This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

Supercharge Performance by Linking Employee-Driven Career Development with Business Goals

How do you make career development work for both the employee and the business? IBM® has done it by tightly linking employee-driven career development programs with corporate goals. In Agile Career Development, three of IBM’s leading HR innovators show how IBM has accomplished this by illustrating various lessons and approaches that can be applied to other organizations as well. This book is for every HR professional, learning or training manager, executive, strategist, and any other business leader who wants to create a high performing organization.

“In the 21st century, there will be an increasing competitive need for any company to operate as a globally integrated enterprise that can effectively develop and then tap the skills and capabilities of its workforce anywhere in the world. In IBM, we have worked to enable a workforce that is adaptive, flexible, and capable of responding to changes in the marketplace and the needs of our clients. Agile Career Development shows how focusing on career development opportunities and guidance for employees is a key factor in our business strategy and a major source of value for IBM employees. This book can be used as a guide to any organization that is seeking to find practical ways to develop the talent of its workforce.”

–J. Randall MacDonald, Senior Vice President, IBM Human Resources

“This book highlights tried and true best practices developed at a company known the world over for active dedication to their workforce. Mary Ann, Diana, and Sheila have captured the key issues that will enhance and streamline your career development program and, subsequently, increase employee engagement, retention, and productivity. I particularly like their practical, real-life understanding of the barriers to most career development programs and the manageable framework to bring career growth to life. They also teach us how to make a business case for career development–critical in creating the foundation for a sustainable program. This includes a good blend of benefits both for the individual employee and the organization as a whole. I only wish I had this book available to me years ago when I was managing a career development program!”

–Jim Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., author of Implementing the Four Levels of Transferring Learning to Behavior

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 2 Ratings

AGILE CAREER DEVELOPMENT Review - 2009-10-15
Reviewer Rating:
Review of "Agile Career Development - Lessons and Approaches from IBM"
IBM has developed a career development model for all employers...large, mid-size, and small....to follow in order to have the tools and "...agility to quickly and effectively change the way decisions are made..."

Let's be honest, the business world as we know it is changing. The workforce began its evolution with the addition of Gen Xers into key positions and management roles and continues with Gen Y and the mass departures of the Baby Boomers. Areas of the employee/employer relationship need to be revamped in order to have the people strength to move business forward and to ensure profitability.

One of these areas is career development and the move away from traditional plans and systems that are followed blindly but do not provide results. Traditional approaches to performance management, compensation planning, and career development are no longer adequate. Traditional career development tools are disconnected and their value to the employee is not clear. A career development program that truly supports business strategy and business outcomes is the IBM model in "Agile Career Development."

The ability of employees is directly related to organizational alignment and accomplishment of organizational goals. Business processes will succeed only if adequately skilled and motivated employees, supplied with accurate and timely information, are driving them. This is the premise in "Agile Career Development." IBM used internal surveys, exit surveys, and their "World Jam" to elicit information from employees. In other words, IBM listened to its employees. IBM redefined the roles of employees and managers and focused on "engagement" that played a key role in supporting the new agile career development tools. They were then able to realize the results of an expert workforce as key to growth and innovation. This is a model that will work for all employers. The book makes reference to the global workforce and the globalization of work but the model set out in "Agile Career Development" will also move non-global companies towards success and positive business outcomes.

Josephine L. Simmons
Human Resource Management Professional

Agile Career Development - 2009-10-08
Reviewer Rating:
Overall a great book that gives insight into how a Fortune 500 corporation invests in development and career growth in line with a company's overall vision and mission. From first hand experience, the single most important aspect of this initiative is the development discussion - pages 160-161. You can produce the most state of the art structure possible and it will ultimately fail if the discussion to the employee is not structured and clearly understood by the line managers. Good job IBM - look forward to seeing how the programs referenced as being deployed progress within your organization.

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