Unfortunately, employee related scams are constant these days. From interviews with employees and/or companies who aren’t what they seem to emails that include malicious links to fake websites that hope to trick individuals to provide sensitive information, there are lots of opportunities to be scammed. Have you talked with staff about scams? Do you have any processes in place to try to prevent or educate your staff from being tricked? It’s easy to think we know what to look

Frequently in organizations, managers make a rush to judgement, extolling bad attitudes, horrible decisions, and any number of problematic employee actions. In my early career, I would hear these stories and be immediately outraged, frustrated that employees would act in such unacceptable ways. Over time, however, I learned that perception is in the eye of the beholder, and often these “horrendous” acts, were simply misunderstandings or misinterpretations of events. While it

Have you thought about the talents that need to be developed in your company and the possibility of upskilling your staff? Do you work with them to find out what they want to study and encourage them to continuously learn and grow! Or are you too busy with day to day needs to worry about the future? Not encouraging learning and upskilling is short-sited and will cause issues down the road. If staff aren’t constantly growing and learning new talents, they’re more likely to

Today is Women’s Retirement Security Day, dedicated to improving retirement outcomes for women. For various reasons, women’s median 401k is reported as significantly lower than men’s as women contribute less to retirement accounts. There are plenty of reasons, including the gender pay gap, more time away from work over the career span, longer life expectancy, along with other factors. So what does this mean for you and your staff? Concern over personal, parental and offspri

Do you have bullies at work? Is it possible you could be the bully or an enabler? There is a lot of drama in the world these days and it can seem more acceptable to be rude or to yell or to treat fellow employees poorly. But if that’s going on in your organization, you should rethink that type of culture. People tend to be less than their best when they’re frustrated, nervous or afraid. If you have someone in your organization with a short fuse, what damage are they causin

There are times in most of our lives where we need mental toughness to get through whatever roadblock we’re facing. Projects that are difficult for various reasons, physical exertion or illness that strains our bodies, or even difficult choices we make at times require us to find some mental resources that we may not even realize we have. In order to call upon that mental toughness, we need to hone the skill and determine how best to enhance it. Working with our staff to mo

We often think of entrepreneurs as individuals starting their own companies. But staff can be entrepreneurs in the organization they already work for! While being an entrepreneur typically involves assuming personal and financial risk, the key aspect in being an entrepreneur is in driving economic growth and innovation. We all want that within our organizations, and not all individuals want to assume the financial and personal risk involved in branching out alone. So what d

As managers, it’s important to live in the moment. Life is flying by at a rapid pace for most of us, and it’s easy to lose track of time. Living in the moment allows us to enjoy fleeting moments of opportunities that can provide meaning, spark creativity and/or encourage laughter, things we can all use. Remembering to pause occasionally is a good lesson for our teams. Getting too caught up in our projects or tasks can mean we lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish.

Most of us have worked for someone who was great at part of their job, but when promoted to a leadership position, it was clear they were bad people managers. Not everyone should be put in a leadership position. Many people don’t want it, but they do want to move up in an organization. Often they see that as one and the same, thinking they may not have a choice but to take a management role for career growth. Individuals who aren’t good with people or don’t want to manage i

As managers, it’s easy to look at our role as coach or teacher, but there are always things we can learn from our staff, encouraging a culture of curiosity and reciprocity. While we may have more experience or are potentially skilled in different areas, staff have unique perspectives that provide opportunities to learn new ways of approaching problems. Work with your staff to encourage brainstorming and alternative viewpoints. Let staff take turns taking charge of ongoing me

Have you discussed emergency savings with staff? Do you and/or they understand how important it is to have some money set aside for unknown expenses? Does it seem impossible for you or your employees to identify “extra” money these days to use for that purpose? It would be nice if we could budget our expenses without having to worry about unexpected needs, like car or house repairs, illness, etc. Unfortunately, we don’t have crystal balls that tell us when we’re going to n

We’re bombarded on a daily basis with news of people behaving badly towards each other, so we need to promote and practice kindness in our lives and with our employees. What does that mean? When you walk into the office each day or log on for remote work, do you greet the people you see all the time or do you just get right to it? Do you ask how they are and mean it or do you pay no attention to any response and just move on? When you’re having a tough day, do you take it o

What does it mean to make an accommodation for an employee and when is it appropriate? Since April is Autism Awareness Month, it’s a good time to address the general issue of accommodations as many managers shy away from the idea. Accommodations are appropriate and reasonable in many cases and don’t have to be difficult. Often the hardest part is establishing a culture making it easy for the employee to bring up the need and then determining what works best for both parties

We all have times of adversity that can do anything from sidetrack us momentarily to changing the course of our lives. It’s important to acknowledge adversity and the effect it has on us and those around us. When our employees face adversity, managers should do what they can to be supportive. It’s easy to take for granted our daily tasks and schedules and go about our work without appreciating the good things we have. In addition, we may take our staff for granted, expectin

We’re getting closer to the summer months, and many have already planned time off, but what can you do as a manager to encourage employee PTO for those who don’t take breaks? As managers, we’re often guilty of feeling pressured to work 24/7 and may ourselves not take the PTO to which we’re entitled on a regular basis. What kind of message does that give to staff and what is that doing for our mental health? And when our staff ask for time off, do we show frustration at the

Time flies by and days run together, so how do we motivate staff on an ongoing basis? How do you continually prevent jobs from becoming rote and encourage new ideas and processes? First of all, don’t assume your staff are happy. Even those with long tenure may surprise you with unstated frustrations. How are you getting feedback from staff? Do you have an environment of trust where feedback is meaningful? Or are you likely to get no comments or misleading ideas that don’

What’s it mean to plan forward with staff? We spring forward with clocks and plan our summer travel, but why should we plan forward with our employees? It’s easy to get caught up in daily requirements and the lists we have of tasks that we must complete to simply get by, but if we’re not keeping our head up and our eyes forward, the days fly by and we often look back and question what we’ve actually accomplished. Each day should devote some time to looking forward and not do

There are times when absenteeism and tardiness are valid and unavoidable. But what happens when these “unavoidable” issues arise frequently? They can be a sign of burnout or lack of motivation, or other warning signs. What should you do about absenteeism and tardiness? First, don’t paint them all with the same brush. If you have an employee who’s suddenly having an issue getting to work on time, pull them aside and ask if there’s something that could require an adjustment.

The word “accountability” gets thrown around a lot in business. We all like to think we’re holding ourselves and staff accountable, but are we? Does your staff know what you expect on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? Do they know why? When someone doesn’t meet expectations, do you address it or try to hide from the information? Of all the issues I’ve seen in business over 30+ years, failure to hold employees accountable has caused the most problems. Why is accountability so

We all like to think we’re indispensable, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need a succession plan. Have you thought about what that looks like and how you’ll get there? Most of us want to encourage our staff to move forward and learn and grow in their roles, but until you start seriously planning skill development, you may not cultivate the specific knowledge and talent needed when you have an open position. Look at your staff and identify potential abilities and areas for gr