Human Resources

Selecting Winners – Part 1

What constitutes a good employee – a real “winner”? Many people think there’s one profile for a position or one set of criteria cast in stone: “This is a winner.” But that’s just not the case. Winners are unique to your organization. Here are six steps to selecting a high-performance employee.

An Introduction to Human Resource Management

With employee loyalty at an all-time low, really savvy companies recognize that people have never been more important to business success than they are today. One very practical means of emphasizing and maintaining our people as a valued resource is to establish, as most organizations have, a function known as human resources management to represent the best interests of our employees and thereby of management as well.

Introductory Thoughts on Strategy in an Organization

What is strategy? Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes in “Exploring Corporate Strategy” define strategy as follows:

“Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of the marketplace and to fulfill stakeholder expectations.” This practical article contains an overview of how strategy can be adopted and implemented within your organization to give you a competitive edge.

What is Company Culture?

A company’s culture is its personality. It tells people how to do their work. It takes its signals from leaders. It underlies motivation, morale, creativity, and marketplace success. How do you manage it?

The Basics of Writing a Good Job Description

When you are asking someone to perform a task, what you want done and what he or she thinks you want can often result in two totally different outcomes. This is easily compounded when brought in to the workplace. However, once a job description is in place, it offers both the employer and employee the clarity, focus and expectations for any position and, in doing so, eliminates this problem. Of equal importance, clear job descriptions help employees to work smarter and become more effective, thus increasing an organization’s effectiveness.

11 Common Mistakes Employers Make

Let’s face it—as employers focusing in on business, we can too easily lose sight of the rocks and potholes that can come our way with our employees. We think things are moving along well and WHAM! someone shares his or her distress over something or someone in the organization. These types of issues arise from a vast array of reasons, many resulting from a lack of clarity or focus within various areas of human resources. Below are some mistakes employers make that only expand and exasperate the people-problems within an organization. Being aware of these bumps in the road may help you avoid them and keep your organization on the right track.

The Top 10 Things Employers Do to Get Sued

To adapt a quote from the well-known 18th century literary critic Samuel Johnson, the road to being sued by an employee is oft paved with good intentions. Whether it’s agreeing to an employee’s seemingly reasonable scheduling request, simplifying the payroll, or just saving a little money, an employer’s good intentions easily can lead to lawsuits.

Here’s a list of the top 10 things employers often do with the best intentions, along with the reasons employers are likely to get sued for doing them.

A Model for Strategic Leadership

Are you a duck or an eagle? A person often does well communicating on an individual basis when outside the work place. However, one tends to fall dramatically short in relational intelligence when on the job leading and managing others. To be successful, leaders/managers must first look at whom they serve and then apply the areas of strategic leadership to bring together their leadership character with the methods of the organization. These four areas of Strategic Leadership should become the road map for all interaction with your people on the job.

Termination for Cause: Some Important Considerations

In today’s morally relative society, understanding the legal guidelines for terminating employees for cause has become increasingly confusing. As leaders, we are to treat all people the same as we would want to be treated, exuding dignity, respect, compassion and integrity. However, we are also to treat people differently when they are poor care-takers of their given responsibilities. On the job, this can include discipline up to, and including, termination.

Following a termination there is no way to guarantee that an ex-employee, even your best friend, won’t sue his or her employer. However, through a display of good character coupled with sound procedures, a leader can allow the employee to maintain his or her dignity throughout the discipline/termination process and, in turn, lower the possibility of litigation.

The Orientation Process…Clarity and Focus for the New Employee

Once an applicant accepts a job offer within your organization, the first few weeks working can be both a fearful and uncomfortable time for the new employee. One role of both administration and the manager is to take away that fear and bring new employees to a point where they can begin to trust and believe they are an important part of their new employer! How can this be achieved? Read on to find out how you can bring clarity and focus to your new employee.

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive

The book is written as a story to portray the management principles of the favored executive. Some of the principles are clear in the story, but most are better explained by the text which followed. Read on for a summary of the points making most sense to me and having the greatest impact:

Summary of Legal and Illegal Interview Questions

This helpful chart indicates questions that are unlawful to ask at an employment interview. Many states have similar rules. Please call us if you have any questions or need additional information.