The Top 10 HR Reports

As I reflect on the vicissitudes of 2010, one word perfectly sums up the year: change. Change is inevitable and the fact of the matter is we are all trying to survive in this evolving business landscape lest we be eaten up by the Fittest. 

From a Human Resources perspective, we are seeing an emergence of the new era - the period of HR 3.0 Unless we, as HR professionals, develop the capacity to adeptly navigate through this rampant change, we'll become outmoded and value-less.

I took some time reviewing the year of 2010 and wanted to share the top HR reports that are worth re-reading, studying, analyzing. This will equip us with the right tools and knowledge to prevail in this fight for change. 

Here you go. The Top 10 HR Reports: 

1. Are We There Yet? by Dave Ulrich
Many in HR seem to be asking the question, “Are we there yet?” Too often, many in HR seek but never seem to arrive at their destination. HR must move beyond 'administrative service' or 'compliance function' and arrive at 'business partner with credibility.' In this article, Dave Ulrich suggests and discusses steps in the journey ahead.

2. Boston Consulting Group's Creating People Advantage 2010

• This report details which HR practices and methodologies are helping companies to create competitive advantage and which need a different approach to suit the times. This analysis of a broad range of HR topics is based on the second survey conducted by The Boston Consulting Group and the World Federation of People Management Associations, which generated responses from more than 5,500 executives in 109 countries covering five continents and spanning many industries.

3. The Future of HR From a Shareholders Perspective by Dr. John Sullivan
Most pundits that forecast the future of the human resource function do so from a narrow perspective that assumes the future offers little more than an evolution of the past or present.  The forecasts fail to consider how radically different the profession might be if we threw out all that we do today and started with a blank slate, or if we handed functional leadership over to other functional professionals with little exposure to legacy HR thinking.

4. PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Who Gets the Top HR Job? 
A new study examines where the top HR leaders in the largest US organisations are coming from and where they may be headed. The financial crisis has offered an opportunity to rethink where many aspects of business are heading. Perhaps no functional area has gone through more turmoil than human resources. HR seems to be subject to renewed scrutiny by CEOs. Examining the background of top HR executives is instructive and may help inform how corporate leadership sees the HR function itself.

5. Center for Performance Led-HR's Engaged to Perform: A New Perspective on Employee Engagement
Our fundamental purpose in this White Paper is to examine this issue on behalf of HR Directors. We explore how thinking about the issue has developed over time, how assumptions have been created, sometimes tested, sometimes not. We guide the reader through the many, and sometimes conflicting, views about engagement and in so doing, help bring HR Directors to a better understanding of what can be done with this idea. In deconstructing the ideas behind engagement, we then put them back together again in to what we believe is a better HR strategy, and one that will endure over the forthcoming – and crucially important – few years.

6. Changing Mental Models- HR's Most Important Task by Jeffrey Pfeffer
In the “managerial knowledge” marketplace, there is little evidence of much diffusion of ideas, innovative business models, or management practices. In organizations not implementing what they know they should be doing based on experience and insight, and in companies not acting on the basis of the best available evidence, one main factor explains the difficulties—the mental models or mind-sets of senior leaders. How they are formed, what they are about, and a multitude of examples that show how those mind-sets can be improved are presented here.

7. Corporate Leadership Council's Building NextGeneration HR-Line Partnerships

8. IBM's Unlocking the DNA of the adaptable workforce

IBM interviewed over 400 HR executives at organizations from 40 countries to find out how they were addressing these workforce challenges. The 2008 Global Human Capital Study shows that in order to succeed in today and tomorrow's marketplace, there are key areas of focus that require the immediate attention of not just the HR function, but senior executives across the organization. The Human Capital Study highlights how addressing these key focus areas can help transform your workforce and take its performance to the next level.

9. Deloitte's  Tailored to the Bottom Line

The most profitable large companies share three practice areas that differentiate them from the least profitable companies:• Defining a clear and explicit people strategy that is linked to the business strategy• Performing formal succession planning across the workforce.• Linking employee pay directly with productivity of the company or to the respective manufacturing plant.

