In review: A key to why so many companies blow it in social media?

August 2010 in review.  A roundup of blogs from the previous month:

A key to why so many companies blow it in social media? —

Do companies blow their social media efforts because they are afraid to fail, preferring to fall back on old marketing rules?  The comments section offers a chance for Jonathan Salem Baskin and Hank Wasiak to debate my point.

Business as a foreign language for HR professionals —

A recap of the Human Resource Executive Online article title “Is Business a Foreign Language for HR?”

Evaluating risk: financial models versus competency models, part 1 —

Models are a way to understand the key decisions you may need to face and hedge the bets you’re placing.  Ultimately, investment risk is a risk for a team to deliver as much as it is a market or financial projection.

The intervention as organizational rehab —

Let’s revisit what has become the noise surrounding essential knowledge, ability, skills, and competencies organizations need from people ready to lead.  Should more job roles and responsibilities be built around organization development and promote and reward those with organization development competencies and behaviors?

Discounted risk is human capital risk —

Human capital risk is the most difficult risk your firm will manage.  You can’t simply throw money at human capital problems; though on the flip side, restricting money negatively impacts your human capital output.  The decision to invest comes down to a decision to invest in a team to deliver a project, on budget, and up to expectation.

Create firm value, build talent during a downturn —

Investing in talent during trying times is a way to assure important talent will remain in good times.  Talent investment is a competitive marketing and operating advantage over your competition.  There is a distinct cost of culture and those that pay attention to the return on talent investment show real results.

2 priorities for competitive advantage —

When projects fail, people associated with projects fail and who wants to be associated with failure?  People are motivated when they can link their effort to success.  Motivation and project management are 2 ways an organization remains competitive.

9 views into your organization with a project management lens —

For project management to become a prominent discipline we in project management and organization leadership need to move project management from a management science into a management competency.