Motivation to Exercise and Motivation to Succeed in Life

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Success

Motivation to Exercise and Motivation to Succeed in Life

Article by John W. Anthony







Motivation to Exercise or motivation to succeed in anything, even beyond fitness, is not something always easily attainable. Fitness, nutrition, and weightlifting are all ventures in life that do not come without sacrifices or struggles. How one overcomes these challenges demonstrates their true dedication and heart and will be a deciding factor in their ultimate motivation. Motivation to work out and even motivation to succeed in life are two of the most important feelings an individual should feel at some point in their lives. Everyone will come to a point where they may begin to lose focus. This is when the individual’s motivation plays a role. Motivation can be defined as, “the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal.” Many times in one’s life they may decide to embark on an endeavor or difficult task such as completing an essay or homework assignment or achieving a fitness goal such as weight loss or muscle gain. They do this with out any motivation, and in a sense, no chance to succeed at all.

The person may think to themselves, “I need motivation to work out, but where can I get it from?” In the beginning the individual will do all of the things that they believe are necessary to achieve this goal, which in turn will create a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment. This new found desire may fade as a result of the person’s goal becoming more challenging and time consuming. Hours a day spent on the goal may turn into a half hour a day. This half hour a day turns into a half hour a week, until the person finds themselves back in their old routine which does not involve that goal. The individual will have spent days and weeks trying to accomplish a task, only to spend a minute’s thought giving up the goal. It generally takes an individual 21 days to form a new habit and that same time period to break old habits. Gaining motivation to exercise and knowing the importance of exercise can be found in many forms including weight loss motivational quotes, fitness motivational quotes, and weight lifting quotes. These quotes can inspire any individual to strive toward both their fitness goals and their nutrition or diet goals which often go hand and hand.

Starting a routine for a healthy life is one of the biggest decisions that you will ever make. Why wouldn’t it be? Answering the question of “Why Eat Healthy?” will aid in the motivation to exercise by giving you the knowledge of many benefits to your lifestyle. How many of you know anyone that has joined a gym for a year, only to stop going after a month? How many of you know someone that says they have started a new diet, only to see them cramming fast food down their throats while late to an office meeting? Whether it is the grind of school or work, people make excuses for stumbling to achieve the goals they desire. These people waste their hard earned money on gym memberships that they will not use or diet plans that never pan out. The first key that one needs to consider for motivating themselves is desire. How much do you really want to become fit and healthy? How much do you really want to succeed? If it is something fueled with enough desire it will happen. Desire is unstoppable. Use your desire to make it happen. Learn the importance of exercise and allow it to fuel your motivation.

Visualizing what you want in life and keeping that picture in your mind can do wonders for not quitting. This can be done in the form of writing what you want down and putting it in as many places as possible. Writing down what you hope to achieve and reading it throughout the day as a reminder will help keep your goals as a top priority in your life. Setting a date for a certain goal is also very helpful. Deciding you want to lose 10lbs by a certain date written on your calendar can act as a very powerful prompt to stay motivated. Keeping a notebook of your lifting and nutrition will also work wonders as incentives. The process of seeing on paper that you are improving can only help your desire increase. Witnessing your own improvement through diet and a weightlifting routine will not only increase your motivation to exercise but enhance your life and help you develop yourself into the best person you can be, and deserve to be.

In addition to writing down goals and setting deadlines for your fitness undertakings it is often wise to choose a partner or coach that will help you stay motivated when you are feeling determined to achieve. Having a partner will do wonders for your psyche in the gym or when you have to make the tough decision to eat a garden salad as opposed to a juicy Big Mac or Quarter Pounder. You will begin to think to yourself that if he or she can continue to strive towards this goal, why can’t I? And the answer will be that you can. You will be motivated and probably even become a little competitive with your partner which is a natural response to achieve your desire.

Deciding to begin a new and healthier life remains one thing that many people continuously put off to another date and time. Changing your way of thinking and daily routine are things that must be done. Going to the gym or eating a healthy meal should eventually be like waking up in the morning. Knowing the answers to “Why Eat Healthy?”, “Why Be Fit?”, and “Why Lift Weights?” are so important to motivation to exercise. These answers will let you know what your striving for and why. It may be a struggle in the beginning, but nothing worth achieving has been accomplished without obstacles. Like any other goal, persistence is the key to having success. The decision to start a new fitness routine or diet lies in your hands. This choice must have your faith and desire behind it, because without that, it is nothing more than an empty promise. Get started today. Wait no longer. Being the best you can be is in your hands. Don’t let it go to waste.?

Visit Motivation To Exercise for all your motivation needs.



About the Author

Hi, my name is John Anthony. I am from New Jersey and I am a big time fitness enthusiast. I love to work out and be as physically active as possible. I play in many mens’ league hockey, soccer, and basketball leagues. Exercising and taking part in sporting events take up the majority of my time outside of work and my family. That is why I recently founded the website Motivation To Exercise.

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Affirmations for Success

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Success

Affirmations for Success

Article by Rick Luck







Affirmations for Success

Success is defined as the achievement of a desired goal or effect. Often, success is associated with wealth, influence, relationships, or many other things that make people happy. That is a bit of a wordy, convoluted definition. Ultimately, however, success is different for every person. The one thing that is constant, however, is that you have control over how successful you are. Using affirmations for success, you can control your own level of success, based on your own definitions. Affirmations for success are the cornerstone for creating a personal list of positive affirmations that fit your own needs.

Affirmations for success are affirmations you will repeat to yourself on a daily basis, preparing your mind to accept the reality of your success. These can be past, present, or even future thoughts you want to instill in yourself. Using phrases such as “I am a success at work”, “Everything I do is leading me to success”, or “Success flows to me like a river”, you will be well on your way toward your list of positive affirmations. This list will contain sayings that reinforce the idea that you are a positive thinker and can achieve anything you set your mind to.

The power of positive thinking is often underrated by those who don’t believe. All you have to do in order to believe is look around you. Those who are successful, by their own terms, all have one thing in common. They are happy, with a positive attitude. That positive attitude is what sets them apart. Those people have all used their own affirmations for success to achieve their goals and become successful in their own right.

On the other side of that coin, you may see someone who has a lot of money, power, or other mark of success that seems miserable, or just not happy. They succeeded without their own affirmations for success, didn’t they?

The answer to that is “No!”

Obviously, they aren’t happy with the way things have turned out for them. That means that they haven’t achieved what they consider success. Remember that while success has a global definition, its true meaning is personal. Success to you is only what you decide it is. Therefore, you may see these people as successful, but they are not successful to themselves. When they look at you, with your positive thinking, they will realize that you are the one who is successful. To the positive thinker, success is measured in how happy and positive an individual is. That is why it is important to develop your own set of affirmations for success.