10. IBM's 2010 Chief Executive Officer Study

In a world fraught with uncertainty, what are today's CEOs doing to strengthen their situations against competitors? Previously, CEOs have consistently identified change as their most pressing challenge. Today, CEOs are telling us that the complexity of operating in an increasingly volatile and uncertain world is their primary challenge. And, a surprising number of them told us that they feel ill-equipped to succeed in this drastically different world. How are leaders dealing with this level of complexity? What strategies are the most successful organizations employing to tap into new opportunities, and overcome the barriers to growth? To find out, we conducted over 1500 face-to-face interviews—the largest known study of its kind with CEOs from companies of all sizes across 60 countries, representing 33 industries.

BONUS: 

11. Deloitte's Heading Off a Resume Tsunami

In a tough economy, voluntary turnover isn’t considered much of a problem. In fact, companies struggling to reduce costs any way they can might even welcome the idea of people leaving voluntarily. At the same time, most employees are hunkering down and not even bothering to look for other jobs.Of course, when the economy starts to turn around, it could be a whole new ball game. As companies scramble to find qualified talent, workers who suffered through years of anxiety and belt-tightening may defect in droves for better opportunities. Is this a real problem that business leaders should worry about now? Or should they wait and see what happens?

Sobering Remarks on Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership Quotes

FROM LISTENING TO SERVING

"We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead." ~ by William Arthur Ward as quoted in Leadership . . . with a human touch. June 1,1999. p.11.

"The goal of many leaders is to get people to think more highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves." ~ J. Carla Nortcutt

"Leaders we admire do not place themselves at the center; they place others there. They do not seek the attention of people; they give it to others. They do not focus on satisfying their own aims and desires; they look for ways to respond to the needs and interests of their constituents. They are not self-centered; they concentrate on the constituent. . . Leaders serve a purpose and the people who have made it possible for them to lead . . . . In serving a purpose, leaders strengthen credibility by demonstrating that they are not in it for themselves; instead, they have the interests of the institution, department, or team and its constituents at heart. Being a servant may not be what many leaders had in mind when they choose to take responsibility for the vision and direction of their organization or team, but serving others is the most glorious and rewarding of all leadership tasks." ~ by James Kouzes and Barry Posner in Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It.

"If leadership serves only the leader, it will fail. Ego satisfaction, financial gain, and status can all be valuable tools for a leader, but if they become the only motivations, they will eventually destroy a leader. Only when service for a common good is the primary purpose are you truly leading." ~ Sheila Murray Bethel, Making a Difference: 12 Qualities That Make You a Leader.

"Few people are successful unless other people want them to be." ~ Charlie Brown

"We are here to add what we can to, not get what we can from life." ~ Sir William Osler

"People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." ~ John C. Maxwell

"Being a leader who serves is very different from being a servant leader." ~ Isabel O. Lopez

"A leader lives with people to know their problems. A leader lives with God in order to solve them." ~ John C. Maxwell

"Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act 
accordingly." ~ M. Scott Peck

"A person who is worthy of being a leader wants power not for himself, but in order to be of service." ~ US Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr.

"There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being to help someone succeed." ~ Alan Loy McGinnis

"To help others become something that they could never on their own become, is putting value into that other person." ~ Unknown

"My research debunks the myth that many people seem to have . . . that you become a leader by fighting your way to the top. Rather, you become a leader by helping others to the top. Helping your employees is as important, and many times more so, than trying to get the most work out of them." ~ William Cohen, The Stuff of Heroes: The Eight Universal Laws of Leadership.

"You will find yourself in service to your fellow man, your country, and your God." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, not a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people." ~ US President George Bush

"Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it." ~ Marian Anderson

"The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve the leader, but the number of people served by the leader." ~ Adapted from a quote by John C. Maxwell.

"Whatever our career may be, true leadership means to receive power from God and to use it under Gods rule to serve people in Gods way." ~ Leighton Ford

"As leaders shift their focus to customers and quality, they realize that the old authoritarian leadership style does not work anymore. To achieve quality, service, and rapid response, leaders must utilize all available talent. They must find ways to inspire, involve, and empower employees. They must create a work environment that encourages commitment, innovation, and cooperation. Instead of evaluating, leaders now coach. Instead of doing, they delegate. Instead of telling, they facilitate. No one is expected to boss anyone. Everyone is expected to participate." ~ Dr. Suzanne Willis Zoglio in The Participative Leader, p. v.

