HR Reflections

SHRM Discussion Post

Technology

Technology has dramatically changed the way business is conducted and how businesses operate. One thing that resonated from talking about technology stems from my HR interview. When asked how HR has changed over the last few years, she did not hesitate to say that technology was probably the biggest factor. For HR it has created new tools and challenges that they must deal with. For example, social media is a huge thing right now. For HR this means a lot of different things but a big use of social media in HR is for hiring and recruiting. Currently, in my organization HR uses social media to seek out the passive job seeker through sites such as LinkedIn. The HR department in my organization also handles all internal and external communications. Therefore, technology also has big effect on this aspect. For example, HR professionals are in the midst of developing a company blog which is a change from company newsletters. The HR professionals must adapt their skills to both understand from a technical standpoint how to leverage the different technological tools. Technology is also important to HR in that it can help both from a cost savings standpoint to a time savings standpoint. Using technology can help HR streamline processes so as to make them more cost and time efficient. A good example of this is employee self-service benefits page. Using technology to save HR and employees time can then free up those resources to focus on more important tasks.

Metrics

This week we discussed analytics and metrics with regards to HR. Many departments such a finance use analytics often but we might not necessarily recognize how valuable these tools can be for HR. This part of the course really fell into place at the right time because we recently had a meeting with the VP of Actuarial and Research Analytics. This meeting really helped me understand how analytics and metrics really help to shape and drive business decisions in an organization. Since HR's goals are best aligned with the business strategy, using analytics can help HR shape and drive business decisions with the strategy in mind. One example that I believe relates to this had to do with some metrics within my own organization. At my company, there is a big push for hiring people who fit within the culture. Having the right employees and highly engaged employees is a big part of the strategy and vision for the company. Since hiring, training, developing and retaining are all aspects in which HR are heavily involved, they are responsible for doing those with the culture in mind. Every employee who goes through the application/interview process is required to take a predictive index. The HR department has researched what specific answers on the rest correspond with the type of employee they want to hire. With this research they have been able to use this test as a big decision factor in the hiring process. In my interview with the Susan Glynn, Director of Talent Development and Communications, she confirmed that hiring was based more on personality/behavior factors than technical skills. In this situation, its clearly seen how analytics are used in HR to shape and drive business decisions and align with the business strategy.

Change Champion

During this weeks reading and discussions we learned about change champions. I have always heard of change agents but change champions is quite a new term for me. After reading through the text I can better understand why being a change champion is important. Since many change initiatives fail, its imperative to have change champions that can help better facilitate the change. Many initiatives die out for lack of support or resources but a change champion would be able to focus on preventing or correcting such issues to increase the likelihood of successful implementation. My one question with change champions is are there specific qualities that someone has that makes them a change champion instead of just a change agent? If so, what are the qualities and skills needed to be a change champion and can they be taught and learned? I have heard so many debates about whether leadership itself is an inherited or learned talent and maybe both. A change champion has to be a leader and therefore makes me wonder exactly what makes someone a good change champion. How can the company invest in hiring talent with the qualities that make them a change champion?

Communication Audit

In chapter 7 of our text this week we learned about the HR Innovator and Integrator. There are 5 competency factors for the HR Innovator and Integrator. The five factors are: optimizing human capital through workforce planning and analytics, developing talent, shaping organization and communication practices, driving performance and building leadership brand. In addition there are five core HR practices areas that are the focus for innovation and integration and these are: people, performance and reward, information and communication, work and organization, and leadership. One of the real important aspects in an organization is communication. Little or bad communication practices can lead to misunderstandings and inefficiencies. A tool called a communication audit can be a useful tool to gather information as to how well people or messages are communicated. As states in the book, "the quality of ongoing communication can provide a powerful measure of work and organizational effectiveness." There are various methods that can be used to conduct a communication audit. Some common methods are survey's, interviews, observation and focus groups. Using a communication audit can provide valuable information into how effective or ineffective communication is within an organization. On a personal level, I have seen many communication audits being used within my organization. One of HR professionals conducted surveys that were completed by each department. After the survey's he conducted focus groups to better clarify and understand the survey results. The last focus group was centered around communication with management. These communication audits within my organization seemed to have no only benefit managers but also employees and the organization as a whole.

Capability Audit

If I was to do a capability audit for my organization I would score it as follows:

Talent: 4
Speed: 3
Shared mindset: 4
Learning: 3
Collaboration: 4
Innovation: 3
Accountability: 4
Leadership: 4
Strategic unity: 4
Efficiency: 3
Customer connectivity: 5
Social responsibility: 5
Risk: 4

In choosing the most critical I would say: customer connectivity, social responsibility, and shared mindset. These three being very important aspects to the culture of the organization. Customer service is one of our top priorities. In addition, charitable work is also a big part of the culture and a value in which most employees share. Lastly, shared mindset connects employees and engages all to work towards the greater good of the organization.