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The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows:

“… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list:

Creative 53%

Teaching 28%

Other 19%

That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of his workdays on creative pursuits like research and writing books, 30 percent on teaching-related activities, and 20 percent on all the other things he has to do.”

This seems to be an odd approach to allocating how to spend one’s time! However, this time allocation suddenly makes sense when you consider Jim Collins “overarching goal,” which is “to produce a lasting and distinctive body of work.”

Besides making wise use of his time in a way that supports his overarching goal, Mr. Collins keeps focused, making sure he is not distracted.

“Mr. Collins also is quite practiced at saying ‘no.’ Requests pour in every week for him to give speeches to corporations and trade associations…”

To achieve meaningful and challenging goals requires “… a willingness to say no and focus on what not to do as much as what to do…”! All leader’s who are passionate about perusing a challenging vision, have to ensure they spend their time wisely and remain focused on their goals. How are you doing?

• Have you allocated your time in a way that support your overarching goal?
• Do you say “no” to distractions?

 

Technorati Tags: Goals, Vision, Leadership, Management, Time Management, Business, Focus

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3. Persistence: The key to the achievement of meaningful goals
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5. Free Tony Robbins Goals Workbook

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Stew Friedman writes a great post titled “Define Your Personal Leadership Vision” in which he provides some guidance on how to go about defining your personal leadership vision. He describes a personal leadership vision as…

“… an essential means for focusing attention on what matters most; what you want to accomplish in your life and what kind of leader you wish to be. A useful vision has to be rooted in your past, address the future, and deal with today’s realities. It represents who you are and what you stand for. It inspires you, and the people whose commitment you need, to act to make constructive change towards a future you all want to see.”

The personal leadership vision is comprised of the following four components:

• A compelling story of the future is engaging; it captures the heart, forces you to pay attention. Those who hear it want to be a part of it somehow. And they are moved.
• What does your future look like – what’s the image? If others could travel into the future with you, what would they find? A well-crafted leadership vision is described in concrete terms that are easy to visualize and remember.
• The story of your future should be a stretch, but it must be achievable, too. If it were not achievable, you would have little motivation to even bother trying.
• Finally, future simply means out there – some time from this moment forward, but not so far away that’s it’s out of reach.

A personal leadership vision provides an anchor for uncertain times. Without out a clear leadership vision we are too easily tossed to a fro by every wind change. Finding it difficult to make progress and distracted by unnecessary work.

• Is your personal leadership vision clear?
• What dies the future look like?
• Is it achievable and future-focused?

 

Technorati Tags: Vision, Leadership, Future, Management, Business, Leader

Related posts:

1. The four key components of a personal leadership vision
2. Effective leadership requires clarity
3. Are you investing in your personal leadership?
4. 14 Fundamental Principles of Vision
5. The management of attention through vision

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I an busy reading the book “Just Enough Anxiety” by Robert Rosen, which proposes the following five tasks of leadership.

1. Leadership: Successful leaders willingly travel into the unknown.
2. Strategy: Successful leaders set an evolving course through ambiguity, complexity, and change.
3. Engagement: Successful leaders inspire and challenge people to perform beyond their own expectations.
4. Growth: Successful leaders learn and relearn in real time by stretching themselves and the business.
5. Innovation: Successful leaders imagine possibilities, discover opportunities, and release creative energies inside their organization.

I thought this a great summary of the five key tasks of leadership. How effectively are you performing these five leadership tasks?

Technorati Tags: Leadership, Management, Business, Practice, Strategy, Growth, Innovation

Related posts:

1. How to effectively delegate tasks…
2. How to Keep Your Innovation System Alive and Well
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Dear me - where did that last month go?! Anyway - it was my intention that after posting the original article to follow it up quite quickly with my thoughts on it as a marketing piece, then I looked around and it was Mid August. For anyone who can't be bothered to click through to that original post here's the video: Matt commented: "I'm all for a bit of stealth marketing and this is certainly entertaining but I really don't think it pulls it off. A phone that has everything and Nova Scotia.....I can't really see any kind of link that would make the humour and the surprise reveal resonate in an effective way " And I agree - it's indeed a clever and entertaining piece, and I agree that if you look deep there's no perceptible resonance between what's being sold and the execution. But my biggest frustration/disappointment with...

Which Performance Management Rating Scale Should You Use?

Moving to a smaller rating scale can increase distinction between high- and low-performing employees. Read the pros and cons of the Three, Four and Five-Point Scales. 

