Recently the NY Times online published an interesting article titled ‘Seeing Customers as Partners in Innovation‘; a report on how some companies like 3M and the Hershey Company are working much more closely with their customers in the research and design process. The theory is by combining better and deeper understanding of customer needs, their processes, how they actually use   existing products with exposure to the latest research and technology underway inside the organization that more and faster innovative ideas and improvements will be generated.

Partnering with customers to drive improvements in the pace and quality of innovation seems to be a sound strategy and according to the NYT piece, both 3M and Hershey have seen some real benefits in their approach.

But after reading the piece, I started to think about the idea of Employees as partners in innovation.

Many organizations like to include ideas or concepts of ‘creativity’ or ‘innovation’ in their core values or mission statements, but when pressed with employee suggestions to try something new, or to modify an existing program or work process, managers often recoil.  Doing things ‘the way they are always done’ is generally easier, more comfortable, and sometimes necessary, particularly when many organizations are operating with much leaner staffs than in the past.

Some ways that companies can harness the ideas of the workforce to help promote innovation

Ask for ideas

The simplest way to encourage ideas and creativity from employees is simply to start asking them.  Set up a simple discussion forum on your company intranet or leverage one of many easy wiki platforms to ask questions and collect comments and ideas.  If you want to get a bit more sophisticated, deploy an ‘idea store’ using software specifically designed for idea generation.  Ideascale, Kindling, and several other low-cost solutions are available for this purpose.

Encourage investigation

Innovations are rarely isolated ‘eureka’ moments. More likely they are a product of a long term and concerted effort to try new approaches, explore ideas, and get feedback from across many people and parts of the organization. This will involve commitment from senior leaders, management, and a willingness to fail sometimes.  When employees realize that they have the freedom to explore and experiment, without constantly thinking ‘What if this doesn’t work?’, the more lasting and ultimately successful you will be.

Tell IT to back-off

Many innovations to product or process result from the application of new technologies, either to existing processes and products, or to solve previously intractable problems. But in many organizations access to new tools and technologies is controlled by central IT and individual employee workstations are commonly ‘locked down’ to prevent unauthorized, and potentially harmful programs and viruses from being introduced to the company’s network. But if you truly want to get more employees involved in innovation you will likely have to get IT to relax some of these restrictions.  The increased level of risk may just be the price you must pay to allow an employee to download a piece of software that just might lead to a breakthrough idea.

Hire the right people

More innovative companies can only be created by having more innovative employees. If your company is in an innovation rut, perhaps expanding or altering the ‘traditional’ sources for talent is in order.  Bringing in new blood can be a way of invigorating innovation efforts, and if that is not possible then perhaps some realignment of existing resources can be effective.  Asking people for their ideas may also reveal what they are passionate about, and enable you to leverage the existing employee population.

Reward

Contests, ‘best idea of the month’ prizes, or even small cash incentives are sometimes used to help get employees inspired to participate and share more freely their ideas and concepts. If you really want some tips on how to structure an incentive and rewards program to encourage more innovative behavior, check out Paul Hebert is up to at Incentive Intelligence.

Partnering with customers, vendors, and other ‘external’ stakeholders to spur and drive innovation is more common than ever and as seen for 3M and Hershey can lead to impressive results.  Perhaps ‘partnering’ with your employees can also yield the same kind of benefits.

About the author:

I have been focused on the implementation of technology solutions to solve business problems for almost 15 years, working with   organizations ranging from telecommunications to consulting to higher education.

In the past two years I have developed and served as the instructor for a Graduate course in HR Technology for Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.  The course focuses on the common applications of technology to solve HR and business issues.  We also have fun exploring the latest trends in Hr Technology like Performance and Talent Management, Second Life meetings, Twitter and wikis.

I started this blog mainly to try and get the students another avenue for information and resources beyond the traditional curriculum, from the perspective of someone they knew and (hopefully) trusted.

