Strategic Human Resources Briefs

Bestselling author, brilliant orator, and effective champion for abolition, Frederick Douglass is an inspiration to all Americans. Born a slave in 1817, Douglass escaped to freedom in 1838 while continuing to advocate for the freedom of all slaves. His leadership example offers lessons with enduring relevance.

Connecting through employee networks can help individuals advance their careers and companies improve their performance. To provide these benefits, however, networks must have a clear strategy, funding, senior sponsorship … and an attractive proposition for all potential members.

A hidden source of friction is slowing your company down. Your workers are complicit in it. So is your management. And it’s driving everybody nuts.

I was recently tasked with uncovering strong examples of internal storytelling—no easy task given that most examples are rarely public. However, at the recent Engagement Institute Summit in Detroit, I was fortunate to hear about GM’s What’s Your GM Story? podcast. Following the summit, I had a conversation with Kerry Christopher, GM’s director of internal communications, to find out more.

Maria, an executive in financial services, stared at another calendar invite in Outlook that would surely kill three hours of her day. Whenever a tough problem presented itself, her boss’s knee-jerk response was, “Collect more data!” Maria appreciated her boss’s analytical approach, but as the surveys, reports, and stats began to pile up, it was clear that the team was stuck in analysis paralysis.

At each step of the leadership journey, the preparation for successfully making the transition is critical to a positive experience certainly for the leader but also for the organization he or she leads. Transitions are not only the visible shifts from one role to another but, when well executed, leaders are prepared, reflective and are poised to be effective quickly in the new role.

Companies are hiring veterans in unprecedented numbers. But once inside organizations, veterans frequently stall and become disengaged, according to research from the Center for Talent Innovation. Among other things, veterans seek meaning and purpose at work. Employers looking to drive philanthropic missions can lean on their veterans to lead the way.