DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Bosses Think They Champion Innovation, Employees Know Better, Study Shows

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Why is innovation so crucial and a disconnect about it so potentially damaging?  In an article on Forbes.com Leadership Editor, Frederick Allen, uses DDI’s study, Creating the Conditions for Sustainable Innovation, to highlight how the boss and the workers see innovation differently and the impact of those differing perceptions.

 

Bosses Think They Champion Innovation, Employees Know Better, Study Shows

By: Frederick E. Allen, Forbes Staff

Is your company a great place for innovation? That probably depends on whether you ask the boss or the underlings. According to a new study by Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting firm, the boss and the workers could hardly disagree more.  

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Diversity, Innovation, Analytics, and Impact: Emerging Themes From the 2012 SIOP Conference

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By: Evan Sinar, Ph.D

Part Two: Emerging Themes from the 2012 SIOP Conference: Innovation, Analytics, and Impact

In part one of my blog on this year’s SIOP Conference I discussed the attendance at this year’s meeting along with highlighting one of the most popular sessions featuring Jacqueline Berrien of the EEOC. In addition to that great session other topics stood out as well.

The topics gaining the largest increase in SIOP presentations from the past year are a key indicator of the zeitgeist amongst I/O psychologists and the organizations within which they operate. From the 2011 conference to 2012’s event, the topics surging the most were Innovation/Creativity (with the number of presentations increasing 82%) and Counterproductive Behavior (increased 78%).

Innovation and Creativity are not surprising; nearly every organization is pursuing these objectives, although many struggle to achieve them. This year’s Innovation/Creativity presentations included sessions on how to assess, train, foster, and reward individual and team creativity.

Counterproductive Behavior, focusing on workplace bullying, abusive supervision, and harassment, is a more troubling emerging topic, and perhaps a sign that abundant on-the-job stress faced by some employees is spilling over to the point that these individuals are lashing out at others, with negative consequences for all involved.

Technology and Analytics as applied to Talent Management, virtually non-existent topics only five years ago, were the focus of several sessions in which advice was shared and challenges openly discussed about HR professionals needing to manage complex relationships involving Applicant Tracking Systems, to incorporate new technologies into the HR toolbox, and to effectively leverage and wring analytic insights from the “big data” generated by their HR systems. Social networking, too, was a focus, with numerous presentations seeking to clarify the appropriateness and utility of social media information for Talent Management purposes.

For each of these areas, while the surge in research and probing discussion is promising, much remains unknown and the knowledge base is not yet adequate to provide detailed guidance for HR professionals – we anticipate these topics to attract even more intensive attention and data-driven investigation at next year’s conference.

In the conference’s closing session DDI’s own Doug Reynolds, current SIOP president, highlighted SIOP’s goals for the upcoming years, including bolstering its standing as a model of integrated scientific and practical effectiveness, growing its membership to reflect an increasingly diverse and global I/O and Talent Management population, and extending its influence and impact within the HR community. This year’s conference accentuated SIOP’s unique role as a bridge between the research and data underlying the tools and processes used by I/O psychologists, and the practical implementation and sustained impact of these approaches.

The criticality of balancing rigor and practicality is certain to only increase in future years, ensuring the SIOP conference’s continued relevance and usefulness to Talent Management professionals seeking evidence-based, logically-sound foundations for their practices they lead, the advice they provide, and ultimately, the organizational impact they are charged with achieving.

Did you attend this year’s SIOP conference? What did you learn? What emerging themes did you recognize? What sessions did you enjoy the most?

Diversity, Innovation, Analytics, and Impact: Emerging Themes From the 2012 SIOP Conference

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By Evan Sinar

Part One: SIOP and EEOC – Partnering to Manage Diversity by Eliminating Discrimination

This past week in San Diego, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) held its annual conference. As the largest yearly gathering for the field of I/O psychology, more than 4000 individuals were on hand this year for the three-day event. The conference draws an extensive international audience, and includes attendees ranging from current psychology and business school graduate students, to their professors, to practitioners within major corporations engaged in a range of HR responsibilities, to consulting professionals providing Talent Management products and solutions.

