Category: Business Management

4 Mistakes Organizations Make When Training Employees

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 training employees every year—an estimated $160 billion. But too often, these efforts are wasted for a number of different reasons. Here are four common…

Be Proactive to Hire the Right Candidate Every Time

July 3, 2019

Have you ever heard someone say that “She was born to be” something, or that “He was wired” for a certain career? Why is it that these people thrive, while others in similar positions struggle and fail? It’s because when you have an employee in a role that aligns with their passions, skills and strengths, they excel. When the employee is not a good fit, their coworkers and the business…

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…

Look Back & Move Forward with a SWOT Analysis

January 22, 2019

2019 has just begun, and many of you made New Year’s resolutions to grow your business, get that promotion, get fit, eat healthy, travel more and so on. I bet you did that last year too. And the year before that. How did it work out for you? Did you find yourself losing interest as other things vied for your time, attention and money? Are you ready to give yourself…

A Sexual Harassment Policy from Us Could Have Saved This Client 6 Figures and 7 Months

September 14, 2018

I am a small business owner and encountered a problem I didn’t think would ever impact me. I’ve been in business for 12 years and employ over 35 full-time employees. I run a nice service business where everyone gets along fine. Or so I thought. One day I opened the mail and found a sexual harassment and discrimination charge had been filed with the EEOC claiming that the company had…

4 Ways to Spot an Exceptional Human Resources Leader

July 3, 2018

Working with human resources can be very rewarding or very disappointing. How your HR function performs depends on a variety of things. In the 25+ years of leadership roles in HR, I’ve seen examples of the best and the worst. As an HR consultant working with small to mid-size employers for almost a decade now, I’ve seen business owners and supervisors who are experts in their specific field who break…

Achieving Your Business Goals Starts With Having the Right Plan

June 21, 2018

As I write this article, we are officially half-way through the year. Now is a perfect time to check in on your business and see where you are now compared to where you plan to be at the end of the year. How big or small is the gap? When I work with small business owners, one of the best practices I find consistently is that the owner sets very…

How to Transition from Manager to Leader

May 1, 2018

4 Essential Steps for an Easier Leadership Transition Managers and leaders may sound the same but there are big differences in the roles they play and the people who perform them. While managers do often lead a team, a leader such as a C-suite professional, has larger responsibilities that go well beyond tasks with predefined goals. Management is a big responsibility, and a good manager can be the backbone of…