Are you an 'A' Player in HR?

We decided to take a short trip to Seattle this weekend, and I siezed the opportunity to re-read a few chapters from Bradford D. Smart's book, Topgrading. Smart emphasizes the importance of all decision-makers in organizations to top grade their talent into A, B and C players. The A players are the ones you want to find and keep, whereas the B/C players are either repositioned or exited from the company. Easier said than done, right?

So how does top grading link back to the title of my blog post - Are you an A Player in HR? Ever wonder where your name falls on the list of A, B or C players? If you are unsure, perhaps go through this 10-point list that Smart provided us in his book. If you answer "no" to most of these, start writing your resume.

#1. Top grade your HR team. Hire the best and hold them accountable to top results.

#2. Support the entire management team in top grading. It's not easy, especially if your organization doesn't typically encourage managers to top grade. You'll have to walk them through the steps and remind them every so often of when to do it again.

#3. Drive best practices in recruitment. HR should reinforce to managers to "recruit for life". Don't keep skipping from one probationary period to the next. It's costly and you'll never get your strategic vision off the ground.

#4. Coordinate job analysis and the creation of job descriptions that really describe jobs needed. Spend time articulating the right competencies for this role.

#5. Create strong recruitment sources. Prescreen search firms, hire powerful recruiters that aren't afraid to build a virtual and in-person network, and create a strong image with universities and websites.

#6. Lead design of top grading systems. Have the best systems in place for hiring and promoting A players. Specifically, applicant tracking system, performance management, management development, succession planning, compensation, and mid-year career reviews.

#7. Adjust the level of pay for A players. Utilize current pay surveys and tap into your network for other industry specific bonus and perks.

#8. Coach team (peers & boss) to follow through on Individual Development Planning process.

#9. Organize training, talent meetings, candidate visits, new hire orientation, etc. to impress and inspire your A player talent.

#10. Measure your effectiveness as an A Player in HR. E.g. Cost of mis-hires, percentage of A & A potentials at each level, follow-through on IDPs.

I highly recommend this book for all heads of HR, as well as new pros coming into the industry. Happy 2010 HR!

Great idea from a candidate - Self Promotion from Your Twitter Followers

I doubled up on an interview today with my Marketing Manager and a candidate for our recently posted Communications Developer and Editor position at Aritzia. She passed along a great tip that I thought I would share with any candidate on the search for a golden opportunity right now (and, please don't all try this with future Aritzia jobs). In order for her to ensure her resume got to the top of the pile, the candidate started a Twitter account shouting out to her fans, followers and friends to vote on how cool a blogger she was and how we should consider her application. Now, I can't divulge where we are at in the hiring process, but I still thought it was an idea worth sharing!

Increasing My Comfort Level with Social Networking and Recruiting

Since Linkedin came out a few years ago, I jumped at the chance to engage with colleagues and network with HR professionals world wide. But I was somewhat reserved when it came to Twitter and other tools to get my thoughts out. Now things are getting easier and there are even more tools to help you streamline your activities.

I remember when I first signed up with Twitter last year. I started sending out a few tweets here and there. I started following a few folks that I knew of. But then all of a sudden I started getting all these people following me...and not even requesting to follow me, as you receive on Facebook and Linkedin. I felt completely invaded and that my thoughts were on full view to the world. Yikes! I also started reading some draw-backs to using Twitter, like the Cisco Fatty incident, and more. That really deterred me from using the site altogether.

But that's not typically my attitude to most things I don't understand. So I started to investigate more into the whole purpose behind twitter and what the benefits could be to my company's brand and my own personal brand as an HR professional. I started following HR bloggers such as Fistful of Talent, Punk Rock HR and HR Capitalist. I started this blog and was really active...but then got side tracked (by the way, I'm back and have more ideas on how I can blow this out more). I've learned the trick is to stay on top of all of these tools, sites and resources. It's constantly changing, getting upgraded or tossed. And I thought the leap from Beta to VHS to DVD was fast (lol)!

