Blog: Crisis stories – What RBS’ Stephen Hester can teach us
RBS‘ Stephen Hester has emerged to apologise to his customers for the ‘technical issues’ that have left millions of customers frozen out of their accounts. Interestingly, he used the analogy of delayed planes waiting to clear after heavy rain to highlight the fact that the backlog of problems needs time to be fixed. I’ve talked […]
Talent Spot: Charles Elvin, chief executive at the ILM
As chief executive at the Institute of Leadership & Management, Charles Elvin is responsible for setting the UK’s largest management body’s agenda and striving to improve skills through a focus on qualifications. He is a lifelong believer in the transformational power of education, an idea that was drummed into him from his earliest years by […]
A typical HRD: Part 6 – Local government
We are all aware of just how challenging the current economic situation is and the impact it is having on organisations across all sectors. But nowhere is this ongoing era of austerity having a more significant impact than on the public sector in general and local government in particular. The sector is facing a […]
Blog: How can you make performance management more social?
The workplace today has changed beyond recognition; new technology is continuously bringing efficiencies to our way of working. However, one thing remains constant – the performance appraisal process. Now, consider Generation Y for a moment, will they be content to wait for their annual or bi-annual review to find out how they’re doing? Probably not! […]
Blog: All the small things – Getting your PR right in HR
HR often finds itself at the interface between the business and the outside world. As such it is responsible for the external image that the business portrays. I want to share a story that happened last week, which has important lessons for all those who have to deal with the media as part of their […]
Talent Spot: Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam
“I swore blind I wouldn’t end up doing what my father did and, 34 years later, I am,” laughs Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam. His father had been a shop steward before moving into industrial relations, which meant that there had been lots of very dull-looking manuals hanging around at home that had […]
In a Nutshell: Five ways to structure your presentation effectively
How many dull presentations have you sat through – or worse still, delivered? To ensure that this awful situation doesn’t become a reality, it’s very important to structure your argument so that it has every chance of really engaging the audience, regardless of topic. Therefore, in order to prepare an effective presentation, it’s useful to […]
Expert Voice: How to get your life balance right
When life is busy, or all your energy is focused on something, it’s all too easy to find yourself ‘off balance’ and not paying enough attention to the important areas of your life. Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them: work, family, health, friends and soul […]
Talent Spot: Joris Luijke, Atlassian’s vice president of HR
Joris Luijke, vice president of talent and HR at fast-growing Australian software company, Atlassian, has followed in his father’s footsteps by choosing HR as a career. “When I was young, my father tried to convince me not to do HR. So just to annoy him, I went to work in HR!” he laughs. Luijke did […]
A typical HRD: Part 4 – FTSE 250 companies
The focus and pressure on top HR directors in commerce and industry has never been greater than it is today. As a result, over recent years, their remit has evolved to require a far broader, more business-oriented background and set of skills than was previously the case. But this situation has, in turn, led […]
Blog: feedback – are we even sure what it is?
Recognise This! – Feedback is useless unless it is frequent, timely and gathered from multiple sources. Feedback. How often should we give it? Who should give it? When should it be given? What format to deliver it should be used? All of these are good questions, but are we all in agreement on what feedback […]
Performance psychology in action
A goodly number of businesses and public authorities are now starting to adopt performance psychology techniques as a means of trying to enhance how their employees operate on a day-to-day basis. Performance psychology combines business, sports and positive psychology, with the aim of enabling individuals, teams and groups to flourish and become the best that […]
Blog: Punk rock HR – How to make learning worthwhile
Someone does not measure up to your expectations? What do you do? Fire them? Fire yourself for not hiring them properly in the first place? Well, the time-honoured HR solution to the capability problem is to train them. Nothing wrong with that at all, I hear you say? No, except there are some faulty […]
Talking Point: How professionalised is the HR profession?
As the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development prepares to mark its centenary next year, the event raises an inevitable question: how has the HR profession changed over the last 100 years and where is it at in professionalisation terms today? Compared to some of the newer professions such as information technology or facilities management, […]
Blog: Lessons from The Pitch: 9 steps to building a top notch team
How is your pitch being developed? Are you ready for your pitch? This past weekend I became fascinated with the TV show The Pitch on AMC Channel. The Pitch gives an inside view of advertising agencies. Each week, two agencies compete to win a new client by giving a presentation called the Pitch. It gives a close-up […]
Fancy a reward-ing career?
2011 was a difficult year for reward. Both permanent and interim reward recruitment began solidly. Then the Eurozone crisis arrived – and with it an adverse impact on confidence in all recruitment markets, particularly in the financial services sector in the UK and across Europe. Challenging times need to be put into context. […]
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Bob Bannister
Being stuck at airports for hours on end is one of the most energy-sapping and irritating things about traveling. Yet for Bob Bannister, managing director of training provider, iManage Performance, it proved to be fortuitous. He explains: “In the mid-90s, I was working for Philips and doing a lot of sourcing from Eastern Europe, which […]
News: HR employers do little to keep staff despite skills shortage fears
While two out of five employers in the HR sector are worried about losing staff, around the same number are doing nothing to keep them, according to a study. Unsurprisingly then, Reed’s HR 2012 Salary and Market Insight report also revealed that nearly half of all junior HR managers were either actively searching or plan […]
Five reasons why HR should adopt social media
Over recent years, social media has crept into the workings of many a business department, and HR is no exception. Some HR professionals have been using social media as part of their day-to-day activities for a while, but those that haven’t are likely to need to do so in the near future in order to […]
Blog: When laying off staff, remember – people are watching
“In the end, I want to know that the next paycheck is coming. Everything else is secondary.” I thought of that statement from an employee who was afraid that they could be laid off. When I read about Hewlett-Packard’s impending layoff of 27,000 plus employees, I had a flash back. The subtitle of this announcement […]
