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The Future of Health Care: Change is in the Industry....

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

In a not too distant future, we will know what is wrong with our body just by spitting on your Blackberry – this was the vision shared at the World Healthcare Conference in Dubai in 2010 by Steve Burrill, CEO of the San Francisco based Burrill & Co.

Today, doctors mostly react to patients’ symptoms. Tomorrow, they will preemptively treat the right disease. Personalized Healthcare is a vision shared by many.  David Ewing Duncan, journalist and bestselling author, recently released a Personalized Healthcare Manifesto funded by the Kauffman Foundation, which gathered views from science, business, government, patients, law, and the media.

Will your BlackBerry be your personal health diagnostic tool?

At the World Health Care Congress Middle East 2010, G. Steven Burrill, CEO of U.S.-based Burrill & Company suggests that the basic health care model has not changed much in the last 500 to 1,000 years. 

 

The lifelong journey of career development: Which way will you go?

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

Thomas Edison once said that "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." As the end of the year approaches, it is tempting to get tangled in the rush to get everything done before the holidays. But we can also chose to take the opportunity to wrap up and reflect on how far we’ve come in our careers, and set a course for the future.

This is not a philosophical exercise, but rather a strategic investment for individuals and also companies that want to retain and engage their talent, especially in trying times.

Challenges Facing Organizations and HR in the Next 10 Years SHRM Poll

Almost one-half of organizations reported that the biggest investment challenge facing organizations over the next 10 years is obtaining human capital and optimizing human capital investments (47%). According to HR professionals, one of the most effective tactic of meeting the identified challenges of retaining and rewarding the best people and attracting the best people to the organization is providing flexibility for employees to balance their life and work responsibilities.

Click here to view the survey on SHRM.org.

Inspiring Employees to Stay as the Economy Recovers

By Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

For the first time since the beginning of the recession in 2008, there is evidence that disengaged employees are looking for other jobs.

In a BOLD article earlier this year, we highlighted declining employee engagement as a trend to monitor in 2010. As the economy fell deeper into a recession last year, several studies reported rising workplace dissatisfaction, which got us wondering whether and when it would impact retention. Ironically, the very recession that was hitting companies’ bottom line was also the recession that was keeping their talent at home, courtesy of a tight job market.

Employee Retention Trends

Ana Lucia Jardim Evans shares some timely articles about employee retention trends:

FastCompany: Will they stay or will they go duex?
Great tips on what to do to keep key talent now that the economy is recovering

Interesting CLO article (July 6, 2010), describing some findings by Mercer on what companies are doing now to ensure retention:

Harvard Business Review Blog- Retaining a Workforce that Wants to Quit (July 7, 2010)

Help Me Lead- Web Show for Managers
How to get ready for the "biggest turnover ever"

HR Online: Avoiding the Turnover Tsunami

Intrinsic Motivation: "Personalized Medicine" for High Performance

by Ana Lucia Jardim Evans

"At the start of another transformational period in American business, Andy Grove of Intel said that there are 2 kinds of businesses: those that use email and those that will. Today, flexibility is the new email. There are employers that have it, and there are those that will".

With these words, the head of the United States Office of Personnel Management underpinned the spirit of the White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility hosted by President Obama and the First Lady on March 31. Going farther, he announced the US government hired the founders of ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) to implement work flexibility programs.

Speaking at the Forum, President Obama - introduced as the "Teleworker in Chief" - further acknowledged the results of a White House study estimating that flexibility arrangements could save the US economy a combined $15 billion a year.

But workplace flexibility is just one practice that organizations can adopt to tap into employees' intrinsic motivation- our true Drive according to Daniel Pink's latest book, which inspired the BOLD workshop of June 23rd on Beyond Pay-For-Performance: Leveraging Intrinsic Motivation for Exceptional Performance.

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. 

Making Strategy an Integral Part of the DNA of HR

by Ana Lucia Jardim Evans and Stacey Porter

In 2006, Lombardo and Eichinger found that the role that executives most asked from HR (Strategic Partner) was also the role that HR was least skilled at. The introduction of the HR Business Partner and other progressive models has significantly improved HR efficiency and stakeholder access to services. But some still argue that HR is too focused on the administrative processes, while missing key skills in solid business and operating fundamentals. In order to have a “seat at the table”, HR needs to “bring value to the table”. The top HR jobs should therefore be taken by leaders who are very competent both in their specialty as well as in the business.

To accomplish that, Allan McCarthy of HumanResourcesIQ suggests a 4-step revolution for HR:
• Gather HR experts and create an action plan (this is what BOLD is looking to accomplish with the March 31st workshop “HR- from Transaction to Transformation in 2010”).
• Get key stakeholders (opinion leaders, executives and consultants) to endorse the plan
• Define and harmonize key features of the HR profession, such as standard credentials and performance metrics
• Create a solid brand and communicate it to stakeholders, including business leaders and current and future HR talent