Ignoring a bad reputation won’t make it go away I was working with a client a few weeks ago who was struggling to find, attract and hire the people she needed to help her company grow to the next level. She had historically hired junior level talent and paid them reasonably for their skills, but…
Leading Forward means looking thru the windshield instead of the rear-view mirror The end of the year is a tough time to be a leader. You’re crunching numbers for the new budget, trying to figure out how to get everything accomplished with limited funds, and you’re probably calculating “rewards” for your employees for their efforts…
No longer an annual event Naturally, I am fascinated by how businesses operate and what management styles work in certain situations. Recently, I have focused my attention on how postindustrial age hierarchy is not working and what that means for companies who are conventional in their human capital management structure. Early in my career I…
Focus on strengths, not on weaknesses I had the opportunity to attend Gallup Accelerated Strengths training this summer. It’s something I’ve had on my wish list for a few years now and it finally bubbled to the top. The experience far exceeded my expectations, and I’ve found myself very tuned into daily conversations in a…
For the better! This month I’m going to take sides in the generational debate. I am really tired of hearing how lazy and entitled millennials are. I get the opportunity to work with brilliant young professionals every day and I believe that the struggle lies in the fact that we are trying hard to make…
Earn their loyalty now – before someone else buys it! If you haven’t had to do any hiring lately – CONGRATULATIONS! If you have, then you know how very difficult it is to find great talent, not to mention the task of employee retention. This is may be the wildest market I’ve seen – in…
You’ve gotta get your hands dirty! Now that we are enjoying a healthy economy and companies are growing again, I am seeing new leaders take the reins, and I’m also seeing experienced leaders struggling to retain talent. I believe a major reason leaders lose their key players is that their “command and control” style of…
The credit for this month’s article goes to Don VanWinkle. Don is a management savant, master of small business finance, and generally brilliant man. I have been honored to know him as a friend, mentor and banker for more than a decade. Don and I were having lunch a few weeks ago and one of…
And most of them don’t cost a bunch OK hiring managers here’s the deal…..your employees aren’t loyal. They will take the recruiter’s call when it comes and if someone were to offer them another 5k-10k in salary they will probably leave. The classic loyalty programs are gone or fading – pensions (gone), 401k contributions (dwindling),…
Unless you’ve been underground for the past few months you’ve probably noticed that businesses are feeling more optimistic about the economy lately. This is especially true in the Rocky Mountain Region. There is a significant uptick in hiring happening in just the last few weeks. This activity is also being felt by your employees –…