Collaborative Thinking

Talent Management: Create An Environment, Not An Edict

Worth visiting the site where there is a transcript, audio and video session available:

Ask any CEO or senior level executive what his or her biggest challenge is, and the answer is almost always finding and keeping good people. Yet most executives fail to manage their company's needs in a way that recognizes the unpredictability of the global marketplace. In a book titled, Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty, Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources, proposes a new approach to this issue based on applying the principles of supply chain management to people. He and Joyce Bradley -- senior vice president and general manager, Delaware Valley region, of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global human capital consulting firm headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. -- spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about talent management, including the challenges of managing employees in a recessionary economy. An edited transcript of the interview follows.

The Talent Hunt: Getting the People You Need, When You Need Them - Knowledge@Wharton

Share - Or Else...

Including information sharing skills and competencies as one facet of a review process is usually a good thing but it cannot be the only practice to encourage a more participatory environment. If improved information sharing was made possible simply through inclusion as a metric within performance evaluations we would have solved this problem decades ago. It's more complicated. But - when implemented properly, this can be a valid institutional approach. 

If federal employees do not personally adopt a policy of sharing intelligence information, they may soon face a poor performance review, the government's top information-sharing czar warned Monday at an intelligence conference.

Thomas McNamara, program manager for the Information Sharing Environment, told an audience gathered at the annual Department of Defense Intelligence Information System Conference that a mandate to share information that the intelligence community follows should be extended governmentwide.

If members of the intelligence community hinder the sharing of information with colleagues, managers can include such actions in annual performance reviews. McNamara said the same disincentive to not share information should be applied to all government employees so that the culture shifts from one based on "need to know" to "need to share."

"It would be a disaster for the country" if the culture of information sharing did not permeate all federal agencies, said McNamara, whom President Bush appointed in 2006 as head of information sharing, a job established by the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection Act.

Information czar calls for performance reviews to include sharing (3/18/08) -- www.GovernmentExecutive.com

Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce

Worth reading this blog post summarizing a panel session at the Human Capital Institute Summit. One word repeats itself several times - "collaboration":

As our panel of experts, Bill Craib VP of HCI Communities, Amy Lewis, Director of the Talent Acquisition Community, Joy Kosta, Director HCI Communities and Christine Abbatiello, Director of the Talent Strategy Community all from the Human Capital Institute settle in, the room grows full.

These experts are speaking today about: “Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce”. This session is being moderated by Denis Brousseau, Partner, IBM Global Business Services. IBM is also sponsoring this session, you can feel the excitement as the discussion prepares to start!

Experts discuss "Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce" at the Human Capital Institute Summit. « 2008 Human Capital Summit Blog

The Value Of Being A "Generalist"

What does it take to be "good at everything but nothing in particular"? The article below does a great job at describing traits necessary for people to excel in a variety of jobs and professions. Well articulated and worth reading:

Nothing can substitute for depth of analysis, and there's proven value in specialization – it's what education, career paths, scientific research, and technological innovation are built on – but generalism is a secret talent. With so much complex information, fragmented in so many ways and developing faster and faster, it is increasingly important to have generalists around to make sense of it all, of the big picture. People who appreciate diversity, who are in the know about the wider world and who understand how things interact are invaluable observers, matchmakers, and pioneers of the intersectional ideas so vital for success in today’s knowledge economy, conceptual age, and global community.

But what exactly do generalists do? That’s the question most often asked of me and it’s not an easy one to answer. By definition, generalists tend not to focus (actually, they do focus but just not to the extent that specialists do), they don’t often travel in groups (lacking common associations, designations, and unions), and their shape-shifting versatility changes them frequently. But they are definable and there most certainly are essential traits and skills inherent to them.

I’ve identified five core areas at which Creative Generalists excel. They are:
• Wander & Wonder - finding possibility
• Synthesize & Summarize - presenting information
• Link & Leap - generating ideas
• Mix & Match - connecting people
• Experience & Empathize - understanding worldview

Creative Generalist

Recommended Reading: HBR Working Papers

In the first article, these three topics are critically important: teaming skills, expanded social network, and boundary-spanning skills. In the second article, the idea that mentoring is not a one-way "brain drain" but a shared exchange is also important to "get right" when thinking about such programs:

Working Papers

Product Development and Learning in Project Teams: The Challenges Are the Benefits

Authors:

Amy C. Edmondson and Ingrid M. Nembhard

Abstract

The value of teams in new product development (NPD) is undeniable. Both the interdisciplinary nature of the work and industry trends necessitate that professionals from different functions work together on development projects to create the highest-quality product in the shortest time. Understanding the conditions that facilitate teamwork has been a pursuit of researchers for nearly a half-century. We review existing literature on teams and team learning, in organizational behavior, and technology and innovation to offer insights for research on new product development teams. Building on prior work, we summarize the organizational benefits of NPD teams, and identify five attributes of these teams that hinder attainment of their potential: (1) project complexity, (2) cross-functionality, (3) temporary membership, (4) fluid team boundaries and (5) embeddedness in organizational structures. We argue that effective management of these five attributes allows not only organization-level benefits, but also team-level benefits in the form of new capabilities and team-member resilience. We then highlight the critical roles of leadership and of communication and conflict management training as strategies for overcoming the challenges to team effectiveness in NPD, as well as for realizing five team benefits: (1) project management skills, (2) broad perspective, (3) teaming skills, (4) expanded social network, and (5) boundary-spanning skills. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our ideas for conducting future team research.

