|
December Newsletter 2009 In this issue In our final instalment of a three part series on how to systematically analyse and improve your HR processes, we cover the art of Development Planning and how to harness the Hawthorne effect to create sustained performance improvement in staff. 
We have distilled much of our experience in assessment and development into a number of Good Practice Guides. These are for your use, with our compliments. This second guide covers how to create better assessments for use in appraisals and 360 degree review programmes. In Other News, we announce the next release of our Talent Management software suite (aptly named 'Talent') and the launch of a new module called 'Talent Advance'. This module has been designed to support an on-line follow up to 360 degree reviews and appraisals by giving staff and their managers or coaches tools to keep development plans and action on track. See more later. Two years on at Hertfordshire Constabulary and after hundreds of officers have undergone a 360 degree review, we bring you the surprising and industry-leading results from their succession management programme in an updated Case Study. Find out below how they achieved over 93% completion rates and why 74% have seen their leadership skills improve directly as a result of the 360 programme. 
Finally, we would like to thank all of our loyal customers and suppliers that have supported and worked with us over the past year. We are pleased to have just celebrated our fifth birthday and we couldn't have done it without them all. We hope you enjoy this final newsletter of the year and I'd like to wish you all a peaceful festive season. If you would like to discuss any items within it, please contact us on 0845 054 2364 or just 'reply' and we will contact you. The Hawthorne effect & sustaining performance improvement 
Many organisations have found that they have unintentionally created or have fallen victim to the 'Hawthorne effect' through their assessment and appraisal processes. This gives them a misleading picture of the capabilities of their people, of teams and of the overall organisation. It also misrepresents individual learning and development gaps and organisational development needs and priorities. Find out what it is, and what to do about it here. Good Practice Guide: Writing better assessments 
When you run appraisals and/or 360 degree review programmes in your organisation, are you getting the most from the assessments used? Asking the right questions in the right way enables your organisation to build the most accurate picture of the individuals' strengths and weaknesses. Read our Good Practice Guide and its 9 Key tips here. In our next newsletter, we'll have another Good Practice Guide for you. Test your Feedback Quotient with Talent FQTM 
In previous newsletters we established that feedback, in its various forms, is an invaluable source of input for individuals, teams and organisations. It is widely acknowledged that the actions taken as a result of the feedback are closely tied to how the feedback was delivered; get it wrong and resentment and denial are a very real possibility, get it right and the scene is set for real and lasting change. We have developed and tested an assessment, called Talent FQ, that challenges you to identify the right (and wrong) course of action when in various tricky feedback situations. After you or your colleagues have completed this short challenge, you will receive a one page report that shows strengths and weaknesses in the underpinning competences essential for good feedback delivery. You will also find out what our expert panel would suggest in these situations. If at least one person from your business has taken this test and your business decides to take our 360 feedback course, then one place will be on us!! Staff from organisations as diverse as Kent Police, Signet, North Staffs NHS, Yahoo!, and O2 have tried this for themselves. Why not test yourself here. Contact us here to request more information, including a full outline of our 360 feedback course. Other news: Outstanding results from 360 degree reviews 
Hertfordshire Constabulary began its innovative use of 360 degree reviews as part of its succession management programme back in 2007. Earlier this year a full and independent project evaluation was carried out to ascertain the impact of the programme and identify any future improvements. It revealed some startlingly positive results and shows that the application of 360 degree reviews, underpinned by our Talent 360 product, as being of huge benefit to the Constabulary and the officers within it. Other forces have already started to follow their lead and a Special Interest Group is being planned for next year. Read the full case study here. Talent® Release V3.8 & Talent Advance™ launched 
November 18th 2009 saw the announcement of a new release of our Talent® application suite. Talent Advance™ joins the suite that comprises Talent 180, Talent 360, Talent Navigator and Talent Spotter, each playing their part in the improvement of Talent Management HR processes. Talent Advance™ adds customisable interactive on-line development plans to the Talent suite to improve development planning and action tracking. Suitable for use in Performance Management, Capability Building and Career Planning, these development plans can be as customisable as you need them to be. Talent Advance appears as a direct result of input from our user community and the external performance coaches that also make use of the Talent suite as part of their offerings. With Talent Advance, individual and organisational performance assessment and planning is no longer a one-time annual event, but an on-going interactive and collaborative set of activities that drives higher levels of Return on Investment from Training & Development budgets. Find out more here. Contact us here to arrange a demonstration. Resources & Articles The following resources and past articles are available as pdfs on our web site: Getting Performance Appraisal right from the start - use these tools to take a fresh look at the issues and fix them from the start Good Practice Guide - Selecting Reviewers - a guide for participants of a 360 degree review on selecting those to receive feedback from. What your HR processes reveal about your culture - are you undermining your own best efforts to improve your culture? The Importance of Personal Resilience & Mental Toughness - nature, nurture and assessment. The Impact of Feedback - make the most of feedback and avoid the pitfalls. Review Rating Scales Tool - select the scale that's right for your assessment. Talent & Employee Engagement - you can't ignore the connection! Are your Talent Management processes fair? - advocates and saboteurs! Choosing your assessment strategy - which assessment instrument? Keys & Eyes - designing 360 questionnaires that will really tell you something. Positioning 360 - creating 'pull' from the business for a 360 feedback programme Introducing a 360° Review - Keys to success
|
|
If this newsletter is the first you have seen, past issues can be found on our web site in Media Activity. Please do not contact me again __UNSUB__. |