So, if any current or former students find your way here, please leave a comment and say hello.

Steve Boese

Follow me on Twitter

Send me an E-mail – [email protected]

Traditionally, third party recruiting firms are designed so that direct-hire recruiters run a “full-desk” (i.e. both the client and candidate side), whereas temporary recruiters will typically run a “split-desk” (i.e. an inside sales person or staffing coordinator works to fill the job order which was generated by an outside sales person). 

This stratification of the sales process works in certain high-volume, low skilled specialties, but for most of today’s niche focused   staffing firms, the old “split-desk” model is obsolete. 

Here are three reasons why:

1. Always Be Closing.

At its heart, recruiting and staffing issales. Any successful salesperson or sales trainer will tell you that the most important quality one must have to make it in sales is persistence. Number two (and its close) is a belief in one’s product. Both of these qualities are better achieved by someone running both sides of a desk.

Regarding persistence, it’s very difficult for a recruiter to gauge the level of persistence and follow-up necessary on a particular job order, if that recruiter did not originally solicit or take the order. Inevitably, something is lost in translation from taking the order and passing it off to be filled. In other words, time is wasted chasing a lead or not enough effort is give to an “A” order.

A sincere and passionate belief in one’s product is also critical for sales success.  In recruiting or staffing, one’s candidates are the “products,” and a true belief in that “product” comes from recruiting, interviewing and building a relationship with the candidate.  It’s very difficult for someone who runs only the client side of a recruiting desk to effectively sell or market a candidate without having the true belief in that candidate that comes from building a real relationship.  At times, the client becomes the product when one needs to sell an opportunity to a candidate, and the inverse applies.  Again, it’s an understanding of both sides (candidate and client) that creates the basis for a successful sale.

2. It’s the Economy, Stupid.

Spoiler alert – job orders are harder to come by than they used to be.  Blame the economy, blame technology, blame bad luck – it’s just a simple fact.  That doesn’t mean that business isn’t being done, but it’s rarely being done in the paint-by-numbers format of getting a job order, working a job order and filling a job order.  As mentioned above with reference to the level of follow-up necessary on a job order, working both sides of a desk allows one to manufacture placements where perhaps there was no “order.”

Example: Company ABC is going through an ERP software conversion.  They planned the conversion for their slow season so that they have enough internal employees to dedicate to the project.  They also negotiated an incredible rate from their VAR for help in the form of a technical implementation team.  There is zero percent chance that they are going to call a staffing firm to request additional consultants or temporary resources related to this project.  However, because of sales activities and meetings with the client, you know that Company ABC has a unique concern about the new ERP’s ability to interface with their inventory system.  Since you work both sides of the desk, you remember recently interviewing a candidate who implemented the same ERP with Company ABC’s competitor who had the same inventory system concerns.  While you were never going to get a “job order,” because you were working both sides of the desk, you knew your client’s pain points and your candidates well enough to make a very specific skill marketing call that results in a contract placement where no job order existed.

Sure, as the economy begins to rebound, job orders will get more plentiful, but there will also be more competition.  Business produced in the manner described above will provide more value to the client, generate higher margins and allow you to work in a space with fewer competitors.

3. The Customer is Always Right.

I’ve been in the recruiting and staffing business for six years, and the number one complaint I hear from my clients about my competitors is that they never know who they’re going to be dealing with next.  Our industry is plagued by high-turnover and unscrupulous characters.  Clients know this and it takes a leap of faith and a certain amount of trust for them to call out a job order.  It likely took a lot of time and effort to build enough of a bond with the client to get that first chance at working a job order.  That bond is immediately broken when the client is passed off from the person he knows and trusts to someone else. In every “split-desk” firm, a certain amount of business is lost because the client’s perception is that he isn’t being cared for properly.  He feels that if he’s not getting personalized service from the person who he’s built a bond with, then why not go with the competition or shop around to the lowest priced firm?

