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Creating a Learning Culture to Drive Business Results

I was recently invited by the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry to speak on “Creating a culture of learning”. During which, I shared my thoughts on what are the key elements required to put your organization in a better position to establish the desired learning culture as well as suggested some possible tools that could be implemented depending on the varying context.

To create a culture a culture of learning, organizations needs to help employees develop a GROWTH MINDSET. Before that happens, there are 7 components that organizations need to take into consideration to have a shot at making that happen:

  1. Advocate Feedback

By giving feedback, we are talking about constructive feedback that is positive rather than fault-finding which often shuts the door for any further advice. Two-way feedback helps individuals, whether it’s at the receiving or giving end, to overcome their blindspots while helping others improve. Supervisors can help the team strengthen their work delivery while the subordinate can support the supervisor’s journey to become a better leader. Both ways, the organization wins because all parties learn and grow.

  1. Promote sharing

Learning can only proliferate if people within the organization start sharing useful information. You can start small by forwarding useful videos/articles and later move on to having a sharing moment at the end of meetings. That way, the employees are constantly working in an environment where sharing is encouraged and has become a way of life. Through sharing, the speed at which information grows multiplies exponentially and that’s how the organization and people get up to speed a lot quicker.

  1. Positive reinforcements

To make learning meaningful, organizations need to understand the importance of positive reinforcements. This can come in the form of tying certain incentives, whether monetary or non-monetary, to business outcomes generated from the learning. Even the simplest form of recognition e.g. providing certifications or acknowledging accomplishments from the learnings, could be options to keep employees motivated to pursue their development further. When people feel good, they want to do it more.

  1. Encourage experiments

Innovations happen when we experiment and allow failure. Very often, companies are so fixated with success that they forget about the importance of allowing calculated risk through experimentation. Without experiments, organizations are less likely to develop new ways of addressing issues and face the risk of lagging behind competitions. That is why startups and smaller organizations are catching up really fast in today’s market. Their fearlessness and willingness to experiment is what helps them learn and grow at a much faster rate.

  1. Make learning fun

Nobody wants to be reminded that attending a course or reading an article is part of work. What if you could integrate both work and fun? Wouldn’t that be great? Likewise, make learning an enjoyable process so that employees can retain more information and instil a vibrant learning environment at work is important. Making it fun also helps bring more people onboard the learning journey which is an essential multiplier to create the desired culture.

  1. Enable learning with technology

To make learning easy and readily accessible, the use of technology and digitalizing the process is a must. With the range of products in the market, including plenty of cheap and free ones, there should be no excuses not to leverage on them to enable your employees to learn more effectively. When learning is made easy, employees have one less excuse preventing them from developing themselves. When information is readily accessible, learning can now become a way of life.

  1. Measure success

In order to ensure traction, organizations need to measure the learning outcomes and success derived from the various learning platforms. That way, you will then be aware of where to channel your resources and which platforms provide the greatest bang for the buck to your employees. In addition, employees will also want to know what has worked and what has not to make a more informed choice. All these can only be made possible if proper systems are in place to measure success.

The Learning Tools

Tools

We often speak about the 70:20:10 rule which focuses on formal learning, social learning and experiential learning respectively. What are some tools that can be utilized under each of the 3 types of learning buckets?

1) Formal learning

Classroom training is the typical approach most workshops take when it comes to formal training. It’s probably one of the least effective methods as well. What can we do to make it a little more engaging and useful then?

The application of case studies could be one. Having contextualized content for learners to apply will help improve retention of knowledge and create greater relevance for them. Next consider role playing. Giving people roles will help them put on a different hat to better appreciate what’s happening on the other end, something they do not usually take time to understand. These are small yet effective things that could be incorporated into a classroom setting to enhance its effectiveness.

Beside classroom lessons, online learning is becoming more accessible and popular. Key here is to ensure that it is bite-sized and mobile enabled. In this smartphone era, people are often on the go and have short attention span. By having your content in small parts and readily accessible through mobile, half the battle has been won.