Complete Text (HBS access only, Acrobat PDF Version)

 

Why Mentoring Matters in a Hypercompetitive World

Authors:

Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro, and Robert J. Lees

Periodical:

HBS Centennial Issue. Harvard Business Review 86, no. 1 (January 2008)

Abstract

Professional service firms (PSFs), like so many other companies, are juggling the modern challenges of global competition, increased regulation, and rapid employee turnover. In a people-oriented industry, attrition has special import. DeLong and Gabarro, of Harvard Business School, along with former Morgan Stanley and Ernst & Young executive Lees, argue that a PSF can gain a much-needed competitive edge by renewing its focus on mentoring. The authors' in-depth interviews with professionals from more than 30 PSFs have yielded four principles for firms to heed as they rediscover this lost art. First, mentoring is personal. Rather than relying on standardized programs, mentors must frequently—and fairly—provide authentic advice and nurturing. Partners at PSFs know how to use their ample people skills effectively with clients; the benefits of using them with junior colleagues are even greater. Second, not everyone is an A player. A small dose of attention given to a B player goes at least as far as a large one offered to an A player. Since B players constitute about 70% of PSF staff, that's time well spent. Third, choice assignments are in short supply, which limits the number of learning opportunities available for associates. Good alternatives include shadowing senior professionals on assignments and taking on research or other projects that are not client-related but that nonetheless build expertise. Finally, mentoring is a two-way street. Protégés should not only learn from their senior counterparts, but also be taught to attract mentors—and to co-mentor one another.

Why Mentoring Matters in a Hypercompetitive World

First Look: January 29, 2008 — HBS Working Knowledge

Decentralized Co-Creation of Value

Valuable concepts in this blog post - note the snippet below on co-creation of information packaged into a playlist metaphor - couple that with the earlier post here on LiquidTalk - add the co-creation aspect of Mixxmaker and then LiquidTalk becomes a collaborative environment that teams and communities can create a "social object" as mentioned below.

There’s a small company up here in Vancouver, British Columbia (the warm and beautiful part of the Great White North of North America) that develops social networking platforms and customized elearning solutions. The Donat Group is also creating a social music initiative (Project Opus), a part of which involves Mixxmaker, a web service that helps music lovers build playlists collaboratively. Building playlists collaboratively creates a "Social Object", offering people a means of co-creating value around music they like and want to share with others they know.

We all know that the music industry is in real turmoil, and is searching frantically for new business logic and new business models. The major participants have all been under pressure from free downloads, and the price of music is under pressure as never before. Where will additional value, and eventually revenue, come from ?

The FASTForward Blog » Decentralized Co-Creation of Value … and Meaning: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary

LiquidTalk - Filling In The Daily Gaps

Intriguing idea but not sure there's a long-term business model here - technically, the barrier to entry seems small (re: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle or some other best of breed vendor). Still, food-for-thought:

The LiquidTalk solution brings simplicity to enterprise mobile sales enablement, learning and training, knowledge transfer, corporate and customer communication and more:

1. We provide your organization with a secure, hosted, branded web application to centralize access to proprietary audio and video business content. Think iTunes—but only for your employees, resellers, partners or other users, and just for the media files you want them to access.
2. Users log in to find files, organize them into playlists and quickly sync to mobile devices including iPhone, iPod and BlackBerry.
3. A phone-in feature enables easy creation and upload of podcasts
   on the fly.
4. Managers can push content to specific users and review usage detail.
5. Our services team helps organizations convert corporate knowledge into mobile content, manage devices and users and more.

A more connected, engaged workforce is a more productive workforce

Empower mobile employees to control where and when knowledge transfer happens. LiquidTalk releases workers from laptops and time-shifts the delivery of actionable information so that cracks in the day can be put to productive use. With top performers and subject matter experts able to efficiently, instantly share best practices and insights, your organization will accelerate new hire ramp-up and replicate winning techniques across the organization.

LiquidTalk - increase workforce productivity with on demand application for mobile knowledge management via handheld devices

Framing Contests: Putting Decisions In Context

Read the full article for additional insight:

Kaplan's analysis of the "Last Mile" initiative reinforces some specific conclusions about framing practices:

• People have a number of frames to draw upon, built up through past experiences across multiple contexts. These frames shape how they see a situation and what strategies they think a company should pursue.

