Archive for the 'General' Category

Published by Clarke Bishop on 04 Feb 2007

What’s the Deal with Appeal?

I’ve been asked to explain why I named this Blog TalentAppeal. Well, the Talent part is easy — Everyone wants to have as much Talent as possible.

From Dictionary.Com ap·peal [uh-peel]

1. an earnest request for aid, support, sympathy, mercy, etc.; entreaty; petition; plea.
2. a request or reference to some person or authority for a decision, corroboration, judgment, etc.
4. the power or ability to attract, interest, amuse, or stimulate the mind or emotions: The game has lost its appeal.

Each of these definitions of Appeal speak to me:

  • The world needs more great companies with great people. I’m Appealing for you to focus on bringing talent to your company.
  • It helps when your company Appeals to and attracts talented people. You can make your company more interesting to talented people.
  • For many managers, interviewing and recruiting are not everyday activities. So, they never really master the skills of evaluating talent. Hiring mistakes are very costly, so I recommend you Appeal your key hires to an expert who can corroborate your judgement.

And that’s why my Blog is named TalentAppeal!

General

Published by Clarke Bishop on 30 Jan 2007

TalentAppeal is On The Air… Uh, Internet

I’ve been a CEO who’s felt the severe pain of hiring mistakes. I’ve consulted with companies to move them to a performance culture. I’ve developed training programs to teach interviewing and recruiting best practices.

And, now, I’m launching this Blog to tell you about what I’ve learned!

You know, building a high performance meritocracy isn’t complex. It’s just not easy. Actually, it’s hard — At least at first. Why?

  • Setting clear performance benchmarks takes thought and effort. Most managers aren’t that clear about what high performance really means, or about what results they want from each position.
  • Good recruiting and interviewing takes some work, and nobody wants more work. 
  • People don’t like to be rigorously evaluated, or to candidly evaluate their employees. It’s easier to just go through the motions.
  • People don’t like removing likable underperformers — Even when they sense how much it’s costing their organization.

Fortunately, it all gets easier with practice. Having clear performance benchmarks by themselves can improve your company’s performance. (Oh, I didn’t realize that’s what you wanted me to do!) And, with effective recruiting, there will be fewer underperformers to deal with.

So, I’m looking forward to sharing ideas with you and learning together. There’s nothing like a great company filed with talented people. It’s worth the effort!

General