The conference continues to be an extremely valuable source of broad, evidence-based, thought leadership about pressing Talent Management issues. Year-over-year trends in the presentations delivered at the conference are also a useful lead indicator of which topics are growing in importance for organizations managing their evolving workforces. The conference has also become increasingly practical in its focus, particularly in its investigations of leading-edge approaches and technologies. In many cases, SIOP is the only reliable source for deep and data-driven insights about the value produced by – and unrecognized risks of – these new methods. These factors have contributed to enhanced interest in the conference from Talent Management professionals.

A key 2012 conference theme was managing diversity through the elimination of discrimination - in one of the best-attended sessions of the conference, Jacqueline Berrien, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), emphasized the shared goals – and common challenges - of the EEOC and I/O Psychology. Ms. Berrien reiterated the EEOC’s overriding mission of definitively ending, not just reducing, discrimination in the workplace. I/O Psychologists conducting research into equitable employment practices play a critical role in this mission, as do Talent Management professionals deploying these tools with the right foundation, for the right purpose, and with sufficient implementation rigor. Ms. Berrien urged a renewed dialogue and strengthened partnership between her organization and the I/O Psychology discipline, around the mutual interests of developing, implementing, and advocating the use of assessment practices that balance fairness and predictive effectiveness. While she recognized universal use of such practice as “unfinished business,” she expressed sincere optimism in the continued EEOC-I/O partnership to progress toward this goal.

Driving and Sustaining the Work Revolution

By Barry Stern

Part Two: In Part 1 of this series, newly published author of The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All and Google alum Julie Clow made the case for why we need a workplace revolution.  In this second part of our discussion, I asked Julie to provide some practical tips for revolutionizing the workplace.  First, I asked her to comment on a very hot topic in the corridors of DDI and with many of our clients – innovation. I asked Julie for her perspective on what we can do to drive innovation.

 

The notion of creating an “idea-testing rather than an idea-judging culture” resonates strongly for me, and yet I am struck by how few leaders I’ve known through the years seem truly dedicated to creating the space for their folks to do just that without some fear of repercussion.  And breaking down the walls between organizational silos, sometimes even between cubes, is something many leaders at all levels seem to recognize and seek to impact.  Digging in further to the role of leaders, I was curious to gain Julie’s perspective on what leader actions it takes to drive a workplace revolution.

  

DDI has been espousing the notion of leaders “seeking” vs. “telling” for many years; however Julie’s words emphasize the aggregate strength in tapping into the collective energy and ideas of our employees.  And to leaders in the “never-off” world to which she refers in her book, it is easy to see why Julie would turn to the notion of prioritization as so critical.  

It struck me as our discussion unfolded that it would be interesting to get Julie’s take on what the role of HR might be in the Revolution, so that was where I turned to next.

   

So for Julie, it would appear the primary role of HR in this regard is to be the “culture carrier” and to put in place tools, systems, skills, and communications that support the more open culture she is asking us to create.  And, speaking of culture, I couldn’t help but wonder about what it was like to be inside the presumably open culture of Google.  Is it in fact that “revolutionized workplace” that we think it to be? We’ll get a peek inside the Google culture in the final installment of our discussion with Julie Clow coming up in the next week or so.

Fear of Failure: Lessons learned at Bersin Impact conference

By Jennifer Pesci-Kelly

What does agility mean for the talent industry? In a space where we thrive on process, measurement and discipline, how does agility fit into the mix? Josh Bersin kicked off the annual Impact conference with a challenge to all attendees to be more agile when it comes to talent to achieve organizational innovation. No one will deny that innovation is the key to the kingdom, but that mindset shift takes more than a line in a corporate vision statement. We heard over the course of the week about overhauling performance discussions, developing leaders as quickly as business is moving, and extending your leadership brand globally. The presentations focused on the willingness to throw out initiatives that aren’t working and to shift priorities to meet the needs of the business.

