Month: March 2020

Is Criminal Justice Studies Right For You?

The field of criminal justice can be attractive to anyone interested in how justice is dispensed in the US and around the world. Earning a degree in Criminal Justice Studies from Bryant & Stratton College is the perfect way to pursue a career in the field of criminal justice.
The right program is a mix of finding the right fit for your personality, academic habits and needs, qualified instructors, and the flexibility and structure needed for your unique situation. To help you think through some important characteristics for a degree program, we’ve identified four questions for you to answer.
What degree level is best?
There are a lot of career paths that start with earning a criminal justice studies degree. But, there are differences depending on what degree-level you choose. An associate degree in criminal justice studies will give you a broad understanding of the U.S. criminal justice system by studying its aspects including law enforcement, courts, corrections and private security. A diploma in Criminal Justice and Security Services provides the key foundation for students to pursue jobs in security while also having the opportunity to continue their education with an associate degree if they so choose.
What is your best learning environment?
Some people like to learn on their own and to set their own schedule to work around an existing job, raising a family or other responsibilities. Others like to very structured environments and sitting in a classroom with a teacher and other students. If the first scenario appeals to you then earning a criminal justice studies degree online might make sense. Online degrees offer flexibility to choose set your own schedule, as there is not set class to attend each week. To figure out whether an online classroom or a traditional environment is best for you, spend some time thinking about your life, your weekly schedule and your learning habits.
Is there balance in what skills are being taught?
A good criminal justice studies degree will offer a balance between theoretical training, practical knowledge and soft skills development. The first two types of knowledge in that list may be assumed but don’t underestimate the value of the last category. Employers across all field are increasingly looking for new hires with strong soft skills. In field related to criminal justice the ability to work with people of diverse backgrounds, curiosity, analytical skills and good problem solving are all important. Be sure to think about what kind of soft skills are being cultivated in the programs you are considering.
How much field experience do the instructors have?
There are a lot of changes taking place in the domestic justice, legal and security systems. Instructors who have spent time teaching as well as working in the field can offer unique insights the most current information and best practices in criminal justice. Seasoned professionals can also be helpful in building a job search network when you get closer to graduation.
If you’d like to learn more about earning a degree in Criminal Justice Studies at Bryant & Stratton College, call 866-948-0571 today!

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: HOW TO REDESIGN JOBS TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE HEALTH & COMPANY PERFORMANCE

Employers today face an epidemic of workplace stress and depression that takes an enormous toll on employees and company performance. In late 2019, the American Institute of Stress pulled together “42 Worrying Workplace Stress Statistics” from a variety of sources, including Gallup, Korn Ferry and the American Psychological Association. Some of the most troubling revelations:
  • 83% of U.S. workers suffer from work-related stress
  • In 2018, a third of US-based respondents visited a doctor for something stress-related
  • 16% of workers have quit their jobs due to stress
And then there’s depression: The American Psychiatric Association reported that depression “significantly impacts productivity” (along with stress, it also leads to absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover), and the World Health Organization noted that it’s one of the leading causes of disability. But that’s not all: Numerous studies show that depression has physiological repercussions and can increase the risk of heart disease, insomnia, weight gain and other unexplained aches or pains. No wonder employers are placing more focus on employees’ mental and physical health.
But to make a difference, they—and we—need to acknowledge the causes. Research has uncovered some principal sources of workplace-induced stress, anxiety and depression: job strain resulting from a combination of high job demands and low job control, long work hours, economic insecurity due to job loss and scheduling uncertainty, low wages that produce economic insecurity, work-family conflict, workplace bullying and harassment, perceived unfairness or a sense of injustice and a lack of social support. So how do we go about fixing these issues?

Redesigning Jobs and Work Environments to Fix the Problem

Many of the factors causing stress and burnout can be at least partly remedied if companies stop taking existing jobs and organizational arrangements as sacrosanct and engage in serious redesign initiatives. Below are two examples of businesses doing just that:
Removing Unnecessary Distractions
When I wrote a case on SAS, the largest privately owned software company in the world, I interviewed co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight about the company’s 35-hour workweek and what made it possible. Goodnight, his VP of HR and many other SAS employees all had the same response: Few people work 35 productive hours in a week. 
SAS successfully reduced distractions that wasted time by providing employees with high-quality help for their life issues. This included on-site childcare, assistance with elder care, a chief medical officer to help choose the best health providers and select health plans that didn’t bog people down with paperwork and adoption assistance.
An emphasis on employee trust and the decentralization of decision-making also eliminated endless “check-in meetings” and the need to get approval from layers of management—processes that unnecessarily consume much of people’s time. 
Using Automation to Relieve Burdens
Recently, I met with the CEO of a company that is redesigning the primary care experience for both patients and providers. To be successful, he needs to reduce physician turnover and burnout (a massive problem within the industry) and to provide an outstanding patient experience by increasing doctors’ level of engagement. Doing so requires addressing a dramatic rise in bureaucratic tasks, too many hours spent at work, and the increasing computerization of practice—what some people call desktop medicine. 
The company is doing something that any organization can do to reduce the wasted effort that makes long hours necessary and work stressful. I describe it as “user-centered work design.” User-centered product design, which was more or less pioneered by IDEO, has become de rigueur and typically includes an almost anthropological observation of people’s product experiences.
User-centered work design takes the same form. The company has hired more than 100 software engineers—and does not use off-the-shelf software. Instead, the engineers engage with physicians to figure out what tasks can be automated to reduce doctors’ workloads and to provide doctors with software designed to be easy to use and helpful. Groups of people from all jobs and levels at the company now meet regularly to determine how to allocate work in ways that reduce stress. This helps the employees figure out what practices, tasks and operations can be eliminated without any adverse consequences. 