Selfishly, this point is especially important for the successful future of the recruiting and staffing industry.  More and more, recruiting and staffing is being commoditized (read Typo by David Silverman to learn more about how an entire industry can go down in flames due to commoditization).  Running a “split-desk” counteracts the relationship building and consultative selling which overcomes commoditization and will be the future of the industry.  

Bottom line – taking the recruiting/staffing process from cradle to grave is the best way to effectively manage the sales process and successfully deliver value to the client.  It fosters client relationships and will lead to more business and higher profits.

  Josh Hale, CAC, CSP has been active in the recruiting and staffing industry since 2004 focusing exclusively on high-end corporate accounting and finance placements.  Over his career, he has held every position within a staffing firm, including “rainmaker,” recruiter and manager.  Since 2008 he has been an Associate with the San Diego firm, General Ledger Resources, where he primarily focuses on project management and senior-level consulting engagements.  He has a bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego and spends his spare time working to improve his golf game.  He can be contacted at [email protected].

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshhale

http://www.gl-resources.com

5 Steps to Success

A little over 6 months ago I started to blog with the sole intention of motivating job seekers in these challenging times. I came up with 5 tools, one for each day of the “work” week, and I simply post quotes that relate to those tools, and then expound a bit. A funny thing happened. The comments I started to receive on the blog, on my Facebook Fan Page, and on Twitter were more often from small business owners and solopreneurs then they were from job seekers. I realized, quite accidentally, that the exact same   tools I was writing about to help job seekers stay the course, were necessary tools for anyone to succeed in these times. I’d like to share them with you. Understand that these are not “new” tools; their messages will not be astounding. That being said, it seems that we can all use a reminder periodically. As we enter into a New Year (and enter into a new Decade!!), I can’t think of a better time to recount the things that will help us all operate at our absolute best.

Preparation

I believe that one can only do one’s best, when properly prepared. This preparation may include setting up a space to work that is organized, clean and encourages concentration. It may include setting out time for certain tasks and planning your calendar. It may be planning your day down to the last detail. Yet, I think it’s also important to remember that there is only so much we can do to control the outcome of our events. We can plan, prepare, set goals, and even set expectations. We can research, do due diligence, practice, role play, and be as prepared as humanly possible, and while that’s all important, useful and in fact necessary, it doesn’t always help. And, there’s a fine line between being prepared and over-thinking, (a.k.a. over-stressing) about all the possible outcomes and how you can direct them. Sometimes you just have to let things happen and see how they turn out. I don’t prepare for the worst, because I don’t even want to put that out there – but as long as I believe that things happen for a reason, I’m ok. And, while I may never understand what that reason is, I do believe it is always for the best. One of my favorite “preparation” quotes is, “It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” (Author Unknown) I wish you all the power of a plan.

Focus

So, you’re prepared for anything. Great! You’ve set up your workspace effectively and you’ve minimized the risk for distraction. You’ve planned your schedule for the week. You know what you need to do. Now, you need to focus; stay on track. Razor sharp, laser-like focus is required, especially when you’re down, stressed out, overwhelmed, or otherwise preoccupied. Focus. Focus on one thing at a time. Choose the task; accomplish the task; move on to the next task. Make sure the tasks will help you accomplish your goals and take you to the next level. And follow through. Do what you said you were going to do; be accountable for your actions; be proactive; take control of the conversation. Too many opportunities are lost from a lack of follow-through. Use a calendar; tie a string around your finger; set an alarm or a task reminder; whatever it takes…  You can have the best of intentions, be extremely well prepared, and have great focus, but if you don’t follow up, you’ll blow it.  A subtle shift in where you put your efforts is sometimes all you need. Focusing on solving problems is still focusing on the problem, so I suggest changing the way you look at this altogether. I prefer to focus on the possibilities. A great quote, “Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our attention.” (Greg Anderson)

