Live from the Halogen User Conference: Using Performance Based Learning to Drive Results September 14th, 2009

Heather McCulligh

David Hofstetter from the New England Organ Bank and our own Sean Conrad just wrapped up a session on performance based learning at our annual user conference. They shared some great insights and best practices on the power of linking employee performance and learning management.

Sean discussed the theory, while David discussed what his organization has been able to achieve with performance-based learning. Both raised a number of insightful and interesting points that I wanted to share with you. Development is a key component in employee engagement, and engagement drives HR metrics, and the organization as a whole forward. Employees need reasons to engage and focused L&D truly drives engagement in numerous ways including career progress, increased feedback, consistent standards as well as improved skills, experience and value.

Putting development at the core of talent management requires organizations to implement a development focus throughout all related processes. Processes such as on boarding, goal setting, performance reviews, talent assessments and more are all development opportunities. That said, to make this a reality, the organization needs a culture that enables HR to drive development and change the overall meaning of appraisals to employees. Leadership buy-in, a communication strategy, and management action are all key ways to do this. The move to a development focus within talent management will increase the overall value of all talent management related process, and improve performance and business results.

The New England Organ Bank is a great example of the development driven approach discussed by Sean. The organization was using a paper-based system for its talent management process, and for compliance purposes, needed to document all training. Hofstetter and his team were facing a number of documentation and training issues. Furthermore, the organization was accountable to five different bodies, including the FDA and the American Association of Tissue Banks. Hofstetter and his team recognized the need for an LMS and performance management system. Since initially identifying this requirement several years ago, they have evolved their approach, and now use a tightly integrated talent management suite which puts appraisals and development at the core of everything they do. With the Halogen in place, they have changed the culture to one where performance and development are a clear priority, while meeting compliance requirements. Now, instead of appraisals being a once a year event, there’s an ongoing review of each employee’s progress and development plans are continually updated.

Check back tomorrow for more from the User Conference and don’t forget to follow us on twitter @halogensoftware.

Tags: employee engagement, HR, learning management, performance management, talent management

Live from the Halogen User Conference: Maximizing the Return Your Talent September 14th, 2009

Heather McCulligh

Today is the first day of our fourth annual user conference which includes a keynote from Richard Hadden, co-author of the Contented Cows series of leadership books. We talk a lot about leadership on this blog, so a lot of what Hadden shared in the session was extremely relevant.

Hadden kicked off the session by sharing his view that creating a great place to work is the BEST thing you can do for your bottom line, and that employee engagement is truly a business issue. If you aren’t familiar with the Content Cows series, Hadden and Bill Catlette, they have done years of research with leading employers (and those with less than stellar reputations) and make the connection between people and profits. Using real companies and real numbers, Contented Cows “makes the case in terms business people understand” and establishes a “clear linkage between organization’s employee relations practices and its bottom line.”

From their research, they found that companies in the group with strong employee engagement performed better, with a 6:1 margin. They also created a “mythical mutual fund” of 20 companies known for their talent management practices and tracked them for a year. The fund outperformed all major funds including the well-known Fidelity Magellan and even the Dow.

Hadden put the link between corporate and employee performance in simple terms “today’s morale, is tomorrow’s customer experience and next month’s earnings.” Well put, and a great way to explain the need for further investment in building talent management within any organization. To help session attendees meet the challenge of improving employee engagement, Hadden gave HR pros in the room 20 assignments to do. A few of the assignments to note:

1. Stop Being Ordinary: These are extraordinary times, and they call for extraordinary leadership.
2. Don’t let fear cause people to disengage.
3. Make effective leadership skills and behavior a condition of employment. Don’t let bad managers hide behind good numbers.

Great ideas, many of which we all know in theory, but we may struggle with to put into practice. I challenge you to start thinking about how you can use even one of these ideas for your organization and see how you can start making a noticeable difference on employee engagement.

Tags: employee engagement, HR, performance management, talent management