2) Social learning

Mentorship is one key piece that is essential for professional development. With a proper mentor, individuals are pretty much equipped with a beacon to provide greater visibility of the path ahead. Mentors do not have all the answers, but they are there to help you find your answers. A solid mentorship programme should come with the following 5 key steps:

  • Setting objectives and outcome
  • Matching mentors to mentees
  • Establish clear rules of engagement
  • Track progress
  • Proper closure

Next, consider building or at least joining professional communities. I’ve learnt how communities provide you with the support you need to go the distance and it’s where knowledge can be acquired so much faster than you can expect. There is only so much one can learn from within the company but by involving yourself in professional communities, you are getting access to external knowledge which could be contextualized for internal utilization.

3) Experiential learning

The final learning bucket includes things like on-job-training and internship. This are common tools that can be used but for it to be effective, the following 4 elements have to be present:

  • Plan out clear deliverables and learning outcomes
  • Ensure a meaningful work scope
  • Set milestones
  • Take time to provide feedback

Last but not least, consider using technology to supplement the experiential learning. Technology like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can help overcome physical constraints to enable learners to experience situations more effectively.

The Blended Learning Approach

Blender

There are many tools in the market to help enable a learning culture. What’s important is to mix and match the right combination that best fits your organization. That said, adopt a blended learning approach that combines formal, social and experiential learning. Adjust the intensity of the tools usage accordingly to resources available and readiness of the organization.

I wish you all the best in creating a strong learning culture at your respective organizations and look forward to you creating a better workplace for tomorrow!

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I decided to retire from the corporate world at 29.

At the age of 29, I was very well paid for a Human Resources (HR) professional and had an extremely stable job with a world class employer. My colleagues were nice, work environment was awesome and the job was definitely comfortable. The key here, COMFORTABLE. Every time that feeling creeps in, I start getting worried. I wonder if I’m learning enough? Am I pushing my limits sufficiently to be the best version I can be? Is this really what I should be doing at the early stage of my career to bring about the most impact? Even though it means that I’m getting the hang of things and becoming better at what I do, it somewhat worries me.

As I was approaching age 30, I started having some sort of a quarter/mid-life crisis. I kept questioning myself on what have I achieved thus far. I was blessed to be awarded the National HR Scholarship, be recognized by HRD Magazine as one of Asia’s HR Rising Stars in 2016 and did many roles within HR while helping my organizations make different impacts in various areas even though I wasn’t in the market for as long as most seasoned veterans. But are these really what I was looking for? Are the superficial stuff important enough to define me or am I pursuing an impact beyond that?

When I started digging deeper, what I really wanted to do was to make a real difference to my profession and leave a legacy by the time I kick the bucket. This set me thinking, can I really attain this dream if I stayed on in the corporate world? Is this the only way to pursue my career for the next 30 years? What are the alternatives that I could consider?

I’m always a person who believes in building options so I started mapping out the possibilities. This struck me that being the corporate world, regardless if I was in a MNC, regional role, local company or whatever it is, I’ll still be limiting the impact I can make to one organization. In addition, I had to spend time and energy climbing the corporate ladder first before being able to truly influence and make a substantial impact. Is that really where I want to channel my energy towards? No. This led me to realize that in fact, entrepreneurship might be a good alternative given my goals and experimenting personality. Here’s why:

  • Instead of wasting my energy trying to climb the corporate ladder, I can now focus solely on the kind of work I want to do and those that I believe will deliver the most impact.
  • I will be able to widen my outreach to more people and organizations since I’m not restricted to one company.
  • I could get my hands on a variety of work which helps to speed up my learning curve and strengthens my ability in a shorter time frame to add value to the profession.