I’d like to add that it also matters HOW we focus our attention. Staying focused on the job hunt (or any work for that matter) amid all the distraction can actually be more difficult than it seems. For example, it often happens that I launch my browser to search for a quote for my blog posts, and I get sucked into Facebook instead… Social Media has changed the way many of us work, communicate, research, and play. It is the blurry line between wasting time and being productive that has caused much ado. But it’s not much ado about nothing. We need to stay focused on the job at hand, set time aside for each task, including the task of applying social media, and stay on track. LinkedIn, Twitter, even Facebook, can all be very useful in our work lives, but we need to use them appropriately. They should be just one tool on your tool belt and not replace face-to-face interaction and networking! But that’s another post…

Positive Attitude

We are in control of how we look at things. My dad frequently reminds me that while we can’t always control our circumstances, we certainly have control over how we think about our circumstances. I love that. The tone for my day used to be “set” when I rolled out of bed in the morning, unless of course, something drastic happened to alter that tone… but it was “set” by external conditions. And it wasn’t always positive. Once I recognized that I could change my attitude, I invented an alter-ego, “the new me”. Now, whenever I wake up cranky, or if something happens during the day that causes me angst, I remind myself to find “the new me”, and “fake it until I make it.” When my day is daunting, and lately that’s been happening a lot, I tend to panic. So, when I saw this quote, I actually printed it out in LARGE letters, and taped it to my computer for a constant reminder. “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” (William James)

Goal Setting

Goal setting can be overwhelming. Where do you start? Do you have a goal for the day? For the week? For the year? For the next ten years? This topic reminds me of a chapter in “Alice in Wonderland” when Alice is asking the Cheshire Cat for directions…

“Which road do I take?” (Alice)
“Where do you want to go?” (Cat)
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then, said the cat, it doesn’t matter.”

I believe that goal setting, including setting small, achievable daily goals, helps us to stay on track, and maybe even more importantly, gives us the opportunity to celebrate small successes. Accomplishments feel good, even when they’re small, and we can’t let ourselves get so bogged down that we forget to celebrate them. I often write about creating a journal or scrapbook based on your goals and desires. I believe that being able to visualize the achievement of your goals is half the battle. If you write down what you want, you have the start of your plan, and the basis for your goal-setting. If there are words that inspire you, write them down. If there are affirmations or quotes, or stories, put them in. Make it yours; own it. Then make it real. Stephen Covey said that he is convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people acknowledge. I do believe we create our own destiny, and we have the power to fulfill our dreams.

Motivation

Staying motivated, and letting that motivation carry you, or better yet, propel you forward, is a good thing. Remember those small successes? Celebrating them really helps me stay motivated. Success begets success. Not succeeding, however, can also be a strong motivator. While I firmly believe that I am exactly where I should be today… that does not mean at all that it is where I want to be tomorrow. And, I am responsible for my own future. Hold yourself accountable, or find someone to help hold you accountable, and go after what you want. You can get there if you believe you can get there. As the wise Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Your circumstances don’t define you. Be who you are and believe in who you can become.

About the author:

Jennifer is a talent acquisition strategist and career coach with over 16 years of recruiting experience and a passion for networking and social media marketing.

As a strategist she creates innovative recruitment processes which support the ever-evolving needs of her clients, and acts as a trusted consultant to help them achieve their recruitment and retention goals. She has proven success in sourcing across multiple functions at any level in an organization, developing a consistent candidate pipeline, creating a positive candidate experience, and increasing employee engagement through inspiring orientation and onboarding programs.  As a coach Jennifer offers tactical approaches to the job search process in all of her one-to-one sessions and workshops. With the ability to reverse-engineer the recruiting process for those in transition, she inspires people to take action in their career campaign.

