Human resource development (HRD) practitioners are increasingly being called upon to become more evidence-based in their approaches. This article urges HRD professionals to practice five imperatives in order to ensure ongoing competence. These imperatives include practicing conscious competence, asking for the evidence and research base for solutions, researching strategic HRD issues, partnering with researchers, and staying current in the field.

Purpose -This study of the impact of relationships on the development of practice competence in new graduates entering the workforce aims to contribute to the understanding of relational learning activities and enrich the knowledge about the overall process of learning practice skill. Design/methodology/approach -This research used a qualitative interview methodology with thematic data analysis. Findings -Findings revealed that the process of learning through relationships involved an iterative interplay between specific developer-led teaching activities, learner-led activities in interaction with others, and learner action and cognitive processing. Originality/value -A model for the process of learning through relationships specifically for new graduates who have academic backgrounds in their fields of practice is proposed.

The Problem A number of scholars write about scholar-practitioners, including their role, general competencies, and the work processes they undertake. This literature reflects our understanding of the nature of the scholarly practice but does not extend to the consideration of the attitude or mind-set that can distinguish the contribution of scholar-practitioners in the field. The Solution In this article, we add to the discourse by considering the mind-set of successful scholar-practitioners who seek to provide a competitive edge to their organizations by transcending trends and conventional wisdom with innovative human resource development (HRD) approaches. We examine a few tenets for developing habits of thinking, being, and doing, and offer practical counsel to support those who wish to adopt a scholar-practitioner mind-set. The Stakeholders For individuals who wish to develop and maintain identities as scholar-practitioners, this article provides information that will help them and their leadership team better understand the distinct benefits from integrating scholarship and practice. For organizational leaders, this article sheds light on ways to foster a culture that will support the scholar-practitioner mind-set to yield competitive advantage.

The Problem. Scholar-practitioners can be more successful than their less grounded peers; yet engaging in scholarly practice is not a guarantee of success in a business environment. The cases in this issue provide examples of scholarly practice, but don't necessarily provide actionable advice on how it is effectively accomplished. The Solution. This article derives a framework for SMART (Scholarly, Macro, Aligned, Realistic, and Tested) practice that draws from the literature on scholarly practice and the literature on practicing HRD with a business mind-set to generate practices that are effective in organizations. The cases in this issue provide examples of these behaviors. The Stakeholders. The SMART framework supports practitioners who want to increase their effectiveness at integrating theory and research into practice and HRD faculty who want to provide guidance on successful scholarly practice. In the end, leaders that might desire a more theory-or evidenced-based approach to HRD will benefit from having more savvy HRD practitioners.

The Problem In contemporary work environments, a professional’s learning and development is often encouraged “in the flow of work”; there is an expectation that people will develop knowledge and skill while doing the day to day work of the organization. In considering how one might develop scholarly practice capabilities, therefore, professionals need to look to ways in which they can deliberately begin to incorporate scholarly practices into their standard processes. The Solution The purpose of this article is to provide guidance on everyday scholarly practice so that practitioners might hone their skills through daily work activities. We outline the dimensions of everyday practice and then describe the scholarly practice behaviors and activities that come into play in each dimension of practice. The Stakeholders By offering a more detailed version for scholarly practice in their daily work, this article provides a practical approach to enacting scholarly practice in daily activities that will benefit both practitioners and their managers.