our vision:• Accurate (Is it the right one? Will it add value to others?)• Accepted (Do we stakeholders buy in and act on it?)• Clear (Is it well understood?)• Motivating/Energizing (Does it inspire the right behaviors?)• Future focused (Will it create a future opportunity?)

GoalsHow will we track the vision?

Are our goals:• Complete (Do they measure the right things?)• Visible (Are they transparent to those who use them?)• Important (Are they tracking the right things?)• Controllable (Do they deal with things within one’s control?)

ActionsHow will we go about ac-complishing our goals?

Are our actions:• Focused (Are we doing the right things?)• Improving (Are we learning what we can do better?)• Starting with small and simple things (Do we start small?)• Tailored (Do we adapt to each individual?)• Consistent (Are we making our actions into a pattern?)

Follow UpHow will we hold people accountable in positive ways?

Do we follow up: • Through formal and informal conversations?• With positive accountability?• By linking to HR systems (staffing, performance, promo-

tions, training, communication)?

Implement the Digital Business Plan

The sixth action in creating a digital business agenda is to ensure implementation of the digital business plan. HR professionals should be experts and make change happen by defining and encouraging individual (leader) behavior change, organization (culture) change, and managing the process of making change happen.

Implementing Digital Business Plan: Conclusion

By doing these 6 steps, HR professionals become advocates, sponsors, and facilitators of digital change.


CONCLUSION

This playbook is about the importance of the emerging HR digital agenda, with the question:

What do technological changes mean for how HR operates to increase impact on all organization stakeholders?

By [1] understanding context of technology, [2] recognizing implications of digital on individuals and organiza-tions, [3] seeing trends in human capital,[4] defining an organization guidance system, [5] being able to create and implement an organization guidance system, and [6] facilitating a digital business strategy, HR profession-als deliver much more value to employees, organizations, customers, investors, and communities.

Endnotes

© 2019 The RBL Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or using any information storage or retrieval system, for any purpose without the express written permission of The RBL Group, Inc.

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The Emerging Impact of Digitalization on HR