How to Handle Mental Health Issues in the Workplace

I had a reader send me a suggestion for a blog post a little over a month ago. It said: “With the terrible shooting in VA yesterday, maybe an article on how HR can better handle identifying, coaching, counseling & later termination of disgruntled employees if coaching is not effective. I am sure HR departments are concerned about their own employees. Just thoughts.” With all our content written for the month, I told him I’d add it to the roster even though this shooting would be old news. The sad thing, though, is that I silently thought there will be

Why does employee engagement matter?

I’ve been rambling on this month about how to drive employee performance.  If you missed the run-down so far, you can check out the posts here: What You Pay Does Matter 3 Steps to Winning A Best Place to Work Award 3 Steps for Driving Employee Engagement through Personalization But why does it matter? Why would you or any organization want to pay competitively, win a great place to work award and/or drive employee engagement through personalization. We’d argue first that it is simply the right thing to do. But this reason alone won’t keep you in business. However, doing

5 Questions to End the Slow Painful Death of Death by Meetings

In a leadership training class on communication in the workplace, I had one participant tell the group that meetings at his company were the biggest waste of time. When probed as to why, the basic gist of it came down to two reasons: 1. No one knows why the heck a meeting has been called and/or why they need to be there 2. Nothing results from the meetings Because of this dialogue as well as other feedback we had received, we started incorporating a segment on effective meetings into our standard Communication Outline lineup. Whether you are dealing with these two

2 Steps to Keep People from Quitting

Do you know the number one reason why people quit a job? It’s not for more money or better benefits or advancement opportunities. People may cite these factors as a reason for leaving in an exit interview or casual conversation, but what most likely led them to look elsewhere in the first place is because of a bad boss. As a Harvard Business Review article stated, “Studies have consistently shown that having a bad manager or a poor relationship with one’s manager is a top reason an employee quits.” Yep, most likely your number one reason for turnover is bad

Leadership Tips for Teachers: Leading the Next Generation

Back to the classroom! As summer is coming to an end, teachers and students are gearing up for another school year. While school supplies and new sneakers are on the list for back to school, we encourage teachers to consider adding sharpening their leadership skills to the list. “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” Sheryl Sanberg   What a great motto for teachers to consider! In your quest to lead the next generation, we recommend the following leadership tips: Build relationships with your students. Be