upstartHR

Month: June 2011

  • Benefits of Performance Appraisals

    The benefits of performance appraisals are tough to argue with. Conducting performance appraisals helps to decrease uncertainty about job requirements and manager expectations, opens the door for training and development opportunities, and offers a chance to reinforce positive behavior. Yet even with all those benefits, annual performance reviews are still despised by many. Let’s see…

  • Annual Performance Reviews

    Annual performance reviews are an interesting phenomenon. In general, each party involved is less than thrilled to participate in the process. Managers feel like it’s a waste of time. Employees are wondering if they are going to get rated poorly. And HR, we feel like we’re herding cats by pushing both parties together. I have…

  • Performance Review Series

    In the coming weeks I’m going to be running a series of posts on performance management. I have had a few ideas rattling around my brain recently, and as I’ve been gearing up for our midyear reviews at work, I felt like it was the right time to get it all together. We’ll discuss the…

  • Leadership in the trenches

    Our July NASHRM program is going to be very special. We have a speaker coming to talk about leadership, teamwork, and how it applied to his situation as a prisoner of war. Mike Durant, speaker, veteran, and CEO, is going to take us through his experience and share some lessons about how it applies to…

  • Getting hit by a bus-the importance of succession planning

    Last week I attended a NASHRM luncheon called Growing and Buying Talent for Tomorrow, and it focused mainly on succession planning. I thought it sounded interesting, so I went to the lunch meeting. Little did I know that it would raise some interesting questions that I hadn’t considered before. Sure, you think about the usual…

  • 4 reasons you don’t need a social media policy

    Every once in a while I hear someone talking about needing a “social media policy” at work. Ugh. If you know me at all you’ll instantly guess that I’m against such things. I would rather offer training instead of more regulation. Here are four reasons you probably don’t need a social media policy at all:…

  • How to Kill the Status Quo

    This session at ALSHRM was amazing. It was unlike the rest of the day. No slides, just a conversation among the attendees and speaker, Dale Dauten. Below you’ll find a kind of stream-of-consciousness post full of great quotes and thought-provoking ideas. Enjoy! Dale did a little prep work before the session by polling the attendees.…