Category: Business Leadership

Embracing Workplace Appreciation: Empowering Organizations by Recognizing Employees

March 28, 2020

Is your business suffering from communication breakdowns? My name is Katherine Hartvickson of Quantum Ascendance, an HR Consulting & Leadership Development company. We help you develop your People and create sustainable Processes so that you enjoy a Profitable and Winning Culture. Today’s business world is filled with an overwhelming amount of social media, texts and emails, yet I’ve found there is still a lack of clear and compelling communicating happening.…

How to Maintain Employee Engagement & Productivity During COVID-19

March 26, 2020

As we collectively navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, how you manage your small business and maintain your employees’ engagement and productivity during this crisis is changing daily. Unfortunately, many companies are laying off employees in numbers most of us haven’t seen in our lifetime. Unemployment offices are inundated with new claims each week. Organizations have had to quickly create coronavirus crisis management plans. This has left employment during…

How Diversity & Inclusion Strengthens Your Business

March 6, 2020

A strong diversity and inclusion strategy isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also an important strategic business move. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that organizations that are more diverse and inclusive drive innovative results and attract top talent. First of all, let’s define what these terms mean. Diversity is comprised of the things that differentiate us. It encompasses the characteristics that make one person or group different from others. Things…

3 Important U.S. Employment Law Changes in 2020

February 3, 2020

It wouldn’t be a new year without several U.S. employment law changes! In 2020, employers are going to need to stay on top of more than a dozen federal and state laws that came into effect on January 1, 2020. While we can’t cover all dozen-plus new labor laws and regulations in one article, let’s look at three that could have a big impact on your business. 1. A new…

Looking Ahead at 5 HR Trends for 2020

January 8, 2020

At the end of each year, I like to look back at what I’ve accomplished: what went well and what didn’t. There are valuable lessons in understanding this before you start planning the next year. It’s also important to look forward—no matter what field you’re in—at what you’d like to focus on in the upcoming year. For me, it’s to launch my new HR training program for small business owners…

4 Mistakes Organizations Make with Employee Training

September 4, 2019

Workplace training isn’t a nice-to-have; if you want skilled, engaged employees who stick around, it’s a necessity. Also, your company can be on the hook if you don’t educate your staff on issues such as sexual harassment and diversity. American companies spend enormous amounts of money on employee training and education every year—an estimated $160 billion. But too often, these efforts are wasted for a number of different reasons. Here…

5 Ways to Reward Employees When You Can’t Give Raises

June 4, 2019

Whether you have two employees or 200, it happens to almost every leader at some point: a person asks for a raise and you have to say “No.” For many small business owners, turning someone down is not a matter of poor performance or miserly management; they simply can’t afford to raise wages. While money is obviously ideal for your workers, there are some other ways you can show your…

How Managing Millennial Employees is Different

May 6, 2019

What do you think of when I say, “millennials in the workplace?” Are you reminded of a hardworking child or grandchild, or do you think about entitlement and avocado toast? Although their age range varies depending on who you ask, generally the consensus is that they’re the people who were born between 1981 and 1996. Gallup estimates that there are approximately 73 million millennials in America. They’re already the largest…

5 Myths About Succession Planning

April 4, 2019

As a professional HR consultant, I find that bringing up succession planning is a bit like talking about wills—people get uncomfortable, change the subject and put it off rather than facing the facts. However, if you want to have a sustainable business that succeeds after a key player or players are gone, you NEED to have a strong bench in the wings so that you can protect what you’ve built.…

How to Deal with Difficult Employees Before They Do Damage

March 4, 2019

Almost every leader or manager I’ve worked with has a story about an employee (or more than one) who is hard to work with for some reason (or reasons). These challenging people can totally drain the emotional energy of your entire workforce if you don’t address the issue. Of course, as a manager you want to avoid hiring them in the first place, but if they’re on your team, you’re…