Helios has had many clients inquire as to how they can effectively improve their talent management. While not easy, it is vitally important to attracting, retaining, and developing your employees. The solution — use a common language. Competencies, which are the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for job success, provide that common language.

What drives the use of employee development programs? Are the funds used mostly around the time of an annual review as a result of an employee realizing they are eligible for a raise by obtaining an industry specific certification? Are the funds used primarily as a result of the criticism on a deliverable or a behavior being recognized as needing improvement? If so, it may not necessarily be the availability of the benefit itself causing the disinterest in the program. It may be that the program needs to go beyond that which develops employees. The program must be designed so that it strengthens employees.

No matter how exciting that new job is, without the proper welcome on the new hire’s first day, it may resemble the first day of freshman year of high school – awkward! Those age old questions resurface and new hires begin to think: Where will I sit? Where will my workstation or office be? Will I fit in? Will my co-workers like me? We all have experienced those uncomfortable feelings at some point in our lives and I think I can speak for us all when I say, let that be history!

At Helios, we often talk about 'building a culture of intention'. We coach our clients on being more intentional, we honor and award organizations who do (i.e. The Helios Apollo Awards), and we even wrote a book compiled of interviews we had with local leaders on how they build these 'cultures of intention'. We were delighted to read a blog post by our friends at Inspirion today that shed light on giving feedback intentionally. Here's CEO Misti Burmeister's advice: “If your intention in giving someone feedback is to judge or criticize, you’ll fail to inspire a shift in their behavior.” — Misti Burmeister

The Washington, DC market has been particularly focused on the impact of pending sequestration outcomes. In October, I participated on a panel addressing preparations for sequestration and our conversation then included topics like triggers of the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification), ensuring you have a budget prepared that takes into account program losses, determining the impact on employee compensation and benefits, and conducting scenario based planning to mitigate your risk.