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When it’s OK to get someone else to do the work for you

by Jackie Cameron on 03/09/2010 05:09 0 comments , 151 views
Categories: Coaching & Mentoring, Leadership

Working with some managers I split them into  two groups and set them a task. While they were working I noticed that one group was quickly organised and they had finished well before the others. We then adjourned for coffee but one of the second group was still working on something - and then he joined us. It was clear that he was finishing something for his group - though the rest of them were already drinking coffee.  Afterwards we talked about the task and I mentioned what I had noticed.

The first group said that they finished quickly because someone offered to lead and write up their responses right at the start….and the rest of the group were happy to let him.

The second group said that they worked together all the way through and the guy who joined us later than the rest had offered to double check the answers - because that is how he liked to work.

In both cases the team members generally and the guys who took on the specific roles were happy with the outcome.

A friend was telling me that everyone in her business had been  challenged to develop  client relationships and there were some tensions around the time it was ...

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Performance Metrics: Beyond the Numbers

by HR Bartender on 03/09/2010 03:47 0 comments , 275 views
Categories: Social HR, Leadership, Management & Policy, Talent Management, Training & Development

Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured, gets managed.”  It’s very true.  Tracking the numbers is essential to running your business.  But it’s also important to not just calculate numbers. You need to have a good understanding of what they mean.

I’ve always enjoyed math and accounting, so I’ve never really shied away from formulas.  But over the years, I’ve learned some very valuable lessons about how to appropriately use the information.  Not just human resources metrics like turnover, cost per hire, etc.  But the need to understand the metrics your CEO is paying attention to.  There are some obvious ones like EBITDA, market share, and profit margin.  And don’t forget to look at industry indicators as well.

For example in the airline industry, on-time performance was (and probably still is) a key performance metric.

My career has primarily been as a human resources generalist, but I did spend a couple of years totally focused on recruitment.  I had always hated recruiting up to that point and when my director gave me the role, I figured it was some sort of punishment.  I was so wrong.  I quickly ...

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Facebook, Twitter use takes off on mobiles

by Liesdamnedlies on 03/09/2010 03:07 0 comments , 274 views
Categories: Social HR

The other day I posted about Nielsen’s stats showing that the over 25s (and over 35s in particular) are the most active on mobile social networks, as opposed to teens.   The other giant metrics firm, Comscore (via Marketing Charts), has now produced figures about the growth of mobile social networking in general.

Looking at the US, Comscore worked out that access to Facebook via mobiles grew by 112% over the past year, while mobile Twitter access went up 347%.

At the same time, MySpace continues to decline on mobiles as well as on the Web, with 7% less users...

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Jerry Seinfeld on “Blackberry People”

by Stewart Mader on 03/09/2010 01:15 0 comments , 209 views
Categories: Social HR

Jerry Seinfeld takes on Blackberry users, rudeness, and dunking his wife’s Blackberry in yogurt: “Oh, it said Blackberry. I guess I got confused.”

(The full stand-up routine runs 7:19, and the Blackberry portion starts at 5:03. To start the video right at this point, I used a fine tool called Splicd.com.)


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Tweecruiting: How Applicant Tracking Software Users Recruit with Twitter

by Ian Alexander on 03/08/2010 13:43 0 comments , 228 views
Categories: Social HR, Recruiting
Tags: facebook, applicant tracking, hr technology, job boards, sonicrecruit, talent acquisition, twitter

We’re all drinking from the fire hose of hype surrounding Twitter, so imagine my surprise at a recent user conference when a presenter asked how many SonicRecruit clients are using Twitter as part of their recruiting efforts. Less than 10% of the hands in the room went up.

At Cytiva, we have released a number of tools to aid recruiters in using social networking to source candidates. SonicRecruit users can directly post jobs to Facebook, LinkedIn and, of course, they can direct-tweet their requisition easier than they can post them to other sources like job boards. They can also track these tweets and posts just as they would any other source.

So I did some investigating and there are actually many SonicRecruit clients that are using Twitter in their recruiting mix and a few are doing some great stuff. Nobody is pretending to know exactly how Twitter fits into the mix, though. Make no mistake, this stuff is new. But I found some examples of good execution that might be helpful to other organizations as they dip their toes into the water of “Tweecruiting.”

