SHRM Blog

Global Leaders Aren't Made in the Classroom

Last month, we chatted about what global leaders need to know—Intellectual Capital, Psychological Capital, and Social Capital--and where to start with their development—by leveraging development opportunities and tools already in your organization.  Once you’ve identified existing resources, what do you do with them? 

Our research at Najafi Global Mindset Institute shows that leaders with the highest Global Mindset abilities are not made in the classroom.  They develop through a series of layered learning and experiences over time.  Now, that’s not to say classroom or instructor-led training isn’t valuable.  In fact, a large part of Global Mindset is based...

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Who Owns Your Company Talent?

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s a popular cliché I’ve seen tossed around a lot.  And I get the premise – strong cultures can make or break your organizational strategy.  It’s true. But where does culture start? Well, Steve Boese recently wrote a post titled, “If culture eats strategy, then what eats culture?” answering that exact question.

Without giving Steve’s post away, it got me thinking about talent.  And, who “owns” talent in a company: is it the organization or the manager?

Or maybe it’s neither. 

Could it be that the individual employee “owns” their...

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Media and the 21st Century Resume

In an attempt to circumvent the keyword-laden resume game, job seekers are taking a more creative approach to captivating recruiters. Rather than dropping the resume altogether, the trend seems to be a breakaway from over-automation and a return to the heart of what makes a good hire. Laurie Barkman of The Resumator explains, “We’ve been told for a long time, ‘This is how you do recruiting, and here’s what matters,’ but organizations are now more interested in interactions that help to determine a good fit. And more nimble organizations are looking at people beyond the resume.”

Sounds...

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5 Ways to Change Careers

The problem with trying to change occupations or industries, is that most people don’t have the skill set to support a broad leap in jobs. So they end up willing to do practically anything other than what they are currently doing, and subsequently flounder in their job search.

After 15 years in recruiting, helping companies to find and hire teams of highly specialized consultants and executives, my job is now to teach employers and recruiters how to find and attract talent better. But one of my primary passions remains helping job seekers along in the career process. I...

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#NextChat Success - A Recap of our Twitter Chat on Social Media

There’s no denying that social mediais changing the way we work. From its emergence in the recruitingsphere to the way it is redefining workplace culture and flexibility, organizations and HR professionals are quickly adapting and growingwith each and every innovative step that social media takes.

As social media continues to grow, so does We Know Next. Last Wedesday, @weknownext jumped into the world of Twitter chats and along with special guest Matt Charney @MattCharney, we hosted our own #NextChat conversation to discuss social media’s impact and role with HR and recruiting.

Nextchatters agreed...

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Failure and Learning Through Leadership

Achieving milestones within a department or an organization is a process that involves a clear strategy, research, team members, and the flexibility to change and adapt along the way.  Just like leaders, a company’s culture or environment doesn’t just happen.  Great cultures are made from the top down and the down up.
 
The key in creating a corporate culture focused on high achievement doesn’t come from the learning curve employees and their teammates face but in how they learn and work together during their failures.  It’s the low points, not the high points that create a...
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I Love You

It is 9 am.  The secretary reports to her desk.  Waiting for her is a sealed card.
 
The secretary opens the envelope and it is a Valentine's card from her manager.  Having undergone sensitivity training, the manager signs it "fondly" as opposed to "lovingly."
 
The employee is creeped out and goes to HR.  HR talks with the manager based on a script we had prepared together.
 
HR asks the manager if he knows why the card is inappropriate.  He responds "no."
 
HR asks the manager to whom...
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Jobs Blog: When Demand Is Low, It's Time to Train

Much has been said about the contribution of the “skills mismatch” to the United States’ elevated unemployment rate. Even President Barack Obama weighed in during his State of the Union address, calling it “inexcusable” that there are job openings in many industries that can’t be filled while millions
of Americans are looking for work.
 
Although most economists argue that joblessness is largely a function of lowered demand at the moment, simple math says there’s also something else going on: There are 13 million people out of work, yet 3.2 million jobs are available. Recruiters...
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From Idle to Innovative: 8 Ways to Ignite Managers in the Middle

2011 Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge
 
The Cleanup X Challenge offered $1 million to the team that could invent an oil-recovery system able to recover oil from the surface of the ocean at a rate two times the industry standard. The building and testing of such a device was already an improbable feat, but the stakes were raised even further: contestants have 90 days to complete it. 
 
Team Elastec met the challenge 
 
When Donald Wilson, the CEO of Elastec, the largest manufacturer of oil-spill-cleanup equipment in the US, read...
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Where do you marinate from 9 to 5?

When I was a teenager my parents told me to be careful about the character of my circle of friends.  Positive friends make good friends and will likely improve your quality of life and decision-making.  Negative friends, on the other hand, will have the opposite effect. Before you know it, toxic friends will craftily lead you to make poor decisions, ultimately directing you to a bad place in life.
 
You are eventually the product of your environment. That’s why I highly recommend you surround yourself with good, smart and honorable people.
 
When I...
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