About the Author

RichardALuck.com is where Richard posts weekly (or thereabouts) thoughts, tools, wisdom and advice to help guide and move you powerfully toward your boldest dreams and goals, and to live a truly remarkable life. The aim is to show you how to rapidly close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. Richard is a Master Practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), Hypnosis, and Neurological Re-patterning™. He has helped more than 3,749 people in the past 5 years to break free from their limiting beliefs and live the life they’ve always dreamed of. Go to RichardALuck.com to get 5 Free Techniques That Will Begin To Move You Rapidly Towards Your Goals.

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Secrets to Success

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Success

Secrets to Success

Realize your Potential

In order to succeed at anything, you need to see that you have the potential to reach your goals. For example, if you want to be a recording artist but have no singing ability, having success in this field is not likely. However, if you love working on cars and have a real talent for fixing engines and transmissions, and to you, success would mean working for NASCAR, you have potential to learn and achieve that success.

 

Don’t Look Back

Everyone has failures or mistakes from the past. To have success, you need to learn from your past and value those difficult lessons but do not every dwell on the past. Simply move forward and make better, more educated decisions from the lessons learned.

 

Dare to Dream

To succeed, you need to have dreams and aspirations. Be honest with yourself as to what you want out of life and what you want to give of your life. Allow your mind to dream and think big.

 

Don’t Give Up

To reach success, you have to persevere. Even Thomas Edison had to learn this. When he was creating the incandescent light bulb, it took him more than 10,000 times to get it right. Keep striving even when it becomes challenging.

 

Have an Unstoppable Attitude

You need to have determination. With good intentions, there may be a close friend or family member that feels it would be better if you focused your attention in another direction. Uphold your unstoppable attitude, determined to succeed.

 

Stop the Complaining

You might think there is no correlation between complaining and success when in fact there is a connection. When you are spending time complaining about the obstacles you are facing, you are wasting so much time being negative that you are actually loosing chances to move forward. Instead of thinking of challenges as problems, think of them as opportunities.

 

Focus on Something you Like

To increase your chance of succeeding, you should concentrate your efforts on something you enjoy. When you start out, make a list of everything you find interesting. Then in a second column, write down the skills you have in relation to each of those items. This will help you narrow choices down based on interest and skill, which gets you started in the right direction for success.

 

Accept Responsibility

You need to accept responsibility if you make a bad decision or fall behind in your plan. Let us say that you have set some firm milestones that need to be accomplished in order for you to move to the next step. However, you got tired of working hard and took some time to play, which is fine as long as it does not affect your goals. Now months have passed and you are way behind schedule. This delay has closed several doors of opportunities. Who is to blame?

 

Be Happy

A positive mind and happy, upbeat attitude will help you succeed. It has been proven in many studies that a person living in a happy state generally gets much further in just about everything they do. This relates to attitude. Just as bad attitude can pull you down, good attitude and a happy, healthy mind will help you meet your objectives.

 

No Shortcuts

An old cliché states, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” This should be your motto. When you want to succeed, you cannot afford to take shortcuts. Taking shortcuts leads to imperfection and inadequacies. Always strive for the best, even if it requires a little more time and effort.

 

Have Courage

Depending on what your specific success is, it may take courage to arrive at your desired destination. For example, if you have a dream of being a writer and to you, that is success, but according to your long line of family members who have all gone on to be doctors, the only success in their minds is if you follow down the medical path. This means you will have to have courage to stand up for what you believe and desire to do, even if it means disappointing family.

 

Be Excited to Learn

Referring back to the analogy of Edison, when asked about his failures by a young boy, Edison commented, “Young man, I didn’t fail 9,999 times, I discovered 9,999 ways not to invent the light bulb.” As you work toward your specific success, always enjoy opportunities to learn, even if it takes longer than you think it should.

 

Share your Success

Although this may be more at the end of the process, it is important. When you finally do reach your success, use your experience to teach, guide, and mentor others so that they too might succeed.

 

Seek Input

Whatever your idea of success, conduct a “sanity check” throughout the process of reaching your goal. This should be done with someone you trust and who is themselves successful. Ask them to provide honest feedback about your success and as you move through different milestones, bounce concerns or new ideas off them to help keep you on the right track.

 

Be a Good Listener

To succeed, you need to learn how to listen first. Pay attention to other people who have enjoyed successes in their life, attend seminars given by people that can motivate and encourage, or be open to hearing that a particular idea is not a good one. Good listening takes time to learn but in the end, it will be your greatest tool.

 

Be Proactive

While it may take time to learn how to identify ways to avoid obstacles or failures, get into the habit of tackling problems before they arise. This will help you avoid wasting precious time on your road to success.

 

Stay Motivated

When striving for the big goal of success, it is critical to stay motivated. Find inspiring and motivational tapes, seminars, books, movies; whatever you are able to get your hands on. When you start to feel a little down and out and doubt starts to creep in, turn to these motivational tools to help you keep on track. A few excellent motivators include Tony Robbins, Norman Vincent Peale, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Les Brown.

 

Give Yourself a Break

While being determined is important, do not be so hard on yourself that you become critical of every move you make. Give yourself some room to make mistakes and be flexible with you. That does not mean you can miss goals but it does mean that if you do, you find out how to avoid that from happening again and then get back to work.

 

Be Passionate

Fall in love with what your success. Okay, although that sounds funny, you need to have an intimate passion with your interest. You can do this regardless of what your success is. By having passion for what you are doing and driving toward, you will automatically put more effort into it. Passion is a good thing as long as it does not become an obsession.

 

Don’t Settle

If you have a goal of becoming a world-famous chef and you know you have both desire and skill, do not just settle to become a short order cook at your local family ­style restaurant. While that may be good training ground, do not allow yourself to lose sight of your ultimate goal.

 

No Excuses

Many famous actors, music artists, inventors, etc., had special challenges ranging from learning disabilities to physical disabilities. Take Beethoven for example. He was born deaf yet he went on to be one of the world’s greatest composers or Joni Erickson who was paralyzed from the neck down yet she learned to paint with her mouth. Today, her paintings are famous around the world and worth millions. If you are faced with a special challenge of your own, while you may have to adjust things from time to time, do not use excuses. If you want something bad enough, there is a way!

 

Getting Past Fear of Failure

Being afraid of failure is a normal emotion for every person on the planet. How you get past that fear is the determining factor between failing and succeeding. You can do that by setting realistic goals and then examining those goals on occasion to do any necessary realignment. Above all, believe in yourself and the desire burning within.

 

Patience and Dues

Succeeding takes time. A goal worth setting will take time to achieve. Be patient with yourself, the people around you, and the process it takes to become successful, also referred to as “paying your dues.” Just like the chef scenario, it takes time to be a master chef. Pay your dues by learning and working your way up the ladder to success.

