the professional edge September 06

Why do management fashions commonly turn out badly?... read on
Learning leaders can't reach consensus on something almost all of them value intensely: measurement of learning impact on the business. ROI measurements or metrics continually spark conversations and debates in the enterprise education space.... read on
I got empathy...now what!! ... Read the latest from Cindy Tonkin.
and for a bit of fun... study up on this before your next big meeting!!

the professional edge August 06

Much of what professional firms do in the name of strategic planning is a complete waste of time! No more effective that individuals making New Year resolutions. The reasons are the same in both situations. We know WHAT to do, we know WHY to do it and we know HOW to do it. Yet we don't change.... World-renowned David Maister's "Strategy and the Fat Smoker" delves into some of the answers and more....
The latest High Flyer Trend Report makes for compelling reading. A study was conducted to see if recent cultural, economic and technological chagnes have impacted on the motivational drivers of talented individuals. These findings woudl then be compared to the current beliefs in the human resource industry. An interesting read.
BPR Your Life!! ...In recent years, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has revolutionsed Australian businesses allowing us to do more with less. Applying the same principles of BPR to your own work patterns can similarly save you time and make you feel more productive. Read the latest from Cindy Tonkin.

the professional edge July 06

According to a new study, most employees have to change their behaviour and personalities to fit in at work.
The Vodafone report Changing Faces: How we adapt our identity at work is based on research into the British working population. But its findings would, more or less, apply here too.

According to the study, 58 per cent of all employees say they change their personality and identity to some extent when they come to work. The ones most likely to do it are men, the divorced, junior managers and people working for organisations with 51-250 employees. It's most commonly found in the media (!) and marketing. Least likely among women, the married, skilled manual workers and those working for organisations with up to 50 employees and who don't have to deal with clients.

It also applies to bosses with four out of five (79 per cent) saying that adopting a "work-only" identity helped them get to the top and 12 per cent saying they had rejected their own personal values to succeed.

Potentially, this can be scary stuff when you consider how much work has come to dominate our lives, and that so many people take their work home with them. If that's the case, it would have to have some sort of impact on non-work relationships and life in general.
Top 5 reasons why "The Customer of Always Right" is wrong!
Basically, it makes employees unhappy, it gives bad customers an unfair advantage, some customers are just bad for business and plain wrong, and it can actually result in worse customer service.
Are you a bad Customer?
It depends on your definition. But too many returns or a history of staff harassment may get you locked out of good deals or better service.

the professional edge June 06

Most companies have it all wrong. They don't have to motivate their employees. They have to stop demotivating them... >> more
Smart people like being around other smart people, so one way to keep them is to hire lots of other smart people... find out what the likes of Google do... >> more
DIVERSITY in the workplace is gaining momentum in Australia as the tightening of the labour market continues, says Stuart King, chief executive of Diversity@work, one of aCE talentNET's fabulous consultancies...
>> more

the professional edge May 06

In this months issue of AFR Boss, you can get the inside running on marketing trends by checking out their annual survey of marketing directors who tell where they will spend the marketing dollars - and why. Check out the Marketing Directions survey 2006
As we were looking for words to best describe what aCE is evolving into, we thought Tom Peters summed it up justly nicely when he describes what constitutes a (Professional Services Firm) "PSF Winner": 1. Audacity of Vision, 2. Innovation/Design, 3. Relentless "Talent acquisition/development", 4. Incredible Experience, 5. Masters of Strategic Alliance, 6. Masters of "Mundane" Operations, 7. Financial Management!, 8. Overall/sustaining EXCELLENCE, 9. WOW!, and 10. LoveMark... you will find this list on p18 and a whole lot more about what the future holds by reading this (.pdf file, 900kb)
THE BEST CEOs Again, from AFR Boss, a special feature looks at 11 CEOs who really deliver to shareholders. Narelle Hooper and Alan Jury identify the best - based on the numbers. It makes for most interesting reading.

the professional edge April 06

For something completely different, and a most interesting read at that... try "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol" by Andy Warhol (available on Amazon)... his chapter on Business especially is as relevant today as it was in 1975 when he wrote it... enjoy!
If your business engages workers, you need to know how to meet your tax obligations. Are your workers Employees or Consultants/Contractors? first of all, its important to know the status of your workers for tax purposes as you have different obligations depending on whether a worker is an Employee or a Consultant/Contractor. Find out more
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY will hand the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) back to its members in a few months, according to Jo Mithen, executive director of the Institute. Click for more
As a little aside... Easter has risen high in the candy hierarchy over the years. It is now the second top selling candy holiday, just barely behind the glorious ode to sugar that is Halloween. Of the estimated 8 billion pounds of candy consumed in the United States each year, Easter makes up a very large portion of the pie. We suspect Australia would follow closely behind... find out more of the very brief history of the Easter Egg .

the professional edge March 06

To complete the Tom Peters Essential series - A Story about Leadership .
Command and control leadership... "leadership" from on high...is obsolete. New leadership draws on a new skill set - the hallmarks of which are improvisation and inspiration. It taps into the unique leadership attributes of women. It cultivates Great Talent by creating a Great Place to Work... Are you ready?
For more, go to Tom Peters - Reimagine . Happy Leading!!
Leaders and their companies will have to deal with the 76 million children of baby boomers, born between 1978 and 2000, who have started pouring into offices across the land. Four generations are being asked to coexist at once : traditionalists (born before 1945), boomers (born 1946-1964), generation X (1965-1977), and millennials (alternately known as gen-Y, echo boomers, Net gen, and even "generation why," because they never stop questioning the status quo). Leaders and Managers will be challenged to minimize the friction and maximize the assets of four distinct sets of work values and styles simultaneously. Read all about it...
SKILLS SHORTAGES on a global and local scale are driving leading organisations to alter the way they manage their contingent workforce , according to an international recruitment process outsourcing firm. Find out more, click here .

the professional edge February 06

From Tom Peters Essential series - A Story about Design.
New Value-Added derives less and less from "product" and "service" quality, and more and more from... Something More. Something called "Experiences." Something called "Branding." something called "Design."
For more, go to Tom Peters - Reimagine . Happy Designing!!
What are the most promising careers to pursue now? Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fast Company compiled this list of 25 top jobs. Of most interest to the aCE Talent Network is that Management Analysts i.e. Consultants come in at #4, and Training and Development Practitioners come in at #24... We are moving in the right directions.
Martin Seligman has some provocative ideas about the big question of our age: how to be happy . He says it's time to look at our priorities.

the professional edge January 06

From Tom Peters Essential series - A Story about Trends. Where, amid so much flux and discontinuity, are the Big Market Opportunities? They are hiding in plain sight. Go where the buyer are and where the money is - among women and among aging Boomers.
For more, go to http://www.tompeters.com/reimagine/index.php Happy Learning!!
This month we reveal just how buoyant management consultants are expecting 2006 to be - and indeed where the hotspots of client demand are most likely to be found. The findings are all part of Top Consultants latest " Consulting Prospects " quarterly report.
Want to get rich? Stupid question. Well, have we got some great ideas for you. Rich Summer: 100 ways to make money in 2006 .