Many organizations have implemented formal learning programs, processes and technologies, but few have fully leveraged the benefits of social learning that provide employees with just-in-time access to tidbits of learning that enable more engaging and immersive learning, chance interactions and collaborative...

Questions are at the heart of what drives people to learn. But in utilizing questions as part of any team-oriented dialogue, learning and development professionals should take care to make sure the right type of questions – open-ended versus closed-ended – are being used. To understand the...

An enormous number of highly talented people have lost their jobs over the past year or two. As a result, sorting through all of the overly qualified applicants responding to job openings can be daunting, and resumes can only help eliminate those who are not worth pursuing further. Hiring successfully...

The ROI Institute recently conducted a survey to obtain direct feedback from CEOs in large organizations. There are few if any significant data sets collected from this elusive group, though many one-on-one interviews have appeared as profiles in various media. These interviews rarely discuss specific...

Human resources departments have become quite good at gathering data and identifying trends. They track number of absences, retention rates, engagement scores and number of training hours, among others. “What they’ve been less successful in doing is really translating that information and...

You want to have the necessary policies and procedures to ensure a safe, organized, convivial, empowering, nondiscriminatory work place. Yet, you do not want to write a policy for every exception to accepted and expected behavior. Policy development is for the many employees not for the few exceptions. Consequently,...

In my last half-dozen posts I have been focusing on system theories of organization.  I have done this because practitioners of organization development depend upon theories about what makes organizations tick.  Nothing so practical as a good theory said Kurt Lewin, the mind behind action...

A well-structured talent organization helps drive strategic intent and support core business processes. But designing the optimal talent management system is not an easy task. Should it be centralized or decentralized? What about spans of control and decision rights? Tension exists between these and...

“As CEOs, we often get hired or succeed to the position based on our ability to get things done. Once in the role, we must realize that what got us here does not necessarily guarantee our success in the CEO seat. To be successful leaders, we need to intentionally develop and use more of our interpersonal...

By putting employees on top of the pyramid, an organization can hold on to talent while strengthening relationships with customers. When I became president of global IT services firm HCL Technologies in 2005, the company was in a perilous situation. We were growing at a brisk pace – as high as...