Successful, profitable organizations are able to offer competitive pay, flexible hours, and attractive benefits. It is much easier for those organizations to attract, recruit, and secure top talent than it is for organizations that offer average or below average compensation packages. Naturally, organizations that offer competitive salaries are also able to retain their employees longer and experience lower turnover. But is that always a good thing? When it comes to compensation, too much of a good thing is possible.
Numbers Don’t Lie: Making the Case for Employee Development
Does this scenario sound familiar? You identify a common skills gap within your team and express your concerns to HR/Leadership. They agree and say they’ve seen a similar issue. You ask for support/funding to train your team. You know they need it, and HR knows they need it, but senior leadership is reluctant to allocate the necessary budget. After all, they just spent tens of thousands on an updated virtual video library for their LMS. Often, identifying the skills gap and the training/coaching solution is far easier than getting budget to fix the issue. Additionally, using a basic ROI equation … Read More
The One Unacceptable Uncertainty
“There is nothing certain, but the uncertain.” – Proverb The term VUCA has gone from a trendy corporate buzz word to a common expression of the unique challenges presented in the workplace today. VUCA is an acronym that stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. In other words, “Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” The term originated in the military sector and has been adapted to organizations faced with newly complex conditions including rapid global expansions, technological disruptions, shifting demographics, etc. In a VUCA world, the leaders who get it right aren’t the ones who are the … Read More
Seven Universal Soft Skills Everyone Should Master
A 256% net return on investment—it’s the holy grail of training outcomes and easier to achieve than you might think. A study conducted by Boston College, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan found that soft skills training does NOT create soft results. The study showed that even minimal time investments in each skill (5-12 hours) boosts productivity and retention 12 percent and those results last up to 9 months.
Seven Things Leaders Should Do Every Day
I’ve never heard a leader complain about having too much free time and not enough work to do. To a large extent, that’s the nature of the 21st century workplace (do more with less), however that’s also the nature of a leader’s personality. When there’s always work to be done, it’s often easier to focus on a revolving to-do list and answer the barrage of incoming requests than to take charge of the day. Here are seven things all leaders should do daily to keep the ship on course:
6 Ways to Break Through the Wall of Learned Helplessness
Progress, change, transformation and innovation are all plagued by one organizational culture virus that inhibits growth and success—Learned Helplessness. When leaders and team members alike shut down all new ideas with responses like “It will never work,” “that will never get approved,” or “I wouldn’t even bother…” it’s clear that they’ve given up the hope that anything will change. Learned Helplessness is a phenomenon that was originally studied in a lab. Psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier used the term to describe the behavior of dogs who, after experiencing inescapable electric shocks behaved as if they were helpless. They stopped … Read More