Giving Access to Unexpected Coaches. I recently had two nice events to attend and decided new earrings were in order. I’m not too fancy, so I was studying the ones in racks on the counter at Nordstrom. It was easy to pick the first set. I was contemplating the second when the salesperson came over.

I didn’t hire Joseph to be an employee, but it was for an important role. The place where I had been getting my hair cut for years closed, which started me on a search for The One. That’s The One who could understand me and tolerate me. Although I don’t have that much hair, patience

Overreactions are common in today’s world. One wrong word and someone is in HR complaining. What is acceptable with one person isn’t with another. Or even riskier, what was acceptable yesterday isn’t today. It’s obvious that careers of the person complained about can be damaged, but what many people miss is that the career of

To understand why employee engagement is a precursor to strategic planning, let’s look at what real engagement looks like, using two powerful examples.  The first time I saw real engagement, I didn’t know its name. I was a few years out of college and in my first HR management job, working for a satellite manufacturing

Compensation is hot. Why? There is an intense desire by many organizations to make sure their pay practices are equitable and fair. In fact, it’s so hot and moving so fast that the organizational necessity of being competitive is sometimes getting lost. Oyster is building equity and total comp analyses into almost every project. That

The Problem Have you ever worked hard to do more or less of a certain behavior to then discover that no one really noticed? When you try to quit smoking, what are you told to do? Instead of going outside on breaks and smoking with your friends, you are encouraged to engage in alternative activities

Yes, this is one of those trick questions. You can find equal support for either side. No, middle managers will be more important than ever. Yes, with working from home becoming more of the norm and virtual teams, AI, and technology taking over, middle managers are redundant. The real answer is that the role of

Everyone learned about flattening the curve during COVID-19. But there’s another curve too many people ignore and if we’re not careful, it will flatten us. It’s the age curve. One hundred percent of the individuals we coach who are over 45 worry about age discrimination. But it’s the wrong worry. They should really be worried

I want to share a few surprising and recurring statements that should make senior leaders in two industries pause – the third one is courtesy of Covid-19. Together these statements demonstrate the type of disconnect that can be reflected in organizations of all types and sizes. We hear these statements from employees, managers, and even

There is a lot of worry in the US over the Coronavirus. Both organizations and individuals need to exercise rational thinking, rational planning, and rational communication to weather this storm with a balance of caution and practicality. As of today, there are signs of irrational thinking all around us. Organizational leaders play an important role