Making a Real Commitment to Change

The number of unnecessary work tasks performed in a given day is pretty astounding. Many activities are simply leftovers from long-established policies that no longer serve a purpose. Certain processes, including some owned by human resources—think job requisitions and the now-disappearing annual performance review—do not add significant economic value. And many companies take current job designs and work arrangements for granted, thereby foregoing opportunities to seriously reduce workplace stress.
Some of my colleagues from Stanford’s School of Medicine and I conducted more than 20 interviews with supposedly leading-edge companies that have embraced a holistic definition of health and well-being and claim to understand the connections between health and economic performance. We found that most organizations consider their work environments and habits necessary and never question what they are doing or how they are doing it. For instance, one financial services firm never even considered the idea that its 100 hour work-weeks were neither mandated by law nor useful in attracting or retaining talent. No wonder workplace stress is not only high, it’s on the rise.
Job redesign to reduce stress—and thereby increase health and productivity—is not a formulaic activity. Just like product design, it requires observation, employee interactions to ascertain how to remove unnecessary tasks and consultation with the people who do the work every day. 
Mostly, it requires people who refuse to accept workplace stress and depression as unchangeable and who don’t apply Band-Aids like yoga classes and stress-reduction workshops to the problem. Any organization can accomplish this if, and maybe only if, it’s willing to place employees at the center of the job redesign process. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

THE BIG FIVE STEPS FOR MID-SIZED ORGANIZATIONS TO ADVANCE THEIR TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Over the last 2-3 years, we’ve witnessed a real trend toward and acceptance of integrated talent management systems among most enterprise and many midsize organizations. However, over 25 percent of all organizations still have talent processes that are developed and managed individually, with practices and systems that are “siloed” and have little or no coordination across processes.
True talent management integration doesn’t happen all at once for a lot of companies. Instead, many organizations take a “layering it on” approach, selecting systems that support the evolution of their processes over time.

Challenges for Mid-Sized Organizations

Savvy leaders realize the importance of developing their internal bench strength today to competitively address the organizational demands of tomorrow.  But where do midsize companies start as they develop a talent management strategy to support growth and bench strength plans?
Identifying and adopting the ideal components needed to support an integrated performance and learning management process is complex and time-consuming. For midsize organizations with limited resources, it’s especially challenging.
Most HR practitioners get started by developing a performance management process based on so-called “proven best practices”, and then continue to layer on additional core performance and learning management processes one step at a time.
Of course, the very concept of a best practice is subjective and carries many meanings depending on an organization’s culture. What might be a best practice for one organization or industry may not be successful or acceptable in another

Cut Through the Haze with Five Core Components

In our recent whitepaper, we put forth the proposition that you should begin by focusing on the five core internal performance management components necessary to support key business priorities specifically for mid-sized organizations. These are:

1. Strategic Onboarding

The four building blocks of proactive and effective onboarding — compliance, clarification, culture and connection — should be thoughtfully organized and carefully implemented for a successful onboarding practice.

2. SMART Goals

Once the CEO and executive team have set the organization’s vision and the main financial, customer and organization-wide goals, each sub-unit creates associated team goals, which, in turn, contribute to the organization’s goals. This process “cascades” down the organization until it reaches front-line managers and their employees.  Aligning goals throughout the organization requires clarity and specificity as goals are cascaded organization-wide.

3. Employee Development

Performance assessment in isolation is not enough and it alone does not guarantee performance improvement. Having a performance management process without a learning and development component is like giving a student the motivation to study harder for a test but not giving them any study techniques or resources to help them succeed. Don’t leave training out of your talent management strategy.

4. Succession Planning

Planning the future for specific roles, specific people, or even general sets of critical skills is not for huge enterprise organizations only anymore. Without succession planning, organizations typically respond reactively to changes in leadership and are left to rely on external talent to fill critical internal roles. Worse yet, existing employees may be promoted to roles that are ill-fitted to their current skills or competencies.

5. Employee Engagement

With double-digit unemployment being the norm recently, employees are searching for ways to get ahead without getting out. Building internal résumés, openly expressing career preferences and being allowed to explore potential internal career paths are valuable strategies for employees who are itching to take active interest in managing their own mobility and development. Employees want to be engaged in their work for you – are you going to let them do so?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

FIVE CONSIDERATIONS FOR TM BUYERS IN THE WAKE OF SAP/SFSF

Last week SAP announced its intent to acquire SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion – which just so happens to be the predicted size of the entire talent management market for 2011 (according to Gartner and Bersin & Associates). This news is important for almost as many reasons as there have been opinions published over Twitter and in blogs in the aftermath.
Technology vendors in the talent management space have witnessed a lot of consolidation lately. For starters, just about every top-tier Learning Management System (LMS) – other than Cornerstone – was acquired in the last two years, reflecting the realization by performance management vendors that training and development must be a part of the broader talent management spectrum.
But the SAP/SuccessFactors deal represents a different kind of market shift – less about basic consolidation and the fleshing out of vendor portfolios and more about market validation and an expansion of the conversation outside our immediate neighborhood.
So what’s Cornerstone’s take (another voice in the bedlam)? We think the merger of SAP and SuccessFactors is a significant moment with at least five key possible outcomes to consider if you are a potential buyer (or just an interested observer):

1. This is the beginning of talent management, not the end.

The acquisition of SuccessFactors is a serious validation of human capital management in general. Jason Averbook puts it more passionately: “SAP has just broadcast to the world the single-most persuasive validation of Human Capital Management technology to date. It is a declaration we can all, as vendors and practitioners, lean on as we create workforce technology strategies and HCM business cases for years to come.”
Beyond business processes, SAP’s self-declared push into the “Cloud” market is a major validation of Software-as-a-Service as a delivery model.
So the talent management market is alive and well. If anything, SAP’s acquisition feels a little bit like the old “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” from the perspective of the ERP players. And hopefully that realization ends up benefitting organizations by raising the profile of talent management process and technology.

2. Confusion and distraction will certainly be among the immediate consequences.

After a major industry event like this one, everyone immediately has one big question: how long will it take for the acquirer to integrate the acquired company? Integrating product sets and corporate cultures is never easy work, especially so in the case of a traditional software giant absorbing a fast-moving, cloud-based vendor.
One of the biggest challenges is likely to be the rationalization of the companies’ offerings. How do you make the merging products (and related services) work together? Which older, outdated products must be eliminated?  How do you make the user experience work between disparate products? How about data models and customer support programs and….on and on.
Naomi Bloom catalogs the product rationalization challenge in her recent blog post “SAP/SuccessFactors — Help Me Count the HRM Codebases”.
This is an ambitious assimilation of technologies and strategic approaches. Results may come, but there will certainly be a lot of growing pains along the way. And while SAP and SuccessFactors wrestle the eight-headed snake, other vendors will continue to innovate and serve their clients.

