News and Current Events for Learning Executives

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2010
January   February

2009
December

Friday, March 19

10 Healthy Work Habits

(From Business Wire) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "10 Healthy Work Habits" report to their offering.

The TakeAway Training Film Series comprises short, practical training films providing managers, supervisors and staff with techniques, advice and ideas on some of the key areas of their job.

The series which features 'talking head discussion' between psychologists Eve Ash and Peter Quarry, is designed for learning resource centres and management self-development. When the first titles in the series appeared People Management Journal said: '...one of the main selling points is that they firmly place responsibility for learning with the learner...They could be used either as stand-alone distance learning tools or as part of a training session. I am sure that any viewer will be able to take up their basic principles and apply them.'

Read the full release.

Wednesday, March 17

Dublin and Belfast Firms Win Awards at Silicon Valley Event

(From IrishTimes.com) -- Dublin chip design company Redmere and Belfast medical technology firm SiSaf won the top awards at the Irish Technology Leadership Group’s (ITLG) annual dinner in Silicon Valley last night.

Redmere won the Innovation Award, recognising its unique technology which allows manufacturers to create thin and flexible cables for connecting high definition devices such as television sets, camcorders and digital cameras.

Read the full article.

Second Quarter Hiring Forecast Optimistic

(From PRWEB) -- The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reveals optimism for the second quarter of 2010. Most major labor markets expect to hire at rates equal to or stronger than the same time last year, reports Right Management. Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services.

"It appears employment levels are stabilizing, reinforcing that the global economy is gaining strength and momentum," reports Owen Sullivan, CEO of Right Management. "However, many employers have yet to reach the pre-downturn hiring pace. So it appears most are approaching hiring plans with cautious optimism and job seekers will continue to be challenged in labor markets around the world."

Highlights from the global Manpower survey include:

--Employers in most major labor markets expect to hire in the second quarter at a pace equal to, or stronger than, the same period last year.

--Job prospects in the Asia-Pacific region remain strong, with the exception of Japan, and hiring outlooks continue to improve modestly in most of the Americas regions. In Europe, hiring patterns remain mixed with employers in eight countries indicating modest improvements compared to three months ago and the same period last year.

Read the full release.

Cultivating Innovation and Creativity, Not Managing It

(From BusinessWeek) -- There is a big movement in B-Schools and Design Schools to generate a new liberal arts paradigm that goes beyond learning how to think critically about an individual’s role in society to learning how to build critically based on people’s connection to cultural context. Call it Pragmatic Liberal Arts or Practical Liberal Arts. I call it Innovation Arts or Design Arts because it focusses on the “as if…” prototyping and creating that goes on in serious play (and which our schools succeed in stamping out by grade 2). I’ll be discussing the idea of a new Innovation Arts paradigm at The Future of Design confab in Stanford next week.

One of the smartest guys I know thinking about creating new social behaviors by changing old rituals is Diego Rodriquez over at the great blog Metacool. He just had an insightful conversation with Michael Mauer, Porsche’s head of design about cultivating, not managing, people. Mauer sees himself as a curator of designers and their ideas. He grows creativity. And anyone who has seen the new Porsche 918 Spyder can thank him for this approach to leadership.

Read the full article.

Monday, March 15

Learning Leaders Show How to Adapt to Changing Times

In this cover story, read about the learning and talent solutions of the Bersin & Associates 2010 Learning Leaders winners.

Read the full article.

Ford and SAE International Partner to Offer Online Courses Globally

(From PRNewswire) -- Ford Motor Company and SAE International are joining forces to provide a series of Ford's online training courses to automotive engineers worldwide.  Ford has licensed SAE International's Professional Development unit to offer six popular online courses on powertrain and problem-solving topics as a way to extend Ford engineering knowledge across the global industry.  

Topics include Powertrain Controls, Powertrain As-Installed Driveline Subsystems, Powertrain As-Installed Stationary Subsystems, Powertrain Driveability, Powertrain Performance Feel, and Global 8D for Problem Solving.  The self-paced online courses range in length from three to 12 hours and are economically priced to encourage broad participation.

"Ford is excited about partnering with SAE International to provide the automotive industry with engineering training that supports improvements in product quality and powertrain innovation," said Barb Samardzich, Ford Vice President, Powertrain Engineering.

Read the full release.

Wednesday, March 10

RWD uPerform(R) Wins 2010 Bersin Learning Leader Award for Innovation and Talent Management

(From PRNewswire) -- RWD Technologies, LLC (RWD), a global company that develops and implements human and organizational performance solutions, today announced the company has been selected as a Bersin & Associates Learning Leader for RWD uPerform®. RWD uPerform is an authoring and content management tool that allows large and small organizations to create and deliver targeted, high-quality learning content and information to employees.  The product was recognized by Bersin & Associates as an innovative tool in learning and talent management.  The firm cited RWD uPerform's proven value and ROI across different types of organizations and technologies as key factors in its selection.

RWD uPerform automates the process of creating performance support materials that employees need to do their jobs effectively, saving time in the learning process.  The product increases productivity on the job by enabling workers to answer their own questions without depending on a supervisor, peer, or help desk.  Organizations can use the product to create part of a sustainable learning strategy to complement different types of IT business initiatives, like new software deployments.  In judging products and learning initiatives for the Learning Leader Award, Bersin & Associates looked at a variety of factors in addition to proven value, including innovation, price-performance, flexibility, supportability and ease of use.

Read the full release.

Tuesday, March 9

UK: Survey Shows Talent Management is Becoming Less Transparent

Can "Evil" Corporations Become Conscious Corporations?

A while back there was an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled "Will Big Business Save the Earth?" A startling question given that corporations are firmly entrenched as evildoers in the public mind, with an environmental record as black as an oil spill and as toxic as the waste dumps in Bhopal. Yet the author, noted professor and counter-thinker Jared Diamond, comes up with a more nuanced view: "... while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world's strongest positive forces for environmental sustainability."

He speaks from experience, after serving on the boards of conservationist groups and talking to oil company workers at every level. Corporations face the same decline in natural resources that the world does in general, and they realize that wasting precious resources isn't the smartest way to make money. Diamond finds a host of reasons why corporations may wind up going green while still pleasing their stockholders.

Read the full article.

Friday, March 5

Leadership and Management Lessons from 'Undercover Boss'

(From CIO.com) -- With the Olympic fanfare over, I finally had the chance to watch Undercover Boss, CBS's new reality TV show about corporate executives who go undercover to observe first-hand what's happening on the front lines of their businesses and find out how their almighty management decisions really get implemented.

I expected to hate the show and to be disgusted by a blatant display of slick PR for the companies and CEOs featured. After watching all four episodes of Undercover Boss two nights ago, I can say at the very least that it makes for good television. I'll spare you my critical analysis of the show, but I want to share a few of the leadership and management lessons Undercover Boss highlighted for me. Of course, I want to get your views on the show, too.

Read the full article.

Twenty-Five Organizations Receive the Fourth Annual Gallup Great Workplace Award

(From PRNewsire) -- Gallup proudly announces the following 25 distinguished organizations will receive the 2010 Gallup Great Workplace Award at a gala during the Gallup Summit 2010, April 27-29. Based on the most rigorous workplace research ever conducted, the award honors organizations whose employee engagement results demonstrate they have the most productive and engaged workforces in the world.

This year's Gallup Great Workplace Award winners span the globe and represent all facets of business from healthcare to hospitality, retail to manufacturing, and banks to insurance. Six elite organizations will receive the award for the fourth time, while four companies will become three-time award winners, and four will be two-time winners. Eleven organizations will be first-time recipients of the award, which is in its 4th year of existence.

View the winner list.

Research Finds Opportunity for Talent Management to Improve

(From 24-7 PressRelease) -- Ventana Research today announced the findings of its benchmark research on Managing Performance to Motivate Talent. This research, the latest from the leading business technology research firm, is based on survey conducted between April through December of 2009 to hundreds of organizations around the world to assess the maturity and direction of organizations' management of their people resources. The results offer significant new insights into how companies view the effectiveness of the processes they use to manage their talent.

This new research examined the necessary competencies for performance management including people, process, information and technology and found significant demand within organizations for managing performance with better talent management. Nearly two-thirds of organizations talent management as very important, and all identified it is as at least somewhat important. At the same time, fewer than half the said they are confident or very confident that their organization manages its performance appraisal processes effectively, and almost all said it is important or very important to improve the quality of communications to the workforce about performance management.

Read the full release. 

