I recently read an article by George Bradt about the Academy Award winning movie Whiplash, where, JK Simmons plays a music instructor who crushes his students’ confidence by demanding impossible musical perfection while opposing one student against the other. Brandt directs the reader to correlate Simmons’ teaching with pushing an employee [...]
With Spring finally here, many of us are poking our heads outside and breathing a collective sigh of relief. It's been a real burden of a winter for many of us across the country and the promise of sunshine and new growth is certainly welcome. In the spirit of the season, [...]
Great humor can be found in bad management. Hollywood and pop culture has certainly capitalized on workplace rituals and the absurdity of particular management styles. The Office seems like it will always be relevant and let’s not forget about my personal favorite, the 1999 classic, Office Space. The comic strip Dilbert, [...]
Whenever I discuss career goals with young adults, I emphasize that life is a journey, not a race. They frequently respond that things change and are done differently than I did when I was beginning my career. While this isn’t the point I was trying to make, I agree with them… [...]
Recently, I’ve asked some of our clients “do you have defined career paths for your positions?” Some say their employees’ career is their own responsibility, others say that they provide a structure for their staff in an effort to succeed. What’s the right answer? Honestly, it depends. Today, more and more [...]
Looking for your missing piece? Just as Shel Silverstein’s incomplete circle searched for something to help it roll smoother, faster and more confidently, I suggest you consider adding emotional intelligence training to your leadership development program – – in particular, using the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) assessment tool. It could be [...]
HR Advisors Group has been focusing on leadership development and the importance of organizations making investments in this area. I attended the American Waterworks Association’s (AWWA) Annual Conference last week in Denver, Colorado and participated in a series of topics on “Workforce Strategies that Really Work.” One of the speakers talked [...]
Michelle Bennett is the People Manager, Americas, for GHD, Inc., www.ghd.com a global engineering, architecture and environmental consulting company. Ms. Bennett provides oversight and HR responsibility for the 1,100 GHD employees located in multiple offices throughout Canada, Chile and the United States.
Knowledge retention is a huge issue right now for organizations, both in the public and private sector. One of the things that I have found, especially with the proliferation of social media, is that we now have tools that allow us to collectively learn from each other, communicate and share knowledge [...]
Last week I attended a workshop on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Just as in past years, I was amazed at the accuracy in which it was able to provide insight into many facets of my personality and the personalities of those who are different from me. […]