I took great pride in upholding the values and spirit as a HR professional and did not want to compromise on the integrity or violate any conflict of interest policy so I realized that there was no way I could do this part-time. On a part-time basis, I could only meet up with people, establish relationship and that’s pretty much it. Therefore, after much deliberation, I felt that the best decision for me was to take the plunge and do what I believe in on a full-time basis. That is the only way to show my commitment and help realize the full potential of what I set out to do. That said, the lead up was still months of preparation and it was definitely not easy. What gave me the confidence to do so? 4 important things – mentorship, community, family and passion.

1) Mentorship. I was fortunate to have a couple of mentors who stood by me throughout this time. They had different strengths and areas of focus which equipped me with a wide array of skillsets that I would not have developed if I did not work closely with them. Needless to say, if I did not meet them, I would probably not be where I am today having the competency to run independently with confidence. I’m truly grateful because I never thought that strangers would lend me a helping hand and more so, to such a great extent. We are now mentors, friends and even partners in crime trying to grow the profession together.

2) Community. I always tell others that I’m running my gig platform solo but not alone. Why so? Because I have a strong and huge HR community behind me at all times! It all started with me contributing selflessly just wanting to share my thoughts and adding value to others. At that point, the idea of being an entrepreneur has yet to be seeded in my mind but little did I know that what I did without an agenda came back to help me when I needed it most. My contributions made me a recognizable figure in the community and with that, helped gained the trust and support from other like-minded professionals. When heading out on a tough journey, it always gives you additional security knowing that you have a strong support network that you can rely on if you need them.

3) Family support. As a married man, it’s important to consider my family’s needs before myself. Will I be putting extra pressure on my wife if I potentially live with no income for the next 6 months? Will I be causing my family any sort of inconvenience or insecurity? I’m so thankful that I had the fullest support from every single member of my family and that took away the unnecessary pressure to then help me focus on what’s important. The buy-in and trust you establish is an essential piece before going full steam. Otherwise, distractions will surface along the way and I’m sure it will derail you pretty quickly.

4) Passion. Finally, it’s never easy to start your own business, let alone doing it as a solopreneur. Having a strong belief and passion is key because that’s what keeps in awake positively at night and that’s what gets me pumped up even at the toughest moments. With a strong passion, I’m fully locked in and know exactly what I need to do and how can I re-focus when I get a little lost at times. If you wonder how I found this passion, I honestly don’t know. It may be by chance or because of the experiences I had. Regardless of how the passion grew, it is something that I firmly believe in and I’m sure there are things that can excite you and draw you towards it in one way or another. Follow your heart and you will definitely find it!

I can be sure that the journey ahead will be filled with plenty of challenges but I’ll be blessed when that happens because I know that I’m living my life to the fullest and for a meaningful cause. My message to you out there is this, follow your heart and do not be blinded by the expectations of others. The norms are there to create a safety net, but who says that it is always the best way? The tested and proven route may work for others but does not necessarily mean it works best for you. There are always ways to do things differently and more effectively if you are just brave enough to take the first step out of your comfort zone. Believe in yourself because self-trust leads to self-confidence.

With that, I wish you all the best in finding your passion and grow your career and life in the most fulfilling way possible.

Cheers!

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The Journey of Talent Retention Starts From Day 0

Your appointed recruiter spends months tracking down the best candidate through LinkedIn, recruitment agencies and other hiring channels. You and your line manager take weeks to review the shortlisted candidates and thereafter, arrange to interview them.

After endless rounds of interview, you finally nail down the perfect candidate that portrays the best combination of competency and organisational fit. Now, you put together the perfect pitch and salary proposal to lure the star candidate over to your side. Finally, he agrees to sign on the dotted line and you got yourself the talent you need.

But little did you know, that’s only the beginning!

Very often, companies complain about losing talent even though they seem to have the best remuneration package, the strongest employer branding and more. Salaries and managers at work are often perceived as the usual suspects, but is the loss of a good employee only due to those factors?

