Can You Really Reduce Turnover?

Guest blog written by: Steve Graham Conversations around reducing employee turnover, also known as talent retention, have been around since work began.  Even though the topic is not new, the challenges facing employers and their approaches to reducing turnover is.   Generational attitudes about how long a person remains at one job has dramatically shifted. For decades, people identified a career or found a job and they stayed with one employer until retirement. One reason for this shift in tenure, is how the modern career path is navigated.  Many of the foundational thoughts on “career” do not apply in today’s workplace.

Bullying Doesn’t Just Happen at School: Workplace Bullying

I recently saw an article about a nine year old boy in Denver who took his own life after being bullied during his first four days of school. My youngest son is eight and I can’t imagine him ever feeling like his only choice is suicide. When my oldest was in elementary school he was bullied by another child at his daycare. While he has always been a very headstrong child, the bullying continued to the point where he had put up with enough. Together we sat down with his martial arts instructor, who is phenomenal at working with children

6 Ways to Design Your Performance Management System Around Company Values

“….In other words, only 10 percent of organizations have be goals (what Andy Stanley means by a set of values that guide our decisions) effectively integrated in their daily practices. Mind you, many organizations write about their mission, vision and values in their annual report, but that’s only lip service unless those be goals are integrated into their recruiting, training, evaluating and promoting. How can an organization claim that its be goals are important when none of its leaders’ performance evaluations or pay is based on adhering to those values.” I was recently in a meeting talking about performance management

How to Move Your Goods to Greats

Our previous post, “Leaders, Focus on Moving Your Middle – Play Offense, Not Defense”, emphasized the importance of focusing on moving your middle majority to high performers. But how do you do that?  How do you get your good players, or your B players, to become A players? They all can’t be converted, but those who have usually have a leader that: 1. Sets high expectations.   This comes in the form of setting challenging goals and holding people accountable to them. 2. After high expectations are set, the leader then provides Assurance and Confidence.  This involves saying things like,  “I know we’ve

How to Know When to Fire the Prima Donna

How do you know when to fire the prima donna? You know one when you see one. Before you can define exactly what a prima donna is, you can name one. In the flesh. And they have most likely made your work life hell at some point or another. Prima Donna – noun: “a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as a part of a team.” Merriam-Webster What do you do when faced with one?  Or, how do you get leadership to realize there is one in your midst?   For a variety of