July 2024

Human Capital Lab™

CLO Magazine (July)

“A leader’s playbook: The power of deploying and operationalizing DEIB”

Organizations engaged in Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) activities are in danger of doing so only for appearances—political reasons. These “aesthetic” efforts are shallow and often lacking measurable goals. But DEIB efforts can be integrated into business and organizational operations, directly contributing to their strategic success. This article, written from a leadership perspective, includes a five-step process for this:

  1. Leader Awareness and Commitment—from the top on down
  2. Assessment and Baseline Creation—figuring out the current situation
  3. Strategy and Goal Setting—what will it look like when you’re done and why does it matter?
  4. Implementation and Integration—Create the initiatives and integrate them into operations
  5. Measurement, Iteration and Feedback—Check for successes, repeat them and communicate them

The article also emphasizes the importance of leader education and coaching as a means of implementing effective DEIB-related change throughout the environment.

CLO Magazine (July)

“Transforming learning paradigms: The evolution from upskilling to comprehensive professional development”

CLO Magazine continues this theme of moving beyond the surface and toward the complex with talent development. In this article, the difference between mere “upskilling” your staff and developing people holistically is examined. (After all, when companies say people are their most important assets, they should mean it, right?) By elevating people and not just their skills, we open the door to all sorts of new possibilities. This means creating personal pathways for everyone. To manage this shift towards comprehensive development:

  1. Create personalized learning pathways
  2. Provide continuous feedback
  3. Create experiential learning opportunities

The challenges of this transition, implications (individual and organizational) for learning outcomes and even the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) are also presented.

Chief Talent Officer (May)

“Mastering talent retention in competitive industries”

As of the time of this writing (July 2024), the American economy is incredibly robust. Lowering inflation, rising wages, low unemployment and economic growth are all contributing to a highly competitive human capital market. In short, employers are strained to find qualified and motivated applicants to fill their burgeoning talent pools.

So, what to do? In short, if you can’t find new ones, retain the ones you have. From the article: “Talent retention is a fundamental component of organizational success, as it plays a pivotal role in ensuring a stable and efficient workforce.” This article explores both the importance of talent retention and strategies to support it. Finally, the benefits of retaining employees and leadership’s role in it are presented.

TD Magazine (June)

“Considerations After Cutbacks”

But…the human capital market is always an uneven one. Even in a robust economy, there will be winners and losers or, more accurately, gainers and losers (in terms of staff). This article answers the question, “What strategies can help retain and engage the ‘survivors’ of a company layoff?” It describes how the modern human capital market has changed (and the implications for employers), then offers a contrast between retained employees who “push on” and those who “pull back.” Finally, the article places an emphasis on coaching employees to be more self-reliant in their career management.

TD Magazine (July)

“SMEs, Are You Busy?”

We talent developers know everything about the learning experiences we create, right? (If you’re not scoffing at that notion, I am concerned.) The classic team-up is between talent developers and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). But there’s a snag: creating these experiences is our role, but it isn’t central to what SMEs do for their companies and organizations. They’re busy with other things.

This article offers valuable tips for accomplishing these things. What drives your SMEs? What are they trying to accomplish? How can participating with talent development enhance their own experiences, performances and careers? And what is their role in the development process? Learn to build an SME engagement strategy and bring greater depth and quality to the learning you offer.

TD Magazine — 2024 Special Edition, “Simply the Best”

Some of our best lessons can be learned from the successes of others. From the Association for Talent Development, this special issue of TD Magazine brings readers dozens of splendid examples of accomplishments in a wide array of talent development activities across broad public and private spectra. BEST Award winners, Excellence in Practice winners, winners of the Advancing Talent Development Award, and more, this issue captures the best our profession has to offer. (Full disclosure: I’ve been a judge on several of these awards over the past few years.)