7 Powerful Actions For The Digital Transformation of Human Resources

Embracing the digital world and implementing technological transformations don't necessarily begin with technology. It actually begins with a deep mindset change. An evolution of the way we see the world!

This mindset change entails people to become more aware of the implications of technology, open-minded to its uses and less entrenched in past and old non-digital practices. It's the evolution to the tech-mindset.

The digital transformation of Human Resources (HR) also follows that path.

It begins with a mindset change or evolution to understanding and accepting technology and, only then, move on to its deeper know-how and implementation. Thus, to build a digital HR it’s fundamental to break the first and most important barrier: the assumption that the implications of technology won’t affect HR and people’s operations. 

What I’m saying is that, even when some HR professionals don’t fully understand the implications and potential uses of game-changing technology (Artificial Intelligence, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Blockchain, Machine Learning, etc.), it’s fundamental that they are open-minded for what’s coming and begin to learn faster.

To put it bluntly, what I’m suggesting is that HR professionals need to leave their assumptions aside and open their minds to agilely learn how technology is disrupting and will continue to disrupt the HR operations.

And since the world is experimenting technological changes at an exponential pace, the mindset change in HR should also be radical and exponential. The pace of learning should be quick.

I want to propose seven powerful actions for the mindset change needed to embrace and promote the digital transformation of HR.

Walk the talk of diversity: bring technical people onboard

Diversity is not only about gender or ethnicity, but also about professional background. HR needs to cross-pollinate knowledge with techy people. The digital transformation of HR has a lot to do with bringing people onboard who fully understand the implications of technology and its uses for human resources.

I reviewed dozens of HR job postings. Most of them continue to be focused only on HR business acumen, but not on any technological knowledge (not even basics, such as data analytics).

HR has to leave aside the assumption that only HR people can work in HR. It needs to embrace the idea that programmers, data scientists, engineers and other technical people can and should have a career in HR and become involve with it. By bringing technical people onboard, HR will be able to get immense technical expertise in solving people operations’ problems. Bottom line: go back to the “drawing board” of your HR job postings, because most of them have it all wrong about the skills for the future!

Familiarize your people with technology (and use it!)

It’s fundamental that HR professionals get immersed in the definition, implications and applications of technology. HR can’t be a dead weight for a business that is seeking digital transformation. HR has to be part of that transformation as well. Unfortunately, HR moves way slower than most business functions. And that can have serious costs (including long term sustainability).

For the digital transformation of HR, as part of the actual technological transformation of any organization, it’s essential that HR professionals familiarize themselves with technology. I’m not suggesting that they become programmers or AI-experts. Instead, that they have the opportunity to get exposed to technology (either in formal or on-the-job training, or by being assigned to projects with tech implications).

Build an innovation and technology core team

Sad news: bringing tech people and knowing about technology is not enough. Why? Simply because the world is changing extremely fast. Creating an innovation and tech core team is very useful to stay up to date.

The basic building blocks of this core team are diversity, agility and extreme collaboration. Such a team needs people from various backgrounds: HR, tech, policy, innovation, etc. The more diverse the team the more possible it will be to complement each other in their knowledge and skills. By the way, the core team wouldn’t be exclusively working in innovation and tech, as I know that HR always has budget constraints to be as lean as possible. Nevertheless, it will be at the forefront of research, experimentation and innovation within HR. It’s the idea laboratory of HR. It is the “Google X” of HR!

Leave assumptions and preconceptions aside

I already said this before. Many HR professionals are unfortunately entrenched in the old ways. They think of performance management, career progression, promotions, sourcing and recruitment, innovation, partnering, talent management or training in the old-fashioned and expired ways. What’s worse, when a new innovative solution is proposed, those old-HR-thinkers disregard it not because of its nature, but in the light of what they are used to do since the beginning of time!

Leaving assumptions and preconception aside is critical for the digital transformation of HR. It’s absolutely impossible to embrace technology and the digital world when people come with negative or limiting assumptions about technology and its benefits. In short, I think it's critical to remain open-minded to technology. HR professionals who don’t open their minds to the technological transformation of their role will be steam rolled by those who do.

Promote internal mobility

Every two days we create as much information as we did in all our human history before 2003. It’s impossible for any single individual or small team to know or learn everything. It doesn’t even matter how small a niche is. There sure is a lot of information about it. Thus, my recommendation is creating a flexible approach that allows for mobility every 2 – 4 years (if not less). Make the mobility process seamless!

Promoting internal mobility within the HR boundaries and with other tech teams in the company allows: 1) cross-pollination of ideas between seemingly different teams and areas of knowledge; 2) keep the workforce engaged and continually challenged to learn more; 3) expose HR professionals to the business day-to-day operation, as well as with the latest developments in areas other than their own background. Ultimately, mobility allows for bringing good results, ideas, learning, failures and successes from one team onto another. Therefore, spreading technical knowledge all across HR and the organization.

Looking for best practices? They are obsolete by the time you find them!

Nobody knows for sure, but it seems that Henry Ford said "if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Evidently, the "best practice" for transportation was horses, not cars.

HR professionals are always hungry for "best practices". I’m not going to underestimate the value that researching best practices once had. Unfortunately, in today’s exponentially-changing world, it’s extremely challenging to know what it or what isn’t a good practice. Technology is changing everything too fast. There’s almost no time to find out what a best practice is. And if you ever find it, by the time you do, it’s already obsolete.

Instead of “best practices”, it’s much more relevant to keep a few principles in mind: 1) experiment at a small scale; 2) evaluate results and scale if the experiments were successful; 3) remain agile by learning fast from failure and successes; 4) don’t dwell or punish failure. Instead, get the most out of it and move on; 5) technology is the tool. HR is still centered in people. Don’t forget that!; and 6) keep the HR people and teams professionally challenged and engaged. Raise the bar and set interesting goals. Especially the ones needed for the digital transformation of HR.

#humanresources #HR #technology #disruptHR #digital #workplace #future

Invitation to Hacking HR

I’m passionate about the intersection of HR and technology. In particular, I’m extremely interested in the discussion about the design and creation of the workplace of the future.

That’s why I’m putting together an event called “Hacking HR”. The end goal is building a community of like-minded people interested in discussing HR and tech and the ideas to create the workplace of the future.

The first Hacking HR event will be in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2017. Click here to register for free and stay tuned for the upcoming release of our website. We will have networking, speakers (on VR, AI, blockchain, data and innovation) and Q&A Panel. 

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