"The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of like is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give." ~ William Arthur Ward

"The most valuable "currency" of any organization is the initiative and creativity of its members. Every leader has the solemn moral responsibility to develop these to the maximum in all his people. This is the leader's highest priority." ~ W. Edwards Deming in Principle Centred Leadership.

"Life is a place of service. Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness." ~ Leo Tolstoy

"No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist." ~ US President Calvin Coolidge

"At Western [Baptist College] we help students prepare to make a difference in the world for Jesus Christ as servant leaders who are informed Christians, competent thinkers and effective communicators. We have a reason to be in business and we know what it is! AND sometimes that clarity of purpose even drives us to heroic activity." ~ Julie Jantzi Vice President for Academic Affairs, Western Baptist College, 
Salem, Oregon

"A Godly Leader finds strength by realizing his weakness, finds authority by being under authority, finds direction by laying down his own plans, finds vision by seeing the needs of others, finds credibility by being an example, finds loyalty by expressing compassion, finds honor by being faithful, finds greatness by being a servant." ~ Roy Lessin

"No leader can possibly have all the answers . . . .The actual solutions about how best to meet the challenges of the moment have to be made by the people closest to the action. . . .The leader has to find the way to empower those frontline people, to challenge them, to provide them with the resources they need, and then to hold them accountable. As they struggle with . . . this challenge, the leader becomes their coach, teacher, and facilitator. Change how you define leadership, and you change how you run a company." ~ Steve Miller, Group Managing Director, Royal Dutch/Shell.

THE SERVANT KING
(FROM HEAVEN YOU CAME)
by Graham Kendrick
(Based on Philippians 2:4-8; Matthew 26:39; Isaiah 53:7; Ephesians 6:7)
From heaven You came, helpless Babe, Entered our world, Your glory veiled; Not to be served, but to serve, And give Your life that we might live. This is our God, the Servant King, He calls us now to follow Him; To bring our lives as a daily offering Of worship to the Servant King. There in the garden of tears, My heavy load He chose to bear; His heart with sorrow was torn, "Yet not My will, but Yours," He said. Come, see His hands and His feet, The scars that speak of sacrifice, Hands that flung stars into space, To cruel nails surrendered. So let us learn how to serve, And in our lives enthrone Him; Each other's needs to prefer, For it is Christ we're serving.

"Few things will pay you bigger dividends than the time and trouble you take to understand people. Almost nothing will add more to your stature as an executive and a person. Nothing will give you greater satisfaction or bring you more happiness." ~ Kienzle and Dare In Climbing the Executive Ladder
Researchers from the Center for Creative Leadership say that "insensitivity to others" in the primary reason why successful executives tumble off the track to the executive suite. ~ McCall and Lombardo, Off the Track

"Studies of unsuccessful executives portray people as loners -- managers who prefer to work independently, who are highly critical of their staff, and who are unwilling to share control of projects and problem solutions. Unsuccessful executives generally view team participation and discussion an a waste of time and have poor interpersonal skills, according to these studies; they're ill at ease with others, frequently making intensitive and undiplomatic remarks, and they look on other people with a great deal of mistrust. Managers who focus on themselves and are insensitive to others fail, because there's a limit to what they can do by themselves. Those leaders who succeed realize that little can be accomplished if people don't feel strong and capable. In fact, by using their own power in service of others rather than in service of self, successful leaders transform their constituents into leaders themselves -- and wind up with extraordinary results." ~ Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge, pp. 190-91.

"Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act accordingly." ~ M. Scott Peck

A STUDENT'S PERSPECTIVE ON SERVANT-LEADERSHIP

"It its through my experiences as a Servant Leader that I have grown as a human being. I stand before you a stronger and more compassionate leader. One valuable lesson I have learned is this: Happiness is not something to be pursued - It is through the service and kindness of others that happiness simply finds you!" ~ Suzy Meyer, Highland Community College, Freeport, Illinois

"A new moral principle is emerging which holds that the only authority deserving one's allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to Individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted servants. To the extent that this principle prevails in the future, the only truly viable institutions will be those that are predominantly servant-led." ~ Robert K. Greenleaf

"Servant leadership is easy for people with high self-esteem. Such people have no problem giving credit to others and have no problem listening to other people for ideas. They have no problem in building other people up and they don't feel other people's success threatens them In any way. . . . Servant leadership builds self-esteem and encourages Individual growth while obtaining the organization's objectives." ~ Ken Blanchard, Convene (February 1998) p75.

