Online Articles

By Don Maruska and Jay Perry The world belongs to the talented, and that means you. Whether you’re the new kid in a cubicle, the boss in the executive suite, or you run your own business, you have huge potential for greater productivity and fulfillment. Even very high performers in excellent organizations—large and small, for profit and nonprofit—report that 30 to 40 percent of their talent is untapped. And that’s only the talent they know about. It doesn’t capture what they haven’t discovered yet.

By Terri Maxwell “If you want something better, you have to be willing to do something different.” In our new book, “The New World of Work: From the Cube to the Cloud”(Inspire on Purpose Publishing), my co-author, Tim Houlne, CEO of Working Solutions, and I reveal startling statistics about the global labor force and the opportunities that smart executives and entrepreneurs can leverage now to stay ahead of competition.

By Lynda McDaniel, Co-Founder, The Book Catalysts According to a recent survey, as many as 80 percent of adults want to write a book, but only 2 percent ever do. You can beat those odds. As a trainer consultant, you have a wealth of experiences to share in a book—techniques you learned the hard way, insights unique to your sessions, information people need to excel on the job. Books are the 21st century equivalent of business cards, so you don’t want to be without one.

By Jeanne O’Connor, Human Resource Manager, Billtrust “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” How many times have these 12 threadbare words been preached to job-seekers? More importantly, how many companies look in the mirror when uttering them—particularly on that day when a new hire first reports for work?

By Joe Lipham, Training Account Manager, Signature Worldwide I thought I had hired the perfect person for the front desk. She was bright, articulate, and eager to learn the hotel business from the ground up. She was going to be my front desk star. I arranged an interview with the front office manager and she agreed: star material! Imagine my surprise and disappointment when two weeks later my new star was in my Human Resource director’s office offering her resignation.

By Matt Pierce, Customer Engagement Manager, TechSmith Corporation Bring your own device—or BYOD—is growing trend in offices across the country; in fact, by the end of this year, 65 percent of companies expect to have some type of BYOD policy in place. BYOD is accelerating the smart phone and tablet markets as it is becoming more commonplace in today’s work environment. Along with many other perks, BYOD provides a unique opportunity for trainers to better engage employees with learning resources and training.

By Richard Elsner and Bridget Farrands Just as a new leader is entering into a major period of uncertainty during transition, so, too, is the organization. The arrival of a new leader is probably the most threatening, unsure, and unsafe period in any worker’s time in an organization. It also can be a period full of uncertain promise. The kinds of questions people ask themselves are:

By Paul Glover Poor Peter. He was so misunderstood. His character and plight, known as the Peter Principle, describes a competent employee who continued to be promoted until he reached a job he did not have the skills to perform, where he was stuck and ultimately failed. That concept was introduced more than 40 years ago, but even today, you may hear comments about employees being “Peter Principled,” and usually those comments are accompanied by a snide chuckle

By David Clutterbuck Talent managementsystems are built upon the assumption that talent can be identified with relative ease and accuracy. This assumption is questionable for a number of reasons. First, in practice, talent is often emergent. It sometimes takes time to become obvious to the talent holder and to observers. Someone may need to be placed in a stretching situation, which stimulates them to exercise a talent, before they recognize it as such.

By Jill Attkisson, Global Insights and Innovations Research Leader, and Carol Sladek, Partner and Work-Life Consulting Leader, Aon Hewitt