The Consortium provides a forum for people to figure out emerging practices in architecture, implementation and deployment of SaaS in HR. The idea is to create a collegial space that allows members to capitalize on each other’s experience. Members have the opportunity to learn about emerging trends in the market and to build a network of contacts with industry leaders.

The HR Software Ecosystem is a complex maze of silos. There are Fully featured suites, HRIS, Recruiting Tools,Assessment Toolkits, Performance Management Systems, Compensation Management Tools, Learning Systems, Labor Markets, Crowd Sourcing, Collaboration, Workforce Planning and Analytics. Some of these services maintain the status quo while others move the ball forward. In a world where standing still is death and incremental improvement is a baseline strategy, we are looking for the tools that really make a difference. Technology is changing the way that HR operates and the terrain that it covers. The tools that we are implementing are shaping our views of the function itself. Some of them simply automate existing processes. Others unleash unseen synergies and are the engines of transformation. At the HRDemo Show this December 8th and 9th, we will announce the winners of the First Annual HR Tektonic awards. These awards are given to companies whose services disrupt and innovate. The awards are given to technologies and suites that change the way the game is played.

Yesterday’s piece talked about how useful the music business is for understanding talent, drive and luck and how the three interplay. The following letter appeared in Bob Lefsetz’ blog (I’ve asked for permission to reprint his stuff occasionally). It chronicles the early success of a band committed to making it. As you read the letter, understand that you are seeing an example of that elusive thing that isn’t desire or passion. It’s the will to succeed, the capacity to convert hardship into opportunity, the willingness to fully utilize the resources you have in pursuit of a dream. Ask yourself how your operation helps people find this thing in the people they hire and cultivate.

Astonishing work is rarely a question of the best. It’s never a question of the greatest talent. It’s always a matter of the greatest desire. Desire trumps talent. Every time.

there are two aspects of online network relationships; the shared thing among members of a group or list and the value received from being on the list. The idea, when you are building an audience, is to have the two merge so that the value comes from being on the list. But, that takes significant and, more importantly, competent, investment.

Relationships My birthday was last week. Over the past couple of years, I’ve come to expect to see a number of nice messages from friends and acquaintances in email and on the various social media sites. I wasn’t disappointed. As I’ve gotten used to having slices of my life play out in public, I’ve developed […]

The result is the sort of chaos that comes from an ever changing goal line. While agility is important, organizations resist change for a reason. Too much change, too fast is disabling. The problem with poorly implemented SaaS installations is that they destroy an organization’s ability to build on what it has learned.

In legal circles, the assignment of responsibility is an integral part of strategy. When lawyers look at behavior, they have a deep desire to isolate responsibility to ‘single belly buttons’. Legal strategy often involves creating plausible deniability. A great lawyer tells you how to keep your own personal behind covered. In other words, supreme clarity about responsibility is exactly how you avoid it. This is the problem with most performance management approaches. When objectives flow down from the top, they are usually divided and subdivided. Each individual in the chain ends up with what is deemed an appropriate share of the overall objectives. The idea is to simultaneously clarify individual jobs while maintaining the ability to zero in on the person or persons responsible for failure.

The very best thing you can say about Performance Management tools and systems is that they make a serious effort to have organizational progress come from the top. The focus is on organizational alignment rather than the perpetuation of internally focused initiatives. It is a solid step in the direction of building an HR function that is the heart of organizational alignment.