在过去一百年中，经济经历了几个不同的阶段，每个阶段的成功定义都不同。每个阶段都有其结构、治理模式、角色、人才实践以及关于人的假设。

 工业时代，经济是以制造为中心的。决策由少数人做出，命令和控制是关键，员工就像可更换的机器零部件。这时员工被当作需要控制的成本

 当经济更多地由服务导向时，知识时代来临。决策权向组织底层延伸，到达更多的人。知识型员工的名称发明出来，员工被视作潜在资产。

到了全球人才时代，成功的定义又改变了。组织如果要成功，就必须创新，灵活，快速适应变化，并鼓励创造性。组织不再是庞大的一个整体，而是更多地包含不同的公司、国家和供应商的价值链。在这个时代，“合适的人才，而非所有员工”，才是最有价值的资产。

 在组织迈向人才时代的过程中，HR有很多方式可创造差异。成为HCI （美国人力资本研究所）排名公司的方式有：

 1. 通过语言和行动在组织内灌输“人才理念”的观念。HR必须成为这个理念的倡导者，并且真正相信，人才，在适当地激励和与组织目标保持一致后，就是组织成功的关键。行动远胜于言语。

 2. 使公司战略与人力资本需求保持一致： 将人才管理实践与战略结合起来，专注于战略性的工作，并开发一个人力资本计划。

 3. 认识到同样地对待所有员工和工作，并不对每个人是最终公平的。“人才管理的投资组合方式”。某些职位和人才会为组织产生更大的价值。 开发将工作和人才分类的流程和实践， 然后将合适的发展性活动、奖励和认可与这些分类连接起来

 4. 成为被选择的雇主（employer of choice）：通过申请这些奖项，你将需要专注于并改善人才实践。 成为最有声望名单里的一员对雇主品牌和免费的公关活动极有帮助。成为财富XX强的名单价值2千万美金（Sullivan）

5. 促进组织内知识和人才的分享。打破信息孤岛，创建共享这些宝贵资产的系统和文化。 这是“集成化的人才管理”成为现实的关键要求。

 6. 奖励绩效，而非年资或者受欢迎的程度；举办改善工作绩效的具体的、诚实的经常性反馈活动。设定清晰的绩效目标，提供有意义的经常性反馈，让员工负责—这是一个高绩效文化的地标。

7. 强化经理的技巧和能力-包括必要时重新分配绩效不佳经理的工作：经理人在人才时代的一线， 因此需要新的技巧。不好的经理必须被讨论（重新分配工作，不再带领团队或者被解雇）以防止平庸制造平庸。

 8. 配置员工，让合适的员工在最关键的工作中发挥作用：把合适的人才匹配在合适的工作上，就像指挥、导演或者教练所做的那样。麦当劳和HP是人才实践的行业领导者。

 9. 对于战略性和领导性工作，确保人才库里有两个“备用的”内部候选人。 一些组织还有一个外部备用候选人。

 10. 确保所有关键职责和指标已被设立，以加强优秀的人才实践：凡是你考核的，都会被完成。指标可能先被确立，当员工接受并看重这些指标时，随后关键职责就会产生。关键职责和指标对于人才管理成为组织的受尊重和可信赖的部分都是必要的

The Top Ten List: HR Making a Difference

Moving to a High Performance Culture

 During the last one hundred years, the economy has gone through several stages in which success has been defined differently. Each stage had its own structure, governing patterns, roles, talent practices and assumptions about people.

 The Industrial Age was when the economy was manufacturing oriented. Decisions were made by a few people, command and control was vital, and employees were like replaceable machine parts. People were considered a cost to be controlled

The Knowledge Age developed as the economy became more service-oriented. Decision-making was pushed down the organization and to more people. The knowledge worker phrase was coined, and people were viewed as potential assets.

In the Global Talent Age, success is defined differently. To be successful organizations must innovate, be agile, respond to change quickly and encourage creativity. Organizations were no longer huge and monolithic; but rather consisted of value chains of various companies, countries and suppliers. In this age, the “right talent, and not all employees,”is the most valued asset.

There are many ways that HR can make a difference to an organization moving toward the Talent Age. The ten that make the top of HCI’s list are the following:

1. Instill the “Talent Mindset” by words and actions: HR must become an advocate and truly believe that talent, when properly engaged and aligned, is the key to organizational success. Actions speak louder than words.

2. Align strategy and human capital requirements: Link talent practices to strategy, focus on strategic jobs and develop a human capital plan. HCI’s course on the Human Capital Plan addresses this issue.

 3. Recognize that treating all people and jobs as being the same is not ultimately fair to anyone. The “portfolio approach to talent management.” Certain roles and talent add greater value to the organization. Develop processes and practices that segment jobs and talent and then link appropriate developmental activities, rewards and recognition to these segments.

4. Become an employer of choice: By applying for these awards, you will need to focus on and improve talent practices. Being on prestigious lists is great for branding and free public relations. The Fortune list is worth $20 million (Sullivan).

5. Promote sharing of knowledge and talent across the organization. Cut across silos and create systems and culture that share these valuable assets. This is a key requirement for “integrated talent management” to become a reality.

 6. Reward performance, not seniority or likeability, and have frequent, specific and honest feedback sessions on improving job performance: Set clear performance objectives, provide frequent and meaningful feedback and hold people accountable—these are the hallmarks of a high performance culture.

7. Strengthen manager skills and competencies—including reassigning poor managers if necessary: The manager is at the front line of the Talent Age, and new skills are required.  Bad managers must be addressed ( be reassigned, become an individual contributor again, or be released) to stem the cycle of waste.

8. Deploy employees so that the right people are performing the most critical jobs: The matching of the right talent to the right jobs, just like the conductor, director or coach might do. McDonald’s and Hewlett-Packard are industry-leaders in this practice.

9. Insure that talent pools have two “ready” internal candidates for strategic and leadership jobs: Some organizations also have one-ready external candidate.

 10. Insure that accountabilities and metrics are in place to reinforce excellent talent practices: What gets measured, gets done. Metrics will probably be established first, and then accountabilities will follow as people accept and value the metrics. Both accountabilities and metrics are necessary for talent management to become a respected and credible part of the organization.