Warren Buffet on Talent Mgt

The current credit crunch is shaping a major rethink for many investors, forcing them to take stock and rethink their priorities. Some investors will lose out, others will win.

 

For those engaged in talent management - recruitment, assessment, development, coaching and succession management - it is a good time to evaluate their leadership investment strategy and game-plan. And who better to learn from than Warren Buffett, the most consistent and successful investor in the world?

 

Download AMAzure's take on how Warren Buffett might approach talent management here.

It applies an interesting slant on talent management using Warren Buffet's own philosophy. He has achieved 20% compound growth per year by investing in businesses that:

• he understands
• have favourable long-term economics
• are run by able and trustworthy economics
• come with a sensible price tag.

Even if you just take 5 minutes to read the short document I am sure you will find it worthwhile.

Leadership Development - beating off the crunch

Leadership is really under the spotlight at the moment. Gordon Brown has been getting some negative reviews of his performance over the past months and Henry Paulson is both a hero and a villain.

So how can we help our leaders and managers develop? If we can help to equip them for times like these then that can only be a win/win situation.

Training Zone have some interesting thoughts on how good leadership development is a vital tool to beating off the crunch.

"So what kind of development is most likely to enable that transfer of learning into practice? There are no guarantees that it will always work, but the kind of characteristics of a development programme that are most likely to produce real performance changes are:

1. Clearly defined learning outcomes that are linked to the identified needs of the learners and to organisational goals.

2. Flexible learning that fits into the working practices of the organisation and its business cycle.

3. Short, focused learning programmes that enable flexibility yet are part of a larger programme that has a coherent structure and inter-relationships between the elements.

4. Structures that encourage learning transfer and performance change.

5. Mechanisms for assessment that focus on application and performance."

Wally Brock also has some interesting advice on leadership learning on the job:

"Yet, despite recognition of its importance, leadership development is going nowhere fast. Confidence in leaders has declined steadily over the past eight years, and most leaders are not satisfied with their organization’s development offerings."

There's lots of good material about leadership development and succession planning in the Summary and the whole report. There's material on the differences between line executives and HR executives, too. Each of them blames the other for the problems with leadership development."

Finally Art Petty has some great advice on Teaching a Senior Team to Dance with Leadership Development. There are 8 Steps to the dance so I suggest you put your best foot forward.

All L&D professionals have an opportunity to really engage with the business to show how they can really add value and support. Are you up to it?

Do we need a stress awareness day at the moment?

If you are connected with the Financial Sector at the moment then you will be surrounded by stress and worry at work. Even if you are not directly connected (who isn't?) then just turning on the news brings more tales of woe. 

It made me chuckle that November 5th is National Stress Awareness day. Surely they got the date wrong by about a month! Do we really need to be made more aware of stress?

Having said that as a good manager it is an area that you need to be both aware of and prepared for. Do you know how to recognise stress and do you know what to do about it - both in yourself and others?

If you want to know more then read this informative article in this month's Management Today.

There is no specific law in the UK on stress, but under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 you must take measures to control the risk. Failure to do this could cost you dear in an employment tribunal. Watch your back!

Mentoring - another way to focus on L&D during tough times

Mentoring schemes are a great way to support the development of your people. If you don't already have a scheme in place then now is a great time to start one.

The mentoring relationship can be a win/win situation for both people involved. It's a great way for senior people to spot talent and the less experienced people get a great opportunity to impress as well as receiving their words of wisdom and guidance.

For great tips and some more advice check this article out.

100 Learning professionals to follow on Twitter

I have been using twitter for a couple of months now and sort of 'poking it with a stick'. I could see it has potential but I wasn't quite sure how I could really make the most of it. However I read a post by Jane Hart on the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies web site and this has now all changed!

Jane has listed the twitter addresses for a whole host of learning and development people. I connected with about 50 of them over the weekend and can now see what a powerful network this is.

Take a look yourself and start tweeting by connecting with me.

10 Reasons to be cheerful

It's not all doom and gloom out there. Management Today have come to the rescue with 10 Reasons To Be Cheerful.

