It’s no longer that serious of a challenge for leaders to have a wider sphere of communication with the social tools that are available. Leaders can’t hide behind the “I don’t have time to travel around and talk with employees” party line anymore.

It lands on a sour note to the people that matter the most, the ones that desire to be in the know and have some contact with their leaders.

The old company wide email just doesn’t cut it anymore either. Innovative and creative organizations realize that with little effort, they can create avenues for dialogue that are inviting, engaging and display effort on the part of leaders that want to be better understood and open to their employees.

How is organizational culture created?

Culture is created by four distinct methods in an organization:

1. The actions and behaviors of leaders
2. What leaders pay attention to
3. What gets rewarded and what gets punished
4. The allocation and attention of resources

Image credit to Felix Global Corp. 2010

Over the next four months I’ll focus on each method of culture creation and provide a case study highlighting a company’s commitment to the culture they have created.

Case in point:  CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh

Zappos has taken the lead as a company to look to for solid cultural examples. Tony Hsieh is a role model on how executives shape culture and how being open, direct and available creates a positive cult-like culture and serious esprit de corp.

Whether it’s good news or bad news, Tony positions it in the positive and comes across as authentic. In June, 2012 he had to deliver some bad news to the employees in the Kentucky warehouse facility, the hub of order fulfillment and returns that has been a key to Zappos customer satisfaction success. The Kentucky employees would be transitioning to Amazon because it made more business sense to do so since Amazon acquired Zappos in 2009.

On the same day he delivered that open letter to all of the employees, he tweeted a link to the public as an additional act of open communication.

A key statement in that letter was that it was going to be sad to not to have the “KY friends as ‘part of the Zappos family’ from a legal perspective, they will still be a part of our extended family through Amazon.”

When Amazon acquired Zappos, there were concerns that somehow the Zappos culture would change.  It was stated at the time that they would remain intact, so open communication about this shift was of high importance.

Tony uses Twitter as a communication vehicle, often announcing tweetups for employees to join or invitations to participate in the live streaming of quarterly meetings. I attended one of those quarterly meetings on the tail of the Zappos Insight program and believe me – there is buzz, a lot of buzz.

They are very powerful in their message, but more importantly, they are meaningful.  By streaming the meeting he is supporting one of the foundational values of the organization, Zappos Family Core Value #6: Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication.

It’s fascinating how Tony leverages Twitter to communicate his authentic self, not just the standard company speak (not that anything at Zappos is standard) — he puts information and himself out there at the same time.

Here is one of his tweets that deeply speaks to his sincere commitment to sharing information that are aligned to his cultural strategy:

Breathtaking video of birds flocking – (same principle can be used to scale culture): bit.ly/vubsCV

— Zappos.com CEO -Tony (@zappos) November 8, 2011

The video is shared via TheAtlantic.com and writer Alexis C. Madrigal introduces it by stating:

This is your moment of Zen today. Two adventurers set out in a canoe and happened upon a starlings (collectively known as a murmuration) doing their amazing collective dance in the sky.

While we can’t all be Tony Hsieh, it would be great if our leaders’ actions and behaviors supported the creation of an inclusive and congruent culture.

Your turn: What is your take on how the actions and behaviors of leaders impacts organizational culture?

For more on organizational culture, watch Lizz’s HR BOLD Thinkers video series where she discusses how to attract, retain and repel the right employees.

About Lizz Pellet

Lizz is a Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and is the founder of Social Presence Coaching.

Connect with Lizz here or via email at Lizzpellet [at] gmail [dot] com.

Skepticism may not be a competency on your job description but it is an important part of HR’s mental toolkit.

At the same time anyone not open to new ideas shouldn’t be in management. Gamification really does hold promise for reward, however it can also go wrong.

First, we need to understand what gamification—at its best—really is. Gamification is primarily the science of motivation in the online world. There are two words I want you to underline: “science” and “motivation”.

Gamification matters to reward professionals when it is about science not gimmicks, and when it is about motivating behavior, not just doing something cool.

The tools, their promise and their peril

Gamification has many tools:

• Recognition: a badge for accomplishing something; e.g. “Completed all performance appraisals on time.”
• Goal setting and tracking: points for achievements or activities; e.g. “20 points for attendance at wellness activities.”
• Winning: getting the high score
• Social goodwill: an opportunity to share ideas or goodwill with others; e.g. The opportunity to ‘like’ someone else’s online posting.

Gamification holds great promise because the tools are evidence-based. Computer gaming companies and websites that use gamification do a great deal of empirical testing. The idea that these tools can drive behavior is not based on a theory; it is based on evidence that it actually does drive that behavior.

Gamification has, in effect, done thousands of psychology experiments by testing their ideas online and seeing what happened; we can benefit from those experiments.

The downside of gamification is that, like anything new, there will be a long learning curve. Also many of the people promoting the idea will have no real idea what they are doing. Furthermore, messing with reward is always dangerous because it risks unforeseen consequences.

What to do first

Gamification tools have the potential to help motivate all sorts of behaviors—so as a reward professional you need to take a serious interest. The first thing to do is get some personal experience with gamification so you can understand the feel, not just the concept. It is only when you have this feel that you can begin to distinguish between the hype and the real value.

Some options:

• Play a computer game; or get a gamer to let you watch what they do and talk to them about the points, badges, quests, team play and so on that motivate them.
• Download the Kobo book reading app; get a book you want to read; see how they deploy gamification badges to keep it fun and keep you engaged.
• Adopt a fitness tool that has gamification elements like Wii Fit, Nike+ or Fitbit
• Spend some time on Facebook and pay attention to how social connections, “likes” and the rewards associated with Facebook games motivate you to behave in a certain way.

Your conclusion will be that gamification techniques can drive behavior; I say that with confidence because the sites are testing these techniques and keeping the ones that work. From there you can think how to begin to use these tools to drive behavior in the organization.

We need to remember Dan Pink’s line “We are not as endlessly predictable and manipulable as you might think”; gamification doesn’t control people but it can nudge, encourage, and motivate us. It is a rich source of ideas for reward professionals.

We have a lot of topics to cover in this series of blogs, but rest assured I’ll come back to talk more about gamification and how to put it to use.

Have you experimented with gamification as a tool to help motivate employees? What were the results?

For more on employee engagement, read Simple tips to drive up employee motivation and engagement in 2013.

David Creelman is CEO of Creelman Research where he does research and writing on human capital management.

He also co- leads a club on evidence-based management with Carnegie Mellon’s Denise Rousseau. He can be reached at dcreelman [at]  creelmanresearch [dot] com.

Job descriptions are not only incredibly important for attracting and retaining top talent. They’re a critical tool that, when done well, create a foundation to support all talent management programs across your organization.

But it’s easy to dismiss them as irrelevant when not enough time and energy is invested into making them great.

Because let’s face it, job descriptions can be a real bear:

• They require effort to create and update
• They can be difficult to track and manage
• They are usually not centrally stored
• Often they are not in line with the true nature of the job they are supposed to represent

But great job descriptions can help you build a high-performing, aligned and engaged workforce.

In this post I’ll show you how to use Halogen Job Description Builder to create up-to-date job descriptions that are easy to track and manage, and that support all of your talent management programs — making them fairer, more consistent, and more transparent.

Creating a job description template in Halogen Job Description Builder

We all know that job descriptions need to be consistent. Otherwise they become impossible to manage. Halogen Job Description Builder makes this easy, providing sample job description templates, as well as libraries of job duties and competencies to get you started.

These job description templates can be customized to suit your requirements, and pre-defined sections can be added for information like education, experience, and job competencies. You can also create custom sections to tailor your templates to your organization’s unique needs.

To create a template in Halogen Job Description builder, simply select the appropriate sections and attributes required:

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Halogen Job Description Builder provides consistency, but allows for flexibility

Halogen Job Description Builder templates enforce consistency, but they also allow for flexibility in the content included in any given job description. Your templates can also be updated to easily push out universal changes, while individual sections of specific job descriptions can be updated to make changes that apply to only one or a few of your jobs.

For example, this template for a senior administrator position includes a Leadership Accountabilities section applicable to positions where leadership competencies are required:

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Easily locate and manage your job descriptions

All job descriptions created in Halogen Job Description Builder are stored in a central repository making it easy for you to locate and manage them. You can search job descriptions by Title or Job ID or by using the Advance Search feature:

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If you choose to, you can even make the repository visible to your managers and/or employees. This level of transparency allows employees to review requirements for other jobs in the organization they may be interested in pursuing. It can also help them better understand the roles and responsibilities of their colleagues across the organization.

Easily involve all key stakeholders when creating job descriptions

With Halogen Job Description Builder you can build a customized workflow for creating and updating your job descriptions. As an administrator or job description manager in Halogen, you can:

1. Create the workflow you want to use for your job description creation and review process.
2. Specify the people or positions you want to get involved in the process.
3. Send tasks and friendly email reminders to work on the job descriptions.
4. If necessary, participate in the process yourself as an editor or approver.

And it’s easy for stakeholders to access and complete assigned tasks related to reviewing, editing, and approving job descriptions right from their Halogen homepage:

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Regardless of the workflow you design for creating and updating job descriptions, it’s a good idea to “spread the wealth” and get others outside of HR involved in the process.

When employees and managers are included in crafting job descriptions, employees are more likely to sign off on them, and managers are more comfortable offering feedback because they can refer back to the job descriptions during coaching conversations.

Including all stakeholders also helps to ensure balance as it allows you to draw on the experience and perspectives of many players.

Leverage job descriptions across your other talent management programs

Halogen Job Description Builder not only makes it easy for you to create, track, and manage your job descriptions, it helps you link job descriptions across other talent management programs to create unmatched accountability.

Performance management

For example, Halogen Job Description Builder integrates seamlessly with Halogen eAppraisal, and in just a few clicks allows you to automatically generate position-specific appraisal forms based on your job descriptions.

Each employee can then be evaluated on the actual job duties and competencies they are expected to perform, along with the other critical elements of your appraisals like goals and development plans.

Here is a sample appraisal form based on the competencies included in a job description for a Tier 2 Service Representative:

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By aligning job descriptions with performance appraisals, you can make the evaluation of employees fairer, more consistent, and more transparent. And studies have shown that when employees are treated fairly and know what’s expected of them, they’re more engaged and more productive.

Recruiting and onboarding

Halogen Job Description Builder can also simplify your recruiting and onboarding processes. The job description repository can be fully integrated with Halogen eRecruitment, allowing recruiters to quickly and easily use existing job descriptions to create requisitions and post jobs that need to be filled.

This screenshot shows how to create a job requisition in Halogen eRecruitment by importing a job description you’ve created with Halogen Job Description Builder:

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Using the “Import Job Description” feature in Halogen eRecruitment, content from the job description populates directly onto the requisition. This integration allows you to:

• Quickly and easily generate job requisitions for existing jobs within the organization,
• Ensure the job requisition is aligned with the actual expectations of the job (based on the job description) and
• Edit the job requisition if any of the job description information is not required.

These are just two examples of how you can use Halogen Job Description Builder to support your other talent management programs. For more examples visit our Center of Excellence for best-practice job descriptions.

Make job descriptions strategic in your organization

Job descriptions, when done well, are a strategic advantage for any organization. They can help you:

• Recruit and hire the right candidates for your jobs
• Set and manage expectations for your employees
• Successfully manage employee performance and development

Halogen Job Description Builder is a strategic tool that can support your talent management programs and drive employee engagement and accountability. To learn more, visit the Halogen Job Description Builder product page.

About Jenny Hamilton

Jenny Hamilton is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and an Implementation Consultant at Halogen Software, working directly with customers to develop and implement software solutions to meet their needs. Delivering World Class Customer Experience by understanding both customer requirements and industry best practices is Jenny’s focus. In her downtime, Jenny is usually travelling the world, playing soccer, or as a self-professed “music junkie” attending as many concerts and music festivals as possible. Most days, though, she’s probably just singing along with the car radio (loudly and somewhat off-key).

Every business has an impact on the community and environment through its everyday operations (including products, supply chain, employment and energy use).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about a company recognizing a responsibility for its impacts on the wider society. It’s also about demonstrating a willingness to go beyond minimum legal requirements to ensure these impacts are positive.

In a nutshell, CSR is about how a company manages its impacts proactively, leveraging its positive influence on the community (e.g., creating jobs, promoting local economic development, etc.), and mitigating its negative impacts (e.g., reducing waste, responsible marketing, reducing its environmental footprint, etc).

CSR goes way back

Corporate social responsibility is not a new idea — think of the anthropological, non-profit making initiatives provided by the wealthy mill owners during the industrial revolution, or even the social and economic impact of an aristocratic family and their estate in the Edwardian era, illustrated by the popular television series Downtown Abbey.

The modern concept of corporate social responsibility became defined in the 1950s. At that time, Howard H. Bowen surveyed organizations and found that 93.5% of businessmen agreed with the Fortune magazine statement: ‘CSR, or the “social consciousness,” of managers meant that businessmen were responsible for the consequences of their actions in a sphere somewhat wider than that covered by their profit-and-loss statements.’

But have you thought about how your talent management programs can impact your corporate social responsibility? At its most basic, good talent management leads to:

• an increase in employee well being, fulfillment and productivity
• employee development and career progression
• higher employee engagement and retention

All of these help improve the talent communities from which a company recruits and where it does business, increase local employment and general economic well-being in the area, as well as increase productivity and performance for the company.

CSR and organizational alignment

But talent management best-practices can go further than that in helping your organization be socially responsible. How? Be ingraining CSR values in your culture and aligning your workforce to achieve CSR goals.

To ensure that your CSR values are introduced into the everyday life of your company’s talent:

1. Identify company values based on your CSR policy
2. Define and describe these as core competencies
3. Evaluate every employee’s demonstration of these core competencies as part of your performance management processes
4. Further develop these competencies in all your employees through targeted training

This helps make corporate social responsibility a key part of “how” every employee in your organization accomplishes work. You should also either set high-level CSR goals, or incorporate CSR considerations into each of your high-level corporate goals.

Then you can invite every employee to set individual goals that directly support the high-level organizational goals, and thereby increase your corporate social responsibility.

Embedding corporate social responsibility in your core competencies and high-level organizational goals in this way helps:

• Communicate the importance of corporate social responsibility to all employees
• Keep it front of mind for everyone
• Improve accountability for CSR
• Graduallly build greater consciousness of the organization’s social impact and improve its social contributions
• Ensure that your corporate social responsibility is lived and breathed by all members of your organization

Visit our Centers of excellence to learn more about how you can align your workforce and build a strong organizational culture.

About Neil Shah

Neil Shah is an implementation consultant and product sales specialist for Halogen Software.

In his role Neil helps Halogen Software’s prospective customers with our unique free trial experience as well as helping current customers along the road to going live with the software.

Neil has over ten years of experience in working in the talent management software space.

It’s also no secret that the U.S. healthcare industry is facing unprecedented change as well as mass uncertainty around the impact of healthcare reform.

In an industry facing increasing demand for services, nurse and doctor talent shortages and declining reimbursement levels, how can hospital leaders manage through the transformation? By implementing and leveraging talent management best-practices.

Research shows that effective talent management practices can help healthcare organizations build a strong workplace culture — one where employees are committed to performance improvement, reliability and accountability, and the highest level of patient care.

Take a look at the infographic below for tips on charting your way to effective talent and performance management. Then download our complimentary white paper, which includes a forward by the AHA (American Hospital Association).

Want to learn more?

For more on how effective talent management practices can help American hospitals and health systems prepare for healthcare reform download this complimentary white paper.