In this edition, as we close out another quarter, when many of you will be thinking ahead to the new financial and/or payroll year starting on 1 July and what you need to have ready by then... we discuss the importance of Groups, the value of regular audits, and using Performance to support succession-planning:
System - Groups matter
Best Practice - Check your system
HR Operations - Succession - talent for the future
Groups matter
As the ELMO system continues to be developed, there are more and more places where you are able to use Groups to approve, share, and assign forms, templates, learning, and workflow components.
Groups can be added, edited and managed by going to:
Some key points about Groups:
Groups can be standard or dynamic.
Standard is where a specific user is allocated to the Group, by name. Dynamic is where users are allocated to the Group based on a filter, such as position, department, location, or other system or custom profile field.
Note: Dynamic groups cannot be used to manage File or Form Catalogue availability. Only Standard Groups can be used in this setting.
You can create as many Groups as you like. For example, you could have a Group for every people leader position - this might be useful for the "delegation" tip discussed below.
Groups can only be created manually (you can't import groups).
Even though it is called a Group, each group can have only one user assigned (can actually have no users assigned).
Suggested uses for Groups:
Form approvals - the approval task will appear on the To Do List of all members of the Groups and will then disappear once one of the Group members approves the form.
Task allocation - in a workflow, tasks can be allocated to specific users, or a Group. As above, the Task will appear on the To Do List of all members of the Groups and will then disappear once one of the Group members marks the Task as complete.
Recruitment requisitions and offers. This allows for both requests to hire and appointment requests to be managed via a Group.
Learning - File Upload and External Training Approvals - allows for multiple and/or different approvers to applied to these functions. This is particularly important for File Upload approvals, as once the section is locked by assigning the course to a user, the approver cannot be changed or updated.
Delegation - there is no function to delegate approvals for forms, recruitment, tasks, learning etc in the ELMO system; however, this can be achieved by having a Group used for these various functions. When the usual delegate is going to be absent on leave, their seconded
Check your system
We recommend that you conduct a regular review of your system, at least once per year for a full system check and at the end of each quarter for a user data check.
When we provide this service to our clients, we normally allow around 4 hours to conduct a thorough check and a further 2 hours to write recommendations and conduct a debrief with the client.
The purpose of this check is to ensure that your data is current and correct, you are using the system to its full functionality, and you are maintaining a high level of engagement and uptake.
When checking your system, you should complete the following checklist, as a minimum:
Read through the What's New - New product announcements. This will give you an insight into what has changed in the system and may focus some of your review on how you are using the system in certain areas/by module.
General settings and configuration - look out for new functionality and check your settings still make sense.
Users - this data you should review more frequently, by doing a check to ensure that all users are current and complete (terminated employees have been deactivated, new employees have been added/converted from onboarders and/or candidates). Manager details are correct - remember the system is person-based, so it a manager leaves and is replaced, you need to update the users' manager to the new manager, otherwise the organisational charts won't display properly.
Run a system report to see who has been logging in - what is the level of uptake? [Reports >>Reports Tab >> "All Report Types" - select System >> User Login Report >> "Show the logins for the:" choose the period you want to report on].
Theme/Dashboard - a change is as good as a holiday - can you switch up the colours, change the logo, add some new images, a gif, a video? We recommend updating the dashboard regularly (at least monthly), but when you do, we suggest always keeping the To Do List in the same place, as this is the most important section of the dashboard.
Check libraries - position, department, location - have any of these changed and need updating?
Check Approval Management - are there users who are waiting on their manager (or others) to approve forms, tasks, performance, learning etc?
Onboarding - are there any onboarders who have not been converted? If so, did someone create them a user profile and now you can use Employee Match to join up their profiles? Are any onboarders stuck or lagging in the completion of their onboarding workflow? Do you need to follow up?
Learning - how is your compliance looking - do users need to be reminded to complete their learning tasks? Can you add a new course to the course catalogue (could be a TED Talk, or article to read etc)
Performance - how is the progress of appraisal template completions? Are the managers correct? Do employees and managers need reminding/following up?
Recruitment - are there open requisitions that have been filled but not finalised? Are there candidates who have not been converted to onboarder/user? If so, make the offer, convert to onboarding and then either convert to General User or do an Employee Match [via Onboarding] to combine the profiles of a general user and their candidate record.
Reports/Analytics - how are you currently using reports and could you be using them more effectively/efficiently to keep managers and decision-makers informed via scheduled reports? Are you still doing your business reporting manually? If so, how can you build a report that reduces / eliminates manual report-building?
Succession - talent for the future
As we contemplate the future of work; and particularly the ongoing impacts of remote and/or hybrid working and the emerging impacts of AI, conducting some workforce planning will be integral to the success of your organisation.
Whether or not you have purchased the Succession module in ELMO, you can build some succession planning into your processes, particularly if you have the Performance module.
The below provides you with some ideas on how you can use the Performance module to support succession planning.
1) Create ‘future’ users, with ‘future’ positions.