"As you wait upon the Lord, you learn to see things from His perspective, move at His pace, and function under His directives. Waiting times are growing times and learning times. As you quiet your heart, you enter His peace: as you sense your weakness, you receive His strength: as you lay down your will, you hear His calling. When you mount up, you are being lifted by the wind of His Spirit . . . When you move ahead, you are sensitive to His timing. When you act, you give as yourself only to the things He has asked you to do. ~ Roy Lessin

TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SERVANT-LEADER - LARRY SPEARS

Listening receptively
Acceptance of (and empathy with) others
Foresight and intuition
Awareness and perception
Highly-developed powers of persuasion
Ability to conceptualize and communicate concepts
A healing influence upon people and institutions
Ability to build a sense of community in the workplace
Practice contemplation
Willingness to change.

"Servant-leadership begins with the desire to change oneself. Once that process has begun, it then becomes possible to practice servant-leadership at an institutional level."

"Servanthood is the chief modifier of the power implicit in all leadership - a quality of innerness, an attribute of soul that checks the corruptibility of power ... Real power is always an exchange of leadership to use power to call out the God-given power of others." ~ Bennett J. Sims in Servanthood pp. 3l & 34

"Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them." ~ Ken Blanchard in "Servant Leadership" The Management Forum volume 4 number 3.

"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." ~ Martin Luther King Jr. as quoted in Even Eagles Need a Push p. 109.

"The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people's lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them." ~ Rabbi Harold Kushner

"Leadership is getting people to help you when they are not obligated to do so." ~ John C. Maxwell

"True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader." ~ John C. Maxwell

Innovative Mentoring Strategies to Engage Gen Y

Throughout my university career, I have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of serving as a human resources consultant for my undergraduate society and various student-runned clubs. In retrospect, not only have these invaluable experiences enabled me to widen my perspective, cultivate a client-focused mindset, but also it allowed me to further hone the core competencies indispensable for an effective HR professional. 

I'd like to share my thoughts on a fascinating article I read in the May issue of Harvard Business Review on strategies for engaging top performers and Millennials.Check out: Mentoring Strategies (HBR Article) 

Speaking of Millennials, I, too, happen to be one. The interesting part is that since I'll be working as a HR professional, I have to think primarily in terms of the interests of the organization. At the same time, I happen to a Gen Y, so I find this ability of putting on multiple hats and switching them anytime and anywhere a key competency of a HR professional. Namely, HR desperately needs to understand the various perspective of the diverse needs of stakeholders in an organization to lend credence in whichever productivity-related initiative they propose. Unfortunately, this lack of credibility has partially contributed to the tainted image of HR in most industries. HR is currently experiencing 'growing pains'  where HR is now becoming a strategic imperative where meaningful impact is displayed through people solutions. 

Going back to my main point, the article suggests the following innovative strategies to engage the top talent in the Gen Y offered by some of the best-in-class companies. These strategies are particularly effective to Gen Y, but not restricted of course to this cohort. 

1. Reverse Mentoring

"Reverse mentoring is where the responsibility of the mentor and mentee is essentially reversed. A Millennial is matched to an executive and assigned to teach him or her how to, say, use social media to connect with customers. The key benefit of reverse mentoring is that it allows junior employees a window into the higher levels of the organization so that when the mentees retire, the younger generation has a better understanding of the business. This arrangement is effective for building relationships. The mentors are getting access to more senior people, and they get to go behind the scenes, so to speak, to see how leaders thinking and offer insights. Also, the added benefit to the younger worker is a potentially accelerated career track as the mentoring arrangement raises their profile among senior executives in the firm."

2. Group Mentoring

"Group mentoring involves a more senior manager or peer-to-peer where the company sets up a technology platform that allows employees to define mentoring in their own terms. BT, the British telecommunications firm, offers a peer-to-peer learning program called Dare2share. "We found 78% of our employees preferred to learn from their peers, but little money or attention was focused on this," explains Peter Butler, the head of learning at BT. Dare2share is a social collaboration platform that allows employees to pass on their knowledge and insights to their colleagues through short (five and ten minute) audio and video podcasts. This has a huge benefit as new hires now get up to speed more quickly and training costs are decreased."

