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BOLD Workshop: June 23, 2010

Beyond Pay-For-Performance: Leveraging Intrinsic Motivation for Exceptional Performance

Keynote Speaker:   Kenneth W. Thomas, PhD, author of "Intrinsic Motivation at Work, What Really Drives Employee Engagement"

• What does current research suggest when it comes to motivating employees from within?
• How can life science companies cultivate an environment that fosters creativity and innovation?
• What role can HR/OD play when it comes to inspiring, engaging and motivating employees?

Rewards and recognition have traditionally been based on what would extrinsically motivate employees to do their job, primarily in the form of bonuses, incentive plans and other external rewards.    For positions that require creativity and innovative ideas, particularly in an industry like the life sciences, this approach may actually diminish performance and foster short-term thinking.  

BOLD Webinar: May 25, 2010

Creating Webinar Programs: Converting Classroom Training to a Virtual Classroom for HR/L&D Professionals

• Are you thinking of converting your classroom courses into webinar courses?
• Are you exploring how to provide training in a live, online environment?
• How do you train instructors to facilitate in a webinar environment?
• How do you design a webinar to ensure learning as well as participant engagement?

When rolling out training and programs, how can you adapt delivery to a virtual platform? This session, presented by Kathleen Sexton from Kairos Learning, will give you an overview on how to start providing webinar training courses including: 1) considerations for designing webinars, 2) suggestions on how to convert a classroom course to a webinar environment, and 3) skills needed to train in a virtual classroom. 

Get involved with BOLD in 2010! (BOLD Open House 2/17/10)

Be BOLD:  grow yourself, grow your people, grow your organization 

This year we are designing programs that focus on HR strategy and member development.  We are addressing questions like:

• How can we help HR professionals articulate and demonstrate how they contribute and enhance business results?
• And what does it take to be successful in HR in the Life Sciences?

And we want YOU to join us in these conversations. 

We are offering a free Open House for anyone interested in learning about our organization on February 17th in Mountain View.

We also invite you to get LinkedIn to BOLD

Our LinkedIn group includes all in-house HR/OD professionals - not just BOLD members - and we welcome those in the group to share relevant HR/OD news, discuss best practices, and network.  

Your BOLD participation allows us to strengthen our voice in the industry, cultivate the “best of” among members, and offer a variety of options to network, learn and grow.

Join us and growBOLD!

BOLD Mentorship Open Enrollment Now through February 15th

• Are you currently overwhelmed at work and wish you could have an expert to provide some guidance?
• Do you have 2-4 hours a month to share your expertise or to develop your skills in HR/OD?
• Are you in career transition and looking to grow your network?

Enroll in the BOLD Mentorship Program Today! (open to BOLD members only)

New and Improved growBOLD Website

We recently completed a major upgrade to the growBOLD website. Here's a summary of what's new:

• Navigate with ease - improved layout and cleaner design
• View all site updates and new articles on the home page and members-only section
• Check on upcoming events at a glance on the home page
• Search the entire site by keyword
• Check on the event archives with links to members-only resources
• Easily bookmark an article on Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite social networking site
• Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or RSS feed to hear about the latest site updates

Biotech on a Roll

 "Biotech continued its steady improvement during the third quarter" reported Burrill and Company in its October 1st Press Release.  And it's not just biotech's "blue chip" companies says Burrill - there were a number of notable 'gainers' this last quarter.
 
While many believe 'the worst might be over', the general word is that investors remain cautious and companies need to be prepared for the effects of the recession to linger.
 
Translated to the people side of business, this means that although hiring and salary freezes may have been reversed, travel and training budgets, for example, remain limited. 

Commitment: A Key to Engagement?

“Employees at Best Companies experience more cooperation and commitment” said Lindsay Nelson of Great Place to Work.

“Highly committed and engaged employees add 57% more discretionary effort, and have a greater than 87% chance of staying” reported Steve Knight from Integral Talent Systems. 

These experts were among the five presenters at the BOLD workshop “Clarifying Employee Engagement:  Helping People Go the Extra Mile” last Wednesday. 

Engagement, what do you mean by engagement?

There’s been a lot of talk lately on the topic of employee engagement.  Some say that the economic downturn and the ‘do more with less’ attitude prompted HR to re-examine the role of engagement, hoping that if addressed, employees would be motivated and more prepared to work in an uncertain environment.

Although this may be a reasonable assumption, the fact is that employee engagement has been referred to for years.  Yes, it’s compelling to claim that employee engagement drives bottom-line results – but is it true?  After all, the definition, metrics and practices vary widely – and academic researchers and practitioners differ in their terms and scope.

Summer is here

Summer is here, and along with sun and vacations, comes time to relax and reflect.... and celebrate!

June was a milestone month for BOLD - fourteen new members joined!  And we're going to celebrate with some summer fun and networking opportunities.