Cathy Martin

The How-To’s of Deliberate Culture Creation

By Cathy Martin | October 12, 2011

Last week I wrote about culture, specifically discussing if it is created or does it just happen by chance. Most responses I received via comments and twitter stated that culture is created.

So my question to you last week was:

What is the formula for creating a culture that is a competitive advantage for your company?

I wanted to share with you the responses I received and then add my two cents:

1) The values of an organization must be articulated to employees (how business owners want to conduct business)

2) Those values must be cascaded into everyday processes, policies, procedures, relationships, etc.

3) Human performance has to be aligned with the values as a way of doing business.

(thanks to Debbie King of Evolution Management for 1-3)

4) Hire people that are aligned with the organizational values

5) Review values regularly with all employees by CEO (even review at the beginning of team meetings)

6) Employees should be empowered in the decision making process to determine how decisions align with organizational values.

7) Communication and leadership are key in the process. Leadership must demonstrate behaviors that are expected in the organization.

(Thanks to Melany Gallant with Halogen Software for 4-7)

Values that truly connect with people’s higher aspirations (to improve, to serve, to create a better tomorrow) are easier to build culture on as employees can get behind these. Companies that have a more profit mind set might find it more difficult to build culture around.

Posted in Culture, Featured, HR Metrics | Comment »

Culture: Nature or Nurture

By Cathy Martin | October 3, 2011

It’s funny how topics come up in discussion in several venues over a short period of time. As you have read in a past blog post, I was at the Halogen’s user’s conference a couple of weeks ago, where I was on a blogger’s panel. We discussed the topic of culture and how you can leverage culture to your benefit as a company in the recruiting and retention areas.

I also had the privilege to teach the PHR/SPHR preparation class and the question about measuring culture arose in a discussion.

Lastly, I was presenting to a group last week on how to create a “High Performing Organization” and of course culture came up in that discussion.

I guess the most common theme was the idea of culture creation. More specifically, “Are cultures created or do they just happen?

In each venue we discussed companies that had a very strong well known culture. The following companies were mentioned:

1) Nordstrom

2) Publix

3) Ritz Carlton

Posted in Culture, Featured, HR Metrics | Comment »

Ready, Set, Measure?

By Cathy Martin | May 23, 2011

So, you have decided you need HR metrics. You know it’s important. You know your CEO is craving data to see how the investment in people is paying off.

You then begin to develop metrics. What is your first step?

So many times I hear the following answers to the above question:

1) I start with turnover and cost per hire

2) I google “HR Metrics” and pick some that look good

3) I ask another HR colleague

4) I go to a conference

5) I just measure anything and everything

“NOT!” to all of the above. The key to determining your HR Metrics that matter to your organization is to start with your organization’s strategy. A company that is in growth mode has very different metrics than a company that is in survival mode. The growth oriented company is going to focus on goal attainment and revenue growth and the company tying to survive is going to be more cost conscience.

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High Potentials vs. High Performers

By Cathy Martin | May 14, 2011

Recently, I went to the Performance Conference in Chicago, where I had many interesting discussions regarding HIPO’s. In HR slang HIPO’s are defined as an organization’s high performers. But as I delivered a presentation with my colleague Sue Bond from Halogen Software, it became crystal clear that high performers and high potentials are two very different types of employees. I am a fan of segmenting employee populations just like we do consumers as I think you can really gain insights on employee behavior and employee needs by analyzing segments versus all employees.

So what about high performers and high potentials?

According to me, (for what it’s worth) a high performer has a track record of delivering results to the organization.

A high potential has the ABILITY to deliver results (at a future date) to the organization minus the track record. The high potential just needs to gain more experience and possibly skills to become a high performer.

So, how do we move a high potential to a high performer? Good question. I think this is both an art and a science as the tipping point, is motivation. Motivation is a tricky thing as it has many drivers. In my experience you can move a potential to a performer in the following ways:

1) Make sure the potential employee has a clear set of expectations for his current role.

