How to Know Who Has the Right Skills for the Job

Hiring is a deeply imperfect process that probably has as many misses as hits. You’ve probably seen it in action: a new hire looks perfect on the paper and interviews well but has mediocre performance or clashes with co-workers constantly. Finding the person with the right skills is hard, but there are ways to pick more of the right candidates for a job.

Are Legacy Approaches to Talent Inhibiting Your Innovation Efforts?

The legacy approach to talent selection involves matching education, length of experience and functional skills to the role. All of this makes sense as a baseline, and for well-established professions. But, we argue, selecting talent for innovation requires a whole new approach. Companies must recognize specific innovation skills that drive business outcomes. Yet today, most lack the tools to do so.

HR Improvements that Can Build a Better Company

The role of HR has evolved significantly over the years. In the past, HR was focused only on hiring and making sure paychecks were sent to the right employees. Today, HR plays a much broader role in the strategic goals of a company. These following improvements can help your HR department meet your company goals.

5 Ways to Use Technology to Improve Employee Engagement, Collaboration and Retention

In today’s workplace, technological innovation is key to retaining your best talent. From telecommuting, to growth and career development, to improved communication and collaboration, and beyond, there are myriad ways you can keep your employees happy and productive.

A Profile of Open Innovation Managers in Multinational Companies

Open innovation is widely used in large companies and we know increasingly more about how to manage this process. In contrast, we know virtually nothing about the managers and practitioners who are driving open innovation in large companies. Who are the managers operating in open innovation teams or units? What is their profile? How long do they stay in an open innovation job, and what is their tenure in the company? This report tries to answer these questions based on an investigation of open innovation managers on LinkedIn.

Transferring Innovation Skills to Newbies: Fact or Fiction?

Expert innovators know from experience how to innovate while minimizing hassle, needless tasks and wasted effort – they’ve been successful (and unsuccessful) countless times through trial and error. Using flight simulators and surgical learning tools as examples, it’s been proven that teaching veteran skills to ‘newbies’ isn’t science-fiction, especially in more ‘exact’ disciplines such as medicine and math. But is it possible to design a crash-course that teaches young and inexperienced innovators the less-definable skills, attitudes and insights necessary to ideate, champion and implement without having to go through all the awkwardness of being a rookie? We think so, and here’s why.

Democratising Elite Performance Tools with Dr. Andy Walshe

Currently leading Human Performance for Red Bull, Andy works with hundreds of international athletes and business leaders to develop and implement elite performance models. In today’s podcast, Andy and Mark sit down to discuss the intricacies of human potential and how certain qualities of elite performers resonate across sectors, industries and arenas; how companies can evolve to enable more talented employees to excel and his project Human 2.0 which looks at how new technologies especially in the arena of Artificial Intelligence encourage us to explore our own potential at a much higher level.

Talking 100% Entrepreneurship & 0% Bureaucracy with Heiko Fischer of Resourceful Humans

What do Europe’s most innovative video games company, a US Navy Submarine Captain and Hewlett-Packard have in common? The answer – autonomy, transparency, simplicity and entrepreneurship. Oh and Heiko Fischer! In this episode, sponsored by a-connect, Heiko and Mark discuss how the RH way came into being through Heiko’s time at Crytek, how the core principles behind the RH philosophy “100% entrepreneurship, 0% bureaucracy” work in practice, and how gamification in the workplace can help us solve the problem of unproductive meetings (among other things).

Are Corporate Innovation Centers The Last Hope for Companies Too Big To Fail?

Companies once deemed “too big to fail” are increasingly exposed to failure. The threat of disruption is everywhere. Startups are taking on the Goliaths in every market. Scores of malls across the United States are in collapse. Many household brand names are losing ground or even shutting completely. Regardless of industry, businesses face digital Darwinism, the evolution of technology and markets. Disruption is just a matter of when, where and why. To compete, executives must make tough decisions but more so, they must look to new horizons for new insight and direction. Whether companies thrive or cower in the face of digital Darwinism is a choice.

Cutting Complexity with Lisa Bodell of Futurethink

In this episode, Lisa and Mark reconvene to share more essential tools for leaders and teams to simplify their work environment from her second book, Why Simple Wins, they explore insights into how companies like SAP, Southwest Airlines and Syngenta are putting simplification principles into action. Join us to learn how simplicity can give you and your organisation the competitive edge of our time!

Supporting Innovation with Autonomy and Accountability

Innovation tends to thrive in an environment where there are less bureaucratic restraints and an appetite for calculated risk. However, without a structured management system in place, experimentation can go awry and great ideas risk falling by the wayside. This is where accountability and autonomy can provide the essential framework to support the innovation process to its full potential.

3 Advantages to Collaborating on Innovation as a Global Community

The list of problems that need to be solved is growing almost as fast as our solutions are. Some are concerned about the lack of food and water security, others worry about access to education and a whopping 45.2% of millennials think today’s most pressing problem is the destruction of natural resources. But with the proliferation of problems, organizations and enterprises are broadening their search for innovative solutions and many of them are looking to the crowd for ideas.

How Innovation Equals Diversity: the Science and Promise of an Inclusive Workplace

Innovation may have a different meaning for every individual, but the true key to thinking outside the box lies in a diverse mindset. Allowing diversity into a business plan can be the secret to succeeding and achieving greatness. Don’t just take my word for it; evidence backs it up too.

Your ‘Innovative’ Workplace is not Enough

The term “innovative workplace culture” is increasingly clichéd, with little thought about what it means in practice. And yet a successful workplace culture is a business imperative for companies expected to lead the way in design and innovation in today’s experience economy.