It could be a combination of reasons, but the most important thing is if you start engaging the talent on the wrong note, your chances of retaining them is probably close to zero. Therefore, the importance of an onboarding programme should never be underestimated. In fact, the onboarding process starts even before the new hire steps foot into the company on the first day. You should start impressing right from Day 0!

That said, what are some things to consider when building a good onboarding programme? You would probably have read that such programmes require the common standard procedures, including: explaining the organisation chart, briefing on company policies, assigning a buddy and introducing them to the management team.

These are important components to take note of, but what else can be done to build on these foundation items? What can HR and employers do as soon as the candidate decides to join the company?

Prior to day one for the new hire, there are many things that could be worked on to create a positive experience to keep them eager. You will be surprised by how the pre-commencement preparations and engagement efforts matter. When done well, it can be at least as important as how you engage the employee after he joins the team.

There are several touch points that I wish to share that might seem to be run-of-the-mill processes. These areas are often overlooked, yet, can be very powerful tools to enhance your company’s image in the new hire’s mind even before they join your company.

Signing the letter of appointment

You can either take it as another contract signing session or make the best out of it to keep your “sales pitch” going. After all, the candidate can still choose not to pen his signature on the dotted line if he smells something fishy.

Not only should you go through the contractual terms clearly, it is also important to pre-empt what type of questions the new hire might ask and be thoroughly prepared for them. Tailor your approach according to the type of candidate you are meeting rather than read off a script.

You also want to be as transparent as possible to ensure there are no false expectations created as that can result in a quick downward spiral when they join the company. Ask yourself, how would you feel if important information was intentionally left out only to be discovered after joining? Will that keep you focused on delivering good results or does it leave a bad after taste that affects your commitment in the long run?

Regular and relevant team updates

New hires typically take one to three months before they join the company depending on their notice periods or personal plans. During this time, many things can take place within the team depending on how dynamic things are. You want to keep him abreast of the relevant updates to create an impression that he is already on board.

However, do strike a balance between spamming the person with too much information and not doing it at all. It might seem like a non-essential for most teams but imagine this, wouldn’t you get up to speed faster if you already know what is happening within the company before you join? Mentally, does such information become a constant reminder that can help psyche the hire up about their new role?

Preparing for the grand introduction

Getting inputs from the new hire to prepare for an introduction is one good way to engage them before they come on board. If possible, focus on some basic personal questions that can help others know them better since the work-related experiences could be easily extracted from the individual’s resume. That said, it’s important to not make the person feel uncomfortable because we all have our own comfort zone when it comes to sharing, especially for the more introverted ones.

Simple topics such as hobbies could be a good starting point. Ask yourself, wouldn’t the feeling of a “grand arrival” make you feel special and not think that you are “just another new hire”? After all, you would want the team to have a preview of who to expect, allow them to know the individual better and understand areas of commonality to help them embrace the new person into the team’s culture as seamlessly as possible.

The final preparation note before day one

After putting in so much effort to ensure the series of positive engagements before the official first day, the last thing you want is to lose steam after a strong start.

Consider getting in touch with the new hire one to three days before their first day. Send a simple reminder on things to bring or a short note to reinforce how your team is looking forward to their joining. It will also be great if the onboarding programme for the first day is included to reduce the level of anxiety while creating some anticipation. After all, don’t we all feel a little uncertain about things that we are unfamiliar with? Wouldn’t it be nice to reduce a little of the question marks and increase the positive things that we can look forward to?

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Develop employees by helping them search within themselves

Very often, managers and HR professionals find it tough to have career conversations with employees. They find it awkward when confronted by issues relating to career decisions. Instead of providing an answer that the employees want to hear, isn’t it better for managers and HR professionals to help employees find the answer by getting them to search from within?

There are many ways to do it and depending on the relationship forged, the conversation can go deeper and gather greater insights through authentic and genuine engagement.

