Tobacco use is the most common substance use disorder in the U.S. Between 8% and 18% of healthcare expenditures, depending on smoking prevalence, are attributable to smoking. Most smokers want to stop, and each year about 50% of all smokers…
Tips & Tricks Archives
Fail Fast and Take the Heat Out of Failure
I recently met with a client responsible for organizational development in the financial services sector who was seeking ideas, information, and input from ImagineNation towards cultivating a “fail fast” organizational culture. It caused me to explore what might be some…
Sometimes You Need to Eat the Frog Later
We’ve all heard or read that it’s best to jump on your toughest tasks early in your work shift, using as a guide this famous aphorism: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen…
Feeling Overwhelmed? Take a Focus Break
The human resource leader’s role is rapidly evolving with ever-changing technology. Many of the responsibilities which formerly fell to HR departments have become automated. Chatbots answer employees’ questions regarding company benefits. Employees may be responsible for enrolling themselves in health…
Hiring Wisdom: Easy, Low Cost Ways to Improve Your Hiring
As you know, employee referrals are one of the least expensive, most efficient ways to recruit job applicants. Better than that, referrals who are hired are more likely to be above-average performers and stay on board longer because they already have a…
4 Pieces of Advice from One Working Mom to Another
Since the greatest gift you can give a working mother is time, I will spare you a long introduction. After reflecting on the one-day-a-year mothers are publicly acknowledged, I thought it would be helpful to share what I have learned…
What to Look For In an E-learning System
Once a corporate training alternative, e-learning services have become the new norm. Managers appreciate the way they streamline coaching; employees like educating themselves in the most convenient way possible. It’s no wonder global e-learning has grown by more than 900% since…
Let HOPE Build Your Culture
When it comes to the complex topic of culture, all you can do is hope. In my experience with some of the largest companies in their respective industries, hope is the flawed strategy most commonly deployed. Sometimes the strategy of “hope for…
Need Tech Talent? Look South of the Border
In today’s competitive economic environment, businesses are defined in large part by their talent. This especially rings true in the fast-evolving technology field, where the race to the next big innovation is on. But finding and holding onto tech talent…
5 Ways to Make It Safe for Others to Speak Up
The reality of hierarchical social systems is that people hold deeply ingrained, taken-for-granted beliefs that it’s dangerous to speak up or disagree with those in power… It’s up to leaders to foster the climate of psychological safety required to overcome…
With Practice and the Right Approach, Feedback Can Be a Gift
Annual performance reviews are controversial. Some people praise them in public, but most hate them in private. For starters, they are a waste of time — that’s why many companies are ditching annual reviews. Also, research shows that they make…
5 Steps to Developing a World Class Sales Training Program
The following is an exclusive excerpt from Sales Enablement: A Master Framework to Engage, Equip and Empower a World-Class Sales Force. Tamara Schenk and I co-authored this book to explore the exploding business function of sales enablement. Sales enablement has…
You Won’t Get It If You Don’t Ask
Carol Sankar’s DisruptHR talk may be focused mostly at women professionals, but what she has to say about your first job is good advice for everyone: Ask for what you want. Don’t do what she did when she was offered…
What HR Must Do In Case of Bankruptcy
Probably the worst thing that could happen at work, even worse than your bagels being stolen from the communal fridge, is the news that your employer has become bankrupt. As an HR professional, not only do you have to come…
Don’t Wait For December, Pay Bonuses Year Round
If you’re like most companies, you probably already give annual bonuses to thank and reward people for their work throughout the year. Except, there’s a problem: A yearly bonus isn’t always the best way to do that. For starters, it’s…
Do You Have a Culture of Stress? Here’s How to Tell
This article is excerpted from Tom’s recent book, The Stress-Reduction Pyramid: A Guide to Managing the Greatest Threat to Employee Health and Productivity. ∼∼∼∼∼ It’s Monday morning, and you’re standing at the edge of a swamp. Looking out, you see…
Show Your HR Value With ‘Pain Point’ Metrics
One of the trickiest parts of providing HR services is that the better you do your job, the less visible your work is. When everyone on a team is happy, fulfilled, and engaged, the business can operate as the founder…
Are You Marketing the Wrong Recruiting Message?
“Mr. Ron, my problem is that I do not understand how my offer does not cause people to want to work for my agency.” My follow up question was, “What is your offer? He boldly said, “We offer you the…
Where Did We Go Wrong with Leadership Development?
Most of us seem to intuitively understand the connection between leadership and success, because collectively we invest a lot of time and money in self-help classes and books intended to improve our leadership skills. In 2011, the self-help market in…
Confused by All the Software? So Is Everyone
If you strive to keep up to date with HR technology, you’ll continually run into new categories. For example, there are a whole host of vendors who offer tools to enable video interviewing hence “Video Interviewing Software” has become a…