There’s a wide body of research that shows that companies whose workers are fully engaged have better corporate performance. It’s unmistakable. In these organizations the team delivers great work, innovation, and they understand that their efforts are linked to the goals of the organization, and linked to how they will be rewarded.

A few must read blogs posts I wanted to share with all of you:

By now, you’ve probably seen (or at least heard) of Susan Boyle, a contestant on the show Britain’s Got Talent. Peter Bregman has a great post over at the Harvard Business Blog on how Susan Boyle is a great lesson in talent management. Her talent wasn’t obvious based on her appearance, she was an unexpected contender who is now expected to win the competition. For managers, the lesson Bregman shares is that “Great managers see the unique talents of each employee, and then create the role that’s a perfect vehicle for those talents.” This post does a solid job of explaining why managers as coaches should do this and how this benefits the organization as a whole.

I recently told you about a webinar we were hosting about managing talent through the current economic downturn. Our customer, Convenience Food Systems, has been using their online talent management system to help ease them through these difficult times, with a focus on goal management and ongoing performance feedback.

I’m getting ready to head to San Diego for the IHRIM annual conference next Monday and Tuesday. If you are going to be at the show, I’d love to have you join me for my session. I’ll be looking at actionable strategies for creating a high performance workforce using performance-based learning.

As I was reading the April issue of Talent Management magazine, an article by Tory Clarke, Volunteerism’s Impact on Talent Management caught my attention. As the title implies, the article looks at how organizations should encourage their employees to volunteer because it produces numerous, positive benefits to the organization.