3. Innovation will continue to come from the best-of-breed talent management vendors.

While big ERP vendors like SAP certainly bring new attention to the talent management technology world, if history is any indicator, product innovation is not likely to be spurred by these combined companies in the foreseeable future.
Josh Bersin argues that this is precisely why the best-of-breed talent management vendors will continue to exist (and thrive) – “primarily because of the tremendous levels of innovation still yet to be achieved in talent management. New areas, like social recruiting, social performance management, social rewards, social learning, mobile talent management, talent analytics, talent risk management, employee engagement management, contingent workforce management and many others, continue to become more important to customers every day.”
Bersin goes further to note the worrying “upgrade interlock” problem that faces ERP/talent management customers. This means that, typically, every new release of an ERP vendor’s talent management offering is dependent on a new release of the HRMS.
On the other hand, organic talent management SaaS/cloud vendors are releasing new and improved functionality on a quarterly basis, in some cases. It comes down to a matter of being fast and nimble, accusations rarely leveled at lumbering ERPs.

4. HR technology should be owned by HR and not IT.

One of the other possible implications of an ERP vendor acquiring a talent management company is that it means that IT assumes control of HR technology. And we all know how well that works today.
For HR technology to realize its potential business benefits, it must be governed by HR itself. Relying on IT to source, implement and administer talent management software sounds like a recipe for limited business impact.

5. Organically developed talent management has never been more meaningful.

It won’t shock the reader to hear that Cornerstone OnDemand sees the SAP/SuccessFactors merger in the most positive of light. The merger validates the work of all the best-of-breed talent management SaaS/cloud vendors in the space for the past 10-15 years.
However, the considerable questions raised around integration and the role of the ERP as provider of talent management software leave a significant opportunity for the nimble, innovative, best-of-breed providers that remain in the market (and there aren’t many of us left).
With so much transformative possibility in the industry today – around social tools, mobile access, talent mobility, employee engagement, workforce planning, analytics, etc. – it seems like what we all need to focus on most is rapidly developing innovative products to match the ambitions of forward-thinking HR practitioners and good talent management processes.
Disruption often (always?) leads to opportunity. Tien Tzuo, founder and CEO of Zuora, reacted to the SAP/SuccessFactors news this way: “I’ve seen this movie before. When Siebel bought Upshot CRM in 2003, it instantly signaled to the world that SaaS CRM was the future, and catapulted Salesforce.com from ankle biter to the de facto industry leader.”
Tzou’s analogy has remarkable parallels today.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSION PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

America’s higher learning institutions educate and develop society’s future thinkers and leaders. It’s ironic, then, that it seems many don’t develop their own administrative staff or leadership talent.

Administrator Talent Crisis

Research shows talent and succession planning is lacking at America’s colleges and universities. The American Council on Education (ACE), for example, reports in a survey that the talent pipeline of potential administrative leaders in academia is getting short shrift, as ACE reports that less than a third of all sitting chief academic officers are aspiring to presidencies or chancellorships.
That’s not good, but it gets worse. Research also shows that many tenure-track faculty members also are deciding to stay in the classroom, reluctant to pursue new challenges as administrators.
Here are some startling statistics that fortify the notion that academia’s talent pipeline needs serious tending. For example:
  • Nationally, more than 40 percent of the top investment executives within universities and endowments left in 2005 and 2006, according to a 2007 compensation survey by Mercer
  • A national study of 323 chief academic officers, conducted by Eduventures Academic Leadership Learning Collaborative, found that 43 percent of provosts surveyed are holding their positions for shorter periods of time.
  • A 2009 study of chief academic officers by the ACE found that the average tenure was 4.7 years on the job — less than half that of presidents

Where to Go From Here

It’s a dicey situation, but not an impossible one to overcome. For starters, effective succession planning starts with performance management supported by learning and development programs. Follow that “curriculum” and universities soon will discover potential leaders from within the ranks. Of course, one thing you don’t want when filling critical administrative posts is guesswork.
For many universities, performance management is merely an annual HR process to appraise performance, as opposed to an effort to improve performance or identify future leaders. Saddled with homegrown, paper-based processes, institutions often use performance management tools and approaches that fail to take advantage of the automation, integration and depth of technology available today. Or institutions may have processes that don’t enable managers to have meaningful, actionable discussions with their direct reports.
The solution is more strategic talent and peformanance management processes, supported by the right technology that can better lead, manage, develop, reward and assess employees in a concise, standardized way.
To make succession planning a reality, university leaders need a performance management system that:
  • Provides cascading goals that align the objectives of the institution with the professional goals and needs of the employee. Managing and measuring the employee performance of each of these goals is critical to performance management, but without automation and integration, it becomes a time-consuming, daunting task.
  • Assesses critical competencies and skills based on pre-defined criteria for staff success. Institutional leaders need an easy-to-use system that helps them predict and address potential competency gaps, performance strengths and opportunities.
  • Reviews and measures performance on a ongoing and interim basis. The cascading goals an employee will be assessed by might not reflect the institution’s current goals and objectives. Automated and integrated systems make managing and assessing performance an ongoing process — always keeping the employee and the institution aligned.
  • Identifies and tracks high-performing individuals. Performance management enables institution leaders to know who is a high-potential employee with the skills and motivation to transition into a leadership or administrative staff position.
  • Enables the creation of development plans that engage employee career development. Identifying high-performing, high-potential employees is great, but even more important is creating career development plans for those employees.
Ultimately, institutional leaders have an opportunity to better gather insight into the skills, knowledge and competencies that succession-ready employees have at hand – and, further, to turn this insight into action and talent they should develop for the future. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

