Your business is facing challenges that are unprecedented in recent history. Your workforce may no longer be “in the office” so to speak and this raises a plethora of obstacles to growing your human capital. This article provides strategic guidance and practical tips to help you reflect on your practices, identify your gaps, and implement new processes to ensure you can continue to hire top…
The COVID-19 crisis has impacted us all in ways that may take years or a lifetime to reflect upon and understand. As businesses begin to reopen and emerge from the shutdown, our workforce — the employees we value and need to succeed — are emerging from a stay at home lockdown that can be a traumatic experience. The myriad challenges today include returning to a…
If you’re a leader reading this, perform a self-check as to who you surround yourself with at your firm, and who you listen to for guidance and advice. If your answer doesn't include all your management team, you may have a culture problem and you may be the cause. If you don't have a leadership team because of your actions and behaviors, you are doing…
As a change management consultant leading leadership teams and practice partners down the path of achieving their desired short- and long-term goals I often encounter executives who have lost touch with reality. When asked to describe the culture of their firm they provide these illustrious views of the perfect magical world of rainbows and unicorns and how wonderful everything is and how amazing their culture…
Are you the type of leader who likes to feel right all the time? Do you enjoy your direct reports telling you “great job!”, “that’s right” or “of course boss!” Does your team always agree with your plans and ideas, and this makes you feel successful or happy? Do you realize that by surrounding yourself with “yes” people you are diminishing your actual leadership effectiveness…
How much thought have you put into your compensation practice? Small employers often pay what candidates ask for because they need to hire people with no regard to any formal process or practice around compensation. In time, as the small business grows, they will experience various challenges if they don’t do something about their compensation practices. Here we explore two compensation topics to guide you towards…
Does your organization provide all employees with a discretionary bonus each year? Perhaps your organization creates a pool of money annually and divides it up amongst the employees. While implementing a discretionary bonus program in which everybody benefits financially sounds wonderful, it is important to note there are problems inherent in a discretionary program that can both expose you to legal risk and create negative…
There is a plethora of reasons performance management programs are less than successful in meeting their intended outcomes. One significant factor contributing to this problem is the reluctance or hesitation of people leaders in conducting the performance review. Over time we have observed a variety of contributing variables that inhibit a people leader from engaging the employee to provide feedback. Supervisors who: were never properly trained…
Well-designed survey questions and scales will help you quickly and effectively determine which categories or functions of the workplace fall short in meeting the expectations of the workforce. You will need to establish a baseline either by using the first survey conducted at a point in time or by setting a goal of X percent satisfaction. For example, you could determine that any category that…
Engagement and morale are on the decline and as a leader, you are wondering what is wrong with your employees. You may even decide to embark on an engagement survey so that you can learn what is wrong with the workforce. Let me stop you right there and remind you that culture and morale start with the leaders of the organization and the behaviors and…
There seems to be an endless list of employment practice decisions to make to meet the needs of your organization. This includes considerations for attracting and hiring talent, retention, and a comprehensive benefits program that supports a healthy life-work balance. Leave policies serve several purposes, including improved morale, productivity, and cost savings. There are considerations to make when exploring a migration away from a discretionary…