One of our favorite clients requested that we come in and conduct “sensitivity training” for employees. According to Wikipedia, sensitivity training “is a form of training with the goal of making people more aware of their own prejudices and more sensitive to others.” The client wanted to make sure that employees understood how to conduct themselves around each other and customers and to understand the legal standards around discrimination. Of course, we at Horizon Point aren’t very good at conducting your standard, run-of-the-mill employee training that revolves around an instructor standing at the front of the room telling you what you
Last month, we focused on introverted leaders and the characteristics they naturally exhibit that all leaders, introverted or extraverted, should strive to emulate. If you recall, extraversion and introversion can be defined as: Orientation of energy E EXTRAVERSION Energized when you are with people Talk out your ideas First you live it – then you understand it Enjoy the interaction Breadth of interest and direction of focus INTROVERSION I Energized when you are alone Reflect on your ideas before vocalizing First you understand – then you live it Enjoy the concentration Depth of interest The interesting thing about the three
At the recommendation of the Alabama Society of Human Resource Management’s Wellness Director, I downloaded a copy of Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter. The book describes the five essential elements of wellbeing (in order of importance) to be: Career Social Financial Physical Community The authors emphasize how each element is intricately interwoven with each other. Here are some tips for maximizing work wellbeing by seeing wellbeing from a holistic perspective: Don’t be a workaholic. “While you might think that people with high career wellbeing spend too much time working, they actually take more time
We’re working on a compensation project now with a company to redesign their exempt salary structure. When thinking about how to best design a system, it’s important to realize there are two key factors: Internal Equity– Are you paying people fairly compared to what other people within the organization are making based on the knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role? External Competitiveness– Are you paying what the market demands for certain knowledge, skills and abilities required for each role in order to recruit and retain people? Basic steps to consider when designing a compensation structure: You gotta do
We used to think leaders were born, not made. Now we know through training, coaching and mentoring the skills needed to be an effective leader can be learned. However, there are certain leadership situations, company cultures and team dynamics lend well to certain types of personality traits (“born” characteristics) that individuals possess that make a person more effective in their leadership role. One of the most common personality continuums discussed today is introversion/extraversion. A rundown of the dynamic can be seen here: Orientation of energy E EXTRAVERSION Energized when you are with people Talk out your ideas First