Meet The Boss TV Launches Exclusive

Watch now an electrifying exclusive:  A video teaser of an interview with Lamborghini CEO Stephen Winkelmann, who makes revelations on the concept debuting in Paris. An exclusive report with the name and specification of the car will be published on next Thursday.  MeetTheBoss.tv has interviewed Stephen Winkelmann, President and CEO of Lamborghini, who has made some revelations on the new technological demonstrator that will be introduced at the 2010 Paris Motor Show next week.

This special concept - previewed by Lamborghini with a series of teaser images - "will be the blue print for all future Lamborghini models."

The full video interview will be available at MeetTheBoss.tv on next Monday.

On next Thursday we will reveal the name of the car, along with the full specification, so stay tuned...

http://www.meettheboss.tv/broadcast/?contributorFullName=stephan-winkelmann&mediaTitle=lamborghinis-drive-into-the-future---trailer&mediaFileId=533&utm_source=29sepMC&utm_medium=VAR&utm_campaign=AF

Also, we are officially launching ‘Your Voice’, an opportunity for those who have good, short, snappy tips or advice that they would like to share to others.  We will showcase these videos on our website, so you could be watched by thousands of C-level executives!  Learn more:

http://www.meettheboss.tv/broadcast/?contributorFullName=anna-gilligan&mediaTitle=upload-your-video&mediaFileId=531&utm_source=29sepMC&utm_medium=VAR&utm_campaign=AF

To register to Meettheboss.tv got to http://www.meettheboss.tv/Register/?promotioncode=IHRS01 and put in promotion code- IHRS01

SlideRocket Takes On PowerPoint With Web-based Interactive Presentations

Chuck Dietrich, CEO and founder of SlideRocket, has a problem with PowerPoint and other presentation platforms: They haven’t fundamentally changed in 25 years. Enter SlideRocket, an online presentation platform that brings interactivity and collaboration to a market otherwise dominated by Microsoft’s PowerPoint.


SlideRocket allows users to create slideshows in which viewers can post comments and answer polls in real time, turning a stale presentation format into a collaborative meeting tool. Presentation authors can invite people to attend presentation-centered meetings remotely through the Web as well as in person.


SlideRocket’s launch comes at a time when business collaboration programs have become increasingly important, but more fragmented. Of course, remote Web meetings are a commodity feature available through Cisco’s WebEx and Citrix’s GoToMeeting. But those are largely used today to present conventional PowerPoint slides: The presentations take place over the Web, but they don’t otherwise make use of the medium.

SlideRocket users can pull live data from the Web like Google Docs and Spreadsheets for their presentations, so when the documents are updated the presentations are, too. Users can embed video and Twitter streams and other forms of media through the SlideRocket interface with plugins for YouTube, Flickr and other sites. SlideRocket offers tools for third-party application developers to create new ways to integrate content in SlideRocket presentations.SlideRocket also has a marketplace with stock photos, video and sounds to help users spruce up their presentations — for which SlideRocket takes a small cut of the revenue.

Presentation authors can get some feedback as to how long users spent on slides and the responses to various polls and what kind of comments users left on slides. Premium users have access to a dashboard that presents analytics on viewer feedback to help presentation authors tailor their slideshows to their audience. The subscription service costs $24 per user per month to have access to analytics. SlideRocket also has a free version that gives users access to all the presentation tools.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based company was founded in 2006 and has raised about $7 million from a seed round and its first round of funding. Dietrich said more than 100,000 companies use SlideRocket, including a number of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 100 list — though he wouldn’t specify which companies.

reprint from Venture Loop

Is Your HR Productivity App Saving You Time?

The smart phone market is really hot with the Blackberry (who really started the ball rolling),  IPhone (pure leader in mobile technology, and  Android (quickly catching up to IPhone), and other phones on the market today. And let me not forget the IPad for analytic use not games and pictures. There a over 1M applications for the phones today and HR applications are no exception. Mobile apps are really helping HR professionals today in our continuous loop connectivity.

