Using systems diagnostics to drive process improvement and change
This article is the first in a three-part series on applying systems diagnostics to understand the sources of organizational underperformance (this article) why transformations often…
Designing transformations to avoid failure
This article is the second in a three-part series on applying systems diagnostics to understand the sources of organizational underperformance (Using systems diagnostics to drive…
Diagnosing and adjusting transformations to ensure success
This article is the third in a three-part series on applying systems diagnostics to understand the sources of organizational underperformance (Using systems diagnostics to drive…
Building capabilities and changing the organization
(This article is based on content that will be covered in the upcoming webinar webinar Driving Change with Data and Diagnostics on Tuesday June 25…
A killer app with huge upsides and dangerous downsides: Applying AI to People Analytics
Ever since ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, there has been a figurative and literal “gold rush” into the world of generative artificial intelligence (AI).…
Transforming the HR Operating Model for Greater Impact
Ever since Dave Ulrich created the HR business partner (HRBP) design in 1997, it has become the standard organizing principle for HR functions globally. Over…
Are we there yet? The high cost and slow speed of building new org capability
Faster, cheaper, better. We all know that you can’t have all three, only two. Yet leaders repeatedly set goals that require all three simultaneously. This…
2023 Labor Day Update: Labor Market and Organizational Trends and Challenges
Commemorating Labor Day 2023, I take a look at some key trends and challenges that have emerged over the past 30 years, including:
Combining organization design and capability for deeper impact
Co-authored with Dr. Johanna Anzengruber. This is article 6 of 6 in the Organization Capability series. The first article, Organization capability: The missing piece connecting…
Organizational capability definition, strengths and weaknesses
Co-authored with Dr. Johanna Anzengruber This is article 5 of 6 in the Organization Capability series. The first article, Organization capability: The missing piece connecting…
Challenges of system design and optimization
Co-authored with Dr. Johanna Anzengruber This is article 4 of 6 in the Organization Capability series. The first article, Organization capability: The missing piece connecting…
Resolving confusion about organization design, the operating model and organization capability
Co-authored with Dr. Johanna Anzengruber This is article 2 of 6 in the Organization Capability series. The first article, Organization capability: The missing piece connecting…
Systems diagnosis tools and techniques – Part Two
In Part One I covered the need to: In Part Two here I address the rest of the systems diagnosis coaching guidelines
Is the sky about to fall on People Analytics?
Co-authored with Max Blumberg In recent years, as the global economy expanded, interest rates were low, and companies had a relatively easy time making money,…
Fluid talent and agile capability: What’s going on?
It’s been almost a quarter century since McKinsey coined the phrase “war for talent,” which also birthed the field of talent management in organizations. Since…
How to Steer Clear of Groupthink
This article first appeared in Harvard Business Review and is co-authored with Jennier Mueller and Sarah Harvey. When organizations need to solve a problem, they…
Repricing work and consumption in the wake of Covid-19
This blog was originally published in HRZone and is the second in a series. The first one is on how long until the new normal.…
Decentralizing Your Operating and Talent Models the Right Way
This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in October 2020. As companies recognize that the timeline for moving past the impact of COVID-19 may…
New Leadership Challenges for the Virtual World of Work
This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in June 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly and dramatically upended the working world, creating…
A Long Time Until the Economic New Normal
This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in April 2020. We are in the middle of a historic rupture in the economic…
Your operating model needs a Brand Strategy
A winning brand strategy is essential for a successful business strategy. Done right, the brand strategy clearly articulates the customer value proposition – why our…
Deploy a Strategic Human Capital Operating Model to Build Critical Org Capability
We live in a world of constantly evolving technology and ways to organize work. This means that people are in constant threat of their skills…
Systems diagnostics are essential to create high performance
I have spent the better part of two decades helping organizations solve big, complex challenges that hold back performance and create problems with strategy execution.…
Workforce Data Systems are Junk Food, Not a Gold Mine
People analytics in organizations is at a crossroads today. Analytics and data science are the hottest buzzwords in management since re-engineering and core competencies two…
Talent is an organizational capability
Everyone knows what talent management means, right? Yet despite widely accepted common practice, most talent management approaches fall way short of the mark when it…
Workforce Planning That Really Is Strategic
Most workforce planning efforts are fairly short sighted and narrow, and could more accurately be called 12 month hiring plans. Strategic workforce planning promises to…
Beware the HR Analytic Barbarians
“We have met the enemy and they are us” – Commodore Oliver Perry, 1813 I am truly impressed at the explosion of interest in HR…
High Performance Work Design Trumps Employee Engagement
People usually equate high performance with employee engagement. Yet engagement is not the same as productivity and performance. How engaged people are depends on the…
Winning the HR Analytics Arms Race
People usually equate high performance with employee engagement. Yet engagement is not the same as productivity and performance. How engaged people are depends on the…
I solemnly swear … an HR data and analytics manifesto
In the spirit of the election season, I would like to propose a type of nonpartisan party platform for candidates for analytical leader or officer…
Show me the money: How and why compensation matters
Every leader wants the best people possible working for them. Compensation is the most prominent and costly part of job design that directly impacts the…
Let ‘em eat Pi: Making sense of the HR analytics revolution
In honor of Pi Day (March 14), I decided this is a good time to channel Marie Antoinette and take stock of the current state…
Benchmarking engagement and spans only is not strategic
Key insights: Benchmarking employee engagement, survey data, and spans of control is not strategic You have to embed that data in the larger context of…
Those contradictory Millennials!
Who are Millennials and what do they really want? There are so many stereotypes and caricatures of Millennials, it’s hard to know what’s fact versus…
Big data’s problems and potential: Beware statistical sirens
Businesses worldwide are in the midst of a data feast and statistical Renaissance. Data scientists are being hired at a rapid clip, the likes of…
Strategic Analytics is a team sport
Right now senior leadership in both the business and in HR are leaving value on the table. We have to end the “business as usual,”…
The Dangers of HR Data Mining
HR is becoming more and more data based and analytical. Yet the insights that we’re getting from the data are not increasing as quickly as…
Choose impact, not process: Evaluate HR program intent, not just the design
In my previous post I argued that HR needs to stop focusing on “best practices” and making its processes world class. A related problem happens when it…
HR Perfect Processes are the Enemy of What’s Good for the Business
(a.k.a. Are You Helping to Improve Strategy Execution Where It’s Most Needed?) For decades HR has been searching for the right ways to make strategic…
The Right Way to Scorecard HR (Don’t Focus on Turnover and Safety)
The balanced scorecard has popularized the idea that organizations should regularly measure and monitor key metrics about people. And if there are data available that…
ROI falls short for evaluating human capital and HR
In my previous post I discussed why ROI falls short as a tool for making business decisions. Here I address why ROI doesn’t live up to the…
The ROI monster under the bed
Return on investment (ROI) is perhaps the most universally applied tool ever created in the history of finance. It is a standard measurement used to…
Employee engagement does not cause performance
We know from decades of research and practice that performance leads to job satisfaction. When people are productive, accomplish their objectives, get good feedback on…