In addition to continuously building her recruitment consulting practice, Jennifer is a Career Coach in partnership with Hire Aspirations, the Strategic Partnership Advisor and Networking Leader of Whine and Dine LLC, a social networking group for HR professionals, and a member of the Program Committee for the Southern Connecticut chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Jennifer is also the moderator for CT-Moms, the largest and most active networking group for mothers in Fairfield County, CT.

How many times have you heard people say, recently, that they are doing this? “…waiting for the economy to pick up.” “…hoping things get better.” “…just praying for this thing to turn around.” Maybe you have said it yourself. Well, I’m not waiting. I don’t think the economy is going to pick up any time soon. In fact, although December 2009 was very productive, I believe 2010 will be extremely flat. There, I said it.   So I’m not the 2010 economic cheerleader, sorry. There are indicators that point to a possible upswing. There are just as many that point the other direction. I’ve done the research. I’m sick of it. I can’t wait any longer. I’m not leaving anything up to “the economy”. And I’m not going to “just hang in there” for another year. I’m going to set records and kick some serious ass this year despite the freaking economy. “That’s easy to say…”, you say. Well I say it’s more about your frame of mind than the economy. Let’s play the “what would you do if you only had a year to live” game. I know, I know! My sincerest condolences if you really only have a year to live. I’m not being flippant. But, really, what would you do? I’m not talking about your free-time, personal bucket list (skydiving, milk a cow, learn Mandarin, host SNL). I’m talking about your business bucket list. This is the game where you want to leave a lasting legacy and plenty of security for your family (or maybe your future self). If you only had a year to make a pile of cash, or drastically improve your career or business, would you wait for the economy to pick up? I don’t think so. You would fearlessly do whatever it takes. You would take risks. Sleep little. Innovate more. You would have to work smart too. Go where the money is. For those of us in the talent business, and for job seekers, this means finding the sectors that are actually hiring. [Author’s note: Credit sourcing dynamo, Marie Journey, for encouraging me to take this post a bit further than I had originally planned. Thank you Marie.] According to a Manpower quarterly survey released in December, 75% of U.S. companies surveyed expect no change in their first-quarter hiring plans. BUT, per this article on CNNMoney.com…”The survey said companies in the mining, durable goods manufacturing, information and government sectors expect to boost hiring moderately. Companies in nondurable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and “other” services expect hiring to increase slightly.” Temporary hiring is expected to be up. And, according to CIOs surveyed in a Robert Half Technology study released Dec. 1 referenced in this article on eWeek.com, “Health care IT application development is expected to see the largest gains in project funding and hiring in 2010. However, network and Windows administration continue to be cited as the skills most in demand, which is consistent with hiring reports in 2009.” Yes, I see 2010 as economically flat. But I also see opportunity. So, I say to those of you who are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for things to play out, get out there and play like you have nothing to lose. Work harder. Work smarter. No excuses. Think about it, and please share your comments. What would you do differently if you only had a year to make the most of your business? What’s on your business bucket list? About the Author  Craig Fisher is Co-Founder and Principal of A-List Solutions, an Information Technology Staffing, Executive Search, and Social Recruiting Strategy firm in Southlake TX.  His fifteen years in recruiting also include positions as an award-winning Account Manager and Sales Director with Stark Technical Group, and as a top-performing Senior Recruiter with MATRIX Resources.  Craig started his nineteen year sales career as a pharma and medsurge rep with Glaxo and Smiths Medical. Craig is also a speaker and trainer for Social Job Search, Social Recruiting, and Social Branding strategies.  He hosts the TalentNet Live social recruiting forum on Twitter, featuring big names in recruiting and social media on the last Wed. of each month from 9-11PM Eastern at #TNL.  See www.talentnetlive.com for details.  Craig blogs at http://www.fishdogs.com and tweets at http://twitter.com/fishdogs.

 You should know up front that (500) Days of Summer is not a love story.  It is a story about one person looking for more out of a relationship than the other one is ready to give.  It is a story about how human nature has evolved due to social norms into allowing us to miss cues that would otherwise keep us from making the wrong decisions in life.  It is a story about expectation and reality.  It is a story that is simply a metaphor for life.  It is a story that, in this case, can be directly tied to Recruiting.