• Just as actors have a repertoire of frames, they have "multiple, sometimes conflicting, interests, only some of which [in the CommCorp example] were relevant in a particular decision context. Some interests were tangible, such as getting a promotion or preserving one's job. Other interests were intangible, such as being seen as an expert, gaining peer recognition or working on 'cool projects.' Other interests had a collective aspect, such as a chance to contribute to the project team or support one's own functional group," Kaplan writes.

• Where frames about a decision don't align within the organization, actors engage in framing practices to increase the resonance of their own frames and mobilize action in a desired direction. Those actors who most skillfully engage in these practices will shape the frame which prevails. Therefore, frames shape strategic choices -- not in a deterministic fashion but rather in one mediated by organizational framing contests.

• When framing activities are successful, interests can shift, and new coalitions can form. "Coalitions are built around powerful frames (ones which resonate broadly), and powerful coalitions can shape policy," Kaplan notes.

'Framing Contests': When Companies Face Uncertainty, Internal Wrangling Can Lead the Way - Knowledge@Wharton

Knowledge Sharing, Conversations And Relationships

Worth reading. I've always called the content-centric approach to KM the "supply-side theory" and I'm not a fan of it. It has value, but I much prefer to recommend people place more emphasis on the the informal, conversational, narrative and story-telling aspects of KM. This aspect of KM is especially true in the analyst business. I find that I gain an extraordinary amount of additional insight through participation rather than browsing through information in some document library. 

Good article by Martine Haas (Wharton management professor) and Morten Hansen (professor of entrepreneurship at INSEAD).

We find that using codified knowledge in the form of electronic documents saved time during the task, but did not improve work quality or signal competence to clients, whereas in contrast, sharing personal advice improved work quality and signaled competence, but did not save time," Haas says. "This is interesting because managers often believe that capturing and sharing knowledge via document databases can substitute for getting personal advice, and that sharing advice through personal networks can save time. But our findings dispute the claim that different types of knowledge are substitutes for each other. Instead, we show that appropriately matching the type of knowledge used to the requirements of the task at hand -- quality, signaling or speed -- is critical if a firm's knowledge capabilities are to translate into improved performance of its projects."

Does Knowledge Sharing Deliver on Its Promises? - Knowledge@Wharton

E-Mail Search: Introducing MarkMail

Interesting approach (per Peter). But some points to consider regarding any enterprise application:

• This is not new - expertise automation systems (e.g., Tacit) have attempted mine e-mail as a source of corporate knowledge for some time. Vendors that try to suggest relationship networks do this as well (e.g., Contact Networks). Microsoft's Knowledge Network will include some analysis of e-mail patterns.
• There are credible concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality. As I recall, in some countries, privacy regulations prevent mining of e-mail. Even without specific guidance, management should be concerned that employees will see this as unwarranted surveillance without proper limitations. For instance, mining the contact information (sender, receiver) vs. the content body, might be more acceptable.
• "Knowledge in e-mail' is a very old argument - valid - but perhaps more elusive than one might imagine. As our channels become more fragmented (e-mail, workspaces, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, etc.), the challenge becomes exponentially more difficult as "threads" cross channels. e-Mail however remains (for better or worse) the poison of choice for most corporate communication.

Some vertical or situational applications around this technology might evolve as well. For instance: use of MarkMail as part of a discovery process (per legal or regulatory investigation), mining customer e-Mails sent into the Call Center to discovery common trends (e.g., complaints on a product). 

E-mail. Why?

• It's semi-structured, and we love working against semi- and un-structured information. E-mail has some clear metadata (e.g., author, subject, send-date) and plenty of free text, both in the body copy and in the metadata fields (e.g., thread topic) themselves.

• It's easily converted to XML.

• It's ubiquitous. Everybody uses it.

• There are lots of free, public mailing lists that contain lots of valuable information -- on topics from wine to Tomcat and everything in between.

• Most important, e-mail is -- as Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital once said -- the new corporate knowledgebase.

To expand the last point. If I told you that you could go to one place -- and only place -- to learn about a company, where would you go? To their corporate data warehouse? To their knowledgebase? To their financial systems? To their sales and CRM systems?

Personally, I'd go to their e-mail. Despite years of attempts to systemize it, knowledge has eluded capture and evaded knowledge management systems. Knowledge, it seems, instead resides in e-mail and collaboration systems. Through e-mail I can find lots of important quantitative information (mailed around as spreadsheet attachments) but more importantly, the color and commentary that goes along with it. As Mark Logic's Jason Hunter once put it: "I can see the movie (the data), and the subtitles that go along with it."

E-mail is the one-stop shop for information inside most organizations. So why not demonstrate our power on e-mail, we thought? So we did.

The other nice thing about e-mail is that it has additional idiosyncrasies that let us show-off more of our power.

• Included text and conversation threads. MarkMail does a great job of eliminating duplicate inclusions and re-building a conversation from a series of emails.

• Attachments. We love documents and people email them all the time. MarkMail has some very nice -- and sexy -- ways of handling e-email attachments.

Mark Logic CEO Blog: Mark Logic Redefines E-Mail Search: Introducing MarkMail