Tapping into Existing Workforce Skills

Despite the efforts devoted to developing strategies to attract candidates for potential skill gaps and talent shortages, some organizations fall short when it comes to making the most of the skills and experiences already present in their workforce.

Photo credit: Halogen Software

Do your supervisors and managers pigeon hole employees into the specific roles they were hired for, over-manage, under-delegate and in the guise of protecting employees from themselves, assume the burden of delivering information on a need to know basis?

If so, you are guilty as charged.

Wondering what to do now? Check out the rest of my article, Knowledge is Power, on the HCI Blog. 

Trust and HR

The workplace today is more challenging than ever before. Leaders determined to address these challenges must first assess reality.​ And that includes looking in the mirror.

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In Bracing for Change, a report from the Partnership for Public Service, federal human capital leaders were surveyed about talent management challenges facing their organizations. Each chief human capital officer (CHCO) was asked about the issues they faced. Lack of key HR competencies made the list.

When asked how agency leadership viewed it’s HR staff, 42% of the chief human capital officers (CHCO) surveyed said they and their staff were viewed as a trusted business advisor to a “great” or “very great” extent – down from two years ago (46%). However, 25 % said “not at all” or “to a limited extent,” up 8 percentage points from 2 years ago, a significant shift. The percentage of CHCOs who said leadership viewed them as a trusted advisor to a “moderate extent” (33%) was down 3 percentage points over that same period.

That's alarming.​ And it's real.

We live in a world where the end justifies the means: professionals overstate accomplishments, students inflate GPAs or fabricate degrees, employees use sick leave when they are not really sick and human resource leaders are not immune.

Before you say, "not me," know that it is the collective all of us. What have you observed leaders do that jeopardize trust? What are you going to do today to restore trust in your organization?​