20,000 social network analysis - trick or treat?

A colleague wanted to pick my brain about how to run a social network survey with a company of 20,000 employees. He was worried that it may be more trouble than it's worth. This is a great challenge - the scale necessitates a well thought-through plan to lead to flawless execution. Little mistakes are magnified when you multiply by thousands.

First, I offer a set of questions to get a feel for what's feasible, the lay of the land.

• Do you have survey software capable of dealing with 20,000 respondents? Is it home-grown and will it crash when too many people log on at the same time?
• Can your software comfortably load and display a name list containing 20,000 employees?
• Will the name list be easy for employees to search, filter, and discover their co-workers?
• Can your survey software export the data in a way that minimizes the amount of manipulation required to put it in a format readable by the visualization software?
• Can your visualization software deal with 20,000 nodes and potentially 1 million connections without errors or crashes?

If you answer "No" to any of the above questions, here are two more:

• Do you have a budget to build, buy, or outsource the capability?
• How much time do you have to build, buy, or outsource?
• Do you have the expertise to build, buy, or outsource successfully?

Other points to consider:

• If you are not fully committed to SNA as a standard organizational development technique, you may not wish to invest too much in building capabilities until you understand the impact it can yield. In that case, outsourcing to a consulting firm that can handle this size of network would be the best option. At McKinsey, I recently worked on project for a financial company; the survey displayed a name list of 60,000 employees and the network contained 20,000 people with half a million connections. The data files were 450 meg! 
• Are you in a rush to see results? Is there a looming deadline for which SNA forms a critical diagnostic component? Again, you may wish to outsource to a firm that does this all the time.
• Do you have the IT capabilities to develop the technology in-house? If not, then a good survey vendor could be a partner for developing a module to add on to their existing platform. This process takes time and requires a good understanding of what is needed to gather the data from survey participants and the format for downloading the raw output. 
• Although there are many survey vendors out there, very few are familiar with SNA. It may take time to cultivate and negotiate a relationship with a survey vendor to allow you to build the capability.

Once you have solved for the issues above, there are some tactical items next on the list.

• With a name list of 20,000, budget on a solid day or two of cleaning up the list to remove or clarify duplicates and similarities. For example, although Rob Smith and Robert Smithe are not identical names, their co-workers may not see the difference clearly when presented in the selection list. These types of near-duplicates need to be augmented to something like: Rob Smith (Accounting), Robert Smithe (Germany). This is an important point related to integrity of data. 
• Can you generate a comprehensive list of participants from your people systems? You need email addresses, first/last name, department, location, function, and other demographic information so that participants can filter to just their location. While it may seem ridiculously easy to some companies, this task can be time consuming for other companies. 
• How should names be displayed - first name, last name or formal vs nickname? In some cultures, first name is always first. In one situation, the name list contained formal names of Chinese employees, but these employees had familiar names that were used for everyday interactions.
• Is everyone able to access the internet via a high-speed connection? Typically, these surveys are connection heavy and are painful or impossible to complete over low speed or dialup. Do you have staff in the field, remote African mines, or no internet access at all? You will need to accommodate all of their needs. Many offices in India restrict access to the Internet completely - I had to speculate why.
• It is important to test the rendering of the survey on the various internet appliances that an employee may use - Ipad, Iphone, BB, laptop, various browsers - and then let them know if any technology is not suitable.
• The raw data file should be formatted to upload directly to your visualization software - without manipulation. If you have to make changes to anything over 1 million lines in an Excel file, you're out of luck. If you have helpful DBAs, then you could turn over transformation to them. Be sure to stand over their shoulder; you cannot afford to have any connections mixed up. This data is all about the individuals.
• With an audience of this size, there will be questions while the survey is in the field. This is not a familiar type of survey, so many people will want to understand more about it. Be prepared with a dedicated person, mailbox, and help-line to answer these questions.
• The response rate needed for a robust social network analysis is 80%. I have seen companies where employees dutifully respond promptly to every survey request. Congratulations if this sounds like your company - you are in the minority. More likely you will need to create a compelling communications campaign and enlist the assistance of group managers to round up stragglers. 

Next comes making sense of the data. This is the fun part. Mining a large network for insights is a substantial undertaking, here are some things to think about.