Mapping of high and low moments

To kick start the career conversation, the employee can begin by mapping the high and low moments of his/her career. During which, get him/her to share and highlight the reasons behind the high moments and low moments. It may start off with limited details which is perfectly normal. This will then leave room for further clarification and discussion at the next stage.

A simple illustration of a possible mapping as follows

Clarify and discover

Values

After receiving the initial mapping, start by clarifying the factors that contributed to the high and low moments. Keep questions simple, open-ended and avoid leading questions. Close-ended leading questions can be like, “Is it because a reputable company provides better prospect for individuals?” Instead, ask simple open-ended questions such as “What does a reputable company mean to you?”

The employee will think about the significance behind it and you can then extract useful information from the conversation. Some possible reasons that might be cited for wanting to work in a reputable company could range from having good prospect to working with top talents. From there, the employee will receive greater clarity on what are the important things that he/she values at work.

Interest

Taking it one step further, it’s also important to understand what interests the individual. Referring to the illustration above, one area to probe further will be the part on data-focused role which resulted in the employee’s low moment. Since he/she doesn’t enjoy a job that is data-focused, you might want to clarify the reason behind that. Similarly, use simple and open-ended questions to find out more about the employee’s area of interest.

Once that’s ascertained, the employee will now have a greater understanding on things that he/she should avoid when moving into the next role and likewise, it also helps the manager get a good sense of what assignments will best fit the individual. Of course, interest has to be matched with the individual’s competency and therefore, the next step is to help the employee identify his/her areas of strength.

Strength

To help the employee discover his/her areas of strength, one possible way is through the discussion of the key achievements. Take the employee through what he/she has accomplished and ask questions to reflect what contributed to the success across the mentioned assignments.

Besides self-reflection, it’s also good for managers to provide their inputs at this juncture. Unlike the values and interests which are the more reflective aspects of an individual, the discovery of strength would only be complete if it is complemented from external inputs. Other than the managers, the inputs from the individual’s peers are valuable information as well.

Taking this forward

Career conversations can be made easier with the right focus and tools on hand. By helping the employee understand his/her values, interests and strengths, it will not only provide them with greater clarity on what they really want, it will also help managers understand how to develop them to the fullest. In addition, it will ensure both parties are on the same page and can jointly work on the career path of the individual rather than second-guessing for most parts of it.

Regular check-ins with employees are also important to understand any challenges they are facing which could impede their performance and growth at work. After all, a manager’s job is to enable his/her staff by providing the necessary resources to help them do their work better. Helping them understand themselves by looking within is definitely one good way to do so.

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Time For HR To Put On The Customer Service Hat!

Working at the world’s best airport has made me realize the importance of service excellence and providing a pleasantly surprising experience for the customers. As HR professionals, we serve internal customers too, don’t we? What are some lessons that we can learn from the service industry and apply to our internal customers – the employees?

Customer-first mentality

When we talk about having a customer-first mentality, you will probably think of the tagline, “The customer is always right.” But is that really the case? Perhaps not. Having the customer as your top priority doesn’t mean that you have to give them everything they demand for. Instead, it is really about having their best interest in mind and always thinking about how you can deliver the greatest value to them.

For instance, you are aware that your organization is going through a massive project but one that will only last for the next few years. Your line manager wants to hire full time employees and insist on working through further deployment plans for this group after project ends. In the short term, it might seem to resolve the manpower issue. In the longer term, is hiring full time employees really the best for the organization? A short time solution could potentially lead to an issue of retrenchment later! Therefore, HR needs to take a firm stand at times to be a valuable partner and advise its internal customers on what’s best for them. Sometimes, a neutral party might in fact be in a better position to cover the blind spots of the line manager. Therefore, having a customer-first mentality is at times not easy because you need to upset the customer before they become enlightened on the good intent behind the tough decision.