 

Over the years, I have gathered numerous papers and research from various sources about Performance Management Rating Scales. This is always a very sensitive discussion for companies as they determine which rating scale they should use for their employee performance management process and why they should change their current rating structure.   

 

Some of the research shows moving to a smaller rating scale approach (Five-Point, Four-Point, or Three-Point) because fewer categories hold the following benefits:

 

• Increased distinction between high and lower performers
• Decreased complexity
• Increased consistency between ratings

 

What I've experienced over time is that when organizations use larger scales (some up to 9 points), they don't use the full scale anyway. For instance, one company I worked with left the top rating on the scale for performers that could, as we called it, “walk on water." No one ever fell into this category, but it was there just in case. In another company, the lowest rating was left for the unacceptable performer, but they were always “weeded out” before the performance cycle began and never received the performance rating.

 

Some managers like larger scales because it gives them a sense of security; they can be safe giving a rating that falls in the middle somewhere versus on either end of the scale, and they won’t get as much grief from the employee.

 

Then there is the subjectivity that impacts the performance rating. If there are fewer categories, there is less subjectivity and inconsistency between the evaluators. To an organization, less subjectivity and inconsistency hopefully means more fairness.

 

Based on my best practices collection, I have a pros and cons list of the Three, Four and Five-Point rating scales. I thought I’d share the results -- maybe they will help you make decisions for your company as you make changes for the future. The list has already helped a number of Cornerstone clients I’ve talked with. Remember, since organizations are at different levels of maturity, some of what you see may not “fit” with your organization.

 

 Five-Point Scale

Pros	Cons
Consistency with A-F grading model Less training required Managers can adequately distinguish between five levels Consistent with bell curve	Middle rating perceived as mediocrity Difficult for manager to communicate how to attain higher levels Only fours levels are usually used Use of central category is common

 

Four-Point Scale

Pros	Cons
Absence of middle/average rating Avoids central category commonality Finer distinction than three-points Skews raters in a positive or negative direction	Hard to differentiate improvement from termination Only fours levels are usually used Skews raters in a positive or negative direction

 

Three-Point Scale

Pros	Cons
Consistent with Total Quality Management principles Easy to categorize Increase consistency Middle rating implies expected performance, not average	Managers will often add plusses or minuses Doesn’t identify needed improvement from possible termination Only two levels are usually used No recognition of top 2-5% performers

 

In the end, an organization needs to determine the direction of their rating scale and performance management process based on a number of factors:

 

• Organizational readiness
• Comfort level with change
• Current state of their performance management process and pain points
• Integration points with other talent management strategies
• Executive vision
• Board of directors' influence
• Implications that can hinder performance management process (i.e. time of year, business impact, etc.)

 

And one last recommendation: Build a collaborative approach with all business units that’s right for the organization today and can grow with the organization tomorrow 

 

Laura Durando is a Client Success Manager with Cornerstone OnDemand. She has over 25 years of business experience and has held executive positions in Talent Management and Organizational Development with multiple organizations.

 

Competencies: At the “Heart” of a Talent Management Strategy

While competencies should be at the core of your strategy, they can be a confusing topic for many HR and Talent Management leaders. Learn more about what competencies are, how they benefit organizations and how to get started.

 

Whether it is for performance management, succession planning, career development and more, there are many definitions for competencies and the ways they can be used as part of talent management strategies. As time goes by, I feel people try to use competencies in ways that may not support a measured outcome or result –- it’s just another “thing” we need to include in our organizational strategy to build talent. With this in mind I thought I’d talk about some of things I’ve learned and how I've used competencies over the years in hopes I may help to guide many of you as you sail towards this new horizon. For those of you in the more advanced stages of competencies, I’ll talk about that in another posting.

 

What are Competencies?

There are many definitions out there for competencies, but the one I continue to use is:

 

“A competency is an observable and measureable attribute (skill, knowledge, value, trait, or perspective) that contributes to success in performing a task or job.”

 

I know this may seem to be a mouthful, but in reality, competencies are shaped by so many things we do, as well as by who we are. Our emotions, beliefs, experiences and even our genetic make-up play an important part in how we determine success. That’s why it must be an observable behavior (something you can see), so we have a common interpretation.

 

Because of this vagueness, companies haven’t always used them as effectively as possible. Over time, organizations started a competency-based approach to identify its critical success factors -- what it needs to focus on in order for the business to succeed, as well as the components for the success of its people. Defined either way, competencies continue to help businesses become more efficient, focused and flexible.

