Digital Transformation of the Workplace – Impact on Hiring and Retention

June 16, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

Much has been written and discussed about digitization and how it could/would/should impact our lives and our job. As stewards of healthy workplaces, it is critically important that our thinking stretch to understand the impact this will have on the ability of corporations to hire and retain the best employees.

In its research report titled “Predicts 2015: The Digital Workplace Underscores the Benefits of a Consumerized Work Environment”, one of their key findings is that “Digital literacy is not about tool proficiency, but about how well people apply that knowledge to making decisions, cultivating relationships, building reputation, and mobilizing colleagues, teams, communities, or networks to rally around a common cause. Digital literacy focuses on the application of digital insights obtained by mastery of technology, and how those skills become ingrained in people’s behaviors, attitudes and culture”. A key take-away from this is that technology teams need to be encouraged to include employees across the organization in the productive use of their technology and not continue to hold the corporate technology as sacred.

There was a time when this was unthinkable – employees had to deal with many devices in an effort to keep corporate technology separate from their personal technology. The world has become a smaller place and it is just impractical to continue along this path. After all, if you are hiring the appropriate staff and have thoughtful technology guidelines in place, and the staff is productive and the results are present, why should using a personal iPad, a laptop issued by the company or Facebook for research be in question?

In fact, and here is the important kernel of wisdom here… if you do not allow some autonomy in gaining digital literacy across the workplace you will appear arcane and it will be increasingly more difficult to attract top talent and retain them! Here for your detailed pleasure is the Gartner “Predicts 2015: The Digital Workplace Underscores the Benefits of a Consumerized Work Environment”.

http://resources.cio.com/ccd/assets/78349/detail

For excellent Human Capital and Talent Acquisition Services, contact The Resource Collaborative at: info@trcollaborative.com or call us directly (908) 376-2012

Sparking Innovation within your IT Team

June 2, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

The best technology teams today are those who have a commanding understanding of the business of their organization and then are able to fast forward to enable the business prerogatives with innovative technology – i.e., competitive advantage.

Technologists are usually very interested in the latest “tech stuff” out there…truly superior technologists are those who can imagine how to apply the appropriate “tech stuff” to empower their businesses…this may mean leaving a widget or two in the dust, but the results will be creating value for the organization.

As you build your technology team, you need “doers”, those who want to apply known technology and get real satisfaction out of the completion an effective deployment can deliver. In addition to this critical attribute, I have found that in any group of technologists, there are those who really have a natural curiosity and constantly want to push the envelope and see how far a hypothesis can go…these are the folks who you want to cultivate as innovators.

There was a time when we could have robust technology R & D budgets to sift through possibilities and send only those with solid results through to deployment. Today, technology changes so quickly, having a formal R & D function may not be practical. Instead, you should be looking to hire members for your team who will produce results and will also naturally “test” new possibilities.

These folks have certain attributes to look for:

*Good Listeners – they need to hear what the business is requesting to make certain their curiosity stays the course of “value”;

*Domain Experts – they understand the business of the organization thoroughly and keep abreast of goals and visions;

*Consensus Drivers – they have credibility across the organization

*Collaborators – they do not think technology drives the business, they allow the business to walk arm in arm with any initiative

Oh, and they should be great technologists! Certainly not an afterthought, but as you can see, an innovator needs more than excellent hard skills, they need to be leaders!

How do you enable innovation on your teams? For team-building expertise, please contact us:

TRC at info@TRCollaborative.com

Hiring a Strange Workforce

May 6, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

Having assembled many teams and organizations over my long career, I can hear the mantra of myself and my colleagues as we state that worn cliché, “Your people are your competitive advantage…” I never took the time to think about what that really meant…until now.

I just read the article at the link below which is an abstract from a book called “Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce” by Daniel M. Cable. Now I understand! I invite you to read this article and then hunt down this book and start to create your own strange workforce today!