Since time is a precious commodity today it makes real sense for HR to be in the forefront of productivity applications as they manage large and decentralized workforces. Companies that use mobile apps have seen a strong return on their investment and helps keep the HR executive and his/her staff connected 24/7. There are some companies that have developed their own apps which makes good business sense and there are those off the shelf (so to speak) as downloads.

So what applications make sense today, here are a few that you should look into or better yet use to keep on top of your game:

• Payroll apps - to monitor pay cycle issues and fixed cost concerns
• Talent acquisition - to keep up with the active and passive job seekers 
• Workforce management -  managing an existing diverse human capital group
• Learning and development - managing training budgets and activity
• Peer and management reviews - performance management & process approvals
• Marketing and product cycle reviews, and 
• Internet/intranet site management

These apps have migrated from the desktop/laptop to the smart phone at lightning speed. My advise is get on the band wagon and start utilizing these productivity tools so you can stay in front of your business and employee base. If you are worried about security work with your IT group; if your company is  slow to adopt - push them and lead the way because a recent poll says that there is a 13% increase in productivity utilizing mobile apps. Steve Bogner of Insight Consulting Partners in Cincinnati as that "putting mobile into action is always going to lag the hype". If you are an innovative and strategic HR executive then you need to lead the charge within your company.

Innovative HR Strategy Has Linked Up With Meet the Boss.TV

My blog has linked up with Meettheboss.tv to broaded your view of the executive suite and the impact that HR has on company profits, innovation, and strategy. This is a significant step forward for my blog to expand your vision into the executive suite and to gather first hand information on the CEO experience.

To access Meet the Boss go to http://www.meettheboss.tv/

New Trends In Hiring

Organizations are planning to increase hiring as the economy recovers but are making significant changes to their recruitment strategies according to research from Job Search Television Network (JSTN), a leading video and social media based recruiting company. Cuts to recruiting staffs and budgets during the recession have resulted in a greater emphasis on lower cost, efficient technological solutions. The report notes increasingly targeted use of social media in the recruitment process.



Roger Stanton, CEO of Job Search Television Network, commented:

"LinkedIn and Facebook with links to video has been hot for a while, but now we’re seeing clients ‘micro-target’ employees using niche blogs and LinkedIn groups. For example, one of our clients successfully uses niche blogs to locate workers with very specific types of financial service backgrounds. They started doing this when a new blog showed up on JSTN’s client metric report. When they posted a video to the blog, it quickly became a ‘home run’. Clients are finding sites they weren’t aware of because JSTN’s video provides highly detailed traffic metrics and they can make changes on the fly."

The study also considered the proportion of viewers who go on to apply for the position advertised.



Roger Stanton explained:  "We will usually see an enormous spike in viewership for a position right after a video is placed on websites and social media. With clients hitting average conversion rates of viewers to applicants around 18.8 per cent, the video is far exceeding other sources. In some cases, the conversion rate is as high 45 per cent! That can mean thousands of people have seen the video for a job, at very little cost to the employer and it provides very powerful employment branding. The candidates who do apply are more likely to be a more qualified fit for the job, since they’ve seen the video and have responded based on the compelling information they have viewed."

The study found renewed interest in Employment Referral Programs (ERP) in the recruitment process, but again with a different emphasis.

"The idea of ERP programs is coming back in a big way, because it is so much faster and cheaper if you can get a referral from your current employees. The difference this time is that since e-mail readership is going down, particularly among younger employees who prefer social media, companies are using video messaging. The video can be placed on a company’s Facebook page, blogs, etc. and is far more likely to get watched and sent to friends via mobile phones. And again, the traffic results can be closely tracked for ROI [return on investment] purposes."

The study identified mobile phones as the third major trend in hiring for 2010.



"We knew when payment systems started being developed for cell phones that mobile would replace computers as the center of our digital lives. This is why JSTN was created with the ability to TEXT ID videos to mobile phones. Now with smart phones penetrating the market at exponential rates, we’re seeing this really take off. Looking forward, research states that by 2014, over 66 per cent of all mobile data traffic will be video [Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2009 - 2014]. One of our clients regularly sends job videos to prospects on cell phones with amazing results. Not only does the receiver actually view the video, they also usually forward it to numerous contacts in their network. The video quickly goes viral."

