Bersin & Associates launches new awards program to laud organizations and their human resource leaders for employing talent initiatives in bold new ways across all spectrums of HR.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
In organizations around the world, both large and small, you can find dedicated, hard-working, passionate professionals in HR and related disciplines. These people play a critical role in their organizations' success. Bersin & Associates (which became Bersin by Deloitte after this was written; see disclaimer below) knows this, says David Mallon, the company's vice president of research.
"We know because we at Bersin are honored and privileged to have the opportunity to talk with many of these people regularly," he says. "And let us tell you, there is some amazing work being done out there. In fact, we believe that one of our greatest obligations is to trumpet as many of these stories as we can, as far and as wide as possible."
With that goal in mind, Bersin launched its first awards program, Learning Leaders®, in 2006, through which it celebrates innovation and success taking place in the learning community.
"Over the years, just as we saw organizations taking a more holistic view of talent, we broadened the focus of the Learning Leaders program to encompass initiatives in such areas as employee onboarding and succession management," Mallon says. "Eventually, we realized that, to continue calling the program 'Learning Leaders' was no longer reflective of the breadth of amazing stories being brought to us.
"So, for this iteration, we decided to rebrand the program and further widen its focus. This year, we are pleased to present the Bersin WhatWorks® Awards, a bigger, bolder awards program, recognizing innovation and excellence in critical areas across the spectrum of HR, learning and talent."
The term "WhatWorks" speaks to Bersin's core as a research firm since its founding, says Mallon. "There are many good ideas out there, but the practical constraints and challenges of the real world cause many of them to end up in the waste bin," he says. "Our research has always been designed to, first, quickly and efficiently isolate those enduring practices and processes that bring continued, measurable value to an organization; and second, distill from those practices and processes the common, repeatable steps that other organizations can take to derive similar success."
The WhatWorks winners -- all "demonstrating measurable real-world success," according to Mallon -- are divided into six different categories, depending on types of submissions: transforming HR, developing tomorrow's leaders, enabling high-impact learning, acquiring top talent, optimizing talent management and delivering innovation. The sixth category -- featuring the most innovative talent-management solutions coming to market (from Axonify, Blatant Media Corp., Xyleme, Glassdoor, Jobvite, oDesk, PDI Ninth House, PeopleMatter, RiseSmart and Tech Transfer Services) -- is not included in this publication but can be found in the full report on the Bersin website listed below.
In each category, contest applicants were asked three basic questions: What was the problem? What was the solution? What were the results? Stories were judged based on their demonstrated proof of positive business impact based on the change, initiative, program or process improvement described in the submission.
The award winners are presented here as part of a media partnership between Bersin and Human Resource Executive®.
(The WhatWorks Awards program that includes all materials, announcements and agreements dated earlier than Jan. 1, 2013 were created by Bersin & Associates LLC, prior to the acquisition of substantially all of the company's assets by Deloitte Consulting LLP, and bear the Bersin & Associates brand. The following is taken from a Bersin & Associates March 2013 report, The WhatWorks® Awards 2013: Lessons from the Best, authored by David Mallon, vice president of research at Bersin by Deloitte.
http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=534355078