TALENT MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTHCARE

In the last few years, our old pals at Bersin & Associates argued that healthcare has lagged behind other industries in adoption and implementation of talent management automation and processes and that many healthcare organizations are working to make up for lost time. (Bersin & Associates 2009 Talent Management Factbook)
Any healthcare organization looking to jump-start a talent initiative should keep a few things front of mind:
  • Build with an eye toward integration – E-learning may be a natural starting point for healthcare organizations implementing new talent initiatives, but onboarding, performance management and succession initiatives all benefit from strong tie-ins to a learning management system (LMS). For example, performance assessments can automatically generate development plans for any area where deficiencies are identified. Don’t overlook targeted, formal development programs for employee supervisors. Extra training will prepare them to mentor and coach employees and maximize the value of your investment.
  • Automate job descriptions with a foundation of competencies – Establishing the competencies – the knowledge, skills and behaviors that are used to develop people in your healthcare organization – is a critical step for success of any talent management initiative. In the healthcare setting, it’s a requirement because compliance demands it. Maintaining one set of job descriptions and competencies is one way to integrate multiple locations common in large healthcare systems into a single culture and to build job profiles that will guide career development, training and performance improvement across your organization. You will also find it easier to deliver the ROI because the business impact of career planning is 45 percent higher for organizations with good or excellent leadership competencies. (Bersin & Associates,  Competency Management 2008)
  • Build internal talent pools – Every healthcare organization needs to fill positions in critical roles such as nursing, IT and senior management. Yet, suitable candidates are hard to find. Most healthcare employers understand that the only solution is to “grow their own” talent. Implementing appropriate talent management and learning tools and processes makes identification of high-potential employees and development of critical skills far easier to accomplish.
  • Collaborate to build a comprehensive succession strategy – Most healthcare organizations have a critical need to develop their next generation of leadership. The current senior leaders must understand the critical need to address this gap. HR can – and must – play a crucial role in facilitating this conversation, and technology can provide a key assist to identify the gaps and assign development plans for designated successors.
  • Leverage the power of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – SaaS technology allows healthcare employers to rapidly implement talent solutions at a far lower cost and with greater operational efficiency than traditional legacy on-premises ERP implementations of the past. The advantages include rapid deployment and easy scalability, and a lower cost with higher satisfaction, as well as less time to ROI.
In the end, empowering your people is the essential first step toward addressing talent challenges and delivering safer, higher-quality patient care and satisfaction. Using talent management technology, employers can manage their staffing, training and performance operations with healthcare-specific functionality, including competency-based job descriptions, pre-integrated training and continuing-education content – all in a single, secure location.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

THE CHOICE IS YOURS: ORACLE-TALEO ACQUISITION HIGHLIGHTS STARK CHOICES FACING HR BUYER

Few people who follow the HR software industry were surprised by last week’s announcement by Oracle that they intend to acquire recruiting and talent management vendor Taleo.  In the wake of December’s acquisition of SuccessFactors by SAP and the preceding two years of increasingly frantic market consolidation, the news was greeted with little surprise.
There’s not much point in rehashing the analysis of some very smart HR practitioners and industry analysts here. The discussion taking place on Bill Kutik’s HR Tech Conference LinkedIn group is clearly a fine place to review the reaction.
From Cornerstone’s perspective, naturally, we have clear ideas about what the Taleo and SuccessFactors acquisitions mean for buyers of talent management software and services.
First, we believe that these shifts signal the beginning of talent management – not the end. Talent management is now more important than ever after $5.5 billion has been spent on acquisitions of TM applications in last 3 months.
Further, and more critically, we would suggest that buyers are at a serious crossroads today, facing very significant choices around where talent management software is going in the coming years, who will control it and what it will look like.

At the Crossroads

With Taleo and SuccessFactors giving up on providing independent talent management technologies, Cornerstone is really the only choice left if you favor an independent, best-of-breed solution. Why does this matter?
Choice #1 – ERP or Best-of-Breed:  Buyers looking for compelling answers to their vexing talent management problems have to choose between, on the one hand, an ERP vendor, offering a mixed bag of products (acquired, homegrown, SaaS, on-premise) with long innovation and upgrade cycles and, on the other hand, a best-of-breed provider focused completely on talent management, client success, business impact, and pure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery. The choice is yours.
Choice #2: – Integration vs. Innovation: Do you want your partner continuously improving your solution to provide state-of-the-art talent management or do you prefer to have your vendor tied up in a quagmire of product integrations?
The talent management product integration and rationalization challenges now facing Oracle and SAP are daunting. “Sorting out the myriad HCM-related code bases at both SAP/SFSF and Oracle/PSFT/Fusion/EBS/Taleo/Etc. is not for the feint of heart,” opines Naomi Bloom in the HR Tech Conference LinkedIn discussion group. It’s not just an overwhelming task to sort out these talent management products and codebases, but it’s also going to take a long time.
Further, if you are interested in learning and development (and you should be, just ask Josh Bersin – see his blog on the subject), consider that Learn.com (previously acquired by Taleo) and Plateau (previously acquired by SuccessFactors) clients have both been acquired twice in less than a year and are now buried under two layers of bureaucracy.
The choice is yours.
Choice #3 – System of Record or System of Engagement:  Talent management should be about employee engagement and empowerment. ERP systems are about managing records and data. An independent, best-of-breed provider has the luxury of focusing innovation and the product roadmap on user centricity and helping clients to build an empowered workforce.  With all trends pointing to the need to engage a demographically shifting workforce, we believe buyers will prefer to side with a state-of-the-art, organically developed talent management solution rather than a bolted-on extension of a system of record. The choice is yours.
Choice #4 – Who Owns This Thing? IT or HR?  In large enterprises, ERP systems are almost always controlled by the IT department. Often, the HR department and line of business owners struggle to get attention for their specific needs. Cloud-based technologies have enabled HR to control their destiny and closely align people, process and technology with business priorities. With formerly independent talent management software now becoming system-of-record dependent, customers will likely be locked into a single ERP stack where IT will regain sole control over technology decisions.  This might be an acceptable paradigm for some HR organizations, but it seems less likely to lead to successful talent management outcomes.  The choice is yours.
Back in December, we posted some thoughts about what the SAP-Success Factors merger meant for clients and potential buyers of talent management software. The issues at hand today are much the same and focus on the ability of the independent, best-of-breed vendor to deliver things like a better product, better client experience, more innovation, and faster response to client feedback. Compared to the challenges and confusion facing the ERP vendors and their recent absorption of talent management companies, the choices seem quite stark.
If you want to read more, we found these resources to be noteworthy:
♦ With Oracle’s $1.9 Billion Deal to Buy Taleo, Is Cornerstone Next?   (Bloomberg / Peter Burrows)
Walravens thinks Cornerstone will perform well as an independent company, and that its growth rates are “tremendous.”… Being the last independent talent management provider could goose Cornerstone’s sales. While loyal SAP shops will gladly use SuccessFactors and Oracle shops will gravitate to Taleo, Cornerstone is positioned to grab those that don’t want to buy into these giants’ soup-to-nuts offerings.
♦ Cornerstone Gears Up for Bigger Foes in Talent Management   (Wall Street Journal / Steven D. Jones)
Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund said he liked the \”elegance of the product architecture\” from Cornerstone and its ease of use. In addition, he said, Cornerstone may benefit from merger confusion at both SuccessFactors and Taleo and difficulty integrating those products into the inventory of products at SAP and Oracle.
♦ Cloud Software Consolidation – Is it all good?   (ZDNet / Brian Sommer)
I also get concerned when a progressive, modern vendor is snapped up by slow moving behemoths that excel in running end-of-life product lines…Vendors will create incredible works of fiction to explain how they will rationalize these products into their product lines. Let’s face it, if the software solution your organization is using is acquired by a firm that already has three, four or five different acquired product lines of similar functionality, don’t you think it’s going to take either the suspension of disbelief or an amazing technical writer to create a story that shows how all of these diverse products from very different creators, across different time lines and technical platforms will somehow come together in some single rational scheme?
♦ News Analysis: The Implications of Oracle\’s Acquisition of Taleo   (Forbes / Ray Wang)
These defensive plays indicate a realization that Cloud delivery emerges as the predominant option for applications.
♦ Roll up, roll up! Oracle digests Taleo (ZDNet / Oliver Marks)
Cornerstone are true multi tenant in their architecture, and some of their appeal to customers and prospects is sure to be the SaaS advantages of pushing out updates painlessly, as opposed to endless patch Tuesdays and upgrades many in the marketplace have past war wounds from. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

