Become a Talent Talker!

Great people developers take an interest in others, they recognize that they didn’t get to where they are on their own, and they want to “pay forward” the time that others have invested in them. Helping others unlock their talent and potential is an enormously rewarding activity, and it doesn’t take very much time, just the right attitude. If you look back on your own career and recognize a talent talker in your past, you owe it to them to become one yourself. If you don’t see a talent talker in your past, you need to look harder, because no one can make it on their own.

Getting managers to have development conversations is one of the most important drivers of unlocking talent and potential in your organisation. This book, and the TalentTalker.com application, makes it easy for any manager to sit down and have a development conversation.

Those conversations can be about improving performance, managing a career, developing leadership skills or formulating and executing new business strategies. Talking connects people, people who feel connected are more engaged, engaged people deliver exceptional results.

Yolanda Lacoma, holds a Master’s degrees in Psychology and European Studies and a postgraduate course in Education. Prior to starting her consulting practice Yolanda was a professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland where she developed and delivered a variety of executive development programs. After moving to the United States in 1997, she founded PeopleTree Group and is currently the CEO.

Martin Sutherland is the Global Director of PeopleTree Talent Analytics International. He is a founder member of the company, launched in 1998. He has 23 years of professional consulting experience in the ICT, Energy and Power, Financial Services & Banking, Transport, Retail and Manufacturing sectors.

Extraordinary leaders share a passionate commitment to achieving their vision that borders and sometimes crosses the line into obsession. All In shows why obsession, if properly focused and managed, is both necessary and productive. Advances in any endeavor almost always depend on a small group of individuals who are completely consumed by the goal they're pursuing. When these leaders and teams are successful, everyone benefits from their obsessive nature. This book?explores the three obsessions underlying the achievements of the greatest leaders: delighting customers, building great products, and creating an enduring company. Author Robert Bruce Shaw takes you inside the success stories of iconic leaders and shows the upside of obsession plus the practices that support it, including Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Elon Musk of Tesla, and Steve Jobs of Apple. In All In, Shaw teaches you why: Amazon's first principle is customer obsession and the behaviors that sustain it as the firm becomes one of the largest in the world. Tesla puts products at the center of everything it does and the leadership approach that created a revolutionary electric car. Steve Jobs' greatest creation was not the Mac or iPhone but Apple the company. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???? Shaw also provides insight into the dark side of obsession and its destructive potential - as vividly illustrated in his case study of Uber's aggressive pursuit of growth during the tenure of CEO Travis Kalanick. Appealing to any reader of entrepreneurial biographies, All In shows individuals, teams and organizations how to manage obsession's downsides while realizing the benefits of relentlessly seeking to create something that truly matters.

While Employee Assistance Programmess (EAPs) have grown tremendously in organisations across the world, many EAP practitioners are not prepared for the changing challenges of the role.

With employees experiencing more stress than ever before, they increasingly need assistance in the following areas:

• Mental health,
• Financial wellbeing,
• Debt relief,
• Work life balance,
• Substance abuse,
• Alcoholism,
• Emotional well-being,
• Preparing for retirement,
• Bereavement,
• Grief counseling,
• And more.

To rise to the challenges of the changing needs of the employee, EAP practitioners need to grow their skills in essential areas such: Counseling, coaching, therapy, trauma briefings, crises management and life skills development. This is the first South African book to focus specifically on the development of EAP practitioners. It provides practical guidelines to develop and implement EAP programmes, including how to conduct a needs analyses, data collection and analyses, and impact assessments. It also offers EAP practitioners an ethical framework against which to practice their profession.

Prof Nico Martins is presently with the Department of Industrial Psychology at the University of South Africa (Unisa, since 1995) and specialises in the field of organisational psychology. His fields of expertise are organisational development and change. Prof Ophillia Ledimo is full professor and chair with the Department of IOP at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She holds a Doctorate in Industrial and Organisational Psychology.

