In an effort to support more sustainable practices in business, organizations are examining the value of diversity in the workforce. Besides regulatory compliance, what benefits make having a ‘diverse workforce’ good for business?

Some key outcomes of maintaining a diverse workforce (i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, religion, skill set) include the ability to:

• Enable innovation and creative thinking by bringing together fresh ideas voiced from differing points of view

• Improve your capacity to understand and serve your different customers, partners and shareholders by representing their diversity in house

• Better support market expansion by region, culture and demographic

• Encourage talent acquisition and retention

• Foster organizational adaptability by maintaining a well-rounded pool of varied skills

SAP, the highest-ranked software company in the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability Index for two years running, has an interesting perspective on the business value of diversity in the workforce. 

To learn more about how a diverse workforce can help you achieve sustainable business performance, I encourage you to visit SAP’s Sustainability Map (and check out the Sustainable Workforce / Diversity field).

Where did they come from and where are they going?

A question I get asked a lot is “where did the org chart come from?” Well, the first Web-based  org charts came from Nakisa.  

…But I think they meant the paper-based kind.

Actually, I recently came across an article touching on this. The author dates the formal “invention” of org charts to the 19^th century, when they were developed to help “trains run on time.”

Although the article has a certain level of charm to it, my thoughts focused on how org charts will evolve into the future. The first org charts arose from the need to easily understand and communicate interrelated information – organizational clarity if you will.  By visualizing relationships and hierarchies, as opposed to describing it in a paragraph or lists of text, the basic org chart greatly accelerated insight and understanding into organizational structures. The need for organizational clarity and the power of visualization remain at the heart of tomorrows org chart.   The org chart of the future must provide the given viewer with impeccable clarity into ever-complicated organizational systems. Based on who you are and what you need to do, you’ll see the right picture to enable immediate insight and action.

With the release of version 2.1 of SAP Talent Visualization by Nakisa (SAP TVN), I wanted to highlight a few of the new innovations I’m particularly excited about.

SAP TVN was originally developed to empower users with clarity into their organization and talent with interfaces that visualize core HCM data. Each subsequent release of the solution has incorporated the latest technology and best practices in data visualization, so customers are always getting the most value out of their underlying HCM information. The enhancements with 2.1 are no exception.

We’ve worked to reduce the number of clicks it takes to visualize the right information and take the proper action. Part of this is thanks to the integration of new interactive Flash-powered tools such as our new Talent Grid (9-box) which supports drag-and-drop functionality enabling instant talent calibration on the spot.

We’ve also launched Profile Match for 2.1, an innovative decision support tool for succession planning. Users can quickly and objectively find the right successors for any given role. The Profile Match mechanism uses organizational competencies and qualifications to bring successors and positions together in a way that promotes alignment between global objectives and the talent pipeline.

The new Java Edition will offer our customers many benefits, mainly lowering their total cost of ownership. In addition to running on a .Net platform, organizations are now able to run SAP TVN on the Java platform, eliminating the need to purchase additional Windows servers

I am very excited about these enhancements and I invite you to sign up for a personal demonstration of our solutions in Nakisa’s VIP Zone.

Talent Management Magazine recently highlighted the benefits of adopting sustainable activities within the organization. The feature story highlights how businesses who commit to “green” practices are more likely to attract and retain the best talent, realize savings, and improve their image.  As is common practice these days, the article uses the term “sustainability” to refer to environmental and social responsibility. No doubt, an organization’s responsibility to the planet is very important; however when it comes to defining the key link between “talent management” and “sustainable business,” a key perspective is often overlooked: building a workforce to ensure success that lasts.

Your organization may have all the best intentions to save the planet today, but if it can’t endure competitive, technical, social and economic turbulence in the long run, it won’t be around tomorrow when the planet still needs saving. With effective talent management processes and tools, an organization can devise and maintain a talent pipeline strategy to keep them successful well into the future. A truly sustainable workforce should ensure that the enterprise always maintains the critical competencies that enable efficiency, innovation and agility despite the changes in external forces.

For more information about creating a Sustainable Workforce, I recommend you check out SAPs EcoHub Sustainability Map.

