Category Archives: General

Turn The Ship Around! (Book Review)

I was very excited to read my copy of�Turn the Ship Around! How to Create Leadership at Every Level by L. David Marquet (here on Amazon). I actually found out about the book through a random link that I followed on Twitter. The link led me to a video interview of the author, and it excited me enough to hunt down the publisher and request a copy of the book.

At its core, this book is about changing the leader-follower model to a leader-leader model. It’s written by a man who spent years in the military (which is probably the most pervasive user of the leader-follower model of any organization you’ll find), so it instantly sticks out as an innovative idea.

A sampling of ideas from Turn the Ship Around Continue reading →

Jolt (Book Review)

When I ordered a copy of Jolt: Get the Jump on a World That’s Constantly Changing from BookSneeze (here on Amazon), I didn’t know what to expect. I ended up with a book containing an interesting blend of leadership, change management, and religious topics.

I’m openly and unabashedly a Christian, so that last part wasn’t really an issue for me, but I know that some people are not big fans of that sort of thing. That said, there were a few parts that I did enjoy.

What I liked Continue reading →

HR-Quality Standards from ISO Prep

hr quality standards

How does your quality measure up?

Where HR and quality standards meet

Last week I had to participate in a training session led by our all-star Quality Management Specialist, and she helped me to understand how our ISO preparation is going to impact the HR-quality side of things. I hope to discuss more of them in the future, but the one item that stuck out for me was the 5 Whys technique for digging into quality problems. Basically you keep digging through the use of “why” until you find the root cause. Here’s an example:

  1. We have a problem with turnover. (Why?)
  2. Because we are hiring people who are not qualified. (Why?) Continue reading →

Flexible Work-How I Do It

I work for a small company and have the flexibility to change my work schedule, work remotely, and do a lot of things that would have been unheard of at some of my previous employers. In fact, that flexibility is a great benefit that we offer our staff that doesn’t have a set price tag (hint to the big HR/marketing companies out there: I’d love to have some data on how much people would accept in less salary for the opportunity to set their own work schedule).

As you know, I also blog (duh) and run an online business. I use a handful of tools to help me get everything accomplished, and I thought it might be helpful to discuss some of those.

Productivity tools Continue reading →

Ethical Dilemma? Ask This Question

Recently I attended a training, and the speaker offered a great piece of advice that I have taken to heart.

Before you make the ethical decision that you’re considering, can you see yourself defending it from the witness stand in a courtroom?

Ouch, but true. When we sometimes are sliding into those gray areas around employee relations and other “soft” parts of HR, it would be smart to keep that in mind.

Ever had to defend a decision in court? How did it go?

Don’t Let the Economy Impact Your Career

Slow and steady wins the race

I am going to speak frankly today. Some of you will hate it, and others will appreciate it. Ya can’t make everyone happy at once, so here we go. :-)

Recently I received a copy of a survey that indicates 43 percent of workers believe their careers have slowed down and it will be harder and will take more time to achieve career growth as a result of the economy.

My initial thought? Those 43% of people probably wouldn’t be successful even if the economy had been booming.

In case you didn’t know it, people all over are getting better jobs, earning more than they ever have before, and really winning in their careers every single day. And they don’t give a darn about any recession. Why? What’s the difference? Continue reading →