I was with a group of Talent & OD professionals from the City of London, talking about the perils of the ‘9-box matrix’ and other common management practices. They nodded enthusiastically: “We agree – it is complete nonsense”. Then I asked: How many of your organisations have these practices? To my astonishment all nodded again: [...]

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In China, skill shortages and high turnover are driving the best companies to re-think the way they hire, manage and motivate sales people. The best managers are ‘pride builders’, who: 1. Let people do the job in a way that suits their style. 2. Focus on behaviours (the journey) not just results. 3. Focus on [...]

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First we outsourced tasks to India. Then, enabled by technology, we crowd-sourced high-value work via pioneering agencies like Innocentive and Topcoder. Now HR strategies can include micro-work agencies like CrowdCloud, ways to engage the skills of the poor like TxtEagle and SAMA Source, and access to free talent through micro-volunteering agencies like The Extraordinaries. Who [...]

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The most powerful branding is not achieved by ad campaigns; it’s personal. We’ve known this for some time in customer marketing. Now we need to learn the lessons for talent. Here’s what happens in an economic downturn: Thousands more talented people apply to your company for a job. Some invest hours – even days – [...]

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Tomorrow’s best companies will be built on the ‘triple context’ of economic success, strengthening society and respecting the environment, according to this new report produced with Tomorrows Company and other partners. The report calls for a new mindset in the way companies create value through people: Recognising talent in everyone rather than pouring disproportionate resources [...]

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