How to Build a Strange Workforce – by Daniel M. Cable

ENJOY! And let us know if we can assist you in building your strange workforce at: ellen.shepard@trcollaborative.com

Has Your Organization Reached Digital Customer Maturity?

April 14, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

Tormented? Driven Witless?  Whipsawed by Competition?

Ah, the race is on…who will win the customer? The “C” group in most organizations has been scurrying to structure a plan to enact the technologies and processes to keep pace with the ever-changing road of data to the prize, “the customer”! Have you taken measure of your organization’s digital maturity? According to McKinsey, “A company’s digital quotient (DQ) is a function of how well defined its long-term digital strategy is, its effectiveness in implementing that strategy, and the strength of its organizational infrastructure and information technologies.” How you engage customers digitally matters profoundly! It matters because of immediate opportunities for sales and because many of the decisions a customer makes are informed by the quality of their experiences all along their journey.

The rate at which changes in technologies are hitting the consumer is with lightning speed and organizations need to be able to be proactively innovative…ensuring the customer journey is satisfying, embraced and yields results. Organizations need to gather and assess information, data in all forms to get a full 360 degree understanding of their customer. Create a compelling customized customer experience that is relevant at all stages along the customer journey.

Organizations need to be willing to dedicate teams to the consistent pursuit of iterative testing, learning, and scaling—at a pace that many may find challenging.

In some organizations this initiative has suffered due to the ongoing conversation about which functional business group should lead this process. Then there are the organizations who have made significant progress by establishing cross-functional teams comprised of representatives from marketing, e-commerce, IT, channel management, finance, and legal. Often these teams operate in a “war room” posture – prototyping, reviewing campaign results, making tough decisions quickly and always trying a new idea.

Often, organizations find that they require skill-sets they do not have onboard. Since most of these folks are in high demand, an innovative cross-functional team could decide to re-train internal resources, recruit bright college graduates who have grown up with many of the analytical and web design skills needed, or collaborate with specialty resource providers, like TRC (www.trcollaborative.com) to assist them in their team building.

By all accounts organizations who succeed in this new age of customized marketing will look like customer centric technology organizations – embrace it!

What is this thing called “The Interview”?

March 17, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

One of the most awkward conversations two people will partake in, is that of an interview for a job opportunity. Awkward for both participants!

Why, you ask?

Once you get through the normal recruiter conversations, as a candidate, you are now speaking with peers and managers who actually work within the business. These people rarely conduct interviews. Think of your own experiences as a hiring manager and reflect on the small number of interviews that you conduct each year. Most of us do not hire that many people a year, so the interview, for most interviewers, is a disruptive conversation that we are never really completely comfortable participating in.

As a candidate, you may have been in your current or last position for many years and without question, the interview is certainly a disruptive experience!

Let’s take a minute, and explore how both participants can make this “interview” into a productive conversation, that both parties look back on as a worthwhile experience, regardless of the final result.

As an employer, you want all candidates to walk away from the interview process with high regard for you, your team and the process. In retrospect, this is the only impression they have of you, and whether you offer them a position or not, you want them to be able to say positive things about their experience during the interview process. If the candidate is offered an opportunity to join your organization, this brief experience carries more weight in their decision matrix than you can ever imagine!

As a candidate, you want to make a compelling case for who you are and how you would bring real value to the organization. Regardless of whether or not you are offered an opportunity, you want all of the parties in the process to remember the positive experience they had interacting with you.

Let us share with you our secret sauce and key ingredients to interviewing success:

“Be human and manage the conversation,”– yes, both of you!

As an employer:

Be Prepared! Don’t review the resume with the candidate – review this information prior to the interview.
Do ask specific questions based on your resume review – job moves, detailed project examples, accomplishment questions.
Do ask a behavioral question – give a situation and ask how they would handle it or ask for an example of a difficult situation, and how they handled it.
Do ask them to describe an example of a demonstration of a strength that they possess – for example – persuasion, critiquing, etc.
Do ask them to describe a time when they learned a lesson and how they have/would implement what they learned in the future.
Do allow time for the candidate to ask you questions.

