Thought for the Day: The jargon of HR Vendor Marketing is designed to obfuscate.

• Infohrm Releases New Modeling Capabilities
  While no one was looking, the folks at Infohrm have begun to change the world. With models that make real accounting for the organization’s aggregate people movements, the conversation is beginning to approach something a real business person might have. Get to know them. As Talent Management (bad name) matures as a discipline, it will increasingly be driven by the sorts of workforce analytics these guys produce.  The other interesting player in this niche is Orca Eyes.
• The Talent Management Software Slump
  Josh Bersin is one of those voices to listen to. He describes the train wreck that was Q1 for Talent  results Management companies like Taleo and Success Factors. He forecasts a mini-boom in Q2 and Q3. His analyses are always good mini tutorials on the Talent Management market.
• Bill Kutik Radio Show #29: Lisa Rowan, Program Director, IDC
  Lisa Rowan serves as IDC’s Program Director for HR and Talent Management Services research. Kutik does his normal strong interview.
• Why You Should Have a Career Coach
  According to this line of thought, it’s cheaper than not having one. You just pay them with the money you don’t make when you’re laid off.
• Who Should Own Workforce Planning?
  Would you like some boot licking with your doublespeak?
  “Based on Infohrm’s 2008 Global Workforce Planning Survey, we found that when ownership of workforce planning resides with Business Units or Management, organizations are more likely to recognize a competitive advantage – this can be interpreted as a direct competitor or competition for labor. After all, the goal of workforce planning is to reduce the risks to business strategy that are associated with workforce capacity, capability, and flexibility. As such, the foundation for workforce planning is the corporate/business unit strategy – so it follows naturally that workforce planning should be owned by the business units themselves. In the end, the business units are the ones responsible for the success results or failure of their strategic plans, and the human capital requirements of the strategy are no less part of their responsibility than the financial, technical, operational, or other components. 

  This is not to say that HR’s role, including recruiting and staffing as well as learning and development, isn’t critical. As stewards of the process, HR professionals need to be the content experts and consultants in the workforce planning process – articulating the value of workforce planning, providing the necessary tools and processes, aggregating results, and driving accountability. Our research has shown this is best managed from a Center of Excellence.“