So why do I get the privilege of blogging about HR systems or Human Capital Management?  I guess it's one of the advantages/disadvantages that comes with being around for awhile.  Allow me to explain by way of my background.  For the past 15 years I have worked for two fortune 100 companies, Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly & Company in a variety of areas; Sales, HR, Recruiting, Training, Operations and Leadership.  Regardless of the company, or the area of focus the goal was always the same.  Improve process by streamlining and/or connecting activities.  Regardless of whether you were focused on Sales, Communication, Performance and yes HR systems the goal was/is always to simplify, connect, be overt.  The reality is that too often the outcome is anything but.  

Focusing on Human Capital Management I will be discussing these same goals in areas such as; Recruiting, Applicant Tracking, Onboarding, Performance Management,  and Training.  As we all know there is learning in every situation.  Sharing best practices will include successes as well as those failures that we have all had but more importantly we hope not to duplicate.

In my overall experience on the "needs improvement" side of HR systems, making decisions based on "pain" at a given point in time seems to be the area I see most often repeated.  On the positive side starting with the "end in mind" is a best practice I have seen and we will celebrate and communicate those as well.  Too often I have seen both sides of the equaiton and it continues to amuse me.  When something goes right I see leaders run and get as close to it as they can saying "see what I did."  Conversely when organizations are looking for the root cause of failure these same leaders run as far away as they can screaming, "I had nothing to do with it."

Interestingly I think a lot of these professional decisions and discussions also play out in our personal lives as well.  For me being a husband and a father I can look and find these same mistakes and successes. The only exception I see from the personal side of this analogy is as a parent you can't run and hide.  You have to take both the good and bad.

Joe Barrett

VP Sales

Achievant