 “It is 9 o’clock on a Monday morning; do you know where your next CEO is?”

It wasn’t too long ago when this type of high-level question caused leading organizations and institutions around the world to rethink their strategy for identifying, developing, and promoting successors to key roles. Now that our clients have reaped the benefits of applying our best practice solutions to their C-suite, the next step is defining the right scope, or depth, of your organization’s succession planning.

As I discussed in my previous blog post (Seeing is Believing), being able to visualize vast amounts of information is, and always has been, very important. The question is: how can we visualize data as efficiently as possible so as to increase ROI? The answer to this question depends on a number of items, all of which need to be considered.

They include:

1.  What is the state of your current succession planning program?

If a company’s current succession plans do not identify talent gaps, flight risk, performance, potential and other important indicators, there is only so much that can be expected in terms of final results. For your talent management initiatives to be successful, it must be built on a process you have confidence in. Click here for more information on how Nakisa is leading the industry in terms of our profile match and 9-box capabilities.

2. What is the depth of your current succession planning program?

Succession plans should not be limited to executive circles. Many organizations have found a great deal of value in widening the scope of their current talent management strategy; especially when non-executive positions in the organization require specific competencies or training. Although the executive team is critical to achieving organizational objectives, losing a key sales person or researcher can have disastrous effects on your bottom line.

3. What are the best practices for succession planning?

According to a recent study by the Aberdeen Group, “Organizations must extend succession planning to layers below the C-suite.” Based on their research of the HCM market, “the majority of Industry Average organizations apply succession planning to the C-suite, but below that layer, vulnerability exists for key employee departures. Only 47% of Industry Average companies have succession plans in place for upper-middle management and just 34% for middle management.” Although a majority of companies have understood the need for succession planning, many of them are not maximizing their benefits by focusing on key roles that exist outside of the C-suite.

The answer to the “depth” question should not be entirely dependent upon the size of your organization. Large scale succession planning is not only beneficial for large enterprises. The very best succession planning processes should ensure that all key roles impacting your business are protected by ensuring adequate bench strength.

We have just released a new video that describes how your organization can leverage SAP Job Architecture for the purpose of large scale succession planning .  Click on the Job Architecture heading on our home page and let us know what you think.

Why the future of data visualization cannot forget its past

Many readers of last week’s blog couldn’t help but relate to the information overload that is present in their everyday lives. Although technology has provided its users with heaps of information, the challenge we constantly deal with is that of finding the right information, understanding how this information affects us, and responding to it in a timely manner. This challenge, however, predates Google, predates ERPs, and (believe it or not) it predates computers.

When it comes to making sense of the world, humans have continually sought to represent their knowledge and experiences in a visual format. Consider the cave drawings in Lascaux, France, Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketchbook, or Churchill’s famous Cabinet War Room during the Second World War. Visualization has always been essential where vast amounts of information are concerned – whether it is for the purpose of telling a story, simplifying new and complex ideas, or managing your organization.

A recent blog posting by John Sviokla at the Harvard Business Review outlined three long-standing objectives of data visualization.    

1. Great visualizations are efficient — they let people look at vast quantities of data quickly.
2. Visualizations can help an analyst, or a group, achieve greater insight into the nature of a problem and discover new understanding.
3. An effective visualization can help create a shared view of a situation and align folks on needed actions.

Although Nakisa prides itself on being an innovator in the field of talent and organizational management, we cannot ignore the fundamental objectives of data visualization. There is no telling what information will look like in the future, but I am confident that our team at Nakisa will continue to provide the tools to help you find it, understand it, and respond to it.

Across all levels of your enterprise, people are being bombarded with information. Just consider the last time you researched a hot topic on the Internet; the number of search engine results can easily come back in the tens of millions! The solution to this “information overload” is to find ways to deliver the most relevant information in the shortest amount of time.

