As your organization scrambles to complete year-end performance reviews, ask the question “Why are we doing this at the busiest time of the year and who benefits from this approach?”  What you may find is that your process is not serving your organization and your employees very well. It might be time to rethink your approach to performance management. 

One of the most difficult tasks of a leader is to maintain a team of A players.  Steve Jobs once famously said “A players hire A players and B players hire C players.”  Research has shown that A players outperform B players 2x on essential tasks and 10x on creative tasks.  So why do so many leaders live with mediocre talent on their teams?  

As leaders it is the small actions that can have large impacts. Think about the last time you greeted your employees or customers in the office lobby or at the front door to your retail outlet. If you have never tried it, go for it. That small gesture will have a lasting positive impact. Learn how the actions of one school leader model the behaviors of a great leader.

As a former leader that I worked with always said using the military term, you want “Fewer soldiers, better fed”.  A headcount freeze is an opportunity to increase hiring not freeze it.  The problem is that too many organizations mix up the intent versus the impact.  It is important to be very clear on the goal.  If the goal is to freeze employee expenses (salaries and benefits) at their current level, then a headcount freeze can achieve the same result as a hiring freeze, but in a much more effective manner. 

The key to being a great actor is to be yourself.  Acting is not about impersonation, it is about originality.  The same concept holds true in the business world.  As a leader, the most important attribute you can bring to your job is your authenticity.  There is no one else like you in the world and that is what makes each of us special and different.  Too many people spend their working lives trying to be like someone else or adjusting their personality and approach to “fit in”. 

Cost cutting has become a standard operating procedure for many organizations, but there are hidden costs in cutting costs.  Culture suffers the most and the cost to a culture might be ireparable.

Stop trying to block the exit door. Instead, focus on getting your employees engaged in opening new doors within your organization.

One of the biggest issues facing many our Groove Management’s clients is employee retention.  Turnover is up across the board.  Voluntary attrition rates continue to climb because the job market has heated up.  Employees are recognizing that there are a lot more opportunities in the marketplace than have existed during the past eight years.  With the aid of LinkedIn and other socialrecruiting tools, recruiters are doing a better job of identifying passive job seekers.  The end result is that companies are struggling to hold onto their top talent.

The toughest interview question I ever faced was frustrating at the time, but turned into one of my greatest career learnings.  

An engaged workforce can dramatically improve an organization's performance and conversely disengaged employees can be the poison that ruins an organization.  Many organizations, especially large ones run an annual or bi-annual employee engagement survey to measure the level of engagement in their organization.  If designed properly and administered well these tools can provide a good gauge of employee engagement.  

Action learning programs exercise the strategic muscles of an organization, build leadership capability, drive employee engagement and improve business results.  Why not trust your strategy projects to your high potentials?

Smartphone icebreaker for team meetings.  Easy to setup and a fun lesson on the importance of perspective.

Not only was Oscar de la Renta a progressive fashion designer, he was also an insightful leader who recognized the importance of creating a succession plan.  Too many creatives allow their egos and sense of self worth stand in the way of creating an organization that can carry on in their absence.  Oscar de la Renta was unique in this regard.  We can all learn a lesson about just how fashionable succession planning can be from Oscar.

What really makes superman great is that he is a self-aware leader. He knows his strengths and he leverages them in his quest for peace. He is also fully aware that kryptonite is his weakness. Self-awareness is a strength that all great leaders have learned to leverage. Superman epitomizes a leader who knows how to leverage his strengths. Superman’s super power that very few talk about is his awareness of his own strengths and weakness.

A paradox exists in most large companies.  The larger the organization the more risk averse it becomes.  This makes little sense, but it is commonplace.

5 interview questions regarding generational diversity that were posed to Brian Formato, CEO of Groove Management.

Workplace culture is like a living organism constantly evolving. The introduction of a new employee or the departure of an employee can change the dynamic of an office culture. Too often the leadership of companies overlooks the importance of culture to organizational performance. Work styles and personal preferences have been studied for ages. 

By providing a daily visual, the leaders could see that they were being measured against their colleagues.  This graphical view of response rates translated into a 97% response rate for one business unit and helped push the enterprise response rate over 90%.  

A new approach to talent management.  Forwardfill.

An interview with Brian Formato from Groove Management about the changing requirements for success in the Human Resources field.