During Talent Management discussion with various customers and the SF Talent Management implementation experience, there was one common question that each one of them had – “How exactly will Talent Search Help us ? ” and their approach to using the Talent Search was more as a Search tool which according to me defeated the whole purpose and philosophy behind the functionality. Yes, it is a Search tool, but the buck does not stop there, and its utility lies in how well the processes are designed “before” and “after” the search activity.

The Central Idea if I may put it for the Talent Search is “Find the Best of the Lot”. It is not only about searching the employees or candidates based on your criteria, but it also about streamlining the process around choosing the best one.

So How does “Talent Search” help ?

In order to streamline the search and “Select the Best of the Lot”. I would put across just 3 Pre-Requisites

1. Consolidate the Information – During the implementation, I think the customer should think ahead in terms of their process to understand “What Information do I use to identify a Talent either internal or external” and the same should be incorporated into your system to ensure these details are captured from the candidates and the employees and are made available readily.

2. Have we completed a Talent Review process – Most organizations consider Performance Review as their central process for identifying talent, however I believe that performance being mostly retrospective in nature does not give you a right baseline to identify your talents. “Potential” being forward looking, is a much better indicator for your talent identification process and should be used in conjunction with the Performance reviews to identify your “Stars”.

3. Competency Based Evaluation – Talents are all about behaviors and skills. Yes, Goals and Targets are required however in order for anyone to achieve them, the employees should be exhibiting the required skills and competencies. Hence without an appropriate Competency evaluation for present and future roles, the identification process again goes back to next available option which is performance which again only tells you how good an employee was but extrapolating the same for future talent identification might not be giving you the correct data. This also applies to the Hiring Process i.e. the candidates are evaluated on the Competencies and skills rather than just their achievements.

With the above 3 processes in place, I believe one can extract the full potential of the Talent Search functionality.

1. Create Criteria using vast amount of information captured i.e. the Competency Rating range, Experience, Talent Flags e.t.c. With Talent data now available form the review process and the competency evaluation done, build the right criteria using the competency score, data and required weight against each criteria. This is important since without this, it comes out to be just a search tool as good as an Excel, and the talent identification goes back to being filtering an excel to find out the right person.

2. Understand the Search Result Page

Based on the Criteria and Weight provided for each criteria, the search result provides the results and ranks them based on the match %. In addition to that the Talent Review result (9-Box) is provided on the search result page for quick view. I would emphasize again on the step 1 here because, Without proper criteria, the search results just churns out name just as in a directory!

3. Analyze

The Analysis tool is the most important step in the talent process where one can have the Side-by-Side view of the selected employees and it gives you the option to compare on all the data attributes that are captured or the performance and Potential attributes of the employees.

Lastly I would say

Without the right tool, any process can become tedious and error prone. With the right tool not being used in the right manner, the process can be made much more tedious and error prone. Hence it is important that one understands the philosophy behind the tool and use it the right way and in a way it was designed to be used.

Even within the well-run companies, pockets of resistance or misunderstanding can pop up among managers who are ultimately accountable for bringing pay strategies to life. You may have heard some of these myths:

1. “All of my people are good performers or they wouldn’t be here.” While this statement may be true, numerous industry reports confirm that companies improve performance — in terms of both revenue and profitability — when their compensation and rewards programs are clearly differentiated based on individual performance.

2. “The company met its year-end targets, so everyone should share the same rewards.” There are times when spreading compensation rewards evenly across the organization is perfectly appropriate — for example, the sharing of team or profit-based bonuses. However, this type of “peanut butter” approach doesn’t work for rewarding your top performers. Actually, it can create retention problems for these high-value employees.

3. “I can’t afford to discourage or disengage anyone on my team with no pay increase. I’m short-staffed as it is.” Diverting well-earned rewards from top performers is the disengagement risk you should worry about most. Holding a frank conversation with an underperforming employee who’s receiving a minimal pay increase may be challenging. However, these conversations are an essential part of a compensation strategy that rewards results.

4. “I know some people talk about confidential pay issues, and I don’t want the word to spread.” When employees clearly understand how their performance will be evaluated and rewarded in a transparent way, they’re less likely to have misgivings about a compensation program.

5. “I don’t have enough insight to differentiate performance.” Managers need factual and relevant feedback, observations, insight, and data to make fair decisions about pay. Getting quality information like this can be difficult and time-consuming, especially when working with paper or spreadsheets. An automated compensation solution makes it easier for managers to make sound pay decisions based on a complete picture of employees’ performance.

Attracting, motivating, and maintaining a productive workforce requires more than equitable salaries and wages. Don’t let these myths prevent you from moving toward performance-based rewards. Effective compensation management, as part of an integrated performance management process, can engage employees, ignite better performance, improve execution, and ensure retention of the true top talent. You can dispel these myths easily with a few simple steps: a focus on total rewards, the alignment of goals, appropriate calibration and differentiation, the right technology, and good employee communication.

Source: SuccessFactors “ Pay, Performance, and Productivity”white paper

 

Rolling Arrays is Asia’s premier award winning HR transformation company, headquartered in Singapore with offices in 6 countries. Since its inception in transformation projects for more than 50 blue-chip clients across Asia. A consultative approach to HR processes, HR functions and HR software is Rolling Arrays core expertise and the primary catalyst for its success.