Roger Stanton concluded: "What these trends point to is that we are truly becoming a video-centric society, with much of that centering on mobile phones. Companies are recognizing that if they want to reach prospective hires, this is where they need to be. And with tight budgets, its not surprising they would turn to these technologies now to reach new candidate pools at low cost while maintaining professional identity. As we come into the fall hiring season, which will ramp up in earnest right after Labor Day, you’ll really see these trends as play out in the workplace."

What changes have you made in your hiring practices? Drop me a line at wgstevens2@gmail.com

Inspiring Others

American business people are uninspired. Are you surprised? Don't be. According to a recent Maritz
Research poll the fact is that only ten percent of the work force look forward to going to work; and most point to alack of leadership as the reason for this. "But it doesn't have to be that way. All business leaders have the power to inspire, motivate, and positively influence the people in their professional lives," according to a recent story in Business Week Online.



Inspiring others should be an aspiration of leaders. We do not live in a vacuum or lead in a vacuum, so the
way we use our influence is important. Motivation is a closely related action that is usually a result of good
leadership skills and influence. Inspiration is an interesting concept. To inspire means to stimulate someone to do something, or to provoke a particular feeling. It can also mean to cause some form of creative activity. My favorite meaning to the word inspire is to breathe in. In essence, when we inspire others we are breathing into them the influence and factors that will cause them to become a better form of who they presently are. The opposite of inspire is expire. It may be a stretch, but when we use our influence in destructive ways, even unintentionally, it may literally “kill” someone’s motivation and creativity and desire to become better. 



When working around great leaders I have found that they have a way of inspiring others through their
leadership behaviors, management tasks and compelling communication. Communications coach and author
Carmine Gallo, in his new book, Fire Them Up!, reveals basic skills common to the leaders who best know how to inspire their employees, colleagues, customers, and investors. The book is a great study of techniques needed to lead organizations and inspire teams to perform at a higher level. After studying their communication "secrets", Gallo came up with seven skills that he believes can easily be adopted to your own professional communications:

• Demonstrate enthusiasm constantly
• Articulate a compelling course of action
• Sell the benefit
• Tell more stories so people relate to the realness of it
• Invite participation
• Reinforce an optimistic outlook
• Encourage potential

Continuous learning opportunities, executive coaching and small group interactions regarding ongoing work

will promote higher achievement in the team. Creating an environment in which the team members are expressing their potential and continuously learning and improving can only affect the culture and deliverables for the better.

Do You Have A Crisis Management Plan

There has been little discussion on the Internet and print media about crisis management. When you look at how BOA, Merrill Lynch, and the banks handled the media during the financial crisis you would expect that these big firms would have had a crisis management plan.  


Crisis management planning is an integral part of business today, big or small. I can tell you from first hand experience and I do not mean business continuity planning. So let me tell you a little story. Back in 1988 or early 89 to quickly summarize,  the Boston area was rocked by a young 8 month pregnant woman who was killed by a so called black man in her car where she was a passenger after coming from Lamaze classes . Also wounded in this tragic murder was the girls husband who told police it was a black man that entered their car to rob them and shot his wife and him. Well if you were reading the papers or the Today Show you would have heard about this terrible incident. The person who was murdered was Carol Stuart, an employee of mine in Newton, MA. 


Back to crisis management. There was an immediate meeting with the VP, HR and hi directs on what to do, we corded off the building from reporters, sent out an immediate email to all employees and made sure that the media only spoke to one (1) person from the company. Needless to say at that time we did not have a director of communications or PR person. The reasoning behind this was to protect our employees from the media and to make sure there was a consistent message to the press. In the end, our crisis management plan worked and it saved the company from undue scrutiny, protected the employees, and managed the benefits flow to the widow/family.


Again, if you remember the case 3 months later it was found out that the husband killed his spouse for the life insurance money because the family business (Kakass Furs) was in financial trouble. Needless to say having paid the husband the life insurance claim was a mistake and since that time the carrier now requires a final police record of a case before payment is determined. 


Last but not least if you do not have a crisis management plan you should. HR should be at the forefront of this along with the head of communications, or PR, along with the CEO. 