As a candidate:

Be Prepared! Read current news about the company – understand what they do – research the interviewers – know who they are.
Have a list of 4 things you want the interviewers to know about you – work them into the conversation or mention them at the end.
Have examples of at least one success and one failure ready – for the failure be prepared to espouse the lessons learned.
Allow time and silence into the space of the interview – it is okay to allow time to think before answering a question!
Maintain eye contact and answer the questions asked – do not veer off topic.
Check in with the listener to see if you have answered the question. Just blatantly ask them, “Have I answered your question?”
Prepare a list of at least 4 questions to ask the interviewer, (think these through.)
For example:
What attributes have you found in the person/people who have held this position in the past that have led to their success (or failure)?
What are the challenges ahead for this position? Critical initiatives?

If both participants manage the conversation, everyone will come away with a rave review!

For additional information that will assist you in resource planning and career management, please follow us:
Twitter: @TRC_Difference
LinkedIn: TRC Companies, Inc.

Is this a TBT Moment?

February 5, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

The only thing certain about Technology is Change! Every time we go through the initiation of a new disruptive technology, and yes, there have been many times before digitization, that the technology team has needed to manage the status quo, while simultaneously implementing the new horizon. So the question remains, how do we know which change to embark on first and which is worth investing in for the overall benefit of the company, in due time? We came across this article, http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/Running_your_company_at_two_speeds which is an excellent resource that demonstrates how businesses can effectively combine the emerging digital process with traditional ones and how to determine when it is worth to disrupt your companies current technological flow.

This bifurcation of effort and skills is normal for talented technology teams and their leaders. Let’s take a moment and reflect on our past experiences, to account and move forward this time around. As technology leaders, we do not need to re-invent the wheel. The pace and sequence of implementation and adoption should always be a joint decision between business users and technology teams – this alone will keep the disruption to a meow instead of a roar! This is an opportunity for the technical folks to explain the process – the dependencies and what choices/options exist. Assisting business users in gaining understanding and knowledge should be welcomed and embraced – this will allow for huge payoffs going forward, as well as a more knowledgeable business user at the table when the next opportunity for technical transformation occurs.

Ultimately, can we all agree, that the choices of “what, when and why” change will happen should be driven by business need – ah, yes…back to that old “bottom-line” scenario. Before you disrupt your business processes, take a keen look at the 3 w’s and ask your organization some soul-searching questions:

Why – are we looking at a specific change/transformation?

What – will we gain – if we do or do not change?
What – could we lose – if we do or do not change?

When – now – implications?
When – later – wait and see – implications?

Please share your thoughts on how best to move all of this digitization forward in an organization? We would love to hear your experiences.

It’s Always Been All about the Customer!

January 12, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

All of this fuss about predictive insights into customer behavior, customer market share and customer focus is not new…It all started many years ago when technology folks introduced the concept of contact lists and files…way before most CRM systems, as a way for sales and marketing folks to keep their contacts and activities in some reasonable order. Then, Zeus of Marketing said “this is not enough”…we need to be able to track what we are doing with each prospective customer and continue to do so once they are our customer – enter, the CRM system!

Fast forward a few years and I can remember when large diverse service organizations, like commercial/retail banks realized there was yet more to be had…we have customers who participate in one area of our service offerings and we should be able to capitalize on this information across the enterprise to be able to qualify them for other “go to market” opportunities. This was no little wake-up call…this was a technology revolution in its infancy…enter large relational databases and data warehouses with the capability to gather and house all of this customer information. At this point, the tools needed to retrieve this information in useable format, were complex and could most productively be used by an IT staff in responding to requests from the various marketing/product teams.

