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 keeping your high performers, talent management software, traits every CEO should have, assessment centers in CEO hiring, and how to evaluate a training program.
From Ann Bares: Holding on to High Performers: Top Five Reward Actions
“A recently released study, Reviving and Inspiring the Workforce: 2011 Compensation Trends, by Buck Consultants, reveals (among other findings) what actions the participating 105 U.S. organizations are taking to hold on to their top performers.”
Wally’s Comment: Read this for some perspective, and remember two things. This is a view through the compensation lens and it records popularity not effectiveness.
From Josh Bersin: Talent Management Software: The Category Takes Hold
“Over the last ten years, talent management software grew up from a set of small software markets which automate HR processes like performance appraisals, applicant tracking, employee assessment, training administration, e-learning, HR self-service portals, and more. Each of these important processes was served by software companies which sold tools (originally PC tools, now web-based tools) which are used to automate and streamline these programs.”
Wally’s Comment: Josh Bersin takes you on a journey from the past to the present in the development of the talent management software market. Then he shares an idea or two about where he thinks things are headed.
From HBR: Three Traits Every CEO Needs
“In researching my new book, Better Under Pressure, my colleagues and I sought to identify the qualities that define leaders who excel in this environment of duress. We gathered performance data for approximately 200 candidates being assessed for the CEO role at major U.S. corporations. These candidates were divided into three groups, with the top-performing quartile labeled “highly successful,” the middle two quartiles characterized as “average performers,” and the bottom quartile as “highly ineffective.” What emerged was startling.”
Wally’s Comment: This is worth your time because the underlying research covers a range of industries. The traits seem like they’re important for top executives who aren’t CEOs as well.
From the Wall Street Journal: Employers Put Executive Job Candidates to the Test
“Management assessments are booming again as companies scramble to find the best leaders amid a hiring rebound.”Our U.S. executive-assessment business increased more than 30% in 2010,” says Matt Paese, a vice president of Development Dimensions International. The human-resources consultancy is a major provider of assessments for picking or promoting top managers. Major rivals such as PDI Ninth House describe similar recent gains. “
Wally’s Comment: I suspect that several of the companies who are using these assessments are seeking some sort of scientific sure thing. More realistically, though, the results of this sort of evaluation can be one more perspective on candidates that either reinforces or challenges your judgments.
From Dan McCarthy: How to Evaluate a Training Program
“Since the dawn of time, when early trainers were training their clan members how to improve their hunting and gathering skills, training organizations have struggled with how to measure the impact of their training programs. Since then, thanks to pioneers on the training field like Donald Kirkpatrick and Jack Phillips, we now understand that training evaluation needs to be more than administering “smile sheets†(“did you like the food?â€) after a program.”
Wally’s Comment: I’ve done training for a lot of organizations over the last thirty years and I’m hard-pressed to think of one who made a consistent and effective effort to assess the real contribution of a training program. Dan McCarthy has used the methods he outlines, so you can think of them as “field tested.”