Organizational Change

Let's say you need to move your business in a new direction. You are hoping the evolve the skill set of your staff, revamp your product and service lineup, and find new ways to partner with those in your industry.

So you've done a lot of research, worked through many different strategy ideas, analyzed the technological systems requires to make this change, and come up with a vision for your future. Maybe you've even created a PowerPoint presentation to communicate this change, and scheduled a roadshow to meet with each group in your company to get them on board.

But now, you are a few months into the shift, and finding it tougher to affect change. System roll outs are progressing, senior leadership has been working with you to revamp product and sales offerings, and others in your industry are impressed with your vision. And yet, the change comes more slowly than you would like, and at every turn, you find an entrenched business practice, a team that isn't developing as you had hoped - a ship that can't turn.

Organizational change is hard. It requires more than just the proper systems, technological savvy and strategic direction. Why? Because it's easy to get a room full of 100 people to clap at a PowerPoint, but difficult to align and balance the needs, fears, motivations, and skills of those 100 people.


Sure, we try to pretend that this doesn't exist. That every employee isn't motivated by logic alone, but perhaps some deeper human emotions. I don't mean that anyone has any ill-will, just that human beings are a funny bunch. And shoving them into a gray cubes and asking them to drink the PowerPoint Kool-Aid doesn't always have the intended results.


Below are some ideas to help organizational change:

• People Want Something To Believe In
• People Want To Be Involved, Not Managed
• Make It Seem Like Their Idea
• Personal Goals Must Be Aligned With Professional Goals
• Make it Easy to Feel A Sense of Achievement
• Make It Fun

So I'll ask you do you do these things in your organization and who leads the change, hopefully the keeper of the culture, the HR leader. Thanks to Dan Blank for some of this information.

In Memory of Those Who Lost Their Lives

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. 

With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization’s big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organization’s members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity.

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change directions, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in training and employee development.

Communicating Up, Down and Across the Organization

I have been preaching that you have to stay close to your CEO, communicate daily with him/her as well as have daily meetings. I am sure I do not need to tell you that it is equally important that you are able to communicate across the organization to be effective.

If you are a good communicator you should be able to portray a high level of self-confidence, self-concept, and project a positive external image to the managers you support up, down, and across the organization. There are ways to do this and the best way is to make sure you have established  trust and credibility. If you have these two(2) key elements you will have stronger working relationships with those that you support. These key elements are the foundation of your level of effectiveness in your organization.

If you have these two(2) building blocks you then need to make sure you are an effective influencer,that you provide a clear and direct image and knowledge base. You need to make sure you have targeted your audience and built a message that is clear and concise that people understand and not mistake or feel it is HR speak. If you can do this you will reap beneficial results for your project/program/initiative or whatever. This will also flow though to your subordinates.

I hope that this short message on communication is helpful especially to the mid-level HR manager, director. For those at the top, the CHRO, CPO you should already know this.

Top 10 Strategies for Combating Employee Stress

Workplace stress is a bigger problem than it used to be, and employers have good reason to be more concerned about it than in the past, says Barry Hall, principal at Buck Consultants.


Eighty-two percent of participants in a recent survey reported that their organization’s healthcare costs are significantly or moderately impacted by worker stress. In addition, respondents said they have seen a significant or moderate impact on absenteeism (79%) and on workplace safety (77%), according to the survey by Buck Consultants (www.buckconsultants.com), a Xerox Company.


Proactive Approach


Worker stress levels have increased within the past few years as a result of economy-related factors, such as layoffs, greater workloads, the need for some employees to work second jobs to make ends meet, and lower household incomes due to family members’ lost wages, Hall explains.
 
In response, many employers are taking steps to help their employees manage stress. In fact, Buck Consultants found that 66% of participants in its “Stress in the Workplace” survey have implemented four or more programs aimed at reducing stress, and 22% have at least eight programs in place.
 