5 HR Metric Pitfalls to Avoid

By Cathy Martin | April 25, 2011

Over the last few years, I have seen many dashboards, scorecards and metrics from a wide range of companies. The lessons learned leading up to a dashboard are so valuable. So for those of you that are just starting your metrics journey, I have a list of 5 pitfalls that if avoided can make your journey a lot more successful.

1) TOO Many Metrics

2) Ignoring your metrics

3) Measuring the WRONG things

4) Metrics that are not understandable by Joe Manager

5) No accountability

Let’s briefly take a look at these…

Too many metrics: I never will forget asking a HR VP to see her metrics last summer. She in turn handed me an Excel workbook with almost 500 measures. Who can focus on 500 measures at a time? I asked who received these metrics and she told me they went to the Executive team, but they never did anything with them. Shocker! LESSON LEARNED: Make sure your metrics are reasonable in number and are tied to organizational strategy (closely related to point 3 above). I get asked all the time what is the right number of metrics? I don’t know that answer as it depends on industry, strategy, organization size, etc. I know it’s not 500 no matter how big you are!

Posted in Featured, HR Metrics | Comment »

Don’t Ignore Your Engagement Data

By Cathy Martin | April 18, 2011

I have just returned from another HR Metrics Summit hosted by ASMI. I had the pleasure to present on the topic of “Using Data to Make the Right HR Investments.” This is the second time I have made that presentation and the second time I was asked a question regarding employee engagement and the confidentiality of engagement data.

How can you use employee engagement data when you have said it is confidential/anonymous?

We all know that engagement data is not anonymous due to technology but we do assure our employees that the data is confidential. We tell employees that comments and individual scores will not be revealed. And I agree this is a good best practice. I also think if you have a department or business unit that has less than 10 people, you need to aggregate those scores up to the next level as confidentiality is hard to protect when you have a small report-out group.

With all that said that does not mean you can’t use the engagement data while conducting other meaningful HR analytics. I am suggesting using the data along with other variables to determine valuable insights for your organization. Here are just a few examples of how engagement data can be used:

1) Analyze your engagement data, our performance data and your turnover data to understand who is leaving in your organization. Is it your highly performing and highly engaged employees? If so, what are you going to do about that?

2) Analyze your engagement data and performance data along with quality of hire data to “predict” a profile of a successful candidate for your organization.

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

How Do You Measure Quality of Hire?

By Cathy Martin | April 11, 2011

I love it when I am asked questions about specific metrics in HR. I was asked two times last week about Quality of Hire. I think this metric is getting more and more momentum as it should. If you think about the QUALITY of your talent…you instantly can make a direct connection to revenue and bottom line results: (Let’s define a quality hire is one that is productive, committed, and engaged)

1) The more talented and engaged a person is, the more they will produce adding to the top line

2) The better your hires, the lower your recruiting costs

3) Employees that are more committed, give better customer service leading to increased loyalty, sales and repeat business.

So, with the impacts listed above, it makes sense to keep a pulse on the quality of hires we make. That begs the question….”How do you do that?”

A few months ago, I had a very different opinion on how you measure quality of hire. I thought that measuring performance at certain intervals would give you the definitive answer to the quality of hire question. In reality, it gives you a one dimensional look into the process. We really need to look at various metrics to truly see the whole picture. Thanks to Darren Shearer, from SuccessFactors, he suggested at a HR Metrics Conference, using an quality of hire index which would include the following components:

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

How Good is Your Performance Data?

By Cathy Martin | April 4, 2011

For many of my readers, you know that I am a huge proponent of analyzing performance data combined with other HR and customer data to increase organizational and individual performance.

In the past we have discussed using performance data to:

1) Profile top performers in the organization identifying key knowledge, skills and abilities, producing an A-Player profile used on the front end during the recruiting process to enhance quality hires on the first try.

2) Using performance data long with employee engagement and turnover data to predict those high performers that you are “at risk” of losing

3) Calculating Quality of Hire using 90 day performance rating along with other data to determine success rate of recruiting function.