• Your project should have a set of in-going hypotheses to test or investigate - myths to prove or disprove. You do need a person who can ask great questions to get the most from it.
• Again, how much time do you have to dig into the data?  A network this size can take months to properly analyze. Don't forget that you have invested a ton of staff time into completing the survey (20,000 x 15 min = 5,000 hours), it would be a pity to rush the analysis and miss important insights.
• What is your plan of attack? Prioritize all the analyses you wish to run with the data, keep a list updated and circulated with the team so that you keep your team on track and don't dive down time-consuming rabbit holes. When new ideas crop up, park them and reprioritize as needed.
• What kind of non-survey (qualitative) data can you match up to the people or units in the survey? I've had some tremendous revelations when performance data was matched with network data - e.g., high performers have more diverse networks, high performing units have an egalitarian management style, positive attitudes yield better networks.
• What are you trying to achieve with the analysis? SNA data can be used for so many different purposes - do you have a good sense of what you are trying to fix? 
• SNA data is a snapshot in time. It cannot be used indefinitely. People come and go and networks change as circumstances influence them. You certainly can do a pre/post analysis to see what's different after you have made targeted changes.
• You can use the data for what-if modelling. What if a senior person leaves, who else might follow? If we remove this person from the network, how many people become disconnected?

A large SNA project is truly coveted by practitioners. The research potential in a big data network is unmatched. I hope to find a company who would like to embed this capability into its human capital strategy. Wouldn't that be so cool.

Off I go now to form some more creature connections.

Trust makes the workplace tick

In a small gathering of 7 professionals who had never met each other previously, I was struck by the level of trust we engendered in just 90 minutes. I was happy to see it happen spontaneously since my experience tells me work gets done in a culture of trust and a lack of it fractures an organization.

At McKinsey, I witnessed blind trust on a daily basis. One person in particular, Meg, an engagement manager from Chicago, was leading my co-workers through a crunch. She knew she needed all hands on deck to achieve the size of the analysis we would deliver in 2 days. She assigned tasks to each of us and we sat around the table crunching. You say, yeah, so what, what makes her so special?  Well, Meg had never met or worked with half of us previously, yet somehow, she assigned each person a task that played to their strengths.

I remember Meg was in the window for promotion to associate principal and one of her teammates was enthusiastically rooting for her. And as I worked with her into the night, I too came to value the special sauce she had. I expected to hear of her promotion imminently as it appeared to be a slam-dunk. Imagine my surprise to discover that she had not received the promotion and moved to a new company in an excellent role shortly afterward. What a sad loss for us. She was a person that everyone wanted to work with - let me assure you - a rarity, indeed.

In social network language, trust makes networks work. Gideon Rosenblatt explains clearly why trust is important in the workplace.

When I trust you, it makes it easier for me to deal with the increased risk that comes from lowering my guard. When I trust you, I open myself so that it’s easier for us to collaborate. I tell you what I’m really thinking, set aside formality and shift my focus from figuring out your intentions to actually getting work done together. Organizations that trust each other can safely set aside formal agreements and rigid processes and replace them lighter weight ways of working together. 

During my time at McKinsey, I received calls and emails exhibiting blind trust that I could help, wanted to help, and would be receptive to any approach or timeline. In turn, I enjoyed blind trust as they accepted my advice and counsel intelligently and collaboratively - every interaction was a learning experience for both parties. 

Now I search for a company that values trust and engenders trust in its culture. Is that too much to ask?

Off I go now to form some more creature connections.

Hey ATS - Do you know what you're missing?

It occurred to me as I wrote about the flaws of applicant tracking systems earlier that I was unconsciously comparing my recent experience to McKinsey's recruiting model. While the bar is extremely high and the criteria for entry is not for faint of heart, it is also clear that candidates (and alumni for that matter) are treated with a different mindset than the traditional screen-out, weed-down, and fend-off mindset that I have in encountered in many large Toronto companies. Indeed, it is very personal:

• McKinsey's ATS is best characterized as a CRM tool to engage potential recruits rather than screen them out 
• A real person reviews every resume searching for that special sauce that only a human brain can interpret
• Our recruiters will actually talk to potential candidates - we call it cultivation
• Candidates have multiple rounds of interviews and are assigned a buddy who will provide them with feedback and coaching so that they can put their best foot forward in the interview
• Interviews are conducted by peers - would I like to work with this person?

This is a tremendous effort to find the best of the best. They are not paying lip service to the aspiration, but are actually using methods that back it up. In contrast, when a resume is submitted to a Taleo ATS, keywords are king. In a blog article, The Dirty Secret Behind Applicant Tracking Systems: Qualified Candidates Need Not Apply, the author observes: 

When I read about the so called “skills gap” that employers complain about and the millions of open jobs that aren't getting filled because of it, I have to wonder. Maybe the skills gap lies with the employers relying on a flawed talent sourcing process. 

Katherine Hansen has recently released a report, Have Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) Ruined Recruiting, Hiring, and Job Search? She reports examples of qualified individuals not meeting the selection criteria of the ATS. "Recruiters never read more than the top 20 resumes." How can that ever be a valid approach to finding the best person for a job? The report includes observations from many experts: 

• A purely cold, technological approach results in missing out on good candidates, some hiring decision-makers say. You need a human touch at all levels.
• An ATS should make the process smoother and not prevent companies from looking at the best prospective employees. 
• Fail to meet one the [preset criteria] and your application gets tossed, even if a good HR director might have spotted your potential. 
• Sadly, I have seen many well-qualified candidates discarded because the ATS failed to capture nuanced information. It still takes a human to read between the lines and to knit together the mosaic that represents a candidate's true value.

