Over the past two years, organizations have fought to do more with less – to hit next quarter’s target, to meet payroll, and in too many cases, to simply survive. At the same time, employees have struggled to do more work than ever before, maintain a positive attitude even as uncertainty about the future deepens, and develop skills even as opportunities for advancement diminish in a low-growth environment. In such an atmosphere, many organizations had little budget for training, nor could employees take time away from their day-to-day responsibilities for training.
Yet as leadership expert John C. Maxwell notes, “Good leadership is learned in the trenches.” With or without formal training, leaders have been emerging within your organization because of how they have responded to the stresses and strains of the Great Recession. They kept peers motivated with a positive though realistic attitude. They maintained momentum during trying times and delivered results for the organization. They remained focused on developing and mentoring the individuals they lead, even when there was little or no time to do so. In other words, when fear and paralysis set in for many, these people led from wherever they were in your organization. By now, they may be frazzled, burned out, and thinking about finding work elsewhere. Before they do, consider Maxwell’s idea that “Leading as well as they can wherever they are is what prepares leaders for more and greater responsibility.”
Going into 2011, can you identify the people are who benefitted from the Great Recession by learning to lead rather than sitting silent fear? Will you reward their maturity, loyalty, and hard-earned experience with opportunity, training, and compensation as better times return? HCI has ideas and offerings to help you do just that. For instance, as you begin to reinvest in critical L&D programs and initiatives, you’ll want to be sure to get these new leaders the more formalized training they have missed while helping you to fight the Great Recession. Learn how to re-think and retool your programs for new realities at our annual Learning & Development Conference, being held from November 15 through 17 in Boston, Massachusetts.
On Day 1 of the conference, Karen Kocher, CLO of Cigna University will deliver a session that will help you develop your Great Recession warriors entitled High Peformance Leadership Development. Her future-facing discussion will highlight trends critical for developing high-performing leaders.
Or join Michael Lee Stallard, President of E Pluribus Partners, as he delivers a webcast entitled "Managing Employee Fatigue without Losing Sleep." Employee burnout can take a toll on the workforce, but there are ways to combat it to ensure that the newly-developed leaders who gave you the most over these difficult years have the energy and desire to keep contributing to your organization as you return to growth mode.
One way to ensure that you remain closely in tune with these high-potential leaders is by reinventing your performance review system away from the annual or semi-annual process toward an on-going day-to-day form of review more in tune with today’s business realities. Theresa Welbourne, Chief Executive Officer of eePulse, Inc. will offer her thoughts on twenty-first century performance reviews in Daily Performance Assessments for a Distributed World.
To stay abreast of the best-performing talent and how they are being developed and allocated, CFOs and CHROs increasingly are rethinking the metrics they need to enable rapid strategic talent decision-making. Join Tom Casey, Principal of the Discussion Partner Collaborative, to learn about "Metrics That Matter Most in Today’s C-Suite," and you’ll be able to focus on the right measurements at the right time.
Photo: cogdogblog