HR Carnival: HR Freaks

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) is proud to present the latest edition of the HR Carnival! What it doesn't have are overpriced rides, games intended to cheat you of your money or, unfortunately, tasty but questionable deep-fried foods. What it does have a lot of is freaks… HR freaks, to be specific. And by that we mean those so devoted to improving human resources that they are willing to commit their time to sharing expert insights on our ever-evolving profession.

Before getting to the articles, I want to do a brief round of shameless self promotion:

• Follow @i4cp on Twitter
• Follow @hrm_today on Twitter
• Join HRM Today on Facebook
• Join the HRM Today social network

Now that's out of the way, let's get to this week's articles:

i4cp's Featured Pick

• How to Hire for Cultural Fit, by Michael Haid, guest-posting at Great Leadership by Dan, examines the importance of identifying your culture and the behaviors needed to be successful before hiring new talent.

Talent

• Back to the Basics, by Laura Schroeder at Compensation Café, looks at the challenges - and the math - behind pay-for-performance calculations.
• 5 Ideas to Ensure That Trainings Effectively Deliver Value, by Tammay Vora at QAspire Blog, offers five practical and useful ideas to ensure that your training program does what it is intended to do - change behaviors of people for meaningful business results.
• Strange Creatures with Amusing Names, by Steve Boese at Steve's HR Technology, discusses how organizations can be too narrow in their view of talent and crafting job roles. A more expansive view of employee skills and interests may be beneficial for both the organization and the talent.
• How Music Can Positively Impact Employee Performance, by Trish McFarlane at HR Ringleader, relays how certain types of music can stimulate areas of the brain that affect perception and memory.
• Incentivizing Behavior Doesn't Improve Results, by John Hunter at Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog, includes a 10-minute video that explores scientific research on motivation that achieves results.
• Compensation: Are you Underpaid? Measure Now!, by Gireesh Sharma at Grasp e-Marketing Blog, presents some questions that disgruntled employees should ask themselves before complaining about their salary.
• The Crummy State of Talent Management Metrics (and What to Do About It), by Mark Vickers at i4cp (yes, that's us!), examines recent research showing how few companies are effective at using data to guide their people management strategies.
• Why Does Strategy Puddle Instead of Trickle?, by Cathy Missildine-Martin at Intellectual Capital Consulting, gives a great description of how strategy execution can grow stagnant almost immediately.

Managerial Advice

• The Great Control Trick, by Paul Smith at Welcome To the Occupation, presents 12 things good bosses believe and how managers can maintain control by giving up control. But being a dictator is so much more fun.
• Supervision in Crisis, by Wally Block at Three Star Leadership Blog, looks at the phenomena of people not trusting their boss's judgment - but not wanting to be the boss, either.
• 5 Lessons Learned from a Failed Project, by Jennifer V. Miller at The People Equation, looks at how people should trust their gut and, at the same time, appreciate what they've learned from a project - even if it was a complete and utter failure.
• Cutting the Crap, by TheHRD at the beautifully titled blog My Hell is Other People, discusses the way in which we describe cuts as "efficiency saving" and questions why we aren't honest and open with people.
• Managing Non Performers, by Maj Gen BK Bhatia at TalentJunction, gives several practices for dealing with the least desired, but inevitable, form of employee.
• When You Talk, Do People Listen?, by Melissa Prusher at The Devon Group, provides some advice to improve your communication skills.
• Now, Embrace Your Weaknesses, by Mary Jo Asmus at Aspire, talks about how leaders should recognize their weaknesses and use them to their advantage.
• Watch the Eyebrows, by HoneyPieHorse, this time at Working Girl, discusses how a big productivity killer in organizations is fear of confrontation.

General HR

• Only the Lonely, by Steve Browne, guest-posting at upstartHR, talks about how lonely HR people are by definition, given their inability to vent since they are the someone that people vent to. Then again, Steve has an idea…
• What is Your "Go To" Resource?, by Ben Eubanks at upstartHR, asks a simple question that every HR professional should be able to answer.
• Twitter 101 for HR, by Mark Stelzner at Inflexion Advisors, delivers a dynamic presentation on why human resources needs to use the Tweet Machine.

Career Advice/Networking

• Unemployed? Then Don't Bother Applying, by Evil HR Lady at BNET, addresses the concerns of job searchers who are seeing statements prohibiting the unemployed from applying for jobs. Yes, just like the title suggests.
• More Thoughts on Networking, by Meg Bear at TalentedApps, asks folks to reconsider whether they really don't have anything interesting to say - or if they're just being selfish.
• When a Job Board Gets It Right, by Kelly Dingee at Fistful Of Talent, raves about ClearedJobs.net and why vetting job boards is so important.
• Networking Love, by Susan Heathfield at About.com, talks about how HR networking can be scary and difficult, especially when you need help with something such as a job or clients. By emphasizing what you have to give and share, HR networking can become a win-win.
• Drew Tarvin has a question for you. Actually he has 50 of them. Learn more about your coworkers with 50 Questions to Get to Know Someone over at Humor That Works.
• 5 Reasons You Need a Cover Letter, by Marsha Keeffer at Mint Resumes, addresses why cover letters are a great way to get the attention of HR professionals.

Miscellaneous

• The Impact of Our Environment, by Kevin Eikenberry at The Kevin Eikenberry Group, explains how our surroundings affect our decisions and perspective.
• An Ultimate Sacrifice, by Benjamin McCall at RethinkHR, is a Memorial Day post commemorating veterans and recommending that HR professionals learn and understand the resources available to veterans and current soldiers.
• It doesn't have much to do with HRM, but Naomi Bloom at In Full Bloom (I wish I had a name that made for a clever blog title) provides an intriguing exposé of her travels in Istanbul.