This is indeed a sad state of affairs. Let's think about a situation: tech savvy candidates who figure out how to get to the top of the list may share a capability such as search engine optimization or a staccato writing style. What if the ideal candidate is not comfortable with technology or writes creatively and has honed a different set of skills that would be more suited to the job. In the psychological world, we call this systemic bias. You don't know it's there, but it is embedded in the approach. Now isn't that interesting.

The challenge: I love technology and all it can do for us. Every company should be testing their systems to ensure their automated approach to selection is actually working. What if I could get my hands on a project to review a company's ATS with fresh eyes. It might go something like this.

• Review current state of the front and back end usability and design
• Create test profiles to feed into and track through the system to see how they score
• Interview recruiters and hiring managers to understand their end-to-end processes and needs
• Analyze hiring statistics and correlate with different sourcing approaches
• Research other approaches to sourcing candidates like social media
• Connect the dots with the resulting findings and make recommendations 
• Pull a great team together to build something awesome that works for everyone and increases the employer's brand

Am I missing something? 

Off I go now to form some more creature connections with fun colleagues.

Job hunter's paradise

I've found my temporary work space to keep me in a positive mindset and productive. Most people look at me oddly when I tell them I hang out at Tim Hortons in Leaside. The ambiance is reminiscent of the McKinsey ski chalet (as my friend Ted calls it). The Toronto office had bountiful 14 ft windows and fireplaces (yep, plural) - and so does Tims. There's a buzz in the air, people come and go, and free wifi. What more could a girl ask? 

This Tim's is unlike any other. It's Restoration Hardware meets coffee shop. I was so impressed with the new design direction that I considered for a moment the job postings for Organizational Development Managers (2). Unfortunately, the jobs are located in Oakville.

If I was lucky enough to actually land the job, I would then need to get myself forth from Toronto and back from Oakville on a daily basis. This would inevitably involve interpreting the train schedule - illustrated below.

I can just hear the groaning coming from the UK contingent where trains are an essential way of life. But I bet you wish you had that 2 hours a day in your back pocket rather than mushing through the crowds with your heart in your throat as you sprint to catch the next train. Do you ever think about what all that extra adrenalin might be doing to your lifespan?

I live in Toronto. When I visit places like NY, I return home to the island airport with it's pleasant sunsets on the lake, the lake breeze, and a little walk through a park to get to my car which is parked among 50 others. Conversely, I struggle to find an honest someone to drive me to the airport in NY - it's always an ordeal. The wonderful thing about living in Toronto is that the quality of everyday life can be so good if you don't have to commute to another city. 

Quality of daily life is a priority for me. Does it seem strange to not pursue opportunities just because of distance? How far would you go for work?

Off I go now to form some more creature connections at my yoga class.

Applicant tracking systems pretend to do the job

I was thinking about an article from Lou Adler.  He made two critical points about hiring qualified people.

• In the first 5-10 years of a person’s career, people who get promoted more rapidly or assigned to the toughest projects tend to have less experience than those who don’t. Yet when we hire someone from the outside we want more experience.
• Most managers would hire a top achiever who is a little light on skills and experience and modify the job accordingly, but their hiring systems prevent them from ever seeing these people.

Addressing the first point, I have found a number of loftily written job descriptions that, at their core, are jobs in which I could excel. Yet I know that I will not get a call because I don't necessarily have the requisite experience. Personally, I don't want to do what I did before - there are many activities that I classify as "been there, done that, now for something new." Jobs that I would be perfectly qualified would not be of interest to me. I am looking for challenges- not effortlessly phoning it in. And I imagine there are many people who strictly qualify for a role and have the exact set of credentials requested in a similar position. 

And the second point requires deeper exploration. I don't know much about ATSs (applicant tracking systems), but judging from the front end experience of sites powered by Oracle's Taleo, it ain't about the applicant. They are brutally clunky with terrible visual experiences and sport unreadable boxes of guidelines. What do you expect from a company that builds the most powerful and obtuse databases in the world. And really, the name says it all, "tracking" - it helps people follow a person through the lifecycle of the application process. It doesn't purport to "discover" talent. I have been reading Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0 by Canadian David Perry. He recommends doing an end-run around ATSs by approaching the hiring managers directly. Great idea. 

Here's an interesting article - Secrets for beating ATSs - 75% of candidates are killed before they even reach human eyes. The thing is that large companies need these systems to deal with the sheer volume of interested folks. I get it. But at what cost. 