Because ELMO organisational charts are person-based, the ELMO system is not ideal for organisational design or workforce planning activities; however, one client has used a work-around to help them achieve part of that.
These can be embedded into current org structures, by assigning the person/position to the applicable (real) manager, allowing for current/future vacancies to be displayed in organisational charts; or, you can build a separate future/theoretical organisational chart that can only be seen if the correct ‘theoretical/future’ employee is chosen.
Caution – adding dummy users to your general user library may impact your licence cost agreement with ELMO – you should discuss the commercials with your Account Manager.
2) Identified successors
Clients are often cautious about creating expectations about future roles for employees that they are then unable to fulfill, breaching trust, disengaging employees, and risking talent losses.
You’ve heard the Henry Ford quote:
the only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay
Similarly, we can ask ourselves:
what if we tell people what their next potential role is and they don’t get it, so they leave; and instead give them no idea as to their future career pathway and they leave for another opportunity to advance.
One client created ‘Pathway Pacts’ a statement of intent between the organisation and the employee, citing the next potential role for the employee, the dependencies and known caveats, as well as the responsibilities and commitments required of the employee to facilitate their growth and development into the next role.
This organisation also had a management mandate for each leader to have identified a successor or a plan to find a successor and this was a gate-opener to their annual bonus, as the company’s BCP was based on the necessity of attracting and retaining highly skilled talent.
3) Flight risk - what assume does...
One client decided to utilise the Criticality/Flight Risk section in their current performance template. Note: this is a Succession module function. If you don't have Succession, you can still recreate the feel of these questions using a question section or checkpoint in your performance plan.
Their decision was to keep this section only visible to the manager and for the manager to make the assessment about their employee’s flight risk.
While the intent of the HR team was that the manager would have a conversation about the potential flight risk factors with their employee and then record their assessment based on this discussion, most managers did not know how to have this discussion and/or felt uncomfortable broaching the topic and therefore made their assessment in isolation.
As a result, the business was blind-sided by two key personnel departures in the next 12 months that they were neither expecting nor prepared for.
Lesson: if HR wants managers to have conversations with employees that they have not had to have before, the managers should be provided with training and resources (e.g. a script) to help them have these discussions. Flight risk assessments conducted in isolation are far less likely to be accurate and will be based on what the manager sees, hears or feels about the situation. Employees who are asked about their level of engagement in their role are more likely to have a conversation before accepting an alternate role.
4) Combining functionality
One client who has the Succession module has chosen not to introduce succession plans across the organisation (currently only using for HiPos) until they have 2 years of performance data and ratings.
In the interim, they have added Criticality/Flight Risk, 360-degree, and Recommendations (from R&R module) to their performance plans/ process.
Through this they are able to assess:
• Informal peer feedback (Recommendations).
• Formal feedback from managers and peers (360-degree)
• Criticality and Flight Risk of the Person
This information then is fed into a Remuneration Recommendation from the manager (including a justification).
This client has found that these components in and of themselves have improved the openness and effectiveness of discussions between employees and managers about the future of both the organisation and the individual.
Note: if you do not have the Succession or Rewards and Recognition modules, you can create some work-arounds using question or checkpoint sections.
5) Mentoring / Coaching
For one client, once a HiPo (however defined) was identified, they built a mentoring plan using the Performance module to support coaching, mentoring and development of HiPos to assist with progression/succession.
Using a performance template they were able to:
• Set a different ‘manager’ (mentor) to the employee’s reporting manager to interact on the plan.
• Set goals specific to the succession/mentoring process
• Prescribe regular check-ins throughout the mentoring program where both informal and formal feedback could be captured.
The client has found that the Performance module effectively supported their mentoring and HiPo program.
Some definitions:
HiPo
A high performer. It is critical for any organisation to determine what that means for them, how these people will be identified and becomes the basis for communication and succession decisions.
Position Criticality
This is how important/crucial to the success of the business now and in future, this type of role is. Consideration also needs to be given as to whether the role may be critical right now, but may be less so in the future.
Criticality / Flight Risk
Criticality - this relates to the person in the role. While a person’s role may not be that critical, based on experience, skills or business history/knowledge, the person in the role may be critical to efficient operation of a particular department or team.
Flight Risk - how likely an employee is to leave the business in the next 12 months and/or be tempted to leave by an attractive offer. Considerations include – change of manager, last pay increase, time in role, opportunities taken for learning and development, opportunities for new experiences, feelings of adding value and being appreciated. Managers are recommended to consult with employees to obtain an accurate assessment.
Potential
This relates to whether the person can adapt and grow with the business and move into another role that supports their and the business’ growth and evolution.
Readiness
How soon could the person progress into the next role. This assessment is dependent on the next role that has been identified, so it is crucial to determine the next step/opportunity before rating.
If your organisation needs assistance with Succession planning (with or without the module), we can assist you to workshop the concepts and decide on your next steps.
Content credit: Martha Travis
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