Dec 31, 2011
How To Choose The Best Staff For Your Small Business
Have you heard of Airbnb? Hoteliers may well have a dartboard with their logo on it, since this relatively young Internet startup has cut into their business by acting as a sort of agent for privately owned apartments across the world. The service allows the apartment owners to rent their empty apartments to holiday makers at a rate much cheaper than most hotels, but still allows the apartment owners and Airbnb to turn a tidy profit. Being a young and trendy company, Airbnb has hiring practices to match. Some positions require you to prepare a...
read moreMaking Social Media a Policy
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. Tumblr. The time has come for companies to embrace them instead of push them away. I’m not talking about using them for business purposes, I’m talking about implementing an HR policy that these must be used. Right about now most of you are saying, “Those have been proven to be time wasters in the workplace, terrible idea!” Well, you’re absolutely right. They do tend to waste a little bit of time, but they also spark collaboration and creativity. At the end of the day, that’s a tradeoff that...
read moreGuide to Encouraging Your Employees with Friendly Competition
It is said that the greatest asset of a company is its employees. Finding new, quality, productive employees is time consuming and expensive. Retaining the employees you already have is much more cost effective. One of the easiest ways to do so is by making the workplace a fun enjoyable place to be. One bonus to making the workplace fun is that you can do so while increasing productivity by offering fun incentives for friendly competition. The following list is merely a starting point but offers some great suggestions on ways to encourage your...
read moreLeveraging Collaboration Software for Business Results
Do you know what one thing all the companies out there have in common? They all have employees and they all have problems caused by poor organization. It’s understandable, because when all the tasks are scattered across whiteboards, meetings and post-in notes, emails and Skype sessions companies suffer from such problems as: budget overruns, missed deadlines, priority confusion, poor visibility and so on. Luckily, most of these problems can be solved by implementing workflow collaboration software. Before we dig into all collaborative...
read moreAre We Managing Talent or Stifling It?
Many of you know that I am not a fan of buzz words or the latest corporate fads. The term “Talent Management” falls into this category. More and more companies are hiring Managers of Talent Management which is just another term for recruitment. Talent management refers to the organization’s commitment to recruit, develop and retain the most talented employees available to form a high performance workplace. This sounds wonderful in theory. The problem with this statement is that the most talented people are not interested in...
read moreFive HR Red Carpet Moments
The Golden Globe Awards serves as an inspiration for this article. As I write this article I watch stars with glamour and shine walk on the red carpet. Crisp tuxedos, beautiful gowns and gleaming smiles approach the red carpet with anticipation of what is yet to come. There is a “mani-cam” available to show off the jewelry and manicures. Really? Anyway, I digress. Highly visible Human Resource professionals work diligently day in and day out balancing the needs of employer and employees. Unlike celebrities we do not have stunt body...
read moreWhen Less Is More: 3 Ways to Get to Less
Recently I facilitated a workshop for a team of leaders. While the planned topic wasn’t to be about communications, turns out that’s where we headed. The workshop was simple, though not necessarily easy. Our goal was to affirm common purpose, identify the top five most important things going on, and to make personal commitments for next steps. Having run many similar leadership workshops in the past, I generally find that the first part of the workshop is like running on asphalt pavement; we had good traction. While not always the...
read moreWhen the Going Gets Tough…
…and Keeps on Getting Tough. This post is not about politics- it’s about business. No matter how the election turned out Tuesday, there was going to be a response in the markets and several astute experts were predicting that it was not going to be an uptick. Markets react to uncertainty; stock markets as well as consumer markets. Prices fluctuate based on emotion as well as rationale. The greater the uncertainty, the greater the volatility. What can you do about it? As a small business person or entrepreneur, there is a lot...
read moreSeven Lessons From the Shark Tank
Have you ever had to pitch an idea or strategy to the C-Suite just to see it get shot down? Perhaps it was an employee engagement initiative, a recruitment strategy or an HRIS investment. Shark Tank is a TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors. Some entrepreneurs successfully obtain a deal from investors. While others become shark bait, so to speak. There are similarities between Shark Tank and the workplace. Entrepreneurs work to persuade investors to spend money on their idea. Leaders work to persuade C-Suite members...
read moreYou Could be a Status Quo Thinker
If you utter the words “that is how we’ve always done it,” You could be a status quo thinker. If your key policies or procedures are dated two decades ago without revisions, You could be a status quo thinker. If your first inclination to a new idea is to figure out how it can’t be done, You could be a status quo thinker. If you stop with “what is” is good enough versus “what could be,” You could be a status quo thinker. If you are a manager, director or leader and can’t think beyond the job description to influence things...
read more