Don’t Fear the Future

5 Keys to Raise Your HR Game in 2014 and Beyond

Steve Boese – January 2014

Presenter Info • Steve Boese • Co-Chair HR Technology Conference • HR Exec Magazine Technology Editor • Host of HR Happy Hour Show and Podcast • Blogger at Steve’s HR Tech • BBQ Aficionado

There are two ways to think about the future.

One way is to plan for a future that will be only incrementally different and almost indistinguishable from the present.

The better, (and more interesting) way is to

envision a future that will be almost unrecognizable from today.

“The future will be new enough that we will be

uncomfortable, we will be unprepared.”

So what does that really mean for the HR/Talent professional?

It means new ways of working, new sources of

talent, and increasingly, new technologies that will make us, at times, uncomfortable

Today, we’ll discuss how some of these big

technology trends are going to shape work and workplaces.

And by the end of the hour you will think I am crazy, or that I just might be the sanest person you know

Agenda • Wearable technology • The Internet of Everything • In Data We Trust • The answer is video • Making peace with the robots • Wrap-up, Q&A

Wearable technology

<not just for the geeks and nerds anymore>

What is Wearable tech?

Wearables at work?

58% of employees would be willing to use wearable tech if it enabled them to

do their jobs better.

‘Wear’ is your opportunity? • Health and Wellness – Augmentation and expansion of

organizational wellness initiatives. Manage challenges, track success against goals. Prove your ‘Biggest Loser’ jam is working.

• Workforce planning and alignment – Ability to track responsiveness, fatigue levels, outside stimulus and then provide insight to make staffing plans and adjustments

• Production – Beam real time video from customer sites to HQ and team members for review and assistance. Crowdsource solutions.

• Customer service- Facial recognition tech and insight to provide personalized service, tailored responses, and customer history. Movement trackers like iBeacon to alert staff on customer movement, tendencies

• Talent Management – ‘Glass’ applications for interviewing, delivering learning content, and in onboarding apps. Huge potential here.

The Internet of Everything

<do I really need my toaster talking to my refrigerator?>

What is the Internet of Things?

Example: The IoT at work • Connect GPS, vehicle sensors,

delivery statuses to transmit route, driving, and performance data to HQ

• Identify potential and emerging issues with fatigue, stress, or undetermined performance problems

• Incorporate talent management and coaching and mentoring elements

• Compare data pre and post interventions to assess effectiveness

Connect to the opportunity • Potential for the Internet of

Things to elevate your HR game:

• Make more informed talent decisions using combination of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ data

• Incorporate coaching and mentoring closer to where it’s needed

• Identify business impact of HR and Talent programs

• Understand what ‘works’ and what really doesn’t

In Data we Trust

<Or, would you rather start the entire recruiting process again?>

The Data Explosion

Where your data resides

• Traditional sources of HR/Talent Data:

• HRIS, ATS, Talent Systems, EE files, resume DBs, Excel files, piles of paper on someone’s desk…

• Where new data actually resides today:

• Social networks, smartphones, cloud storage services, personally activated cloud productivity services, with third parties…

Turn Data into Opportunity • Hiring: Data science applied to

finding which candidates are best fits and most likely to succeed

• Performance: Use data on historic trends, employee profiles, managerial impact to predict performance

• Compensation: Data to determine which compensation levers have the most business/talent impact

• Retention: Flight risk identification and suggested remedial actions

• Productivity: Quantify and track success of new employees

The Answer is Video

<what was the question?>

Video at work (at work) • Mobile phenomenon – Everyone

is carrying a personal video player at all times

• Growth on every metric – views, shares, search have been trending up for several years

• Gaming culture – a generation of video gamers are now entering the workplace, collaboration in video games is amazing

• Democratizing: The YouTube nation has allowed creatives and really anyone to bypass traditional paths to validation

The Video Opportunity • Recruiting: Beyond ‘stock’, engage

on Vine, Instagram, YouTube • Onboarding: Interactive video

from company leaders, team members

• Learning: Deliver training content in shorter, mobile ready formats

• Knowledge: Enable creation and sharing of internally created video for in the moment learning

• Collaboration: Embrace lightweight video collaboration like Google Hangouts

Making peace with the robots

<believe me, you should>

The Robot in the next cube • Industrial : Smarter, more flexible,

and cheaper robots like Baxter • Healthcare : Companions for

elderly and sick, assistants for human healthcare workers

• Service: Automated servers, bartenders, cashiers, cooks, gas station attendants…

• Agricultural: Tractors, pickers, herding

• Knowledge work: Financial advice, research, accounts, customer service, telemarketing

The Robot Opportunity • First: Understand how/where/why

automation makes business sense for your organization

• Next: Assess the ability and applicability of increased automation for your company scenarios

• Then: Step back to evaluate workplace readiness and acceptance of robot or other automation technology

• Remember: Some theories suggest the most productive outcome is humans and robots working together

Five Closing Thoughts…

• Wearables – You simply can’t underestimate the impact that wearables can have, especially for front line and field workers. Think augmenting capability and improving service.

• IoE – As machines connect to the internet, communicate with each other, and how humans interact with them, ability to improve people performance will be significantly enhanced. Think about how machine data can mashup with people data to make better business decisions

• Data – Every job in HR is going to become at least some kind of a data analysis job. Since you will have more data than ever, think about what critical business questions need to be answered. Think what could you do if you had the answer to…

• Video – Understand that video, especially short, easily consumed on mobile video, is fast becoming simply a normal way to consume all manner of content. Think how can we deliver training, messaging, information, and create community via the video machines in every employee’s pocket.

• Robots– While they seem kind of distant, allow yourself to think about a workplace with much more robot/human interaction. Where could automation make your company better, faster, and where is the technology heading?

That will enthuse or confuse

One last thing… How do you get your HR organization and your leaders to think

about technology and people with a slightly

longer view?

Don’t you forget about me… steveboese@gmail.com steveboese.squarespace.com HRTechConference.com hrhappyhour.net Twitter: @SteveBoese LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveboese