Tag: DMAI

Communicating Strategy From the Bottom

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/06/strategy-isnt-what-you-say-its-what-you-do/

Came across the log post about strategy implementation and I think it’s a good one for consultants working with senior management teams. It goes along the lines of walking the talk.

“Strategic choice-making cascades down the entire organization, from top to bottom. This means that every person in the company has a key role to play in making strategy. Performing that role well means thinking hard about four things:

1) What is the strategic intent of the leaders of the level above mine?
2) What are the key choices that I make in my jurisdiction?
3) With what strategic logic can I align those choices with those above me?
4) How can I communicate the logic of my strategy choices to those who report to me?

If you as a manager can do the first three of these four, then you will own your choices and own your strategy. If you do the fourth, you will set up your subordinates to repeat these four things and thereby own their choices and their strategy, and pass on the task to the next layer of the company. If each successive layer assumes this level of ownership, the organization can make its bosses’ statement a real strategy rather than an empty slogan.”

I can personally say that these points are all very important to infuse into the culture of your company. Both from my Wells Fargo experience where these are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture to the smaller scale of my own company, clearly communicated strategy is the key.
When not only your direct reports, but your two downs are spreading the gospel, you will be successful.

If you need help getting your team to walk the talk, I’m happy to help.

Business Strategy with Analytics – Aligning a business strategy to drive an organization forward requires a robust analytics solution. Businesses who have good analytics tend to be much more profitable and efficient then ones that do not. DMAIPH has helped dozens of companies in both the U.S. and the Philippines with adding more data analysis in their business strategy. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out what we can do to help you align your business strategy with analytics.

 

I Was Just Talking About This, Now I Know What To Call It > Sisu

http://www.businessinsider.com/quality-that-successful-leaders-have-2014-6

I was just talking with a friend about one of the qualities I have that I think separates me and other successful businessmen from those who aren’t successful. I came across this article just a few hours later. Active coping or what’s called Sisu.

“Active coping is being ready and able to adapt creatively and effectively to challenges and change,” she says in a statement. “Active copers continually strive to achieve personal aims and overcome difficulties, rather than passively retreat from or be overwhelmed by frustration.”

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But this isn’t so much a skill as an outlook. Rather than viewing change as a threat, Patch says that active copers view it as opportunity. This requires two traits: stability and openness, all in one.

Put another way, active copers have what positive psychologists call “sisu”: an orientation to the world where difficulty is seen as opportunity, where you lean into a problem, try to understand it, and push yourself and the situation to shape the best possible outcome.

Pretty cool stuff. I’ve got more than game, I’ve got sisu! 🙂

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/quality-that-successful-leaders-have-2014-6#ixzz35J8C8ztn

What People Want

Like any entrepreneur, I have my strengths and my weaknesses. Generally my strengths are were I focus more of my time.

But occasionally I need to try and mitigate my weaknesses as well. One of them is that I tend to be verbose.

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What I love most about marketing guru and blogging king Set Godin, is most of his blog posts are simple, yet extremely powerful.

Today’s being a perfect example.

“Fast, easy guaranteed. …pick none.

That’s the work that’s worth doing.”

What people want is not what is usually worthwhile, nor want the truly need.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/06/fast-easy-guaranteed.html

Using Social Media To Cascade Content Upwards and Sideways, Not Just Downward

I came across this on LinkedIn and thought it worth sharing:
http://good2bsocial.com/2013/05/13/middle-management-social-business/

In 2012, IBM conducted a study, “The Business of Social Business: What Works and How It’s Done,” that showed that while companies are increasing their social technology investments, middle management leaders are struggling to embrace these capabilities as part of their day-to-day work. The problem, as the IBM study revealed is that “the key to accelerating widespread adoption lies in an organization’s ability to build social business expertise among employees, while encouraging behavioral changes that may influence a wider cultural shift. However, only one-quarter of companies believe they are fully prepared to address the cultural changes that are associated with this transformation.”

Therefore, companies needs to spend a significant amount of time and effort in encouraging their middle managers to change their existing behavior and provide their teams with a platform for engagement such as social networks and collaborative spaces. Middle managers need to embrace their new roles and upper management must set up a system to reward them for this. Without this basic fundamental change in culture, middle managers will resist change and a company’s social business initiative will be doomed before it starts. Middle managers in turn need to teach their teams the value of collaborating with one another and sharing knowledge and expertise. This may seem simple but from my experience it is not. Middle managers can encourage this collaboration by transforming existing business processes into new more effective processes that are enhanced by social technologies.

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My take on this is that middle managers often feel more comfortable in being doers then thinkers. They thrive on routines and predictable processes and without guidance they struggle with ambiguity and vague direction. When it comes to social media they still see it as top down way of information dissemination and only use collaborative spaces with their direct reports to facilitate process changes and trainings. Rarely do you see middle managers use collaborative spaces as peers.

For my part, I will continue to encourage my senior managers to walk the talk so to speak and really optimize their social media presence in ways that inspire and empower their direct reports to do the same. We use the term cascade information a lot, but we don’t always cascade is upwards or sideways. We can do more of that.

4 Lessons From The Phoenix: Finding Success As You Rise Up From Failure

Here are four keys behind my recent run of success:

1. Find Disciples
2. Create Lots and Lots of Content
3. Go Both Horizontal and Vertical
4. Stick with the Plan

One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever got from a mentor was to go out and find three people who could become my disciples. People who understand and believe in the power of using data to driven decision-making.

Throughout the first two-year of my business I was never able to keep more than one at a time on my team as the business evolved rapidly. However, over the past six months I have firmly established two of them in the business as key partners in decision-making. And I still have one of my original influencers close at hand. I know have three disciples who believe in what we do and are able to talk my talk and walk my walk. Mission accomplished.

Another key piece of advice I picked up about a year and a half ago that I have stuck with is create lots of content. I’ve heard this before and see the power of some of my heroes like Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin when it comes to creating a constant stream of interesting content. However, it took a while for me to find my grove, but since then I have been churning out a fairly steady stream of social media content. I blog, am an active Liker on FB and share a lot via LinkedIn. That’s the second key to my success.

Another part of my success has been adding more and more services to my existing clients. This is a strategy I learned very well with Wells Fargo. Its far more profitable to go vertical with existing clients then try to go horizontal with lots of new clients.

And the final key that has help me rise from the ashes of one failed business to build a successful one if stick to the plan. Yes, its important to adapt and evolve, but those should be in unison with the core reason you went into business in the first place… to empower people to make better decisions. I started with a knowledge process outsourcing business model to being more analytics jobs to the Philippines and have done exactly that.

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DMAI – The Intelligent Small Business Outsourcing Solution

Over the past couple of years I have successfully consulted and partnered with a number of small call centers based in the Philippines. Most of my assistance has come in the form of analytics training and consulting, with a focus on making more data-driven decisions and optimizing reporting processes.

I’ve drawn a lot on my experience working with outsourcing projects while with Wells as well as the glorious failure or my own outsourcing company BPO Elite. And now to add to those, the amazing success we have having with DMAI in managing the rapid growth of a 40+ person outsourcing team of consisting of both home and office based staff.

Armed with these experiences and guided by a gifted management team, DMAI is now on the active look for more small business clients. We specialize in providing talent with above average analytical skills, who have been trained to make data-driven decision and are passionate about their work. The caliber of DMAI team members is not what you typically find in a call center employee.

We want to partner with a few more small or medium sized business who are looking to add staff overseas to complement their domestic operations. If you know someone looking to get started or is unhappy with their current outsourcing arrangement, maybe we are the partner they need.

Please Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dmaiph to see what our team members and customers say about DMAI.

You can also follow my blog at http://www.dmaph.wordpress.com to learn more about our mission and purpose… to empower better decision-making through analytics.

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For a free consultation, please connect with us via the above channels or send an email to analytics@dmaiph.com

The Most Over Looked Metric In Recruiting

Which recruiting metric is most important to you?

This is something I am asked all the time and I generally go back to something I came across awhile ago. I have yet to find a better one…

“I am convinced that the most important metric and the only one I care to follow is; how long did the person I place stay with my client company? Are they still there, or did they leave? Were they promoted? Or were they Fired?”

Source: http://www.recruitingblogs.com/

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So, the metric we should be interested in improving is that of the success and tenure of our placements. How long do they stay? How well liked are they? How well do they fit in with the rest of the team? Do they get promoted? This is the true test of “Added Value” which is why companies hire recruiters.

I have hired over 150 people over the past few years and many of the best ones are still going strong, so we must be doing something right. 🙂

If you need help in your recruiting process, DMAIPH can help! My expertise with recruitment analytics makes me uniquely qualified to help you measure your most important requirement metrics.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

If I Were 22, My Advice To Myself Would Be…

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140520112502-2484700-if-i-were-22-don-t-get-married-too-soon-and-always-make-your-boss-look-good?trk=mta-lnk

Like the one from my hero Guy Kawasaki above, LinkedIn is running a series of blog posts from online influencers. After reading several of them and thinking about it for a bit, here is what I would recommend to my 22-year-old self.

Can you find me?
Can you find me?

1. Travel More. 23 years later I have traveled a lot, but there are so many times I turned down chances to see new parts of the world. Nothing teaches you more than being immersed in a new environment.
2. Spend More QT with loved ones. Once they are gone, they are gone. As you get older you really will regret not spending more time with those you love.
3. Use Money More Wisely. Now I think about how much more good I could do in the world with the amount of money I’ve spent in my lifetime on needless things.
4. Treat People A Little Better. When you need to be a jerk be one, but when you don’t try to keep that impatient temper in check a little more often.
5. Keep one eye on the future, one eye on the present and know your past. Embrace the way you have always lived and will always live being able to shift perspectives and open yourself to the notion that anything is possible.
6. Just Keep Doing It. I’ve had many failures and frustrations in life, but in the end they have all added to my knowledge and my experience and made me who I am today.

However, given the blessing I enjoy and the life I have, I’d conclude with don’t change too much. You are gonna turn out pretty well!

What Exactly Are Recruitment Metrics?

A general definition of recruitment metrics is something like this, “standards of measurement that HR and Recruitment professionals use to identify, analyze and present important information regarding the hiring process.” Recruitment metrics are extremely important in both assessing the effectiveness of the recruitment process and in looking at the ROI (return on investment).

Traditionally recruitment metrics focus on two areas; cost per hire and time to hire. They are both looking primarily at only the impact to hire someone.

However, those metrics generally do not include a multitude of important data points that decision-makers need to know. For example things like candidate satisfaction and hiring manager satisfaction can help determine wholes in a process.

You can also use recruitment metrics to optimize the hiring process looking at things like distance to work, difficult of commute, and demographic data on what schools and courses provide the best employees.

Another are you can draw psychometric data from for your metrics would be on things like work ethic, career decision-making and employee loyalty to see who is successful in your company so you can find more like them.

The types of metrics you can use in your recruitment process are practically limitless.

Based on a recent survey I saw on LinkedIn, If we use metrics correctly, they achieve the following additional benefits:

  • Advance the relationship between recruitment and the hiring managers — align the RIGHT objectives
  • Provide credibility to the recruitment department by displaying that they understand the overall business goals and objectives
  • Define what is important and expected of each recruiter
  • Drive consistency in delivery of recruitment services to the organization
  • Provide a platform to measure recruiter accountability and performance.

Does your recruitment process have actionable metrics that can drive data-driven decision-making?

If you are having trouble with your recruitment metric, connect with me and I’ll help you make sure you are measuring the recruitment metrics that are key to your business.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

All I Need To Know About Someone Is What Was The Last Book They Read

I’m not sure where I picked that concept up from, it’s probably a variation of a famous quote whose author escapes me. But for me there is a lot of truth to the statement. When you find out the last book someone read you can tell a lot about them. When you get them talking about it you can gain incredible insight into who they are and what motivates them.

In my case I picked up a book at the airport for my flight and to help me get into trainer mode. The book I picked up was Decisive, a business management and leadership book by the Heath brothers. It was on the top of a lot of 2013 lists and I had heard of it before. Once I started reading it, I quickly saw some key points I could roll into my next analytics training class.

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Here are some of the key points:

> Most decision are made in an instant and are often just a choice between two options.
> Although helpful, Pro and Con lists are limited in their effectiveness.
> Most business decisions, when looked at a few years later, were failures.

In the book the Decisive, the authors list four tips to help make better decisions:

1. Widen Your Options by eliminating factors that put artificial limits on our choices.

2. Reality-Test Your Assumptions by taking them out of our head and into the real world.

3. Attain Distance Before Deciding, which means don’t rush and gain other perspective.

4. Prepare to be wrong, the willingness to take risks is a challenge for all of us.

Its a great read, pick it up.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.