Quick Shots for HR and #Business Pros – Global #HR Edition
Last month I had the chance to speak at conferences in Reykjavik and London – part of my focus on global HR. Both cities are wonderful and if you ever get the chance to go, you should. I’ll be sharing some takeaways with you in the future, but I wanted to share with you a few quick learnings from my trip.
While human resources pros are taking about the same things (i.e. recruiting, retention, etc.), I did hear some new terms, phrases and conversations in the global arena that I liked very much:
Net Promoter Score is a tool used to measure customer loyalty. HR pros were very in tune with their organization’s net promoter score. Maybe a new business metric for HR pros? If you don’t know this measurement, spend some time checking it out.
Agile Development comes from agile project management where projects are completed in small steps (called iterations.) After each iteration, the project is evaluated before next steps are taken. HR pros are using agile concepts for performance management, learning and development, etc.
Economic Value Added (EVA) is the term for the profit realized beyond the rate of return. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that but it made me realize that as HR pros we need to think about more than simply breaking even.
Triple bottom-line has been around for a while but with the increased emphasis on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, the term is making a comeback. The three components in a triple bottom-line is often referred to as people, planet and profit.
Employee pride was used interchangeably with engagement. The goal is for employees to have pride in their work. There was agreement that when employees have pride in their internal brand, it shows in their external brand.
HR’s new partner in crime? Finance. We’ve talked about the HR and marketing connection. Well, think about becoming BFFs with your CFO. HR needs to build relationships with all functions in the organization.
Lastly, I really liked the conversations about “driving results with respect.” Sometimes as HR pros, we have to make tough decisions. I heard Patrick Lencioni, author of the best-selling book “The Five Dysfunctions of Team,” speak recently and he called it the “kind truth.” We don’t like to talk about it a lot, but it’s part of the job. The important thing to remember is that those decisions are handled with respect for everyone involved. We might not like the decision or the outcome, but we can respect each other.
Image courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby
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