EMPLOYERS NEED TO STEP UP TO CLOSE THE “SKILLS GAP”

Findings from a new Cornerstone OnDemand survey show that employers too often drop the ball when it comes to recognizing real source of perceived skills shortages.
Many of us have recently endured a bruising U.S. presidential electoral cycle centered squarely on economic and labor market issues and chock full of speechmaking focused on the need to create new jobs at any cost. We also hear a message of doom and gloom from loads of CEOs who echo a lingering message that they simply can\’t find enough skilled workers.
We do need jobs, of course – too many people are struggling with unemployment. And we need skilled people at every strata of the labor market. But a recent Cornerstone OnDemand survey shows that a single-minded focus on new job creation deflects attention from another critical area for improvement – focusing on the skills and engagement of existing internal employees. Further, the survey highlights that employers can no longer deny that they are partially to blame for the skills shortage.

A Skills Shortage?

The idea that there is a so-called “skills gap” is a contested one. CEOs often use it to explain the challenges they face in meeting their objectives and growing their businesses. It’s a pervasive belief one that seems to be growing – only 42% of employers believe new graduates in the workforce are adequately prepared by their colleges or other pre-employment training programs, according to a recent McKinsey study.
However, data from the recent Cornerstone survey, along with the loud voices of people like Peter Cappelli and Paul Krugman, bring the idea of a skills shortage into question. Cappelli argues that the perception of a shortage of skilled workers in the U.S. is mere illusion. It’s not the fault of the national education system, but instead of employers and their hiring practices and failure to invest properly in employee skills and alignment.

With Bosses Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

The bottom line is that employers are not making the right investments in building skills and nurturing employee performance.
Modern business seems to rely on a “plug-and-play” type of labor market, dependent on the immediate availability of deep pools of skilled labor. This stands in stark contrast to how employment functioned a few decades ago, where fresh faces could join a new company and feel content in the knowledge that they would be trained to be successful in their new jobs.
Cappelli has documented a decline in employer commitment to training, workforce development and apprenticeship programs over the past two decades, a finding that is reflected strongly in the most recent Cornerstone survey:
  • Only 32% of respondents have received training and development to better perform their job in the past six months;
  • Only 25% have established career goals with their manager/employer;
  • A full 66% said they haven’t received useful feedback from their manager/employer; and
  • Only 19% said their employer’s performance review process helps them increase their potential through education and training.

Narrow the Gap at Home

External job creation is undoubtedly critical for the healthy function of the economy as a whole. In the meantime, employers should beware of blaming performance shortcomings on a perceived (and often wage-based) skills shortage, when, in fact, they are doing precious little to develop and engage their current internal employees.
The goal should be to invest in narrowing the skills gap at home – to meet looming business challenges by better mobilizing the existing talent base. Not every one of our challenges will be met through net new hiring.
For more insight and detailed findings from the latest Cornerstone OnDemand survey, go to http://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/research/survey-2013.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

GAZING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL: CORNERSTONE ASSEMBLES A CRACK PANEL TO DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF WORK

Cornerstone OnDemand recently hosted a lively panel discussion on “Predicting the Future of Work” with three of the brightest minds in the business. End of year is a natural time to think about the future, of course, and we look forward to reading some interesting prognostication on 2013 in the next couple of weeks (for starters, try this piece by IDC’s Lisa Rowan).
The Cornerstone webinar featured Josh Bersin (Bersin & Associates), Yvette Cameron (Constellation Research) and Elaine Orler (Talent Function). Moderated by our very own sage soothsayer Jason Corsello, the panel tackled a range of questions centered on the theme of what to expect in the world of work as we move into 2013.  This included conversations around:
  • The current state of learning and training in organizations;
  • The state of recruiting and the perceived “skills gap” in hiring decision-making; and
  • The role of technology in the workplace and how we work.

Is the Future Already Here? Broad Themes for 2013

The panelists started off with some broad thoughts about the future of work and trends that are impacting HR practitioners today and into the new year. 
Josh Bersin noted that, increasing specialization of jobs (due largely to globalization and advances in technology) means we are seeing flatter/cross-functional teams and that the individual employee’s value today is driven more by skills than the definition of the job role. Josh also noted the increasing impact of diversity in the workplace – not just ethnic, but also generational and age diversity alongside different employee backgrounds and experiences. And it’s more than just a casual observation: Bersin & Associates research shows that diverse teams actually work better.
Yvette Cameron focused her 2013 themes on a single word: MORE. She believes that the future of work is already here and that in 2013 we should expect more, more, more of what’s already going on (especially around the impacts of technology in the workplace and Big Data). On the data point, Yvette went further to remind us that we are doubling the amount of data out there every two years. The ability of organizations to use this data for meaningful impact is both a challenge and an opportunity for decision-makers in the coming year.
Elaine Orler is an expert on recruiting, and she focused her 2013 themes on the challenges facing businesses in terms of not only attracting and hiring Millennials, but also in re-recruiting Baby Boomers. Elaine also noted the change in so-called resume currency: “The concept of a paper resume is gone. The concept of an online profile / upload your resume is moving away.” In its place, we should expect performance-based and assessment-driven applicant profiles.

