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How to Find Hidden Leadership Talent in Your Organization

By gothamCulture
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find hidden leadership talent

What would happen if one of your senior leaders stepped down tomorrow? Is your organization prepared to fill his or her shoes quickly and efficiently? Do you have qualified, knowledgeable leadership talent on your bench, ready to take the reins?

If this isn’t a concern for your organization now, it soon will be. Research suggests an average employee tenure of five years these days, regardless of age or position within an organization. Baby Boomers are ready for retirement and the next generation of Gen X and Millennial leaders are poised to take their place, but only if you know where to find them.

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The Hollywood Model and Adapting to the Future of Work

By gothamCulture
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Skyline in Los Angeles California

I recently came across an excellent article in The New York Times from economist Adam Davidson (co-founder of NPR’s Planet Money). In it, he describes his experience working as a technical adviser on the film The Big Short and the unique group dynamics he saw while working on set (this is further expanded on in an interview with Russ Roberts on the podcast EconTalk).

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The Three Pillars of Every Successful Change Management Plan

By gothamCulture
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successful change management plan

It’s 2017, and your boss walks into your office and says, “We need to restructure four key departments: Finance, HR, Internal Communications and Information Technology into a centralized function to serve all the core business lines globally. The result of the restructuring is vital for our organization because it’s projected to increase our operating margins by as much as 5-6 percent over two years. I need you to lead this effort.”

It sounds like a good idea until you realize the change will involve 5,000 employees in those departments. Oy! Now that’s some way to bring in the New Year! In addition to a solid organization design strategy (hint-hint, stay tuned for my next article), you will also need a change management strategy and plan in order to transition the entire organization to a shared services model.

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The Tension Between Technology And Engagement In The Workplace

By gothamCulture
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technology employee engagement

Employee engagement has had quite a run in the spotlight and many organizations are intent on cracking the code to develop and sustain high levels of engagement that, in turn, drive other business performance outcomes.

Research suggests a direct connection between engaged employees and a variety of performance outcomes, including productivity, profitability, reduced turnover, and customer experience. Yet, sites like Gallup continue to report that only one-third of the global workforce is engaged at work.

There are multiple theories as to why employees may disengage with their employers, but my recent conversation with Mike Ettling, president of SAP SuccessFactors, shed light on a technological factor that I hadn’t previously considered.

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Can’t We All Just Learn to Disagree? A Post-Election Reflection on Healthy Conflict

By gothamCulture
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healthy conflict

In the wake of the election, we are all trying to figure out how to move forward. We’re trying to learn the lessons that one of the most divisive political campaigns in history has taught us. We are struggling to bridge what feels like an ever-widening chasm between two very separate American publics.

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How Technology Empowers Your Talent Management Strategy

By gothamCulture
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technology talent management strategy

I thought I’d struck pay dirt when I landed my first internship in college. I was interning in the Human Resources department of a trucking company and I felt like I’d finally arrived.

My responsibilities included sitting alone in an office all day, screening resumes for truck drivers and forklift operators, conducting phone screenings, and setting up in-person interviews if candidates met certain criteria. Spending countless hours alone in a room with stacks of applications, a computer, and a telephone made me appreciate the effort it takes to find the right talent to move an organization forward.

Looking back twenty years later, it’s astonishing how things have changed and how—in some ways—they’ve stayed the same. Technology has evolved through several evolutions over the last two decades, and those paper job applications are a thing of the past.

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Are You at Work on Your Own Planet? Or, How Empowered Are Your People?

By gothamCulture
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Sol 17 – I woke up today with a killer headache, alone in an unknown place, with a book full of instructions on what to do next. The worst thing is, I have no idea who I am.

Sol 19 – Major breakthrough today. I remember, my name is Susan. I work here. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where “here” is.

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The War For Talent Is A Myth And Here’s Why

By gothamCulture
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war for talent myth

The “war for talent” has been raging for years. Companies are doing whatever they can to attract and retain the highest caliber workforce possible in our fast-moving and hypercompetitive business environment.

But some leaders in the talent space, like Mike Ettling, president of SAP SuccessFactors, don’t buy into the “war for talent” narrative, suggesting that we have created this pervasive belief through the influence of our own biases.

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Clash Your Way Towards Psychological Safety (and Innovation)

By gothamCulture
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clash towards psychological safety

In our quickly expanding, technologically reliant world, uncertainty and interdependence are far more common now than, say, 30 years ago.  This rapid change has given way to agile organization structures, functioning in more democratic or flat ways. Frameworks (i.e. Scrum, XP, Lean) have aided these sort of initiatives, and the need for them has become increasingly more relevant.

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