A couple of weeks ago, I gave a glimpse into how my hyperactive mind works (you lucky souls) with the first edition of Stuff You Should Know. With many thanks to those of you who reached out with positive feedback, I figured we’d try it again. So, in no particular order, here are some of the things in my world right now.

A Real War About Talent. With increasing attention on legislation seeking to manage jobs, and who can do which ones where, there is tremendous uncertainty among employers. In the past week we’ve seen congress propose the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act, or RAISE Act, which would reduce the number of green cards issued annually by half; the NY State Legislature passing a Sanctuary State bill; and a bevy of travel ban lawsuits. No matter what the outcome of all this legal wrangling, one surety is that employers are going to need great data and the ability to get to it quickly and easily. If your onboarding verifications and employee data aren’t in tip top shape, get on it now so responding to legislative change will be at least a little easier.

How Stuff Works. In totally unsurprising news, I have completely ripped off the name of this blog post. Apparently, HowStuffWorks.com has a podcast called Stuff You Should Know. It’s pretty awesome, especially if you’re a fan of nerdy trivia and the story behind the everyday things and ideas around you. And it’s way smarter and better produced than I am. So, in addition to borrowing their name, I’m borrowing an idea they shared in the first of their podcasts I listened to, from January 24 on dictators. They referenced BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model, in which Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Trigger. You can get the detail on his site, but I thought it was a pretty actionable formula to help navigate change on an individual and organizational level. You need a reason that matters (motivation), as many barriers removed as possible (ability), and a disruption (trigger) all to occur in the same moment. Which is tricky, but if you work toward the first two, you may be much more successful when the trigger comes.

RiseSmart – Not George Clooney’s Outplacement. The frame of reference most people have for outplacement services is the movie Up in the Air, in which George Clooney’s character crisscrosses the country handing out strategy packets to the newly downsized. I’m happy to assure you this is NOT the future of Outplacement from solution provider RiseSmart, who have spent the last 10 years creating technology to accelerate career transitions, and ironically, humanize the experience. I had a chance to catch up with the team at RiseSmart the other day, and one point of discussion we had was the need for alumni relationship management to start gaining the same attention as candidate relationship management. Both are potential sources of talent in an ever more competitive labor market, and with alumni, you know a whole lot more about their fit with your culture. There’s no talent to waste at the front end or tail end of the employee lifecycle.

The Shift from Me to We.  I’ve been spending some time thinking about employee experience, and how it differs from employee engagement. What strikes me is that engagement is much more about the one to one relationship between an employee and employer. It’s about “me”, whereas employee experience is more about “we” and how a shared experience allows organizations to deliver results for clients and customers. This topic is the focus of a great new blog “conversation” I was invited to be a part of with Lesley Lyons, marketing director for PeopleStrategy and Ben Eubanks, principal analyst for Lighthouse Research & Advisory. Over the next several weeks, we’re going to be exploring the idea of experience through the eyes of business leaders, administrators and employees. I hope you’ll check it out.

And stay tuned for the next dispatch of SYSK!