Disaster Recovery 101: What You Need to Know

Computerworld, 11/16/11 - With various parts of the country still reeling in the wake of tornadoes, earthquakes, too-early snowstorms, hurricanes and wildfires, the past few months have taught us that no geographical area is safe. There's never been a more compelling time to develop or fine-tune a disaster recovery and business continuity plan for your business.
Disaster recovery is, quite simply, being able to continue your mission-critical business operations after an interruption of some kind. Companies must be able to resurrect their applications and processes -- their entire business operations -- at the point they were before the outage occurred, says Robert Amatruda, research director for data protection and recovery at IDC. And this is true whether the outage resulted from a natural disaster, a server or storage system malfunctioning or "someone pulling a plug they shouldn't have," he says.
While business continuity is about being able to keep functions going, disaster recovery means being able to get everything back to whole again, explains Carl Pritchard, senior risk-management consultant at advisory firm Cutter Consortium. "The difference is business continuity is keeping the patient alive. Disaster recovery is getting them back to being healed and walking again," says Pritchard, who is also the author of Risk Management, Concepts and Guidance, 4th Edition.

Fantastic Quote to Remember!

"There is no such thing as can't, only won't. If you're qualified, all it takes is a
burning desire to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward, go backward. 
Whatever it takes! But you can't blame other people or society in general. 
It all comes from your mind. When we do the impossible we realize 
we are special people." --Jan Ashford

CEO Confirmation

Last week I met with a good friend of mine to discuss his business and what I have been doing since I left the corporate world. This person is a CEO of a couple of Internet business all linked to the same type of information. Needless to say he is ultra successful and has capitalized on data streaming over the Internet.

Our discussion went from business strategy, to joint ventures, to new opportunities, and to HR. The discussion on HR really re-enforced what I have been saying since 1978. An HR professional needs to be head deep into the business, know all the ins and outs, products, development, and how to market. This person and I worked together for a couple of years after we bought his company. Since I had an opportunity to meet him early on doing the due diligence and acquisition of his $300+M company, he forged a great working relationship and respect for one another.

His comment to me said it all" you are a business person with great knowledge and understanding on how to run a successful business". This is what a CEO should say about his/her CHRO. Does your CEO say that about you and what have you done to fully understand your business and integrate yourself into the day to day operations? Oh, don't forget talent management, succession, and all the other CHRO duties!!

Employee Engagement? In a Business, It Needs to Start at the Very Top

A fish rots from the head down, as the saying goes from my friends in Maine. While the word rot sounds offensive, let’s just say it starts from the top.


This week, I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine who is the CEO of a major company , an a true entrepreneur when I mentioned employee engagement. This is a topic I have blogged about now for over 3 years and is still top of mind in the HR world as it should be. This friend jumped on the topic and went on for 40 minutes on what CEOs should do to drive employee engagement from the top. 

This CEO met with the senior staff and employees daily and kept in front of them on the business climate, strategy, and new product development. He also had many teams of employees testing products, and asked them to act like consumers. Employee surrounded themselves with the business, and I will tell you even during these economic anemic times his business is going strong at 15% year-over-year growth. 



How does your CEO engage employees? 

Moving from HR Data to Organizational Insight

Over the last few months, I have been presenting and discussing the topic of HR analytics.
I feel that as a profession, HR is stuck. I think we have "got" the measurement part down pat. We can measure turnover, we can measure cost per hire, and time to fill.

But it's not really about these activity based measures anymore. It's about what you actually DO with the data.



You have to use the data in context with other data in order to really get to impact. For example, using customer satisfaction data and performance data to understand who is delivering the best experience to your customers and further determining how to sustain that experience over time...that's impact.

I have been giving some thought to why we are stuck at the Phase 2 on the above analytics roadmap. Why can't we make it faster to phase 5, where HR provides the business with BUSINESS INSIGHT that has significant IMPACT to the business.

Here are some of my initial thoughts:

1) It's the data excuse-Stop the madness. HR has more data than most departments. The issue is the condition of the data in most cases. Also, we have data in so many systems it is difficult to bring it all together. NOT IMPOSSIBLE just difficult.

2) It's the talent excuse-I don't have analytical people on my team. See last week's post on how to accomplish this one from two very smart HR professionals from Wells Fargo.

