It is amazing to me what gets measured in this world. Just say, Guiness Book of Records and you are now conjuring up outrageous tales of the biggest, fastest, most random anythings — largest hand thrown pizza crust, the largest ball of string, or the longest distance keeping a table lifted with teeth (really?).

But, what about when you need helpful measurements?  It is interesting to me where measurements and metrics can go so wrong.  So, I am going to try and be helpful, as you face the umpteenth report for counts of this and lists of that being demanded from your organization.  Beware and be prepared! read more »

The movie Glengarry Glen Ross introduced the sales catchphrase “ABC: Always Be Closing” to pop culture. Here’s one for HR: “ABP: Always Be Planning.” It’s an especially good philosophy to follow when it comes to talent management.

Think about it – if we are thinking ahead in terms of talent development and management, then we’ll be prepared for change with resources at the ready (to a degree, of course). Take the 9 box, for example. If your company consistently rates and reviews top talent, you benefit in a couple of ways. First, you can easily see read more »

We are thrilled to unveil our new video promotion of the 2010 HR Top Product award winner, Aquire’s InSight for Workforce Analytics. Our marketing team has been working diligently to give you a peek of how InSight will turn piles of raw data into actionable analytics for leaders.

Our tool allows professionals to…

• Analyze trends at every level of the organization
• Know where your talent is headed and the reason why
• Slice and dice analytics to get to the heart of any workforce problem
• And, create workforce reports you need when you need them

So, take a look and let us know what you think. And afterwards, grab the free white paper below.

During our annual employee meeting at Aquire, one of the exercises included a breakout session where small groups of employees discussed the workforce planning of their own departments.  The discussion was supported with the corporate workforce planning specifics for future hiring.  The conversations ranged from, when is it time to hire more people in your department?  What are the problems with hiring people before you capacity for them?  What are the challenges with not having enough staff on board?

The employee feedback included great ideas for managing workforce planning for capacity to huge kudos for being included in the discussion that will help them understand future hiring decisions.

Training your team how to provide input to the forecasting of staff requirements provides a great deal of buy-in from the staff, as well as insight into the mindset of your team for management to consider.

The applause was repeated over and over again, as the promotions were announced at the meeting.  Then a hand was raised.  The question:  With all of these promotions our workforce planning has to include succession planning doesn’t it?

Succession Planning is a huge part of workforce planning.  It is a good thing we know how to do succession planning, because we have a lot of work to do for all the growth we are experiencing.  Planning for new positions and promotions, as well as adapting to the employment market and the staff development changes are all strategic workforce planning.

The more open the process is for the staff, the better they feel about their opportunities and even the pain they experience as they wait for a new co-worker to be hired.  They get it. And, when your staff gets the strategy, department goals align with corporate goals, new ideas are brought to the organization, and the workforce plan becomes more effective and efficient.

I am reviewing the nominations and candidates for Aquire’s employee awards.  This process always makes me so proud of our team. It also makes me reflect over the year’s achievements and the history of our awards.

We have the “Top Gun” award, which goes to the top salesperson.  The “Wingman” award which is a vote of the sales team for who has helped them the most in getting their deals done.

We have a number of innovation awards to recognize the continuous innovation within the company.   read more »