Resources

When I first started to write this article I had planned to call it just "Calling all Coaches," but then I quickly realized that this title would potentially scare away a large part of my intended audience. The reason for the title addendum is the varying use and definition of the term "coach." Outside of the business world the definition is pretty clear; a coach is typically the leader of a sports team who guides his or her players in all activities ranging from teaching basic skills, to giving instruction during practice

Training and development efforts are a critical component to a successful performance management strategy and ongoing learning opportunities to motivate employees. Ask just about anyone if they want to learn and you will likely get a resounding, "Yes!" Why then, does completing a training activity often become a thorn in the side of managers and employees alike? There are many factors that can impact the value of training within your organization and unfortunately turn learning opportunities into tedious "to do's".

Ask ten people to define talent management and chances are, you will get ten very different definitions covering everything from how you hire to how you fire. But no matter how you define it, there is one common element at the root of talent management - people. Ideally, talent management should be a series or set of integrated processes that impact every stage of an employee’s career with the goal of keeping them engaged, motivated and productive in order to help a company meet its strategic and operational goals.

When is the last time, as a people leader, you entered into the season of performance management with wide-eyed excitement? Does that sound ridiculous? I’m laughing even as I write it. Traditional performance management processes and tools are typically time-cycle driven, rating and ranking focused and arduous and tedious for managers and employees alike. Regardless of the characteristics of the manager/team member relationship, few welcome this time of year.

I’ve worked for all kinds of managers in my career, from nurturers to narcissists and everything in between. And I’ve taken the lessons I’ve learned about being managed to heart, using those lessons as a guide to try to understand what works – what makes a difference and has impact – when leading teams today.

What happens when we have a major business event during the year that was unexpected? Have you heard of VUCA? It's actually a military term that has been adopted in the Talent Management arena, and often used when discussing Performance Management.