Talent development doesn’t belong under the HR umbrella. Or does it? Org charts worldwide differ regarding whether talent development is a separate entity from HR, reporting directly to the CEO, or falls under HR, reporting to a CHRO. Although it’s clear that talent development and HR must work collaboratively, which structure is best?

The success of any organization depends in large part on its top leaders, who establish strategy, direct and align resources, and help shape the company culture. Although CEOs are the most influential individual leaders, the collective C-suite is just as important—or perhaps more so. The executive team’s performance sets the pace for the rest of the organization. Despite the importance of executive teams’ effectiveness, research from the Center for Creative Leadership suggests that most executive teams are underperforming. 

Toll Brothers is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2016, the company had revenue of $5.2 billion. Even with that track record, the firm is gearing up for serious change. Cynthiann King started with Toll Brothers in 2012 as a training director. Three promotions later she is now vice president of learning and development, with company-wide responsibility for L&D. Her boss, Joy Roman, was hired early in 2017 as the company’s first chief human resources officer. Both women’s organization-wide roles signal the rising importance of human...

Business acumen is the ability to link keen insights about and a thorough assessment of the business landscape with an awareness of how money is made and then executing a strategy that delivers results. Sounds complicated, right? Well, it is. But you can break it down into simpler terms. At its core, having business acumen means understanding how your business operates, competes against other organizations, and makes money. 

Visionary teacher and lifelong learner Pat McLagan views learning ability as software for processing daily life. And like all software, learning software require upgradesand regular reboots!

Despite exponential growth in big data and data analysis technology, talent development executives and organizations still struggle with determining the best process and timing for measuring talent development initiatives. In a data-driven world where CEOs focus on return on investment to justify expenditures, demonstrating the value of talent development investments gives learning leaders pause.

The improved economy has translated to an increase in job openings. According to LinkedIn, 56 percent of talent acquisition leaders say their hiring volume will increase in 2017. These gains have created a candidate-driven market, making it harder for recruiters to compete for talent. Many companies are hoping that emerging tech can enhance the hiring process.

Rob Lauber is chief learning officer at McDonald's, where he oversees a staff of 250 people across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Under his purview are the L&D Center of Excellence and seven Hamburger Universities around the world, as well as education and accreditation programs. In all, L&D's audience is about 1.9 million McDonald's employees.

In the talent development field, having a positive impact on companies' and individuals' success is what we strive for daily. While working for a Fortune 500 technology solutions and services company, I gained new perspectives on how to be a successful and effective talent executive. I was asked to join the company to reignite the learning and talent development capabilities of one of its business sectors—in fact, the largest with more than 22,000 employees. In the two years before my arrival...

Lately there has been much talk in the talent development industry about the business of learning, getting aligned with the business, and business metrics. However, many organizations still struggle in this area, and to a large degree, we as an industry are still just talking. It's high time that we turn that talk into action. To instill confidence that the learning organization...

The Talent Development Executive Confidence Index ( TDXCI), formerly the Learning Executive Confidence Index ( LXCI), is a quarterly assessment of talent development executives short-term expectations for the health of the talent development function in organizations.The TDXCI is a composite score that takes into account four key indicators for how talent development executives believe the talent development function will change during the next six months: The TDXCI is modeled after the Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which rates CEOs expectations for...

Here are five ways to help you leverage the power of your personal brand to stand out and attract the right opportunities for your career and your firm.

More education and training are required of a larger number of jobs.

As great as a program may be, you can't win everyone over.

The argument: Social collaboration tools make it easier and cheaper for employees to learn from one another. Most everyone is on social media, so it makes sense for talent development functions to consider using these platforms to engage employees in the learning process. But is it as simple as instructing learners to sign on to a platform to ask and answer work-related questions? Do employees truly learn this way?

Why treating all roles equally is the most unfair thing an organization can do.

Not enough organizations develop leaders at all levels.

Those negative characteristics about Gen Y you keep hearing about aren’t necessarily true.

Several hiring and training initiatives are helping veterans make the transition from the battlefield to the boardroom.

How to assess the organizational impact of a coaching program.