The Future of H.R. - part 4

Joe,

I've chewed on your list and I think that all of these are important areas for the HR department of the future (and probably of today as well). However, I think that one important thing was left off the list. When you look at this list, you might forget that HR is in the business of people. To that end, I think that HR teams need to become like Tom Cruise's character in "The Color of Money" and become a "student of human behavior."

This isn't anything new, but HR should be the internal expert on why people do what they do. We should be curious and constantly studying the behavior of individuals and teams. Perhaps this isn't unique to the future, but as people continually evolve and change, so must the organization's understanding of what's important to them. Recently, I've heard a lot of talk about how the drivers of employee engagement has shifted during the recession. If HR isn't sniffing around to figure this out, who will be?

You ball. Where to next?

Jason

More on "stick-to-it-ness" and What Really Matters

Really good topic Jason, and I think that this is a really good example of what makes the concept of “talent” far more complex and contextual than we often think. Gladwell is one of the thinkers that has done a good job of reminding us of this. I think that resilience, work-ethic and the other characteristics you mention are all really important to long term success, though they are probably difficult to evaluate for, identify and measure...though we all probably know them when we see them.

One of the things that this post brought to mind for me was the importance of knowing what really matters as an organization. I think that we tend to over-estimate our ability to measure and even define "talent", but we probably do even worse on these other characteristics that you mention.

I am a fan of Bob Sutton. I read his blog regularly and have read a few books authored or co-authored by him. My favorite is The No Asshole Rule, which does a nice job showing that when we do find someone that is talented (a high performer) we often overlook all the other really important stuff (respect, integrity, etc.) which can do a lot of damage to organizational culture over time.

I think that the idea of “cultural fit” is dicey at best and horribly flawed at worst, but I do think it is critically important to:
-know your organizational culture and what behaviors and characteristics support it
-integrate that information into your employment branding, recruiting, hiring, on-boarding and development practices
This helps you as an organization be who you claim to be, rather than having a mission statement that says something very happy and shiny and having employees and leaders behaving in a very different manner.

The second thing that this brings to mind for me is that we are desperately in need of a new way of leadership. Leadership that delivers results is one thing and is valuable in the short term. Leadership that identifies, supports and rewards integrity, respect, work-ethic, etc. is a very different thing and one that is in short supply today.

-joe

Big Brother Time

Joe,

Today is an exciting day for me because today is when my favorite reality TV show, Big Brother, returns to the air on CBS for it's 11th season. I love this show and I think that anyone who is a student of human behavior would love it as well. I think the show is brilliantly designed and I'd love to work behind the scenes in this show. But I digress.

In case you haven't watched the show, here's how it works. A bunch of over-zealous, money-hungry fame seekers are put together inside the Big Brother house. They cannot leave the house once they are in (until they are kicked out). The house isn't anything fancy, it consists of several bedrooms which the contestants must share, large living and kitchen spaces, a private "head of household" bedroom and an outdoor enclosed Courtyard with a pool and hot tub. Each week, the contestants compete to become the "head of household" or HOH. Besides having his/her own private bedroom for the week, the HOH also gets special privileges like certain foods, pictures of friends and family from home, AND the power to nominate 2 other contestants (or "houseguests") for eviction from the house that week. Each week, once the HOH nominates 2 houseguests for eviction, there is a "veto" competition where a nominated houseguest (or one of the others) can win the ability to veto their nomination for eviction. Each week then culminates with the eviction of one contestant and then the cycle repeats until there is just one left standing.

The game is one of strategy, deception, and skill. Big Brother introduces other interesting twists throughout the game including food competitions where the houseguests can earn certain foods for the week. If they fail, they are "on slop" for the week (which is apparently some kind of nasty looking and tasting grits-type substance) which makes people both hungry and irritable. The whole show is designed to create interesting interactions and frictions between the people in the house and it's wildly entertaining.

