HRExaminer Top 25 HR Digital Influencers List 2011

Last modified on 2011-06-22 01:57:44 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

This is the third edition of the HRExaminer Top 25 HR Influencers List (prior editions here and here). The influencer lists are built with an algorithm that measures the audience size (reach), repeatability (links and tweets to content) and alignment (the way the writer’s content maps against our key word cloud).

This list covers the general terrain of HR. The people on the list are (quantitatively) the most widely read, the most quoted and the most published people on the general subject of HR.

Watching the ebb and flow of people who pass through the blogosphere is an interesting pastime. There are a couple of dynamics that seem to drive the rise and fall of a person’s standing. Attention span, the growth and development of an author, and the enthusiasm that comes with being new to the game.

We define a silo with a series of 25 key words and phrases. (Unchanged in our investigations of HR Influencers). One of the things that is probably happening is that some people on the list have expanded their coverage beyond the core concepts (Laurie Ruettimann comes to mind) while actually expanding their overall influence. As their work moves out of the key words we’re defining as the foundation, they fall down on the list.

This is a pretty interesting phenomenon.

The churn you can see when you compare the three iterations of the project seems to come from a combination of the maturing of existing list members and the fact that social media authors tend to be really prolific in their early output.

What’s fascinating is the fact that the new influencers rise to the top of the search engine lists because their material has the best SEO. So, when someone goes to find out about, say, “performance management in human resources” on Google or Bing, the newest content will rise to the top. As older writers follow their curiosity to deeper and different subjects, their use of the initial top level keywords diminishes.

That means that there is a constant flow of novelty and newness that the search engines deliver in an attempt to stay current. Like all search engine subjects (and social media in general), the question is “What have You Done For Me Lately?” There is little room for wisdom in online influence. It’s more like a combination of immediacy, volume and urgency.

Sadly, that’s not so different from our political and legal cultures.

The other thing that happens to social media luminaries is that they get busy doing other stuff or run out of things to stay, A fair number of the people who have graced our lists were building large career moves. The net result of their success is that their online communication slows down.

There’s sort of a natural ebb and flow to the process.

Take a look at the following table. It lists the HR Influencers from each of our three lists. In red, the movement of the 2011 list place holder is described. 14 of 25 (56%) of the 2011 list members are new. Some will be familiar to readers (they appear on other lists) but many are fresh faces.

Increasingly, the people on the list are writing on behalf of their employers. Where the early influencers were early adopters of the technology, the game will always go to people who have budget, resources and motivation. The number of people on the list who are working HR professionals is in steep decline.

That idea (that the people with the most influence are unlikely to actually work in the profession) is sure to stir up its usual amount of controversy. The fact is that people who work in the trenches just don’t have the time or the motivation to sustain extensive thinking and publishing on the subject.

Are hats are off to the people on the list this time. These are the voices that drive the marketplace.

Keywords:

“human resources” “human capital”, “human resources” “performance management”, “human resources” development, “human resources” “talent acquisition”, “human resources” “talent management”, “human resources” “workforce planning”, “human resources” recruiting, “human resources” training, “human resources” compensation, “human resources” career, “human resources” “career development”, payroll “human resources”, hr training, hr “workforce planning”, hr “talent management”, hr “human capital”, hr career, hr “career development”, hr “performance management”, payroll hr, payroll benefits, payroll “human resources” staffing, payroll “employment law”, payroll EEOC, hr development, “human resources” “recruitment process outsourcing”, “human resources” “candidate relationship management”, “human resources” “background check”, “human resources” “job references”, hr “talent acquisition”, hr “recruitment process outsourcing”, hr “candidate relationship management”, hr “background check”, hr “job references”

Here We Go

Last modified on 2011-03-25 13:42:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

From the introduction to “What HR Thinks and Feels: The 2011 HRxAnalysts Psychographic Survey of HR Professionals” Published yesterday.

It’s often difficult for HR professionals to figure out where they should start when it comes to finding a solution for their business needs, because the brands and messages created by vendors are so conflicted and confusing. As the HR Marketplace continues its rapid maturation, the distinctions between brands become blurred. The combination of competitive marketing rhetoric, the changing role of HR and shifting technology make for a cluttered marketplace.

There is nearly uniform agreement that one brand is often misunderstood for another.