Nickelodeon Family Suites Resort Puts It All Together

Nickelodeon Family Suites Resort or Nick Hotel ...

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Don't Let Halos and Horns Blur Your Expectations

by Steve Roesler on 03/08/2010 13:21 0 comments , 368 views
Categories: Coaching & Mentoring, Leadership

What do your company's talent  conversations sound like?

If you've spent more than a few minutes managing, succession planning, or doing a performance review, you know that total talent conversations can morph into a bias founded upon a single experience. Here's what I mean.

The Halo Effect

The Halo Effect surfaces when someone has an outstanding characteristic and we allow our positive reaction to that singe characteristic to influence our total judgment of the individual. What follows is a high assessment on many traits because we believe the person is a star in one trait. We ascribe a range of related talents that simply may not now, nor ever will, exist.

AngelAndDevilAtWork We see this in the realms of celebrity and politics when a physically attractive person is presumed to have a host of other positive traits. We also see it in companies where "the smartest guy in the room" moves up the hierarchy until it's discovered that his "smartness" not only doesn't extend to other fundamental traits e.g., cooperation, teamwork, initiating communication--but the individual may actually get in the way of the flow of work.

The Horn Effect

This one, often called the "Devil Effect," is the ...

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Leadership Carnival: Academy Awards Edition

by Jennifer V. Miller on 03/08/2010 08:53 0 comments , 262 views
Categories: Leadership

Great Leadership Academy Awards EditionHave you ever received a nomination for an award that was totally unexpected?  You know, you’re just sitting in some meeting and all of a sudden, they’re announcing your name and you’re thinking “did they just say my name?” I had that experience this morning when reading Dan McCarthy’s blog Great Leadership .  This month, Dan uses an awards ceremony theme.  I’m  honored to be one of the nominees for “Best Actress”, along with Mary Jo Asmus, Sharlyn Lauby, Alice Snell and Lisa Rosendahl.

 

Given that these ladies are HR and Leadership heavy-hitters in the blogging world, I felt a bit like the Marisa Tomei of the crowd. But it is an honor to be nominated and I appreciate that Dan selected my blog post as one of the nominees in this fun tribute to the Academy Awards.

 

 Want to know who won?  Check it out here. Dan hands out 6 awards and showcases a dancing Art Petty.  Now, tuning in to see that would be worth it, right?


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Finding Luminosity in Those You Lead

by Mary Jo Asmus on 03/08/2010 07:54 0 comments , 237 views
Categories: Coaching & Mentoring, Leadership


In the fine arts, the word “value” has to do with the degree of lightness or darkness, the “luminosity” in a color. This is true for human beings too; we all emit a certain degree of luminosity to others – a value that can be interpreted in a positive or negative way.

We can notice the value in others if we stay alert. We’ve all known someone who emits a great deal of light; they are luminous. We are attracted to them.  That’s the easy part.

Making the effort to notice value in those we have rejected, whom we don’t see eye to eye with, is important too.

As leaders, there is also some real worth in seeing beyond our negative judgment of others for the greater good of our organizations and communities. Instead of outright rejection of an individual, we may find value there.

Mom was wrong

My mother would say, “first impressions are lasting impressions” – meaning that a first impression of someone can’t be changed (and an implied caution that I better be careful to make a good first impression on others!). Sorry mom – you were wrong.

It is possible to change your first (or second) impression if you are willing. We all judge some people harshly.  If we are ...

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Employee Engagement: 50 Companies to Admire and Imitate

by David Zinger on 03/08/2010 05:50 0 comments , 514 views
Categories: Leadership, Management & Policy, Talent Management

Finding Engagement in a Hay Stack!

Employee Engagement Drives Loyalty and Business Performance at World’s Most Admired Companies

The Hay Group and FORTUNE magazine completed their 13th annual World’s Most Admired Company WMAC survey.  They have done a wonderful job of offering elaboration and insight into top companies and employee engagement.

Employee Engagement Engage Symbol

Here area key conclusions from the study:

The study analyzed the connection between employee engagement and a company’s business development and consumer relationship.