According to the survey, the top 10 strategies being used by employers to address stress are:
 
1.An employee assistance program (78%)
2.Flexible work schedules (63%)
3.Work/life balance support programs (46%)
4.Leadership training on worker stress (45%)
5.Online healthy lifestyle programs (45%)
6.Onsite fitness centers (43%)
7.Physical activity programs (38%)
8.Stress awareness campaigns (35%)
9.Financial management classes (30%)
10.Personal health/lifestyle management coaching (29%)


Although offering an onsite fitness center requires a substantial investment, Hall notes that other strategies are not necessarily expensive, such as incorporating more flexibility into work scheduling and promoting underutilized employee assistance programs that the company is already paying for.


Significant ROI


Implementing stress management programs makes good business sense because the return on investment (ROI) is high. “It is a business issue for employers,” Hall says.


Employers that help employees manage stress tend to experience greater employee productivity, higher morale, lower absenteeism, reduced healthcare costs, lower turnover, fewer accidents, and lower workers’ compensation costs, reports Hall.


“Employers increasingly realize they must address the rising tide of employee stress and not just to improve employees’ well-being,” says Hall. “Those who ignore stress will take a hit to their bottom line in higher costs and lower productivity.”


Acknowledge Stress


He says employers should not be “afraid” to acknowledge and address workplace stress. “I think there is still a lot of hesitancy to address it or to bring it up [with employees]. A lot of employers realize that they are a key contributor to it.”


Even if your employees have relatively stress-free jobs, they might still be dealing with stress caused by factors outside of work, he points out.


Although there is no “magic” number of stress management programs to implement, Hall encourages employers to use as many effective programs as possible, because a program or resource “that works for one employee might not work for another.”


What is your company doing to address this issue. Your comments are welcomed.

a reprint from BLR

Long-Term Planning Review

A lot has been said over the years about strategy, and I mean stategy that ties to business objectives and business strategy but not enough has been said about long-term planning.

Long-term planning is essential for a business to maintain their niche or competitive standing. However, as we look at how the economy has impacted our businesses over the past 2 years we have potential lost sight of the long-term and focused on the short-term. Well, short-term is important as we adjust to market conditions but if we do not constantly plan for the future we a business will nor survive.

I maintain that as you develop strategy of the year you need to also look to the future, making sure you have placed enough budgetary emphasis on R&D, product development, and product launches to maintain your competitive advantage.

Have you focused on long-term planning? Please email me your thoughts on this important subject to wgstevens2@gmail.com

Are You Sure Your LinkedIn Profile Is Effective Today?

Is your LinkedIn profile as effective as it could be? While you can see your “profile completeness” score on your profile page, it doesn’t measure profile effectiveness — how good your profile is at attracting contacts, generating leads and showing off your skills. Use this checklist to ensure your profile is thorough, effective and updated.
Use the name you’re known by. Perhaps your name is Robert, but most people know you as Rob or Bob. Or, for women, perhaps you worked under a maiden name for years. Use the name that most people know you by professionally. Cover all your bases by using your main name in your basic information and mention any other names elsewhere such as in the “Professional Headline” field, or in your recommendations. Upload a professional photo. It’s worth the price to use a professional photographer. Create an effective Professional Headline. Add a “Professional Headline” in the “Edit My Profile” page. This is a short bio that sums up what you do. Mine says, “Content Maven aka writer and editor behind meryl.net.”Pick the industry that best represents what you do. Alternatively, you could use your clients’ industry if they all come from the same one. Enter details for current and past positions. Highlight the activities that represent what you do or want to do by mentioning them first. Write a summary that highlights your most important business information. Keep your summary clear and to the point. Remember you can list details under “Current Position.” The point of a summary is to give people instant information on what you do. I’ve looked at various summaries, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. I used to have a bulleted list, but switched to a short paragraph. When I come across long paragraphs in the summary, I find them hard to read and follow. The shorter ones hold my attention and get the point across fast.List your web sites and blog. Rather than using the name of your web site and blog, use keywords that describe what you do. For example, I use “Writer for hire and blog” instead of “your own name notes,” the name of the blog. Add your Twitter ID.If you haven’t already, add your Twitter name. Request recommendations. It’s OK to ask people to recommend you, but make sure you ask the right people. Write recommendations. Writing recommendations can lead to receiving recommendations. Add applications to enhance your profile. If you have a blog, feed your blog entries into your LinkedIn account with one of LinkedIn’s applications. You can also turn LinkedIn into an online document collaboration platform. Send selected Twitter tweets to LinkedIn. While you can connect your Twitter account to your LinedIn profile, many of us tweet too often or tweet about things that would be irrelevant to our LinkedIn contacts. Instead, select just the tweets you want to show up in your LinkedIn profile by adding the hashtag “#in” to the tweet. You can turn on this feature in Twitter Settings. Select what to display in your public profile. People not connected to you can only see what you allow them to see by setting your Public Profile options. The more you reveal, the easier it is for people to know if they have the right person. Here, you can also set up your Public Profile URL, which shows up as to http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.Review your settings. Though I’ve been on LinkedIn for a long time, I still run into new features and settings. Settings cover everything from profile views and email notifications to personal information and privacy settings. You can provide advice on how people should contact you on the Contact Settings page. Mine says, “Email is the best way to reach me.” I have been a strong and forceful proponent of social networking and self promotion in this new world order. I hope that this post will help you in truly distinguishing you from the millions of other HR professionals. 


