In my time as a researcher I have come across countless articles and blogs about the habits of great leaders or the bad habits of those in positions of power.  They almost hit you in the face on a daily basis if you traverse LinkedIn often enough.  The funny thing is I have never seen them contextualized to leaders in specific roles or industries.  They are always generic.  This irks me to no end because it reminds of my initial research on the SHRM Competency Model.  In a review of more than 30 competency models...

It seems that everyone wants a seat at the table these days, including college athletes. However, it’s not the boardroom table where they want a voice and a vote. It’s at the bargaining table.   On April 24, 2014, in a college sports first, Northwestern University football players voted to unionize in hopes of achieving benefits such as scholarship protection and long-term health care. However, the ramifications of this historic vote have since been put on hold pending Northwestern’s appeal to the National...

Do you wear a fitness tracker like a Fitbit or a Jawbone? Or maybe you are planning to jump on the Apple Watch fanboy train in a few weeks and take advantage of that device's ability to track your activity. Lot's of folks are keeping closer track of their workouts and activity today. A few months back Microsoft launched its first entry into the wearables market with the Microsoft Band, a wearable tracker that possesses a variety of sensors including a microphone, a GPS location sensor, motion sensors, an optical sensor that measures heart rate, a sensor that tracks skin conductance,...

  Recruiters face a paradox. Currently, there is an amazing pool of talent available to be tapped, but the sheer numbers make it increasingly difficult to locate perfect candidates. This makes it more important than ever to develop a true recruiting strategy. The following tips can help you map out your strategy for recruiting the best candidates. Ideally, your recruiting strategy should be planned on an annual basis. Execution, however, will need to be on a shorter-term, rolling basis. For example, if you...

  Now, it’s time for headlines of the latest news: In "It Will v Never Happen," the NLRB stated that "management rights must be respected and it is not for the NLRB to tell employers how to run their businesses.  We decline the union’s invitation to do so." In "Dream On v Silly Rabbit," the California Supreme Court instructed lower courts to scrutinize wrongful discharge claims more closely when resolving a motion to dismiss. More specifically, the court expressed concern that "the cost to employers in defending frivolous claims is diverting limited resources, that could go to their employees, to their...

On April 1, @shrmnextchat chatted with Mike VanDervort (@MikeVanDervort) about "Are College Athletes Students or Employees?" In case you missed this excellent conversation, here are all the tweets from the chat: [View the story "#Nextchat RECAP: Are college athletes students or employees? " on Storify]  ...

SHRM CEO, Hank Jackson Bill Gates once said, "Microsoft is always two years away from failure." This statement is a reminder of the competitive reality that businesses face and a powerful motivator to innovate. Judging from the company’s perch at the top of industry lists—second most valuable brand in the world, according to Forbes, and No. 34 on the Fortune 500—it’s safe to say the tech company has done its share of innovating since it was founded 40 years ago. Today, as HR professionals, we...

  This is the third in a series on the Secret Sauce of leading a successful search.  The first two chapters included the important steps of crafting the job posting and then the important research and networking.  This musing is dedicated to the important vetting process in determining the finalists for a search. If we have done our job well in the initial research, recruiting and storytelling, we will have a number of resumes to review and start the short-listing.  This vetting process can seem overwhelming to many, as there are so many factors to consider, but the...

  We can all use a little ongoing development.  There are certain skills that few people can master and never think about improving.  One of those skills is the art of negotiation.  I admit, there are people who seem to ooze confidence when it comes to wheeling-and-dealing to achieve the result they want.  However, for the majority, being able to negotiate a quality resolution is sporadic at best. When thinking about negotiating, you could be facing a multi-million dollar deal on the table, a choice between vendors on a...

  Anyone who has struggled with time management or procrastination knows the definitions of these terms all too well.  They bring to mind incidences of felt laziness, guilt, inadequacy, anxiety or just the failure to get things done.  Removed from all of the emotional negativity, procrastination refers more simply to the avoidance of things that need to be accomplished. Conversely, time management is the effective use of resources to achieve tasks in a reasonable time-frame. In today’s workplace, the use of the internet and technology...