So, if you aren't convinced to watch yet, here's a list of seven reasons why you should watch Big Brother:

1. These contestants knew what they were signing up for so that makes it okay to delight in their agony and torture. Just kick back and enjoy the ride.
2. The contests are brilliant in their design. Each contest brings some new twist that tests mental ability or physical endurance. They are designed to break people. Some of the contests last hours. It's interesting to watch how different people respond to each challenge.
3. The game relies heavily on political and social skill. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot about how to be successful with people in high-stakes situations. On the flip side, you can learn more about how people with no integrity approach the same types of situations. (People at work often behave the same way).
4. Big Brother represents what HR is trying not to be, so pay close attention. All of the rules of the house are essentially "Big Brother" policies. They create and hurl these policies on the houseguests. In this case, the policies are designed to wreak havoc, but the way in which these policies are enforced probably feels to the houseguests like many of our employees feel at times. On the show, these "policies" are introduced randomly and without explanation. When they are rolled out, they create chaos and unsettle the house. Hmmm, does that sound familiar?
5. Summer television sucks. There's nothing to watch. Big Brother is on 3 nights a week. Problem solved.
6. Attractive people (if you are into that sort of thing). These houseguests were not selected by accident.
7. Integrity and trust always end up being an interesting part of the game. The houseguests make secret alliances and deals with one another from week to week. It's very common for a houseguest to play two groups or people against one another. It's always intriguing to see if the players who play with integrity come out on top (warning: the good guys don't always win.). I think you can learn about how individuals (and specifically leaders) in our companies make similar types of moves to advance their careers.

I hope you will check it out.

What's your favorite reality TV show and why?

Jason

Simon - Part 4

Jason-

Understood. But...

1. I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that each one of the other judges on American Idol would say that those 7 behaviors also apply to them.
2. I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that we could find American Idol fans that would say that those 7 behaviors also apply to other judges...maybe in some cases more so than Simon.
   

This is a perfect example of how the concept of "talent" is far more complex, dynamic and contextual than we generally believe...and how behavior is more contextual than we generally believe. We are each different from each other and we can express the same behaviors differently.

You like Simon. You think that Simon is a good judge (talented). I would suggest to you that your evaluation of Simon is as much about you and about the people Simon is surrounded by and next to as it is about Simon and what he does. Part of the reason you like Simon is because he is seated next to someone you consider to be borderline incompetent. Part of the reason that some people like Paula is that they believe Simon is borderline incompetent.

My point here is not really even about the value of diversity, but about our evaluation of someone being influenced strongly by the context, and the contrast of who they are surrounded by (and our own preferences, tendencies and orientations). Some of us are drawn to Simon and would like to work with more people like him. Some of us are more drawn to Randy or Paula or the New Person.

The 7 behaviors you are looking for are pretty commonly appreciated behaviors...those are things that many if not most of us are looking for in co-workers...the difference is in our individual interpretations and the context. For you, Simon is the embodiment of those behaviors. As crazy as it may sound, there are people that consider Paula to be the perfect embodiment of the exact same behaviors. There are people that value those 7 behaviors, but would hate to work around Simon.

So, I believe that you could set out to hire people with those 7 behaviors and end up with a team much like the American Idol judges...or you could set out to hire people with those 7 behaviors (and what they look like from your perspective) and end up with a team that is much more like a group of Simon clones...and likely dysfunctional.

-joe

Be like Simon Cowell - Part 3

Joe,

I am going to have to disagree with you on this issue. I agree that the diversity of a team is important. The reasons I shared for why I think Simon is a good model has little to do with "what" he does or "who" he is and more to do with the way in which he does his job. I want to share my list again becuase I don't think it has much to do with the diversity of the team.

1. He is passionate about his work.
2. He's honest and he speaks his mind.
3. He has his own opinons and isn't swayed by pressure to say the popular thing.
4. He doesn't mince words.
5. He has fun at work.
6. He doesn't appologize for who he is.
7. He is good at what he does.

You can have a very compelling and functional team who demonstrates these behaviors while at the same time being diverse and varied in their experiences and talents. Simon stands out in his situation because he happens to sit next to a borderline incompetent judge, although the measuring stick in entertainment is admittedly very different than in business.

Perhpas restating my position would help. I would take a whole company full of people who demonstrate the behaviors that I believe makes Simon stand out (my list above), not a whole company full of Simons.

Peace.

Jason