3) It's the "I don't have time excuse"-Find time before someone else takes over your data and does it for you. Enough said...

4) It's the "I can't get the data I need from other departments" excuse-Make a clear business case or state a compelling question that you need to solve that has impact on the business. State this at a high level meeting to get buy in and interest.

5) It's the "it's not important" excuse. keep thinking this while HR tasks are being outsourced and HR is suddenly being staffed with non-HR professionals who get analytics. Nay, it's not important.

I believe HR has the chops and smarts to get this done. Start small with one business problem that needs to be solved like:

1) How can I get my production workers to be more productive and get orders fulfilled on time when absenteeism is at an all time high and morale is at an all time low?

2) How do I increase our market share in a new market, where our competition has a strong hold and we have had problems recruiting talent that we need to make this happen?

3) How do I increase customer satisfaction in our call center, it has been dropping for two quarters straight?

Each one of these issues can be looked at with metrics and then analytics. It just takes asking the right questions, getting the right data and telling a great impactful story!

Why are you stuck? or...How have you moved past being stuck?

Traditionalists Will Not Succeed in HR In Today's Environment

This is not a controversial subject at all I would think given the environment today. If you want to get into HR today, you need to understand business and economics, and I do not mean just the rudiments. You also still have to be people oriented but that is not why you get into this field. Here is why traditional HR people will not succeed today:

  • Your CEO wants business people, not just people people,
  • You have to have a close and intimate working relationship with your CEO and executive team,
  • HR should not be focused on administration like it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago,
  • You have to think like a business person and understand the economics of business,
  • You have to talk business speak, not HR speak and people need to know you can back up your business speak,
  • You have to add immediate value and ROI in everything you do,
  • If you do not understand and grow and retain talent, you are out,
  • You need to be smart about social media and how to attract the right talent to your business,
  • If you do not understand global competition and exchange you lose,
  • You have to know how to adjust to changing environments like driving a Formula One race car,
  • You need to be flexible, act with speed, and decisiveness and have the RIGHT answers and solutions,
  • You need to be compassionate yet honest in your discussions with people, not beat around the bush like most HR people,
  • Phoneys will not make it today and that will cut out about 50% of the HR people in corporations today,
  • You have to be someone who could potentially take the COO/CEO position some day.
  • You need to understand and explain balance sheets and corporate accounting & finance.
And you can fill in all the other blocks on how to make it today in HR. This is just the tip of the iceberg on what it will take to be in HR today. Do you agree? 

Human Capital Metrics Conference: It's about Value

The Human Capital Metrics Conference was awesome this year. Check out my recap of Day 1, here.

Day 2, did not disappoint either. Michael Echols with Bellevue University began his keynote with a very profound point for me and for all HR professionals.

See my tweet below:


"The opportunity is to create FUTURE value from current human capital investments."

Boy, do I believe that. That one statement gives HR measurement a whole new perspective. It's not so much about what has already happened, it's more about WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. Don't our CEO's want to invest in whatever will give him/her the most return? We are in "predictive" land now.....say goodbye to HR tracking metrics...it's over. (Thank goodness).

The second highlight for me on day 2, came from two very smart women from Wells Fargo. Natalie Tarnopolsky and Kathy Doan delivered a great presentation on "Building a TRUE HR Analytics Team." It was not only a good presentation but entertaining as well. Yes, they made analytics entertaining.


Natalie and Kathy outlined their 9 step process used at Wells Fargo:

1) Assess your analytical capabilities. Where are you today (reporting) and where would you like to be (optimization)?
2) Assess your foundation. Conduct a gap analysis of your foundational building blocks. (foundational data, vision, key questions, truths i.e. cost and value per FTE)
3) Strengthen partnerships. Identify stakeholders, build relationships, determine goals and share, build credibility and communicate loudly!
4) Have a clear plan and ensure sponsorship. Review HR organizational structure, accountability, and create business case.
5) Select the right technology. Decisions on build or buy with right people involved in process.
6) Support self sufficiency. You must control demand or increase manager self sufficiency in the reporting area.
7) Secure the right analytics team based on the following key skills: business acumen, people influence, communication effectiveness, data manipulation, financial acumen, analytic rigor, and critical thinking.
8) Outline the analytical process. Clearly plan and communicate what the key question is, the assumptions and approach that will be used to answer the questions and the potential value that can be derived.
9) Conduct analysis and share the results. Spend time in prepping the data and previewing the findings.