Being a bit of a greeny my favourite one is:

" REDUCED CARBON FOOTPRINT. Recession equals reduced consumption, fewer hydrocarbons burned and less CO2 emitted. QED. The roads are already less congested and petrol sales have fallen for the first time in 10 years. Airlines are canning less-popular flights and routes and parking surplus aircraft in the Arizona desert. Bus and train travel is booming, and the high cost of electricity and gas is encouraging householders to don another jumper rather than turn up the thermostat. It may not be fun but it's good news for the planet."

Action Learning - the Final Part

OK, in parts 1 and 2 we looked at how action learning works, the principles and also who needs to be involved. In this final part we are going to look at how to get action learning started in your organisation and how to best integrate it into other learning activities.

What do you need....?

Step 1: You Need Some Participants

It is really important that the people taking part in an Action Learning Set are there....because they want to be there. They should be open minded enough to approach the experience with a positive mindset - it is no place for cynicism. The individuals need to be prepared to share some of their issues and problems with the view to being able to resolve them via their participation in the group.

Try and get together a mix of people perhaps from different parts of the organisation or individuals with differing levels of experience. This all helps to provide the participants with a different view point on their problems and challenges. Hierarchy should be left at the door. However do avoid having an employee and their manager in the same group...

For your first Action Learning Set it may be useful to invite people who could become future facilitators. Having their own experience will be invaluable and of course they will also help to spread a positive message.

Step 2: You Need a Facilitator

In Part 2  I described the role of the facilitator and it is particularly important at the start of the action learning process. Whilst you ultimately want the group to be self facilitating they will almost certainly need a helping hand at the beginning.

The facilitator should have specific experience of action learning and will most probably also be experienced in coaching or mentoring. They need to be removed from the content and just facilitate the process.

Step 3: You Need a Sponsor

Ideally each participant should have someone senior sponsoring their participation. The sponsor should be interested in the outcomes and actions for the individual. A key reason that action learning fails is the struggle for individuals to find the time to participate. The sponsor can play a key role here.

Step 4: Select an Environment

This also shouldn't be underestimated. The environment should not contain any references to hierarchy and the layout should encourage the involvment of everyone (probably chairs in a circle). The participants may be wary of this to start with (it's not alcoholics anonymous.....) but it is an important part of the process. Clearly there are some ground rules to be agreed by the group ranging from turning off phones to commiting to follow through on 

any actions etc.

It is also worth thinking about how you will measure success for both the group and also the individuals. What are the outcomes that the individuals are looking for? Translating the outcomes into tangibles will make it easier for others to understand the benefits of the approach.

It's all in the blend....

As with all learning interventions success usually comes from providing a blend of learning offerings to your organisation. Action Learning can play a really important role on its own but can be even more powerful when integrated with other activities:

• Following a formal learning intervention such as a classroom based course it can be extremely useful to form an action learning group for the paricipants. For example you may have been learning about emotional intelligence but the real learning comes when you return to work. That's where you need the support and coaching from an action learning group.

• Think about how you can use action learning as a tool to develop your talent. You may wish to offer it to your 'High Potentials' initially to encourage their peer networking. It is also a great way for participants to develop their own coaching and listening skills.

• Think about grouping your action learning sets into themes. For example you may want to start one for the sales community. They may all have a common goal of achieving their sales target but they will individually have their own sets of problems and challenges to overcome.

• Think about how you can join up with action learning groups from other organisations. For example in the UK the Whitehall Industry Group (WIG) faciliate groups that span many organisations and sectors.

....and if you want more..

Action learning really does work and is most definitely worth the effort. If you want to find out more then here are some useful resources:-

• More information on starting an action learning set from Wendwell.
  
• Tips for success from the assocation of coaching.
  
• The International Foundation for Action Learning www.ifal.org.uk/
  
• The Action Learning Matters project www.alm-vol.org.uk
  
• Action Learning Matters (A resource pack on action learning, NACVS 2004)
  
• ‘Action Learning’ – an introduction (VAN Briefing No. 50 September 2000)
  
• Real Problems in Real Life (Ian McGill and Liz Beaty, Management Skills & Development magazine September 1996)
  
• Action Learning: Research & Practice A journal dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and practice through action learning.
• World Institute for Action Learning
  
• Action Learning Associates
  
• Action Learning in Practice by Mike Pedler