And how to handle them.1. The C Student—whose performance is tolerable but really needs to be much better.Before the meeting: Think through what the person is doing right as well as what you want to see improved. Then consider what you know about what motivates her—and if you don’t know, plan to find out during the evaluation.During the evaluation: Start with the positive. Talk about which parts of her performance are accep...

My first job after graduate school was working for the federal government in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). A few months into the job, a woman air traffic controller sued her boss and co-workers in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for creating an offensive, intimidating and hostile work environment at the tune of $1 million dollars. She alleged that they sent pornographic photos across the screen of her...

Published in OD/Leadership News March 2007Developing the leadership skills of managers across your organization creates a wealth of new opportunities and a common language of leadership. No single program experience builds strong leaders better than peer support groups.Peer support groups can help managers succeed more and work less. Most managers have few resources and few places to turn to get advice on marketing, strateg...

How often should you conduct a formal performance appraisal? During a staffer’s first year with your organization, meet quarterly. Once he or she has settled in and is doing well, twice a year is enough. Just make sure that in between times you talk routinely—especially after a great success you want to reinforce or a big screw-up you want to correct. How long should an appraisal meeting last? The basic answer: as long as i...

In the bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, "the good-to-great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality."And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of his time on people: recruiting new talent, picking the right people for particular positions, grooming young stars, developing managers, dealing with under performers, and review...

Typical managers spend nearly 40% of their work hours in meetings, not to mention the time spent preparing (and recuperating). A survey of business leaders showed:33% of time spent in meetings is unproductive75% of the respondents said it is “almost essential” to have an agenda, yet they use them only 50% of the timeOnly 64% of meetings achieve their intended outcomeA disciplined approach to making the most of meeting time...

Your organization’s continued growth and success depend on making smart choices and hiring the right people. Today’s economy is exploding with talent, allowing you to be selective about the staff you hire. Yet, the crucial step to filling a position is finding the right talent for your organization – someone that has the skills for the job, easily blends with the culture, interacts well with the team and believes in your...

Published in HR Keystones July 2006Forget what you heard about “being one of the boys,” “having it all,” and “going for the jugular.” Here is how real women get ahead.Get In LineAccording to Catalyst’s 2002 Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners, women fill less than ten percent of line positions held by corporate officers and just 5.2% of top earners at Fortune 500 companies are women. Is there a correlation? A...

How can you ensure good audience behavior? Simple, "work" the audience ahead of time! When you warm up the audience, they are receptive to you and to your presentation. What do you have in common with your audience? Maybe it's your profession, your community, your membership in an organization or they could be on your Board of Directors. Or maybe it's a sales presentation to potential clients.Introduce yourself. Look at the...

One of the responsibilities of a human resources professional is to let employees know that their jobs have been eliminated. It is hard to give the news and even harder to receive it.Just recently, I was involved in communicating a large layoff to employees at a Fortune 500 company. I met with one woman tell her about the career transition services she could take advantage of. The woman was in shock and murmured several tim...