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"First Who Then What" - Getting 'right people' in 'right seat'

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In the above video Mr. Jim Collins (Author - Good to Great 2001) highlights the importance of "who" before "what". If we think about this in line with strategic management perspective, we may have to amend the typical strategy development process. It usually begins with defining or re-defining Vision & Mission statement of an organization - precisely 'where to go' - the "what". Now, in case we have to begin with "who", an organization may have to opt for Resource Based View (RBV) of available human capital for 'Internal Analysis'. And make sure that we have right people on the bus. Normally this process (RBV) involves defining various resources the organization possesses and examine them to gauge which resources truly have strategic value. It is important for two reasons, 1) to know whether we have right people on the bus & 2) to remove wrong people from the bus. However, make sure not to throw out th

IBM Leadership Competencies

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I had referred to 11 IBM Leadership Competencies in my previous posts. Fortunately I had managed to get more details (below) of these competencies in Management and Organisational  Behaviour by Laurie J. Mullins – (2005)(Page 319-320). Hope this would give us additional insights to understand efforts taken by Mr. Louis Gerstner for the transformation of IBM during his tenure. [ IBM - List of Competencies page 210, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? (2002) ]. This post will give us a complete picture of the significant role of competencies in organizational transformation.  Focus to Win Customer Insight Outstanding IBM managers and senior professionals put themselves in the minds of the customer, and see customers’ needs and businesses, from the customers’ point of view. They focus on the unexpressed or future needs of the customer. Managers and senior professionals having Customers’ Insight go beyond IBM’s exemplary responsiveness to customer complaints or prob

Competency-based Job Description

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Once, I heard someone say, what is so important about the Job Description? After all, it's just a piece of paper & what difference does that make? The Job Description can best be compared to a  'User Manual'  which tells us  'how to'  operate particular device or machine. It gives precise details about components, requirements, directions for effective and efficient use. As they say 'When all else fails, read the instructions', and, 'When all else fails, and the instructions are missing - kick it'. In our case we can't kick it; hence a wise option is to 'read the instructions'. Let us see why a Job Description is so important. As we all know the process involved for this is called 'Job Analysis' and theoretically the output is 'Job Description' and 'Job Specification'. [While the Job Description describes tasks to be accomplished, the Job Specifications lists the Knowledge, Skills, and

Competency Based Interview - Assessment

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[Image source: Google Image] While going through SHL - "2013 Global Assessment Trends Report", trends reflected that 'Creating / implementing Competency Model (s) was ranking at number eleven (11) in list of 'HR Priorities - 2013'. And only one-third of respondents indicated that Competency Models are used effectively in their organizations.  Now, that was an unexpected finding, considering the fact that Competency Development and Management is an integral part of strategic HR initiatives. In fact mission critical for successful strategy implementation for any organization. ( 'The Execution Premium' by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton ) It also reminded me of a well-known quote, "Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important" by Stephen R. Covey. As a matter of fact it was Hay Group that assisted Mr. Lou Gerstner Jr. Chairman & CEO, IBM (1993-2002) in developing eleven "

Employee Surveys - Valuable tool for HR Professionals

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The employee survey is an effective tool available to HR Professionals for organization diagnosis. Especially when you are not sure where to start, while designing blueprint, and articulating development initiatives for improvements. Mr. Ralph Christensen, advocate the same point in his book 'Roadmap to Strategic HR', 2006 (Access the organization's readiness for change). We can use the survey as a tool for diagnosing problems prevailing within an organization. Employee surveys also facilitate fact-based decision making. In the advent of 'Big data', and decision making based on 'HR Analytics', significance of the Employee surveys had increased to a great extent. ( 'Big Data in HR' report by Josh Bersin, Principal Analyst, Bersin & Associates - April ). Rapid changes in the external environment such as mergers, acquisitions etc. have also contributed to increased importance of the views / opinions of employees, more than ever befor