Meghan M. Biro, Author at TalentCulture

Must-Read Highlights from SAP #SAPPHIRENOW

Best week ever? Best week ever. My week was an all-time highlight because I was in Orlando for SAP’s #SAPPHIRENOW. I’ve been to a lot of conferences, but this one was incredible. I won’t bury the lede: It was mostly such a high for me because I got to see former President Barack Obama speak on Monday. Being in the room with someone I respect so deeply was incredibly moving for me. His message was about the power of great teams and how you can’t really fake or easily recreate that special sauce known as culture. I cried when he wrapped up. For

What I’ll Be Watching at #SHRM18: Health and Well-Being

Are you planning your calendar for #SHRM18 in Chicago? I’m making my packing list, getting excited to see some of my favorite people in the HR world, and taking a close look at the packed SHRM agenda. This year, I’ve been focused on health and well-being — both personally and professionally. Loyal TalentCulture readers know that I recently started using a standing desk and I’ve upped my wellness routine. I’m also very interested in how vendors are making it easier for employers to create healthy workplaces. If you’re interested in making work healthier, here are the sessions I recommend at SHRM18:

Gary Hamel on Workplace Bureaucracy

The opening keynote speaker at UNLEASH America was Gary Hamel, one of the world’s most influential business thinkers. He is a professor at the London Business School, director of the Management Innovation eXchange and the author of several best-selling books, including “The Future of Management” and “What Matters Now.” Hamel is also the most reprinted author in the history of the Harvard Business Review. He spoke about the stifling effects of top-down management and how we need less — not more — workplace bureaucracy. Here are highlights from Hamel’s Q&A session with the media. Understanding the Effects of Bureaucracy “Bureaucracy shackles

Jason Averbook on the Workforce-Experience Mindset

One of my favorite speakers at UNLEASH America was Jason Averbook. If you’re looking for HR “a-ha!” moments, he’s your guy. He is the CEO and co-founder of the HR consulting firm Leapgen. Jason is an agent for change in HR, and the author of the new book, The Ultimate Guide to a Digital Workforce Experience. He spoke about the power of technology to transform how we work, starting with a focus on people and process. Here are highlights from his keynote. You Need a Workforce Strategy “You need a digital strategy, and I call it the workforce strategy, not an

Live from UNLEASH America: Rachel Botsman on Why Trust Matters

This week, I’ve been in Las Vegas at UNLEASH America, soaking up big ideas about the latest HR tech trends and how technology is changing the way we work. One of the speakers who knocked my socks off was Rachel Botsman. She is an author and visiting lecturer and researcher at the University of Oxford. Her keynote was all about trust, and why organizations need it to survive and thrive. Her new book is “Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together and Why It Might Drive Us Apart.” Here are the highlights Rachel shared in a conversation with media

What You Need to Know About Global Mobility

When an employee at your organization moves to a new location, what has to happen behind the scenes? What paperwork has to be approved before they move? How does your organization help the employee find the right place to live? How do they book a moving truck? And what happens when you have hundreds or thousands of employees making those moves? These are all questions that Brynne Kennedy is interested in. She’s the CEO and Founder of Topia, a company that helps employers make relocations smoother. I asked Brynne how she got interested in global mobility and how her company is

Three Keys to Getting Global Mobility Right

The future of work is all about movement: moving operations to the digital sphere, moving certain functions to automated systems so we can spend more time on other tasks, and moving people from location to location. Organizations are expanding from one local hub to a far broader global footprint — credit mergers, collaborations, strategic initiatives and growth. The Harvard Business Review found that 72% of executives said their need for globally mobile employees will increase in next two to three years. Fortunately many employees see domestic and overseas assignments as a great chance to increase skills, broaden horizons and grow careers.