Colorfull provides a roadmap for creating a company culture that is truly inclusive, welcoming, and equitable. With actionable strategies supported by first-hand interviews with Fortune 500 CEOs and CHROs, Colorfull unlocks the secrets for creating workplaces that consistently attract, develop, and retain professionals of color. Rich in substance, candor, and reassurance, Colorfull cuts to the heart of why so many organizations struggle to make meaningful progress with DEI initiatives. Without blame or recrimination, the author articulates the unspoken fears that prevent most leaders from seeing the results they want-and need-in order to remain competitive in an evolving market. Colorfull shows leaders how to step outside comfort zones, lead DEI from the top down, and create corporate cultures that will truly attract and retain top talent of color. Any hiring manager, CEO, or DEI manager will benefit from the insights throughout, empowering them to bring truly transformative change to their organizations. This one-of-a-kind read is packed with real world scenarios, true stories from those who've tried, failed, tried again, and are still on the journey by using the leadership strategies presented here. Colorfull pulls back the curtain in a non-threatening, engaging way that makes success with DEI both accessible and attainable.

Taking Minutes of Meetings guides you through the entire process of minute taking: arranging the meeting; writing the agenda; creating the optimum environment; structuring the meeting and writing notes up accurately. The often misunderstood role of minute-taker is one of the most important and powerful in a meeting, and this book will help you excel at this crucial skill, allowing you to build your career and credibility. Taking Minutes of Meetings is an easy to read 'dip-in, dip-out' guide, providing hands-on advice about the sections of a meeting as well as tips on how to create an agenda, personal preparation, best practice advice on taking notes and how to improve your accuracy. Fully updated for 2019, this 5th edition now features even more practical exercises, useful templates, and top tips, as well as guidance on using technology effectively and minutes for different types of meetings. The Creating Success series of books... Unlock vital skills, power up your performance and get ahead with the bestselling Creating Success series. Written by experts for new and aspiring managers and leaders, this million-selling collection of accessible and empowering guides will get you up to speed in no time. Packed with clever thinking, smart advice and the kind of winning techniques that really get results, you'll make fast progress, quickly reach your goals and create lasting success in your career.

Estimates suggest that up to 20% of employees, customers and clients might have a neurodivergent condition - such as dyslexia, autism, Asperger's, ADHD or dyspraxia - yet these individuals often struggle to gain and maintain employment, despite being very capable. This practical, authoritative business guide will help managers and employers support neurodiverse staff, and gives advice on how to ensure workplaces are neuro-friendly. The book demonstrates that neurodiversity is a natural aspect of human variation to be expected and accepted, rather than a deficit to be accommodated. Employer responsibilities are highlighted, including the 2010 Equality Act, and a range of strategies and policies are provided, including recruitment advice and the benefits of neurodiverse employees, along with advice on physical environments, interaction and communication, and working with clients and customers. This book is an ideal resource for all employers wanting to support and empower people with specific needs to help create a more inclusive workplace, benefiting both neurodiverse individuals and the companies employing them.

Studies have shown that 60% of male managers feel uncomfortable working one-on-one with their female colleagues. That's where The Man's Guide to Corporate Culture comes in. Heather Zumarraga, a business journalist who has spent much of her career in testosterone-filled work environments, wants to make sure that any male leader who wants to be part of the solution knows how to do it the right way. Heather provides you with logical solutions to complex gender issues and gives important, practical lessons for men and women alike. The Man's Guide to Corporate Culture teaches you: Which behaviors to adopt (and which to avoid) to create and maintain a comfortable work environment for their female co-workers. How to create an environment that is not only welcoming to both women and men but also encourages healthy and respectful collaboration. And more real-world tested advice and approaches to help ensure every employee (and business) is best situated for success. There are numerous business books that coach women to deal with bias and harassment in a male-dominated workplace. However, The Man's Guide to Corporate Culture is?one of the only books that coaches men on how to succeed?in the new normal.

"As an aspirant leadership expert myself, I was pleasantly surprised at how much there is still to know and learn about this enthralling subject called leadership." - Dudu Msomi, Chief Executive Officer, Busara Leadership Partners

In Understanding Leadership, 14 thought-leaders cover the following themes:

• Leadership as strategic organisational capability and intervention by Theo H Veldsman and Andrew J Johnson
• The Leadership Landscape as a meta-framework by Theo H Veldsman
• Appreciative leadership by Freddie Crous
• Neuroscience in leadership by Ingra du Buisson-Narsai and Dan Radecki
• Action science by Andrew J Johnson
• Psychobiographical profiling by Roelf van Niekerk, Mark Perry and Paul Fouché
• Kegan’s competing commitments by Ian Lawson
• Arbinger’s changing mindset by Cobus Pienaar and Jim Ferrell
• Leadership psychodynamics by Pieter Koortzen
• Re-authoring leadership narratives by Chené Swart
• Action learning by Rosetta Pillay and Gerrit Walters
• The future of leadership by Andrew J Johnson and Theo H Veldsman

Understanding Leadership also features inspirational leadership stories from:

• Bridgette Gasa: Good leaders unite people
• Johan van Zyl: Get to know yourself early on in your career
• Dave Macready: Leadership built on vision, belief and passion
• Gill Marcus: What matters is the greater good
• Monhla Hlahla: Moving effectively through the stages of leadership impact
• GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar and Paul Harris: Leader excellence asks for a distinct, shared leadership philosophy

The highly experienced and knowledgeable authors of Organisational Diagnosis provide the reader with the necessary advice, tools and applications to conduct a successful organisational diagnosis. Readers will come to understand how to diagnose concerns/problems and leverage untapped possibilities in the organisation in order to improve and be successful in a competitive, fast-changing world.

Organisational Diagnosis covers the core concepts in conducting an organisational diagnosis.

Content includes:

• Planning and coordinating an organisational diagnosis
• Preparing and involving all stakeholders
• Developing and sourcing assessment instruments
• Survey administration process
• Data gathering in groups – an inclusive way of gathering
• Analysing and interpretation of results
• Follow-up process – clarifying survey results
• Report writing and feedback
• Action planning and learning
• Conducting multicultural research insights gained from theory and practice
• The organisational and psychological impact of Organisational Diagnosis
• Ethical and privacy considerations for research

The key to advancing gender equality? Men. Women are at a disadvantage. At home, they often face an unequal division of household chores and childcare, and in the workplace, they deal with lower pay, lack of credit for their contributions, roadblocks to promotion, sexual harassment, and more. And while organizations are looking to address these issues, too many gender-inclusion initiatives focus on how women themselves should respond, reinforcing the perception that these are "women's issues" and that men&#8212often the most influential stakeholders in an organization&#8212don't need to be involved. Gender-in-the-workplace experts David G. Smith and W. Brad Johnson counter this perception. In this important book, they show that men have a crucial role to play in promoting gender equality at work. Research shows that when men are deliberately engaged in gender-inclusion programs, 96 percent of women in those organizations perceive real progress in gender equality, compared with only 30 percent of women in organizations without strong male engagement. Good Guys is the first practical, research-based guide for how to be a male ally to women in the workplace. Filled with firsthand accounts from both men and women, and tips for getting started, the book shows how men can partner with their female colleagues to advance women's leadership and equality by breaking ingrained gender stereotypes, overcoming unconscious biases, developing and supporting the talented women around them, and creating productive and respectful working relationships with women.

True leadership has always been more difficult to maintain in challenging times, but the unique stressors facing organisations throughout the world today call for renewed attention to what constitutes truly positive leadership.

