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 talent management lessons from the NFL, culture vs. pay in retention, training budgets, and a list of best companies for leadership development.
From David Wilkins: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Talent Management Lessons from the NFL
“It is a busy time of year for fans of NFL football. An exciting regular season recently wrapped up, one which saw several records broken. Now the playoffs are underway, with some exciting games this past weekend, including yet another impressive result from Denver’s QB Tim Tebow in an upset win over Pittsburgh. But something else happened recently in the land of the NFL, which along with a few other examples from recent history, are fodders for some lessons on the importance of succession planning and broader talent management in the workplace. I’ll proceed by reversing the standard order and tackle first the Ugly, then the Bad, before ending with the Good.”
Wally’s Comment: In the first of two posts on talent management lessons from the NFL, David Wilkins draws a set of lessons from how different pro football teams have handled talent management issues.
From Elizabeth Stuart: Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Talent Management
“Houston football fans had something to rejoice about this year. For the first time in franchise history, the Houston Texans made the playoffs. In a league dominated by high-profile celebrity quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees, the most remarkable aspect of the Texans’ playoff run is that they were led by a first year quarterback, T.J. Yates. Five months ago, before the start of the season, few people in Houston, let alone the rest of the nation, were even aware Yates existed. Thankfully for Houston fans, the coaching and management staff made adequate preparations in case something happened to their starters. When the Texan’s starting quarterback and his backup suffered injuries in the middle of the season, Yates, a 24 year old, third-string rookie had to step in to fill the most important position on the team.”
Wally’s Comment: Elizabeth Stuart concentrates on one team and extracts a set of lessons that’s different from the post above, but complementary to it.
From Derek Irvine: Retaining Employees: Is it About Better Pay or Better Culture?
“Have you ever quit a job to take less pay? Some scoff at the idea, but after the years of fear, anxiety and overwork post-recession, a good company culture in which employees feel valued, appreciated and able to contribute to meaningful work is more important than salary level. A pair of studies found just that:”
Wally’s Comment: Why do people stay? What should you pay attention to? Derek Irvine looks at culture and compensation as components of an employee value proposition.
From Bersin: Yikes. Training spending up 9.5%, highest increase in 3+ years! A renaissance.
“Wow. After more than three years of decline in spending, corporate training budgets just jumped up 9.5% last year. (Just released, 2012 Bersin & Associates Corporate Learning Factbook®). Good news for corporate HR teams and business leaders in general”
Wally’s Comment: Josh Bersin shares his analysis of why training budgets are headed upward. Insightful as usual.
- “The best companies for leaders generate dramatically greater market value over time than the weakest companies for leadership development.
- Leading public company CEOs commit a higher priority to leadership development in spite of the added burden of more complex and “distracting†environments with added pressures for short-term financial results.
- Smaller and private company CEOs spend more of their personal time (25 percent versus 15 percent) on both developing others as well as developing themselves, but are less likely to install systematic processes for leadership development.”
Wally’s Comment: This is the most recent Chief Executive version of best companies for leadership development. For comparison read Fortune’s “25 Top Companies for Leaders” which was published in November 2011.