How AI Makes Hiring More Accurate and More Personal

AI is projected to catapult from a $643.7 million market today to $36.8 billion by 2025. Bersin by Deloitte calls it one of the ten major trends changing everything about how we build and manage the world of work. It’s becoming an incredibly powerful tool for recruiting, though not always understood. There are two questions I often hear: How can we use AI to better match skills to openings? How can we use AI to make the entire recruiting and hiring journey better, and improve candidate experience? Before delving into specifics, consider this: Essentially, if A, then B. Just as AI

The Future of Performance Management

How could you get better at your job? What does your manager think about your performance this month? And what are your ideas about how your organization could do things differently? For as much money as companies spend on performance management, most employees still couldn’t quickly answer those simple questions. When you only hear feedback once a year at a performance review, it’s hard to know where you stand and how you could continuously improve. But a new wave of HR tech innovators are working on changing that. At HR Transform, I led a conversation with one of those trailblazers. Rajeev

Fellowes Sit-Stand Desk Review

Do you exercise every day? Improving my personal wellness is at the top of my resolution list for 2018. So far, I’d give myself a B-. I try to make it to hot yoga classes at least a few times a week. I try to grab healthy options for lunch. But then it snows for the millionth time in Boston and all my plans for fitness and healthy eating go out the window. Plus, like many of you, I work remotely either in a home office or in coworking space a lot of the time. When I have a question for

Can’t-Miss Moments at ERE 2018

This week, I’m visiting San Diego for the very first time. I can’t wait for some California sunshine — and some can’t-miss wisdom from some of the most respected voices in HR at the 2018 ERE Recruiting Conference. The ERE agenda is overflowing with big ideas and big personalities. Here are the moments I encourage you to add to the top of your list. Monday Welcome Reception I’ll be at the Monday evening opening party to help kick off the event. I’m excited to see old friends. I’d love to meet YOU, too, new friends. Tuesday You know I love me

How Retail Hiring Will Change in the Next 5 Years

The shopping experience has changed a lot over the past 10 years. But the experience of applying for a retail job is pretty stuck in the past. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016 there were nearly 5 million retail sales jobs in the U.S. While the retail industry is changing fast and moving from brick-and-mortar to online, retailers still employ a large demographic of Americans. And retailers that want to attract and retain those workers will need to stay innovative. We asked Kimberly Carroll, principal at HR consulting firm IA, how she sees recruiting and hiring changing among

Want to Improve HR? Ask Better Questions First

Boston got hit with its third snowstorm in two weeks recently, and more than a few work initiatives overseen by nearby colleagues got lost in the blizzard — including a high-level meeting on workforce planning. Today was supposed to be a big roundtable where senior HR people set their crystal ball on the table to discuss new hiring initiatives and succession strategies. The organization (I’ll call them Company X) is scaling up rapidly, and has meanwhile been hit with a nasty wave of voluntary departures. It’s a common one-two punch that can knock the wind out of the sturdiest HR teams.

#WorkTrends Recap: Building Your EQ

When you turn on your laptop or open your office door, what do you bring with you? I’m not talking about your lunch. We all carry emotional baggage with us everywhere we go — including to work. Having emotions isn’t a bad thing — it’s what makes us human — but we’re all better served when we tune in to what we’re feeling and how those feelings affect our behavior. On the #WorkTrends podcast, certified emotional intelligence trainer Valerie M. Sargent shared more about why EQ matters at work and how we can all become more emotionally intelligent. You can listen

5 Ways AI Makes the Hiring Process Easier (1)

5 Ways AI Makes Hiring Easier

It’s one thing to see AI coming our way in HR. It’s another thing to know the best ways to harness it to improve sourcing and hiring success. AI isn’t just on the horizon — it’s part of some very forward-thinking recruiting and hiring programs already. Given how tight the job market is, AI is a way to give organizations a tangible edge on the competition. It facilitates a far more accurate way to see a far greater range and depth of talent — which means it’s easier to find better candidates — and more of them. And AI enables hiring

#WorkTrends Recap: Leading from the Heart

“There are stories in the news left and right about the lack of integrity corporate leadership and government. But I knew there were good leaders out there. What does it look like if you’re leading from the heart?” Shelly Francis is author of the new book “The Courage Way: Leading and Living with Integrity,” which she wrote on behalf of the Center for Courage & Renewal. The book is the result of years of research into what makes a great leader — and what happens when leaders live out their values. She interviewed 120 people about their journeys as leaders. She

How to Leverage AI Recruiting to Make Better Hires

HR and recruiters don’t tend to take things at face value. For good reason: we’re called on to rely on our educated judgments. We’re in the business of futurecasting, person by person. We find the best talent with the most potential for doing great things for an employer in the near future, and we do it over and over again. But we’ve been up for a turbocharge for a long time. A career path that is this intense, combining administrative, personal, and strategic tasking constantly needs sophisticated ways to advance above old archaic practices we no longer want to rely on.