I like their process as I believe it will work for large and small companies alike. It was one of the most popular topics on the twitter feed for #tcbhcm.

I look forward to next year, as I see HR professionals and the C-Suite embracing HR Analytics more and more every day. It's very exciting to see this topic finally get its fair share of attention.

I believe analytics are no longer a nice to have.....they are a must have for competitive advantage, no matter your industry.

What are your thoughts? Are HR Analytics a fad or here to stay?

Have You Hardwired Your Workforce?

In an economy like what we are experiencing today, good news today, bad news in Europe tomorrow after the bell,  one of the first budget cuts we see is usually in training & development. As all HR and astute CEOs know, training is one of the key life bloods of an organization that builds your workforce skills and is a launch pad for growth.One of the key elements for continuing training of your human capital is instilling that training is important to them and that they should take the time to expand their skills, grow their competencies, and make it a ritual in their working lives. It is an investment in their capital assets. So how do you do this? Here are a couple of important guidelines:
  1. make sure there is a solid training strategy that ties to the corporations' goal/objectives
    keep the training budget as much in place as possible
  2. make sure your managers buy into the training strategy
  3. managers must emphasize that training is important to them
  4. offer eLearning options for your employees through companies like SkillSoft
  5. provide time each week for learning
  6. show the outcome of skills training so people see the end result
  7. post notices on your intranet regarding skills training
  8. make sure that you subsidize if not pay in full the training that people take that is relevant to their current position or one that in next in line for them. There has to be a solid ROI.
These are just a few areas where you as managers and leaders of organizations can ensure that you build and maintain the most competent workforce that will help you drive revenues and profits. It will also help reduce turnover and build loyalty within the organization.

Human Capital Metrics Conference: Recap Day 1




I was honored to be asked to serve as the official blogger for The Conference Boards's Human Capital Metrics Conference, today and tomorrow in NYC. HR Metrics are definitely a passion of mine...so I am thrilled to be here especially hanging out with Dr Jac Fitz Enz.

To see more specific insights go to twitter and search on: #tcbhcm....interesting observations, check them out!

Last year, I was also serving in the same capacity. Below are observations I have noticed as differences in 2011 vs. 2010:

1) There are definitely more people here. Small talk contributes this increase to a slightly better economic situation and an increased interest and focus on HR metrics and analytics.

2) The conversations are not about tracking measures, or even dashboards and scorecards...it's about making BETTER BUSINESS decisions. I love this as it puts context around HR and their role in the organization. Michael Gregoire, CEO Taleo said it best:

"Business Strategy and HR Strategy should be ONE!"

3) Last year, I didn't even hear the word social media and its impact on talent management. Today, I have seen how smart companies like Juniper are leveraging technology to manage talent, leading to engagement, leading to desired business outcomes. AWESOME!

4) Lots of talk around HR metric standards. The over arching opinion is that they are coming...from industry experts. My question around this topic is, why hasn't SHRM taken a lead on metric standards? I know they have finally developed a standard around cost per hire. YEAH, but guess what? We have moved on from that metric...#toolittletoolate

The audience was polled and 54% were involved in HR Metrics but only about 1/2 as many involved in predictive analytics. I mention this because HR must get to "predictive" in order to assist CEO's in making better decisions. Mike Echols of Bellevue University said it best....

"HR needs to be better competitors for organizational investment capital"

If that is to be the case, as the money is certainly there on US balance sheets for the taking, then HR needs to make a business case. That business needs data most of the time and what the predicted outcomes will be so that CEO's can make informed decisions on resources.

I think this need for talent management investment must be HR's driver to get on the analytics train.

I always like to know what is next...what's the next topic after we leave tomorrow. Dr. Jac said he is thinking about, "How to build and analytic culture." OMG....2 of my fave topics all in one. Please can I come back?

Ok, so here are some other thoughts regarding today's sessions:

1) I think there is a need to use other Talent Management examples besides training. I believe you can look at examples for rewards/recognition, engagement, performance management, etc and show how companies have linked those to bottom line results as well.

