5 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2015

Throughout 2015, we posted many articles on personal and organizational career development topics. Here are five of the most popular blog posts of 2015 on career development within organizations: 

“Coaching: The Real Deal” by Virginia Bianco-Mathis and Lisa K. Nabors 

There are tons of coaching resources out there. It’s a booming business—and it has a right to be. Studies from the last 10 years have proven that coaching can lead to positive outcomes for individuals, teams, and organizations. 

Coaching in the workplace can align leaders, managers, and staff with their organization’s envisioned future and help them achieve desired results. Studies confirm that coaching leads to improvement in interpersonal relationships, productivity, teamwork, confidence, emotional intelligence, and profit. It is quite energizing to discover a process that can powerfully influence both the human and business sides of organizations. 

Read More 

“A Mentor Is More Than a Lunch Buddy” by Jenn Labin 

The success of formal mentoring programs completely hinges on the ability of mentors to guide, coach, challenge, inquire, and advocate—skills that many just don’t possess. Of all the mentors I have had the opportunity to evaluate, most do not even truly understand the root cause of a performance issue. 

Great mentors are the most crucial part of the formula for great mentoring programs. Failing to invest in their development is inviting failure for the entire project. 

Read More 

“Why Employee Development Is a Necessity” by David Hosmer 

With every half-full glass comes one that is half empty. The good news is that we have emerged from the Great Recession. . . . Understandably, workers are more confident about the employment outlook. Here’s the half-empty news: With this positive trend, employers must work harder to retain and develop key talent. 

What does this mean for organizational leaders? Employee development planning is no longer optional; it is essential to staying competitive. Here’s the really good news: There are resources to help managers create meaningful development plans for their employees. 

Read More 

“What Does Talent Development Pay in 2015?” by Maria Ho

What Does Talent Development Pay?, ATD’s 2015 compensation and benefits report, finds that the median salary has remained the same for four years, despite the fact that the unemployment rate has dropped considerably since 2011 as the country has emerged from a recession. 

What Does Talent Development Pay? also takes a close look at the nonsalary compensation and benefits that talent development professionals receive.

Read More 

“How to Find Next-Generation Leaders” by MaryAnn Miller 

It’s an age-old question: What kind of people do you want to lead your company? For years, the reflexive answer has been “experienced people.” However, “people who demonstrate learning agility” is a new contender for the top spot. 

Learning agility is a metric that organizations can use to evaluate leadership prospects. Indeed, it is a more sophisticated method of evaluating talent; it forces companies to seek out people who not only possess conventional attributes like experience, but people who can employ those attributes in a way that is particularly suited to today’s business environment. 

Read More

Oldies but Goodies 

These articles were written in late 2014, but were still some of the most popular posts in 2015. 

“Tips for Creating a Successful Onboarding Framework” by Frank Jaquez

The roles and responsibilities of the talent function revolve around attracting, selecting, and retaining the best talent. As learning professionals, we can assist in retaining top talent by developing a robust onboarding program. 

A successful onboarding program will . . . provide key learning experiences around three important pillars—the organization’s culture, its business, and the new employee’s specific role. 

Read More 

“How Career Development Programs Support Employee Retention” by Monica Gomez 

High employee turnover should be worrisome to any employer. Simply consider the expense to recruit, interview, and train new employees, not to mention that these employees may be less adept at their jobs than the experienced workers they are replacing. And as the economy improves and the job market grows, employees have more options—making employee retention even more challenging. 

When asked why they are looking for jobs at new companies, employees are most likely to explain that they want better pay and benefits, are unhappy with their career prospects with their current company, or want more challenges. Career development programs can address these concerns to reduce turnover. 

Read More