Don Kirkpatrick passes away

Don Kirkpartick This morning I heard news from Jim Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kirkpatrick, the son and daughter in law of legendary Don Kirkpatrick that Don has passed away at the age of 90. Truly a legend in the HRD Evaluation field. More importantly a fine man, a great human being. I had known Don for a long time if I remember it right in 1983. As a young kid I had chanced to see a brochure of his programme in my mentor and Malaysian HR Guru, the late Sam Abishegam's office. I wrote to him an air mail letter inviting him to Malaysia. Next thing I knew, he and his wife Fern were here in Malaysia. We worked with some great companies: Mobil, Genting and so on. He was very much an American and I remember he espoused Republican values and he was so fond of the late Ronald Reagan. Even though I disagreed with many of his views, he grew fond of me. It was a joy talking to him and Fern. As a young graduate, he allowed me the trust to bring him here. I had no car; yet, he did not mind the hot Datsun taxi rides even though he was a legend used to very high class standards. We did not do much work but kept in touch. We brought him for Asia HRD Congress on a couple of occasions and did a little bit of work with Brunei Shell and other organisations but given his age, I was nervous to fly him all over the world. Again, while I did not attend very many of his workshops I continued to exchange ideas and he was a 'giver'- he believed knowledge belonged to the world. He was a religious person committed to moral principles. He made me feel good. Years later I had a wonderful opportunity to meet him more often. Based on his recommendation, we had his son Jim Kirkpatrick work for us in SMR USA. During the lst few years we exchanged the occasional Christmas and New Year greeting. A wonderful man who valued friendship more than money; one who made everyone comfortable and good. And a professional who contributed his four level Evaluation framework freely to the world. May his soul rest in peace.

Developing a Competency Framework

Developing a Competency Framework Linking Company Objectives and Personal Performance What gets measured gets done. Visit http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_91.htm for full article You're probably familiar with the phrase ‘what gets measured gets done.' Defining and measuring effectiveness – especially the performance of workers – is a critical part of your job as a manager. The question is: How do you define the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that workers need to perform their roles effectively? How do you know they're qualified for the job? In other words, how do you know what to measure? Some people think formal education is a reliable measure. Others believe more in on-the-job training, and years of experience. Still others might argue that personal characteristics hold the key to effective work behavior. All of these are important, but none seems sufficient to describe an ideal set of behaviors and traits needed for any particular role. Nor do they guarantee that individuals will perform to the standards and levels required by the organization. A more complete way of approaching this is to link individual performance to the goals of the business. To do this, many companies use ‘competencies.' These are the integrated knowledge, skills, judgment, and attributes that people need to perform a job effectively. By having a defined set of competencies for each role in your business, it shows workers the kind of behaviors the organization values, and which it requires to help achieve its objectives. Not only can your team members work more effectively and achieve their potential, but there are many business benefits to be had from linking personal performance with corporate goals and values. Defining which competencies are necessary for success in your organization can help you do the following: •Ensure that your people demonstrate sufficient expertise. •Recruit and select new staff more effectively. •Evaluate performance more effectively. •Identify skill and competency gaps more efficiently. •Provide more customized training and professional development. •Plan sufficiently for succession. •Make change management processes work more efficiently. How can you define the set of practices needed for effective performance? You can do this by adding a competency framework to your talent management program. By collecting and combining competency information, you can create a standardized approach to performance that's clear and accessible to everyone in the company. The framework outlines specifically what people need to do to be effective in their roles, and it clearly establishes how their roles relate to organizational goals and success. This article outlines the steps you need to take to develop a competency framework in your organization.

