Across North America this fall, countless people will be joining family and friends for Thanksgiving. In the United States, which celebrates Thanksgiving in November, many families have a yearly tradition of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while waiting for the turkey to cook. Featuring gigantic balloon renditions of such pop culture icons as Mickey Mouse and Snoopy—this year there will be an Al Gore balloon—the parade has fans in many countries that are far from New York City where it takes place. For that day, those fans are part of the culture of Macy’s, the iconic U.S. department store. At home, Macy’s faces a cultural challenge of a different kind.
Our cover story this month features an interview with Terry Lundgren, the CEO of Macy’s, where a major effort is underway to integrate the cultures of the 400 stores it recently acquired—a move that increased Macy’s workforce to nearly 190,000 people. “There was a tremendous amount of training about what is important to us,” said Lundgren. “We had to be very clear about what our new culture was going to be.”
Another article in this issue, an interview with Tom Rath, author of How Full Is Your Bucket? and other books, explains how positive interactions among employees can spark productivity and profitability. Rath shows, using data from the Gallup Organization where he leads workplace research, that organizations achieve far more when they focus on what employees do well instead of trying to correct their weaknesses. Gallup data was among the first to show a link between high levels of employee engagement and improved organizational performance. “Our data shows that if you have at least one person you’re close to in the organization …who regularly focuses on your strengths, it might squeeze out about 99 percent of your active disengagement,” said Rath.
We like the simplicity of that discovery and the fact that it doesn’t dwell on negative attributes. Who wants to go from being terrible to merely bad at something? Just make a friend with someone who appreciates what you do well. And if you already have such a friend or mentor or boss, that would be something to think about on Thanksgiving.
Pat Galagan
Executive Editor, ASTD
pgalagan@astd.org
FEATURES
AT C-LEVEL
Store Way to the Stars
By Tony Bingham and Pat Galagan
Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's, tells T+D how training played a pivotal role following the acquisition of 400 additional stores.
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LEADING CHANGE
Big-Time Challenge
By Sherry Hollock
Learning professionals at Macy’s faced a daunting task of integrating 70,000 new employees into the organization.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
IMPROVING HUMAN PERFORMANCE
The Positive Payoff
By Pat Galagan
Author Tom Rath reveals how organizations can increase employee engagement by building upon an individual’s strengths instead of correcting weaknesses.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Polish Up Your Crystal Ball
By Jennifer J. Salopek
An effective succession plan requires maintaining an ongoing dialogue with executives and individuals performing strategic jobs.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
TALENT MANAGEMENT
Implementing Your Succession Plan
By Christee Gabour Atwood
There are some common pitfalls to avoid before launching any succession plan.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
METRICS AND MEASUREMENT
U.S. Learning and Development Expenditure Rises to $129.6 Billion
By Andrew Paradise
The “2007 State of the Industry Report” reveals that technology-based learning is on the rise while other delivery forms remain stable.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
DELIVERING TRAINING
Some IT Training Remains Traditional
By Michael Laff
E-learning may be the rage, but many IT workers still go back to traditional classrooms for advanced training.
PURCHASE ARTICLE
Executive Summaries