Creating the essential elements of sales and marketing that help buyers overcome their skepticism, confusion and fear is hard work.  And it requires a lot of information about the buyer.   Unfortunately, information about the HRS buyer has heretofore been hard to come by. Only the shallowest demographic information has been available to sales and marketing professionals to help them craft strategies that appeal to buyers on both a professional and personal level.

Consequently, sales and marketing departments make important decisions about brand, message, communications strategies and sales based on opinion and anecdote.
When the HRS market was in the early stages of maturation, excellence in sales and marketing was not as critical as it is today.  Unfortunately,  it is no longer acceptable to create important sales and marketing strategies without an intimate understanding of the demographics, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of our primary customer – the Human Resources professional.

Visit the HRxAnalysts Website

Why the Corner Office Job is So Hard and How HR Can Help

Last modified on 2011-03-21 19:20:08 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Rusty Rueff, HRExaminer Editorial Advisory Board Contributor

We are delighted to welcome Rusty Rueff to our HRExaminer Editorial Advisory Board. Today, Rueff operates as a freelance social curator; learning, writing, speaking, coaching, consulting and volunteering at an exciting intersection of technology, arts & entertainment, talent management, and faith. Previously Rueff was the CEO of SNOCAP and prior to that was Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Electronic Arts (EA) and Vice President, International Human Resources at PepsiCo. Full Bio

Why the Corner Office Job is So Hard and How HR Can Help

by Rusty Rueff

Over the past few months, the business magazines and newspapers have been talking about CEO’s who have decided to retire or step down.  The one that caught my interest was the resignation of Jeffrey Kindler, CEO of Pfizer.  Mr. Kindler claimed burn out and fatigue from his job.  Enough was enough. Mr. Kindler should not feel ashamed.  The CEO position is one darn hard job, regardless of how large the pay package.  Part of the reason is that the CEO role has too many constituents to serve.  One person has to deal with five groups simultaneously.  Each group often has differing interests and each demands to be on the top of the priority list.   Here are the five groups and some considerations on how the Human Resources team can be help the CEO get her job done effectively.

Shareholders. Regardless if the company is private or public, a CEO has to be present, visible and personable enough to satisfy the inquiring minds of shareholders.  This constituency wants to see and hear from the CEO regularly.  Shareholders want a CEO to communicate openly and transparently while parsing through competitive information, forward-looking statements, safe harbor laws and business and profitability projections.  At a minimum, the public company CEO comes before shareholders quarterly to say as much as can be said without saying too much—for legal or strategic reasons.

What communication can you arm the CEO with so that she has a story about the business, culture and people that shareholders want to hear?

The Board. The Board of Directors represent the shareholders and the investors of the Company and along with the fiduciary responsibility of the organization, they are the bosses of the CEO.  Any one of us who has a boss knows what it is like to satisfy this person. Imagine having 5-13 bosses at one time, all of which are at different engagement, knowledge and communication levels.  Also, if they are good Directors, they will have a strong point of view and often dissent from what the CEO and the Management team might want to do.  Just keeping a Board of Directors happy and up to date can feel like a full-time job.

How can you be a conduit for the CEO to the Board?  Offer to take on the Directors who need the greatest amount of time and information so the CEO can take care of other work.

The Frontline Employees.  Regardless of the success of “Undercover Boss,” on TV, the CEO can’t hide in the corner office.  The CEO must be out and about and be in personal touch with what is going on in the business.  The only way that can be done is to travel to, meet with, and open up a dialogue with the people in the company who are doing the work.  This means the CEO must be both accessible and also in touch enough that he can converse with employees about the issues that matter to them.  The CEO has to be versatile enough to go from the Board Room to the Shop Floor.  He must be authentic and able communicative with both groups– many times in the same day.

How can you provide the CEO with the information he needs to effectively communicate with the frontline employees?  Your CEO may not need a “handler” to help communicate, but he may need a process that can keep him in front of the team in a way that fits in his schedule and other priorities.  Find ways to make his time with employees productive.