This book is divided up as follows:

• Part I – Definition and impact of authentic leadership – considers the need for authentic leadership, gives an overview of what is generally understood by Authentic Leadership. It also focuses on the impact of leadership authenticity on inter-relational trust, on individual and team authentic leadership effectiveness.
• Part II – Development of authentic leadership – forms the crux of this book. As the development of authentic leadership requires different considerations to what is mostly espoused in the field of leadership development, considerations and criteria for AL development and AL programmes are discussed.
• Part III – Well-known examples of leaders through the lens of AL – even though AL programmes have not really been available before, such leadership can be developed by means of introspection and commitment to further development during a lifetime of life experiences and work episodes.

Managing Workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion bridges the gap between social science theory and research and the practical concerns of those working in diversity, equity, and inclusion by presenting an applied psychological perspective. Using foundational ideas in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as concepts in the social sciences, this book provides a set of cognitive tools for dealing with situations related to workplace diversity and applies both classic theories and new ideas to topics such as United States employment law, teamwork, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other areas. Each chapter includes engaging scenarios and real-world applications to stimulate learning and help students conceptualize and contextualize diversity in the workplace. Intended for upper-level undergraduates as well as graduate students, this textbook brings together foundational theories with research-based and practical, real-world applications to build a strong understanding of managing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Coming soon, this text will have its own companion website, which has been designed to give students and instructors a comprehensive look into Workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, offering case studies, practical applications, tests, and essay questions.

Mentoring nourishes others to grow and act with greater confidence. The need for mentorship is greater than ever before. However, informal mentoring has not kept up with the challenges in business. In his latest book on mentoring, Niël Steinmann, South Africa’s leading authority on mentorship suggests a structured and intentional approach to mentoring, called crucial mentoring conversations. He explains: ‘Our success in life is dictated by the quality of relationships we can build and maintain’.

Parents, teachers and leaders from any career, professional, or educational setting are now challenged to successfully navigate mentoring relationships. The book is rich with advice and will explore the various conversations crucial for mentoring relationships. You will be able to hold deeper more honest conversations that create new levels of self-awareness and opportunities for those that you mentor to transform situations and relationships around them.

It presents to the mentor practical tools to facilitate this awareness and learning in ways that enrich, challenge, inspire and enable mentees to learn about themselves and their world. When you mentor intentionally, opportunities for crucial conversations present themselves all the time - from ‘What’s my purpose?’ to navigating career challenges, to performance feedback, developing strengths and how to manage productive relationships and networks both personally and professionally.

Men Do It Too: Opting Out and In offers a timely and comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of men leaving mainstream careers models, adding to current debates on opting out. The book investigates how globalization, individualization, and this age of high modernity, in addition to issues of masculinity and what it means to be a man in contemporary society and organizational contexts, affect decisions to opt out. Throughout the book, social theory and relevant debates are interwoven with the narratives of 15 men who have left successful careers and mainstream career models to live and work on their own terms: six from the United States, five from Finland, and four from the UK. The narratives help illustrate the issues presented, as well as providing an insight into the men's identity work throughout their opting out processes. In addition, Biese explores what organizations can learn from the knowledge gathered in her research on men (and women) opting out. This is important in order to create sustainable work environments that not only attract but also retain employees.

