The consummate leader is strong, stalwart, unbending, needs no help, and [OK insert sound of a needle scratching across a record here]. The leader above is a dinosaur if indeed such a leader ever did exist. A true leader is the opposite.

Let’s Exercise

A popular leadership training exercise is to have participants list the qualities of their favorite leader or boss and the qualities of their worst. This exercise is revealing to say the least. Today, leaders are more enlightened. Not! Recently, I had a coaching client whose manager kept a jar on his desk with a phrase printed on it. The phrase read, “Employee Ashes.” While many people might brush this off or even find it humorous, the sight of this jar with its message was having an adverse effect on my client. In addition, the manager had a management style befitting the phrase on his beloved jar. In fact, this jar and her boss’ management style evoked such feelings in my client that she and I were working to find her a new job as quickly as possible.     

The ongoing disconnect between business, HR, and IT is legendary and many managers and even some executives may believe this thrilling threesome has nothing in common. Business can no longer operate without good talent management and HR can no longer be effective without IT. Why do these three bickering siblings need to get along for a more successful future?

CEOs focus on strategy and must also ensure their organization is financially sound. There is another critical concern and that is talent. The savvy CEO is the one who understands the importance of hiring good talent, ensuring a good fit, and then continuously developing that talent. Good talent pulls organizations through the good times, tough times, major changes, and navigating a crisis. But the CEO cannot and should not take on the talent task alone. One of the major partners in the talent effort is HR. However, the CFO should also be a part of that talent task triangle. Having these two partners in place is a great benefit to the CEO.

Job shadowing is often good for young people considering a profession. A company allows an individual to come in and job shadow a person in marketing, or HR, or a chef, an attorney to help the new job seeker to see if the job or industry is a good match for his/her interests. Organizations would be wise to consider implementing job shadowing. However, job shadowing does have its detractors.

It used to be that when there was a job opening, a “personnel” manager could just post it in the paper, job seekers would look in the Help Wanted Section and the two of you would connect. The candidate would receive an invitation for an interview and if the candidate could walk, talk, and chew gum at the same time, he or she would be under serious consideration if not hired on the spot. Now HR and the organization must take a far more active role in recruiting, hiring, and retaining their workforce.

Tag! You’re it! This is the mantra of a childhood game, we have all played. Of course, the objective to the game of tag is to be tagged. This idea can be true in the workplace as well. Some people do not want to be “tagged” for the next position up via promotion. Of course, there are others who might be running toward the person who is the current “it.” That is to say, they want and work hard to achieve that next promotion. Unfortunately, many organizations run successions more like a game of tag than a serious process deserving of attention. This creates chaos, low morale, and can have a negative impact on profits. Good succession planning takes just that – a plan.

In an earlier blog, the topic was mashing myths around assessments. This blog addresses another “M” word shadowing assessments and that is “mistakes.” To be more precise, mistakes in the use of assessments, mistakes in understanding the language in assessments, mistakes in using the information in assessments to its best advantage, and not using the right assessment.

Long ago and far away the foundation for assessments began with Empedocles, 490-430 B.C. who founded the school of medicine in Sicily and Hippocrates, 460-370 B.C. from Greece who we consider as the father of medicine. However, he was also an observer of people. Despite what my children tell you, I do not know these two gentlemen personally. Even with this long history, many myths, mistaken ideas, and misuses of assessments exist and persist. The point of this blog is to dispel the myths, correct the mistaken ideas, and better redirect the misuse of assessments.