 

Good Time / Resource Management

Being successful also means keeping to a schedule. In addition, you need to learn how much is too much. Good time and resource management will help you ensure that you use your time wisely and that you are not adding third portions onto a plate still overflowing with seconds.

 

Attitude

Putting yourself in the right attitude for success should be at the top of your list. Staying positive and surrounding yourself with friends, that share a positive attitude will help you succeed. Do not allow negative thoughts to slip into your mind. Attend motivational seminars and find ways to enjoy life. A good attitude will allow you to turn any bad situation into a learning experience. You have heard the saying, “The glass is either half-full or half-empty.” You need to adopt the attitude that life is half­ full. The result is that you will feel better, have more energy, and have a much higher opportunity for success.

 

Be Thankful

You need to be thankful for not only your accomplishments but also your failures. Having a grateful attitude is important. It will help you stay humble, which in turn, will help you continue striving for the ultimate in success.

 

Keep a Journal

As you work hard to reach success, regardless of what you consider that success to be, you need to be able to see your accomplishments. Start a journal and track every thing you have conquered. When you feel discouraged or frustrated, reflect on what you have achieved, and rejuvenate yourself.

 

Rewards

When children do something great, parents will reward them with something nice, whether a kind word of encouragement or a new toy. When people do well in their job, they get raises. As you surpass your milestones, reward yourself. Treat yourself to something nice – a new dress, a new fishing pole, whatever you like, be sure to award yourself for a job well done.

 

Make the Best of Each Day

Try to live every day as though it were your last. Make the most of every day and accomplish something. Even if it is something small, every baby step adds up to a huge success in the end.

 

Make the Process and Adventure

You should look at every angle of your journey as an exciting adventure. When you think of your childhood years, you loved investigating the unknown. Carry this with you as you strive toward success. Anticipate the excitement of each accomplishment – make it a real adventure.

 

Don’t Neglect Things

Especially when things are small and do not appear to have a major impact on the big picture, you need to ensure you follow through and complete your tasks. Those little things can quickly add up to a big mess if not taken care of in a timely and efficient manner.

 

Offer Praise

If you have people helping you out, whether on a volunteer basis or a full-time employee, always offer praise. These people are an important part of your success and by providing praise and support; in return, they will show dedication and work hard to help you reach your goal.

 

Accept Responsibility

You and you alone are responsible for your success. While you will have help in many instances, the bottom line is that you are responsible. You need to be surrounded by the right people, working with the right investors, going about meeting your success in the right way. It is you that will make the choices and therefore, your responsibility to make the right choices. In other words, your desire for success must always be greater that any obstacle that stands in your way.

 

Be Open to Improvement

Sometimes, people get into the habit of thinking they have the answers needed. You need to accept that you do not have all the answers and more importantly, be open to recommendations from other people. That does not mean you have to agree or even follow those suggestions, but it does mean to listen. You never know when someone will have an idea that will make things easier and more functional, ultimately helping you arrive at your goal more efficiently.

 

Participate

If attending seminars or lectures that will help you get ahead, if there is the opportunity, participate by asking questions or making valid points. Participation is a great way to remember what is being taught.

 

Be Serious

Take your efforts to success seriously. Success is a serious thing and it takes serious dedication. You have to have the mindset that this is not going to be all play, at least not in the beginning.

 

Don’t Make Quick Decisions

When things in your plan need to change, unless necessary, do not make quick decisions. Just as it took time to plan in the beginning, it will take time to change. You want to make sure you are making the right decisions when changes come up. Do your research just as you did in the beginning and then make educated choices.

 

Avoid Stress

When you strive to be successful, stress is a natural part of the process. Do everything you can to avoid stress. Adding in unnecessary stress into the equation will take focus away from accomplishing your goals. You can listen to relaxing tapes, get a professional massage, take a walk, or whatever helps you to relax. When you start feeling overwhelmed, stop, change direction, and avoid stress. The only thing stress accomplishes is draining your think power and creativity.

 

Be Logical

Okay, you may be thinking that logic itself is logical. However, being logic in many cases means having some level of analytical ability. Regardless of the way you think, find the logic in it. This will help you think and plan clearly and honestly.

 

Give 100% Effort

If you are going to succeed, you have to be able to get through tough times. You will have to rise to challenges and not quit. You have to plan to go the extra mile and make personal sacrifices. Succeeding means giving 100% effort. Stay focused while keeping your performance on a consistent basis.

 

Understand your Goal

A great challenge is to prove to yourself that you can do it. One of the ways to prove this to you is to take on responsibility. If your goal for success involves opening a restaurant, work in a restaurant as a server to get a perspective of all the jobs involved to make the restaurant a success. Understand the entire business from the ground up.

 

Appreciate Life

Do not burn any bridges in life. Appreciate life, people, everything around you. Learn as much as you can from every person you meet. Do not turn people away just because you do not agree with them. You never know, the very people you turn away may be the very people that come to your rescue during a time of difficulty.

 

Just Do It

Okay, so Nike coined that phrase but it is so accurate. Quit putting things off and just do it. If you want it bad enough, go for it!

 

Graham Harris

Resume Writer and Editor

graham@jiffyresumes.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/Graham-Harris/100001621695406

JiffyResumes.com

 

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How to Stay Motivated In Your Home Based Internet Business

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Success

How to Stay Motivated In Your Home Based Internet Business

Article by Aaron Meredith







Motivation is something that as an absolute must for someone who wants to be successful promoting a home based internet business opportunity. Motivation allows you to take action, and taking action is what allows you to make money. Many people are motivated when they begin their new business as the thought of making more money and changing their lives financially and from a quality standpoint is something they want very much. However many people lose this motivation when they meet with obstacles and difficulty and the end result is that they give up and fail. It doesn’t have to be this way as there are several things you can do on a daily basis that will help build your motivation which will in turn allow you to take action and keep moving forward regardless of the obstacles you face.

Understand that people are motivated by either pleasure or pain. People motivated by pleasure are motivated to take action because of the rewards they will receive at some point in the future as a result of that action. People motivated by pain are motivated to take action because the lack of taking a certain action and thus a lack of results will result in pain in that person’s life (it could be staying a level or lifestyle that they detest or are unhappy with.) People who have their backs against the wall with nothing to fall back on are a good example of people motivated by pain (if they don’t take action, they could be in precarious situation.) Understanding that these are the two primary forms of motivation is important as they can help you identify what your key motivating factors are and continue to feed them.

One thing you can do on a daily basis to maintain you motivation which will help you become successful in your home based internet business is to form the habit of committing to daily personal development. Read and or listen to something motivational or inspiring on a daily basis. This will have a very positive impact on your attitude and overall level of motivation. Committing to daily personal development is something very simple that only takes a few minutes each day that could have a profound effect on your business.

