The current labor shortage isn’t short-term – now what?

This article was published as part of the Denver Business Journal Leadership Trust, an invitation-only network of influential business leaders, experts, executives and entrepreneurs. I’ve spent a bunch of time over the past few months trying to make sense of the labor shortage. There are a plethora of causes for this situation, but the bottom line…

Happy and Engaged Startup Team

How will you keep your employees engaged this year?

Thoughts on keeping your employees engaged and happy in this market Happy New Year!  We’ve roared into 2018 with a lot of momentum – that’s great news!  I am hearing that the tight labor market is absolutely having an impact on companies of all sizes and in all sectors.  Some of you may not have…

Managing Performance

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…

Millennial woman working in an office

6 ways Millennials are changing your workplace

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…

Happy Employee at this desk with a sticky note on his forehead that says "Be Happy"

Creative employee retention strategies

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…

Do you have C Players on your team? Sophisticated yet basic logic for managers

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…

Compensating Sales Positions in a Changing Industry

As a search consultant I have the unique opportunity to talk with many executives across a number of industries and in companies of all sizes.  I gather a bunch of information each year about the shifts in compensation, benefits, fringes and perks.  One of the hardest positions to accurately compensate is sales.  Inside sales, outside…

10 ways to increase employee loyalty TODAY!

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),…

Show your new hires some love

Retention starts before their first day! An effective onboarding program can have a significant impact on your ability to retain great people, help them get up to speed quickly and contribute productively – sooner.  The key is to make each new team member feel important and help remove those new job jitters as quickly as…