Last Friday, I attended a session, hosted by BCHRMA and the HR Tech Group's Recruitment SIG, on understanding social networking tools. It was led by Barbara Agostini from NAS Recruitment Communication. Barb simplified many of the social media sites out there today and revealed some great tricks to help get you started. Here are some of my take-a-ways:

• Great examples of career portals - Ernst & Young, Freddie Mac, Cisco, Best Buy, and local sites included - Elastic Path
• Facebook - largest increase in new users is over 50 yrs. old and largest group still curently using Facebook is 18-24 years old.
• Facebook advertising is a low cost and easy to manage method of posting new positions in your company. Plus you can track the amount of visitors to your posting.
• You Tube is ranked #5 as most used social media tools. Some companies have seen recruiting success, like Cisco and their recruitment videos.
• Linkedin also offers advertisement spots (on top of your inbox and down the right hand margin). This site might be better suited for the "professional" roles you need in your company.
• I just added the Linkedin Toolbar for Outlook, based on Barb's advice. It's a great time-savings and you can easily add people to your network without having to login to Linkedin every time.
• For more understanding on how to maximize the usage of Twitter, check out http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
• Companies that are using Twitter well - RogersCareers and MunicipalJobs
• Tweet Deck helps you house all of the social network sites you are following
• Wink - allows you to see all of the sites your network is using

A couple of other tips - whatever your method, it needs to open up dialogue to your audience and needs to appeal to your end user.

I'm still learning and experimenting. Love to know what you think!

Does EIQ still have a place in the new era of business?

I was first introduced to the concepts of Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) over ten years ago. I went through an assessment that acknowledged my ability to identify whether I was happy or sad; whether I could recognize happiness or sadness in others; whether I would react with the appropriate emotional come-back; and whether I could monitor my own levels of happiness or sadness. When you are working with people, all this sort of stuff can be really useful, right?

Based on my obvious curious nature, I read books and articles, mostly through Harvard Business Review and the sensationalized works of Daniel Goldman. These resources marketed the benefits of knowing your EIQ and the your colleague's EIQ. We all walked around diagnosing each other - "high empathy", "low mood monitoring", etc. After the initial interest died down, we discussed how this could add value to our hiring and development practices with future leaders.

When hiring potential candidates, EIQ used in isolation can be costly. By relying on what an assessment tools concludes as being a candidate's natural tendencies, is very different than how a candidate would act in a real-life situation. That is why I would always recommend utilizing behaviour based questions in tandem with the EIQ assessment to determine whether a candidate will be a good fit for the role and organization. Likewise, when developing future leaders. I would not rely of the EIQ summary to help determine the promotion or succession plan of our next CEO. EIQ is a data point and can change based on a person's circumstances, context and time spent reviewing and answering the questions. Folded into a leadership development program that includes 360-degree, mentoring and professional and/or peer coaching can be very effective.

Here are some thoughts from other HR pros:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/career-education/mentoring/CAR_MEN/326556-933031

I took another EIQ assessment a few weeks. Night and day difference from the one I took 10 years ago.

The Better Manager: Women vs. Men. Is there a difference?

Some think yes. Some academics have studied the results (don't ask me to insert a link 'cause I don't have one). Being a woman and HR, I don't reallyhave a preference as long as there are leaders that can transform an organization when needed, can act with empathy, and can get results with their people.

Others have very clear ideas about women leading versus men leading. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/business/26corner.html?8dpc=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1248613279-JEW0dz7C3wWnMeo7TQyxSw

You decide.

I have found though, in the tech community, women make up only 15-20% of a company's demographics. They want leadership roles, but struggle to be heard. There is a secret expectation that their skills should be obvious to the men who make most of the decisions regarding performance and promotions. Not so! In a heavily male dominated industry, women may need to stand out more and acquire a different tool kit to be heard.

Here's a few resources to look at:

Women Leading Women at http://www.tekara.com/learning_wlw.html

Effective Public Speaking (12 week course, BCIT, MKTG 1323)

Organizational Influence and Persuasion (12 week course, BCIT, ORGB 2455

HR Training: Compensation and Benefits 101

Need to brush up on the foundations of compensation practices, or understand which federal laws impact compensation and benefits decisions, or need to put in place multiple country compensation programs, why not check out ERI.

The Economic Research Institute or ERI has a wide range of online self-study resources for all things relating to compensation and benefits. You can sign up for online sessions immediately for free. Or if you pay $25 you can receive accreditation towards your PHR, SPHR, GPHR.

http://www.eridlc.com/

Leadership Team Strengths

What if your team is missing something? What if we keep hitting a wall and can't get through the blockade?

Tom Roth and his book Strengths Finder 2.0 suggests that you don't need to give up on the team. http://gmj.gallup.com/content/113338/What-Makes-Great-Leadership-Team.aspx#1

Instead, identify what strengths are shared amounst the collective group. Celebrate how those concentrated efforts have created successful moments in the organization. Now, look at where the group has a lower amount of strengths. Ask yourself, what would be the downside of not having these strengths on our people? Our clients? Our products? What would we need to do to compliment these strengths?

And it doesn't mean you have to eliminate members of the team. It just mean you might need to ask for help, use various resources inside or outside the company, expand the team's skill and capabilities, etc. Lastly, be aware of what strengths your group has in common and plan how everyone's strengths can be maximized.