Leading People: Inspring You to Excel

Do you Know How to Select and Recruit High Potential People? Recruitment and selection is a key task managers - at all levels - must be good at. Get it wrong and the consequences are dire. Get it right and everyone wins. People are an organisation's greatest asset, but also their highest cost. Many Human Resource departments are rightly seriously focused on, the recruitment, selection and management of talented people with high potential. We know from research that high potential people contribute and produce two and a half times those who are below average. Yet, it is not always easy spotting talent, what to look for, and whether a particular individual has the potential to succeed. Looking back, most managers recognise that at some point they have poor human resources selection decisions and know the cost of doing so. The cost of letting someone go is enormous. Severance pay etc. is an obvious one. But consider the cost of the damage they have done while in-post and the business secrets, market intelligence and intellectual property they take with them. The aim of this book is to steer you in the right direction: recruitment best practices, to know what abilities and characteristics to look for… and why. We also know there is often a paradoxical effect with some personality traits that help people get selected and promoted, but which undermine them in the end. This easy-to-read, non-technical, but highly sensible book will really make a difference to the way you go about how to spot talent; the high flyers of tomorrow.

Why is talent management such a global corporate phenomenon? Why do organisations need talent management solutions? The answer is that without a talent management training infrastructure there is no way to identifying, recruiting talent and defining the really talented employees who deliver corporate success. Yet, how many organisations have truly defined what they mean by developing talents or indeed have talent management strategies? In most cases, these terms are broad and lack consistency of meaning across organisations resulting in poor focus and outcomes. Without such talent definitions, it's impossible to build a talent map setting out the direction for talent strategies and activities. From this, organisations can develop fit for purpose talent frameworks and evaluative systems. The Secrets of Superior Talent Management by Professor Adrian Furnham and Dr Paul Turner brings together the thoughts of two leading authorities in the area of talent and people management. Their views may challenge your current talent management perspectives or reassure you that you are on the right track. By nature of their different perspectives, there is both disagreement and agreement in their insights, much like the talent management industry. The 18 Chapters will provide you with ideas and insights by which to evaluate your own views as well as setting out ways to implement and evaluate talent management frameworks. Read on and allow yourself some time to discover new standpoints and consider approaches on how to make talent management a success in your workplace.

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival. All managers want to know the secret of how to motivate employees. They know this ensures not only survival in a changing world but also serious productivity and progress. Motivating employees is perhaps the single most important function of management. And it is not that simple. Many myths and traps exist about motivation. Increasing money can decrease motivation. Older workers have different motivational factors than younger workers. Culture too plays a part. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating staff is arguably the most complex. Understand how to engage and motivate all your workers and you are guaranteed success. The Secrets of Motivation, by Prof. Adrian Furnham, may be the most important business book you will ever read. The 18 Chapters contain ideas, insights and inspiration on the vital subject of; motivation, employee motivation and self-motivation. Including: • What Makes People 'Tick'? The Theory of Motivation • Understanding the Role of Money as a Motivator • Tips and Techniques to Motivate Employees The topic of motivation is of most interest to people at work. Managers want to get the best and the most out of their people. They want to know how best to motivate them to be happy, healthy and productive people at work. It is the topic that fascinates and frustrates many business people particularly when they find their staff have very different motives from them. The thing that is most difficult to understand about anybody is what really motivates them? Read on, and get answers to these all important questions…

Can managers have too much of a good thing? Can managers be too clever, or too charming or too courageous? How do you address aggressive behavior in the workplace, the narcissistic manager or anger management in the workplace? Fact: extremes of anything are, by definition, abnormal. You can be too tall or too slim. It is called the spectrum hypotheses: extremes of good things can be bad things. Many offices have mugs, plaques or notices which read: "You don't have to be mad/crazy to work here, but it helps!" We have all seen madness at work: the nasty bully, the arrogant preener and the obsessive tidier. There are control freaks and drunks, Machiavellians and perfectionists, those in need of anger management and the psychopathically corrupt. This book is about them. It is about managerial psychology. There are three important and surprising things about mental illnesses at work. The first is that, paradoxically, some disorders can actually help people climb the greasy pole though it often "gets them in the end". The callous, manipulativeness of the psychopath can help in a cut-throat, super-competitive business. The amazing self-confidence of a young, sub-clinically narcissistic manager may really impress those around him in the world of media or fashion. The obsessional may flourish in some sectors to do with checking, monitoring or quality control. Second, it is surprising that nobody does "select-out" at interviews which is about looking for things you don't want rather than what you do want. Nobody seems to have the responsibility for trying to identify characteristics/traits/disorders that you really don't want in managers or colleagues at work. They seem all focused on competencies and things you want. All select in, none select out…and that is why they slip through the net. Third, it is assumed that you can never have enough of a good thing. You can never be too clever, or charming or courageous. Yet, we know that extremes of anything are, by definition, abnormal. You can be too tall or too slim. It is called the spectrum hypotheses: extremes of good things can be bad things. The Secrets of Managerial Psychiatry by Professor Adrian Furnham is about a whole range of personality disorders in workplace. It looks at everything from ADHD and passive aggressiveness to the neurotic and impulsive manager. It tries to describe and explain the behavior and help you both understand and deal with these people at work.