 

When focusing on people, competencies can predict performance, promotion and derailment. Statistics from experts Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger have found:

 

• Sales managers with higher ratings on critical skills are twice a likely to meet/exceed targets;

 

• Having the right set of competencies is worth $7 million more in sales per executive;

 

• And top performers across a variety of jobs have 2 to 12 times the productivity of average performers

 

Evidence shows that competencies lay the groundwork -- performance improves when clear direction is established and a path is followed.

 

Organizational Benefits

Just a few benefits (off the top of my head) of using competencies within an organization include:

 

• Aligning people with organization strategy by a set of competencies and then selecting, coaching and developing people against those competencies.

 

• Evaluating readiness for change by determining if a future set of competencies are feasible before changes are implemented.

 

• Driving organizational initiatives by measuring the current state of competencies to determine significant gaps and identify initiative focus.

 

• Determining success at different levels of the organization by identifying individual potential and the development needed to ready people for new positions and responsibilities.

 

• Creating a system framework where all of your HR processes are built around to attract, develop and retain your best talent.

 

To clarify, competencies can be used in a number of different ways to support your talent management strategy, including: recruitment and selection; individual assessment and development; performance management; team assessment; coaching; career development; succession management; and organizational culture and readiness assessments.

 

At the end of the day the competencies are at the “heart” of these processes, helping to create a standardized approach, language and direction to be followed and measured. This is why competencies need to be at the core of your talent management strategy, with a phased plan of execution to address your business needs and alignment to the organizational strategy.

 

Getting Started

Where do you start?

 

One approach might be to determine your pain points or “what’s broken." If you’re having problems hiring and retaining, start with a competency-based selection process. If you don’t have the bench strength needed for the future, structure a competency-based succession and development process.

 

Anywhere you begin will have positive effects, as long as your competencies are part of an integrated solution and have been embedded into the culture. It will take time, so have patience. And if you don’t know where to start, you’re not sure what’s broken, or if there are many things broken, you can use the philosophy which has guided me through my HR experience as a change agent...

 

If it’s not broken, BREAK IT!

 

Laura Durando is a Client Success Manager with Cornerstone OnDemand. She has over 25 years of business experience and has held executive positions in Talent Management and Organizational Development with multiple organizations.

I used to believe that HR Data was useful for HR Departments only since the department was responsible for employee development & management activities. Alternately, the CFO and CEO were only interested in metrics such as cost of hire, total compensation, cost for training etc which were more oriented towards financial goals and treated employee [...]

Here we go again. The FT delivered an article with the above headline this morning. I know this, because I was just given a scanned copy by a colleague. And once again, a big headline with pretty much a nothing story behind it. Basically, it’s saying that the proportion of 15-24 years olds with a profile on Facebook fell for the first time last year from 55% to 50%, according to the communications regulator (no doubt a spotty teenager they thought they’d ask who was walking by the office). I think the key word in this statement is ‘proportion’, because actually, the site (or the medium itself, if we’re going to be fussy here) has become no less popular, but when you read on (in the same article), it continues by backing up the grand claim made in the headline by stating that ‘the number of 25-34 year olds claiming...

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Rolls Out a Global LMS

The international hotel & leisure giant talks about replacing its “tremendously unsuccessful” on-premise LMS, including its thorough software vendor search and internal change management process

 

Having a comfortable bed in a hotel room may seem like a no-brainer idea, but when Westin Hotels and Resorts introduced its signature Heavenly Bed in 1999, it was a game changer for the hotel industry.  It is this type of marketing-leading innovation on which Westin’s parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, prides itself. 
 

One of the world’s largest hotel and leisure companies, Starwood owns, manages and franchises more than 1,000 hotel properties around the world under nine unique brands, including: W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton St. Regis, Four Points, The Luxury Collection, aloft and element.  At the core of Starwood’s success is its commitment to creating a company that is a great place to work and provides wonderful guest experiences. 

 

So how does a large global company not only ensure consistency in the guest experience, but also in the employee experience, for 155,000 employees across nine brands, six divisions and six business categories?  Starwood’s Talent Management team found its answer in Cornerstone OnDemand’s learning management system (LMS).  Starwood’s Talent Management team discussed the rollout of its global LMS at our Convergence 2009 conference, sharing background into their vendor selection process, development of internal business processes in conjunction with the LMS rollout, and key lessons learned along the way. 

 

Choosing the Right Vendor

Before choosing Cornerstone’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based solution, Starwood was using a known behind-the-firewall LMS that the team describes as “buggy” and “tremendously unsuccessful,” and that also required a lot of overhead to keep running.  Another issue?  Starwood’s IT department had chosen the solution, not the Talent Management team.

