SHRM Blog

The Essence of Strategy (Part 2)

by John BellOn November 14, 2011 0 comments

Last week’s blog post bemoaned the lack of strategic discipline in today’s world of business. I posed three simple strategic questions that on the surface appear easy to answer.

  1. What business are you in?
  2. What will you sell?
  3. To whom will you sell?

You’d think executives from the same organization would offer the same responses. More often than not, their answers can be as different as night and day. Why? Because people struggle with specificity; they hate strategic...

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You Don't Need a Title (or permission)

by Ryan EstisOn November 10, 2011 0 comments

I have shared these ideas before.  They are worth repeating.

You don’t need a title to lead.  Titles don’t earn followers.  You earn followership based on your own ability to contribute value to the process, people and performance.

You don’t need permission to influence.  You impact others and initiate change through action.

We all have the power to make a difference.  Especially among the people that matter the most to us. 

We all have the power to create change.  One conversation.  One connection.  One meaningful moment that inspires action.

Leadership isn’t about...

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Sisyphus Had It Easy

by Jonathan SegalOn November 9, 2011 0 comments

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down.  No matter what he did, Sisyphus could not get to the top of the hill.

We can all feel Sisyphus’ pain as HR and other executives.  We are constantly rolling up against regulatory boulders, plaintiffs’ lawyers and labor unions marketed by the NLRB.

But Sisyphus had it easy in one respect.  He did not have to worry about the FLSA.

We are in the middle of a wage and hour...

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7 Ideas for Generating Buy-In by Leveraging Human Influences

by Ann TardyOn November 8, 2011 0 comments

Whole Foods Employees Vote for New Hires

Every new hire at a Whole Foods store is subject to a peer-based selection process. The newbie is provisionally assigned to a team, for example in bakery or produce, pending a 4-week trial and a team vote. After the trial period, that team votes on the newbie’s suitability and ultimately his or her fate. A two-thirds majority vote is needed to achieve a full-time slot on the team.

Pret a Manger Employees Vote Too

Similarly, to secure a job at Pret a Manger, a British fast-food chain with...

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Today's Managers Must Be Connectors

by Lisa HornOn November 7, 2011 0 comments

By Shirley Davis and Lisa Horn, Co-Project Directors, SHRM’s Workplace Flexibility Initiative

The first joint SHRM and Families and Work Institute work-life conference is next week in Washington, D.C. The conference — Work-Life Focus: 2012 and Beyond/Workplace Effectiveness Strategies that Work — promises to provide senior HR professionals and other business leaders with the opportunity to explore effective and flexible workplace practices and the impact they have on business success and improved employee job satisfaction.

Kyra Cavanaugh, president of Life Meets Work in Park Ridge, Ill., will lead one of the conference’s Learning...

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SHRM: November LINE Report

by Jennifer SchrammOn November 3, 2011 0 comments

The Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report expects that job growth will be limited in November, as job creation slows and job cuts rise in both the manufacturing and service sectors.

As in previous months, human resource professionals report recruiting difficulty in both sectors; a net of 14.5 percent of manufacturing respondents had increased difficulty with recruiting, an increase of 5.9 points compared to one year ago. A net 7.9 percent of service-sector professionals had more difficulty, an increase of 3.4 points from October 2010 and the highest net for...

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Employee Rants Against Company Strategy

by Kris DunnOn November 2, 2011 0 comments

The internet age is a scary place in a lot of ways related to talent, but I'll focus on one today - employee rants that are mistakenly posted to public sources or leaked out of a company and broadcast globally.  

I've posted a lot of those here - mostly memos from CEO that have been leaked by a recipient in the company.  It's good material to review.  You get a sense for how the leadership of a company is communicating issues that are important,...

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What Does The C-Suite Want From HR?

by Laurie RuettimannOn November 1, 2011 0 comments

I am a very lucky Human Resources professional. I began my career in the glamorous world of administration. I typed up timecards at a candy factory. I completed the VETS 100 and EE0-1 reports by hand. Yes, computers existed back in 1995. No, my employer saw no value in them.

After college, I moved into a world of recruiting and HR transformation. I earned my SPHR in 2001 and bought my SHRM mug. It has been my pleasure to work with amazing and talented CEOs, CIOs, and CHROs during the past fifteen years of my career.

...

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Executive Book Club: October 2011

by SHRM StaffOn October 31, 2011 0 comments

Diversity in business and other organizations has been a goal for more than a quarter of a century, yet companies struggle to create an inclusive workplace. In Reinventing Diversity, Howard J. Ross, one of America’s leading diversity experts, explains why most diversity programs fail and how we can make them work.

Ross uses interviews, personal stories, statistics, and case studies to show that there is no quick fix, no easy answer. Acceptance needs to become part of the culture of a company, not just...

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Time Management in Three Words

by Dan RockwellOn October 28, 2011 0 comments

Everything you need to know about getting a grip on time is contained in three words.

Eliminate … Delegate … Accelerate

Eliminate: Stop unnecessary or low priority tasks.
Delegate: Give tasks to others.
Accelerate: Become more efficient.

All time management tips and principles either, eliminate, delegate, or accelerate.

8 Time Management Tips:

  1. You can’t manage time you can only manage yourself. “One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (Accelerate)
  2. Settle. Some tasks don’t need to be done perfectly; they just need
    3. ...
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