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 training, the thought police in your network, HR and the machine, and managing succession.
From Dr. Todd Dewett: Training—Why Do We Waste So Much Money?
“I often argue with executives when they demand to see an ROI for training investments. Let me be clear, they are justified in demanding an ROI. However, if we are being completely honest, calculating an ROI is nearly impossible for most training activities. What then can we do to help the brass have confidence in our training expenditures? A lot!”
Wally’s Comment: It almost seems that we could adapt the famous John Wanamaker quote about advertising to training: “Half the money I spend on training is wasted, I just don’t know which half.” A good companion read is from Sharlyn Lauby, “No Need for Training ROI.”
From Workforce Management: Special Report on HR Technology: The Thought Police?
“Some companies offer software to sniff out social media posts, but such programs raise the question: Does Big Brother belong in the workplace?”
Wally’s Comment: There’s been a lot of discussion about HR and technology of late (see below), and a lot of that discussion is about when and how and if companies should monitor their employees’ use of social media. To some extent this is similar to the debate we had a few short years ago about the right to privacy in the workplace, but now the surveillance tools, like the workplace, reach out into people’s private lives and personal time.
From the Financial Times: Human resources goes technical
“John Sweeney makes no bones about it. “Thirty years ago, HR was a backwater operation,†says the human resources veteran who now works at the Society for Human Resources Management near Washington.”
Wally’s Comment: There’s no question that more and more HR functions are being handled by some combination of software, portals, and outsourcing. Where do talent management and development fit in all this?
From HR Executive Online: Managing Leadership Succession
“Studies and experts concur: Promoting CEOs from within is better for an organization’s long-term performance than hiring from outside. To do it properly requires a collaborative effort between top leadership, senior-level HR executives and the board of directors.”
Wally’s Comment: There is a lot of good stuff in this article, even though it is really only about the final step in the succession process, the selection of the next CEO and the roles of the board and HR in that process.
Hi Wally,
I just finished reading Dr. Todd Dewett on Training—Why Do We Waste So Much Money? And also Sharlyn Lauby’s, “No Need for Training ROI.†I have been working to identify a way to quantify the ROI of leadership training for a couple of years now and helped to create a Cost-of-Doing-Nothing Calculator for The Ken Blanchard Companies back in 2009 (www.costofdoingnothing.com). Since then, over 200 companies have self-assessed the impact that less than optimal leadership practices are having in their organization–specifically in terms of employee retention, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity. Even among companies of widely different sizes, the amount identified has been remarkably consistent among the majority of the companies. In almost all cases, the self-assessment has identified poor leadership as costing each organization an amount equal to 7% of their total sales on an annual basis.
I’m preparing to write a white paper on the data now for publication next month and I would appreciate a “reality check†of the Cost-of-Doing-Nothing Calculator from your perspective. I think the calculator could be helpful for HR professionals looking to quantify the potential impact of a leadership development initiative, but I would like to see what you think. If you had a chance to take a look at the calculator and how it works, I would appreciate it.
David Witt
Program Director
The Ken Blanchard Companies
I love that quote about training! The tweet button seems to have gone missing, I’ll have to tweet the old-fashioned way… a bit like having to unlock your car or roll down your car windows manually.