'I thought it was fabulous'

No that isn't my assessment of last night's HR Happy Hour show with Professor Samuel Culbert, author of  'Get Rid of the Performance Review', it actually was the Professor's 'review' of his own book!  You have to hand it to the guy for confidence.

Kidding aside, the Professor was a fantastic guest, with a strong point of view and belief that the performance review, as currently practiced by most organizations, is so inherently flawed that it actually has serious detrimental impact on organizational effectiveness, and employees' career development.

Where else in the current HR and management dialog are you going to get comparisons of most HR departments to the KGB?  The show can be replayed using the widget below, and can also be found out on iTunes, just search for 'HR Happy Hour' and download this, and any other archived show.

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Have a listen to the archive of the show and let us know what you think - annual performance review time in your organization will be here before you know it, you may need a few talking points ready to go.

Coming Attractions

We are winding down the summer in the USA, but the HR Happy Hour show rolls on, committed to providing information, entertainment, and fodder for snarky live-Tweeting.

So you can make sure to mark your calendars accordingly, here is what we have on tap for the next few weeks:

Note : All shows are on Thursdays from 8PM - 9PM EDT - Call in number 646-378-1086.

August 19 - 'Get Rid of the Performance Review' - with guest Professor Samuel Culbert, author of the book of the same title.  This is shaping up to be an interesting conversation about whether or not performance reviews need to be scrapped entirely, and if so, what alternatives exist to try and ensure organizations meet their objectives and employees continue to achieve and develop.

August 26 - 'Seiden Says', (title subject to change) - Guest host Jason Seiden takes over the show for the night. The author of 'Super Staying Power' and 'How to Self-Destruct' will definitely challenge, inspire, and perhaps fail spectacularly in the attempt. Shauna will be on-hand to keep things from getting too insane.  Maybe.

September 2 - 'The HR Technology Conference Preview' - Conference Chair Bill Kutik makes his long anticipated debut on the HR Happy Hour to talk about the biggest event in HR Technology every year.  You don't want to miss this show if you are planning on attending the event, or if you are still mulling it over.

September 9 - 'Ask a Manager' - The fantastic Alison Green from the blog Ask a Manager, will take your calls and questions.  When you don't know something, you need to ask a manager and Alison can surely help you out.

We have more fun planned in the Fall, keep up to date on HR Happy Hour happenings by following HR Happy Hour on Twitter, joining the HR Happy Hour LinkedIn group, or liking the HR Happy Hour page on Facebook.

As always, we love to get your suggestions for show topics and guests and many thanks for listening to the show!

Recap - Episode 54 - 'Enterprise 2.0 and HR'

HR Happy Hour - Episode 54 - 'Enterprise 2.0 and HR' with guest Andrew McAfee

Original broadcast date - Thursday July 15, 2010

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This was an interesting and informative conversation with Andy McAfee, the person that invented the term 'Enterprise 2.0', and author of the essential book on the subject - 'Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization's Toughest Challenges'.

We discussed some of the history of Web 1.0 and 2,0, how the important concepts of Web 2.0 apply inside organizations, and some of the ways that HR and business leaders can take advantage of these tools to achieve business objectives.  It is a huge topic to be sure, and in an one hour show we could only really scratch the surface of Enterprise 2.0, but hopefully we managed to at least provide the HR pro some solid background and a basis for further exploration.

So give a listen and let us know what you think.

Also, apologies for not keeping up to date on posting previews and recaps here, we are trying to decide the best way and most efficient way of getting show information out there.

We have a Facebook page, LinkedIn group, this blog, as well as mine and Shauna's personal blogs, so figuring out the best way to get show info out there is a little tricky, but hopefully we will arrive upon the right answer soon.

As always - thanks for listening!

Recap - Episode 51 - 'Live from Gettysburg'

HR Happy Hour - Episode 51 - 'Live from Gettysburg'

Original air date - Thursday June 24, 2010

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This show, was broadcast from the historic Antrim 1844 Inn located in Taneytown, MD, just a bit down the road from the historic battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

I was in the Gettysburg area attending The Conference Board Leadership Experience as a guest of the Board. The Leadership Experience is an experiential leadership development program that uses the Battle of Gettysburg, and the leaders that shaped the outcomes of the battle, as a metaphor for assessing and improving participant's own leadership capabilities in the corporate world.

On the show we were joined by Jeff Jackson of The Conference Board, as well as Colonel Cole Kingseed, military historian and one of the event facilitators. We talked about the battle, some of the important leadership lessons from the events in 1863, and about the critical importance of leaders in the modern corporate world.

I hope you can take some time to listen to what was a fun and interesting show.

Preview - Episode 50 - 'The World Cup and the Workplace'

HR Happy Hour - Episode 50 - 'The World Cup and the Workplace'

Thursday June 17, 2010 - 8PM EDT - Call in 646-378-1086



You may have caught something in the news, or on TV, or the interwebs - there is a little sporting event going on called 'The World Cup'.

Yes, the big soccer/football once every four years extravaganza in on again. It is estimated that over 2 billion people will watch some of the World Cup tournament this year. It was just reported that the big England vs. USA match drew TV ratings in the US that exceeded the first four games of the NBA finals.

So chances are pretty good that your company, your customers, your employees are going to get involved in the excitement in some way. How do major sporting and social events impact the workplace, how can organizations and leaders work creatively to take advantage of the excitement, should you give absent, late, or sluggish employees a pass during or after a big match? Do national teams take on the personality and the 'brand' of their nations, or does the perception of the team influence the perception of the nation, and by extension its products and services and people?

Join us this week with our special panel of international guests, Andy Headworth from Sirona Consulting and Felix Wetzel from Jobsite as we talk World Cup and the Workplace.