What If You Were Mystery Shopped?

One of my clients is a small retail chain in North Alabama. Each month I send out an email communication to their store managers and I always include an article that I feel is relevant to their business to give them some food for thought. This month the topic was “If your store were mystery shopped, would you pass?” and the article included a sample mystery shop survey that has 35 questions. I challenged them to “shop” their own store and be brutally honest in their answers. Would they pass the test? And if not, what can they and their

Leaders, Expect the Unexpected!

“Expect the unexpected.” -Zig Zigler During a recent hike on Rainbow Mountain with my three boys and two dogs, I was gently reminded that even when you expect the unexpected, you can be caught off guard. Multiple times during our hike when my oldest was leading the way, I reminded him to go slow and watch out for snakes. Then about half way through the hike we stopped to take a break. The boys sat down on a large rock and I sat down about ten feet ahead of them. Almost as soon as I sat down, I heard the

Marketing Your Core Values and Culture

How does your company market your core values and culture? What do candidates see when they look at your website? Are your values and culture emphasized during the hiring process? 76% of candidates want details on what makes the company an attractive place to work. (Glassdoor survey, October 2014) Nearly 80% of Millennials look for people and culture fit with employers, followed by career potential. (Collegefeed, March 2014) 77% of job seekers go to Company Websites to look for jobs. (Gallup State of the American Workplace Report 2017) If you’re not marketing your core values and culture, you may be

Consider Cultural Contribution when Hiring

“Don’t let your organization become a cultural museum. Stop emphasizing culture fit; start valuing culture contribution.” – Adam Grant, author of Originals During a recent phone interview I had a candidate ask me how the organization I was recruiting for (who is currently going through a rapid growth period) planned to keep their culture intact as they grow. I explained that the company goes to great lengths to ensure that they are not only hiring the candidate with the right skills, but also the candidate who will best help to carry their culture forward as they grow. Most job interviews

Mental Health in the Workplace… What Can You Do?

Recently I talked about authenticity during employee hardships. With recent events in the news, including the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I wanted to dive deeper into how employers can help employees in need. Mental health is an ever-growing concern in our nation. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness: Approximately 1 in 5 adults (43.5 millions) in the U.S. experience mental illness in a given year. One in 25 of those Americans suffer a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. 9% of adults