Tuesday, March 1

Social Media Use Key to Job Success

(From PRWEB) -- The latest wave of Toolbox.com/PJA research reveals that social media has become critical to career advancement across IT, Finance, and HR professions. This survey of more than 4,300 global professionals reveals that smart professionals -- both job seekers and those looking to advance in their jobs -- find social media and online collaboration tools invaluable.

"Although global markets have stabilized and some indicators point to improving economic conditions, we are seeing a largely jobless recovery. People need to give themselves every career advantage," commented George Krautzel, co-founder and president of Toolbox.com. "The results of this wave of research confirm that professionals are utilizing social media as an important part of career management. It has become a greater part of workflow to access relevant information, build their reputation, and create professional opportunities."

Read the full release.

Achieving Gender Parity in the Workplace

(From Human Resource Executive Online) -- If recent studies are any indication, and experts say they are, there are still significant barriers in place keeping women from acquiring and maintaining top leadership positions, both in corporate America and abroad.

But, as important as promoting gender parity in the workforce is, it is also important to make sure women succeed in leadership roles.

A year-long series last year in the International Herald Tribune suggests women are often catapulted to corporate leadership and board positions before they're trained and experienced enough.

Read the full article.

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February 2010

Thursday, February 25

Workplace bullying—a problem for employer and employee alike

On 21 February, the government ran an advertisement in a Sunday newspaper, encouraging employers to visit its website for free employment advice on preventing workplace harassment and violence. It seemed almost too ironic then, when Christine Pratt, chief executive of the National Bullying Helpline, went public with allegations that No 10 staff had phoned the charity for advice about bullying.

The row erupted after allegations in a book by the Observer's chief political commentator, Andrew Rawnsley, in which he discussed Gordon Brown's behaviour towards staff. Although employers of all shapes and sizes are familiar with the issue of bullying, it rarely hits the headlines. But against the backdrop of a fast-approaching general election the issue is gathering momentum.

Read the full article.

Tuesday, February 23

America's 15 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under

Kevin Plank was a senior at the University of Maryland when he developed a prototype for a polyester-Lycra-blend T-shirt that kept him and his fellow football players cool and dry. Fourteen years later, Plank controls Under Armour, a publicly traded apparel company that has been stealing market share from Nike by appealing to pro athletes and weekend warriors alike.

Read the full article.

Monday, February 22

Thursday, Februray 18

Leadership Development

(From Leadership Excellence) -- Research shows that companies with best-practice leadership development consistently outperform and endure.

Read the full article.

Managing Through the Tipping Point

(From Chief Learning Officer) -- Despite the belt-tightening in 2009, Josh Bersin writes that positive signs are on the horizon.

Read the full article.

Tuesday, February 16

Executive Spotlight: Paul Colangelo of Convergys

(From ExecutiveBiz Blog) -- We recently had a chance to speak with Paul Colangelo of Convergys Government Solutions.  You might remember from our past interviews that Paul had established Convergys as a leader in federal customer care and customer service, and had established Convergys as a preferred contact center solutions provider with the the U.S. General Services Administration.  After over three years with Convergys, Paul told us where he sees growth opportunities, and how Convergys’ relationship technology management solutions give businesses the analytical tools they need to provide top-notch customer service.

ExecutiveBiz:  What are Convergys’ core competencies?

Paul Colangelo:  Convergys is a leader in relationship management and its core competencies are concentrated in a few key areas.  One is customer management.  We are a leader in customer care outsourcing and provide our clients with customer service solutions ranging from agent-assisted care through to intelligent self-service solutions, where we provide the technology and the software that enables our clients to successfully automate interactions with their customers.  The second area for Convergys is HR Management, or human resource outsourcing.  The third major area for Convergys is our Information Management business, which provides sophisticated business support systems primarily to large organizations in the communications, media and utility industries worldwide.

Read the full article.

Thursday, February 11

The Fundamentals of Innovation

(From BusinessWeek) -- As the economic environment stabilizes, there's a temptation to return to business as usual. And although much about the future of the economy is uncertain, I can say with some confidence that a return to the recent status quo would be a colossal mistake.

Tuesday, February 9

Leadership Lessons From the Super Bowl

"I wasn't worried. I was terrified."

So said New Orleans Saints kicker Thomas Morstead about the moments leading up to the onside kick he took to start the second half of last night's Super Bowl game. And if he was terrified, one can only imagine how Saints coach Sam Payton felt. Having called the play, he's the one that had most to lose—professionally speaking—if it didn't go exactly according to plan.

