The HR in Hospitality Conference presented crucial trends that all shareholders should know about and contemplate; key learnings from the conference are summarized here by an industry insider and attendee.

An earthquake is shaking the HR world, and for three days its epicenter was the 3rd Annual "National HR in Hospitality Conference and Expo" held at the Disney Contemporary Resort in Orlando (March 17-19). The conference has definitely grown and matured over the years.

Attendance was obviously tempered by the turbulent economy, but the number of attendees was still sizable. This arguably shows that HR policies and procedures are not static and that organizations admit the need to maintain their pulse on the latest best practices to stay strong from operational and interpersonal perspectives.

The conference organizers delivered on information that reflected the ever-changing roles and responsibilities of HR and Learning and Training Departments. The topics covered in the general and breakout sessions ranged from pressing legal issues to the basics like employee incentive and development programs. The quality of the presenters -- and hence the sessions -- varied, but overall the agenda was impressive and topical.

Major Themes

In my view, many of the underlying themes throughout the conference sessions could be boiled down to three guiding principles: Personalization, Competency and Integration.

Personalization refers to an intimate level of employee engagement -- bringing knowledge, information and tools to employees in a way that becomes personally relevant for them. This speaks directly to issues of training and professional development, which serve so well as employee motivators and incentives. In fact, a strong sense of job security and "employability" is what employees especially need in the current economic climate, though they are important at all times as well. Personalization also translates to "customization." HR processes can be tailored to organizations, just like processes can be tailored to employees. The notion of "one size fits all" is obsolete in today's workplace. Solutions are being customized to fit highly specific or idiosyncratic needs that different organizations have.

Of course, talent management, organizational development and business development are all grounded on the premise of competency. Without applicable and strong skill sets, personalized tools and processes will neither be implemented well nor achieve their intended benefits.

Competencies and skills are identified with effective selection procedures (such as skills assessments) and are subsequently reinforced and honed with employee training, performance reviews and incentive programs. In short, successful talent management comes down to finding people who fit the company culture and have the proper technical expertise and then setting clear expectations on performance standards. It came as no shock to me that many selection tool vendors were re-positioning or rebranding their traditional personality tests as modern "skills assessments." Personality is not synonymous with skills, abilities or competencies.

Personality traits are largely fixed and rigid; competencies are dynamic. Organizations are starting to understand this by looking to resources like O*Net to build competency models for positions and succession planning.

Finally, the conference hit home the idea that HR is no longer an isolated department. HR and Training and Development are all about outreach and integration -- these professionals are not simply a liaison between employees and management; they are catalysts that help to align talent and strategy with business objectives.

HR is in the position now of being an important driver of integration for an organization's processes and goals. Not all managers seize upon this shift, but the reality cannot be ignored that HR is about an organization's bottom line and future growth, so it must be given the resources to act accordingly.

Knowledge for a Competitive Advantage

It may not be obvious, but the issues of technology and measurement underlie each of three themes above. Implementing initiatives tied to personalization, competency and integration typically follow from strong business cases. And maintaining programs like these requires practical but effective outcomes tracking.

The methods of ROI, tracking and the statistical analyses used to produce the metrics should be "best practice." This is not just academic; knowledge of best practices is knowledge for a competitive advantage. A good number of the conference presentations highlighted case studies about what just seems to work in selecting, motivating and retaining the talent needed to bolster profitability.

Unfortunately, few organizations will do this well. Constraints like costs in time and money, as well as old mindsets or a rigid company culture will limit the extent to which any given organization will exploit technologies to achieve personalization, competency and integration.

Redefining the Concept of Best Practice

Many principals and officers in attendance were from vendors, not from the hospitality industry per se. This is a good example of why some organizations will neither hear nor use the important learnings from the conference. HR will languish as long as technologies are ignored and the mentality dismissed that HR is a strategy and profit center.

In my experience, this is exactly what happens unless executive management and shareholders are brought into the process. Perhaps in the future we will see more C-level professionals attend conferences like these with their HR team. This could happen if the conference organizers engaged executives and strategy leaders to make presentations or sit on panel discussions.

Not that the conference lacked this entirely, but this angle could be taken to new levels. Besides helping these leaders to fully understand what HR does, it would be insightful for the rest of us to understand how these leaders think.

A true "meeting of the minds" is the ideal. And I predict that such a meeting would further refine the concept of what is a best practice for an organization. Earlier I suggested that few organizations would implement personalization, competency and integration processes well.

The fact is that organizations do not need to do all of these, or at least all of them at once, to make substantial and positive changes to the company's culture and the bottom line. In this respect two unspoken sentiments dominated the conference content in my opinion.

First, management should work more collaboratively with HR to target opportunities for personalization, competency or integration based on the organization's immediate needs and resources.

Second, this process is arguably best done with an objective "needs and resources inventory" (akin to a gap analysis) that is facilitated by an expert in organizational development. Organizational development entails both employee engagement and business development -- talent is what grows a business and a successful business is what hones talent. If an organization does not have an internal expert, then it is best to consult with an external expert.

Where We Go From Here

It is fitting to close with a quick comment about a special part of the conference, namely the Cornell Roundtable. I attended as a representative of HVS and it was a privilege being among so many powerful and knowledgeable insiders. The discussion was skewed towards the legalities surrounding labor-management relations and proposed legislation, but the three themes were still present. Legislation and other hot button legal issues in some ways reflect a lack of personalization, competency and integration in how organizations have engaged their workforces.

The economic downturn has now put the issues of employability and job security in the forefront like never before. The tremors felt in the industry from these issues have also brought about a positive consequence. Alan Momeyer, VP Human Resources at Loews, eloquently phrased that consequence as a "rebooting." The economy has given an unprecedented opportunity for organizations to reassess their strategies and priorities and determine how well the two are aligned. This conference was an excellent starting point for this.

But for this rebooting to be cathartic it will take executive management working with HR and Training and Development professionals to ensure that the momentum from positive change does not wane. That will happen only if personalization, competency and integration become part of a company's mindset and culture.

About Jim Houran
James Houran holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and is President of 2020 Assessment™. He is an 18-year veteran in research and assessment on peak performance and online testing. His award-winning work has been profiled by a myriad of media outlets and programs including the Discovery Channel, A&E, BBC, CNN, NBC's Today Show, Wilson Quarterly, USA Today, New Scientist, Psychology Today, Court TV, Forbes.com and Rolling Stone.

For information on the Best Practice 2020 Assessment™ system and industry analytics, contact: James Houran, Ph.D. jhouran@2020skills.com 516.248.8828 x 264

www.2020skills.com