Ninety-four percent of respondents from the WMAC believe employee engagement has created a competitive advantage in the market place, compared to 82 percent at peer companies.

Additionally, 71 percent of respondents from the WMAC believe their company has been successful at linking employee engagement to customer satisfaction, compared to 58 percent at peer companies.

“Employee engagement is increasingly being recognized as a major driver of business performance, revealing important information about an organization’s health and future prospects,” says Mark Royal, a Senior Consultant with Hay Group’s Insight Practice.

“Companies on the World’s Most Admired ...

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Crappy Swag and Other Happenings

by HR Bartender on 03/08/2010 05:29 0 comments , 108 views
Categories: Coaching & Mentoring, Social HR, Leadership, Management & Policy, Talent Management, Training & Development

Couple of exciting things happened recently that I wanted to share:

First, I was honored by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) with their media award.  This is really cool.  When I think of media, I think of television/radio/newspaper.  To be recognized as a blogger in the media category, well…I think it’s very forward thinking by NAWBO.  Thank you sincerely!

We all know American Express and small business owners are probably familiar with their OPEN program.  Well, I published a guest post last week on “7 Essential HR Resources for Your Small Business” for American Express OPEN Forum.  Very exciting.  And, if that wasn’t thrilling enough, the post was republished on Mashable.

The Leadership Development Carnival is up!  Many thanks to Dan McCarthy at Great Leadership blog for hosting this month.  My post on the “7 Types of Power in the Workplace” made the list.  I’m scheduled to host next month’s Carnival, so get those posts about leadership and management ready.  If you aren’t on the list to get notifications about the Leadership Carnival, contact Dan directly via dmccart3 at rochester ...

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Weekly Most Discussed

 
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30 Favourite Workplace Learning Blogs

by Harold Jarche on 03/09/2010 15:56 1 comment , 281 views
Categories: Social HR, Training & Development

This list is a result of a series of tweets, initiated by Janet Clarey who referred to a Top 50 list of educational technology blogs. Shortly after that, Maria Anderson suggested that I create a list for workplace learning. I don’t like creating “Top 50″ lists so here are my current favourite sources of information and knowledge about learning, especially for the networked business environment. These are not all the blogs I read and I have another set of blogs that are more academic and purely learning related.

First of all, I follow my colleagues because that’s how I met most of them, by reading what they had to say [and I liked it].

Informal Learning by Jay Cross (US)

Learnlets by Clark Quinn (US)

Social Media in Learning by Jane Hart (UK)

Performance, Learning, Productivity by Charles Jennings (UK/AU)

Wirearchy by Jon Husband (CA)

Internet Time Blog another one by Jay Cross (US)

Blogs about Workplace Learning, in the broadest sense of the term

(in alphabetical order)

Anecdote AU: A blog focused on “putting stories to work”.

Bunchberry & Fern UK/JP: Simon Bostock’s blog on information engineering, learning, and organizational development.

Cognitive Edge UK: .. ...

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Workplace Follies: Give Me a Tall Latte and a Box of 22 Caliber Winchester Silvertips

by Jerry Bowles on 03/04/2010 09:04 1 comment , 338 views
Categories: Workplace Design, Management & Policy

From today's Murdoch Journal comes the troubling news that some of our fellow citizens are exercising their Constitutional rights to make public jackasses of themselves by openly wearing their firearms on their morning Starbucks run.  The loosely organized but growing "open carry" movement is challenging some of the country's leading retailers to try and stop them.  For now anyway, businesses have the right to ban guns on their premises but some--like Starbucks--have decided not to for fear that their workers will be hassled or intimated by swarms of  angry strict constructionists.  Can you spell, Mafia, boys and girls?

Now, folks, I grew up in  the backwoods of West Virginia in a hunting culture where every household had multiple guns.  I do not recall a single instance of seeing an openly armed person--who was not a law enforcement officer--at a grocery store or in church or anyplace else where fellow citizens gathered. Having the "right" to bear arms and feeling compelled to do so are two entirely different matters that I thought we, as a nation, had resolved back in the Wyatt Earp days.  (There was a reason Tombstone was called ...

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