In our modern global economy, most businesses rely on well-educated people — or “knowledge workers,” as the late Peter Drucker called them — to develop their products or deliver their services. In these organizations, many executives are finding that traditional forms of leadership don’t work. “Heroic leadership,” as it is called, is the conventional idea Read More >
Selection, Retention & Succession
3 Things We Can Learn from Michael Phelps About Talent Development
How would you like it if all your employees performed their jobs with the same level of quality and commitment as Michael Phelps gives to swimming? Of course you would. He’s participated in 5 Olympics; won a total of 25 medals, including 21 Gold, 2 Silver, and 2 Bronze; and earned the title of world’s Read More >
A 10-Step Action Plan for Managing Millennials
The face of the American workforce is getting younger. Millennials—born in the last quarter of the 20th Century—now comprise more than one-third of working-age people in the U.S.This generation cut their teeth on rapidly-advancing technology, financial prosperity, immediate gratification, and multi-culturalism. Here are the top 10 things you must know about managing Generation Y employees: They Read More >
3 Ways to Effectively Gauge Leadership Performance
“Good leadership is hard to measure on a daily basis, which is why so many default to doing what’s easy to measure instead.” This quote, pulled from the Twitter feed of best selling leadership author and TED Talks speaker, Simon Sinek, gets to the heart of a real issue—when we can’t tell how well we’re Read More >
10 Tips for Attracting and Keeping Top Talent
Make no mistake: your top-performing talent is aware of their value to the company. They also hold the company to a higher standard because they know they deserve it. Finding this sometimes-elusive talent—and keeping them—requires that senior leaders humanize their companies by investing empathy and communication, and a good deal of trust in the employees Read More >
Improve Efficiency With an Effective Employee Development Program
When asked to identify their biggest hiring challenge for 2015, 63 percent of respondents said finding qualified staff was their biggest obstacle, according to a recent poll of 200 Northeast region C-suite executives, directors and managers by The Execu-Search Group staffing and recruiting firm. This number jumps to 80 percent in the accounting and finance Read More >
Aid Employee Engagement Through Your Work Environment
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs starts with the basic physiological needs for survival. To sustain life, those include food and shelter, but to sustain a satisfying career, they include stable employment, a good salary and meeting needs for security, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. Many studies show employee engagement is a big factor in productivity, and employers Read More >
How To Develop The Perfect Performance Management System
Performance management is a buzz word that is commonly thrown around businesses, but few organizations understand what it really means, and even fewer execute it well. Performance management requires a true commitment to unlocking the potential of each of your employees and taking the time to understand what motivates them on an individual level. A Read More >
How Do You Value Training?
Advanced Concepts: Evaluating Training Programs One of the questions that I get frequently is “How will we know that a training effort is working?” It’s a good question – and one that deserves a thorough answer. Whether you are an HR Director, Training Manager, Department Manager, or even a classroom participant it can be helpful Read More >
Retaining Key Talent & Becoming the Boss
Have you lost any good employee talent recently? Do you think the loss was necessary? Was the defection for the purpose of a better opportunity, or because they “checked out” of your organization? That is, did they run away from your organization or run towardsanother? Employees leave for a variety of reasons. Boredom, under appreciation, Read More >