We are in the midst of an exciting opportunity to, once again, transform the organization’s customer relationship capabilities. What makes this time so different is that if positioned collaboratively, the IT Team can finally take its place at the table, not as an enabler or support arm, but as an integral part of the business’s capability to identify, target and service customers, not only from within the organization, but now from anywhere, anytime!

To do this effectively, both IT and Marketing needs to understand the digital transformations that need to occur and agree to face them as one team. It is time for these groups to work together to produce measurable results – ah, and that should mean reaping the accolades, and walking across the coals of the fires together! This will require a clear understanding of emerging and disrupting technologies – by everyone… the huge difference today, from when we have done this in the past, is that now your business success is tied to how well you understand, deliver and manage emerging technologies.

How are you handling this transformation within your organization? How is the Technology-Marketing relationship evolving? What has worked best?

For more scintillating conversation that makes your day…please comment on our blog and follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter

Data Governance: DATA, DATA, Who Owns It, And Who Cares?

August 20, 2014 by Ellen Shepard

IT-technician-checking-ne-007

Through the hallowed halls of many a corporate IT department there continues to be an ongoing conversation about data governance, or put more simply, what is critical data, who “owns” it and who has a stake in the information culled from this data. Often, when faced with decisions that seem to have a technology solution behind them, organizations submit to the seemingly easier road and throw the responsibility into the lap of the IT department…after all, this is technology generated “stuff”.

If our conversation were to turn toward bits of data, this would seem plausible as they would not be useful at that level. However, once we coin the “stuff” as “data”, the possibilities for the use of this “stuff” as information has it take on a whole other meaning, which suggests a different way of thinking about the business process of data creation, gathering, storing, reporting, etc.

In enter the folks who “need” this data in the form of information to solve a business imperative. They are the people who “care”. As with most acts of creation, keeping responsibility for reliability and accuracy closest to the source usually guarantees this possibility. Ah, but then what happens when this data moves into the form of information and is handed off to those who need it?

Screen Shot 2014-08-20 at 12.29.57 PM

Now, who is responsible for the care and feeding of this information? Theory and some experience along the way, say those who have a need for something will nurture it best.

I hope you have garnered the not so subtle difference between data and information…Let’s go back to where we started and set-up a couple of premises:

Data is created, gathered, stored, reported through technological processes, as defined by people who need information from this data.

files-to-people-smaller_1

Information is data that is in useful form, as requested by those who need it, usually to solve a business imperative.

computer-data-backup

Governance is the act of rule setting and monitoring. In the case of data or information governance, it is like the county seat for these valuable commodities. They cannot be separated since they reside symbiotically.

There was a time in our not so long ago technological world that the answer to the question, “DATA, DATA – WHO OWNS THE DATA & WHO CARES?” would be easy to answer. Technology had not become sophisticated enough to unleash the fruits of its labor into the business world without tight control. That day has passed…We now have savvy technology users throughout organizations who can quickly learn the processes necessary for them to avail themselves of what they need to perform their jobs – what the firm needs to increase revenue – and what predicative analysis can shine on the future planning for a firm.

Is it time for IT departments to step back from the Data Governance forefront, maintain the back-end processing, ensure tools are available to users and allow the organization to govern its data and information? How are you handling this in your organization? What is working and what is challenging?

Computer Monitors Shaking Hands

For top notch technology resources, please contact The Resource Collaborative at info@trcollaborative.com.

HIRING FOR SUCCESS & LONGEVITY

April 7, 2014 by Ellen Shepard

Screen Shot 2014-04-07 at 6.16.48 PM

Are you a hiring manager torn witless by the number of resumes flowing into your inbox on a daily basis and yet, no shining star has appeared?

You are not alone! Most hiring managers meet with an internal talent acquisition representative to formulate or revise a job description for a resource need. The talent acquisition representative goes to the market to find a candidate with the skills to fill the requirement. You receive the resume and see the relevant skillset. You meet with the candidate and walk away underwhelmed…knowing they will not be successful on your team.

