12/29/11: Top Talent Development Posts this Week

December 29, 2011 by Wally Bock

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 the year just about past, talent marketing, the gift of coaching, and everything that’s wrong with performance reviews.

From Taleo Research: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times: Why Talent Management Matters All the Time

“During times of robust economic growth, suggesting we face a “War for Talent” and arguing for the importance of strong talent management practices and solutions are fairly uncontroversial claims. But doing so during slow-growth, or even recessionary, economic times require a bit more explanation. So with apologies to Charles Dickens, I thought now — as we transition from a volatile 2011 to an uncertain 2012 — would be a good time to dive into this subject.

Wally’s Comment: Analyst Thomas Stone uses references to several Taleo Research posts and reports to lead us through an analysis of the state of talent management. He also suggests some things to consider for 2012.

From Monster Thinking: How To Score With Talent Marketing

“As 2011 winds down, some of my professional colleagues and I were discussing some of the most exciting topics in the HR and recruitment industry. The hottest topics – and biggest buzz – focused primarily on social media and technology, which has emerged as one of the most exciting topics not only of this year, but pretty much this entire decade.  It seems like every other conversation we have about ideas and innovations in HR somehow involves talent communities, or mobile recruiting, talent management apps, semantic searching…you get the idea. Breaking down these trends, however, we realized that no matter what tool, these topics all revolve around talent – the talent we have, the talent we want and, perhaps most importantly, the marketing we need to attract top talent.”

Wally’s Comment: Wondering what to do to attract top talent? Here’s a good review of several ideas that make up the talent marketing mix.

From Stacia Garr at Bersin: Give the Ultimate Gift in 2012: Coaching

“This is the time of year when many of us give gifts to our family and our friends.  We search for weeks – sometimes months – to find just the right thing.  But there is probably someone – or many someones – whom you have left off your list.  Have you thought about what gift you want to give your colleagues and your organization in 2012?  What is the one thing – no, the one experience – you want to help them have in 2012 that will add the most value possible? “

Wally’s Comment: This is a great suggestion. There are people who will benefit from coaching but who won’t make the move on their own. You can help.

From Jena McGregor: Everything that’s wrong with performance reviews

“It’s performance review season, and end-of-the-year articles are awash with advice for employees on how to make the best of them in this tough economy. Don’t be confrontational. Send your boss a succinct summary of the year’s accomplishments ahead of time. Follow up on how you’re responding to the feedback.”

Wally’s Comment: Jena McGregor reviews a number of things that are wrong with the way most companies practice performance appraisal today. Even if you’ve read a lot about this subject, you’ll benefit from this article.

Carnivals, Lists, and Such

HRCarnival: Forecast Edition at HRExaminer

“This edition of the HRCarnival is focused on the coming year. It looks like 2012 will be full of opportunity. If you take some time to scan through the various forecasts, trend analyses and soapbox standupons, you should be able to develop your own set of tea leaves for gazing.”

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.

Posted in Talent Management

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