from Web Worker Daily by Meryl Evans

What Marketers Can Learn From Old Spice

Old Spice rolled out a series of videos on YouTube where their spokesperson directly responded to people's Twitter updates in short, funny clips. This marketing program spread like wildfire on the web, and to me, it seemed to be an incredibly important example of how the web is changing marketing and how businesses connect with customers. Instead of the top-down one-to-many approach, Old Spice tried the opposite. They tried one-to-one. In a single day, the marketing team behind the Old Spice campaign produced 89 videos. That's crazy. And most of them were really offbeat and engaging.


When many businesses try to leverage the web to create an "innovative' marketing program, they focus too much on the technology, and not enough on the people. They create complicated systems where customers earn 'points,' and ask customers to give before they can receive. (eg: opt-in, log in or sign up). But what often works best are things that are simple. Things that engage real people in basic ways. And that's what Old Spice did. These are the lessons from it:

• Get Closer to Customers
• Be Nimble
• Target Influencers
• Target the Little Guy
• Don't Worry About Owning the Platform
• Real-Time is a Powerful Engagement Factor
• Have Fun

Does your marketing program have these elements?

How Good Are Your Delivery Skills?

One thing I learned early on in my career (Career 1.0) was you had to have strong delivery/speaking skills. As I moved up the HR ladder to the executive suite those delivery skills were so important that if you did not have strong speaking/influencing skills you would not be successful. Now in a consulting  and blogging role they play an even more important part in Career 2.0. That also goes for strong grammar and the ability to utilize vocabulary effectively. 


So what should you take away from this blog post? Here are some questions/pointers you should look at or ask to measure your personal ability to communicate and influence effectively:

• do you have command of the audience?
• do you utilize effective use of your voice and inflection?
• do you practice articulation to make sure your delivery is clear to the audience, not just to you?
• do you apply a speaking/delivery strategy to your delivery?
• do you prepare effectively?
• is your presentation at a level that people will understand it clearly?

I can tell you from experience if you do not ask yourself these questions and work on how to fine tune them your ability to communicate effectively will stumble. As I said in the opening paragraph, you need to work on this even prior to your career and hopefully your professors in college provided you with insight and your college with courses on how to "communicate and influence effectively". 

How Heads of HR Should Spot the Future Leaders in Your Business

HR is typically responsible for identifying the future leaders of an organization through succession planning sessions, talent development programs and yes being in the business daily to observe. If you where to look at areas to determine your future leaders, what would you use to do this, absent any formal programs? Here is what I would look at in addition to your programs:

• individuals who consistently deliver ambitious results for the company
• individuals who consistently demonstrate the ability to grow, adapt, and be more flexible than their other top performing peers
• individuals who ask for opportunity and expand their capacity of operation and influence
• individuals who take things to the next level (ie: imagination, creativity, product futures etc)
• individuals who have strong powers of observation, judgement, reactions that are spot on, and EQ
• individuals who are clear thinkers and have a point-of-view that may be counter to the trend, and finally
• individuals who ask questions that are insightful that get the thought process into a creative frenzy.