Another way to stay motivated is to clearly write out your goals and why you want to achieve them and post them where you can see them everyday (also post them so you can see them when you’re working.) By keeping your goals in front of you, you will be constantly reminding yourself why it is you are doing this business. This should inspire you and drive you to take action. Your “why” (the reason you are in a home based internet business) needs to be very strong; strong enough to allow you to keep pushing forward regardless of what you may face.

A third idea on how to stay motivated in your home based internet business is to spend five or ten minutes each day reading profiles or listening to testimonials of people that have had success in business. This activity in itself can be very motivating and encouraging as you can hear real stories of people just like you who went through the ups and downs inherent with a home based internet business but were able to persevere and become successful. It doesn’t take long to spend a few minutes doing this each day and it can really payoff with respect to keeping you motivated.

One last thing you can do to get and stay motivated is to find a mentor or a buddy that can help keep you accountable. If you’re in an internet business opportunity, there is usually plenty of support in place. Find someone who you share a common vision and discuss why you’re in the business. A mentor or buddy can also be very helpful in keeping you accountable with your daily action. It’s much easier to blow off doing work if you don’t have to answer to someone else, but if there is someone expecting you to get things done who is keeping you accountable, you are much more likely to get things done. Taking action can be very motivating in itself.

Make a daily commitment to increase your motivation. Motivation is what leads you to taking action and taking action is what allows you to make money. If you are not motivated and not able to get into action, you are doomed to fail. To achieve success in a home based internet business, you need to be motivated and allow this motivation to drive you. You can work on this daily and greatly improve the likelihood of your success.



About the Author

Aaron Meredith is a successful entrepreneur who has been involved in network marketing since 2003. He now builds his business primarily online via internet marketing. For a limited time, Aaron is offering mentoring to those serious about achieving success online.

For information on how you can take control of your financial situation visit http://www.jobfreein30.com.

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Some Great Tips to Help You Live a Successful Life

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Success

Some Great Tips to Help You Live a Successful Life

Are you here to find out how you can live a fruitful, happy and successful life? We only live one, so I guess everyone wants to know or eager to pick up some pointers on how to live a successful life. If you are one of many people who are always constantly seeking ways to live a fruitful and happy life, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will share with you some great tips you can use and apply in your daily life.

If you are serious about your success in your life, I strongly urge you to spend some time and focus your attention to read this article and understand the tips or information being shared. No one wants to live in mediocrity, if they know the way, they will do what it takes to become successful. We promise you that you can find some encouragement or even elightenments after you read through this article.

So, let’s get started… shall we?

Here are some of the surefire tips you can use and apply to achieve a successful life:

To be able to live a successful and fruitful life, the first thing you need to do is to ask yourself this question, “What does success mean to you?” You see, everybody has a different definition of success. Success for one individual does not mean the same thing to another individual. Therefore, in order to be able to succeed in life, you must be clear in your mind and in your vision what success is?

Is having a financial freedom a success to you? Is helping other people to become successful makes you feel happy and successful? Is having a happy and long-lasting a success to you? Success means different things for different people.

Here is a personal tip I want to share with you, don’t base your success criteria on other people expectations. Make sure you create your own success definition. One good question to ask yourself is this, “What can really make you happy and fulfilled?” Anything you do in life that can make you happy and satisfied is a success.

Next, you must plan for success. After you know what can really make you happy and what you want to do or what is your life purpose, the next thing is to set out an action plan. You see, you must have an executable action plan that you can follow to move you closer to your success. Without an action plan, your success is just like another wish that you will most likely forget real soon.

Therefore, make sure you have a step by step action plan to guide you to achieve the success you want.

The last and final tip I want to share with you is to find a passion within you. Without a strong passion and motivation, it is very difficult for you to acheive the success you want. If you can find your passion, this is the best way for you to drive yourself to success because you now have a reason to live and your life purpose is clear. No passion equals to no motivation; and no motivation equals to no drive in life; it is like a car without any fuel.

There you have it… some great tips to help you live a successful and fruitful life. Hope you find this article useful.

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Succession Planning: Rise of the Talent Ecosystem

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Success

Succession Planning: Rise of the Talent Ecosystem

The Succession Planning Imperative

Once reserved for the upper echelons of senior management, and often viewed – erroneously so – as replacement planning to mitigate risk (e.g., a catastrophe befalls company leaders), today’s succession planning is being redefined. The discipline has broadened in both breadth and scope to become a central component of strategic talent management.

Defined as the process of identifying, preparing, and tracking high potential employees for promotion and advancement, several dynamics are driving the evolution of succession planning today:

The recognition that top-notch talent – and retaining that talent – drives bottom-line financial performance, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage.  Researchers  such as Accenture, McKinsey, and Towers Watson have empirically validated these linkages.

Global talent shortages due to retiring baby boomers, shifting workforce demographics, and globalization. Fifty-three percent of companies are facing significant talent shortages today1 and this percentage will grow as baby boomers start retiring. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a shortage of 10 million workers by 2010.

Mitigating the risk of untimely departures of high performers and essential personnel as labor markets continue their inexorable shift in favor of buyers (i.e., job seekers).

A confluence of market conditions impacting specific industries. For instance, within healthcare, increasing demand for services from baby boomers is coinciding with a shortage of skilled talent (e.g., nurses, technicians). In the public sector, an aging workforce coupled with competitiveness from the private sector and an inability to attract younger talent is posing challenges. And in technology, CEOs are finding it increasingly difficult to fill key positions as older workers retire.

Many companies are starting to recognize these dynamics (especially the challenges). In a 2008 Bersin & Associates study, three-out-of-five of the top talent challenges cited by global survey respondents were related to succession planning.

Yet the same study paints a more ominous picture. Only 20 percent of companies have an enterprise-wide succession planning process, and fully 53 percent have no process at all. Indeed, a 2010 SumTotal study revealed that 59 percent of HR professionals do not believe that their personnel are adequately prepared to meet their companies’ future growth plans. All of this market data points to one inescapable conclusion: The majority of companies are aware of the challenges yet most are completely unprepared to deal with them. Therefore, new and innovative ways of deploying succession planning are required. These include extending succession planning across the organization and integrating succession planning into the broader talent ecosystem.

Extending Succession Planning Across the Organization

Applying succession planning beyond senior management is critical to retaining high performers across all levels of the organization and mitigating the risk of untimely departures of key personnel. Retaining existing employees not only has the potential to minimize the effects of the global talent shortage, it also provides significant and tangible cost savings (since replacement costs range from 100%-150% of the salary for the departing employee).

