
Top 100 v 1.32 Neil McCormick
Posted on 29. Sep, 2009 by John Sumser in Blog, Top 100
By John Sumser
There are two competing ideas in the world of standards. On the one hand, you have the ANSI notion that shared language creates a steady platform for improvement. On the other is the more sophisticated notion that standards are a set of questions that should always be asked.
The first approach answers the question, “What are we talking about?” The second tries to unearth something deeper, “Why are we doing this in the first place?” The first way is all about tactics. The second, all about strategy.
To make electric plugs fit in electric sockets, you need the first kind of standard. When the project involves making things mate properly or measuring consistently across contexts, the clear shared definitions are an imperative. If you want to solve the problem in a way that yields the deepest possible value to the company, you go the second route.
As mentioned in last week’s profile of Gerry Crispin, SHRM is mounting an effort to bring standard definitions to HR. The idea is that if everyone can agree on the meaning of terms (like “cost per hire”, referral program, retention, assessment, interview, background check, performance management, talent management, recruiting, sourcing, job description, turnover, attrition, gens x, y and z), we’ll be able to discover generalizable principles. Consistency in hand, all of the energy wasted on conversations that use the same words to mean different things will be saved. Then, we’ll march on into a professional linguistic utopia.
The alternative approach is being championed outside of the US National boundaries. Neil McCormick, who is in charge of Government and Enterprise Talent Solutions at Talent2, is the point man. The firm is Asia-pac’s largest Human Resource Consultancy with offices in 45 cities. McCormick is a persuasive evangelist with a score of successes under his /content/view/28/58/”>cialis wiki belt.
One of the most interesting things I’ve discovered during the course of interviewing people for the Top 100 Project is that The US is not necessarily the leader in HR and Recruiting Issues. The domestic HR agenda is obscured by compliance, political correctness and a lack of meaningful training institutions. Beyond American borders, HR focuses on business value.
Some of the best thinking on the topic is being done in Australia, Canada, the UK and Asia. In non-US settings, HR operations like Talent2 cover the entire spectrum of HR functions from executive search and advertising agency to RPO and HRO. Functions that compete with each /content/view/28/58/”>cialis wiki other through separate buying channels within HR are cojoined in single entities outside of the country. This makes for single point of contact and easy access to executive decision makers.
Most HR and Recruiting operations in the US find their customers well below the executive offices. That’s a key part of the problem.
Neil’s broad spectrum HR standards initiatives are the strategic underpinnings of Talent2. A unified framework coupled with deep decision making experience places the firm in the lead position for the development of a single record, single agenda HR operation. It’s a concept that’s relatively foreign to domestic american theorists.
He’s starting to see the emergence of a unified HR discipline that is focused on delivering specific business outcomes. He sees a sudden emergence of a need for business intelligence about the business itself. HR is the logical source.
This can sound like all so much gobbledygook.
Neil’s influence comes from his persistent evangelism. Given a platform and delivery vehicle like Talent2, he has the luxury of guiding implementation projects that prove the theory out. If you can imagine a fully integrated HR department that constantly aligns its objectives to the shifting needs of its host, you’re on the right track. Neil’s projects use evidence and data to drive HR to deliver results that are meaningful to the business.
For my money, when HR standards finally emerge, they are going to have Australian roots.
John Sumser is the founder and CEO of TwoColorHat, a company specializing in market strategy for HR – Recruiting Vendors. You can keep up with his other stuff at johnsumser.com. Follow the rest of the Top 100 Influencers project.
MG Moore
29. Sep, 2009
It would be great if SHRM would look at their certification exams and design them to represent what human resources professionals actually do every day. The professionals I have questioned about the exam tell me that it is all about memorizing what is in the training manuals. How is that helpful to us? Of course people are impressed with credentials and they assist with being credible, etc. However, do we really utilize all of the information required on the exam or do we memorize the answers to pass the test. I am just curious.
Dan Hilbert
12. Oct, 2009
I am blessed to know Neil quite well. He is one of the industry visionaries who really “gets” the real HR value proposition. Australia and much of Asia-Pac have experienced workforce shortage far more severe than the States. Consequently, they have taken the forefront in doing more with less which translates into workforce optimization.
It just so happens that workforce optimization translates in business optimization. We have much to learn from our Aussie friend.
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Dr Chris Andrews
22. Oct, 2009
If you are interested in the Australian (outcome based) human resource standards they are downloadable in draft from:
http://www.hrd.qut.edu.au/hrbenchmarking/wpp.jsp
Comments on the drafts are actively encouraged.
Neil McCormick
29. Oct, 2009
It’s great to see Standards in HR are getting a significant degree of attention. My colleagues Dr Chris Andrews and Richard Boddington are certainly doing a lot of the “heavy lifting” with this project and have contributed enormously to the success thus far.
The combined HR Standards and Standards Framework is just one of the required faceits in the (needed) evolution of Human Resource practice.
The repeatability of quality measurement through the application of Human Resource Performance Audit adds another layer.
The final pieces include the methodologies and process and framework to support constant linkage and alignment of Business Outcome and the Human Capital required to deliver it.