The bigger question is are you astute enough and involved enough in your organization to see these features in your talent pool? If you need a book to help you read Ram Charan's book Know-How. 

How to Keep Your Top Talent

Practically every company these days has some form of program designed to nurture high-potential employees. But a recent study by the Corporate Executive Board demonstrates that nearly 40% of internal job moves made by people identified by their companies as "high potentials" end in failure. Disengagement within this cohort of employees also is remarkable: One in three emerging stars reported feeling disengaged from his or her company. Even more striking, 12% of all the high potentials in the study said they were actively searching for a new job--suggesting that as the economy rebounds and the labor market warms up, organizations may see their most promising employees take flight in large numbers. Why do companies have so much trouble bringing along their next generation of leaders? The Corporate Executive Board's research showed that senior managers make misguided assumptions about these employees and take actions on their behalf that actually hinder their development. When dealing with high-potential employees, firms tend to make six common errors: assuming that all of them are highly engaged, equating current performance with future potential, delegating the management of high potentials down in the organization, shielding promising employees from early derailment, expecting stars to share the pain of organization-wide cutbacks, and failing to link high potentials and their careers to corporate strategy. These mistakes can doom a company's talent investments to irrelevance--or worse.

Here are some things you should do to keep your top talent on track:

1. don't just assume they are engaged - give them stimulating work, a chance to prosper, and recognition or they will walk
2. don't mistake current high performance for future potential - test candidates for ability, engagement, and aspiration
3. don't delegate talent development to line managers - this will limit the talents access to senior members
4. don't shield talent - place talent in live fire roles
5. don't assume top talent will take one for the team - compensate top talent differently and creatively
6. don't keep young leaders in the dark - share strategy with them

How does your talent management program stack up against these areas? If you think your program needs a thorough review you should click on the link above and read this article in detail.

Goals vs. Objectives and Strategy

First, lets give a quick clarification of definitions. Goals are your general intentions, the big picture aims or you or your company.

Your objectives are the outcomes that represent achievement of that goal. Things you can actually observe. In order to be classified as an objective, you have to measure them. You need a way of defining whether you have or have not completed them successfully.
Strategies are the action plans you’ll execute to reach the objective. Tactics are the pieces and parts of the strategy:

GOAL(S): To increase our company’s footprint through participation in social media.
OBJECTIVE(S): Increase our blog subscribers by 15% in 6 months. Grow our LinkedIn connections by 250 members (a 25% increase) by the end of the year. Establish a Facebook Page with 500 fans within 6 months to 9 months
STRATEGY(IES): Develop a strategy or set of strategies for each one. It is a roadmap for how you will get there.

So that is the set hierarchy. Set these rules in place for as you review and edit your goals, objectives, and strategy for the remainder of 2010 & planning for 2011 to increase your exposure to the world and build your social media portfolio.

Executing in a Fast Changing Environment

This excerpt summary from Workforce Magazine (June 2010) caught my eye because of the ever changing environment HR people are in today. Not only is the business models changing but so is the economy and the drivers of competition.

Executives must be able to lead their companies to quickly adapt to new market forces in this unpredictable economic climate. Under these extreme conditions that face companies survival depends in part to sound strategy but even more so on effective strategy execution. HR executives or aspiring HR executives this is a key point for you in your HR execution.

Because execution plays such a critical role in success or failure, especially during a crisis, many companies are turning to new technology solutions to ensure they can deliver on strategies and emerge even stronger. Any company that fails to adapt quickly and efficiently to market changes can miss important opportunities ir risk their very survival.

With that prologue, here are some key barometers to attain or execute to going forward if you are not already doing this:

• A new strategy is not enough - executing under these extreme market conditions is not enough, meaning you need to make sure you touch every point of the strategy timeline and product offering.
• Align your workforce with what you want to accomplish - workforce alignment and performance is critical.
• Be prepared to change course or rethink your strategy monthly - it is difficult to get your strategy right the first time so review religiously. 
• Leverage performance and talent management solutions for business execution - this will help you attain the top and bottom line results. 

If you are an HR practitioner you need to make sure you are working directly with your CEO to accomplish these goals. If not then you better begin or you will be left out in the cold and people will question your value to the organization.