Turn to almost any organization in the country and a familiar thread is going to be heard - What is the ROI (Return on Investment) for this project? Human Resources is no different. Through the works of Bersin & Associates, who in their 2011 report "The Best Practices for the High Impact HR Organization" determined that the top challenge for HR Management was the ability to measure HR programs in financial terms and the work of Jac Fit-Enz and Wayne Cascio who each showed us how to measure HR management we have an idea on how to quantify the ROI of HR. The problem is that this view is concentrated in the metrics of hiring our human capital assets.

However regardless of how defining the ROI measurements are for the above efforts, we seem to be missing a whole other metric of HR ROI. I refer to it as the return of decisions. We complain that our human capital assets are no longer engaged with our organizations but then either knowingly or unknowingly allow our organizations to make very dump mistakes in treating those assets as valuable parts of the organization. Consider these recent enforcement activities:

1. On May 1, a federal district court handed down ...

It has been an interesting week between Marissa Mayer's clamp down on telecommuters at Yahoo and Sheryl Sandberg's pitch that women sabotage their own careers.In both arenas there seems to be a criterion missing. That criterion is how do you view your human capital in your organization - are they a liability or are they an asset? Let's look at the two events separately:

Marissa Mayer contends that in order to make Yahoo more productive she wants all human capital assets under one roof. Ms. Mayer please come clean and admit that the real reason you issued the edit is because you are still operating in the command and control model which firmly believes that a productive employee is one that is in a see all, hear all environment. You know who you are, the non-engaged employee who can not be trusted to complete the requirements of his employment contract. I understand that a recent staff meeting that you were criticized for hiring only the elite. That you have added added steps to the process which lowers the efficiency of your hiring process, which should be centered around identifying the best person for the job, in the right place at the right time for the right ...

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the privilege to speak to several groups of transitioning military personnel.  On the minds of most of the more senior folks is the fear of age discrimination. Now bear in mind that most of these people are in their early 40s which seems old in a 20-year career but for folks in their 50s and 60s, the threat of age discrimination, whether real or perceived, is paralyzing.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. It covers discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

That’s the law.  The letter of the law.  Does the law get broken?  Absolutely.

Maybe the real issues isn’t the age of a person, but the perception and stereotype that follows age.  These stereotypes are best explained using a model by Chris Argyris known as The Ladder of Inference, which you can see defined in this video.

If you’re the victim of this stereotyping, whether real or perceived, you have two ...

This post is by Tara Seager and Yousuf Siddiqui of Ally Solutions Group. Learn more about Tara.

1. Thou shalt … Identify the leader of the change.

Although it is true that everyone on the project team can be a leader and that the change can have many champions, usually there is one executive, the sponsor of the change, whose name is connected with the change. If the change goes well, this person will be a hero; if not, he or she will receive a black eye. It is crucially important to understand who this person is and to support them in their role in building a coalition of supporters and champions of the change. This is the most important element of a successful change plan.

2. Thou shalt … Bake the product with resistance points in mind.

All too often, project teams jump into training and communication planning while their product (e.g. new process, technology or organizational structure) is still in early development. Teams are anxious to put pen to paper so that they can begin allocating resources and setting task dates, but they do not know the effects and impact to their target audience (i.e. recipients of the change). While the product is being baked, ...