In the most basic terms, recruiting is nothing more than a love story (professional) – It has a courtship time (Sourcing), dating (interviewing), a proposal (offer),  wedding (The accepted offer) and a marriage (Retention).   It is a simple balance of managing the natural laws of attraction with the practical nature of future success and logic that is needed in every relationship.

In, (500) Days of Summer two sections jumped out at me both because I liked the way they were filmed, but also because they had such a clear tie back to recruiting and hiring.

1  In a split screen shot clearly labeled “Expectations” on one side and “Reality” on the other.   The guy is headed to a party and it show what he is expecting to occur (basically the girl falling madly in love with him) and the reality (Not giving it away).    This past month I sat in on one particular interview that played this scenario out to a T.  The candidate was a great fit (on paper) and I knew as soon as I met him that he wasn’t the right fit in person.  The hiring manager I happened to be helping out also knew he wasn’t the right fit very early on, yet continued the discussion sharing details and asking questions that would seem more appropriate only if you were actually interested.    The conversation led to a false since of reality and likely just expanded upon this candidates (now unrealistic) expectations of getting the job.  I can clearly see the split screen of the aftermath as he walks/drives home excited and the HM just isn’t.  At all.

2.  “She’s better than girl of my dreams, she’s real” In a randomly added documentary style interview section of various characters and them discussing the love of their life and how they knew it was “the one” this quote stood out.  We strive ALWAYS to find the “perfect’ candidate, but the reality and our expectations rarely align.  The truth is, there is not really any such thing as the perfect candidate, just like there is no such thing as the girl of your dreams…the reality is that what your expectations are searching for may not be right for the reality of what you actually need and you don’t realize it until it happens.

Recruiters often forget that the entire recruiting process is built around both the candidate expectations and reality they experience.  Are they (the candidates) getting (from you) the time, attention, effort they feel they deserve?  Are they giving the the time, attention, effort you feel they should?   Is your responsiveness and feedback providing a false sense of reality to them – encouraging them to embrace expectations that are unrealistic or is it truthful and effective.  I have talked a lot about candidate treatment and expectations over the years (From Since when do recruiters care… in 2006 to Does our industry care… in 2009) and yes, I have been frustrated with my share of stalker over excited candidates (Stop being so nice)  but I have also learned to develop an understanding of how to more carefully manage their expectations with reality of where we both stood.

Let’s really start to move forward in 2010 on candidate experience – beyond the employment brand and pretty websites.

About the author: ImSoCorporate.com

Through her roles in recruiting, project management, consulting and now as Chief Strategy Officer at HRMDirect Talent Management Software Sarah White has over 10 years of diverse experience aligning talent strategies with business strategies.  She is an experienced speaker, blogger, author and trainer working with organizations of all sizes and industries with a particular niche in privately held small to mid sized organizations.

In the past few years, she has served as keynote or guest speaker on a national, regional and local level for such prestigious groups as Kennedy Information, SHRM, HRMA, Young Professionals Group (YP), Children’s Miracle Network and more.  In addition, she authors articles and blogs, guest speaks in university classrooms, CEO roundtables and other business groups and has been tapped as an industry expert by Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and various regional newspapers and business journals.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications with a focus on Organizational Communications.

Social Capital: What it Means, Why it Matters, and How Science is about to Change the HR World

Don’t you just love the following (apropos) PowerPoint slide?  Chances are, if you’ve attended more than a single HR, Talent Acquisition, or Organizational Development conference, you’ve seen it at least a good 50 times:

“Human Capital is the collective knowledge, skills, and experience of all individual employees within the organization.”