While the worlds of on field sports action and the day-to-day grind of business life don’t often have a lot of common factors, what Payton went through in calling the crucial play is something that anyone in a decision-making role can learn from.

As we know by now, of course, the kick went exactly as Payton and the Saints hoped it would, turning out to be the defining play of the game. At such times, it can seem that it was destined to be so—that no other outcome was possible. The reality, however, is that what occurred on the night was merely the coming together of a series of factors—many of which have equivalents beyond the football field.

Read the full article.

SkillSoft Introduces SkillSoft Leadership Advantage for Busy Executives

(From Business Wire) -- SkillSoft PLC, a leading SaaS provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses, today announced the launch of SkillSoft Leadership Advantage, a new offering targeted at executives who need to sharpen their leadership skills while still being productive in their daily roles. The product -- which features a wide range of content such as videos, case studies and interactive sessions -- leverages the strengths of other award-winning products from SkillSoft, combined with new content and a new presentation format designed specifically for busy executives.

With SkillSoft Leadership Advantage, executives can take advantage of highly intuitive, practical training to build a greater understanding of key competencies that they need to better lead and mentor employees and be more productive contributors to their organizations. Among the many topics covered are leading change, strategic agility, business execution, managing, and business acumen. Executive-focused content from SkillSoft's Leadership Development Channel, QuickTalks, ExecSummaries, ExecBlueprints, and compelling content from key industry thought leaders comprise SkillSoft Leadership Advantage. Each learning track is designed with busy schedules in mind.

Read the full release.

Monday, February 8

BestJobsUSA.com Selects 2010 State Employers of Choice

(FromPRWeb) -- BestJobsUSA.com is selecting Employers of Choice from each of the 50 states to be featured on BestJobUSA.com state local websites.

Every year, BestJobsUSA.com, published by RCI Recruitment Solutions Inc., works with hundreds of companies to develop a select list of employers who are committed to maximizing their recruitment strategies.

BestJobsUSA.com’s 2010 Select 50 Employers of Choice offers companies an instant multi-prong strategy to market their recruitment messages to the largest array of candidates in their local markets. Whether it is BestJobsNewYork.com or BestJobsOhio.com, the State Employers of Choice feature allows companies to access more qualified, local candidates than ever before.

As members of the Select 50 Local Employers of Choice, these employers are unique in that they also share a common dedication to the program, which, according to RCI CEO Michael Moore, is based on four “columns” – Community, Stability, Diversity, and Growth. “These organizations have increased exposure to promote their company and its culture, but also are committed to making a difference.” says Moore.

Read the full release.

Thursday, February 4

Europeans Revitalize Plants to Save Jobs

(From The New York Times) -- The soaring glass and iron Siemens factory here opened almost exactly a century ago. At first, it churned out electricity turbines, then munitions during World War II before being looted by the Soviets, which required it to be rebuilt at the dawn of the cold war.

Today, it is manufacturing turbines again — except these models are among the most advanced in the world, each one able to power all the homes in this city of three million.

“It’s not a museum; it’s a workshop,” said Michael Schwarzlose, a project manager at the plant.

The same might be said for much of Europe itself, despite American suspicions to the contrary. European companies may not be as nimble as their counterparts in the United States, but in moving to preserve jobs through the worst global downturn since the end of the war, they have forged a different path toward recovery.

Read the full article.

New Research Confirms Business Benefits of Integrated Talent Management

(From PR Newswire) -- Amid a shaky job market and predictions of massive turnover once the economy rebounds, a new study confirms that companies with integrated talent management processes not only achieved greater year-over-year profitability, but are also better positioned to achieve long-term success than companies with disparate HR processes and employee database systems.

The study, "Integrated Talent Management: Improving Business Results through Visibility and Alignment," was conducted by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), with support from TalentScope, Inc., the only fully-integrated provider of talent management solutions.

"This research confirms what we've advocated for quite some time: successful businesses must do more than just manage personnel. Instead they must cultivate human capital talent to support their long-term objectives," said Jim Hatch, CEO of TalentScope. "Especially in this economy, businesses must identify and work to retain top talent in order to survive. This requires an integrated approach that provides a true picture of human capital resources for more effective workforce planning."

The Aberdeen report finds that leading companies with integrated talent management processes averaged seven times greater year-over-year profit per full-time equivalent and a 19 percent year-over-year increase in employee engagement versus non-integrated businesses. Those same businesses have nearly 50 percent more positions with identified successors—a key component to managing attrition due to retirement or resignation.

