Jim Holincheck

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James Holincheck
Managing VP
8 years at Gartner
22 years IT industry

Jim Holincheck is a managing VP in Gartner Research, where he manages the team that covers finance, human capital management (HCM) and procurement. He specializes in the HCM systems market. In this role, he helps provide a bridge between… Read Full Bio

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Insights on Talent Management Come From the Strangest Places

by Jim Holincheck  |  June 27, 2006  |  2 Comments

Hells_homeOk, I admit it.  I like watching the reality TV show Hell’s Kitchen on Fox.  Certainly, Gordon Ramsay is a little bit over the top in abusing the chefs on the show.  However, Gordon does have high standards (which I appreciate).  As much as I like Hell’s Kitchen, I like Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares better.  This show on BBC America chronicles Gordon’s attempts to help struggling restaurants in the UK become successful.  I think it is very interesting because, as much as Gordon yells and intimidates the staff, he is keenly focused on helping them develop their skills and improve performance.

As I was watching Hell’s Kitchen last night, I thought about a few things:

  • Getting top performance is about setting high standards — and constantly striving to achieve them
  • To get top performance, people need the skills,resources, and proper motivation to succeed (we can question whether or not Gordon provides the proper motivation)
  • The best teams have strong leadership, a common mission, and work together to build on individual strengths and overcome individual weaknesses

I am sure that the show was not intended as a test-bed for talent management techniques, but it is interesting to see different approaches.

2 Comments »

Category: Employee Performance Management Talent Management Application Suites     Tags: , , ,

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Dennis Howlett   June 28, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    Jim – years since we last spoke and I just found you via Thomas Otter. Spend a lot of time talking with Vinnie. To your point: Ramsey is an icon in the UK. He’s passsionate which ‘we’ really like (hey…we got footie) but what is interesting – the stream of idiots prepared to self-flagellate to get their 15 minutes of fame. There is one about a restaurant I know as it is close to where I used to live. A perfect example of standing in a bucket of manure and then jumping up and down. Guess what? You get covered in the nasty stuff.

    You’re on my blogroll.

  • 2 James Holincheck   June 29, 2006 at 11:52 am

    Dennis,

    It is good to hear from you. It has been a long time. It is amazing what some people will do for their 15 minutes of fame. Thanks for putting me on your blogroll!