ALFA provides an ideal example. Based in Mexico and employing more than 50,000 people, ALFA is a diversified global company consisting of four distinct business units: petrochemicals, aluminum auto components, refrigerated food, and telecommunications.

A key challenge facing the company was promoting cross-business unit transfers, thereby minimizing employee attrition to the competition. ALFA was losing high-performing talent because it was unable to find growth opportunities for employees within the organization. Due to the proliferation of different human resources (HR) systems at each of its four business units, ALFA suffered from inconsistency in managing its global HR processes as well as a lack of visibility into key employee information that could be used to drive succession planning.

To address its challenges, ALFA standardized on a single, integrated talent  platform across its diverse business units. This platform, provided by SumTotal, became the centerpiece of ALFA’s employee lifecycle, which consists of planning, hiring, compensation, performance management, learning and development, succession planning, reporting and analysis, and HR management. ALFA also leveraged SumTotal’s global experience in developing and implementing standard HR policies and best practices. As a result, it is far more common for ALFA’s employees to jump from one business unit within the company to another, expanding their experience and skill sets via promotion and advancement.

Connecting Succession Planning into the Broader
Talent Ecosystem

Succession planning is one of several key processes that enable organizations to embrace a holistic talent management strategy. At its heart, Talent management is the strategic approach to integrating and optimizing talent-related processes across the enterprise, including talent acquisition (recruiting and hiring), performance management, development and learning, succession planning, 360 feedback, compensation and rewards, and talent profiles. Software technology, a key enabler of talent management strategy, provides a best practices platform for information integration and process optimization. One such example of this platform is the SumTotal Talent Platform.

At the center of this platform is the talent-based employee system of record, which includes employee data, talent profiles, job profiles, and competencies. All of this information, once made consistent across the organization, feeds critical HR business processes, facilitates the linkages across these processes, and ultimately enables improved business analysis, insight, and decision making.

The role of succession planning within the broader talent ecosystem is unique because it is dependent upon inputs from several other core HR processes. Whereas an annual performance appraisal process can be executed in a relatively self-contained fashion (assuming it has access to core employee data), the same is not true for succession planning. To illustrate the point, consider how HR practitioners have traditionally built succession plans.

Conventionally, HR practitioners will spend weeks or months manually scouring different parts of the organization for information needed to build lists of nominees for specific job families or positions. The information required to generate the lists may include self assessments, past performance appraisals (often paper-based), and 360 feedback. After a lengthy period of information gathering and aggregation followed by manual analysis (e.g., nine-box, gap analysis), HR prints the results, collates hundreds of pages of paper into three-ring binders, and presents its recommendations to senior management. This time-consuming, inefficient process is still common practice today (recall that only 20 percent of companies have an enterprise-wide succession planning process in place).

Yet by centralizing talent processes and information – in the above scenario, performance management, 360 feedback, and succession planning – onto a single, integrated talent management platform, the time to develop succession plans can easily be reduced from weeks or months to mere hours. The benefits can be significant: reduce HR costs, reallocate HR resources from tactical activities to more strategic endeavors, and mitigate the risk of untimely departures of essential personnel.

Additionally, a natively-integrated talent management platform promotes the linkage of learning and development planning with succession planning. By bridging the processes, nominees who are not ready for advancement can be assigned detailed development plans that guide them to improve the competencies required for new job positions. Learning paths and even specific courses can be established for employees to facilitate their career growth. By providing learning opportunities and development plans to employees, HR can take a more active role in promoting employee retention.

Finally, a single talent management platform facilitates enterprise-wide HR reporting and analysis, since all of the relevant talent data resides within a single data structure. Reporting and analysis are key to an organization’s success in managing employee resources and implementing HR strategies that support corporate objectives and initiatives.

In the manual, paper-based world of conventional HR – and also in siloed HR technology deployments which are equally prevalent – this level of integration and its inherent benefits are not possible.

Conclusion

Succession planning is not a silo. Companies of all sizes and in all industries must reevaluate how succession planning fits within their enterprises. In order to take advantage of new opportunities, avoid the looming talent crisis, and mitigate the risk of untimely departures, companies must extend succession planning across their organizations and fully integrate succession planning into their broader talent ecosystems. This can best be achieved by leveraging a single talent management platform coupled with a strong focus on process and strategy.

Endnotes

1″High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices, and Industry Solutions,” Bersin & Associates, May 2007

 

SumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader in complete talent management software that enables organizations to more effectively drive business strategy. Recognized by industry analysts as the most comprehensive talent management solution, SumTotal provides full employee lifecycle management, including a core system of record, from a single provider for improved business intelligence. The company offers customers of all sizes and in all industries the most flexibility and choice with multiple purchase, configuration, and deployment options. With more than 1,800 customers and 25 million users worldwide, we have increased the performance of the world’s largest organizations.

For more information, or to request a demonstration, please call +1-866-766-6825 (US / Canada), +1 352 264 2800 (international) or visit our website: http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/

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Inspirational Jewelry – Feel good jewelry for every occasion!

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Success

Inspirational Jewelry – Feel good jewelry for every occasion!

Article by Wain Roy







Jewelry captivates. It enchants and spellbinds. And now, there’s jewelry that inspires. Welcome to the wonderful world of inspirational jewelry. Inspiration and jewelry may appear to one as an unlikely alliance, but it’s true! Here’s something that not only adorns the body, but also lifts the soul and moves the mind.

Inspirational jewelry enjoys a unique duality in its appeal to our aesthetic senses. It not only leaves the beholder awestruck by its beauty, but also inspires. Inspirational jewelry comes with motivational words, phrases and lines etched on it that continue to inspire every time the eye meets them. One can find a huge collection of pre-etched can settle for the popular messages that such jewelry uses, or use one’s own customization.

Just think about it. Inspirational engraved jewelry gives you the unique opportunity to ‘wear’ poetry around your neck, on your ears and around your fingers. You could have Lau Tzu wrapped around your fingers, or Ralph Waldo Emerson around your neck. How about keeping a few golden lines by Walt Whitman close to your heart by having them engraved on a pendant? That’s the magic of inspirational jewelry. It can turn one’s favorite lines of poetry into exquisite pieces of jewelry.

Inspirational jewelry makes a wonderful for about any reason and any season. If you are looking for a slightly unusual gift, something that will set your gift aside from the rest and will make a great impression with the recipient, try gifting a piece of hand engraved inspirational jewelry. Don’t lose sleep over thinking what to gift your beloved on Valentine’s Day. Don’t get confused over what to give your mother on Mother’s Day. Stop worrying over the perfect gift to give to your spouse on your wedding anniversary or her birthday. Just gift a beautiful piece of inspirational jewelry and watch their faces light up. Your choice of a gift will be greatly admired and appreciated by all.

