Online Articles

By K.C. Blonski, Senior Director, Travel, Leisure, and Retail Markets, AchieveGlobal Despite a still-sputtering economy, consumer confidence continues to grow as retailers up the ante when it comes to delivering customer service. With the holiday season in full swing, and retail success dependent on exceptional service, retailers cannot rely solely on holiday decorations and seasonal promotions to drive traffic and ultimately brand loyalty. They must focus on owning the customer experience.

By Jerold Ramos, Sr., CABR, CRM, Manager, Talent Acquisition for AlliedBarton Security Services

By Will Doherty, MBA, MA HRM, Cert Ed., MCIPD Political change in leadership, economic downturn, austerity measures imposed, cutbacks implemented—the consequences of these actions now are starting to filter into the HR and Global Learning & Development community. We are seeing reduced spending on classroom-based training, budgets reviews, cutbacks in resources, a recruitment freeze, restructuring, doing more with less, and a “nice but not today!” response to L&D requests.

By Erika Andersen Once upon a time…

By Robert P. Hewes, Ph.D., Senior Partner, Camden Consulting Group 1. Have a Vision Know where your group or organization is headed and be able to articulate it well. Be able to paint a vivid picture of where you are heading. Develop the ability to describe your vision in 30 seconds (the classic elevator pitch), 3 minutes, or 10 minutes depending on the need.

By Dr. Sarita Bhakuni, CPP Consultant When Katie Albright became the new executive director of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center (SFCAPC) four-and-a-half years ago, she knew the first step toward getting the organization to function more effectively was implementing a major restructuring initiative. She formed a new leadership team composed of members with various levels of tenure and experience and positioned them to help the formerly small grassroots organization, which had transformed into a larger, more complex entity, perform in a more efficient manner.

By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist In today’s highly competitive business environment, every dynamic of a successful organization must be pointed toward ultimate customers. Customer-focused management goes beyond service and quality. There is no business that cannot improve its customer orientation. Every organization has customers, clients, stakeholders, financiers, volunteers, supporters, or other categories of “affected constituencies.”

By Marianne Langlois, Global Process Executive, NorthgateArinso Fall is here, and retailers already have begun ramping up their hiring for the holidays. While some retailers have cut back seasonal employment, numerous other organizations have announced they are doubling entire workforces to help with the flow of incoming traffic and consumer demands. Whether a company plans on hiring one or 10,000 extra employees this holiday season, they all face similar challenges in finding, onboarding, and training these employees.

By Marshall Goldsmith and Laurence Lyons My mission is to help successful leaders achieve positive, long-term, measurable change in behavior: for themselves, their people, and their teams. When the steps in the coaching process described below are followed, leaders almost always see positive behavioral change—not as judged by themselves, but as judged by preselected, key stakeholders. This process has been used around the world with great success—by both external coaches and internal coaches. Steps in the Leadership Coaching Process

By Dr. Kristy Murray, Director, ADL Initiative, and Aaron E. Silvers, Community Manager for ADL and a contractor with Problem Solutions