The end of the school year brings final exams, award ceremonies, parties, and best of all, summer. My boys have been counting down the days. And with their countdown comes the usual question I face every year. “What are we doing this summer?” I always try to do fun things with them throughout the summer that they will each enjoy. But with three boys ranging from 9 to 15, that’s not always easy. Their interests don’t always match up. What my nine-year-old finds thrilling, my fifteen-year-old finds more boring than watching paint dry. So this year, I’m putting the decision
In our last post, we discussed strategies for retaining talent in a difficult labor market. Hopefully, you’ve focused efforts there, but most likely, you also need to figure out the best ways to recruit talent. Here are some ideas for doing so: 1. Expose Yourself! Exposure is a key problem in attracting talent, especially for B2B companies. Developing programs that expose people in the community to your company and jobs are important. We aren’t all Apple and Google. You can do this through partnership with schools in your area, marketing campaigns, involvement in community and charitable endeavors and by giving your
Written by: Steve Graham As a coach, I often work with clients who are needy for knowledge. They desire to grow professionally and often feel stuck in their current work environment. It is no secret that when an organization values developing their people, the benefits for both the employee and organization are numerous. The benefits often include: lower turnover, increased engagement, and a smarter workforce. Professional development goes beyond cookie-cutter training programs. It involves a deeper commitment to learning. Learning can take various shapes within an organization. It can be organic, formalized, personalized, or on-demand. Whatever the shape, the approach
In a difficult hiring market, it is hard to think about adding another layer to your hiring practices that potentially screens people out instead of in. As one hiring manager said to me last week, “I just need people with a pulse.” But one reason why you may be hunting for people that are alive and not much more is because you aren’t hiring the right people to begin with, so turnover is a challenge and a cost to you in more ways than one. If done correctly, assessments can be a valuable part of your hiring strategy. To maximize
“Mom, I made a connection!” we hear our son say quite frequently now. We didn’t teach him about “connections” so someone at school must be talking about paying attention to be able to make connections between information and learning. For example, a couple of weeks ago they read a book about Rosie an Engineer and then “engineered” a plane to see if it would fly. He loved it- the building the plane part, not the reading ☺ This past weekend, he was playing in the front yard and came running in. “Mom, Mom! Come outside, I need to show you