Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #100

Covers CHRO priorities for 2022, 5 aspects of world-class CHROs, using work assignments as an enabler of DEI, talent strategy, and risks of using AI in people processes.

Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly - the weekly newsletter for human resources practitioners, bringing together talent and HR insights from various sources.

Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly—the weekly newsletter for human resources practitioners, bringing together insights about work, the workplace, and the workforce from various sources.

If you find value in this issue or any of its resources, please share them with your network by using the social media icons at the top of the newsletter.

Have a great week, and I look forward to sharing more ideas in next week’s Edge!

Brian 

Brian Heger is a human resources practitioner with a Fortune 150 organization and has responsibilities for Strategic Talent and Workforce Planning. To connect with Brian on Linkedin, click here.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

  • Chief HR Officer Leadership Vision 2022: 3 Strategic Actions for Success | Gartner | Offers 3 top-level themes HR leaders and their teams should prioritize for 2022, and includes a 5-component model of World-Class CHROs. 

  • Potential After the Pandemic | The Talent Strategy Group | Provides a science-based argument for why the core components of determining individual “potential” should stay the same despite the disruptions over the past two years.  

  • Assignments Are Critical Tools to Achieve Workplace Gender Equity | MIT Sloan Management Review | Offers a framework for leaders and managers to identify and strengthen the role of work assignments in meeting DEI goals.

  • Why You Need a Dynamic Digital Talent Strategy | Heidrick & Struggles | Shares a 3-pronged strategy for helping firms develop digital expertise, and includes 14 questions to help develop a digital talent strategy.

  • Report: The New Frontier, Artificial Intelligence at Work | All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Future of Work | A 32-page report that covers the risks of using AI in people processes and provides recommendations for addressing these risks.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

This 2022 Gartner Leadership Vision for CHROs reference outlines three top-level themes HR leaders and their teams should prioritize for 2022. They include: 1) Navigating changing work trends to increase workforce resilience and improve the employee experience. 2) Focus on business-driving activities where senior leadership and the board needs guidance. 3) Move to a more dynamic operating model and upskill capabilities such as agile. Recommended actions are offered to enable these three areas. Page 8 provides a helpful framework titled Model of a World-Class CHRO. The model is anchored in five key areas: 1) Board’s Leader of Human Capital, 2) Creator of Talent Strategy, 3) Enterprise Change Leader, 4) Driver of Culture and Purpose, and 5) Trusted Advisor and Coach. Each of the five areas has examples of activities for HR leaders to focus on in their roles; a few of these activities are deemed ‘newly emphasized.’ For instance, under the CHRO’s role as “Board’s Leader of Human Capital,” CEO succession continues to be a key responsibility. However, new emphasis is placed on the CHRO’s role of ‘surfacing and responding to external trends’ as it relates to its interactions with the Board. HR leaders can use this reference as they solidify their plans for 2022.

As we approach the two-year mark of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizations continue to adjust workforce and talent practices to better align with the changing nature of work and workplace. And while much attention has been given to changes in talent and workplace practices such as performance management, retention, and recruitment, firms are increasingly asking: should we change how we define and measure potential? This article by Marc Effron provides a science-based argument for why the core components of determining individual “potential” should stay the same. He notes how the science on individual potential tells us: 1) Intelligence is the largest (anywhere from 35 to 45%) predictor of potential, 2) Personality is the second-largest predictor (predicts up to about 25% of our success at work, and higher amounts in select roles). And since these factors don’t meaningfully change after a certain point in one’s life (e.g., intelligence established by your late teens; personality established by adulthood), they are still useful predictors of potential, despite the disruptions over the past two years. As Marc notes, one factor that has likely changed in some individuals is their “motivation to invest discretionary time at work.” Said differently, shifts in worker priorities and interests have implications for the motivational component of potential. Several other ideas are discussed. For a great book chapter on this topic, check out Rob Silzer’s and Allan Church’s—Assessing High-Potential Talent: Current Organization Practices— in Strategy-Driven Talent Management. 

As the effects of the pandemic hinder organizations’ ability to meet their talent needs, work assignments—assigning work tasks, activities, or projects to internal workers—are an increasingly viable talent strategy. However, firms can inadvertently cause potential disparities in the experiences or perceptions of assignments between worker groups (e.g., women are often overlooked for challenging work assignments because of different reasons, such as biased performance evaluations). This article offers a framework for leaders and managers to identify and strengthen the role of work assignments in meeting DEI goals. For example, one short-term tactic is having managers conduct assignment conversations with workers and ask questions such as What are you currently working on that you see as critical to your career development and advancement? What work do you find especially meaningful? How do these areas overlap? As we return to the office, how can we align your work with your career advancement goals and your sense of fulfillment? Which assignments do you need to get there, and to whom do you need to be visible? These and other suggestions in the article can help firms tap the potential of work assignments in meeting talent needs and enabling DEI priorities.

According to IBM’s Institute for Business Value report, 5 Trends for 2022 and Beyond, digital transformation is a top priority for many organizations. Yet, many firms fall short of building robust digital talent pipelines. This paper offers a three-pronged strategy for helping firms develop digital expertise. The three components include: 1) hiring expertise that is needed immediately, 2) engaging on-demand leaders, and 3) developing digital expertise and culture for the long term. Page 3 offers 14 questions firms can use to a) determine what digital expertise is needed and b) how required digital experience will vary depending on the organizational role. For example, when determining digital talent needs, firms can ask questions such as: How do digital opportunities and threats drive our overall strategy? Compared with our peers, how digitally enabled are we today? Which emerging technologies are most likely to disrupt our business model, and do we have the knowledge to adapt to those disruptions? Regarding roles, firms can ask: In which roles are digital capabilities critical to implementing all or part of our strategy? Which leadership roles do we need to ensure are filled for the long term by people with strong digital capabilities? Other ideas are discussed that can help organizations develop and refine their digital talent strategy.

I recently shared a 59-page toolkit developed by World Economic Forum and that provides ideas to promote the responsible use of HR-based artificial intelligence (AI) tools. And as interest in the use of AI to manage talent more effectively, fairly, and efficiently increases, HR leaders and their teams must be prepared to answer various questions about AI use in HR, ranging from data privacy to bias. In this 32-page report, the authors look at the risks of using AI in people processes and how HR can audit its use in their organizations. One of the broader suggestions they make is for government to introduce an Accountability for Algorithms Act (AAA)--which would establish a new, cross-sector, principles-driven regulatory framework to promote strong governance and evaluation of AI risks on workers. Other recommendations are provided. As a bonus article, I am resharing a post that addresses the notion of Explainable and Transparent AI—where the methods or techniques AI platform providers use to arrive at conclusions can be easily explained and understood; in that regard, the authors provide ten starter questions that HR practitioners can ask AI-providers.

MOST SHARED RESOURCE FROM LAST WEEK

Three Resources for Developing Aspects of HR Strategy and Priorities | BCG, Gartner, and SAP | I reshare three different resources that HR Leaders and their teams can use as they refine 2022 priorities.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Partial View of Recommendations. Click Image to See All Books.

OUR RESOURCE LINEUP

​​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,000 curated articles, research reports, podcasts, etc. that help practitioners drive better business results through strategic human resources and talent management.

CHROS on the Go is a subscription that provides the easiest and most convenient way to stay informed about Chief Human Resources Officer hires, promotions, and resignations in organizations of all sizes and industries.

​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6PM EST.