DK brings you a practical guide summarising the skills and secrets you need to manage yourself and others with ease and confidence. Introducing DK'S Essential Managers series - a one-stop guide full of top tips to boost productivity, performance and passion within a business environment. Achieving excellence as a manager requires a broad skillset, and The Essential Manager's Management Handbook provides easy-to-follow and engaging advice on the six key areas. Nurture your confidence with managing people, leadership, achieving high performance, effective communication, presenting, and negotiating. Jam-packed with interactive tools needed to thrive in a business environment, from setting goals to solving problems, delivering a speech to developing yourself, this business management book incorporates key quotes, bright visuals and breakdowns by subject, making it accessible and easy-to-use. Enveloped in a slim and sleek design, The Essential Manager's Management Handbook encompasses: -Step-by-step instructions adopting a 'how-to' approach across a broad range of themes -Highly effective 'ask yourself' questions to encourage self-reflection and self-growth. -Includes essential guidance on management-specific issues around remote-/hybrid-working -Brings together content from individual titles in the Essential Managers series in a larger "manual" format Your time is precious, so why waste it? With power to every page, discover top tips on how to make bold business decisions; chair meetings; manage teams and more. Invest in this must-have management book and you will be well on your way to boosting your business. With expert insights from management professionals and step-by-step instructions on dealing with challenges and gaining valuable management skills for life, this book provides all the tools you need to soar into success, no matter what your business goals may be! At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not dive deeper into our Essential Managers series? A total of 10 titles, this curated collection of business books will help you hone your power and maximise your potential as an effective manager. Learn how to develop your leadership skills with Essential Managers - Leadership or improve upon your people skills with Essential Managers - Managing People. Tailored to your business goals, discover the DK book that's right for you! Why settle for mediocre management when you can be unbeatable in your business!

Engaging with some of the most debated topics in contemporary organizations, Health at Work: Critical Perspectives presents a critical, contingent view of the healthy employee and the very notion of organizational health. Drawing on expressions such as 'blowing a fuse', 'cracking under pressure' or 'health MOT', this book suggests that meanings of workplace health vary depending on how we frame the underlying purpose and function of organization. Health at Work takes some of the most powerful and taken-for-granted discourses of organization and explores what each might mean for the construction of the healthy employee. Not only does it offer a fresh and challenging approach to the topic of health at work, it also examines several core topics at the heart of contemporary research and practice, including technology, innovation, ageing and emotions. This book makes a timely contribution to debates about well-being at work, relevant to practitioners, policy-makers and designers of workplace health interventions, as well as academics and students. This book will be illuminating reading for students and scholars across management studies, occupational health and organizational psychology.

Every journey starts with a single-step realization that we don't have to take any more of this crap. The world of work - and all that's wrong with it - is dominated by 12 statements. We hear them every day. We utter them at will. But they're all garbage. What if we said - no more? This is the business book for everyone who can't bear to read business books. Which is most of us. It considers that in being part of the problem - an uncomfortable admission - we may also be the creators of the solution. In uncompromising, engaging and humorous fashion, it dismantles each statement and sets us on the path to a better world of work. You can read each essay between meetings you'd rather not be at, after which, your working life will never be the same again. Neil Usher is a practitioner, writer and thinker about work and the workplace. His collaborators on this book, Kirsten Buck and Perry Timms are, too. We've skipped the usual sensational endorsements because most of the time they're a fiction. We'd rather you decided for yourself.

Are you an authentic leader? Too many companies are managed not by leaders but by mere role players and faceless bureaucrats. What would it take to replace these empty suits with real leaders--men and women who are confident in who they are and what they stand for and who truly inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones argue that leaders don't become great by aspiring to a list of universal character traits. Rather, effective leaders are authentic: they deploy individual strengths to engage followers' hearts, minds, and souls. Authentic leaders are skillful at consistently being themselves, even as they alter their behavior to respond effectively to changing contexts. In short, the authors present a powerful case: that it takes "being yourself, in context, with skill" to be a successful, authentic leader--and they show you how to do exactly that. In this lively and practical book, Goffee and Jones draw from extensive research to reveal how to hone and deploy your unique leadership assets while managing the inherent tensions at the heart of successful leadership: when to show emotion and when to withhold it, how to get close to followers while maintaining an appropriate role distance, and maintaining your individuality while "conforming enough" to gain traction and lead change. Underscoring the inherently social nature of leadership, the book also explores how leaders can stay attuned to the needs and expectations of followers. Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? will forever change how we view, develop, and practice the art of leadership, wherever we live and work.