The final keynote gave everyone permission to experiment, to innovate, and even to fail while we’re doing it. Author Olivia Fox Cabane spoke about the mental side of innovation and the permission to fail.  

On the surface, failure is in direct conflict with the idea of a high performance culture. But Cabane pointed out that you have to remove the stigma of what it means to fail, because if you are going to innovate, you are going to fail. Most innovations are actually a succession of iterations of an idea—not a single breakthrough. (This really stuck with me that we’re not trying to come to that single brilliant idea, which makes innovation a bit more approachable). So at an organizational level, it’s not just about creating an openness to new ideas, but an acceptance of failure.

Cabane concluded with the idea that leaders have a direct influence on shifting the innovation mindset, and it comes down to their charisma and how it can feed into the spirit of innovation—or the crippling of innovation. We know many leaders who have charisma, but do they all drive innovation? She points out that there are different ingredients in charisma and it can be learned (Steve Jobs learned charisma piece by piece to build the charismatic profile he finally achieved to be the innovation leader of Apple). But with the ingredients of charisma, there are also types of charisma. For example, while authoritative charisma is great in a crisis, it is stifling for innovation. It’s visionary charisma that will feed the acceptance of new ideas.

But the key is that leaders can shift the way they lead, the way they listen, respond to ideas, relate to their teams and give permission to fail to feed organizational agility—and the innovation journey.

What do you think? Can a high performance culture make peace with—even embrace—failure? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Hear All About It, Hear All About It: Innovation

By Rich Wellins, Ph.D.

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to choose the latter.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at a one day event for newspaper executives at the Frontline Media Club in London.

My own view of newspapers reflects that of Mr. Jefferson over 220 years ago. However, there are many that feel the words news and paper have become two separate entities.  With new ways to access news, the newspaper industry is facing unprecedented challenges. And, the current environment has not helped circulation or ad space.

Before and during the event I engaged in a few intriguing conversations with Terry McGuire, past chief legal counsel for the Federal Communications Commission and a true expert in the industry. He told me that in the late 70’s the early wave of technology had entered the scene and he warned a similar group of CEO’s to innovate or die (my words, not his).

For many corporations, innovation has moved up in the list of business priorities yet, progress has been slow.

Many of the presentations in the morning of the conference were pleas for radical change—for more innovation. I began to ponder the wisdom I heard in a different speech three years ago at our Client Summit. Jonas Ridderstrale, author of Funky Business and Karaoke Capitalism, made a number of important points two of which stuck in my mind.  Any industry can grow through innovation and the ability to do so reflects on the quality of senior leadership.

No sooner had I stopped reflecting that Dr. Rainer Esser, the Managing Director of a German newspaper, Die Zeit got up to bat. Homerun! In a recession year their sales went up, their profits are up, their circulation is up! No small feat. The German newspaper market is extremely competitive. The Die Zeit success has nothing to do with luck. Their leadership team seems to pull off one innovation after another:

• Column duels between a highly conservative and a highly liberal editor.
• Recruitment of Helmet Schmidt the ex-German Chancellor as the Managing Director.
• Over 100 live events. Many on college campuses with editorial staff and guest speakers to build their brand.
• Passion for their customers that extends beyond surveys to in-depth interviews.
• Significant digital exposure including website, numerous blogs, etc.
• Based on the strength of the brand, a successful merchandising program.
• A “weekly” reader for use in the school system not only for educational purposes, but to build a relationship with newspapers.

When I asked Dr. Esser to single out the most important element of his newspaper’s success it was the leadership team. They spend time debating new ideas, new business models, and new ways of delighting their customers. Dr. Esser even hinted at some frustration with the countless hours devoted to new ideas. But, at the end of the day, he says, it was well worth it.

Dr. Esser was spot on. Any industry has room for innovation with the right top team in place. A team that can dream, a team close to customers, and a team, most of all that thinks ‘why not’—rather can not!

Rich Wellins is senior vice president at Development Dimensions International (DDI).