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There's never been more pressure on executive leaders to perform at a higher level in a wider range of areas. While leadership today is more complex at all levels, the role of enterprise leadership presents unique challenges. It can be daunting to keep up, given the complexity and the rate of change in so many different parts of the business.  

What do the Indianapolis Colts, Imagine Dragons, Will Power, and my furnace all have in common?  Over this five-part blog series, we will see how they all prove that a traditional performance appraisal model has never worked, as well as show the need for a change of mindset that focuses on managing talent success instead of trying to manage employee performance.   

Stop me if you’ve heard this one (you have, but it is worth repeating): A CEO and CFO are battling it out during the budget process.  The CFO says to CEO, who is asking for dollars for leader development, “What happens if we train them and they leave?” The CEO pauses and responds with, “What happens if we don’t and they stay?” I love this two line quip.  It is so true and so telling of the way we lose sight of what could happen to our businesses if we fail to invest in the development of our people.

Bosses get a bad rap. In a complex, dynamic workplace (and life), it’s easy to blame the frustration or unhappiness we feel at work on our bosses. This talk runs rampant . . . “I don’t get enough direction.” “My boss doesn’t appreciate me.” “My boss takes credit for the work that I do.” Imagine if we took all the time spent complaining about bosses and bottled it—that time adds up. Every second of time spent complaining about your boss (or anyone else) is completely wasted energy and does nothing to help you.

You’ve heard people talking about book clubs.  Maybe you want to know more—Who goes? How do you choose a book?  Aren’t book clubs just an excuse to have wine and snacks with your friends? Depending on the book club, those answers vary.  I have been in a book club for close to 10 years.  There are some other members who have been there since the beginning with me, and as the group has evolved, we have invited a few more. We now have a group of 12 committed women with widely ranging tastes, opinions, dietary needs and families. 

Transformational – Empowering – Collaborative – Thought-Provoking – Practical – Enlightening

This list represents six of the words that individual participants shared when I asked each of them to use one word to describe the leadership development experience so far. We were three months into a six-month development process and I wanted to see where their heads and hearts were.

A recent survey conducted by Talent Board asked participants to rate their likelihood of referring others based on their most recent application/interviewing process. Nearly 50% of those surveyed (44%) indicated they would “Definitely Not.” Take a minute. Let that sink in. Now think about what the candidates you’ve been in touch with in the last 90 days would say about your organization? Sobering isn’t it?

There has never been a more important time to be an HR leader—it’s a complex work environment and organizations are craving strong leadership. As someone who cares a lot about the HR profession (we must continue to evolve) and the work I get to do as a Talent Strategist, I believe the latest HR Competency Model provides important focus.

You are creating your life as you go based upon how you think about your life. Are you intentional about that or are you reacting to what is?

I am passionate about visioning and goal-setting. In 2007, I created a 10-year plan for my life using the process that I outline in this post. At that time, I was single (three years post-divorce), working for a consulting firm, and trying to figure out how to balance a career while raising my five-year old daughter,