HR leaders copy Netflix and Apple instead of building their own talent systems. One client transformed a generic performance review into a differentiated framework with a "value exponential multiplier," turning HR from a cost center into a strategic advantage. Stop benchmarking. Start inventing.
Chapters
I got another letter, this time from a head of talent management, human resources inside of a company. Dear Lou, before making a decision on a talent management or HR practice, I benchmark, I benchmark all the best practices with many companies, yet I I'm still left with no direction. I just can't get it right. I hear this all the time. People spinning their wheels about what they should and shouldn't do, and they look all around at what everybody else does, and they don't focus on— and what you need to do is focus on the things that will make you different, brand you different, make your organization different than all the others. So if you find out Netflix does it this way and GE does it this way, it It really doesn't matter. What matters is how you take practices and make it your own. So stop thinking that everybody else's idea has the best idea. Go ahead and make your idea the best idea. You can be just as creative as Apple, Netflix, or whatever cool company. Make a neat slogan, brand differentiator, and then market it so that people inside of your company have a part of this process. I have a client who looks at everyone else to make a great performance appraisal management system. They have some small differences in how they treat high potentials and preparing them as leaders rather than just for specific positions, which may be different in 5 years. So I pushed them a bit. I said, "So what is really different about that? What about you differentiates from your company? What makes you different in your company and your own performance appraisal?" They said, "Yes, Netflix threw away ratings, and yes, others have too, and they focus on how to be their best selves, but what about you?" So we came up with how they can have value exponents, a value exponential multiplier in their company, rather than just fitting into current company's cultural values. And we made something that would have been plain vanilla-ish, just like everybody else, really special. So you can do the same thing. Find out what people are doing and make what you are doing really special inside of your company, and you'll make yourself the differentiator.
