Deep End Talent Strategies

As a human resources consultant, I am often asked the question, “how do I engage my employees and retain top talent?” I find folks are often disappointed when I tell them that there is no silver bullet list of team building activities that will improve engagement.

In today’s agile business environment, leadership has become an increasingly flexible structure as projects are frequently tasked to individuals without formal titles or authority. The days of the solid-state organizational chart seem to be falling by the wayside and thus you may find yourself in a situation where you are tasked with leading a project or team without direct supervisory authority. These opportunities may leave you asking yourself how you will lead successfully in lieu of a title. Never fear, here are some real-world solutions to help you lead without authority.

One would think that the “digital natives” in the workforce would make the transition to remote work seamlessly and without much trouble, but contrary to popular assumptions, the opposite has been true. A recent survey showed that only 47% of Gen Z workers and 40% of Millennials feel that they are productive and able to get their work done while working remotely, while over 60% of Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers felt productive and enjoyed working from home. Millennials and Gen Z workers are reporting higher levels of anxiety and sleeplessness over older workers and over 62% of younger workers feel their work/life balance has been adversely affected by remote work.

The interview is your company’s first impression for a prospective candidate, and how it is conducted can say a lot about your workplace culture. Unfortunately, most companies don’t require any formal training to conduct interviews and, even worse, often task their most junior employees with conducting them. An untrained interviewer likely doesn’t have the skills to ask effective questions, draw out unrehearsed answers, or know what to look for in a candidate, and that can end up costing you thousands of dollars in hiring mistakes.

We heard a lot about joblessness rates in 2020 with record or near record unemployment across industries. Voluntary turnover got less airtime but prepare to hear much more about tenured employees changing jobs in 2021. A study published in late February 2021 by MRA, an employment organization for thousands of small and mid-sized companies, reported that for the first time, employees with 5 or more years of service are leaving organizations at a faster rate than their peers. We historically worried about turnover in employees under that 5-year mark

Your workplace culture can either lift your company up or drag it down. With the wrong culture, you will struggle to attract and retain the best employees. A winning culture will mesh with your values, business, employees, and customers.

In part two of our Imposter Syndrome series, read about the common types of imposter syndrome and the ways it is exaggerated by social media.

Some forms of conflict require advanced facilitation, and others can be worked out by open dialogue and a little time spent together to work through differences. An everyday activity used in business can be applied to conflict resolution: Start, Stop, Change. Sometimes referred to as “Start, Stop, Continue” or “Stop/Delta,” internal team members can run these meetings to bring issues to the forefront and lead a group through articulating a path forward.

Does your company have a mission statement? Vision statement? What about company values? And tell the truth-do you think they are necessary or cliché? I have been on both sides of that fence. Let's talk about the What, Why, and How of writing these for your business.

It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of the population (that’s more than half of humanity) experience a feeling of fraudulence at some point in their lives. This nagging feeling of doubt has been found to be extremely common, not only amongst famous personalities but also more ‘ordinary' individuals, who are often classified as high achievers themselves. This so-called phenomenon is commonly known today as Impostor Syndrome.

This week marks the first anniversary of Deep End Talent Strategies (DETS), and what a year it’s been! The traditional first-anniversary gift is paper to symbolize writing a new chapter in life. I am proud to have written a new chapter in my personal and professional life and helped many others do the same. I set out to create a business that bridges the gap between employers and employees, providing HR consulting services to small and growing businesses AND career services to individuals in transition. People I know and trust gave well-meaning advice like, “If you chase two rabbits, you won’t catch either” and “You need to choose-you can’t successfully service the B2B and B2C worlds.” Anyone who knows me for more than a minute will attest to the fact that all you must do is tell me I cannot do something, and it is game on! Despite some well-meaning but misplaced caution and a global pandemic, I also had unwavering love and support from my husband, family, friends, and colleagues. Reflecting on this first year has been a lot of fun.

We rely on technology and processes to fill critical positions. The use of both allows us to operate lean and, when set up well, can provide a better candidate experience. Humans being human can disrupt our flow. The science is continually refining the systems to reduce disruption. The art is looking up from the computer to face the disruption, see it as a human being, and ask what their behavior says about the person’s fit for that role. I'm sharing a recent experience which was truly a gut check moment for me as a recruiter. The line between between following directions and taking initiative is thin.