In a test conducted last year, Bersin & Associates created a perfect resume for an ideal candidate for a clinical scientist position. The research firm matched the resume to the job description and submitted the resume to an applicant tracking system from Taleo, arguably the leading maker of these systems. The end result: The resume Bersin & Associates submitted only scored a 43 percent relevance ranking to the job because the applicant tracking system misread it.

Companies are working so hard to improve their recruiting "brand" to attract the very best candidates, yet it seems that a part of the system is sabotaging their efforts. 

My resume, by the way, is a reflection of my creative skills and ability to visualize words and data. I did mine in PowerPoint (as you might expect from a McKinsey trained employee). I also told a story about how social network analysis can have great impact in talent management and performance transformation. What do you think the ATS has to say about that?  At this point, I have no idea. There is no one to call to ask. 

When a recruiter clicks on the name of a candidate whom the applicant tracking system has ranked as a good match for a job, the recruiter doesn't see the resume the candidate submitted. The recruiter sees the information the applicant tracking system pulled from the candidate's resume into a database.

This article has a telling screenshot of what the ATS provides the recruiter when a match is made. All my hard work is for naught. It'll look like a dog's breakfast - or more like what comes out the other end. 

It is very important to note that you cannot get a job if you don't apply for a job. Despite the limitations of Taleo-type systems for interpreting my career, I have to continue to play along. 

Do you have any secret tips?

Off I go now to form some more creature connections at piano lessons.

Referrals as a conflict of interest?

As I wander around the internet, researching everything, looking for a new career, this recent attempt at outreach struck me as requiring a good airing out.

Yesterday, I participated in an interchange with a young woman just 2 years out of school with a wonderful position at a great company. 

Me (yes a bit clunky, but full of heart): 
hi, I noticed that you hold the [title] role and that there is a posting for the same job. It looks like it was written with you in mind. Congratulations. I just applied for the position and am very excited - hoping to get a call back.

Her (this should have been my first clue to back off): 
written with me in mind - how so? congrats for what exactly? 

Me (still all heart you notice): 
I noticed that your profile is very reminiscent of the job posting with the same title. The kudos go to doing a such good job that your employer wishes to clone you - it's a wonderful compliment. Cheers.

Her (uh oh here it comes, verbatim by the way):
In true McKinsey tradition, I have sanitized this message to protect both her identity and her blameless employer's

I'm not looking to be difficult, but I must correct your inaccurate assumptions and advise you to be cognizent that in an organization employing XXXXX+ there are potentially 100s if not 1000s of people who hold a given job title. 

This position is in no way related to me or reflective of my performance. 

1. It's a standard job description 
2. The position is in a completly different dept. As stated on the job description, the position you refer to is with the [xx] Team - I work for [xx team]

I realize you are being complimentary and you seem like a nice person, however I'm left wondering why you choose to disregard my “ADVICE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE CONTACTING YOU” note, which states “Please be advised: I am unable to respond to any inquiry requesting action or guidance regarding employment opportunities due to a conflict of interested with my current role.”?

Given that I took the time to outline my communication preferences you must have known that there was a possibility I would see your message as inappropriate. I acknowledge that you did not directly "request advise/ guidance" but the intention could be seen as 'thinly masked'. 

I know the job market is tough and in one way I commend your effort to make a personal connection - which is probably why i'm writing this - but I am not a recruiter and i'm getting frusterated with the continual stream of similar msgs. 

My suggestion for dealing with people like me. 
As it is most likely that the person you are contacting has no relation to the currently advertised position. 
1. Don't mention your application / job opportunities - unless they bring it up 1st or after several messages of 'friendly' / 'information sharing' dialogue. 
2. Be more general - Using a tone more like 
"I'm researching" 
"I find the duties of an __ (intert job title)__ to be exciting" 
"I've worked in complementary roles and i'm wondering about your experience with the culture / work environement of __(Insert company name)__ " 

Hope you are receptive to my message. 


_____________________________________

What to do, what to do, I mull it over. Now I'm worried that employees of this company are not trusting and getting work done in this environment would be painfully political.

The big question is how can job referrals be a conflict of interest? McKinsey had a reward program for people who refer their friends (not that I would, it's a pressure-cooker environment). Lots of companies do the same thing - the thought process is along the lines "if you are good, you must have friends that are good too." I have friends who are great hard workers and the odd pleasant layabout, so the rule shouldn't be applied strictly.

I did not, as an aside, get as far as the bottom of her profile, so I didn't see the stated rules of engagement. I did see the shameless self-promotion video and awards and was duly impressed, hence my enthusiasm for reaching out.

I shall leave it as it stands. Responding seems fruitless. Perhaps you have some advice to share.

Off I go now to form some more creature connections with less defensive individuals.