Everyone would agree that happiness at workplace is directly proportional to the productivity. Studies show that when employees are happy & at peace with their work, it is reflected in their work & the final outcome is tremendous. As Edison once said “I never did a day’s work in my life – it was all fun”. Then again work is called “work” for a reason. It’s not all fun & games. But how much fun is too much fun? There is a thin line between “fun at work” helping to keep the employee’s morale & productivity up & “fun at work” getting in the way of actually doing the work. Mostly perceived as an employer’s responsibility, employees can help themselves enjoy their work more by cultivating a few simple but good habits

Punctuality

Being on time at work or work related activities shows traits of a true professional. It helps gain trust among peers & employers that the person is capable of keeping his/her word & also values & respects others time. The entire workplace runs smoothly if the employees & employers are on time for work.

Friendly Morning greeting

A simple Hello or Good morning wish not only lays foundation for a good day but also helps break the ice with the colleagues. More than anything else it’s the mere acknowledgement of the presence of someone is the first lesson of interpersonal communications. Saying ‘good morning’ makes things less awkward when you inevitably have to address your co-worker later in the day.

Avoid Gossips

Most people know that its best and professional to avoid gossips at workplace. It creates unnecessary tension & people become judgemental towards each other. Although it is difficult to control workplace gossip, but you can control yourself by not being a part of it. Change the subject of the conversation whenever you feel that someone is trying to share some information or say something that you don’t want to be part of.

Be open to Feedbacks

Feedbacks, whether good or bad helps you grow not only professionally but personally too. You learn about certain aspects of your work which even you may not be aware of. No one is perfect hence you cannot expect to receive positive feedbacks from superiors or peers every time. Like positive feedbacks boosts your confidence & negative feedbacks should motivate you to strive towards achieving what you have lacked so far.

Compliment others

Its alright to engage in a healthy competition in office but it doesn’t mean you cannot compliment others on their achievements & success.

Grow a social circle

A friendly workplace is a happy one. Liking & enjoying co-workers increases your happiness quotient at work. It adds another element that you look forward to while coming for work.

Don’t compare yourself with others

Different people come from different places & head their own way. Drawing comparisons may lead to workplace tensions & inferiority or superiority complex. You strive towards achieving your own goals & giving your best shot at it.

Happiness is an inside job. We decide how happy we want to be. A little positivity & change in attitude can help achieve a perfect work-life balance far more easier.

A lot of our customers are overwhelmed by the SuccessFactors Goal Execution module but at the same time they also question practicality of the product when implemented. While we look back at this question, I believe we need to understand the philosophy behind the concept of Goal Execution as I see it. Appreciate the effectiveness and the need to adapt to the concept.

We all agree that one main dimension that affects performance of an employee is “motivation”.  If we look back at DR Edwin Locke’s research on goal setting and motivation in the 60’s, it has been clearly established that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher motivation and this has been substantiated by studies conducted at workplaces. So, how does goal-setting theory work?

• Directs attention
• Regulate effort
• Increase persistence
• Foster the development and application of task strategies and action plans

Most companies today have adopted the “SMART” Goal setting process but we also need to look at the 5 principles of the goal setting in parallel and strike the right balance which can help companies drive motivation and that is where goal execution plays a very significant role.

Clarity – The Goals have to be clear and unambiguous. It is clearly seen that when employees have clear goals and a definite time set for completion, it drives motivation through clear expectations rather than vague goal such as “Be Proactive” which has limited motivational value.

Challenge – Employees are motivated by achievement and their engagement and effort is driven by the sense of Significance. Tying the rewards to the goals make sure that there is sense of accomplishment and from an organization point of view its fulfilling to reward such goals. One has to also ensure that a right balance it maintained between Challenging and Realistic. Setting unrealistic challenging goals will be demotivating and may have worse effect than setting simple goals.

Commitment – Commitment can be driven by Proactive goal setting by employees or having a goal setting discussion where Managers set or cascade the goals to the employees or combination of these methods.  Commitment is also driven by the difficulty of the goal and it is observed that difficult and challenging goals motivate employees and the rewards tied to such goals are also fulfilling.

Feedback – Constant engagement, reviews and discussion is important. Since the goals are measurable, it may be broken down into smaller milestones and regular feedbacks and checkpoints will keep the employees focussed and motivated. However one has to ensure that there is constructive feedback during the process.

Task Complexity – For goals or assignments that are highly complex, one has to ensure that the work targets do not go out of reach. It’s therefore important to Give realistic Time frame and Provide tools and opportunities to learn in order for the employee to develop required skill set to execute the goal

In summary,

• Setting Specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance, particularly for simple rather than complex tasks
• Goal commitment strengthen the effect of goal-setting on performance regardless of how the goal was set – self assigned, cascaded or discussed.

 

Rolling Arrays is Asia’s premier award winning HR transformation company, headquartered in Singapore with offices in 6 countries. Since its inception in transformation projects for more than 50 blue-chip clients across Asia. A consultative approach to HR processes, HR functions and HR software is Rolling Arrays core expertise and the primary catalyst for its success.