In the three examples above it is critical that you are using reliable and valid performance data. For reliability, you want to make sure the instrument you use is reliable over time and managers understand how to rate. Validity means that you are measuring what you are supposed to be measuring. So for performance appraisals, this means making sure you have analyzed the behaviors and critical success factors for your job groups. I believe that one performance appraisal does not fit all. I also believe in the KISS principle, so you don’t need a separate performance appraisal for every single job in the organization. But, it does take a competency modeling exercise to group the jobs that have “like” success factors.

I know that performance appraisal get a bad rap for a myriad of reasons but with so many HR metrics using this data for analysis, doesn’t it make since to make sure your appraisals are top notch?

The 5 Most Important Talent Management Metrics

By Cathy Martin | March 28, 2011

As the economy slowly thaws, talent has become a top priority for most organizations. Companies are concerned with acquiring the right talent, retaining top talent and developing future talent. Leadership intuitively knows that the better the talent IN the organization, the better the results FOR the organization.

So, what does this all mean for HR professionals. No pressure HR, but CEO’s are risk adverse these days and demanding of data for fact-based decisions. HR will have to step up its measurement game where talent is concerned. I believe workforce planning and analytics will become critical from a supply and demand of talent perspective.

I also believe that tracking and measuring current talent becomes critically important so companies sustain a competitive advantage over its competition.

I believe there are several critical measures when it comes to talent. If I had to choose my top 5, it would be these:

1) Quality of Hire

2) Employee Performance

3) Goal Attainment

4) Turnover by performance, by engagement

5) Employee Engagement scores by performance, manager, department

It is important to know if you are getting quality candidates in the door. There is not one measure for quality of hire, but you can use a combination of new hire performance rating, new hire failure rates and retention rates.

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

HR Analytics at Google, 8 tips from Prasad Setty

By Cathy Martin | March 16, 2011

Luk Smeyers, with iNostix is our guest blogger. Thanks Luk for continuing to provide great content!

No HR background

Prasad Setty, a self-described “numbers guy,” never expected to find himself in HR, says Andrew McIlvaine in a 2010 article in HREonline. “If you’d asked me in business school if I would be spending time in HR, I would’ve laughed, because I thought HR was soft and fluffy and that I had no intuition for people issues,” says Setty, who holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

VP of People Analytics

And yet today, Setty is happily ensconced in HR at Google Inc., albeit in a numbers-driven role, serving as the company’s VP of people analytics. “Google is a great place to try a data-driven approach to HR,” says Setty, who joined the Mountain View, Calif.-based technology behemoth in 2006 after stints at McKinsey & Co. and Capital One.

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

Don’t Just Survey Your Employees: Link Your Data!

By Cathy Martin | March 14, 2011

I read an excellent article from March 2011′s edition of HR Magazine this weekend, entitled, “Prepare for Impact” by Kathryn Tyler. (Membership SHRM National Required to view, insert sad face here…sorry!).

I really was excited to see this article in the magazine as it is a topic not only that I have been passionate about but one that I think is garnering much needed attention to the subject.

The article discusses the importance of using employee engagement data in a far different way than it has typically been used. In the past, we have surveyed our employees, we have broadcasted the results, and we MAY or MAY NOT have taken action on the data.

The article discusses the importance of using and leveraging your engagement data to understand what drives financial results in your organization. In the article, Tyler says there are several puzzle pieces that must fit together so that you can leverage the data:

1. Choosing the metrics to link to employee engagement

2. Determining the logistics of the research

3. Sharing results of the research with employees to create an action plan to achieve improvements.

Posted in Featured, HR Metrics | Comment »

How Many Metrics Do You Have? Really?

By Cathy Martin | March 6, 2011

So many times I am asked to review HR metrics and make recommendations. I can remember meeting with a client last summer. I asked to see their metrics. I was handed pages from an Excel workbook with about 15 tabs with at least 25-40 metrics per tab.

It made me tired, just looking at all that. There was EEO data, there was recruiting data sliced every way imaginable, there was employee relations data, there was training hours per employee by department, location etc. You get my point.

