Latest News Survey: Many Leadership Development Programs Too Tactical If your leadership development training does little more than fill your head with minutiae about plodding through pesky performance issues, handling workplace conflict and other tactical initiatives, you’re not alone. Most development programs are woefully lacking strategic skills training, research finds. Read this article

Featured Articles Surveys Highlight Top Concerns of Business Leaders No matter how you slice it, the way businesses develop and use their employees' skills in a tightening economy and labor market appears to be the top challenge business leaders now face, according to several recent surveys. Characteristics of Influential Boards Boards of directors that have a strong influence on creating value for the organization focus on strategic initiatives, conduct annual performance evaluations, and have meaningful engagement with managers. Outsourcing HR: Keep Core Competencies, Offload Administration Administrative HR work is the top candidate for outsourcing. But, expert Bruce Ellig says, HR should be sure to hang on to its functions that support the organization's core competencies. Overcoming Skills Gaps Takes Senior Management Support Gap analysis is the process of comparing information from an organization’s supply and demand analyses to determine the shortages in competencies needed in the future workforce. But one of the biggest obstacles to overcoming workforce skills gaps, once identified, is a lack of support from senior management. Women Seek, Find Mentors at Xerox One reason for Xerox's mentoring program’s success is that mentees are allowed to search the pool of mentors for job-related attributes and personal characteristics they are seeking in a mentor. Gender Impacts Quest for Top Job, Studies Suggest Women in the United States have demonstrated their ability—and willingness—to take on top leadership roles in business and government. But studies suggest that fundamental differences remain between the sexes, such as the impact of stereotypes and age on career aspirations. SOX Applied to Employee Working Overseas As the contingent of globally mobile employees increases, the issue of whether U.S. law, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), applies to U.S. employees while working overseas is receiving greater attention by the courts. In one federal case, the court permitted a former employee working in France to proceed with a SOX whistle-blowing claim against the Bermuda parent company, Accenture LTD, and its U.S. subsidiary, Accenture LLP. Local, Corporate Culture Influence When, How To Use Workplace Metrics The way companies integrate local and corporate cultural models influences which metrics companies track and how they’re used to measure success.

Featured Webcast Ethics & Code of Conduct Training In the post-Sarbanes-Oxley workplace, the critical need for comprehensive ethics and “code of conduct” training is placing HR, legal and training professionals at the heart of an organization’s compliance efforts. It is essential for these business leaders to understand the importance of training and to know how to provide it to their organizations. In this webcast, Shanti Atkins reviews the legal requirements that mandate ethics and code of conduct training. She will describe how to provide an effective and engaging training program for the entire organization and examine the role of training in a broader ethics and compliance program. Register for this webcast

From SHRMStore Boards That Make a Difference Boards that Make a Difference has set the standard for those who want to bring their boards and their organizations to a higher level of performance. John Carver's revolutionary Policy Governance Model changes the way boards work. It offers an empowering and fundamental redesign of the board role and emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and the strategic ability to lead leaders. Policy Governance offers readers a new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the role of the chief executive, performance monitoring and virtually every aspect of the board management relationship. Carver offers a board model designed to produce polices that make a difference, missions that are clearly articulated, standards that are ethical and prudent, meetings, offices and committees that work, and leadership that supports the fulfillment of long term goals.