Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in Tough Times 2009 APIPA Conference July 31, 2009 Bob Lavigna

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Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in
Tough Times2009 APIPA ConferenceJuly 31,
2009Bob Lavigna
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Why it Matters
It is not at all clear how government can be
well executed unless it is able to compete more
effectively for its fair share of talent.
In the globalization system One of the most
important and enduring competitive advantages
that a country can have today is a lean,
efficient, honest civil service system.
Government is always going to be able to fill
vacancies. The important question is whether we
can fill them with talented and committed people
with the skills we need.
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Why it Matters
The challenge is to attract and retain people
who are a cut above the competition. You need to
provide benefits, good working conditions, and an
environment that caters to their personal needs
and business needs. Thats a tough balance.
Dont give me excuses, just make the hiring
process work!
In the government, you get an order and you
follow it. I realize that as a leader, I need to
be more creative and innovative.  
By the end of the day I felt I had made a
terrible mistake My agency lost its shine on my
first day.
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Why it Matters

• Grant Thornton 2008 survey HC/HR 1 concern
• GT 2009 survey right talent 1 factor in clean
  audit
• 2009 survey of corporate CFOs most critical
  factors
• Strong leadership
• Hiring best people

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Public Sector Workforce is Graying
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More Complex WorkforceMultiple Generations

• Traditionalists (born before 1946)
• Boomers (born 1946-64)
• Gen Xers (1965-81)
• Millennials (gt1982)

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More Complex WorkforceChanging Expectations

• Free agents
• Less loyalty -- transactional relationship
• Knowledge nomads mobile skill sets
• Demand work/life balance

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Guam Division of Accounts Workforce
Today and Tomorrow
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Guam Division of Accounts Workforce Today
and Tomorrow
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Guam Division of Accounts Workforce
Today and Tomorrow
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Island Workforces
Today and Tomorrow
Employees New
Annual 5-Year 10-Year
Hires Turnover Retiremt.
Retiremt. Guam 46
48 11 35
50 Palau 125 20
7 16 28 USVI 107
24 8
27 CMNI 125 33
14 8
25 American Samoa 147 24
5 20 35 FSM
77 31 6
10 31 Yap 25 64 18
4 12
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So Whats It All Mean?

• Workforce undergoing dramatic shifts
• Tougher to attract and retain talent
• Public sector feeling these effects first
• Government must adapt to the
  talent market, not vice-versa

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How Does Government Meet These
Workforce Challenges?

• Understand and meet expectations
• Develop multiple pipelines for talent
• Recruit aggressively
• Make the hiring process work
• Maximize engagement
  and satisfaction

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How Does Government Meet These
Workforce Challenges?

• Make performance management work
• Build the talent/leadership pipeline
• Create more flexible, timely, user-friendly and
  responsive civil service systems
• Use workforce planning as the foundation

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What Well Cover

• A framework for attracting, developing and
  retaining talent
• Specific approaches
• Recruiting/hiring and
  onboarding
• Maximizing employee engagement
• Building the leadership pipeline
• Creating a strong partnership with HR

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What We Wont Cover

• Secret formulas, magic bullets
• Easy answers
• Simple solutions
• One-size-fits-all approaches
• Turning you into an HR expert

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Research Creating and
Applying New Knowledge
Onboarding New Employees
Hiring Interns
Recruiting on Campus
What Students Want
Hiring Baby Boomers
Finding Jobs
Building Employee Engagement
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Human Capital Framework
Recruit and Hire/ Onboard
Engage
Manage Performance
Core Purpose/Values
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Workforce Planning
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• There isnt any silver bullet to
  attract, develop and retain talent
• It takes silver buckshot!

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• Panel
• What are your toughest people challenges?

