Workplace 101: A Profiles Global Business Blog

Effective sales managers need to A.C.T. – Assess, Compare and Train

So you hired a new sales rep. He seems highly qualified: great resume, very personable, relevant work experience, and he nailed the interview. Now months go by and he just isn’t delivering the numbers. What’s going on? Is it time to let him go? Or can he be coached?

Harvard Business School Prof. Advocates Developing Talent From Within

You might laugh at the thought of being able to hire new employees right now. But there are companies hiring these days, and you will eventually need to replenish or add jobs, too. When the time comes to fill your vacant positions, will you promote from within or hire outside talent? Is your talent management strategy to coach or poach?

How to Engage at the Organization, Managerial, and Employee Levels

Unless something dramatically changes, looking ahead to 2012 will be similar to looking back to 2009. A challenging economy demands that companies run lean and maximize workforce productivity. Managers and employees must “do more with less.”  Leaders who can foster a culture of engagement throughout their workforce will prevail.

Succession planning at the CEO-level and beyond is serious business. In a public letter to Apple's board resigning as chief executive, Steve Jobs wrote "I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple."

What’s at the Heart of a Successful M&A?

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are a part of business and happen in both flourishing and dismal markets. Some are wildly successful, some fail miserably, and some just leave us scratching our heads. Why do some M&As work and others fail?

4 Considerations For Managing Talent In Your Business

As the dust settled and the stock market crumbled following the debt-ceiling agreement and subsequent downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by S&P, a quiet announcement was made that signaled the end of an era, but which has broader talent management implications. The Page Program within the US House of Representatives will end at the end of August after nearly 200 years.

Small businesses must continually search for ways to make the whole more valuable than the sum of its parts. Though one might expect them to be most applicable to large companies with substantial headcounts (and budgets), small business leaders can also take advantage of people management solutions to align and improve their organizations.