Read the full release.

Monday, February 1

Leading Through Uncertainty

(From Chief Learning Officer) -- Industry experts including Josh Bersin share their thoughts on what leaders need to focus on going forward.

Read the article.

2010 Top Training Technology Trends

(From Training Industry Quarterly) -- Senior Analyst David Mallon writes about three key trends for 2010 and key technologies to watch.

Read the article.

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January 2010

Thursday, January 28

2010 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies

TrainingIndustry.com continuously monitors the training marketplace looking for the best providers of Leadership training services. As part of our commitment to the industry and service to our community members and website visitors, we announce Top Company Lists to help buyers of leadership training programs, products and services choose a partner that does it best.

Selection of the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies was based on the following criteria:

• Thought leadership and influence on the leadership training industry.
• Industry recognition and innovation.
• Breadth of programs offered and audiences served.
• Delivery methods utilized.
• Company size and growth potential.
• Strength of clients.
• Geographic reach.
• Experience in serving the market.

Read the Top Training Companies Lists.

Economic Optimism Reaches Its Highest Level: Deloitte Study

Wednesday, January 27

New Perspectives and Research on Execuitve Onboarding Has the Attention of Business Leaders

When new leaders fail, the entire organization loses. In today's economy, the stakes couldn't be higher. Current studies from many organizations show a failure rate of over 40% for new executive hires. Statistics such as this are no surprise to onboarding expert George Bradt. "Over the last year, we have found people and organizations getting into trouble are failing to adjust fast enough," he remarked. "The people that think that things are fine and don't have to adjust - those are the ones that are about to get run over by a freight train."

Bradt, co-author with Mary Vonnegut of, Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time, was interviewed by Peter Clayton, producer/host of TotalPicture Radio. His podcast leads off a comprehensive Onboarding Guest Expert Series of podcasts on the popular career and leadership development show. The interviews are drawn from fourteen guest experts participating in Bradt's Onboarding book; sharing their knowledge, personal insights, and unique perspectives.

How does business define onboarding? According to Bradt, "it's the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating, and accelerating new team members, whether they come from outside or inside the organization."

Read the full release. 

Malaysia: Firms Change Strategies for Building Workforce and Leadership Capacity

Forward-thinking organisations are changing their strategies for building their workforce and leadership capacity, said the International Centre for Leadership in Finance (ICLIF).

Its director, Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor, said the firms would engage their boards, senior management team and the human resources department to develop strategies that minimise the risks of losing critical talent.

"They will plan for succession, cultivate and develop existing talent and reward and recognise success," he said at the launch of ICLIF 2010 Signature Experience here, on Tuesday.

Megat Zaharuddin said in Malaysia and the region, more companies had started to embrace and apply the concepts of succession planning and talent management.

"Efforts are being made now to identify successors, determine assignments and monitor the development of individuals -- to ensure that they are well-equipped to deal with uncertainties and turbulence that higher office and greater responsibilities will bring," he said.

Read the full article.

Tuesday, January 26

Strong Leadership Still Lacking in the Workplace

(From PRNewswire) -- According to a recent national survey by global talent management solutions leader Lee Hecht Harrison, the majority of workers in the U.S. find their bosses likeable, but feel the management within their companies have room for improvement.

When asked to rank which qualities their boss best exhibited, likeability took the top spot among U.S. workers, followed by leadership, honesty, fairness, patience and loyalty. Although leadership ranked second, just less than half of workers polled (49%) thought their managers exhibited strong leadership skills – a sobering data point reinforcing the need for renewed focus on leadership development.

Other key findings from the survey uncovered:

• Motivation & Mentorship Lagging: Only 24% of employees polled felt that their manager displayed motivational skills, and the same number noted that their supervisor failed to mentor and explain the choices made from an organizational perspective.
• Career Growth Continues: The majority of workers surveyed (66%) still feel that their manager promotes work and career growth internally – an important element to ensuring strong retention and engagement as the economy turns around.
• Leadership Is Remaining Honest About Economic Climate: 75% of employees trust their manager to be honest about their job security, and 77% agree that their supervisor should be candid about the company direction.

Read the full release.

