Eventually, all leadership teams come to a realization that if they “win” in attracting higher caliber people than their competitors to their company then they will also “win” in their marketplace. Having a better team of people in place than your competitors is a sure-fire way to create a sustainable competitive advantage. But doing so is tricky. Why? Look no …
Can You Measure Passion in Candidates In Interviews?
You want candidates who are passionate about what they do for a living, don’t you? Of course you do. But passion for a profession is tough to get a grip on. And like most subjective things, there’s a whole lot of bulls**t going on in the world related to determining whether someone has passion for what they do. But the …
What Does It Mean When a Tech Analyst Talks About People More Than Technology?
I’ve been attending a lot of talent management-related conferences recently, and that means that I’ve gotten a heavy dose of hearing everybody’s favorite HR technology analyst, Josh Bersin, speaking here, there, and everywhere. This has been an enlightening experience. As someone who has been covering the talent management space for a long time, I’ve heard Josh speak quite a bit …
Hello 3-Day Weekends!
If you’ve been in the workforce for 20+ years, you probably grew up thinking working longer hours meant you were more productive, or helped you advance your career. I spent many years arriving at and leaving an office in darkness. Microsoft has put a bit of data behind the fact longer hours do not equate to higher productivity (or happiness). …
Adjusting Your Attention Is The Key To Getting Great Results
If you run a coffee bean company (which I do), expect more bags of beans to be sold and when Barry complains about doing more work (e.g. more bags of beans to fill), you will need to listen. If you recruit and hire people (which I do), expect that someone (e.g., other Barry) at your client company will spam your …
Leaders: If You Are Not A Great Listener, You Are A Great Pretender
Being an active listener is hard. I work as an HR consultant/trainer for some incredible firms (including KinetixHR, Recruiting Toolbox, and naturally, Dawn Burke HR). Whether conducting training for corporate leaders, HR pros, recruiters, hiring managers, or coaches, there is one significant obstacle all face and struggle to conquer – active listening. My eight year-old-niece would say, “a-doy.” My husband …
The Office Halloween Party Rules!
Is your office dressing up for Halloween? Mine isn’t. It’s not that I wouldn’t. Okay, I wouldn’t. But if others wanted to, I wouldn’t say “no”. I mean everyone has that one person in their office that’s a little way too excited over Halloween. I get it. I have kids. They lose their minds at the thought of free candy and dressing up. But you’re …
Human Resources – Is it Really Human? Really?
I’ve been thing about this since I saw the book Humanize in 2012. The book was written by Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant who run Human Workplaces. About that same time, I started blogging and tweeting using the #humanize hash tag. I thought I had started doing that before I saw their book, but memory is such an unreliable thing …
Addressing the Side Hustle
I recently listened to a podcast of one of my fellow FOT team member’s Let’s Fix Work podcasts (which are awesome Laurie, by the way) that was titled Why the Side Hustle is Failing You. The premise of the episode is that side hustle is something that’s been inappropriately glorified by Gary Vee and others, and that it actually can …
Sweet Lies About Work and Other Final Thoughts from HR Tech 2019
Editor’s Note – FOT Contributor John Hollon is on the ground this week reporting from the HR Technology Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas How do I know I’m at an HR conference? I know when I hear Marcus Buckingham giving a keynote speech. To put it another way, if Josh Bersin is everyone’s favorite HR technology analyst, Buckingham may …