3. Anonymous Mentoring 

"This type of mentoring uses psychological testing where mentees are matched with trained mentors outside the organization. Exchanges are conducted entirely online, and both the mentee and the mentor, who is usually a professional coach or seasoned executive remains anonymous The engagement lasts six to twelve months. The anonymity aspect is a boon. "I would never have shared with my mentor some of the things I did if he or she had known my identify or my company." says a mentee of VP creative services for Decision Toolbox."


Ultimately, enhancing the company's ability to give employees honest, timely, and useful coaching won't benefit just the 20-something works. "Am I continuing to learn and grow?" is the key question that all companies face. The way the company answers the question may give companies the competitive advantage. in attracting, developing and keeping tomorrow's talents. 

Mentoring with Microfeedback

One tool that can satisfy the thirst for guidance with minimal resources is microfeedback. Think of it as performance assessment for Twitterholics—succinct and nearly real time.

Susan Hutt is now the senior vice president of services and product development at Camilion Solutions, a Toronto-based software company. At her previous job as a senior VP of Workbrain, a San Jose–based software company, she realized she needed to change the way she coached her staff. Millennials made up most of her workforce and, she says, “wanted constant feedback and information on their career progress.”

Hutt instituted quarterly reviews and an online, on-demand assessment system that limited feedback to 140 characters. To employees accustomed to instant messaging, texting, and Twitter, the brief advice and suggestions for improvement felt digestible and timely, not curt. The system also allowed them to hear—quickly—from a broad set of people and find out whether they were on the right track. For instance, after an all-hands meeting, an employee could send requests for feedback to five people. “Was it relevant?” they might ask. “Did it cover the content you needed?”

The length limit forces people to think carefully about their responses, and because they must respond so immediately, they’re able to provide useful detail. The software involved also collates the responses into a performance dashboard, so employees can track their own private trend lines on skills they are working to improve.

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

What drives employees to do their best work? Numerous companies operate under the prevailing belief that the key to motivating workers is giving them tangible rewards, including cash bonuses. In Daniel’s Pink groundbreaking book, Drive: The Surprising Truth of What Motivates Us, he proposes persuasively that these companies have it all wrong. Popular thinking is that reward practices that are built around external, carrot and-stick motivators, aimed to boost productivity. But in fact this idea is outmoded because the studies from behavioral science consistently suggest that the key to high performance and workplace is intrinsic, internal motivation.

The set of assumptions to which our HR practices are operated under are almost entirely around extrinsic motivation. That is, the mechanistic if-then reward and punishment approach. If-then rewards work really well for ‘algorithmic’ work – tasks that have a set of simple set of rules and clear destination to go, like many of the 20^th century job responsibilities. However, these tasks are now outdated where today’s challenges are ‘heuristic’ – where problems are complex and solution is not obvious.  In the U.S., only 30% of job growth comes from algorithmic work, while 70% comes from heuristic work. A key reason being routine work can be outsourced or automated; artistic, non-routine work generally cannot.

Well, Pink suggests that the starting point any discussion of motivation in the workplace is simple fact of life: People have to earn a living. If employee compensation isn’t adequate or equitable, the focus will be on the unfairness of the situation.  Without fairness in baseline compensation you’ll get very little motivation at all.  But once we’re past that threshold, carrots and sticks can achieve precisely the opposite of their intended aims.  Rewards can transform an interesting task into a drudge.  They can turn play into work.  Traditional “if-then” rewards can give us less of what we want.  They can:

• Extinguish intrinsic motivation
• Diminish performance
• Crush creativity,
• Crowd out good behavior
• Encourage cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior
• Become addictive
• Foster short-term thinking

“This idea was first suggested in the 1960s, when psychologist Sam Glucksberg, now at Princeton University, experimented with the “candle problem,” a test in which participants are given a candle, matches and a box of tacks and asked to fix the candle to a wall (the solution lies in using the box as a platform). Volunteers who were offered cash to solve the problem fast actually took longer to finish because, as Glucksberg concluded, focusing on the reward interfered with the volunteers’ ability to concentrate on completing the task at hand. In a more recent study, researchers at Harvard Business School asked a panel of artists and curators to rate pieces of artwork for creativity and technical skill without knowing whether or not the works were commissioned. The panel ended up ranking commissioned pieces lower in creativity than noncommissioned pieces, even though they found no difference in technical skill.”

