The Best Books of 2015

We, at Horizon Point, love a good book or two. Here are our recommendations for you to consider for your 2016 reading list and/or ideas as gifts to give this holiday season: Mary Ila’s recommendations: For help shaping your New Year’s resolution: Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith. Goldsmith, one of the best executive coaches in the world, helps you understand that most of self-improvement isn’t necessarily about starting something, it is about stopping something. He gives a simple method for analyzing and measuring our daily behavior in order to see positive habits form which lead to results.We use this process in our leadership

A personal account of performance management that works… and doesn’t

My take on performance management is quite different than it was 10 years ago. I once worked for a company that basically rewarded all employees for their continued employment, and performance was not really taken into consideration when we all received a 5% raise. Regardless of how fabulous of a job I was doing or how not-so-fabulous my co-worker in the cubicle over was doing, we both received the same reward. This was not motivating me to be a better employee nor was it motivating for my mediocre colleague. Fast forward well over a decade. Not only has the world

How Simulated Work Environments Can Drive Performance in the Classroom, and Ultimately the Workplace

Continuing with our theme this month, we wanted to reflect on performance management in another arena – the classroom. After all, students are future employees and shouldn’t performance management in the classroom prepare them for performance management in their future careers? First, I want to share a thought from a local employer when asked about industry needs concerning current and potential programs that are developing the future workforce. The quote reads: “While there appears to be attention given to communication and employability (skills), these areas remain our greatest problem. We are looking for hard working individuals with a strong work

Basic Feedback/Feedforward Stuff

One of the best ways to improve and sustain great performance at work is to ask for feedback and to give it, freely, continuously and in the spirit of driving better performance. Here are some posts to help you out with this quest: 6 Steps for Maximizing Feedback Through Feedforward Drop Lots of FYIs to Communicate Effectively Goal Setting – Feedback 3 Steps for Driving Employee Engagement through Personalization

You Go Jennifer Lawrence- Girls, Know and Stand-up for What You’re Worth

Jennifer Lawrence, Hollywood’s highest paid female actress still doesn’t make as much as her male counterparts. And she’s pissed. But who she is pissed at may surprise you. She’s mad at herself. You can see more on the story that aired on NBC Nightly News last week here: http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/jennifer-lawrence-speaks-out-on-hollywood-s-gender-pay-gap-543867971910 Kudos to Jennifer. When we can take ownership of the issues that affect us personally, then we are on our way to fixing them. Blaming others doesn’t help the situation. Women (and men) knowing what they are worth is a critical step in that ownership, then being willing and able to