You get the mass email from HR and feel a familiar dread - "Has it already been a year? Performance management time again?" At a minimum, you probably have to write your self-appraisal and goals for the next year. If you have people reporting to you, you have to write appraisals and goals for them as well. That means more work for you, without any more ...

I was at a summit of Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) and one of the most common challenges they mentioned was the need to demonstrate a return on investment from training. Unlike investments in "hard" assets like facilities and equipment, investments in "soft" skills through training can be hard to calculate. At budget request time, CLOs can ...

You see the upcoming meeting on your calendar and feel a familiar dread. "Has it already been three months?" Of all your meetings, this is the one that takes (wastes?) the most time. How many people attend these meetings? How many people-hours does it take to put the slides together each time?

When done well, Quarterly Busi...

According to a recent survey by LinkedIN, the top two challenges for US employees are "finding a work-life balance" (38 percent) and "managing their workload" (31 percent). I too struggled with these issues in my career. Then I learned these five powerful tips to manage my workload and work/life balance from five very different places.

"The twentysomething generation is balking at work... Why are today's young adults so skeptical? They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder... Companies are discovering that to win the best talent, they must cater to a young work force that is considered overly sensitive at best and ...

What skills are the most important for employees and job seekers to develop?

In 2016, the World Economic Forum -- the group behind the annual conference of leaders in business, politics, and more in Davos, Switzerland -- posed this question to Chief Human Resource Officers and other senior talent and strategy executives...

Hank joined your team six months ago. You hired him because his résumé was great and he projected high levels of competence and confidence in the interview. He was clearly the best candidate for the job. The only warning flag you saw was from your calls to Hank's references. While they confirmed the glowing results on his résumé you ...

Lake Wobegon is a fictional town in Garrison Keillor’s long-running radio show A Prairie Home Companion where it is jokingly said “all the children are above average.” While I am conversationally-dangerous enough in statistics theory to explain how this is possible – hint: average of what? – the point of the joke is insight...

Do you have regular one-on-one “check in” meetings with your staff? Done effectively, those are invaluable ways for you to manage your direct reports performance and provide them with developmental coaching. Done poorly, they can be a inefficient use of time and even counter-productive and demotivating. Applying a little structure and process to these regular one-on-one meetings with...