Drawing on four decades of scientific research, Daniel Pink suggest the indispensable three elements of intrinsic motivation – autonomy, mastery, purpose.

Autonomy – the desire to direct ones own life.

It may seem counter intuitive but giving autonomy and freedom over what employees do and when they do it, is motivating in a way incentives are not. It is essentially management getting out of people’s way – to allow them to generate their best work.

Mastery – the desire to get better and better at something that matters.

This is a powerful motivator organizations often neglect. A recent study at Harvard Business School demonstrated the biggest motivator for workers was getting better at something and making progress in their work. So one of the most motivating things a manager can do is to help workers see, and acknowledge the progress they are making.

Purpose – people do better work when they feel they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.

Often employees don’t see how what they do matters in a broader context. Managers can enhance motivation by demonstrating how what people are doing matters and how it contributes to what the organization is trying to achieve – not just for themselves but for the community they serve.

Drive underscores businesses that promotes these principles. For instance," Google allows its engineers work on any project they choose for 20 percent of their work time—a policy that has yielded popular products, including Google News. Toms Shoes in California matches every sale with a charitable donation of a pair of shoes to a child in the developing world. Pink also cites educational institutions such as Montessori schools that let kids follow their natural curiosity in self-directed activities. Moving beyond the world of work, he advocates designing your own exercise program rather than following a gym’s cookie-cutter one to motivate you to break a sweat."

In conclusion, businesses ought to be acutely aware of the importance of such intrinsic motivation. Left ignored at their own peril, the companies may face unprecedented negative implications and opportunities in their workforce.

If you are fascinated by this groundbreaking research, check out this brilliant clip on Drive. 

HBR Article Highlights: Are You a High Potential?

Abstract:
Nearly all companies identify their high-potential managers. Processes for developing lists of high potentials vary, but the rising stars who make the grade are remarkably similar in their core characteristics and behaviors. In a sense, they share a basic anatomy.

The constitution of a high potential includes four intangible factors: a drive to excel, a catalytic learning capability, an enterprising spirit, and dynamic sensors that detect opportunities and obstacles. The best exemplars of the high-potential profile exhibit all four in spades.

Getting onto a high-potential list is extremely desirable, but it can demand great sacrifice. And the consequences of falling off the rolls after having been given the honor can be substantial and permanent.

The Anatomy of a High Potential

"High potentials consistently and significantly outperform their peer groups in a variety of settings and circumstances. While achieving these superior levels of performance, they exhibit behaviors that reflect their companies' culture and values in an exemplary manner. Moreover, they show a strong capacity to grow and succeed throughout their careers within an organization - more quickly and effectively than their peer groups do."

1. Deliver strong results - credibly
"Competence is the baseline quality for high performance. But you also need to prove your credibility. That means building trust and confidence among your colleagues and , thereby, influencing a wide array of stakeholders." 
2. Master new types of expertise
"Master the technical expertise that the job requires. As you progress, broaden that expertise. You start by managing an employee or a small group, and then move on to larger teams and positions that require you to exercise influence despite having limited formal authority. For example, in senior roles technical excellence might fade in value relative to strategic thinking and motivational skills." 
3. Recognize that behavior counts
"Outstanding skills never really diminish in importance, but they become a given as you are expected to excel in roles with broader reach. Prospective candidates for that coveted high potential label must demonstrate a behavioral shift from 'fit and affiliation' to 'role model and teacher.' 

Four X-Factors of High Potentials

"X factors" are intangible factors that usually don't show up on lits of leadership competencies or on performance review forms."

X Factor #1: A drive to excel
They are more than willing to go that extra mile and realize they may have to make sacrifices in their personal lives in order to advance. 

X Factor #2: A catalytic learning capability
Many people out there learn continually yet lack an action or results orientation. They have the capacity to scan for new ideas, the cognitive capability to absorb them, and the common sense to translate that new learning into productive action for their customers and their organizations. 

X Factor #3: An enterprising spirit
High potentials are always searching for productive ways to blaze new paths. They are explorers and take on the challenges of leaving their career comfort zones periodically in order to advance. 

X Factor #4: Dynamic sensors
Successful high potentials have well tuned radar that puts a higher premium on quality results. High-pos have a knack for being in the right place and the right time. 

Developing Your X-Factors
First, you must become aware of where you're falling short. For instance, catalytic learning requires an interest in acting, not just learning. Self-reflection is key- time to invest time and energy. 