Five Reasons Small Business Owners Should Look to Hire

(From Business Wire) -- The economy is uncertain. Unemployment continues. And consumers are pinching pennies. However, now may be an unprecedented time for small business owners to hire. There’s tremendous opportunity for small businesses to find great employees, spend their own valuable time where it counts most, and grow their companies.

Five Reasons to Hire
While not all small businesses may be ready, there are many opportunities for those who are considering hiring. Here are Abrams’ five reasons why hiring now could be the right move:

• There are unique opportunities. Every recession brings opportunities such as weakened competition and customers looking for inexpensive alternatives. Look to see if these opportunities require extra help or if you’re able to leverage them on your own.
• Talent is more abundant. Bold entrepreneurs can benefit from lower labor costs, and a growing talent pool of people who are more open to working for a small company.
• A growth spurt is coming. Don’t be caught napping when the economy returns to full force. Hiring now, or having a plan in place, will help you scale quickly to meet increased demands for your product or service.
• Now is the time to focus on what matters. Sole proprietors often spend a lot of valuable time on tasks that don’t bring in any money. Instead, hire someone to do that and make better use of your time.
• Your inner creativity is valuable. The 9-5 workplace is so last century. Today’s employees are often contractors, or part-time workers. Or they may work from home. Be creative in thinking about your business. You’re not just hiring someone to do a task, you’re building for the future, and possibly adding people full time when business picks up.

Read the full release.

Friday, January 22

New i4cp Study: The Five Domains of High-Performance Organizations

After conducting thousands of studies that cover hundreds of issues related to productivity and the workforce, one thing is clear: there is no single organizational element that is correlated with high performance. Rather, there are five.

For decades, the research team at the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) has studied what separates high-performing organizations from their lower-performing counterparts. The results of that research have consistently shown that companies that excel in the following five domains are typically high performers:

1. Strategy
2. Leadership
3. Talent
4. Culture
5. Market

Read the full release.

2010 Global Assessment Trends Report

(From PRWEB) -- PreVisor, the global leader in employment assessments and talent measurement solutions that connect employment decisions to business results, released its 2nd annual Global Assessment Trends report summarizing findings from over 230 companies headquartered throughout the world. Co-sponsored by ADP®, this year’s report aims to provide HR and business audiences with an up-to-date perspective on practices and trends related to talent measurement programs used for hiring, career development and succession planning.

Highlights of the 2010 Global Assessment Trends Report (GATR) include key HR trends related to assessment, an overview of talent measurement practices around the world, and changes observed in comparison to the 2009 report results.

Read the full release.

Thursday, January 21

Learn.com Receives 'Best of E-Learning!' and 'Best of Class' Honors

Learn.com®, the knowledge platform company announced today that the 50,000 readers of Elearning! Magazine named Learn.com 'Best of Class' Enterprise Learning Management System and Talent Management System, one of the very few organizations to win in multiple categories. The clean sweep of the Enterprise Talent and Learning Systems categories gave Learn.com the distinction of receiving the 'Best of Elearning!' award. These awards continue the trend of Best Enterprise LMS recognition for a record 4th year in a row as the company won top honors in 2006 from Training Magazine.

What the voters said about Learn.com:
"Learn.com is unparalleled in speed to deploy and ease of configuration."
"It's an amazing product with equally outstanding customer service."
"It has the ability to create whatever we need, so it's not just an out of- the-box product."
"It provides extraordinary flexibility, all in one platform."

Read the full release.

Tuesday, January 19

Australia: Corporate Learning a Growth Industry

Ungainly as the word is, it well describes the complex relationship between corporate universities - company-owned educational entities for optimising employee learning and knowledge - and more conventional public or private universities.

The first corporate universities date back at least to 1926, when the General Motors Institute (now the Kettering University) was established in the US. Following World War II, aided by a liberal legal definition of what constitutes a university, a steady stream of companies such as McDonald's, Disney and Motorola, founded corporate universities.

Read the full article.

Friday, January 15

Leadership and Trust

As we begin a new year this might be a good time to take stock of your leadership skills, and the most important for me is trust. Like no other attribute, your capacity to convey trustworthiness has a huge impact on your ability to effectively lead others. That's because nothing impacts an organization's overall productivity more than the level of trust found within it.

Is your organization one where trust is especially low or high? If trust is low, I suspect employee engagement, job satisfaction, and overall productivity are also low. On the other hand, if trust is high, more than likely there is better employee engagement, higher job satisfaction, and greater overall productivity.