Inspirational jewelry has countless admirers the world over. Some of the well-known names today are great enthusiasts of inspirational jewelry, including Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Mick Jagger, Johnny Depp, Meg Ryan, Seal, Sheryl Crow and Debra Missing. After all, there are few things as intimate as wearing poetry against your skin!

The Internet is a great place to start getting familiar with this unique brand of jewelry. Many of the most reputed designers of inspirational jewelry have their websites and e-stores on the Internet. Browsing through their inventory is quite an experience in itself. One of the best places to find a most dazzling array of inspirational jewelry is Jeanine Payer’s online jewelry store. Feast your eyes on a most exquisite array of bracelets, rings, earrings and necklaces – each meticulously crafted from precious metals with words of gold etched on them for eternal inspiration and motivation. Jeanine Payer is a San Francisco-based jewelry designer of significant repute and her name has become associated with some of the finest creations in inspirational jewelry. Payer’s designs are graced with the words of both contemporary and ancient voices such as Emily Dickinson, Rumi, Lao Tzu, Jane Hirshfield, and Ovid.

Take your jewelry collection to the next level with inspirational jewelry. Don’t just wear your jewelry. Feel them and make them move you.



About the Author

Wain Roy is an internet marketing professional expert in various industries like real estate, web design, finance, medical tourism and handcrafted jewelry

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So what exactly are your motivations?

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Success

So what exactly are your motivations?

Article by Simon Vics







What makes you get really excited and motivates you? Finding out the answers to these questions will help you with your self-improvement and personal success. By understanding your own personal motivations, you will be able to unlock, comprehend, and guide your future much more easily.

Most of us want a better way of life. Although each of us may define what truly constitutes a better way of life differently, we all want to see things improve for ourselves and our loved ones. Chances are you are looking for ways to improve your life. But remember… the only person who can truly make a change in your life is you.

This simply means that you will need to move from your current train of thought to a different one. Such a journey may involve a few stops along the way. It will definitely require that you make changes while moving ahead, even on days when it seems like it would be easier to revert back to your comfort zone.

Change is vital for Motivations to move forward…

Chances are there is no one going to be holding your hand as you take your journey, prodding you along. No one is going to dangle food in front of you, tricking you into marching forward. If you want to move from point A to point B, you are the only one that can make it happen. In order to keep moving along the path, you need to find the right motivation.

Motivations are important. If you attach yourself to shallow inspiration and weak motivations, you will quickly find yourself ducking out of the overall process. However, if you are able to segregate what really matters most to you, it is possible to achieve your goals.

Identify and Master your Motivations…

The question then becomes what actually motivates you? For some people, it is very easy to recognize what motivates them. They are easily able to list them off. For these people, they are in touch with their true calling and have a full understanding of what keep them going each day and they work towards their goals. However, some of us are not so lucky. In the chaos of every day life, with work, grocery shopping, home responsibilities, getting the car repaired, paying bills and doctor visits, it is easy to lose track of our core motivations. For most of us, we have to really search for our motivators.

The first step is to remember what motivates one person, doesn’t necessarily motivate everyone else. True motivations are very personal. Motivations are formed from our life experiences, background, education and true understanding of the world. There is not a set of motivations that work for everyone out there (aside from the basic physiological needs of course). If you are looking at someone else for your motivations, you are looking in the wrong place.

Live with Your True Motivations…

In order to find your true motivations, you need a bit of introspection. Begin by looking at your past successes and what kept you going during those projects. Look at the goals you have always held to the most strongly. In order to have full understanding of what core principals have inspired you, evaluate your goals. Your motivations are you own and no one else will be able to come up with a list of motivators for you. You will have to dig through your past and discover them.

Re-Discover your Motivational History…

The good news in all of this is that digging through you past to discover your true motivators is well worth the effort. Once you have narrowed down the motivators that “make you tick”, you can begin to move forward to reach your maximum potential. While others are struggling because of ready made solutions and plans that don’t match and only result in frustration, you will be able to move along with your plans and goals. You will easily be able to supercharge your self-improvement efforts, by aligning your plan of attack with a solid understanding of your motivations.

What are your motivations? If you do not have a true answer to that question, then it is time to develop one.



About the Author

“It’s about following through… it’s about doing it. When you’ve found something that works, keep doing it.” Discover more about self motivation from Simon Vics here: http://www.squidoo.com/self_motivation

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how to set goals

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Success

how to set goals

Article by dennis white







Take out a sheet of paper, and write the following heading; “MY GOALS FOR THIS YEAR.”

Now take that sheet of paper, fold it up, and bury it in a glass jar in your backyard. In exactly one year, go dig up that glass jar, pull out that piece of paper, and read your goals again. Chances are, if you wrote down 10 goals, you will have accomplished 2 of them. Sort of. Your goals may have changed but, for the most part, you accomplished 20% of your goals by just writing them down!

Believe it or not, this was my introduction to goal setting. Not sure how many of the goals that I wrote down were accomplished because I never could find where I buried the glass jar! But let’s say that I accomplished 20%. Is that good? Not for me, and I imagine that 20% is not good for you, either.

This “write them and forget them” goal system is horrible, but it does accomplish one critical step; It gets you to write down your goals. But it, and many other systems fall very short. I am not content with a 20% or even 50% success rate, but many goal systems focus to you hitting around half of your goals. Why? Actually, the answer is not in the goal system, but it is with your goals themselves.

Many goal setting programs follow the same steps;

1. Write your goals down.

2. Keep your goals handy so you can read them often

3. Keep track of your progress

4. Alter goals that need to be changed

5. Start every day with your goals in mind

6. Continue until you achieve your goals

7. Set new goals.

Pretty simple process, and, sometimes, for some people, effective. But my experience is that the vast majority of people set goals but NEVER accomplish them. Why? Why is it that some people seem to always accomplish what they set out for and others give up a few hours, days, weeks, months, or years after they start off? I believe I have found both the reasons and the cure. Stick with me and I think you’ll see why this Goal Setting System is so much more effective than any other you may have used before.

MY APPROACH

I don’t have any special or exciting name for this process of goal setting. But over the years, I have realized, through trial and error that the secret lies in the goals, not in the program. The best way, I feel, to explain this approach to you is by showing you an imaginary example of how I would use this approach in helping someone else to set their goals. Though this system is easily adapted to a “solo goal setting workshop,” I believe it works better if you have a friend test your goals for you. In this example, I’ll show how I would approach testing “Ken’s” goals.

“Ken, let’s go over your top goal for the year.”

“My main goal is to earn 0,000 for the year,” Ken said in a slightly excited voice.

“Great goal,” I offered back. “Why 0,000?”

Ken’s face went blank for a quick moment. “Making that much will allow me to have the lifestyle I want,” he answered.

“And what lifestyle do you want?” I asked.

