David.Kovacovich

David.Kovacovich's picture
Bio: 

David Kovacovich is an Engagement Strategist, Organizational Culturalist, and Behavioral Economist. He has been a member of the SHRM Annual Conference Social Media Team since 2013 and is a keynote speaker in the NCHRA lecture series.

David is on Twitter at @DavidKovacovich and blogs at Dave's Weekly Thought.

Screen Name: 
David Kovacovich

History

Member for
10 years 9 months

Articles by David Kovacovich

Last week, I wrote a piece about my journey to finding the perfect job. I know many are not so lucky. Some studies even indicate that most people hate their job.

October 24, 2013

Culture has become a buzz word in the #HR world. We went from Employee Benefits to Employee Rewards to Employee Recognition to Employee Engagement which has created an emphasis on Organizational Culture. Google has created a city to engage their employees; Zappos has re-invented old town Las Vegas for the same purpose. With our personal brands now more prominent than our company logos, the emphasis on culture is no longer the exception but the rule.

October 1, 2013

My occupation allows me to swim in many waters. I work with Marketing, Sales and HR Leaders across the Globe. While we want to believe we live in a time of organizational alignment, we simply do not!! Marketing wants Big Data, Sales wants to see the ROI and HR wants to be accepted for their Leadership contributions. We say our mission, vision and values align us; but far too often they are swept under the rug in difference to our more immediate goals.

September 18, 2013
My friend Robin Schooling wrote a compelling piece a few days back. She conceptualized a two-headed HR department:
 
Head 1: Transactional -  which handles benefits, employee relations, HRIS, new hires/terminations/transfers and compliance.
 
Head 2: Transformational -  which has responsibility for performance management, talent management, learning and performance, leadership development and business strategy.
July 31, 2013
This morning HR Professionals across the world catapulted themselves through the office doors full of inspiring new ideas. The SHRM annual conference has concluded, now it is up to us to carry the well-lit torch of knowledge into our organizations. We came to Chicago to learn and share. Through human consensus, however, I can tell you that HR's greatest challenge is ending the stigma!
 
June 21, 2013

Wanna see a bunch of HR people cry? Put them in the an expo hall the size of an airplane hanger and put Mr. Blake Mycoskie on stage. We HR folk are often called upon to put our emotions in-check....no such luck on Monday morning in Chicago!

June 20, 2013
I will be joining the #SHRM13 Social Media Team this year at the SHRM Annual Conference in Chicago.  In years past, I worked on an exhibitor booth team.  Here’s my take on the vendor mindset and how you can maximize your exhibitor hall experience. 
 
By the way, you can meet me at “The Hive” (located in the South Building of McCormick Place in HALL A right next to the SHRMStore) for a social media tutorial:
Monday 2pm - 4pm
June 14, 2013

A few weeks from now you will grab your favorite travel accessories in preparation for the 65th annual Society of Human Resource Management Annual Conference. I’m sure you are bursting with excitement to get to Chicago to learn, network, and build your strategic toolbox. By the time you return from the Windy City many of you will be recertified or adding a letter to your post name credentials. Whether it’s your first SHRM conference experience or your 65th, maximizing your time is essential.

June 5, 2013

"My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people." – Steve Jobs

When it comes to recognizing employees an either/or scenario is often presented: “Should we recognize only our top performers, or should we recognize all of our employees?” The answer is both…and more.

June 4, 2013
Tags:

I have done over 300 speaking engagements on the topic of Employee Engagement over the last 6 years and I am getting tired. My quest to find the essence of what creates organizational culture and how we can empower workforce awesomeness has been trumped by a number of things:

May 9, 2013

"Who do you want next to you in court?"

April 29, 2013

There seems to be a reluctance to release the performance review handcuffs in the HR world. Let's be honest: we conduct performance reviews so that we have legally binding documentation in the event we need to fire someone.

That's that!

In reality, effective performance management requirements are directly in-line with Tom Chatfield's 7 Ways that Games Reward The Brain:

April 10, 2013

A fairly recent World at Work survey listed "lack of opportunity" and "dwindling faith in leadership" as key contributors to employee disengagement. This bell rings very familiar! Early in my career, I experienced ongoing disappointment at my own expense. I was young, energetic, and full of motivation. I understood the core functions of my job and executed them like wild fire. I volunteered to do extra work and read the books suggested by management. Still, the opportunity for advancement was not offered.

March 20, 2013

Remember when companies were run as dictatorships? We simply cannot do that anymore. There are too many people in too many places with too much work to be done. Nowadays, one man or woman cannot run a start-up -- let alone a global corporation.

In the past, while formulating an employee engagement strategy I would often hear, "The CEO wants it that way, so that's the way we are going to do it." Today, the CEO-centric program may be the very thing that drives tomorrow's talent away.

February 8, 2013