HR SPENDING

"Currently, there doesn't appear to be a strong correlation between how resources are allocated and the perceived value of the various HR activities," said Bruce Pfau,  Watson Wyatt's spokesman. "Indeed, while line managers ranked staff selection as second in importance, it was 36th in spending.

Likewise, employee retention was rated third in importance, but ranked only 44th in spending. We also identified significant gaps between what line managers perceive as the most important HR functions and how HR is performing those functions."

They found staff selection second in overall importance among HR functions, so it seems amazing that so many businesses still rely on traditional, gut-feel, interview, reference and check processes to guide their selection decisions. We are not heeding the carpenter's maxim, “measure twice, cut once.”

If retention is our # 3 Priority and we know that “most people don’t leave jobs, they leave people", why have management development and training been victimized so severely in the budget cuts of the recent economic hard times? Pfau and co-author Ira Kay, in their textbook approach to increasing company value through HR practices, identified “Achieving recruiting and retention excellence” as the number 1 Human Resource strategy that results in increased value to the company.

If you are in a position to impact the allocation of HR funds and efforts in your business, you owe it to yourself and your co­workers to devote the time to identifying top priority HR activities, and making sure that your HR budgets are in line with your goals.

The Peter Principle—it’s so well know, it’s accorded the status of a noun in the American Heritage Dictionary! It’s been written about, trained on, and just about beaten to death but it is still a common and one of the most costly mistakes a business can make: Promoting a top performer to a job where they fail. 

They cannot succeed in the new job (no matter how much you invest in training); they cannot go back to the old job (because of ego, or someone else already sitting in that place); so, where do they go?  

Usually?  To your competitor, where they can again be a top performer, doing what they used to do so well for you! Alternately, they might just stay with you in the failed position, costing you dearly every day they show up for work!  

You can avoid this costly mistake by establishing a program of scientific assessments and success patterns, used to plan all promotions and succession planning decisions.  

What could it mean for your business, if you never had to experience this expensive catastrophe?

THE ELEMENTS OF GREATNESS

Today, it is not enough to be the best in your field or to be number one in your industry. In both of these instances, your performance is judged against what is currently considered "the best".

Being great involves more than aspiring to a currently held level of "best". Greatness requires a different level of thinking that moves you beyond what currently exists.

How can we accomplish goals, provide service or create in a manner that astonishes...not just satisfies?

What, then, is greatness?

For each of us, greatness has its own definition as it relates to our lives and experiences. Regardless of how we define it, greatness has certain key elements. These are: Vision, Belief, Desire, Courage, Perseverance, Execution and Passion.

Elements of Greatness

Conclusion
Many of us live day to day with unused potential. We experience greatness in only small, peripheral ways in our lives. But in order to experience greatness regularly, consistently, almost daily in each of our lives, it requires enormous personal security, openness, creativity and a spirit of adventure.

It is not enough to aspire to greatness in only one area of your life. When you truly aspire to greatness, it gives more depth and meaning to all aspects of your existence...in your career, in your relationships and in your dreams.

But there is a caveat. Perhaps Winston Churchill said it best, “The price of Greatness is Responsibility.”