“The kind of lifestyle that comes with earning 0,000, I guess.”

Ken really had no idea why he wanted to earn 0,000. To him, it was just a number that sounded attractive. He probably heard that earning 0,000 affords many a better lifestyle, but Ken never really knew what that lifestyle was, why he wanted it, and how his life would be better if he did earn 0,000.

If you don’t know why you want a goal and what accomplishing the goal will give you, I can almost guarantee that you won’t accomplish the goal.

“Ken, why exactly do you want to earn 0,000?” I pushed back

“That will give me enough money to get out of credit card debt, and will make things easier for my wife and I,” he answered as if the reason was ready to jump out of his mouth.

“Great reasons. But why do you want to get out of credit card debt, and how will earning the money make life easier?”

It took around 10 minutes of questioning before Ken realized that the reason he wanted to get out of debt was so that his wife could stay home with their newborn baby. His income up to this point was not high enough to support his lifestyle and his wife had to work as well. Ken’s son had to go to daycare while he and his wife worked. Ken hated this but seemed resigned to daycare being part of his and his son’s life.

“So, you want to earn enough money so that your wife can stay home with your son? Is that really your goal?”

“Yes. I guess it is.”

“Ken, what if you earned ,000 this year? Would that be enough to make your goal happen?” I asked

“Sure, that is more than we make now. That would be fine.”

“What if you earned ,000? Would that still work?”

“I guess so. We would have to cut out some things but my wife would be able to stay home,” Ken answered, seemingly getting more excited.

“How about ,000?”

“No,” he answered quickly and with certainty. “That is less than we earn now. No way, I have to make at least ,000 this year to make it happen.”

“Congratulations,” I said, “You have your goal, and are already half way to accomplishing it.”

The secret of goal setting lies in the following system:

1. Knowing exactly what your goal is and why you want it

2. Testing your goal. For example, if you set a goal to lose 40 lbs, ask yourself if losing 35 is good enough. If it is, then your goal is not to lose 40 lbs, it is to lose 35. Keep testing your goal to you won’t accept anything less. Once you arrive at this point, you will have an emotional response.

3. Write your goals down in clear detail. Write about why you want the goal and what accomplishing the goal will bring into your life. Write about what would happen if you didn’t hit your goals and all the pain that would result. Write about the person you will become and how it will effect other people in your life. Make the goal so real that your brain can’t tell if you are imagining it or if it is already real.

4. Read your goals everyday! That’s right, everyday. Passion is like a fire that will burn hot when it has fuel. Without fuel, it will burn itself out. Keep adding fuel by reading your goals and charging them with fresh emotion every day. You will start each day with a hunger for your goal. And when you start to realize that the goal is coming to reality, your passion and emotion will only grow stronger!

5. Celebrate once your goal is accomplished. If your goal was a challenging one, you deserve some celebration time. Reward yourself for what you have accomplished.

6. Take a day off, and create new, more challenging goals, and repeat the process.

Yes or Else



About the Author

http://www.selfdevelopment101.info

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5 Tips To Effective Succession Planning

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Success

5 Tips To Effective Succession Planning

Tip #1 Eliminate Paper and Spreadsheets

Succession planning is currently the least automated talent management process, according to a global survey of HR leaders conducted by SumTotal. Fully 67% of companies that employ a succession planning process are still primarily paper-based. Within the majority of organizations, today’s succession planning efforts are characterized by fragmented, inconsistent, paper-based processes.

Conventionally, HR practitioners will spend weeks or months manually scouring different parts of the organization for information needed to build lists and pools of nominees and successors for specific job families or positions. The information required to generate the lists may include self assessments, past performance appraisals (often paper-based), and 360 feedback. After a lengthy period of information gathering and aggregation followed by manual analysis (e.g., nine-box, gap analysis), HR prints the results, collates hundreds of pages of paper into three-ring binders, and presents its recommendations to senior management. This time-consuming, inefficient process is still commonplace.

To effectively transform succession planning from a manual, paper-based process to one that is systematic and technology-enabled, organizations must lay a solid foundation.

Program & Process Foundation

Establish dedicated management function (e.g., program management office)
Define core succession process along with key constituents and tasks at each step of the process; Clearly articulate touch points to other HR processes (e.g., performance management, career development)
Understand implications of change with emphasis on managers & employees
Align program with broader business strategy
Determine initial scope (e.g., enterprise-wide, divisional)
Define processes independent of technology

Technology Foundation

Must support and enable key processes
Must integrate learning and development
Must link seamlessly to other HR and talent processes, especially performance management
Must be flexible and configurable to meet unique needs
Must centralise and consolidate key information and data
Must be easy for managers and employees to use

A few key questions to consider to eliminate paper and spreadsheets are:

1. Has the current succession process been cataloged and the desired future state articulated? Is a management and governance structure in place to execute the transition? Has a framework for change management been established?

2. What new technology investments are required to support the future state? Does this technology enable and natively integrate all of the processes required for effective succession planning, including core succession functionality, performance management, career development, learning, HR records, and reporting/analytics?

3. How flexible and configurable is the succession planning platform to meet your unique business requirements? Is user-driven configuration (vs. programmatic customization) the preferred method for making changes to the technology?

Tip #3 Drive Succession Planning Deeper into the Organization 

Many organizations still view succession planning as replacement planning to designate successors in the event of a catastrophe befalling senior company leaders. Indeed, succession planning penetrates only the highest levels of the organizational hierarchy, according to a global survey of HR leaders conducted by SumTotal. More than 80% of companies currently focus their succession planning efforts on the top three levels of their hierarchy, including top management.

Yet a most dramatic transformation is underway: Nearly half of the organizations surveyed plan to extend succession planning down to four levels of the hierarchy or lower. Applying succession planning beyond the top layers of management is critical to retaining high performers across all levels of the organization and mitigating the risk of untimely departures of personnel in high-value positions.

The key to extending succession planning into the organization is to provide career development planning to employees. Indeed, fully 97% of HR leaders believe that a systematic career development process positively impacts employee retention and engagement. HR leaders also believe that providing career advancement opportunities as well as dedicated development planning to employees are the two most important mechanisms for retaining high performers.

Retaining existing employees not only has the potential to minimise the effects of talent shortages, it also provides significant and tangible cost savings (since replacement costs range from 100%-150% of the salary for a departing employee).

A few key questions to consider to further extend succession planning into the organization are:

1. Does your succession planning platform tightly integrate career development? Can development activities can be assigned and tracked against talent pools?

2. Is learning management natively integrated into the core succession process so that development plans can seamlessly transition to actionable learning programs?

3. Are you measuring the impact of your development and learning programs by leveraging strategic, cross-functional workforce analytics?