I asked the question, “Who is the recipient of this data?” I was told it went to the leadership team. Poor guys and gals. How could they ever make sense of all that data?

Don’t get me wrong some of those 500 metrics were very valuable. But your leadership team does not need to see ALL of those. There are the 3 types of HR Measurement according to Luk Smeyers at INostix:

1. HR Efficiency (HR Tracking/numbers internal HR Dept)

2. HR Effectiveness (HR Programs)

3. HR Impact (outcomes based on investment in human capital)

I would bet the farm that the leadership team described above was looking at HR efficiency and effectiveness measures. I am pretty sure those aren’t the ones they lose sleep over. They need to see HR IMPACT measures. They need measures like:

1) Human Capital ROI

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

Why HR Metrics Don’t Work

By Cathy Martin | March 3, 2011

Thanks again to Luk Smeyers from INostix, Netherlands for guest posting on our blog. Another great topic.

A few days ago, I was reading a digital summary at FT.com of the brand new 2^nd edition of Wayne Cascio’s and John Boudreau’s book ‘Investing in People’. Especially the chapter ‘hitting the wall in HR measurement’ is my absolute favorite. Let me summarize a few of the ideas.

Hitting the wall in HR measurement

Type “HR measurement” into a search engine, and you get millions of results. Scorecards, metrics, dashboards, data warehouses, surveys, benchmarks, and audits in abundance ratios. The spectrum of HR measurement methodologies seems unlimited. The paradox however is that even when HR measurements are executed well, most organizations typically hit a ‘wall’: HR metrics or measures only rarely drive true strategic change! Boudreau’s and Cascio’s figure (see below) shows how, over time, despite more sophisticated measures, the trend line doesn’t seem to be leading to the desired strategic results.

Posted in Featured, HR Metrics | Comment »

What is the Difference Between Metrics and Analytics?

By Cathy Martin | February 17, 2011

I know, I have been asked many times about the difference between metrics and analytics. Luk Smeyers with INostix in Europe has created a very cool list of words that show the difference between the two concepts. Thanks Luk!

A lot of my clients and contacts are asking me quite often: “In a few words, what’s the difference between HR metrics and HR analytics?” For a few weeks, I have been writing down such words in my beloved iphone (the ‘Notes’ app). Here you go…enjoy!

Metrics	Analytics
1. Tangible	Intangible
2. Accounting	Finance
3. Past	Future
4. Data	Insights
5. Large	Selective
6. Transactional	Strategic
7. Information	Transformation
8. Low value	Differentiator
9. Gathering	Asking questions
10. Reporting	Analysing
11. HR Scorecard	Business Scorecard
12. HR ownership	Management ownership
13. Controlling	Optimising
14. Inside-in perspective	Outside-in perspective

What other differences have you seen or experienced between Metrics and Analytics?

Posted in HR Metrics | Comment »

Talent Management: Does What Get Measured Really Get Done?

By Cathy Martin | February 4, 2011

I am very excited to have Sean Conrad from Halogen Software as our guest blogger today:

Cathy has done a series of great posts recently on HR metrics and analytics. I couldn’t agree more with her take on the importance of measuring and analyzing the right things – HR data that matters to the business, because these are the metrics that can be used to track against corporate objectives and to help make business decisions.

Now of course I have a pretty specific focus on talent management metrics. Over the past several years I’ve had the pleasure of working and talking to hundreds of HR professionals who are passionate about driving high performance within their companies, but who at one time or another have struggled with determining what to track. Suffice it to say that without the ability to centralize performance and talent management data in some type of system, the question is moot, because it’s nearly impossible to get meaningful insight from paper.

But for the many who have taken the step of centralizing their talent management processes and data online the task of accessing the data is much easier. But now that you know you have access to metrics, it’s important to determine which ones you and your business care about.

For example, you gather a lot of useful data during your performance management processes. Are you making strategic use of it to drive business decision-making and organizational success? Here are just some of the questions you should be able to answer using data from your process.

· What are your strongest organizational competencies? Do these support your organization’s mission/vision/strategy?