2) I think one big example of aligning strategy to HR strategy and then analyzing MULTIPLE HR investments against desired outcomes would be great. Even better, how to choose between competing HR initiatives. If you have identified through strategic mapping that you may need a training program or a rewards/recognition change, how do you use data to pick the one that has the "most bang for the buck" (discussed by attendees at my lunch table as a suggestion)

3) Dr Jac had a great slide demonstrating linkage between employee investments, operational outcomes, customer outcomes and finally financial results. This really drives home the need for HR strategy and business strategy being one. This idea supports it's not about alignment really but about integrating HR's strategy into the business strategy.

4) Talent management data is not business intelligence by itself. It's just another siloed data set that needs context. It needs to be analyzed with its other data friends...customer, operational and financial data.

Bottom line...a company's competitive advantage is not about services/widgets...it’s the people. Don't you need to know how that investment is performing for you? Don't you need to know how to increase that asset's performance?

The only way to answer those questions is through analytics.

How Quick Can You State Your Strategy?

I have had a couple of exchanges on Linkedin regarding my post that if you cannot explain your strategy in 20 minutes you don't have a coherent strategy plan at all. Larry Bossity said this 10 years ago ""If you can’t describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven’t got a plan."


The comments from my Hr practitioners and constituents have said that if you cannot explain your strategy in 5 minutes you don't have a plan. well, I disagree because I be neither of the two who said it should only take 5 minutes couldn't even talk fast enough to get the strategy plan out in 5 minutes. I am not totally contradicting them but questioning how comprehensive their strategy would be  if they had 5 minutes to tell it to the board or executive team. 


Now, I will say that I am talking about an HR strategy not an overall corporate strategy. I am also not saying that an HR strategy should take any longer but when you piece all the components together that will take more time as they weave into the corporate strategy. 


Tell me what you thoughts are on this issue either on Linkedin (www.linkedin.com/williamgstevensjr)  or at wgstevens2@gmail.com 

HR Metrics: Q&A The Conference Board


Tomorrow, I will be attending the HR Metrics Conference hosted by The Conference Board in NYC.

Dr. Jac Fitz Enz, the "Father of HR Metrics" will be in the house.

I can't wait...I met him last year and yes, I am a groupie. For those that know me, HR Metrics are a passion of mine. Call me, geeky, I don't care.

I thought this opportunity would be a great time for my readers to get their pressing HR Metrics questions answered.

So let's have them....what do you want to know about HR Metrics....

Follow #TCBHCM on Twitter for real time insights from the conference.

CHROs Leadership

Courage, Now...

No doubt, CHROs and their leadership teams are facing unprecedented pressure to make decisions and deliver results in uncertain and vexing times.It made us think of Harry Truman as he as he contemplated actions to end WW II. 

"To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone."

Courage, not a fear to act, is at the top of the agenda for CEOs and their CHROs. 
The Koblentz Group, wish to share two leadership trends that we are observing in our most forward thinking and courageous clients. Each trend suggests opportunities for CHROs to deliver tangible value.

**CEOs are under increasing pressure from their boards to become truly serious about succession planning and talent management.

Many CEOs speak about the value of leadership capital but few have supported the investment of organizational commitment and funding, to make it work. Boards are demanding tangible plans and now are tying CEO compensation to talent accountability.

CEOs are taking notice! And, CEOs are looking for your guidance.

This creates a real opportunity for CHROs to create significant value by advising their leadership on all the elements of developing and instituting an effective process, investment and benefits.

**As the economic malaise continues, our clients are laser focused on leveraging the basics.

CEOs are asking CHROs to provide key insights on the strategic use of their organization's associates.

"Do we have the "right" talent, in the "right" place to “leverage” the current uncertainty?"

"Can we, as company leaders, put aside politics, personal ambitions and corporate fiefdoms to assure we see issues, challenges and opportunities with clear optics?"

These questions are often over looked or too easily dismissed as simple. This introspective exercise creates opportunity for CHROs to create value with their leadership by reexamining what is presumed to be obvious.
It takes courage for any CHRO to challenge the "givens" and the "simple." Yet, Koblenz's clients who are willing to invest in digging deep on fundamentals have found this type of "examining our basics" approach, yields significant results.

No doubt 2012 will be challenging.

Times will not always be as in the current.

reprint from the Koblenz Group Blog