Asia
This was my first week back after several weeks in Asia. It is hard to explain the difference in mood between Asia and the U.S. Technically the economies of both China and Hong Kong may be suffering, but everything is relative. And relative to us, Hong Kong seemed as charged with energy and people as always. Cab drivers and locals that I met with all seemed optimistic and hadn’t noticed any major recession impact. I got the same feelings from folks on a quick swing through Guangzhou, just over the border from Hong Kong. Restaurant owners and cab drivers felt things were good economically and were fiercely proud that they were home to the tallest building in China, The Guangzhou West Tower, and one of the tallest in the world. They are also very patriotic and proud of China’s rise to power.
Bangkok and Singapore were vibrant, bustling and upbeat. Singapore continues to work harder than any country I know to create jobs, educate its citizens and create the Utopian state. While I am not always in agreement with its methods, it is very hard to not like the economic and social outcomes.
As usual I love to snap photographs and you can see those I took in Hong Kong and Guangzhou at www.kwheeler.com.
Additional Thoughts About Human Resources
I wrote a blog post a bit ago (below) talking about the relevancy of human resources. As I reflect on the comments I have received, I am shocked at how much HR is not respected by non-HR people. Almost to a person they say things like, “HR has never done anything for me” or “it’s just the mouthpiece of management.” I haven’t been an employee for more than a decade, but this attitude hasn’t changed despite so much rhetoric over the business partner role, the strategic side of HR and so forth. Seems to me that HR’s relevancy and ability to influence is marginal in many (if not most) organizations and I am of a belief that talent management will supplant it over the next few years.
Talent Management
Anyone who follows me will know that I am an advocate of organizations embracing talent management. I define talent management as everything left over from HR once you remove policy, rules, labor law, administrative functions such as benefits admin and payroll, and the traditional HR generalist. What you have left are recruiting, employee development, and those allied areas such as succession planning and career development that work to improve the overall talent capacity of the organization. These functions are usually underfunded and considered poor stepchildren to the others I have listed, yet they have the potential to unleash the greatest benefit.
By hiring better people and developing them rigorously, you can definitely have an impact on sales and profits. I advocate a focus on skill building, continuous people improvement, strict measurement of people’s output, and objective feedback on performance. If HR would focus on these and downplay the other factors, it might change its reputation. I also realize that HR SAYS it does all of these things, but no one else agrees. And perception is everything.
Future of Talent Institute
Our FOTI is growing steadily and we will be producing several webinars in the coming months, along with white papers and research on leadership development, the emerging roles-based organization vs. the position-based ones we currently have, collaboration and decision-making, and much more.
Our FOTI website is undergoing a complete overhaul and will be more interactive and informative by early March. But it already has links to all the webinars we have done (free to all) and I encourage you to take a look at www.futureoftalent.org.
Memberships are open and I think very affordable considering what other organizations are charging. Our annual retreat where we dig into emerging trends will take place in October, but we will also be offering mini-retreats in four or five cities around the U.S. throughout the year. Check back here for details.
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