Pre-empt needs

Before the issues are brought up, start pre-empting possible problems that could arise from certain cues that you have obtained while working with the line managers or observed from the business environment. For example, if you foresee that you will need more engineers in the next few years due to an upcoming project, don’t wait till the time is up before panicking. Strategize on what you could do to ensure this manpower piece is covered. Perhaps think of how you could engage schools or the relevant communities to cultivate a strong relationship so that you have good sources to tap on when the need arises. You will then be ready to leverage on the advantage when the time is ripe.

Truth of the matter is, some things take time and cannot be achieved overnight. Think ahead and start building capabilities for the organization before you hit crunch time. By pre-empting the needs, you are ensuring that your customers’ needs are taken care of even before they realize such a need exists. They will be grateful that you were able to provide an early alert and in turn, gain the much-needed trust from there.

Deliver beyond expectation

To create a pleasantly surprising experience for your customers, you need to deliver beyond the basic expectation. It’s a tall order but the focus is really on the experience itself. One way to do it is by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes? Think about what your employees need, what they want and identify touchpoints where you can deliver a tad more to keep them positively surprised.

For instance, simple gestures like placing a “Thank You” card on every employee’s table during your company’s year-end dinner or anniversary is a simple way to appreciate their contributions to the organization. It doesn’t cost much, employees probably do not expect it but yet, it’s an effective way to create a feel-good factor. Such experiences will accumulate bit by bit and can create a lasting impression. It is important to note that sincerity is key to ensuring the acceptance and sustainability of such experience delivery.

Be likeable

It never hurts to put on a smile on your face whenever you interact with someone. Regardless of the time of the day, people you meet, the positive energy is contagious and will increase your likeability. What does likeability do then? Ever encountered a service crew so likeable that a big mistake could somewhat become a small one and in turn, be easily forgivable. Being likeable on one hand helps to provide an additional cushion when negative things happen and on the other hand, creates greater acceptance when introducing new initiatives which may be tough to sell.

How do you then further enhance your likeability besides always putting on a pleasant smile? One way is to show that you care. The sense of inclusion is something that human needs whether being part of a family, community or certain groups. They like being included and cared for. As such, if you are able to show that what you do has good intent and for the genuine good of the employee, whether it’s through good or bad times, people will be more willing to buy-in and stand by you.

Closing thoughts

It’s no rocket science to deliver a great experience. What matters is your intent and the approach you take that can be readily felt by the end-user themselves. Put on your employee hat, think about how you would like to be treated and what would provide you with the best experience. With that, your ability to create a great employee experience will be ready in no time!

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Delivering Business Value Through HR

I was recently invited by my mentor, Eddie Lee, to attend a WSG “Adapt and Grow” session where he shared and tickled the minds of SME HR professionals on how to be more PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE when dealing with the business side of things. It was a pretty interesting session to me, and the following are my 4 key takeaways from his sharing.

1) Start off by asking, “What is the aim of doing this?”

Before deciding if we should even implement something, it’s important to first question the purpose of doing so. Is it to reduce turnover? Is it to generate more revenue? Is it to enhance the employer branding? What are we actually aiming to achieve by rolling out a new initiative? By first clearly defining the end goal, we can then take the most effective route to deliver value to the business.

2) Remove the HR hat and put on the business hat

To convince the senior management and line divisions that HR is a strategic partner, we need to see things from their point of view. Instead of merely saying, “I want to reduce the turnover”, the real aim of doing so could perhaps be reframed as “I want to retain the best talents to generate the highest possible revenue for the organization”. Using a different lens while leveraging on HR toolsis what we can adopt to help others appreciate the value that we are trying to deliver.

3) Focus on bringing people into the business

HR often focuses on the operational part of things and in turn, becomes very process-driven rather than thinking of how we can become an enabler to deliver strategic value to the organization. Definitely, the daily operational tasks have to be delivered. But while doing so, we should also not overlook what our true potential can bring about i.e. bringing the people element into the business and enabling them to create value for the organization. It’s not all about policy adherence or ensuring things are done in certain manner. More emphasis should be placed on value creation.

