How do you attract and retain over 50s talent?
As we lead longer and healthier lives, the reality for many of us is that we will need to, or indeed want to, work longer than previous generations. However, despite this, ageism in the workplace continues to hold people and businesses back. Ageism at work largely ignores the many positive attributes mature-age colleagues bring to…
Do nothing? Fire the staff member? Throw in the towel and sell the business?
George has a small manufacturing plant he bought six months ago because it had good revenue and came with some real estate. However, he didn’t know much, if anything, about the industry. The previous owners kept everything in their heads and had very little documentation. George quickly realized that customer orders were being lost, there…
Building your team the right way is essential for your company's long-term success
The three most common reasons startups fail are having the wrong product, running out of capital and having the wrong team. Today, I will focus on building your startup team. How do you attract, build, and expand your team as a startup? How do you keep them engaged, creative, and focused on tasks? How do…
Competitive salaries, fitting benefits, flexible schedule, value-based hiring, and creativity
“We just can’t find anybody qualified to do the job for us.” This is a line I hear regularly in working with clients lately. In some parts of the country, there’s a drastic shortage of labour. That’s putting a strain on the ability of many leaders to fill spots in their organizations with qualified staff.…
Treat them the way they wish to be treated
Bill Toppeta, a former executive officer of MetLife, Inc., once told the Fordham Leadership Forum, “What you need to know as the leader is what motivates your people, not what motivates you.” To bring this philosophy into reality, here is the simple yet revealing exercise Toppeta used: He would distribute a questionnaire to managers and…
It doesn’t take much to make people feel left out
Naomi Eisenberger, a social neuroscience researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), designed an experiment to find out what goes on in the brain when people feel rejected by others. She had volunteers play a computer game while their brains were scanned by fMRI machines. Subjects thought they were playing a ball-tossing…
Before jumping into a team-building session, ask yourself if it really going to resolve the issue
Leading a team requires a skill set that is completely different from that of managing direct reports, the people who work directly under you. I have worked for leaders who were great at galvanizing a team but ineffective one-on-one, and amazing bosses who were terrible team leads. Actually, most of the people I’ve worked for…
Tackling culture requires the same approach you apply to any other business problem
I once sat with a small group of business owners who wanted to talk about culture. For each of them, culture ranks as one of their key human resource worries – how to shift their culture in a meaningful way, or maintain a culture they see as critical to success. One of the advantages –…
The whole employee rating process is a recipe for disaster
I was 23 when I got my first promotion to Acting Assistant Labour Relations Manager in the UK’s Health Service. My boss’s gift to me was my one and only report, Megan, 20 years old, grumpy, difficult and the department’s secretary. My first task in my new position was to deliver her end-of-year review. My…
And watch your business go down the drain
A lack of productivity is a serious concern because the more it costs us to produce something, the less competitive we are in the global marketplace. And the less competitive we are leads directly to fewer jobs, diminished earning power and a lower standard of living. The usual explanations as to why we struggle with…
Attitudes and beliefs equal character, while values and competencies equal competence
Sitting just alongside the attitudes and beliefs of an organization is a companion set of attributes that round out the cultural blueprint. It is represented by: The Values: espoused and held to be important. The Competencies: nurtured to drive performance and build talent. It is a pretty simple formula – so simple that many seem…
It’s a dangerous myth to believe there is a trade-off between safety and profitability
It was a small terraced house in a northern English city. The young couple did not look old enough to have a son in our apprentice programme. They gave me a cup of tea and I sat down on their sofa. There was no TV, just some chairs, a picture of their son and the…
Employees don't quit their companies; they quit their bosses
Contrary to popular belief, a low salary is usually not the primary reason for quitting a job. Statistics predict that most career-builders won't be working for the same company a decade from now. They're likely to have at least two more jobs. Even though frequent job changes often have a lot to do with variables…
It's time to change the view that managers will simply learn "on the job" and experience comes with "practice"
Let us ask a few simple questions to help illustrate our point. How many hours of driving school does the average teenager need before they get a licence to take your car onto the road? How many hours of flying time does a pilot need before they are fully licensed to fly an Airbus or…
Accurately evaluating human potential is critical to long-term success
The mining industry has long known the importance and value of good geology and sound prospecting. It understands how operating performance is inevitably linked to the location of the ore body and the "grade" of the ore being mined. The same thinking, skill and science need to be used by every organization in order to…