Talent Management

Jac Fitz-enz , founder of the Human Capital Source says the data explosion is teaching us a new vocabulary. Gigabytes, Terabytes and now to Zettabyes. At this rate, the world’s database will double by around January 2015. In any transformative event, there are many pitfalls as well as opportunities. What opportunities do you see in talent management and development? True innovation is not about bigger, faster versions of the old vehicle. When there was a perceived need to speed transportation, people didn’t try to breed faster horses. Think about the effects of the great inventions. Every one of them changed the way people thought, lived and worked, and each required new methodologies that in turn spawned new supporting businesses. So what does the data deluge and e-management mean to talent development? It means an opportunity and a demand for new learning and personal growth methods. Human development in the 21st century must spring from an understanding of how our cultural bases are changing. Social networking is more than electronic gadgets. It is a sign that the younger generations think, act, believe, perceive, desire, appreciate and communicate differently than the retiring baby boomers and even Gen X. He says he believes the answer lies in expanding the view of life. Clearly, marketing and advertising are looking for new messaging models. They need to not only reach prospective buyers through new media, but also need new messages that resonate with the new generation. The Theory X management model that says people are only motivated by money and must be closely supervised was proven wrong by Fred Herzberg in the 1960s. It has taken 50 years for management to understand it. The good news is that more companies are recognizing that treating people as functional human beings pays off. Clearly, people can work effectively at home without line-of-sight supervision. How do you develop managers and professionals to operate in that world? It will take more than a new training program. To read the full article visit: http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/is-big-data-really-about-data/?interstitial=ch022714 For more details on Talent Management solutions email arasu@smrhrgroup.com

How do you measure the competency of a founder? Great article: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131024075342-42592294-can-founders-let-go-what-love-s-got-to-do-with-leadership?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Budget Comments Kuala Lumpur, 25th October 2013 I like and love the strategic thrust on Inculcating Excellence in Human Capital in this year's Malaysian budget. Thank You Mr. Prime Minister. While there are some who would have preferred greater development expenditure and lower operating expenditure, some would even prefer a lower % deficit of the GDP, I think the budget has focussed on a key priority area: Human Capital, to improve the long term well being of the nation and our competitiveness. There are no short cuts to success. Education receives 21% of the budget. The commitment to implementing the Education blueprint and improving standards of English and upholding the importance of the National Language, emphasis on Entrepreneur development, supporting employers on the Minimum Wage Policy, the setting up for a private retirement scheme are positive initiatives. RM 400 million from the Human Resources Development Fund for employers for training, 330 million for Skills Training, Tax benefits for Flexible work arrangements, RM 100 million training allocation for the Indian community and 20 million for rural programmes are welcome at this point of time in the global economy.

Competency & Talent Management A strong succession planning program is one that identifies and fosters the next generation of leaders through mentoring, training and stretch assignments, so they are ready to take the helm when the time comes. Research supports sound succession planning. A study some years ago from consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton concluded that "over their entire tenures, CEOs appointed from the inside tend to outperform outsiders" when it comes to returns to shareholders. Yet many organizations struggle to take their succession planning programs beyond a static list of names slotted for a few top spots. Every organisation should have a roadmap that offers organisations a framework and advice on how to create a robust succession planning program that aligns talent management with the vision of the company, ensures employees have development opportunities to hone their leadership skills, and guarantees that the organization has a leadership plan in place for success in the future. As companies begin to develop a succession planning process, they should consider these fundamental issues: High Potential programmes, internal development, Diversity issues and Leadership support. Companies make many mistakes when it comes to succession planning. Organisations use the past to plan for the future, miss getting the Board support, not making succession part of the culture and allowing wrong people to make succession decisions. A succession planning program compiles the skills, abilities and goals of each employee, compares them to the needs of current and future roles, and tracks employee progress toward being ready to fill those roles. A roadmap can be structured into three phases to help you implement the planning and execution of you succession planning program - "Plan," "Do" and "Review" of succession planning. As companies expand beyond 200 to 300 employees, it becomes challenging to oversee talent management and succession planning efforts on paper. You cannot effectively track the career development progress of hundreds of employees using spread sheets and sticky notes. While there are many enterprise applications for succession planning, you need to equip your team with the models and tools.

Competency - Developments

Visit http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/10/mou-between-australia-and-india-on-competency-standards-for-vocational-training/ to view this inetersting development

AUSTRALIA has used its skills training expertise to improve relations with India, agreeing to help the country work on its target of training 500 million people by 2022.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Australia's industry skills council, SkillsDMC, and its Indian counterpart, which will see the emerging economic powerhouse learn how to boost its workforce's skills.
SkillsDMC will help its Indian counterpart with the creation of competency standards and processes for affiliation of training partners.
Mr McDonald said the relationship would be based on an information exchange, so India did not make the same mistakes Australia had previously. The support was about training people to meet India's needs.

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