According to author Stephen M. R. Covey in his book "The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything," when trust goes down productivity also goes down and costs go up. Conversely, as trust goes up productivity increases and costs decrease. This is the economics of trust in the organization.

Read the full blog post. 

Wednesday,  January 13

U.S. Chamber Calls for Policies to Spur Job Creation

(From Business Wire) -- In his annual State of American Business address, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue called upon leaders in government, business, labor, and across society to unite around the ambitious goal of creating 20 million jobs over the next decade.

“Our nation faces many big challenges, but no priority is more important than putting jobless Americans back to work,” Donohue said. “Over the long term, only a strong private sector—backed by sensible government policies with rational levels of regulation and taxation and a reasonable degree of certainty—can create 20 million jobs.”

Donohue covered five key areas where both government and business can work to achieve economic growth and job creation.

Read the full release.

Talent Management: Strategies for Success from Six Leading Companies

(From PR Newswire) -- Tough economic times demand more, not less attention to talent management. The expertise and trend-setting practices of six industry giants are contained in the new book, Talent Management: Strategies for Success from Six Leading Companies, the first title of 2010 to be released by ASTD Press, the publishing house of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).

Edited by Larry Israelite, vice president and manager of human resource development at Liberty Mutual Group, Talent Management is a road map to cultivating a highly responsive, high-performance, sustainable organization that meets its business targets. This resource-rich book features the expertise and successful strategies of prominent industry leaders: Cisco, McDonalds, Avon, Liberty Mutual Group, Ciena, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Chapters focus on management’s role, the impact on processes and practices, links to business results, the impact on company strategy, current research on the topic, and software selection.

Read the full release.

Tuesday, January 12

McDonald's Corporation Elects Don Thompson as President and COO

(From PR Newswire) -- Jim Skinner, Chief Executive Officer of McDonald's Corporation, today announced that Don Thompson, currently President of McDonald USA, has been elected to the role of President and Chief Operating Officer, with oversight responsibility for the company's 32,000 restaurants worldwide.

Monday, January 11

Talent Executive Guidance for 2010

Most executives would like to put at least some part of 2009 behind them, and in most cases for good reason. Organizations in the present business climate have had to contend simultaneously with plummeting growth, an evaporation of capital, dramatically curtailed liquidity, commodity price volatility and global supply chain exposures and risks.

That has forced organizations to rapidly curtail spending, pare the workforce and exit some business lines and geographies, all the while trying to maintain morale among employees and the investor base. And, while the press has made much of the so-called "green shoots" portending economic recovery, for most of us today, those feel like much ado about nothing. In short, little about 2009 has been easy.

Read the full article.

Friday, January 8

Integrating Talent Management Significantly Impacts the Business

(From CNNMoney.com) -- Organizations that maintain disparate talent management processes, systems, and/or data put themselves at a serious disadvantage. Aberdeen's latest research report, "Integrated Talent Management: Improving Business Results through Visibility and Alignment," reveals that companies that have integrated at least two distinct talent management processes have 49% more positions with identified successors and averaged seven times greater year-over-year profit per full-time equivalent than organizations that have not integrated any talent management processes.

The report released by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), found that leading companies experienced a 19% year-over-year average increase in employee engagement as compared to an average 10% decrease among Laggard organizations. Not surprisingly, the research also found that top performing organizations are 150% more likely than Laggards to indicate that their talent management efforts are strongly aligned with their organization's strategic business goals.

Read the full article.

A New Era for Talent Management

(From Business Spectator) -- The workplace is changing rapidly and smart employers are beginning to realise that working more flexibly with staff is not an indulgence, but a way to unlock the potential of their staff.

Three dominant demographic groups – women and the two 'Bookend Generations' (Gen Y and Baby Boomers) – are redefining what is expected from an employer of choice.

These cohorts are remapping participation in the workforce as they pursue meaning, choice, involvement, more tailored approaches to career planning and creative alternatives to retirement. Cultures that require the separation of the personal from the professional in order for an individual to succeed will be struggling in the talent stakes.

Read the full article.

Thursday, January 7

Innovation Tip: Step Back to Step Forward

(From BusinessWeek) -- When my colleague Dick Boland talks to an audience about how to manage by designing, there is often a moment where he pauses, usually with a hand raised thoughtfully to his chin. After a long and quiet beat, he takes a large step backward. While doing so, his hands cross his body to rest at either side of his imposing frame, a movement that emphasizes the simple act of stepping back. When he speaks next, it is usually about the importance of such moments, those moments when designers remove themselves from immediate concerns and considerations to look at the bigger picture, the context, the whole; those moments when we step back.

