Many employees long for leaders who can solve workplace problems—from flawed systems and procedures to inconsistent policies and managers. They want their leaders to see through the trees and attack forest-sized issues, with the discernment and authority to fix them one by one. While this sounds great on the surface, employees who report to problem-solving leaders cite challenges that dwarf the problems themselves....

Designing an effective onboarding experience requires some trial and error, and you can hone your approach by asking new hires some specific questions at each phase of the onboarding journey. Although new hires are usually ramped up to productivity quickly, taking time out to address these questions will provide valuable information, a sense of investment and caring, and the perception that continuous feedback is respected...

Set audacious goals, and don't start the mentor relationship until you commit to these six steps. I recently Googled the word “mentoring,” and immediately noticed three things. One, it remains a trendy topic. Two, most everyone who writes about mentoring provides a definition of what mentoring is. And, three, many of them want to sell you a program on how to make mentoring work. Sadly, however, I notic...

This week, I received an email from one of my LinkedIn followers in response to a recent episode I published of my Finding Brave podcast. While I don’t know this individual, she shared openly and emotionally about her situation about how she’d been terribly mistreated and, in fact, bullied in her latest job by her manager who was a director and also, later, by the head of HR, after she quit and gave a short noti...

You’re going to have to be more flexible and more giving than ever as an employer in the current economy, but it pays off. If you are looking to retain good employees, join the club. Every smart leader knows that a cohesive, enduring group of workers is the rock on which you build new ideas, new ventures, growth, and all the rest. So I think we can agree that, once you’ve got people you trust who are doing g...

You worked late on a project with another team, and the project manager didn’t even bother to thank you. We have all had the experience of going out of our way for someone only to have our efforts dismissed. Why does it bother us so much? This type of behavior is especially irritating because what everyone wants from other people is empathy. We all want to be recognized as unique individuals and to know that other peo...

Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was made up only of people who are just like us, who like us, and who think exactly the way we do? Well, no. Because (1) we’d be wasting iconic truisms like “opposites attract,” and (2) it would be monumentally boring, and (3) it would be just plain un-American. Anyone in a leadership position ought to have as a goal–especially here in the U.S. with our na...

I love millennials. I’ve built my career on helping companies successfully integrate younger generations into their workforces. I’ve defended millennials against those who seek to bash them, and I deeply admire their drive to improve the workplace for all of us. I am happy to be a contributor to the many conversations—at conferences, in the media, and inside organizations—about “best practic...

If you talk with enough people, you're bound to come across some very interesting scenarios. Jim Webber conducted thousands of job interviews throughout his career as a human resources manager, and he joins Tim Muma to share some of the more disastrous conversations. These anecdotes aren't only meant to entertain and frighten, but to give the listeners an understanding of what NOT to do in an interview. Jim also shares his...

This year, Netflix released a wildly popular new program called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. In the series, Japanese organization expert Marie Kondo visits the clutter-heavy homes of selected American families and helps them tidy up using her now-famous KonMari method. The springboard for this media sensation was Kondo’s worldwide best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Even if you haven’t r...