In order to keep up with demand, our VIP Section has now been transformed into the VIP Zone. Information is now easier to find; you can now browse through our informational resources based on which Nakisa solution you’re interested in, which challenges your business is facing, or your specific industry. The VIP Zone also offers you the chance to workshop your talent management initiatives with Nakisa representatives and value engineers. I am especially confident in the ROI exercise that we can arrange for you at no cost.
The goal of our software at Nakisa is to get the right information to the right person at the right time. This philosophy is now mirrored in the way we have organized our VIP Zone.
Sign up for an account today so you can learn how Nakisa can help you align your talent with your strategic initiatives.

Strong relationships with partners we can truly count on continue to support Nakisa’s success. Nakisa’s partner ecosystem has grown to include a vast array of Vendor Partners, Services Partners and Reseller Partners.

Our new partnership with EPI-USE is a great example of how we’re working to enable first-class implementations of cutting-edge talent visualization solutions around the globe. In a recent webinar, we highlighted how Nakisa and EPI-USE together extend the power of your SAP HCM data. If you were unable to attend, click here for the slides.

The same goes for ROC Consulting, another one of our Services Partners. They made it clear in a recent blog posting that “implementing and developing OrgChart can be relatively straightforward, but the key – like with any SAP solution – is integrating it into business processes.”

Nakisa will continue to exceed the expectations of its customers by further building on its partner ecosystem. Currently, we are closing in on a total of over 215 trained consultants around the world. To help these system integrators reach the next level of expertise, Nakisa will be offering further advanced courses and formal certification in the near future. With the advanced certification program, both partners and customers can move forward with even greater confidence.

In my last blog, I referred to qualities that successors must have for leadership. While you are looking to find and prepare your successors, in my experience in helping companies with their succession planning, I have seen similar characteristics of great leaders over and over. I would like to take this opportunity to share them with you.

The first is that your successor must be articulate. This is fundamental. They must be clear in their expression and concise when addressing their audience. Their tone and choice of words must be solid and their ability to clearly explain decisions and actions in terms of their vision and goals is key.

In my previous blog, I also mentioned that great leaders typically rise to the challenge during crisis or turbulent times. Know that simply because a leader stepped up once and successfully met the challenges in a previous time, does not mean that they will be successful continuously. Past success does not guarantee future success. This is where a strong and continuous development plan must be put in place.

Another area where great leaders have a tremendous impact is the ability to influence others. Typically this is a natural ability – it is an influence of trust. Being trustworthy and giving the respect to others that lead and have led. Natural leaders have a tendency to express their ideas and to gain support for those ideas without commanding others to adopt them.

Of course there are many other critical factors that best leaders share but probably the most important is that of credibility. This must be earned. It is earned by others recognizing leadership qualities and giving potential successors the opportunity to lead. These leaders also clearly understand risk; they know how to take calculated risks and how to minimize the downside of risk through discipline, preparation and performance.

In summary, we all recognize great leaders instantly. Leadership is a precious gift but one that needs to be worked on daily. Great leadership requires knowledge, experience, good judgment, interpersonal skills and credibility. Easy right?

In today’s fast-paced world, we most often overlook developing our future leaders; instead most often we find successor’s are thrown into a tough job with no preparation and little experience. This practice, as is evident, does not equip the successor for the business challenges that they will face as leaders.

With today’s economy and uncertainty, this poses an even greater challenge as we must prepare candidates for a role that does not exist and one that we really have a difficult time forseeing. In succession planning, we never assume that there is one job, with one successor, but typically work in a multiple position development process that incorporates a number of career paths for successors. It is critical to not have too narrow of a focus, but more of a development plan that provides us with a number of able leaders. In these times of economic uncertainty, we typically find that crisis presents great opportunities for leadership. Change is the fundamental basis and primary challenge that all great leaders must and will face. Some step up and earn this leadership right, while others lead quietly without appearing to lead. Dealing effectively with business changes, environmental and economic challenges allow potential successors to gain credibility while putting themselves on the leadership path. The basic qualities in finding your great leaders are a must.

In my next blog, I look forward to addressing the qualities that I believe are fundamental to your leaders and help you in preparing your next successor for leadership. Know however, that simply having the fundamental qualities is not enough and that a strong development plan needs to guide your successor and prepare them effectively for the path of leadership.