High-Potential Status Has Its Downsides
1. There's no tenure. People can and do fall off the list, and some remove themselves voluntarily or by default because they don't have the time or the passion for the journey. Among the reasons for losing a spot on the list are making a poor transition into a new role, diminished performance two years in a row, 
behavior that's out of line with the company's culture and values, and a significant visible failure. 
2. Being singled out for extra developmental attention also can entail sacrifices in your personal life. Some people love to change jobs often, but for others that creates an enormous amount of stress, not to mention tough family-related and other choices. 

Bottom Line...
Getting on a high-potential list can be a significant growth opportunity. However, you need to figure out not just how to get on the list, but why you want to in the first place. And that means soul-searching. Are your ready for high potential status? Is it what you really want? If so, the rewards of obtaining it can be huge; if not, then focus on your passions in other ways.


Check out this informative HBR clip on "Keeping Top Talent Engaged in Tight Times." 

A Daily Prayer

In this age of self-promotion, we often let ourselves succumb to the temptation of self-aggrandizement. Especially western culture and education praise such behaviors. In consideration of my Korean heritage, I faced many conflicting moments internally, and continually sought to reconcile these opposing values of servanthood and egoism. In this prayer, I found newfound hope, encouragement, and enlightenment. That is, values that are espoused by our Christ Jesus our Lord ought to take utmost priority over any other secular values. 
     
     Lord, as I grow older, I think I want to be known as…

     Thoughtful, rather than gifted

     Loving, versus quick or bright

     Gentle, over being powerful

     A listener, more than a great communicator

     Available, rather than a hard worker

     Sacrificial, instead of successful

     Reliable, not famous

     Content, more than driven,

     Self-controlled, rather than exciting

     Generous, instead of rich, and

     Compassionate, more than competent

     I want to be a foot-washer. 

Competency Model for HR Professionals

Dave Ulrich arguably the foremost thought leader in the field of Human Resources conducted a HR Competency Study, sampling more than 10,000 HR professionals and their business clients to identify essential HR competencies for an effective HR professional. The following are most important competencies of a HR professional:

• Credible Activist: The HR professional is both credible (respected, admired, listened to) and active (offers a point of view, takes a position, challenges assumptions). Some have called this HR with an attitude. 

• Culture and Change Steward: The HR professional recognizes, articulates, and helps shape a company’s culture. Culture is a pattern of activities more than a single event. Ideally this culture starts with clarity around external customer expectations (firm identity or brand), and then translates these expectations into internal employee and organization behaviour. As stewards of culture, HR professionals respect the past culture and also can help to shape a new culture. They coach managers in how their actions reflect and drive culture; they weave the cultural standards into HR practices and processes; and they make culture real to employees. 

• Talent Manager / Organizational Designer: The HR professional masters theory, research, and practice in both talent management and organization design. Talent management focuses on how individuals enter, move up, across, or out of the organization. Organization design focuses on the capabilities an organization has that are embedded in the structure, processes, and policies that shape how an organization works. 

• Strategy Architect: The HR professional has a vision for how the organization can win in the future and plays an active part in the establishment of the overall strategy to deliver on this vision. This incorporates recognizing business trends and their impact on the business, being able to forecast potential obstacles to success, and facilitating the process of gaining strategic clarity. The HR professional also contributes to the building of the overall strategy by linking the internal organization to external customer expectations. This linkage helps make customer-driven business strategies real to the employees of the company. 

• Operational Executor: The HR professional executes the operational aspects of managing people and organizations. Policies need to be drafted, adapted, and implemented. Employees also have many administrative needs (e.g., to be paid, relocated, hired, trained, etc.) HR professionals ensure that these basic needs are efficiently dealt with through technology, shared services, and/or outsourcing. This operational work of HR ensures credibility if executed flawlessly and grounded in the consistent application of policies. 

• Business Ally: The HR professional contributes to the success of the business. Businesses succeed by setting goals and objectives that allow them to respond to external conditions. HR professionals contribute to the success of a business by knowing the social context or setting in which their business operates. They also know how the business makes money, which we call the value chain of the business (who customers are, why they buy the company’s products or services). And, they have a base understanding of the parts of the business (finance, marketing, R&D, engineering) so that they can help the business organize to make money.