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Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in
Tough Times
1. Recruiting/Hiring and Onboarding
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Why it Matters

It is not at all clear how government can be
well executed unless it is able to compete more
effectively for its fair share of talent.
Government is always going to be able to fill
vacancies. The important question is whether we
can fill them with talented and committed people
with the skills we need.
The overall feel of the job vacancy announcement
is negative and heavy handed If the application
is like this, whats it like to work there and
why would you want to?
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Human Capital Framework
Recruit and Hire/ Onboard
Engage
Manage Performance
Core Purpose/Values
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Recruiting v. Hiring

• Recruiting Attracting an adequate number of
  interested and well-qualified candidates
• Hiring Deciding whom to hire (i.e., who to make
  the job offer to)

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Reactive v. Proactive Recruiting

• Reactive
• Use the job description
• Post an ad newspaper, Web
• Create a new brochure
• Sit back and wait

• Proactive
• Where can I find the best people?
• How do I reach them?
• How do I convince them to apply? Accept?
• How can I best use our limited resources?

Recruiting is everyones job!
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The Universum IDEAL Employer Survey

• Annual survey of undergraduate students
• 43,313 total respondents
• 195 colleges/universities
• 260 employers

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What Are the Top Attractors?

• Culture that respects my individuality
• Work/life balance
• Base salary
• High level of responsibility
• Good reputation
• Rapid promotion
• High ethical standards
• Exciting products and services
• Friendly work environment
• Creative, dynamic work environment

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Top 4 Career Goals

• Work/life balance (66)
• Dedicated to a cause, feel that I am serving a
  greater good (46)
• Secure or stable in my job (46)
• Competitively or intellectually challenged (40)

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Leaving Talent on the Table
Capitalizing on Intern Programs

• The numbers
• Private sector employers hire 50 of interns
• Jumps to 59 for co-ops
• 40 of all vacancies filled by interns
• Employers see internships as
  one of most effective tools
  to
  hire college grads
• Students see internships as avenue
  to full-time employment

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Recruiting Strategies High Tech plus High Touch

• Understand what candidates want (and remember
  that pay is just one piece)
• Develop long-term strategy -- alliances and
  relationships
• Plan
• Avoid drive-by recruiting
• Obtain and provide a point of contact
• Market and personalize public service
• Theyre a place where the best of the best work
  
• The recruiter was describing the exact kind of
  job I wanted. They
  personalized towards me.

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Recruiting Strategies High Tech plus High Touch

• Use near peers
• Use student employment as talent pipeline
• Provide substantive work
• Convert students to permanent employees
• Use technology but smartly!
• Collect/use data uniqueness,/-
• Recruiting is everyones job!
  

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What is Onboarding?

• Integrating and acculturating new employees into
  the organization and providing them with the
  tools, resources, and knowledge to become
  successful and productive
• From accepted offer to end of first year

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Strategic Onboarding Model
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• Panel
• What are you doing to attract, hire
  and onboard
  talent?

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Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in
Tough Times2. Maximizing Employee Engagement
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Human Capital Framework
Recruit and Hire/ Onboard
Engage
Manage Performance
Core Purpose/Values
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What is Employee Engagement?

• Heightened connection to work, organization,
  mission or co-workers
• Goes beyond basic job satisfaction -- personal
  meaning in their work
• Pride in what they do and how they do it
• Believe their organization values them
• The more engaged, more likely to go above minimum
  required

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Why it Matters

• High employee engagement drives
• Better program results
• Less sick leave, missed time due to work-related
  injury or illness
• Better retention
• Higher customer satisfaction

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Engagement Drives Financial Success
30 Multinational Companies

• Financial performance consistently stronger in
  companies that emphasize
• Commitment
• Job satisfaction
• But ... high levels of employee engagement
  require active leadership support

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Higher Engagement ? Higher Retention
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High Engagement ?
Better Customer Outcomes
Work units with higher overall customer
satisfaction scores also have employees with more
favorable opinions
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What is Best Places to Work?

• Rating and ranking of 278 federal departments,
  agencies and subcomponents
• Based on data from government wide employee
  survey
• Overall satisfaction score
• Ten workplace dimensions
• Web site bestplacestowork.org

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Workplace Dimensions

• Effective leadership
• Employee skills/mission match
• Strategic management
• Teamwork
• Performance-based awards
• Training and development
• Support for diversity
• Pay and benefits
• Family-friendly culture
• Work/life balance

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What Do These Dimensions Mean? Effective
Leadership

• My immediate supervisor/team leader does a good
  job
• Supervisors support employee development
• Performance discussions are worthwhile
• I have a high level of respect for senior leaders
• Leaders generate high motivation and commitment

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What Do These Dimensions Mean? Effective
Leadership (cont.)

• Leaders maintain high standards of honesty and
  integrity
• I have a feeling of personal empowerment and
  ownership of work processes
• Complaints, disputes or grievances are resolved
  fairly
• Satisfaction with involvement in decisions that
  affect work
• Satisfaction with the information received from
  management

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What Do These Dimensions Mean? Employee
Skills/Mission Match

• My work gives me feeling of personal
  accomplishment
• I like the kind of work I do
• My talents are used well
• I know how my work relates to mission and goals
• I do important work

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What Do These Dimensions Mean? Work/Life Balance

• My supervisor supports my need to balance work
  and family issues
• I have sufficient resources (e.g., people,
  materials, budget, etc.) to get work done
• My workload is reasonable

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What Do These Dimensions Mean? Training and
Development

• I am given a real opportunity to improve my
  skills in my organization
• I have enough information to do my job well
• My training needs are assessed
• I am satisfied with the training received for
  present job

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• Panel
• What are you doing to build employee engagement?

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Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in
Tough Times3. Building the Leadership
Pipeline
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Why it Matters

In the government, you get an order and you
follow it. I realize that as a leader, I need to
be more creative and innovative.
We need an opportunity to be inspired about our
work and to believe that we can really make a
difference.
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Workplace Dimensions
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Human Capital Framework
Recruit and Hire/ Onboard
Engage
Manage Performance
Core Purpose/Values
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Integrated Approach to
Building the Leadership Pipeline
Program Evaluation
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Why the Integrated Approach

• Many ways to build leadership pipeline
• Because all aligned with strategic plan,
  workforce plan, competency model, and/or other
  frameworks, aligned with each other
• Pipeline large -- demand for more talent

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Whos in the Pipeline?
1st-line Supervisors
All Employees?
High Potentials and Replacement Pool for Sr.
Managers
Middle Managers
Technical Specialists
Time
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What Are Developmental Needs?

• Understanding other departments
• Understanding enterprise and its environment
• Building relationships and networks
• Getting things done in government
• Managing change
• Managing the public
• Managing the media
• Influencing, motivating, developing, retaining
  talent
• Managing conflict, dealing with problem employees

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Leadership Development Best Practices

• Other
• Brookings Institution
• Georgetown University
• Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Louisiana State University
• Senior Executives Association
• Young Government Leaders

• Public
• Army War College
• Defense Logistics Agency
• Federal Executive Institute
• Government Accountability Office
• Office of Management and Budget
• Office of Personnel Management
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence

• Private
• Accenture
• Aon Corporation
• The Boeing Company
• GE
• Goldman Sachs
• IBM
• IDEO
• Lockheed Martin
• McKinsey Company
• Procter Gamble

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Leadership Development Best Practices

• Leadership development part of system (e.g.,
  succession planning, competencies, performance
  management)
• Current leaders develop future leaders(not
  necessarily expensive)
• Leaders learn best by doing
• Executive coaching addresses unique, real-time
  needs

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Structure
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Coursework
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Projects
Solving Governments Problems

• Project Criteria
• Important management issue that requires action
• Solutions within control of an agency
• Potential for high-impact results

• Agency Criteria
• Leadership committed to testing innovative
  solutions
• Committed to providing necessary background
  materials and data
• Support participants and their time away from the
  job

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Dealing with High-Risk Issues

• Improve communication during food recalls
• Recruit talent required to care for veterans
• Ensure sufficient energy for our country
• Improve employee morale to enhance economic and
  homeland security

