A recent survey by TTI Performance Systems reveals the following % of respondents planning to make full time additions in 2009 in the following industries:

28% IT

23% Professional and Business Services

20% Transportation and Utilities

16% Sales

14% Health Care

13% Financial Services

How do these compare with the plans your organization has?

Let us hear from you.

I am writing this while on a flight to Phoenix to attend a professional development conference.  I expect to sharpen my capacity to serve those who want best practices resources for optimizing management and team effectiveness. In my next blog I will provide some highlights of what I have added to my knowledge base and the Effectiveness-Top Talent Resource Tool Kit to better serve you.
 
Occasionally, I take out a blank page and record with is on my mind—My WIOMM list.  Seems like a great way to use five plus hours of flight time.  Many of the items on the list are the events of the past couple of weeks.  History-making events in Washington and the on-going saga of the continued financial situation have occupied a lot of mind share and I simply wanted to unload it and get it on paper.  How refreshing to let it go by putting on paper.  I encourage you to do a similar exercise.  It really doesn’t require a long plane trip.  You can refresh your mind in as little as fifteen minutes.  Try it!
 
That said, what am I now free to think about?  How about the future or becoming more forward focused. My friend and colleague, Ed Oakley, whom I will see at the conference introduced me to the NeFER principle in his book, Enlightened Leadership.  NeFER is an acronym for Net Forward Energy Ratio.
 
He discusses a process that results in increasing the ratio of energy you are focusing forward toward where you want to be while reducing the energy focused elsewhere.  His five-step process involves questions designed to cause a mind-set shift. Could you use a mind-set to a more positive focus?  In these challenging times, all of us could.
 

My question, "More of the same or what?" is not intended to be completely rhetorical.  I pose this question to talent development practitioners as a sort-of wake up call. 
 

Are you approaching the current condition (yes, it is a condition and not a problem, see my Blog posted today at www.effectivness.com ) in the same way you have in the past?  The current reality is this is a very different situation they most of us have ever experienced.  I am reminded of an Einstein quote that we cannot expect to solve problems with the same level of thinking that got us into it.

This idea also applies to how we deal with a condition to which we must adapt. In boom times like many have experienced for the past decade tends to cause us to set aside best practices. The margin for error is greater and there are many more options.  Some may have even used trial and error and gotten away with it in the name of innovation.

This is no longer the case.  There is a more narrow margin for error and getting it right sooner is more critical.  What are you doing differently today than you did a year ago?  It is not the same world today?  Be sure you keep your "patent office" open for business.  Not all the good ideas have been thought of and implemented yet. How open are you to a fresh insight? Are you will to have your old assumptions challenged?

I invite you comments.

Enthusiastically,

Bob

As we approach the end of 2008, many are wondering what 2009 may bring. Surely this time last year most of us never imagined what was about to happen in the year ahead.

Many will be glad 2008 will soon be history.  Others are bewildered at the prospects for 2009. How about a return to a simple concept, a commitment to continuous improvement?

Regardless of what 2009 brings us, personally or corporately, we need to be our best to deal with it. If you are responsible for influencing the growth and development of people, I hope you will consider every possible way to optimize the talent in your organization.

Let's agree to begin with ourselves. Become the model for others to look to and the exemplar of what is possible. How many books did you read in 2008?  How many personal and professional experiences did you have? 

What about the year ahead? Consider joining your own private book of the month club and stay up on what is relevant to your industry, profession or appropriate for your own continuous improvement. What learning opportunities are on your calendar for 2009?  How many should be there?  Will you let budgets determine how good you want to be a year from now?

Remember that continuous learning is the only competitive advantage. Please let me know what you think about it?

Enthusiastically,

Bob

During these challenging times many training, learning, talent management and resource development professionals say they are changing priorities. What were once considered "soft" skills are now considered "essential" skills because they actually influence the effectiveness of the technical or "hard" skills. These essential skills included communications, conflict management, team work, self management and other personal skills.

Have you considered how much more important these skills are during challenging times?  What shifts have you made? What are your top three learning and development initiatives?