Recent job growth is good news for the economy but potentially bad news for your organization. After more than two years of little or no opportunities, your high-potential talent might be ready to bolt. Implementing development programs to re-engage them, such as self-coaching, could convince them to...

The conventional wisdom holds that metrics are essential to learning and development professionals. But metrics are not quite the center of the universe some would have you think they are. Many learning leaders say they do not measure the financial impact of their learning programs because the CEO...

For years, companies have used exit surveys to hear the brutally honest thoughts of departing employees. After all, individuals who are about to leave a company have almost nothing to lose when they write down their most candid thoughts about their job, boss or co-workers. While exit surveys may help...

Many talent management leaders today may feel like they work in a war zone. Like the U.S. Armed Forces, talent managers are waging battles on multiple fronts, managing a workforce stretched nearly beyond its limits and wondering how to develop the next generation of strong leaders. So what can...

HR leaders will always hear complaints about the dreaded performance-appraisal process — mostly because managers will nitpick the system when their actual problem is discomfort with providing honest feedback to their direct reports. Ensuring managers are able to provide criticism, when necessary,...

Many on-boarding programs are simply too short and only focused on new employees. I have been on-boarded into a new organization four times in my life. Two were OK and two were terrible. Having talked with many a learner about this experience and helped a few organizations develop on-boarding programs,...

There is no question that talent planning should be a process as critical as a company’s annual budget planning cycle, and most organizations aspire to have a talent planning process that will accurately forecast workforce capabilities and needs. One key ingredient talent leaders should include...

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...

What if talent managers could hire or promote someone and predict whether or not the individual would work out? Michael Blair said it’s possible. Blair is strategic staffing leader for CenturyLink in Overland, Kan., which operates in 33 states and employs some 20,000 people. He said in his experience...