Human Resources – Nathan Magnuson

Stop it with the Interview Bias!

January 19, 2015 Human Resources Organizational Effectiveness

I was asked to sit in on a large group interview several years ago that a group of managers was conducting. There were a handful of openings and they wanted to efficiently select several candidates to move to the next level. I was supposed to provide input after the fact. In hindsight, I…

Which Stage of Competence Are You?

Everybody wants competence. We want it for ourselves. We expect it from others in our organizations. We demand it from the people and organizations we purchase from. But how do we figure out if we’ve got it? How well do we develop it in others? Where do we even start?…

Building a Strengths-Based Leadership Development Program

April 22, 2013 Human Resources Leadership Organizational Effectiveness

This is the third post of a three-part series on the leadership merits of Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 strengths assessment. In the first post, I shared the practical benefits of the assessment itself. Then last week, I explained how the each person tends toward one of four leadership styles and how…

How to Build a Professional Mentoring Program

January 28, 2013 Human Resources Influence Leadership Learning Networking Organizational Effectiveness

Have you ever been a part of a formal mentoring program at your organization? If so, how did it go? It not, would it have been helpful? Maybe you’ve even wondered how to set up a mentoring program yourself so that you and/or others could benefit from it. In my…

How to Complete an Individual Development Plan

November 26, 2012 Human Resources Leadership Learning Organizational Effectiveness Personal Effectiveness

Perhaps you’ve heard of the professional growth tool called the Individual Development Plan (or IDP for short). They often prove handy for many organizations seeking to develop employees’ skills (leadership & functional) in preparation for what’s next. In some cases, entire sectors (such as the U.S. government) require the completion…

New Employee Onboarding: The Honeymoon Phase

October 8, 2012 Human Resources Organizational Effectiveness

Dan Miller estimates that the average job lasts about 3.7 years. If your career experience has been at all typical, this means you’ve probably gotten the chance to “onboard” as a new employee many times. The new employee onboarding process can be an adventure, for sure. On one end of…

What’s the Big Deal About Employee Engagement?

August 8, 2012 Engagement Human Resources Leadership Organizational Effectiveness

So many organizations hire new employees, give them generous compensation packages ripe with incentives, and then expect them to work happily for years on end. Then they are shocked when a couple years (or months) later the same employees leave to take LESS lucrative jobs elsewhere. What gives?