Talent Management Systems Drive Talent Hoarding Not Talent Promotion

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 31, 2007 

It is not too much complex work that burns out employees, but rather too much unchallenging work that leaves employees cynical and opting for self-employment.
Most Talent Management Systems are Designed to Hoard Talent, Not Promote It
Unfortunately, when you are under employed but conscientious, most self-interested managers reward you, their diligent, go-to employee, with more of the same, [...]

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Succession Planning, Talent Management | Leave a Comment

Succession Planning’s Missing Link - Lunch with Your Boss’s Boss

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 30, 2007 

Institutionalizing lunch with the boss’s boss would be to talent management what the Chia Pet was to holiday gift exchanges - an annual, inexpensive, one-size-fits all way to get the job done.
The difficulty in spotting high potentials is that their managers quite frequently don’t like them which, in turn, steers the manager’s manager’s perception of the [...]

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Succession Planning, Talent Management | 1 Comment

Work Isn’t Stressful; Adapting Is

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 28, 2007 

Work is a psychological imperative for humans.  If we are all wired to work, why can’t organizations find or retain talent?  Workers themselves say they leave organizations due to stress, according to a study by Watson Wyatt.
We are boring our workers away!
Is work inherently stressful?  No, boring work is inherently stressful, and two categories of mismatches [...]

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 1 Comment

Employees are Babies Throwing Tantrums Says HR, Their Benevolent Caretaker

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 26, 2007 

If there are any HR Professional readers in my audience, please fight with me on this one!  Say it isn’t so.
On a post lamenting the fact the HR gets no respect, Karthik raised my blood pressure with the following comment on Gautam Ghosh’s management consulting blog (emphasis mine):
“The employee is to be looked at sometimes [...]

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 2 Comments

Teambuilding - A Friday Funny

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 26, 2007 

I can hear the chorus now…
-Been there. 
-Done that. 
-Have the T-shirt.
Gather some team members, click here, and do some bonding around this 30 second video clip.
Thanks to Frank Roche at KnowHR for the heads up on this one!  In his words, “Friends don’t let friends do teambuilding.”

Filed Under Employee Engagement | 1 Comment

Will Executives Listen to their Employees via Towers Perrin?

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 24, 2007 

You’ve heard the phrase, living well is the best revenge?  I must say it does bring a smile to my face when organizations pay me, as an external consultant, several times what I was making as an internal consultant to say the same things they reviled me for saying while working inside an organization.
In that same [...]

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | Leave a Comment

Rethinking Accountability - Because the Hog Won’t Butcher Himself

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 23, 2007 

The Nobel prize in economics was just awarded to a team that developed Mechanism Design, i.e. a design for arranging economic interactions so that when everyone behaves in a self-interested manner, the result is something we all like.  This includes the idea of Incentive Compatibility, i.e. the concept that way to get as close as possible [...]

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Talent Management - Finding Our Way without a Map

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 20, 2007 

My family will be eating food on a toothpick for breakfast, lunch, and dinner this week, as no one showed at my party last night.  Could it have been the directions?
It seems organizations are having the same issue with Talent Management.  Everyone wants to go there, but without a common language and total-systems model to [...]

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Party at My House. You’re All Invited.

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 19, 2007 

Mission Minded Management is doing well, and I want to celebrate.   Stop by tonight for music, food, and gifts. 
I thought I’d pull an “Oprah” and give a car to anyone who shows up. 
Just follow the directions below:

Drive for a long time on the highway heading toward the sun.
Exit by the big duck pond.  (Watch for ducks)
Turn [...]

Filed Under Organization Design, Talent Management | 3 Comments

Could You Hire This Man?

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 17, 2007 

 Imagine your luck.  Bill Gates has applied for the open project manager position within your division.  
During your interview, he explains that he’s a little bored with the philanthropic life so he thought he’d head back into the corporate world.  Thrilled with your luck; you ask very few questions before offering him the job.  You agree to a Monday [...]

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Talent Management | 1 Comment

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