The Employee as the "Person of the Year"

This time of year, we all see various publications announcing; person of the year, best places to work for the year, car of the year, book of the year, and record/entertainer of the year. The list goes on and on. I would like to honor and nominate the employee as the person of the year. An honorable mention would go to HR. This intersection of people and HR is a noteworthy combination. Why, because they are both linked at the hip. The economic downturn has affected both in such a way that it will forever change the dynamics of this pair. Employees have been decimated during this long downturn and HR was on the front line of this assault. Employees will never be the same as well as human resources. The employees that were laid off and the ones that are left have both lost faith, trust and the link between their organizations have been broken. Countless number of people have lost jobs, had careers stalled and their lives upended. This has affected a group that is often referred to as the “greatest asset” in an organization.

Networking Plays a Critical Role in Your Job Search

This week, I was a guest blogger at Pongo Resume

Today's post is written by Ron Thomas, a human resources professional with more than 15 years of experience, including roles with Martha Stewart Living and IBM. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Workforce Management, Chief Learning Officer magazine and Crain's New York Business. Recently, he was named to the HR Hall of Fame by HR Network of New York. Ron's blog, StrategyFocusedHR, focuses on human resources from a strategic perspective.

I attended a conference years ago in which the presenter gave me an "Aha! moment" during a discussion about careers: "You are no bigger in your field than your Rolodex." (Or, for today's younger workers, your connections and followers.) I have never forgotten that statement.

Leadership: What is the new model for the future?

While growing up, I always looked forward to the debut of new cars because the designs would change every year.  However the European models would not change drastically.  Unlike the US manufacturers, they would evolve over a few years whether it be design, safety enhancements or the latest gadgets.

It appears to me that leadership has taken on some of those traits.  I searched Amazon Books and found approximately 375,000 titles listed on the subject of leadership.  Did the great leaders of yesteryear have to update their skills yearly with the publication of a new book.

Why Talent Management is the end all be all for your organization!

HR has gone through so many transformation over the years that as soon as you get the handle on a new process, strategy or title, here comes another take on HR strategy and development. Think of the transactional role, the generalist role, the business partner model and now comes Talent Management.

I decided to do some research to find out where and when that term, talent management came into the HR space. From what I found, it was a term coined by David Watkins of Softscape, published in an article in 1998. This term is so prevalent in today's business environment. Companies are now faced with how to deal with talent due to the expected upheaval that is headed towards company's today.

People are our greatest asset! Really ???

How many times have you heard that line? How many times have you looked at a company's website and noticed the great verbiage concerning their employees and wondered whether it is really true. If your employees were asked whether they believe it, what would be their answer? You just may be surprised or maybe not. Maybe you don't even believe it yourself.

Creative Onboarding Programs

I will be a contributing author on a new book tentatively titled "Creative Onboarding Programs". The author is Doris Sims, SPHR, www.SuccessionBuilders.com. The book will allow readers to take a look at successful onboarding programs. The book publisher is McGraw-Hill.

My portion will cover the successful Onboarding program that I created during my tenure as VP, Human Resources/Organizational Development at Martha Stewart Living. I will supply the complete toolkit that can be used as is or you can use it to get ideas as how to build or tweak your current program.

Stay tuned.

Forbes Advisory Panel

I have recently been invited to join Forbes Advisory Panel.

The Forbes Advisory Panel provides executives with the opportunity to share their expertise and knowledge on a variety of global business and economic issues and access timely, original research reports based on their insights. Panelists' opinions have a direct impact on the Forbes Insights Practice's understanding of today's key business issues.

Resume Tsunami or HR Tsunami?

Resume Tsunami or HR Tsunami, which one are we headed into or is it both?

I recently posted on my blog an article titled "The Tsunami is Coming" and it is headed for HR. My take was that we are headed into a storm which I called HR Tsunami. This predictor was based on the recent upheaval within companies whether it was layoffs, restructures or any other name you chose to describe it.

I recently came across a white paper that delved into this same type upcoming problem. The research was done by Deloitte. The title is Managing Talent in a Turbulent Economy-Part 3.

"The Tsunami is Coming" comments on LINKEDIN

The blog post :"The Tsunami is Coming", elicited numerous responses from fellow HR professional groups through LINKEDIN. I have attached links for your review.

Employer Branding Group

The Five O'Clock Club Group

The Tsunami is coming

Years ago, Paul Revere came galloping across the countryside of Lexington and Concord warning the colonists that “The British are coming!” In Medieval England the town criers were the chief means of communication. Now I am in no way comparing myself to Revere or the town crier in any way but we as HR folks are headed into the storm.

As an avid reader of white papers and research related to Retention, Employee engagement and leadership to name a few, I came across 4 surveys that had me thinking about my above prediction.

Onboarding vs. Orientation?

Onboarding vs Orientation??

That is the question. With so many buzz words floating into the HR space, I wonder how many of them will stick.

One that will get my vote is Onboarding, which is defined as the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new team members who comes from either inside or outside of the organization. Some might think that this could be a one day course of action, when in reality it should be an ongoing process. When done right, it can improve talent retention, drive productivity and build a shared culture. More importantly it drives long-term organizational success.

Can HR learn about talent management from the NFL

What can HR learn from the NFL Draft?

While watching TV the other day, I was fixated on a program on the NFL network. The program which is called “NFL Combine” is a program that is based on bringing together prospective NFL players that consist of college students who have declared their intentions to turn pro. What I found so interesting from this was the intensive amount of drills that each athlete was put through. But more importantly, the amount of homework that each team had done in preperation for this “recruiting event” Every metric possible was measured: