Are you able to find a leader in a haystack?
While the current labour market is highly competitive at all levels of experience, there is no more precious commodity than candidates for leadership roles. Despite effective leaders being widely recognised as the cornerstone of business success, our latest research shows that many organisations are quite simply failing at succession planning. The majority (63%) of the […]
Four quick ways to improve your employee rating scale
The spring 2014 Employee Outlook Report from CIPD found that one in three employees feel their performance management process, and the communication from their managers, is unfair. If you think you might be in the same boat, taking another look at your performance rating scale is a simple way make improvements. The most familiar rating […]
“Venture capitalists put talent ahead of strategy every time.”
This is an interview with Tim Dyson, CEO of communications and marketing group Next15. Tim joined Next15 in 1984 straight from Loughborough University and became its global CEO in 1992. Tim has been named an Emerging Power Player by PR Week US. In 2013, Tim was recognised on the Holmes Report’s In2’s Innovator 25, which recognises individuals […]
Time to blow up H(B)R – and the CIPD as well?
Harvard Business Review (HBR), the world’s premier intellectual business magazine, likes to publish pieces which are challenging, rigorous and readable. For example Justin Fox’s piece ‘What We’ve Learned from the Financial Crisis’ (November 2013) is still on the money today, as the EU political-financial and Chinese stock market crises unfold. But HBR likes something even […]
Creating an intuitive workplace for future wellbeing
In today’s digitalised, data-driven world, we work faster, learn quicker and absorb more information on a daily basis than previous generations would have ever thought possible. This influx of technology into the workplace means that, by 2030, HR departments will be increasingly focused around people analytics, making decisions based on data collected from their workforce. […]
Interview: Air Commodore Warren James CBE
In this interview with Air Commodore Warren James CBE, we look at what military defence is really like and discuss the skills that ex-defence personnel bring to the workplace. Warren James is Head of the Directorate of Training, Education, Skills, Recruiting & Resettlement (TESRR) in the Ministry of Defence. “With the best will in the world […]
Connecting transformational leadership, purpose and the triple bottom line
Of all the issues that executive teams and HR directors face, one of the most challenging is how to achieve a sense of purpose among employees. Initiatives in this area are just as likely to provoke employee resistance as they are to stimulate employee engagement. Too often, the process of instilling a powerful sense of […]
Why traditional performance management may be hurting your engagement — and what you can do about it
Why traditional performance management may be hurting your engagement — and what you can do about it Today, plenty of experts and studies confirm what we already know: traditional performance management is broken. But it’s not just slightly flawed. It’s seriously damaged. So much so, that it’s actually creating disengagement and turnover — exactly the […]
Don’t believe the Accenture ‘end of appraisals’ hype
Accenture’s recent decision to abandon the annual performance review looks on the surface to be a bold and progressive move, which has been well received throughout the business community. A “massive revolution” is how CEO Pierre Nanterme described the decision, but is it all just smoke and mirrors? The truth is that annual performance reviews […]
How Waitrose drive process improvement through employee suggestions
Waitrose, food stores of the John Lewis Partnership, recently started using collaboration software to power its innovation and suggestion scheme, Partner Ideas, which aims to encourage employees to suggest process improvements, capture these improvements and lead to lasting change. We caught up with Stuart Eames, Operational Improvement Manager at Waitrose, to find out more about […]
From performance misery to performance joy?
“Once a year [I] share with you what I think of you. That doesn’t make any sense. People want to know . . . am I doing all right? Nobody’s going to wait for an annual cycle to get that feedback,” Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme told the Washington Post last week. And with these words Accenture’s 330,000 employees breathe […]
Does Accenture’s move mark the end of appraisals?
I was delighted to see an article in last week’s Independent confirming that, one of the world’s largest companies, Accenture, will be putting a stop to holding the annual appraisal review. Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme told The Washington Post that the company, which employs 330,000 people around the world, is preparing to halt a performance review process […]
Does speaking up really save lives?
The BBC recently published an online article with the headline “How speaking up can save lives.” Hierarchy, in healthcare and other sectors, inhibits staff from pointing out errors to those in charge, leading sometimes to loss of life. So, we need to train junior staff to raise concerns assertively, and ask senior staff to pay […]
Er, what does disruption actually mean?
“I want to hear some new ideas that will be disruptive, that will alter my perspective.” It seems that ‘disruptive’ is the new buzzword. I hear it used as a description of what people seek from road shows, seminars and training events. It bothers me and it may bother you too that the commentators might […]
Ramp up engagement with the ‘motivation tee’
Interested in employee engagement? We’re running a one-day conference on September 10th in London focused on the business side of engagement and how you can drive value across the whole organisation. Hear from people-focused CEOs, board-level HR directors and people experts and come away with practical, actionable tips to improve engagement efforts in your organisation. Find out more […]
How will ‘disruptive’ HR practices affect reward?
There is movement afoot to bring credibility and new purpose to the often maligned yet critical function of HR in modern organisations. The CIPD conference last year was badged as ‘High-Impact HR’ and you will have no doubt heard the term ‘disruptive HR’ from a multitude of blogs, articles, conferences and soap-boxes. ‘Disruptive’ comes from […]
Why did Google abandon 20% time for innovation?
Google has been well known for its unique approach to innovation – from its open culture, its radical work environment in its Googleplex campus to its methods for innovation. This has enabled it to grow meteorically from its formation in 1998 to become a $62 billion turnover company by 2014. One of its best known […]
“The skill set of the HR function will shift.”
This is an interview with Nigel Sullivan, Group HR Director at TalkTalk. Nigel is also a non-executive director at the Royal United Hospital Bath and was previously Group HRD and Board Member at Wincanton, VP HR at Marconi Communications and HR Director at Nortel. You’ve been at senior HR director level for over 20 years now. […]
HR consultants – get your tanks off my lawn
No names, no job titles, no companies. HR After Dark features totally anonymised opinion pieces from HR professionals, consultants and industry commentators. No holds barred, no censorship, nothing but raw opinions on issues that matter to HR. When the lights go down, HR After Dark comes out to play. See it all here first. Want […]
Sharing proprietary practices to drive performance across regions?
With the global economy gradually moving out of recession challenges are returning for businesses; such as managing the financial pressure of maintaining a highly skilled base of human capital and the rising recruitment cost of attracting talent. In this highly competitive economic environment, companies have recognised the need to provide more innovation, greater value for […]