Email replies that show up a week later. Video chats full of ‘oops sorry no you go’ and ‘can you hear me?!’ Ambiguous text-messages. Weird punctuation you can’t make heads or tails of. Is it any wonder communication takes us so much time and effort to figure out? How did we lose our innate capacity to understand each other?

Humans rely on body language to connect and build trust, but with most of our communication happening from behind a screen, traditional body language signals are no longer visible – or are they? In Digital Body Language, Erica Dhawan, a go-to thought leader on collaboration and a passionate communication junkie, combines cutting edge research with engaging storytelling to decode the new signals and cues that have replaced traditional body language across genders, generations, and culture. In real life, we lean in, uncross our arms, smile, nod and make eye contact to show we listen and care. Online, reading carefully is the new listening. Writing clearly is the new empathy. And a phone or video call is worth a thousand emails.

Digital Body Language will turn your daily misunderstandings into a set of collectively understood laws that foster connection, no matter the distance. Dhawan investigates a wide array of exchanges—from large conferences and video meetings to daily emails, texts, IMs, and conference calls—and offers insights and solutions to build trust and clarity to anyone in our ever changing world.

"Ford's overlap of past and present, narrative and commentary is masterful, and makes this volume all the more valuable to those readers wise enough to allow the past to inform the future. Of Blood and Sweat is a myth-busting work of genius that will stand as the last word on this vital subject for a long time to come."-Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of A Slave in the White House and The Original Black Elite In this, provocative, timely, and painstakingly researched book, the award-winning author of Think Black tells the story of how Black labor helped to create and sustain the wealth of the white one percent throughout American history. Clyde W. Ford uses the lives of individual Black men and women as a lens to explore the role they have played in creating American institutions of power and wealth-in agriculture, politics, jurisprudence, law enforcement, culture, medicine, financial services, and many other fields-while not being allowed to fully participate or share in the rewards. Today, activists have taken the struggle for racial equity and justice to the streets. Of Blood and Sweat goes back through time to excavate the roots of this struggle, from pre-colonial Africa through post-Civil War America. As Ford reveals, in tracing the history of almost any major American institution of power and wealth you'll find it was created by Black Americans, or created to control them. Painstakingly researched and documented, Of Blood and Sweat is a compelling look at the past that holds broad implications for present-day calls for racial equity, racial justice, and the abolishment of systemic racism, and offers invaluable insight into our understanding of Black history and the story of America.

A timely resource for Black professionals on how to rise to the top of their organizations or industries and, just as importantly, to stay there. Black Faces in High Places is the essential guide for Black professionals who are moving up through their organizations or industries but need a roadmap for how to get to the top and stay there. It highlights the experiences of other Black faces in high places who were able to navigate various crossroads, reach the top, and stay there, including insights from President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Cathy Hughes, Bob Johnson, Ursula Burns, David Steward, Angela Glover Blackwell, Ken Chenault, Senator Cory Booker, Geoffrey Canada, and others. This groundbreaking book: Provides a lens into the careers of other prominent figures, across several industries and sectors. Identifies the 10 strategic actions successful Black leaders and executives must take. Empowers readers with models and steps to follow these 10 strategic actions on their own journeys to becoming a prominent leader. Outlines the unique challenges that come with a leadership role and how to overcome them. Walks readers through the changes in mindset, skillset, and toolset required to travel along the success path while helping others at every step along the way.

Exploring the different facets of the new world of work (including the hacker and maker movements, platform work, and digital nomadism), this edited volume sets out to investigate and theorise how these new work practices are experienced by various actors. It explores such changes at both the micro and macro levels and sets out to link them back to wider social, managerial and political issues. In doing so, it aims to reflect on the similarities and differences between new and 'old' work practices and problematize discourses surrounding the future of work. This volume is characterized by the diversity of methods mobilized, the plurality of concepts, lenses and theories deployed as well as the richness of the empirical accounts used by the authors. It will appeal to a broad readership of management and organizational scholars as well as sociologists interested in current changes to the world of work.