Here’s your heavy lifting reading for the day/week…

As most of us do these days, I get multiple daily e-mails, with reading suggestions for the day.  This morning, my LinkedIn Pulse e-mail started off with a link to this Forbes article, Successful Organizations Need Leaders At All Levels by Roger Trapp.  It was prompted by the Global Human Capital Trends 2014 survey published earlier this month by Deloitte University Press.  Well, I read the summary/intro page, and started clicking thorough to some of the specifics.

It provides plenty to ponder – seriously ponder, and discuss. Here are the twelve trends (in three key areas of strategic focus), and a little more about a few of them – all from the published study of the trends.  Read these, then go to the site and read more fully on the specific trend(s) that most interests/impacts you and your organization.

Lead and develop

#1 – Leaders at all levels: Close the gap between hype and readiness
Leadership remains the top human capital concern — and the largest “readiness gap” in our survey. The need: develop new leaders faster, globalize leadership programs, and build deeper bench strength.
#2 – Corporate learning redefined: Prepare for a revolution
#2 – Performance management is broken: Replace “rank and yank” with coaching and development
Companies worldwide are questioning their forced ranking, rigid rating systems, and once a year appraisal process. This is the year a new model of performance management will likely sweep through HR.
#4 – The quest for workforce capability: Create a global skills supply chain

Attract and engage

#5 – Talent acquisition revisited: Deploy new approaches for the new battlefield
Talent acquisition and recruiting are undergoing rapid disruption, challenging companies to leverage social networks, aggressively market their employment brand, and re-recruit employees every day.
#6 – Beyond retention: Build passion and purpose
#7 – From diversity to inclusion: Shift from compliance to diversity as a business strategy
The world has become highly diverse, but many companies have not — especially when it comes to combining diversity with the inclusive culture needed to truly drive value.
#8 – The overwhelmed employee: Simplify the work environment
Technology and too much access have turned us into “overwhelmed” employees. Nearly every company sees this as a challenge to individual productivity and overall performance, but struggles to handle it.

Transform and reinvent

#9 – The reskilled HR team: Transform HR professionals into skilled business consultants
#10 – Talent analytics in practice: Move from talking to delivering on big data
#11 – Race to the cloud: Integrate talent, HR, and business technologies
#12 – The global and local HR function: Balance scale and agility