Ben Eubanks is the Principal Analyst at Lighthouse Research, a firm dedicated to uncovering the trends and technologies that drive HR, learning, and talent. His research focuses on human capital innovation, strategy, and technology. In addition, Ben writes a blog for in-the-trenches HR leaders at upstartHR.com, a resource that has touched more than 650,000 lives since 2009. You can connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Intuition, awareness, or whatever you want to call it–it’s a critical skill if you want to be a successful HR pro. I’m a fan of examples to prove my point, so let’s dive in!
Seeing the needs of new employees
Recently I was helping to onboard a new group of employees. We had won a new contract and needed to pull the new folks into the fold ASAP with no downtime or issues.
Before I jump in, I realize that there is some cost associated with everything. My love of economics doesn’t allow me to get away with the idea of a “free lunch” without mentioning that; however, I’m talking about increasing the perceived value without increasing the direct cost of the various options offered. Hang with me, there’s good stuff to share.
I like data. I like reviewing it, pulling out trends, and sharing insights. I also like when I get the opportunity to ask others what they like and get some anonymous feedback, because I believe that anonymity helps to improve the quality and quantity of responses.
Last week I sat down at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and spoke with some of the students about what they need to know as they prepare to leave school and enter the real world.
Split testing is a marketing tool that companies use to evaluate the impact of their marketing messages. They will take a key message and test variations of it against two (or more) groups, then compare the results to see what worked best. It helps over time to define the best and most effective communication method for the target audience. So why don’t we do this internally?
Today we’re going to look at leadership, how it can fail, and how it can succeed. When we look at the leaders at the top of the organizational chart, we usually don’t think of them as the worst leadership examples in the organization. However, recent data has shown that to be the case.
Great teams can propel organizations to new levels of success. Today we’re looking at how to improve team performance with an approach that has proven results across a spectrum of cultural, geographic, and generational challenges. A few years ago The Orange Revolution was written by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. The book focuses on great teams and where they come from.
Just a quick post today. I’m reading a book and I ran across a section where the author is discussing the differences between two phrases that seem pretty similar but have very different meanings.
The idea is that focusing on what keeps you awake at night might seem innocuous, but it focuses on fears. What are you afraid of? What’s scaring you? The question assumes that the recipient has worries and fears that they want to share.
I firmly believe in the power of using the locus of control theory to have a richer, more fulfilling career. Read on for how you can use the locus of control theory to evaluate job candidates.
Last week I had a discussion with another local HR pro, and we were talking about interview questions that help to discern what candidates lack the requisite people skills to get the job done. We’ve all run across candidates who may interview very well, but then they turn out to be a nightmare once they are on board.
