I’m fairly conservative, normally averse to risk. But that contrasts with the crazy, far-fetched ideas I came up with and developed during my career. Most were out of necessity because of (1) the unbelievable volume of activities related to recruiting, onboarding, and training during pre-opening and (2) managing large employee headcounts post opening, both of which forced us to look for new efficiencies of process and practice. Fortunately for me, computer technology was advancing at the same time as I was identifying these challenges. We came up with lots of ideas – some were ahead of the development curve, but others helped spur some exciting leading-edge stuff. We were a laboratory for Infor, Vurve, and PeopleSoft development; with all three, the timing was right, and the results were game changers:
· With Infor (at the time they were Infinium), we collaborated in the development of business intelligence tools for HR and pioneered paperless HR forms that anchored nascent self-service applications.
· With Vurve (at the time it was Recruitmax), we were the first to leverage technology to collect, process, and track employment applications for every position
· With the help of PeopleSoft developers, we created the first completely paperless HR environment (processing, retrieving, and storing data from applicant, employee, and manager self-service applications).
Of course, we tried lots of other ideas which, when moved forward like chessmen, were beaten because they weren’t feasible or practical. But that never stopped us from continuing to push forward successfully with others that ultimately worked out. I suspect everyone is faced with issues of necessity – big and small; when that happens, don’t shy away from trying to find new and effective ways to deal with them today.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832): German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language.[1]
[1] His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. A poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre-director, and critic, his works include plays, poetry and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour.
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