If you’re in HR, or you interface with HR on a consistent basis, you’re well aware that these buzzwords are tossed around on a daily   basis.  Who needs ‘Paradigm Shift’, ‘Strategic Imperative’, or ‘Web 2.0’, when you have the one-and-only . . . ‘Human Capital’, right? J

So when we talk about Social Capital, I understand why Dilbert is justifiably raising an eyebrow from the back of the room.    However, even he admits we’re onto something when we suggest that Human Capital is all about what’s ‘within’ employees, while Social Capital is all about what’s ‘between’ employees.  Looking at our organization through a Social Capital lens means we must look beyond the black-and-white and see what doesn’t meet the eye, such as how information flows, the paths in which knowledge is shared, (sometimes hidden) communities of practice, informal networks, emergent connections, etc.  Social Capital means looking beyond talent and exploring the very ‘connectedness’ of that talent.

For an example, consider the notion of informal networks for a moment.  A July 2007 Fortune Magazine article, “The Hidden Workplace” perhaps captures the essence of these hidden power structures best:

“Anyone who has ever worked knows that the org chart, no matter how meticulously rendered, doesn’t come close to describing the facts of office life. All those lines and boxes don’t tell you, for example, that smokers tend to have the best information, since they bond with people from every level and department when they head outside for a puff. The org chart doesn’t tell you that people go to Janice, a long-time middle manager, rather than their bosses to get projects through. It doesn’t tell you that the Canadian and Japanese sales forces don’t interact because the two points of contact can’t stand each other.  In every company there is a parallel power structure that can be j ust as important as the one everyone spends stressful days trying to master.”

While you digest the above, take a moment and ask yourself why organizations spend so much time focused on ‘maintaining the formal structure [command-and-control] Org Chart’ when they so rarely reflect how the day-to-day work gets done?  Why is there such little focus on self-forming (in many cases) social networks when it is apparent  “how much information and knowledge flows through them and how little through official hierarchical and matrix structures”?

In fact, feel free to take this one step further and ask yourself why there is so much focus on improving ‘within-employee’ factors (skills, competencies, etc.) when research is showing us that competitive advantage is more driven through the ‘patterns of connections’ (often called ‘networks’ or ‘between-employee factors’) than the mean level of organizational talent alone.  According to Valdis Krebs, one of the foremost thinkers in the way of Social Network Analysis on the planet, “Teams are not made of talent alone.  It is how the talents of individual players intersect and interact that distinguishes a good team from a collection of good players.” The Network Thinker

The true value of the crème-de-la-crème HR Pro today, whether you’re in Recruiting or O/D, etc., is the ability to instinctively and consciously see these informal networks and embrace them.  It’s about the ability to justify what the nebulous notion of “fit” means to a room full of Executives who may only recognize the lines and boxes of the Org Chart.  It’s about the skill of making the invisible visible through the tools of Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) . . . maintaining the connections that drive value within these informal networks, while shifting or removing those connections that are not.  Ultimately, it’s about “organizing chaos” just enough to consistently (and incrementally) improve the collaborations, connections, and relationships that drive value creation.

So get excited!  This is truly a unique time to be in HR, and more importantly, an unprecedented opportunity to begin sprinkling a little science into what has notoriously been seen as a reactive-metrics driven, bureaucratic, liability reduction-focused, support unit wielding little to no organizational power.  The science of Social Capital, informal networks, and ‘connectedness’ is about to put HR solidly on the map of performance-driving superstars.  Are you ready for the ride?  If so, strap in – it’s about to get real fun in a big-time hurry.

About the author:

Joshua Letourneau is the owner of LG and Associates, a Strategic Sourcing, Executive Search, and Human Capital Intelligence firm based in Atlanta.  Prior to founding LG & Associates, Josh worked as a Sales & Marketing professional in the software biz and was a hard-charging Sergeant in the Marines.  In his spare time, Josh contributes to Fast Company.com meditates on the value of psychology in the talent game…

See Joshua’s Rants and Riffs on Fistful of Talent by clicking here…