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Coaching

• 360o assessments anonymous
• Coaches identify strengths, weaknesses and blind
  spots
• Personal action-planning tool for long-term
  skills development
• Personal coach for ongoing advice -- government
  and business leaders
• 360o repeated after program to measure growth

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Building Your Leadership Pipeline

• Engage senior leaders
• Identify competencies
• Assess developmental needs
• Create leadership development strategy
• Use Individual Development Plans (IDPs)
• Tap into talent pool of retirement-eligible
  employees and retirees
• Dont let be the barrier
• Assess results

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• Panel
• What are you doing to build your leadership
  pipeline?

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Building and Maintaining a Strong Workforce in
Tough Times 4. Building a Partnership
With HR
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Why it Matters

It is not at all clear how government can be
well executed unless it is able to compete more
effectively for its fair share of talent.
If line managers and HR professionals are to be
the champions of organizational capability, then
a new agenda for both HR practices and HR
professionals must emerge.
HR must give value or give notice.
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Why it Matters

• GT 2008 survey HC/HR 1 concern
• GT 2009 survey right talent 1 factor in clean
  audit
• 2009 survey of corporate CFOs most critical
  factors
• Strong leadership
• Hiring best people

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HR Evolving -- Splitting in Two

• Administrative and transactional work --
  increasingly automated or outsourced
• Transformational work -- helps develop
  organizational goals, determines what
  capabilities are needed and creates HR practices
• David Ulrich

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The Shift in Theory
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But the Current Reality

• Very little change
• Instead of playing a central strategic business
  partner role, HR maintaining status quo
• Ed Lawler

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Whats HRs Mission?

• Implement a system of personnel administration
  which will ensure equitable treatment of
  employees through a merit system based on
  recognized princ1ples of appointment, promotion,
  classification, termination and other aspects of
  government employment.
• Plan, organize and implement pre-service
  training, in-service and federal programs to
  rehabilitate, upgrade, and enhance the skills and
  work performances of all employees thus promoting
  self-reliance, dependability and enhance
  competencies in the quality services for the
  public.
• Blah, blah, blah

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Whats HRs Mission?
Attract, develop and retain the talent we need
and measure our progress
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HRs New Roles

• HR expert
• Business partner
• Change agent
• Leader

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The New HR Competencies

• Negotiating
• Demonstrating good judgment
• Coaching
• Applying knowledge of HR principles/methods
• Systems thinking
• Understanding technology

• Organizational acumen
• Results orientation
• Interpersonal skills
• Making/implementing tough decisions
• Demonstrating empathy
• Speaking and writing persuasively
• Analyzing data

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What Managers Should Expect From HR

• Understand HR business and your business and how
  HR can support strategy
• Build partnerships -- be flexible, champion
  change
• Rely on data -- deliver measurable results on
  outcomes

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What HR Should Expect From You

• Allow HR to be a business partner
• Involve HR early
• Take ownership of talent management
• Ask questions and champion change
• Understand tomorrows workforce

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What You Can Do

• Get involved in recruiting and hiring
• Do a good job onboarding new employees
• Make performance management work
• Train and develop
• Ask questions and push for change
• Understand tomorrows workforce

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• Panel
• What are you doing to build a partnership with
  HR?

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The Bottom Line

• Understand recruits and employees expectations
  -- and then meet them
• Use interns as key talent source
• Develop multiple talent pipelines
• Recruit aggressively and
  make the hiring process work
• Onboard strategically and thoroughly

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The Bottom Line

• Become a best place to work
• Focus on performance management
• Build the leadership pipeline
• Create more flexible, timely, user-friendly and
  responsive civil service systems
• Set expectations with HR
• Use workforce planning as the foundation

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• There isnt any silver bullet to
  attract, develop and retain talent
• It takes silver buckshot!
• Bob Lavigna
• rlavigna_at_ourpublicservice.org
• www.ourpublicservice.org