Some employees tend to be highly energetic and proactive. While this reflects in innovations and their willingness to take risks, it can also backfire. For example, if an experiment goes wrong, then the entire department or even organization may need to shoulder the blame. Thus, the proactive employees’ reporting managers need to function in such a way that their energies are utilized in the right direction without jeopardizing the bigger picture. Proper talent management involves that these middle managers are given due independence to try out new methods but must be reined in before anything renders negative results. An experiment was conducted by professors from the Netherlands which tracked middle managers at various departments vis-à-vis their reporting officers. Two kinds of bosses were identified. The first type were the traditional ones who only appraised their mentees quarterly and only on the basis of the existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The second were those who met monthly to discuss business progress and who evaluated their mentees on innovation parameters outside their strict KPIs as well. It was reported that the latter group performed much better with higher appraisals.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/09/managing-the-perks-and-pitfalls-of-proactive-people

Uploaded Date: 06 October 2017

While it is well known that human beings tend to respond well to general motivation, it is not completely clear which form of motivation works better- positive or negative. The former may involve a bonus, promotion, public recognition or positive feedback while the latter may include negative feedback, public humiliation or demotion. An experiment conducted at the New York state hospital may provide us with clues as to which is a more effective method of talent management. Here, the challenge was to ensure that the medical staff sanitize their hands before each visit to any patient’s room. While cameras clearly showed the percentage to be a tenth of the total, the management took a decision to put up a screen where each time a person washes up would be celebrated. In this manner, not only did this go up substantially, but was also repeated in another department where it was equally successful. Similar other researches led by neuroscientists have demonstrated that people tend to respond much better at positive motivation.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/09/what-motivates-employees-more-rewards-or-punishments?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=18157268&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=1101755217&spReportId=MTEwMTc1NTIxNwS2

Uploaded Date: 06 October 2017

A lot of employees across organizations are suffering from an attention deficit. This leads to underproductivity compared to what levels they are really capable of. Observations have clearly suggested that one way to increase motivation is through storytelling. Here storytelling need not be a formal occasion where the bosses tell their subordinates long stories and the latter are to behave as audiences. It could simply be small-talk on individual basis through practical examples which will help them connect with their work. Once we get to be experts at something we tend to put lesser cognitive force to it and this leads to increased disconnect. That is why at Vital Smarts, a monthly meet is termed as Mission Moment where employees share stories from work that made impact. This has proven to be a great step in the direction of talent management as employees feel greater connect to their work, knowing that it is part of something bigger.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/09/great-storytelling-connects-employees-to-their-work?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Uploaded Date:06 October 2017

There are some business leaders who are far too thoughtful and take their own sweet time for decision making. There are yet others for whom everything is done with a sense of urgency. Both these extremes are often harmful for businesses. The latter are often like this because in some frontline positions or at times of crises, such behaviour is desirable so they may have received praise for the same. In the longer run though it is usually not to successful so some steps have been identified which must be adopted by others with them. First of all, they must be educated on how their behaviour impacts others usually adversely. The consequences to their actions must be demonstrated. Such leaders often fail at planning for corporate strategy, so they must be paired with the others who take a longer-term perspective. Specific management training sessions must be organized where they are coached on the benefits of weeding out this constant sense of urgency and instead focus on the really important things.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/08/how-to-manage-someone-who-thinks-everything-is-urgent?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=17784828&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=1080147547&spReportId=MTA4MDE0NzU0NwS2

Uploaded Date:16 August 2017

A lot of professionals do not find satisfaction in their work. Very few find true meaning. A lot fail to align with the values of the work or the mission the company promotes. The most common occupations in the USA are retail salespersons, office clerks, cashiers and food servers. None of these jobs have historically been associated with meaning yet they all serve to help other positions such as doctors, teachers and members of the clergy, some of the most sought-after ones. Thus, instead of focusing on only one’s own position, one must instead look at the bigger picture, on the customer side. Even if one was contributing in a support way and not directly, the end result truly mattered. So one ought to feel proud of one’s work as part of something bigger rather than crib about it. Business Research conducted by the Otto Beisheim School of Management confirms that those who consider their work as dull, tend to be much less productive.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/08/how-to-find-meaning-in-a-job-that-isnt-your-true-calling?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Uploaded Date:16 August 2017

In a research conducted recently by the Forbes Human Resources Council, the most common bottlenecks in the talent recruitment process were identified. One of the biggest hurdles is being unprepared for a certain kind of talent. Even when they do identify, they do not have any process of capturing them due to a lack of urgency being shown. Another common mistake is to put in place hiring managers who by nature are quite critical of others or indecisive in decision making. When candidates repeatedly turn down the job, the morale among recruiters gets hit. A lot of hiring managers are idealists and thus look for the Unicorn star performers rather than be content with the talent on hand. This inadvertently delays hiring decision. Misdirection is often a cause of poor hiring process as it is not clear whether the position for recruitment is a strategic one or merely to fulfill near term objectives. Recruitment processes sometimes take a hit due to too many unqualified aspirants applying at the same time when offers are made. Reference checks in addition are often unnecessarily time consuming. A lot of potential employees get disillusioned by the clear disparity between the job description and its actual duties to be performed. Sometimes, hiring slows down due to too many people getting involved. Sometimes, it is because the paperwork is tremendous especially in large hierarchical structures. The top talent gets warded off by a rigid compensation structure where they see fewer chances for growth. The job descriptions are quite often too generic. Sometimes, recruitment pipelines are actually quite efficient but concerned employees form a perception of bottlenecks existing. This slows down the process when none should.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2017/07/11/13-most-common-hiring-process-bottlenecks-and-how-to-correct-them/#2bd3c6e774d0

Uploaded Date:28 July 2017

A lot of organizations across industries have been bitten by the agility bug. Companies have realized that in order to meet modern working standards, it is preferable to have an agile system of work rather than go by traditional rigid hierarchies. Management consulting giant Bain however does not fully agree, instead claiming that for certain process oriented tasks such as sales, purchasing, maintenance, and accounting, traditional structures are known to pay off better by reducing costs. In order to truly embrace agility, the top management must adhere by a few principles. The first of them is to ensure that enterprise priorities are treated as managed backlog. This is how the top software teams handle future growth. The next approach is a talent management experiment where smaller teams are to be created just outside the formal hierarchy to test whether this agile network outperforms the mean of the rest of the organization. Finally, all work must be timed in such a way that extensive use may be made of constant learning techniques. A bit of hit-and-trial is used in such cases.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/07/how-to-make-agile-work-for-the-c-suite?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=17688012&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=1061437157&spReportId=MTA2MTQzNzE1NwS2

Uploaded Date:28 July 2017