Tip #3 Establish Dynamic Talent Pools to Improve Pipeline Visibility 

Centralized talent pools provide business and HR leaders with global visibility into their talent pipeline and overall organization bench strength. They provide a mechanism for ensuring that the organization’s future staffing plans are adequate, thereby reducing risk. To be truly effective, talent pools need to be dynamic in nature. For instance, if an employee is terminated, that person should be automatically removed from existing successor pools. Alternatively, if an employee closes a key skill or certification gap that had previously kept her from being considered as a successor, the pool should be updated appropriately. Talent pools that are inaccessible or not up-to-date are of little use to decision makers.

A key element of making talent pools accessible is in-depth searching for talent exploration. A talent pool is not much good if managers cannot easily view, track, update, and search for potential successors. Dynamic talent pools should take the guess work out of succession planning by aligning employee assessments, competencies, development plans, and learning programs. Proactive system monitoring ensures that as employees learn and grow, talent pools are dynamically updated to reflect the changes. It is this element in particular – supported by robust reporting and analytic capabilities – that helps business and HR leaders make more objective staffing decisions and better plan for future staffing needs.

A few key questions to consider when establishing dynamic talent pools to improve pipeline visibility are:

1. Is it possible for managers to easily establish both pool-based and position-based talent pools based on required competencies, skills, and behaviors? Can these pools be saved with dynamic updates occurring automatically in the background?

2. Can external (non-employee) candidates be applied to
talent pools?

3. Can employee development activities be assigned and tracked against talent pools?

4. How is security managed within the system? Can talent pools be restricted to only those who have explicit rights to access and interact with them?

Tip #4 Promote Talent Mobility to Retain High Performers 

In many organizations, talent mobility is impeded because there is no consistent or systematic process for aligning current and future talent needs to the existing talent inventory. Global organizations want to promote cross-business unit transfers to retain their high performers, but many do not yet have a single HR system of record to identify and enable transfer opportunities consistently. According to a May 2009 article in Talent Management magazine, “Increasing globalization has made talent managers’ ability to move talent across regions and countries critical to business success, but integrating global mobility with talent management is still a relatively new trend.”

Without a cohesive talent mobility strategy, organizations face several risks:

Focus on costly external recruiting vs. internal sourcing
Wrong hires (cost can be 3-5x person’s salary)
Increased high performer churn
Reduced employee engagement
Reduced flexibility as business conditions change

Organizations should consider the following integrated processes – and a complete HR platform to support them – to promote and enable talent mobility:

Current workforce analysis: Includes detailed talent profiles, employee summaries, organization charts, competencies, and job profiles.
Talent needs assessment: Assess employees on key areas of leadership potential, job performance, and risk of leaving.
Future needs analysis: Development-centric succession planning to create and manage dynamic, fully-populated talent pools.

A few key questions to consider to promote talent mobility are:

1. How robust is the assessment infrastructure? Can performance ratings and 360 feedback be easily integrated into the succession process?

2. Are career development and learning fully integrated to succession planning?

3. Can managers easily establish dynamic talent pools based on desired competencies, skills, and behaviors?

4. Are hiring and recruiting processes integrated to succession to balance external vs. internal sourcing priorities?

Tip #5 Integrate Succession Planning to Broader HR Processes

Succession planning is not a silo. It implicitly relies on other talent processes and data, especially assessments that provide a performance and competency baseline (see Figure 1). Yet unlike a performance management process, which can be executed in a relatively self-contained fashion (assuming it has access to core employee data), the same is not true for succession planning.

Succession planning requires foundational data (e.g., competencies, job profiles, talent profiles, and employee records) and inputs (e.g., appraisals, feedback). Outputs include nominee pools, successor pools, development/learning plans, and reports. To facilitate the level of integration required to get succession planning right, a single, natively-integrated HR platform that centralizes key talent processes and information is required. With this single platform, the time to develop succession plans can easily be reduced from weeks or months to mere hours. The benefits can be significant: reduce HR costs, reallocate HR resources from tactical activities to more strategic endeavors, and mitigate the risk of untimely departures of essential personnel.

Additionally, a single HR platform promotes the linkage of learning and career development to succession planning. By bridging these processes, nominees who are not ready for advancement can be assigned detailed development plans that guide them to improve the competencies and skills required for new job positions. Learning paths and specific courses can be established for employees to facilitate their career growth. By providing learning opportunities and development plans to employees, HR leaders can take a more active role in promoting employee growth, retention, and engagement.

Finally, with a single system of record, HR reporting and analysis is vastly improved, since all relevant talent data resides within a single data structure. Strategic cross-functional metrics can be readily established (e.g., measure the impact of learning and development programs on performance). Reporting and analysis are key to an organization’s success in managing employee resources and implementing HR strategies that support corporate objectives and initiatives.

A few key questions to consider to integrate succession planning to broader HR processes are:

1. Does your HR platform natively integrate all of the processes required for effective succession planning, including core succession functionality, performance management, career development, learning, HR records, and reporting/analytics?

2. What is your organization doing to reduce its reliance on homegrown or legacy technologies that are expensive to maintain, inflexible, and difficult to integrate to other applications?

3. Does your HR platform leverage a robust and industry standard analytics engine to help you compare and relate deep analytical views across the platform? Does the system abstract the complexity out of the analytics engine so that non-technical users can conduct their own analyzes via an intuitive, web-based interface?

Conclusion

Organizations can realize significant efficiency gains and cost savings by moving from a manual, paper-based succession process to one that is fully technology-enabled. The shift to a single HR platform facilitates extending succession planning deeper into the organization, since a well-architected solution seamlessly links succession to career development and learning. A complete HR platform improves senior management’s global visibility into the talent pipeline and bench strength, and promoting talent mobility to retain high performers becomes a viable engagement strategy. Succession planning, done correctly, is all about process and supporting technology integration. Without integration, succession planning is just another HR silo.

To summarize the top five tips to effective succession planning:

1. Eliminate Paper and Spreadsheets

2. Drive Succession Planning Deeper into the Organization

3. Establish Dynamic Talent Pools to Improve Pipeline Visibility

4. Promote Talent Mobility to Retain High Performers

5. Integrate Succession Planning to Broader HR Processes

 

SumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader in complete talent management software that enables organizations to more effectively drive business strategy. Recognized by industry analysts as the most comprehensive talent management solution, SumTotal provides full employee lifecycle management, including a core system of record, from a single provider for improved business intelligence. The company offers customers of all sizes and in all industries the most flexibility and choice with multiple purchase, configuration, and deployment options. With more than 1,800 customers and 25 million users worldwide, we have increased the performance of the world’s largest organizations.

For more information, or to request a demonstration, please call +1-866-766-6825 (US / Canada), +1 352 264 2800 (international) or visit our website: http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/

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