Learning & Development: You Can’t Hire Your Way Out of This One

Josh started off the discussion of employee development by reminding us that training actually works.  Simply put, the sophistication of an organization’s training initiatives is seen by Bersin & Associates as a huge differentiator between high-performing and low-performing companies. Further, organizations that do systematic development planning generate twice the revenue per employee, due principally to the continuous skills development focus that accompanies development planning.
Josh also noted that, according to recent Bersin research, the entire corporate learning and development market grew by 12% in 2012 (despite the recession). This is due to the fact that “companies have basically realized that they cannot hire themselves out of these problems, they have to train their people out of these skills gaps.”

The Shifting Nature of Employee Learning

The conversation perked up when the panel got into less formal streams of learning and development. That’s not surprising, considering that there does seem to be a lot more uncertainty about how informal, social and video-based learning should play out in the workplace.
Yvette discussed the fact that learning can (and should) play out in all forms and modalities – not just from the typical “training department” and the CLO. Mentors count in this respect, and so do peers. All manner of informal learning that can happen here, there and everywhere.
Video-based learning through ubiquitous, consumer-side technologies like YouTube came up. Josh argued that, while YouTube can certainly be a good training tool, he fears that trainers too often don’t know how to properly use it, and training departments too often have limited resources, technical architecture and internal support.

Filling Talent Gaps

Jason Corsello shifted the conversation to the recruiting problem – that is, why do we always hear that there are too many applicants for too many jobs, but we still struggle to find the right skills.  Elaine tackled this one and suggested that five years ago, a company might have 100 positions to fill, and they had the luxury to be creative in filling the positions.  Today, that same company might have only five jobs to fill, and there’s severely limited creativity in how to fill them.
She went further to argue that recruiting today is often about filling specific talent gaps. Companies are no longer looking for more general sets of attributes: for example, the team player that has long-term growth ability and who can be taught a specific craft or skill.
This discussion dovetails nicely into the results of the recent Cornerstone OnDemand survey, which highlighted, among other things, the lack of investment by employers in the area of filling skill gaps internally through better employee development, alignment and engagement. Learn more here.

How Does Technology Fit Into This Picture (and What Is SnapChat)?

Yvette kicked off a conversation of how technology will play a role in the workplace of 2013 by noting that we’ve already moved from systems of transaction to “systems of engagement” – accessible technology that fosters collaboration, just-in-time learning and daily engagement with work. These types of systems are essential in an age with the line between work and life has been considerably blurred.
When it comes to figuring out what interesting technology is around the corner, don’t even get our panel started about SnapChat. Elaine discussed the emergence of new tools for social collaboration: “The concept that video takes over the voice conversation, the concept that a picture says a thousand words…I think these are the kinds of tools that teens today and the next generation is going to look to have in the workforce.”
The panel got going on a few other related topics as well, all revolving around the core theme of what we can expect to see in the world of work in 2013.  For the full replay of the event, please click here.
And many thanks to Josh, Yvette, Elaine and Jason.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

HIRING FOR ETHICS AND INTEGRITY: 4 TACTICS THAT WORK

Every company’s got at least one: that overly competitive, sour, power-hungry — you fill in the blank — employee that walks around with a rain cloud over his head, infecting every conversation he joins and inciting feelings of isolation, discouragement or doubt among his coworkers. It only takes a few such toxic personalities to infect company morale and, ultimately, the bottom line.
Recruiters and HR managers face a daunting task when wading through the pile of resumes lying on their desks, in search of terrific talent and great character. So how do you spot these telltale signs of toxicity in the short span of a job interview and zero-in on important intangibles like character, honesty, ethics and integrity? We asked Anna Maravelas, author of “How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress” and a motivational speaker recognized for her ability to transform negative cultures into climates of respect and pride. From prisons to the financial sector, every industry has its share of jerks. And Maravelas should know — she’s worked with many of them. But it isn’t all doom and gloom, as she found many of her favorite hiring tactics in the companies she encountered. Here are four that top her list.

Surprise them with an ethical scenario

Every job candidate has practiced the tried-and-true interview questions aimed at drawing out weaknesses or negative qualities. Today’s job candidates know how to turn a negative into a positive: “I’m just too hard working, too motivated, too detail-oriented…” they may say. But what about throwing in a question from left field that catches the interviewee off guard entirely?

The CEO of a predominant design and building company Maravelas had worked with stuck out in her mind for a unique interviewing tactic. The CEO would interview candidates directly, starting off with warm, getting-to-know-you conversation. A bit into the interview, the CEO would then ask, “If we ever got into a bind with a client, would you be willing to tell a little white lie to help us out?”

“If the candidate said yes,” Maravelas explains, “the offer evaporated. You really have to have a lot of integrity to say no.”

Listen to how they praise – or blame – themselves and others

Companies built on a culture of collaboration rely on team players to achieve their goals, so working effectively as a team and bringing a fraternal attitude to the table is essential. Thus, an effective way to tell if a prospective employee fits the team profile is to see where they give credit and place blame.
“Ask candidates to talk about a time when they achieved something they were really proud of,” Maravelas says. “How much credit did they give others?”

Is the candidate constantly saying “I, I, I” or referring to collective achievements she accomplished as part of a team? Does she refer to a great mentor or a close relationship with her boss as a contributor to her success, or is she constantly patting herself on the back?

An alternative way to gauge this quality, Maravelas suggests, is to ask candidates about a time when they really tried their hardest, yet failed, and listen to how they assess their own responsibility in that failure.

