Every week, I review blogs that cover talent development to find the very best talent development posts. This week, you’ll find pointers to pieces about global trends, carrots, engagement, training impact, and that coveted “seat at the table.”
From Bersin and Associates: Global Trends and Benchmarks
“The question of career advancement is on the minds of most high performing employees and job seekers. But to many companies trying to recruit or retain talent, this poses a conundrum. The mere mention of promotions may make managers squirm, because they know that the chance of promoting employees in the coming year is about as good as winning the lottery.”
Wally’s Comment: Here’s an interesting piece about how to hang on to top performers when you can’t promise too much.
From EEA the Blog: From Carrots to Culture
“Propelled recently by popular business books such as Dan Pink’s Drive, as well as the negativity publicity surrounding perceived excesses in the use of incentive programs following the Wall Street crash of 2008, the carrot is under assault.”
Wally’s Comment: This post is a good discussion of the intrinsic/extrinsic discussion that, among other things, points out that you need to pay attention to both.
“Employers benefit more from helping workers achieve company goals than trying to engage workers in them, as employees share the same objectives, according to a report by the Work Foundation.”
Wally’s Comment: Could it be that all the hoopla about engagement has got it backwards?
From Stephen J. Gill: McKinsey Discovers What We Already Knew About Training Impact
“Only a fourth of respondents to a McKinsey survey said that their training programs made a measurable difference in business performance”
Wally’s Comment: McKinsey has found that not many training programs make a difference. This is not a news flash. Stephen J. Gill draws on his experience and research to point out what external factors make the difference between training that pays off and training that doesn’t.
From John Sullivan: That OMG Moment for Talent Management Leaders is Coming Soon
“With access to (and leverage of) talent playing a more critical role in an organization’s ability to succeed than ever before, it should come as no surprise that the financial analyst community would start evaluating talent management capability when rating organizations.”
From Great Leadership: A Four Stage Leadership Development Model
“I’ve never met a training or HR practitioner that doesn’t want to “have a seat at the table†– that is, be perceived as being relevant, strategic, important, and influential. It’s a basic intrinsic motivational need, and even more so for today’s knowledge workers where the work output is less tangible and visible. Unfortunately, not many are. While a few training, HR, or OD departments have reached this lofty pinnacle, others still languish in obscurity, soon to be the victims of when the next cost cutting ax falls.”
Wally’s Comment: So, you want that ever-elusive “seat at the table.” Are you ready for what that means? Have you figured out how to acquire said seat? These two posts should be read together.
Wally, thanks for highlighting my blog post from November 22. It’s frustrating to me that in the 20 plus years I have been studying the impact of training programs, there has been little increase in the effect on business results. The quality of training delivery has improved tremendously over that time, but impact has not.