There are two important things about stepping back. The first uses stepping back as a way to get another perspective, to look at the bigger picture. The second is more like stepping away from something, usually assumptions that we have made. Contained in this simple movement are a couple of important lessons for managers who wish to be more innovative or use design approaches in their everyday work.

Read the full article.

Monday, January 4

Cause-Related Marketing: just plain ol' marketing?

(From The Huffington Post) -- Cause-related marketing is arguably one of the first "fields" that brought the nonprofit and for-profit worlds together for mutual benefit. Appearing at about the same time as microfinance, the first cause-marketing campaign occurred in 1976 through a partnership between Marriott Corporation and the March of the Dimes, a nonprofit that works to prevent birth defects in babies. March of the Dimes' goal was to increase fundraising for its Chapters in the Western US, and Marriott's goal was to generate cost-effective PR and media coverage for the opening of their family entertainment complex, Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara, CA. The campaign was a hit. Since then cause-marketing expenditures by companies have exploded from almost zero in 1983 (when IEG first started tracking cause-related activities in the US) to an estimated $1.57 billion in 2009.

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The Big Zero

(From The New York Times) -- Maybe we knew, at some unconscious, instinctive level, that it would be an era best forgotten. Whatever the reason, we got through the first decade of the new millennium without ever agreeing on what to call it. The aughts? The naughties? Whatever. (Yes, I know that strictly speaking the millennium didn’t begin until 2001. Do we really care?)

But from an economic point of view, I’d suggest that we call the decade past the Big Zero. It was a decade in which nothing good happened, and none of the optimistic things we were supposed to believe turned out to be true.

Read the full article.

[Top]

December 2009

Wednesday, December 23

Technology Vs. Design: What is the Source of Innovation?

(From BusinessWeek) -- Don Norman, a rare intellect and a major godfather of Design, has launched a provocative broadside against Design that has enormous implications for building an innovative society. Norman tells designers to get over themselves. It is science and technology that drive truly disruptive innovation, not Design’s focus on the needs and wants of people. Ethnographic research, Norman says, can generate small, incremental innovations but the blockbuster game-changing stuff, comes from the lab, not the village or the mall. Norman states: “I’ve come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs.” In short, tech trumps culture. New technology comes first. Inventing new products comes second. Finding new needs for those products comes third.

This is from the author of The Design of Everyday Things, Emotional Design and dozens of pieces on user experience and emotion. So the impact of his words within the design and innovation community is huge. It’s also from a great man with whom I’ve shared a fancy dinner with in Davos.

Read the full article.

Study: Leaders Have Better Talent Management Skills

(From Supply Chain Management Review) -- Talent Management is the key to higher earnings, a more efficient company, and a smoother-running supply chain, according to new research by the advisory firm The Hackett Group.

The firm has just released the results of a three-year study of more than 60 companies. The results, according to the firm, show that companies with what the study describes as "mature talent management capabilities" have 18 percent higher earnings than typical Global 1,000 companies, along with "significantly" higher net profit margins and higher returns on equity and assets.

Stephen Joyce, the firm's human resources advisory practice leader, and Pierre Mitchell, research director at the group, spoke with SCMR about the study and what it means for the future of talent management.

Read the full article.

Wednesday, December 16

Tuesday, December 15

Three Ways to Fish in the Global Talent Pool

The world is your talent pool. We've been hearing that message ever since corporations started chattering about globalization. The real issue is, how well do you fish in that pool?

The difference between strategically fishing and merely flailing the waters of an increasingly diverse talent pool was the top issue at the recent Hidden Brain Drain Summit. Held in New York, the fourth annual colloquium brought together representatives from more than 50 organizations employing more than four million people in 152 countries around the world. Members range from American Express, Ernst & Young, General Electric, Google, Intel, and Pfizer to the International Monetary Fund, the Cleveland Clinic, and the CIA. Working as a community of peers, the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force spearheads private-sector initiatives that nurture female and multicultural talent. Its research and collaborative action have developed more than 70 models of best practices.

Read the full article.

Friday, December 11

Singapore Takes a Whole Company Approach Towards Service Excellence