Tap into referrals from your best employees

Current employees can be great resource in the hiring process, and their opinions should factor significantly into a hiring decision. After all, they’ll be the ones working with the new employee. One of Maravelas’ favorite companies relies heavily on the referrals of current employees who have been with the company for several years, tapping solid veterans to actively recruit prospects from their circle of friends and professional contacts.
“If they have integrity and are known for their kindness and compassion, their friends probably are, too,” Maravelas says. “They probably don’t hang out with fakes.\”

Trust your gut

We’re often so focused on the person we’re interviewing, we may not be tuned into our own physiological reaction to them. Sitting back and asking ourselves how another person is affecting us is a valuable tactic for interviewers. If a candidate makes you feel uncomfortable or ill-at-ease, he’ll probably make his co-workers feel that same way. We may not consciously identify negative qualities right away, but we often subconsciously pinpoint an off-feeling that comes in the form of an awkward moment or the feeling of being manipulated. When hiring for integrity and character, the best bet is to go with your instinct. We gravitate towards those who make us feel good, and that quality will likely be reflected in the larger work environment.  Adds Maravelas: “Really pay attention to how you feel when you’re interviewing someone else.”
For useful resources on building talent pipelines and developing your 21st-century recruiting strategy, check our our recruiting lookbook.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

GOOD MANAGERS MANAGE. GREAT MANAGERS COACH

We\’re several decades into the evolution of the knowledge worker now, where skills are softer, job descriptions grayer, and thanks to technology, everyone in the workplace has a multitude of new platforms to communicate, collaborate and get stuff done. What\’s gotten a little lost in that shuffle? Leadership has changed — especially for middle management. Effective line managers these days don\’t just clock in and out their employees — they need to know how to optimize softer skills and individual performance. They need to manage — and coach — people a lot more than they manage the work.

“I’m a big proponent of losing the word ‘manager,’ and replacing it with the word ‘coach,’” says Jay Forte, a former financial executive who traded his day job to launch Humanetrics LLC, a company that consults organizations on how to capitalize on the strengths of their employees. “‘Manager’ is an Industrial Age word, and now that we’re in the Intellectual Age, most managers don’t know how to get the most out of their employees.”

From coaching “managers” and inspiring employees to helping companies hire and retain the best talent, Forte\’s main goal is to advance personal performance in the workplace and beyond. Often times it starts with good leadership skills. So how does a manager become a great coach? Forte had three pointers:

1. Stop Telling and Start Asking
The first step to becoming a coach is reassessing how you treat and interact with your employees. Establishing an open, respectful relationship is key — and will bring long-term benefits. An example that stood out in Forte’s experience came when a customer service manager at a large company overheard one of his employees having an argument with a customer over the phone. Instead of flying off the handle and intervening, the manager stepped up as a coach, observing his employee’s behavior and then inviting the employee into his office after he hung up the phone.

By speaking with the employee behind closed doors and asking powerful, pointed questions about the situation at hand, the manager determined that what he observed was, in fact, a problem and discussed alternate solutions. This allowed the two to address and solve the problem as a team, rather than having it blow up as an employee/manager dynamic. And it established more trust, communication and engagement between the two.

“That’s a coach in action,” Forte said. “A manager might have had a meltdown and taken control of the call. He was truly conflicted about whether he should have interrupted, but it was a wise and hard decision for him not to get involved. It was a wonderfully powerful teaching moment.”

2. Match Talent With Challenges
Today’s job descriptions aren’t as cut-and-dry as they were even a decade ago. These days, employees are often hired for their talent and ability to get the job done, rather than their actual experience with said job. By getting to know about employees’ talents, interests and lives beyond the workplace, coaches can tap into strengths that run much deeper than any job description. Whether it’s planning the office holiday parties or running the company newsletter, employees often get satisfaction and fulfillment out of duties that have nothing to do with their day-to-day activities. Utilizing these talents makes the most of each employee’s potential and, in turn, adds value to the employees’ work experience.

“Look deep into your people, their talents, their capacity, and match what they have to offer with your company’s needs,” Forte said. “A coach takes a good look at what you’re extraordinary at and matches it to a particular need, so you soar.”

3. Tap Into Your Softer Side
The best coaches possess qualities that are easier said than done. This includes being a good observer and listener, really getting to know employees and trusting employees to get the job done. It all comes down to giving your workforce the tools and resources to do their job, so you can do your job.

“You have to trust in your employees,” Forte said. “Give them the ability to step up and own the situation. The mindset of a manager is often ‘I’m responsible to do the job’ when it should be ‘I’m responsible that the job gets done.’”

Ultimately, the coach takes on a role of parent, to some extent, Forte said. Like parenting, the relationship between coach and employee is often one that vacillates between guide, mentor and boss. Holding employees accountable while guiding them toward success is no simple task – it’s easy to take the reins when something’s not going right or chastise an employee for his mistakes. But handling the situation from the perspective of a guide or coach will benefit your business, your relationship with your employees and, ultimately, your bottom line.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

HOW TO WIN BIG TALENT IN SMALLER MARKETS

A decent paying job at a cool up-and-coming company in sunny Los Angeles or a better-paying job at a corporation in the middle of Minnesota? For today’s worker the choice is simple: Job preference means more than just money — it\’s about work/life balance — and the bright lights of the big cities are often a strong pull. But that leaves a slew of companies outside of top metropolitan areas often struggling to attract top recruits. Business and opportunity may be booming, but the right candidates aren\’t biting.
Indeed, 64% of Midwest employers “occasionally find it hard to fill key positions,” according to a survey by Right Management. Yet the Midwest has no lack of great opportunities or Fortune 500 companies — Minnesota boasts 19 Fortune 500 brands, Ohio has 28, and Pennsylvania is home to 23. The Manpower 2012 Talent Shortage Survey found that the top reason for difficulty when filling jobs in the Americas is lack of available applicants or no applicants at all. Are they all really in New York or California?

The answer is no, and there are ways to attract great talent to less sough-after markets. Jeff Zisner, founder of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based executive talent search firm Right Recruiting, says that although a lot of 20-something candidates he sees tend to head New York over Pennsylvania, he has had success attracting talent by taking a more personal approach.