4) “Build, Borrow, Buy” model

The growth model has 3 parts to it. First, we can BUILD talent from within where we develop and then promote. Second, we can BORROW talents from other teams and re-deploy them to other parts of the organization. Third, organizations can BUY talents from the open market to fill positional gaps. Ideally, organizations should create a strong talent pipeline so that people can grow from within and progress. When that happens, talent acquisition will then be primarily at the entry level which is easier to source and cheaper to acquire.

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Human Resource: The Dumping Ground

My open letter to all Human Resource (HR) professionals who still believes in the profession:

Very often, the HR department is treated as a dumping ground where “unwanted” employees are thrown in as a last resort before terminating their service. You see misfits from your various departments getting forced out of the team and in turn, having to request for a move to HR. Sometimes you wonder, is HR indeed a dumping ground? What are the possible causes for such a phenomenal?

PERCEIVED PURPOSE of the team. In many organizations, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), HR is often perceived as an administrative function. The primary purpose of the team or single HR personnel is to provide administrative support and ensure that the daily routines are covered. You rarely hear business owners saying that they require inputs from HR or that HR can provide strategic guidance to the business. Rather, bosses talk, and HR executes. Speaking of which, should we instead call ourselves the admin support team?

HR is regarded as a team that supposedly doesn’t require much TECHNICAL SKILLS. “Anyone can do HR”. Sounds familiar? We often hear this statement and somehow, can’t firmly disagree to it because HR is a people business and chances are, intelligent people with high EQ can do the job well. Or is it? But is that what all HR is about? What about the specialist roles such as Total Rewards and Talent Management? Are they so straightforward that anyone can do it?

Lack of a VOICE. Most HR professional want to do great things but are not willing or even afraid to voice out their thoughts. It might be the natural ranking of HR’s status in a corporate setting where the department is usually down the pecking order that affects the level of conviction for most HR professionals. This often translates into a lack of confidence to stand up to stakeholders and to hold our grounds firm. Should the current lack of recognition and status be a show-stopper for HR teams to voice out what’s right and what’s wrong? Are we doing our job if we simply keep quiet?

Poor sales ability to sell our ACTUAL value. Unlike the sales and marketing colleagues, HR is often in the background focusing on getting the job done without claiming credit. Or perhaps, we do want our due recognition but are unable to articulate what we have actually delivered that is so impactful to the organization? Besides the inability to sell how our deliverables are tied to measurable business outcomes, we are often unaware of how to set up the right metrics in the first place. What do we need to do to ensure such indicators are properly set up and in turn, enable us to sell ourselves better?

REACTIVE rather than PROACTIVE approach. HR typically takes instructions and react to what the organization needs. We want to initiate meaningful work but are often tied down by the daily operational requirements. When can we ever become more proactive to tell the management what is the best way forward? What must we do to be make things happen rather than wait for things to happen? Do we always want to be a receiver or should we start thinking of becoming the creator instead?

Focus on ABIDING THE POLICIES and not how to ADD VALUE to the stakeholders. HR creates the policies and observes everything the policy says as though it is a bible. Question is, do we really need to do so? Is the purpose of a policy to streamline our work or is it there to impede progress? Strictly abiding to the policies may be right on paper but, are we adding value to our stakeholders? Or are we in fact creating more problems which prevents the business from growing?

LACK OF PRIDE from HR practitioners. Do you hear many HR professionals going out telling people what their profession are? If so, are they that proud of being in HR? What can we do to instil greater pride in the profession and help fellow professionals hold their heads up higher when the meet others? Do we always want to be labelled as the “bad guys” who hire and fire or, true professionals who deliver great value to people and organizations alike?