The Direct Reports.  This is a group that most people just take for granted, but the CEO can’t.  The direct reports to the CEO are just like any other employees in that they have career aspirations; they need advice and counsel; they need direction and coaching; and they need performance appraisals, salary adjustments, discipline, recognition, praise, etc.  So while the CEO is trying to set the vision and direction of the company, she must still be the first-line boss to up to 10 people (more and it’s just asking for trouble).  It’s easy to look at the success of a CEO like Jack Welch at General Electric and the direct reports he had.  But, Mr. Welch spent many years grooming and developing a squad of future CEOs who he had to lead and manage at the same time.  Thoroughbreds are bred to run.  Turned loose, they will certainly run as fast as they can. Yet, Secretariat was not Secretariat without a trainer and a jockey. The CEO has to be both for her direct reports.

You are likely also one of her direct reports.  How much work is it to manage you?   You should be the easiest person to manage of all.  If she has to worry about you, then you aren’t helping.  Instead, become a person on the team who can be counted on to subordinate your ego and help out with the coaching and developing of the rest of the team.

Customers and Partners. While great sales and customer relationship managers can handle many customer interactions, there is still only one person who can seal the big deal with a personal handshake.  That is the CEO.  Customers and Partners need the CEO’s personal attention and want to know that they are top of the CEO’s mind.  Many a dinner is spent with a customer breaking bread and building relationships to close that deal of the future.  CEO’s often forfeit family time for customers because the company can’t survive without those deals.  The time and travel toll alone that customer visits take on a CEO is enough for many mortals to wonder why they aspired for the job.

What are you doing to build customer relationships and help the CEO keep it all in balance?  We should do all we can to help keep it together and not let him burnout physically, emotionally or relationally. That doesn’t mean we become servants. It does mean that we care, watch-out and be close enough that a trusting relationship has been built that allows you to speak the truth and that truth to be heard.  It also means taking care of ourselves so we have resources to be there when we are needed.

Yes, the CEO gets to make the final decisions and gets the accolades and rewards, but it’s not the walk in the park that many people want to believe it is. To whom much is given, much is required. With the privilege comes great responsibility and burdens.  Many handle it remarkably and we never see them sweat.  We are fortunate to work in companies where our livelihoods depend on this calm and collected leader.  But, every now and then we can see the cracks and the strains.  When we do, let’s not kick the fallen soldier, let’s instead do our part to understand and lift the warriors back up so that they can return to the corner office to fight another day.  And then, let’s be there for the CEO.

He’s Baaack!

Last modified on 2011-03-23 15:51:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

He’s Baaaack!

After a lengthy respite from the rigors of blogging, Jim Hollincheck just published a short piece that demonstrates why he’s the dean of the HR Software Market. Citing Dirk Gently (a “holistic detective” who makes use of “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things” to solve the whole crime, and find the whole person”), Hollincheck makes the case for a results first, process second approach to HR Systems.

(Naomi Bloom, the dean of HR’s Tech Systems school, also cites Gently as a pime source for her ‘outcomes first’ systems design approach)

The idea of placing results at the heart of HR Tech design is key to understanding why the rest of the organization has such a hard time with HR.

Can you imagine what would happen if the manufacturing department exclusively focused on the process of making widgets and its improvement? That VP of manufacturing would be history within a quarter.

Suppose that the Marketing Department chose to focus on improving marketing processes rather than improving the brand or the volume of lead generation. Yup, bye-bye Ms VP.

Envision the head of sales who focused on the improvement of the sales process without regard to quarterly figures. You guessed it. The trip down memory lane would be very short.

The perplexing tendency of HR Departments to place process improvement at the heart of their operations makes them very hard for their peers to comprehend. Everyone else is measured on a performance basis. Results are the sine qua non of any organization. Process and its improvement are way, way back in the distance.

This is what Neil McCormick (of our Editorial Advisory Board) means when he says, “The Output’s Connected to the Outcome“.

In HR, all of the attention goes to the Performance Management System rather than to the Performance that you want to manage. Somehow, the results you want from the organization, get disconnected from the administrative process once the ball is handed to HR.

It’s not that process improvement isn’t important. It’s that it is meaningless unless it is firmly grounded in actual stuff getting done.

Expect to see increasing pressure on HR Tech vendors to explain the end goal of tools that automate processes. In some ways, this is the story that SuccessFActors has been telling the market with appreciable success. Their challenge is to bring that same business sense to the backwaters of Applicant Tracking and Talent Management.