Cutting Edge HCM: The Critical Revenue Driver

When you start a discussion on how a cutting edge HCM can deliver revenue, few would quickly jump in and say that, HR effectiveness has little to do with technology and everything to do with the quality of HR leaders.

What perhaps they may be missing is, that nobody is questioning the abilities of a good leader.

Technology is certainly not a substitute for the leadership qualities we bring to the table.

A great leader, is a great leader, is a great leader! We all agree to that.

What the tech tools do is they increase your reach and span in terms of leveraging knowledge, capabilities, skills and talents.

If a manager is great, they probably have a finger on the pulse of the team and intuitively understand what drives creativity and performance within their teams. They would know what motivates their teams the best.

But today, teams are rather virtual; set up across all geographies and locations.

It may be difficult to reach for this ‘pulse’.

That is when technology helps bring the pulse to you, literally.

A very small example is that the thumbs-up given by co-workers may not be visible to the manager if they are located elsewhere, but a few kudos on your wall would.

With the workforce having gone so global, we certainly need new tools to keep up with the new challenges! I am sure many of you may have noticed this - sometimes managers have trouble getting the last name right; with teams so large and so wide spread. Does this matter? Sure, it does. I would not like it if anyone mispronounced my last name (which they often do).

But does this mean that I have to be a non-entity located at a distance? Certainly not!

With the right tools in place, I know quite a few people getting recognition or rewards for their great work! Not being able to get the name right did not stop this award from coming through.

That's because you had set the right processes and tools in place to keep track of what is important for your employees. These tools and processes ensure that you don’t lose sight of what is absolutely the biggest revenue driver – your talent, your employees!

In the eye of the Storm?

We, as women, are quick to blame the other gender for any ‘injustice’ we perceive. Recently, the a CEO was lambasted for not having a woman on the board.

Seriously, we must be kidding! Are we crying wolf?

There are far larger issues that still haunt women today; these are as basic and critical as their very existence and security.

Trivial debates are meaningless and, by crying wolf for everything we only end up alienating the whole gender. In this instance, it may get a woman to the board, but women in general, may have lost some goodwill from the other gender. 

I don’t mean to imply that women are not over-looked by men.

They certainly are. But we can’t hold men to a different standard that we don’t ourselves attempt to meet.

I have seen many instances of ambitious women having trouble accepting and acknowledging other intelligent women. My point being not just men, but also women should be held to the same standard.

I do believe that as women we rely on our families, and this support means a lot to us. To this if we add an unbiased work culture, we have a recipe for success. It is important to remember that women have entered the workforce only recently. And there will be some teething issues that would need explicit fairness in smoothening out.

Entropy, Uncertainty & Disruption – My fascination continues!

Today is a day for reminiscing.

In my school days, at Loreto, I learnt that entropy was a measure of chaos and disorder! You cannot create energy just convert it. All the chaos and disorder that could be attributed to me personally was never my fault; I was merely an agent of conversion! I remember explaining this to my very loving mother who I faintly remember seemed quite amused by the ‘science’ of it all.

In my college days, I was introduced to the concept of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.  All about unpredictability and un-certainty! Sufficient to say, I found a reason to attribute every uncertainty in my life to Mr. Heisenberg. Decisions could never be made with precision; something or the other would change during decision-making and affect the outcome.

Last few years, we have been welcoming disruption. It is all about un-predictably upsetting something well established. By now, I don’t even need excuses!

Drawing a parallel with Ludlum

Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain;

Entropy is for Dis-order and Uncertainty is for Disruption!