“Hmmmm”, says the talent acquisition representative…”how could that be”? And back out to the market for another candidate and the cycle continues.

What is missing? The cultural “fit”…not just within the overall company, also within your team. Once you get past the skills assessment, what is it that makes an individual successful in this position within your team? Successful broadly meaning, not only successful at the results they are producing, also successful in how they feel about the results they are producing.

The answer to this conundrum lies in the definition and quantification of this cultural piece. It is every bit as important as the skillset required and should hold a place of honor on the job description. All of us have seen some of the “quality” attributes on a job description – excellent communication skills, critical thinker, adaptable, etc. While this is fine to include, perhaps a more productive targeted way to get a quantifiable read on a candidate’s cultural “fit” would be to include a list of questions that would indicate a candidate’s suitability and test for the “success factors” for a particular opportunity?

digital-marketing-talent

As a matter of fact, one could say in today’s fast changing world of technology, the skills needed today are the skills of tomorrow as quick as you can blink an eye. Finding people who are a “fit” and will stay with your organization, is perhaps more important than one skillset today.

Some questions or “TO DO” TIPS…

Can you articulate your organization’s culture?
Do you have a list of questions to test for a cultural “fit”?
Who on your current team exemplifies a great “fit” and why?

Answering these questions and turning them into guidelines will go a long way to ensuring hiring for success and longevity!

sectorswitchers

At The Resource Collaborative, we understand how costly turnover and attrition can be both in hard dollars and in productivity. Therefore, we take the time to learn about the cultural “fit” for each position we are asked to fill and we offer to work with the hiring manager to determine what this “cultural fit” looks like so that we can formulate the appropriate questions for candidates to address. Give us a call today to learn more about this service.

Hello and Welcome to The Resource Collaborative (TRC)!

January 15, 2014 by Ellen Shepard Leave a Comment

We are thrilled to welcome you

to our new website, and to introduce you

to our newly formed Leadership Team!

Established in 2011, TRC is a privately held woman-owned company, with offices in the greater NY tri-state area that provides a full slate of human resource services to our clients across industry sectors, across the USA. We like to think of ourselves as the “next generation of talent collaboration” – if it has to do with resources, you should be speaking with us! We believe that supporting the operations and technology areas within our client organizations allows us to make a meaningful contribution to the achievement of their business objectives.

To that end, here is the “TRC Difference”:

We were founded by and are led by a former CIO/COO – we know IT and Operations.
We are not recruiters, we have been actively employed as executives and managers in many industries – we have been in the hiring manager role, in most cases, for over 20 years!
We truly collaborate with you! We customize our fees based on the opportunity, the current market conditions – difficulty indicator and your budgetary constraints. We are not a “one fee for all” commoditized business.
We have a 30+ year solid pipeline of stellar resources who collaborate with us to bring our clients the very best in delivery and results.

…We consistently add value to our client’s bottom line!

So, you need to complete IT and/or Operations projects and move your firm forward, but you have minimal resources (time, people and money) to accomplish your goals?

We just may be a breath of fresh air!

Our clients collaborate with us because we keep it simple, always look for ways to add value to their bottom line, and offer stellar services and unimagined productivity, all while “right-sizing” our fees to fit your circumstances.

Interested?

The following is what we do best:

RESOURCE COLLABORATION	TALENT COLLABORATION
Team Extension	Interim CIO
Solution Management & Delivery	Interim COO
Contingency Search	Leadership Team Coaching
Exclusive Contingency Search	Leadership Team Workshops
Retained Executive Search	Resource Planning & Retention

It is with great enthusiasm that we look ahead to another year of continued growth and success. We are committed to exceeding our clients’ expectations as we help them meet their IT and Operations resource challenges and business objectives head-on. Whether you are a potential client or are a skilled professional who is interested in joining the TRC team, we look forward to hearing from you!

All the Best,

Ellen

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