\”We have had great success bringing people back home to our region once they’ve had kids and want to buy a home,\” says Zisner. \”We get reverse transplants who want to come back all of the time for family and household reasons.\”

Beyond attracting talent by simply pulling at hometown heart-strings, Zisner says it is also important to find the right match for the area and job. A recruiter in Ohio shouldn\’t waste time on a candidate who is dead set on California or hates the snow. On the other hand, a recruiter may find someone who is more open to new opportunities and experiences, and should then highlight how that city and position would appeal to the candidate\’s personality and life goals.
\”An employer needs a patience approach until the right person appears and they then must pounce once the target has become visible,\” Zisner says. \”It is all about hard work. You need a lot of candidate pools and need to make the calls. Timing is the key.\”
Zisner offers dos and don’ts for recruiting big talent in smaller markets:
· Generate excitement in the initial phone screen. For the hiring company, the phone screen is critical. The candidate, who is often remote, needs to get a real sense of the job and company and have enough interest after the phone screen to want to schedule an on-site trip. Employers who don’t add pizzazz to the initial phone screen can find candidates turned-off early in the process rather than wanting to invest valuable time on a multiple-day interview trip.
· Highlight the cost of living. A $100,000 salary in California is less money than a $70,000 salary in Pennsylvania, after taxes and housing costs.
· Appeal to a candidate\’s personal interest and lifestyle choices. A 23-year-old wants entertainment and a social life. A 40-year-old with kids wants a home and good schools. Highlight how your city can fit different candidates\’ needs.
· Try to schedule an onsite during good weather. Oddly enough, weather is very important in relocations. A candidate only has a few days to get an impression of a region. A dreary day in March can have a negative impression, while a 70-degree day with daffodils blooming may be a selling point. You obviously can\’t control the weather, but good timing and luck can be a factor.
· Conduct a stellar interview. While this may seem rather obvious, it\’s essential. A horrible interview and recruitment experience can offset a lot of location and job positives, while a good interview experience can overcome location issues.
· Steer clear of disappointing offers. A candidate who expects \”x\” dollars and is offered much less is left feeling deflated, even if the job is appealing. Expectation management is important.
· Don\’t skimp on relocation offers. This can be a killer because a bad relocation package may actually mean it will cost your candidate money to move. Money out of pocket is a meaningful thing to a candidate.
· Don\’t drag things out. A long interview and decision-making process can be a turn-off to a potential employee. Bringing people back multiple times for interviews is a killer — at some point, they throw their hands up at sloppy interview logistics.
Learn about how the Cornerstone Recruiting Cloud can be an integral part of your big or small market talent acquisition strategy.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

HOW BUILDING A ‘SOCIAL BUSINESS’ CAN BOOST EMPLOYEE RETENTION

Employee turnover isn\’t just costly — experts say that finding and training a replacement can cost twice an employee\’s salary — it can also dampen employee morale, cut into productivity and put customer and partner relationships suddenly on thin ice. With an increasingly fickle (and mobile) workforce, holding on to your most prized asset, your people, in some ways has never been tougher.
An array of well-known retention strategies can hedge against those risks, of course. Offering competitive benefits and perks, for instance, conducting \”stay\” interviews,\” and training and promoting from within are great examples. At the same time, the boom in social and mobile technologies in the workplace is pushing managers — and not just HR managers — to use new approaches and tactics to reduce churn and boost retention.

Introducing social business. Vala Afshar, social business expert and co-author of “The Pursuit of Social Business,” says it’s built on the premise that open and transparent social communication between people and organizations at all levels improves attitudes, performance and company culture. And today’s nascent cloud services and social collaboration tools make that opportunity easier and cheaper than ever to explore in the workplace. 

“A social business is not just about social media or social tech — it’s about a mindset of inclusiveness and shared compatibility,” explains Afshar. Communication and transparency in a company culture can lead to a lower need to hire additional staff and efficiency gains within the workforce, he says. Afshar offers three insights for creating a social business that works.

Flatten the Social Hierarchy

Afshar believes that \”not one of us is as smart as all of us.\” This means a great idea can come from the office assistant or an SVP — and when people are talking and collaborating together, even greater ideas emerge. Valuing every employee and making them feel integral to the organization brings more engagement and is critical for establishing a fulfilling company culture that doesn’t lead to turnover. “Trust the people you hire and trust them to do the work,” Afshar says. 

Establish a Social and Transparent Mindset from the Top

The formation of a culture starts at the top — executives must exhibit transparency, equality and trust to establish a companywide social mindset. Employees feel a stronger connection to the company when they are included in communications. And the more communication, the better.

Use New Tools to Jump-Start Collaboration

At the end of the day, effectively working together is what makes a social business, and there are now many tools to help facilitate that. Internal social networks can connect employees and get departments and units talking and collaborating. The result will be not only make for more efficient work processes, but more engaged employees. Use new technology to help create community.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Athletics Update: Bobcats Soccer Continues to Roll

There has been quite a bit of early season success for the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Bryant & Stratton College. Both teams received top-10 preseason rankings from the USCAA with the men ranking second in the nation and the women ranking eighth.
Less than a week after the initial coach’s poll dropped the women’s soccer team has already climbed two spots to number six while the men have a firm grip on second in their poll. The men’s soccer team have a massive match against University of Maine-Fort Kent this coming weekend, a rematch of last year’s National Championship. They tuned up for the rematch with a solid run of play the last few weeks.
Meanwhile the women rebounded off a tough loss to ASA College with a trio of impressive victories which helped elevate them in the national polls.
Bryant & Stratton College’s cross country team is also up and running, performing well at the University of Rochester Yellow Jacket Invitational; a field made up of a number of strong NCAA programs.

COLLABORATION IS KEY: TIME FOR HR TO TAKE A DOSE OF ITS OWN MEDICINE

Collaboration is a buzzword that\’s thrown around often in the world of HR, and business in general – and for good reason. Getting great minds to work together often produces results greater than the sum of its parts. And often, companies look to HR for advice and guidance on how to get employees to emerge from their own little worlds and collaborate to effect big change.
So why then, is it so difficult for HR pros themselves to embrace the concept of collaboration in their daily work? For starters, according to Carol Anderson, a seasoned HR veteran:   
1. Many skills in HR are highly specialized and not transferable
2. HR pros prize autonomy  
\”HR pros want to run their own show,\” she writes on Human Capitalist. \”I know I certainly did when I was in these roles.\”
But what if HR managers took a dose of their own medicine and worked collaboratively to achieve the greater goals of the company: hiring great people, helping those people to reach their full potential, and doing everything in their power to retain top talent. By making sure the entire HR department is on the same page and continuously working together to achieve these goals, the silos that impede collaboration will come tumbling down. Think of the possibilities. 
If your company\’s HR department is still operating with an every-man-for-himself mentality, maybe it\’s time for an HR performance review?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1