 

The decision to switch to a new LMS kicked off a two-year process that began in 2006.  There were three categories of challenges that Starwood’s team would need to address with a new system.  Software functionality and support were key.  But the team also saw the switch as an opportunity to update related Starwood business processes the team felt were inadequate.  They wanted the right vendor partner to help them to establish processes and configure the LMS software accordingly.

 

Based on these challenges, Starwood’s team developed these vendor selection criteria:

 

• Vendor Fundamentals, including cost, delivery model and product road map

 

• User Experience, including user interface, functionality, reporting and proof of concept (POC) participant feedback

 

• Vendor Competency, including partnership, integration, conversion and support

 

After an extensive search, which included dozens of use cases, Starwood found its right vendor partner in Cornerstone OnDemand.  Starwood had never used a SaaS solution internally, but the flexibility and scalability of an on-demand solution appealed to the team.  They saw Cornerstone’s SaaS delivery as a faster and more efficient way to deploy, manage and maintain a global LMS without the need for upgrades, maintenance or IT resources. 

 

According to Allison Barber, Vice President of Talent Management for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, “As an international organization, employee learning initiatives are essential to helping Starwood maintain consistency in service and guest experience at all of our properties.  By using Cornerstone, we are able be more strategic in configuring our learning management system to support our overall business goals and create efficiencies within the organization.  The blend of different course styles, as well as the on-demand access, also allows us to target learners more specifically versus taking a one-size-fits-all approach.”

 

Beyond proof of concept, Starwood felt the relationship with Cornerstone was a true partnership.  For example, when Starwood discussed their internal needs and processes with their previous on-premise software vendor, the team often got the response of, “This is not how our system works.”  With Cornerstone, the team appreciated getting a more productive response of, “Why would you want to do it that way?”  Cornerstone’s effort to better understand what Starwood was trying to achieve helped to foster a more open and honest dialogue between the two teams.

 

Why Change Management is Critical

Before the LMS could go live, Starwood needed to update and build new business processes.  And having the right change management process in place was critical to the success of the process development and LMS implementation.  Without full support of key stakeholders within the company such as the four global divisions (EMEA, APAC, North America and South America), IT, HRIS, and content owners and instructors, no one would use the new system.

 

Working closely with Cornerstone, Starwood’s Talent Management team created a four-tiered project organization structure consisting of four levels:

 

• An Executive Sponsor, in order to ensure C-level support

 

• A Steering Committee to oversee the implementation process

 

• Project Leaders, including members of both the Cornerstone and Starwood Talent Management teams

 

• Sub-teams of contributors for the LMS implementation and new process roll-out

 

• 

 

Steering Committee participants included representatives from the company’s global divisions, such as HR leads, operations leads, training leads, functional leads and finance leads.  With an emphasis on open and consistent communication, the Steering Committee evaluated Starwood’s current businesses processes and determined whether they needed to be updated in order to take advantage of Cornerstone’s LMS functionality.  Participants were encouraged to keep an open mind regarding multiple, viable alternatives for all of the processes being determined.  In instances where requirements from different business areas created conflicting priorities or processes, the team worked to reconcile them by keeping in mind the best interests of Starwood as a whole. 

 

As Project Leaders, the Starwood Talent Management team collaborated with Cornerstone to manage project milestones and issues, share status updates with the Steering Committee and stakeholders, and provide input and recommendations to assist in key decision making.  Working directly with both the Steering Committee and the Sub-teams gave Starwood Talent Management a more holistic perspective on the priorities and points of all of the groups involved.  This centralized approach also helped to keep participants active in the process and build trust among the groups.  And the involvement of the Sub-teams allowed them to learn the Cornerstone LMS application firsthand and become subject matter experts before training even started.

 

Key Learnings

So what were Starwood’s key learnings throughout the entire process of revamping its internal LMS process and technology solution?

 

• Watch the releases.  Keep an open line of communication with your software vendor to find out which functionality is coming up that might help to improve existing processes or support new ones.

  

• Make an “Implementation to Production” support transition plan.  Having a specific plan in place helped to keep everyone on track, plan ahead for necessary resources and manage expectations.

 

• The Sub-team work was worth it.  It helped to ensure a smoother, more comprehensive rollout of the new LMS.

 

• There is no such thing as over-communicating with Stakeholders.  It will help you if they question project team decisions.

 

Charles Coy is the Product Marketing Director for Cornerstone OnDemand