Talent Management what is it?

Recently, Gower Commissioning Editor Jonathan Norman, sat down with Nigel Povah, co-editor of Assessment Centres and Global Talent Management and asked him how assessement centres address the issues of diversity. We filmed as they continued to discuss how Assessment Centres can find talented individuals, and then broke the discussion down into three section so you can watch in chunks.

Do let us know if you find our short chats interesting and useful.

Part one of three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj_8_1Le1-Q  (5mins)

You can view part 2 of the interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmzzlPrIgI8 (5 mins) and part 3 here: http://youtu.be/-y5aFNLgRnI (4 mins)

Webinar: How can HR unlock the value of the middle manager?

Jane Sparrow with be presenting a webinar on Monday 18th March, 2013 at 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM GMT discussing how HR can unlock the value of the middle manager.

Jane believes it is essential that managers have the confidence and capability to be great engagers and this is the only way to truly build and sustain a high performance culture. Within the webinar, she will provide proven and practical strategies for HR Professionals which they can use in order to support their managers and use throughout their organisation.

You can register for the webinar here.

Jane is author of The Culture Builders.

Surely, time to stop being lead by the nose?

I really enjoyed Douglas Board’s interview with Bob Garlick on the recent Business Book Talk. It’s extraordinarily demoralising, when we are all struggling to create a new future in an uncertain business world, to see those selected and paid to lead us so often seem to have feet of clay. Douglas’ insights into executive selection offer some pragmatic ways of changing by understanding and embracing the uncertainty and complexity it involves. If we adopt the kind of approaches he is advocating in the place of the old, self-perpetuating ones, I wonder to what extent this would change both the quality of our leaders and the culture of leadership which they enable? Douglas Board is author of Choosing Leaders and Choosing to Lead: Science, Politics and Intuition in Executive Selection.

Getting Smart about Flexible Working

There still seems to be a lot of scepticism surrounding the benefits that flexible working can have on businesses.  With new leave regulations and new measures for flexible working being implemented by the government during 2013, this is a step in the right direction, however, it may reinforce sceptical attitudes towards flexible working.

You can read more about this subject by author Andy Lake, who has written a recent blog for HRZone. Simply register your details online for free.

Andy Lake’s book Smart Flexibility is available here, you can also read chapter 1, at your own convenience.

Free Webinar – Landing your first CEO role

In conjunction with the Association of MBAs, Douglas Board, author of Choosing Leaders and Choosing to Lead will be hosting a free webinar on the topic of ‘Landing your first CEO role’. This webinar is designed for anyone competing now, or over the next 2-4 years, for their first CEO role, or a top tier position in a large organisation. It is relevant to the private, public and voluntary sectors.

This webinar will take place on Tuesday 19th February at 13:00.

The main webpage is here: http://www.mbaworld.com/networkingeventsbydate

You can register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/836317598

Changing the Way Things are Done – One on One

Jane Sparrow’s interview with Bob Garlick in the recent Business Book Talk is a wonderful example of leading by example. If you just listen to how Jane talks about her approach to leading employees, you get an immediate sense of the quality and common sense she distills in her book The Culture Builders. Her focus on the importance of middle managers in making things happen may not be radically new but the pragmatism that she brings to the process of mobilizing them is immediately convincing. That doesn’t mean that it’s easy – particularly with the five distinctive roles that she outlines for middle managers (prophet, storyteller, strategist, coach, pilot) – but then, just maybe there are middle managers out there who are looking for the opportunity to step up to a challenge; to make a difference to their organization and not spend their whole time simply as the bulldogs of business-as-usual.

Why are Chief Executives running scared?

In a recent article for the Health Service Journal, Douglas Board, author of Choosing Leaders and Choosing to Lead discusses the NHS and how it needs leaders who are curious and ready to take risks - not motivated by fear of failure. Using his expertise within the areas of executive selection and his knowledge of the industry - Douglas offers a thought-provoking insight into the current trends within the NHS today.

You can read Douglas’ article in full, here http://www.hsj.co.uk/5052908.article.

Experiential learning – a universal methodology

Gower author, Ann Alder, looks at how the creation of REALs (Rich Environments for Active Learning) can provide learning opportunities in almost any situation, culture, organisation and for learners at any level of education, seniority and specialism. In a recent blog post she discusses how this worked on a major World Health Organisation Management Development Programme, designed specifically to support managers responsible for the implementation of the Global Polio Eradication Programme.

Ann is the author of :

Pattern Making, Pattern Breaking: Using Past Experience and New Behaviour in Training, Education and Change Management

How do you achieve a high performing culture?

As Iain Adams explains in his recent article on Jane Sparrow’s new book, The Culture Builders, the one subject ‘big bosses’ are asking internal communicators more about these days is how to achieve a high performing culture in the business. Iain praises Jane on her expertise, experience and the valuable information she puts forward in her book; relevant to all communicators in any organisation.

To read Iain’s full article visit http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/book-reviews/building-engagement-one-step-time

The single most influential factor is successful executive action learning?

Whilst I am almost certainly exaggerating the point for dramatic effect, I do think that the influence a facilitator (good or bad) can have on the success of an action learning set is very considerable. I note that Rocket Consultancy are running an Executive Action Learning event for a maximum of 16 CEOs and other senior strategic leaders on 6th March in Oxford. Mike Pedler is one of the group facilitating the event. I can’t think of a better or more knowledgeable facilitator than Mike; he’s been the leading light in the research and application of action learning and management development for over 20 years. Worth checking out if you are considering AL as a tool for your top team. Mike Pedler is author of Action Learning for Managers and editor of The ABC of Action Learning and Action Learning in Practice.