TM - December 2007 - (Page 25)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning Analytics thrive from transactional data systems. Competency assessment and performance management systems are common today in organizations and serve as the best vehicle to collect individual performance statistics. Many of these systems provide built-in reports, but these reports mostly aggregate data, they don’t analyze it. The real value in analysis comes from feeding data into your data warehouse, where it aligns with other facts about individuals and the organization. The data warehouse contains ongo- ing competency assessments of the team on a playerby-player basis, as well as the performance outcomes (e.g., sales revenue, total support cases closed, total units produced) for each person. The front-end analysis tools allow you to compare and correlate each person’s contributing ingredients to the outcomes. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what collective skill sets contribute most to success? And, what is the break-even skill level required? Lawson Software Uses Analytics Post-Merger to Expand Talent Pools R.J. Heckman, Ph.D. In 2006, Lawson Software underwent a merger that grew its talent base from 1,400 to 3,500 employees. Intentia, the company Lawson merged with, had global operations in 40 countries. While Lawson had a formal performance management system in place, the merging company did not. The acquisition represented an enormous opportunity for the company to address several talent management issues. The challenge for Lawson was to establish one cohesive corporate structure to house two merged talent pools. To be sure the right people were fit into the right jobs, the company needed to get information that would allow for person-to-person results comparison. It needed a sophisticated assessment tool that could leverage existing information about Lawson’s employees while providing quantifiable results that could inform talent decisions across the newly merged organization. Lawson knew that powerful analytics would be the key to making better talent decisions across the newly expanded global talent pool. And the company wanted data to compare its talent pool accurately across levels and borders. It would need a tool in multiple languages with global applicability, and it also would need to be able to use the data to help establish competencies the company would use going forward in recruiting, promotion decisions and succession management activities. Lawson partnered with global human resources consulting firm Personnel Decisions International (PDI) and used its TalentView of Performance tool to produce the information they needed immediately and in the future. This tool, customized for Lawson’s business needs, could measure the competencies that individual employees used to accomplish their work. This assessment allowed the company to identify key competencies in their current talent pools and prioritized which competencies for each position were most closely correlated to successful performance. The Web-based tool, offered in several languages, worked, across regions and countries, and utilized on-the-ground consultants internationally to provide needed training on the use and value of the tool. By creating a standard across the entire organization, the tool also minimized rater-bias, which created more credible, valid results. With assessment results available, Lawson was quickly able to identify its top performers across its newly expanded operations and ensure the right people were in the right organizational roles. “We used performance measurement to drive decision making, such as salaries and promotions, development, training and succession,” said Kristin Trecker, senior vice president of human resources at Lawson. Not only was Lawson able to identify top individual performers, it was able to analyze the common characteristics that made top performers successful and pinpoint how much more revenue these individuals were able to generate than their peers. These results allowed Lawson to focus time and money on what really defines success in the role. The data showed those who scored highest on TalentView of Performance brought in 23 percent more revenue than the least effective performers. Lawson now has actionable data to use in increasing revenue throughout its service consultant team. Leveraging the power of the results, Lawson sought out these characteristics when recruiting new hires or promoting from within. R.J. Heckman, Ph.D., is vice president and general manager of PDI’s Leadership Assessment Products business. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. 24 December 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - December 2007

Talent Management - December 2007 Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Human Performance Leading Edge Capabilities The Engaged Difference: What People Want Analytics in Talent Management: The Sports View The Use of Merchandise for Employee Recognition Taking Aim at Performance Appraisals Talent Management Drives Organizational Change Generational Diversity: Mastering the Boomer-X-Y Divide Dashboard: Security-Savvy Workforce: Designing a Security Awareness Program That Works Application: Hilton Hotels Corporation:Checking Out the Merits of Paperless Efficiency Insight: Unlimited Engagement: Innovative Corporate Communication at Deloitte & Touche USA Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Foundations

TM - December 2007

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