Summer Reading on Talent Management and Coaching July 24th, 2009

Sean Conrad

I’ve seen a lot of great talent management and coaching related articles and blog posts, and I wanted to take some time to share a few of them with you.

Here’s an interesting article from the CRM Learning blog on how non-verbal communication undermines performance. As the writer notes:

The way we react to other people and communicate these feelings nonverbally can have a major impact on our working relationships. By sending out positive signals–”positive acknowledging”–we can motivate subordinates, promote a harmonious relationship with others at our level and gain the respect of our superiors. Sending out negative signals–”negative acknowledging”–has the opposite effect. It blocks communication and breeds resentment and distrust.

The article goes on to list all of the positive and negative non-verbal cues that you may be using. What struck me as interesting is that over the years, I’ve seen many of the negative cues from people that didn’t necessarily know they were doing it, and in some instances, did it without a negative connotation. It’s worth taking a look at anything you may be doing when it comes to positive or negative non-verbal communication and seeing what you can do more or less of.

Here’s a blog post from Andres Acosta at Fast Company on Why All HR Departments Need a Blog. Acosta provides some compelling ideas as to why HR needs a blog, and how it would benefit the organization. Here’s his take on what a well-moderated HR blog can do for the organization:

1. Employees can post suggestions and questions; and where employers can respond, in a safe, properly moderated environment.
2. Rumors can be brought to light, answered and addressed with clarity and consistency.
3.  Awards, successes, human interest (the good stuff) can be disseminated quickly.
4.  Challenges, disappointments and difficult changes (the bad stuff) can be communicated directly by company leadership to all employees without being muddled by poor communicators in middle management.
5. An HR Blog can reinforce core values, quickly address real concerns, promote transparency and increase trust all while minimizing mis-information; in a forum that can be anonymous (for the fearful employee) and properly controlled (for the fearful employer).

If you are currently working on selling this initiative within your organization, this article could provide some good fodder on why you should do this, and if not, may give you some food for thought.

Finally, here’s a humorous post from Kathy Rapp over at Fistful of Talent on The Most Interesting Person – In the HR World. I laughed out loud at many of Kathy’s points, which plays off the recent Dos Equis ad campaign. My hands down favorites are:

She’s a lover, not a fighter; but don’t tempt her with a late performance evaluation.

Even his competitors list him as their emergency contact number.

Her reputation is expanding faster than HR pros on Twitter.

Enjoy!

Tags: coaching, performance management, talent management