The HR Showcase - Public Recognition for work done within companies

I had the opportunity and the honour to design and anchor the "HR Showcase" event at the recently concluded NHRD Network's National Conference 2011 (www.hrconference2011.com). The idea behind the Showcase was simple - Rather than providing learning opportunities only through PPTs, monologues (Speaking sessions) and dialogues (Panel discussions), why not create an exhibition style setting, where companies can showcase their best HR practices in a creative manner using the space available in an exhibition booth. Visitors could spend as much time as they wanted at each of the booths, interact with the HR folks who have designed and implemented those practices within their organizations and learn what they specifically want to.

Preparations for the Showcase started about 2 months ago, when we received 105 applications. A jury comprising of academicians, industry stalwarts and business media professionals shortlisted 56 of the most impactful best practices, out of which 42 HR practices were actually showcased during the event. The enthusiasm with which companies set up their booths coupled with over 1200 visitors (HR professionals) made the 4 hour event hugely popular, with enough feedback that the event needed to be longer.

At the end, the jury selected 8 of the most impactful practices (best among the best) for an award. In addition, awards were given to the 3 most popular exhibits - through an SMS polling mechanism, where the visitors voted for the exhibits they liked, through an SMS.

The enthusiasm with which the companies participated in the event surpassed our expectations and I chatted with a few of the participants and asked them about the motivation behind their energy and enthusiasm. The response from the HR heads was universal - the event gave us an opportunity to rally our HR team together and help them understand why the work they are doing is very meaningful and has a high business impact.

For me, the event threw open a whole new dimension to Recognizing employees using external opportunities. It became apparent to me that most of the companies who participated in the Showcase now need to do very little to keep their HR folks who participated in the event, motivated and engaged for the next several months.

NHRD Network's National HR Conference 2011 - Bangalore

The NHRD Network's National HR Conference 2011 in Bangalore between Nov 17 and 19 promises to be a cracker of an event with over 1,200 HR professionals expected to attend. Here are some key highlights of the conference (www.hrconference2011.com)

1) HR Showcase on the 17th: An exhibition style setting where the 50 most impactful HR Practices will be showcased by companies that have been selected through a rigorous application process. This unique event will give visitors an opportunity to interact and learn directly from the company representatives involved in designing and implementing the HR practices being showcased. The Showcase is an open event - so even those not attending the full conference can visit the Showcase.

2) Pre-Conference Workshops for Free: All conference delegates are entitled to attend a world class pre-conference workshop of their choice. Workshops includes sessions by DDI, the Hay Group, CCL, Aon Hewitt etc.

3) Inaugural notes by Sam Pitroda & Sri Sri Ravishankar: Will be a cracker of a session.

4) Dave Ulrich & Ed Lawler Keynotes: Clearly a big highlight of the conference

Hope to see a lot of you out there.

What should you Recognize Employees for?

The typical response to this question is "For things they do above and beyond their normal work". Here is the problem with this response.

Let's take a company which has a stated 3 year focus to cut costs and drive efficiency in their processes. Now let's take an example of a sales rep who is dealing with a customer whose order has been botched up by the fulfillment department. To satisfy the customer, the sales rep reorders the products (express mode), personally picks up the products ordered by the customer and delivers it, again personally, to the customer. At the end of it, the customer is OK to some extent with the situation. Now the Sales Rep's manager recognizes the employee for "Going Above and Beyond" his normal work and gives him an award in the monthly team meeting.

Here is the problem with this. You are recognizing an employee for fire-fighting a situation which should have really been something taken care of by the fulfillment department without any fuss. So what you are communicating to the employees is that "If things get messed up and you come up with a band-aid solution, you will get recognized and awarded". Instead of this, given the focus of the company on cost cutting and improving efficiency, the manager should have urged the employee to find out what caused the problem and why he had to spend so much time and effort in fire-fighting. If the employee actually did that and this episode forced the Fulfillment department to get their act together to prevent such occurences in the future, then that is something where Recognition could be used very effectively. Now you are recognizing the employee for helping the company improve efficiency, collaborating with other departments and while doing the recognition, the manager could narrate the fire-fighting story as an example and tell employees how these type of situations could be avoided in the future. Now the Recognition is aligned with the company's stated business objectives and the manager is reinforcing this and encouraging employees to exhibit behaviours that will support these business objectives.

So the one line answer to the question we started off with should really be the following:

"You should Recognize employees for exhibiting behaviours that are aligned to the company's business objectives". You can add Values, Vision & Mission to this.