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 engagement, really good HR, informal learning, a sea change in employment practice, and an alternative to the policy and procedures manual.
From Paul Hebert: Is Employee Engagement a Sisyphean Effort?
“Almost every company these days wants to create a program, a process, an intervention or an initiative that creates employee engagement. It starts with the company paying someone for a “scientifically designed and vetted†survey instrument that gives management a “score†that can be influenced.”
Wally’s Comment: Yep, first you get a measurement system and then you game it. At least that’s something I’ve seen way too often. Paul Hebert’s seen it too and he has a few cogent comments.
From the Globe and Mail: Putting people before numbers
“Mark Little was one of General Electric’s rising stars. He had been named vice-president of engineering for the power systems division, making him one of the company’s top 125 officers. And then he faced professional death.”
Wally’s Comment: This post is review of the book, The Talent Masters by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan, but it had so much good observation in it that it makes good reading all by itself.
From HR Examiner: People Not Technology
“Companies should embrace network-supported informal learning because it works better, not because it reduces labor costs. People learn more efficiently at the time of need, in the context of work, from people in the know and through virtual conversation.”
Wally’s Comment: The title of this post is somewhat misleading. This is about creating an informal network that’s more like a coffee-shop get-together than it is like a sophisticated knowledge management and training platform. Informal learning is what humans do best.
From Laura Schroeder: Embracing the Sea Change
“According to a 2010 study on Contingent Labor Management by Aberdeen Group, nearly 20% of the average workforce is made up of temps, contractors, consultants and other contingent workers. That’s 1 in 5. Feels like a sea change to me.”
Wally’s Comment: Laura Schroeder takes on one of those just-beneath-the-surface issues, the astounding increase in all sorts of workers who aren’t full time. This really resonated with me because I just interviewed a young man whose firm consists of three professionals. All support services are on-demand and web-based.
From Steve Boese: Book of Secrets
“An employee handbook may tell you the names of the company officers and where to find the organization chart, a company Book of Secrets would tell you who really is important, what departments get things done, and who the true experts are, whatever their title or their position on the ‘official’ chart.”
Wally’s Comment: The people at one of my clients referred to their policy and procedure manual as the “Gotcha Book.” Those manuals are necessary but they’re not exactly user-friendly most of the time. Steve Boese suggests something that would be more helpful and a great supplement to any formal manual.
Carnivals and Resource Lists
January 5 Carnival of HR: Reflections, Resolutions, Predictions and Rants
Wally’s Comment: Laura Schroeder hosts this incarnation of the Carnival and offers a great collection of helpful posts and pungent comments.
From HR Web Cafe: List-o-licious: The Best of 2010
Wally’s Comment: HR Web Café produces great resource lists all year long. In this post, they share what they think are the best reviews of the year gone by.
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