Mike: We’re all family here. Archie: Don’t remind me! —All In The Family I saw an excellent Twitter chat that discussed if people should use the term “family” at work. For instance, do you work for an organization that claims “we are all one big family”? Or if the company is really high on itself, they may say, “We are …
Know Your Why–Gut Decisions and Your Career
I feel like I should dedicate this post to PFP, a local gym my youngest daughter attends. My youngest has scoliosis, and in addition to being braced for a number of years by a phenomenal Orthotist, she’s been working out with a trainer to have an amazingly strong core. The best news–the workouts at PFP have been pivotal in reducing …
What Are You Telling Employees When You Send Them Late Night Emails?
I learned long ago that you should always be ready to take good advice — no matter where it comes from. This month, it came from a guy named Michael Dermer who touts himself in his blog and newsletter as The Lonely Entrepreneur. His words of wisdom were short, sweet, and spot-on. He said: “Turn off at a respectable time, …
Dispelling HR Police Mythology
It was 5 minutes until 5:00 pm on a Friday. I was at my desk holding court about where the Sales team was going for happy hour when suddenly the “personnel” lady appeared with a figurative summons for me to appear in personnel court along with a fellow Account Executive. “Why,” you ask? Two weeks prior while in Sedona, Arizona …
All for One and One for All! Employee Engagement Peanut Butter.
I started my own blog in 2006. Not an actual OG but very close. Heck, I used to use Typepad for chrissakes. That’s seriously old school. And some of (most of) my posts since that time have been about employee engagement. I know this because every time I’m up to write on Fistful of Talent I panic because I may …
Gandhi as Your Employment Brand Writer
In today’s hot job market nearly all of us are trying to “build a better mousetrap so the world will beat a path to our door,” as the saying goes. We are all authoring our employment brand, and trying to one-up our competitors. And a lot of that work revolves around understanding and then documenting/describing our culture. Culture is such …
Here’s to the Crazy Ones: And Why You Don’t Deserve Them
I’ve been doing a lot of performance work for some client companies lately. As you might expect, I’m trying to push the companies to get out of the mindset that the performance review transaction is the reason for the process. Repeat after me: The reason you do any type of coaching or performance management is to migrate employees. If you’re …
Institutionalized: Working for the Corporate Version of Obi-Wan Kenobi/Bill Belichick
There’s a dirty little secret about great companies. Some of them are so great, the experience you pick up actually doesn’t transfer easily to other opportunities. Here’s how this phenomenon plays out: 1– You join a great company early in your career. 2–You are fortunate to work for a master, think the Obi-Wan Kenobi or Bill Belichick of your industry. …
The Most Important Part Of Recruiting Is… Wait For It… It’s…
Not sourcing. Dear God, did I write that? I did. Sourcing is not the most important part of recruiting a candidate. It’s part of it, yes. But the most important part? No. I find people, sure. But what I’m finding these days is I find people and they think “Yeah, it’s probably time for me to make a move… ” …
Tech Isn’t Your Savior – It’s Your Accelerator
This past September, I wrote an article about recruiting “tech stack”: tools and technology that combine to help enable the recruiting function. The words “help enable” are two of the most important words in that statement, because technology is an accelerator, not a creator, of momentum. While I stand by the explanation of the term “tech stack,” my thought process …