With the kids back at school after their summer break I was able to respond positively to a
number of workshop requests – different content and audiences made for a very interesting
month.

The two Performance Management workshops for the groups from Bangladesh continued to
underscore that more and more organisations are looking to improve their deliverables in this
area, raise capability and confidence at the individual level to manage impactive performance
and ensure involvement for all – throughout. Increasingly issues revolve less around the process
or tools being used (many have had something in place for some considerable time) and more
about implementation, output and deliverables being managed. A significant step forward for
all attendees to be receiving development support for this type of initiative.

The Leadership workshop for the group from Afganistan followed an increasingly familiar
pattern as we identified and highlighted the marked differences between management and
leadership. I emphasise this more than most perhaps but it leads to a rigourous examination of
leadership capability and best practice and how this can be implemented in organisations so
that assessment and development of those destined for senior positions has a sound,
fundamental basis.

Finally, the Strategic HR sessions for the MBA group proved as challenging as ever. A very broad
mix of nationalities, organisations and experience represented which always leads to some
lively debate as we assess HR progress towards it’s Strategic Business Partner role.
Disappointingly few had experienced HR outside of it’s historic administrative role – not that
surprising when much of the research continues to tell us that 15% is about the max Strategic
emphasis/impact most HR teams are making – but disappointing none the less! However, some
good exploration of strategic inputs and their effect and some best implementation practices
shared which should put them in position to write an updated and progressive HR paper – we’ll
see!!

Not much research this month (too busy with the above) but a quick search for updates on
some of the issues for the MBA group confirmed some more data on the positive results of
gender diversity at senior levels in organisations and an increasing number of positives for more
continuous performance/development reviews but several calls for how best to build
immediate rewards and assess longer term potential from the more narrative data this
provides. The “more demanding workforce” theme continues to resonate with most – with it’s
impact on Leadership in particular requiring some serious thought (and action!).

About all for this month – see you next……………