If any of the above pointers resonate with you, I’ll like to urge you, fellow HR professionals, to step up and start rallying as a community. To prevent further dumping into our home ground, we need to stand tall, defend our turf and learn to voice our views more confidently. It’s time to deliver what we ought to and not be afraid to take centre stage. It may be daunting for one individual to do so, but with a community supporting this movement, it is not going to be long before we get to where we envision the profession to be. We can, and definitely will, deliver great value to our organizations in whichever capacity we are in as a HR professional.

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Stop Wasting Time on Talent Retention!

Millennials are slowly taking over the workforce and in fact, becoming the majority of the population at work. One key characteristic that sticks out for this group of people? A lack of loyalty. Or at least, a perceived lack of loyalty. This perception is a result of their short average tenure of 2 years where perhaps the more “loyal” ones stay just a little longer. That said, they still leave and do so way earlier than the likes of the Baby Boomers who at one time, believe in lifelong commitment to ONE organization.

When talents leave, companies fret. They start panicking about what they need to do to retain this people or at least, keep them engaged longer in hope to delay their departure from the organization. This is the conventional thinking about staff engagement and talent retention but has that translated into true impact for the organization today? Has it really been that effective? I have my doubts about that. Ultimately, the employee that you are putting so much resource on still leaves and you go back to scrambling mode to find a replacement for him just to start things afresh. Is it really meaningful to then just focus on talent retention? Why are we spending that much effort to retain talents? If we take one step back, aren’t we actually seeking to retain the value that these talents bring to the organization? So instead, why aren’t we focusing on value retention?

The value that a talent can bring to the organization is multi-fold. Firstly, it’s about the knowledge that they have acquired during the time they spend with the organization. Throughout their career, a talent will acquire knowledge and translate them into the work that they do. These knowledges include both tacit and explicit knowledge. Some will be shared but others might be acquired and belong solely to the individual. Question is, how do we ensure that such knowledge, especially the tacit ones, are translated into something transferrable so that they rest of the organization can still tap on when the talent leaves?

Next, the network that they have established for the team should simply leave with the talent. Good talents are strong “magnets”. The may not necessarily be the most sociable people around but they are often able to connect effectively with others. With such connections, it opens doors for organizations which in turn lead to further opportunities. What happens if the network is created but solely linked to the individual talent? What happens if he suddenly leaves? How can you ensure that beyond a personal connection, these networks are also linked to the organization itself? That’s key.

Then, the ideas generated during the course of their work should also be captured and expanded at an appropriate time. Have you faced situations where great talents throw in a lot of ideas but were deemed as not ready for implementation at that time? Then at a later stage when you are looking for ideas, the earlier concepts are forgotten and you just hear complaints of not being able to think of something innovative? Talents are often able to help generate value through their synthesis of ideas or breakthrough thinking. Such ideas may not be implementable immediately but guess what, always keep track of good ideas because you never know when you can use them and how you can expand with them in the near future!

Finally, it’s about keeping the positive momentum going after the talent has helped create a positive flow of energy within the organization. Top talents are leaders in their own right and they get people on a journey with them while keeping a high morale level. What happens then when they leave? Do you simply allow people to feel disheartened that someone key to the team has left or, create a mechanism to allow things to continue functioning when one key piece leaves? Momentum is something that is hard to build but easy to lose. Do not waste the momentum created by the talent and find ways to keep it going even if he eventually leaves the organization.

That said, I’m not suggesting that we should not spend time managing and empowering our talents. It is the most, if not one of the most important agenda for every organization. What I’m suggesting is this: Since we know that talents today are highly mobile, stop creating a false expectation that they will stay with you for as long as you check all the right boxes. What you should focus on is to provide them with the best resources and opportunities to be the best versions they can. This in turn allows them to deliver greater value and then, focus on how you can capture and retain such values. On top of that, think of what is necessary to leverage on the value they have brought to the organization and create a sustainable model. That way, losing a talent will not be as painful and companies have a better shot of retaining their competitive edge even when the best talent leaves.