Human Capital Lab Executive Director Rich Douglas curates a quarterly review of trade magazine articles, academic articles and books to help human capital and talent development practitioners and scholars excel and evolve in their profession. Here’s the Winter 2025 edition.
Hey folks! Another round up of industry articles for your consideration. This time, all are from one source: the Association of Talent Development. You can find them—and a lot of other great stuff—at www.td.org. So, here are a few highlights.
The Faces of Change, Victoria M. Grady, TD Magazine, April 2025
Talent developers and leadership developers often find themselves working in the area of change management. Usually, it is examined from two perspectives. First, helping people cope with change and second, bringing about permanent change. But there’s something missing: where do our feelings about change come from? In this article, that idea is examined. But it doesn’t stop there. Just because we have a certain “preference” for reacting to change doesn’t mean we’re bound by it. So, this article also offers up an updated version of the change reaction model, as well as ideas on how leaders can adapt, not only to their own change response styles, but also to help employees respond more effectively to change as well.
Put a Different Spin on Networking, Kimberli Jeter, TD Magazine, January 2025
According to Richard Bolles in What Color is Your Parachute?, the odds of finding your next job by answering job ads is about a 1,000-to-1 proposition. Also, some 80% of jobs are never listed publicly! So, how do most people find their next opportunity? Largely through networking. And Kimberli (KJ) Jeter offers up some terrific advice on the subject in this article. But it’s not just a few good tips. No, KJ doesn’t do anything half-way. Instead, she suggests a multi-part strategy to leverage (and build) your professional network. (I really like her takes on showing gratitude and offering value to others first.) You know, sometimes, whether you’re in your silo at work or are out there as an independent, you can start feeling like a drop of water in a vast ocean. But we’re not drops of water; we’re the ocean! Learn more about building and maintaining connections from this article.
The Era of Master Thinkers, Justin Reinert, TD Magazine, January 2025
Quick! Run and hide! Here comes that AI thing again! Well, get used to it. Artificial Intelligence has been with us since the Industrial Age, albeit in limited forms. (Have you ever been in an elevator operated by a human? Probably not. That elevator is equipped with AI so it knows where people want to be picked up and where they want to get off.) But now we’re facing AI at the generative level, where we can use it to create new content. In fact, AI is quickly becoming one of our true general-purpose technologies, like the steam engine or harnessing electricity. But for now, it might help us all to provide critical thinking analyses on what we have AI create for us. This article reminds us of the six levels of critical thinking, along with a “CRAAP” test (don’t worry; it’s an acronym) to help us evaluate what the bots are creating for us. By the way, I don’t mind if AI replaces me at work. I’m just hoping my wife doesn’t get one at home!
Create Synergy Between Coaching and Training, Cheryl Franz, TD Magazine, December 2024
As both a trainer (CPTD, y’all!) and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC from ICF), I’venadvocated for years for incorporating coaching into training. This article discusses the advantages of both individual and team coaching. Whether it’s enhancing participants’ self-awareness, helping them transfer learning into performance, or extending the training experience itself, coaches can bring many enhancements to the learning experience. Finally, there are some tips and a brief case study on building a coaching culture within the organization.
Well, that’s it, folks. I focused on TD Magazine this time around because there was so much great content out there. In our next installment of Human Intel, we’ll broaden our range to include more from the human capital management world and from original research designed to advance both theory and practice. See you then!