July 2008

Trends
In the spotlight

As CEOs realize the increased value of human and knowledge capital within their organizations, a trend is emerging to bring in outsiders to run the HR function reports The Wall Street Journal. A recent article entitled, To Find a Head of HR, More Firms Look Outside of It (June 23, 2008, B6) states that there has been a substantial (33%) increase in the practice of handing over the reins of the HR realm to executives who more easily ignore the narrow boundaries that have guided its practices for so many years. Read more…

Employee Development
What about development plans?

Perhaps you already employ development plans or they may be a new concept to you, but they can add real value to both your organization and employees. Simply put, development plans are used to place an employee in a series of challenging positions and assignments to season them and to enhance their knowledge and expertise. This is an underutilized opportunity that is readily available for most organizations. Read more…

Organizational Development
The balancing act

Softscape recently published the 2008 State of the Global Talent Nation, which reported the results of a survey of over 250 human resources professionals from around the world. The findings stated that 94% of respondents “do not feel their personnel are adequately prepared to meet future company goals.” Read more…

Kirkpatrick’s Column
The 'missing link'—
transferring training to results

It is easy to say, “Get the managers and supervisors to do this or that,” but the real challenge is to find the triggers that will actually make it happen. I have found that the best way to do this is to show them what their investment will do as the “missing link” between training and results. Read more…