As you manage an employee through the progressive discipline process, your ultimate goal is focused around offering the employee as many opportunities as possible to improve performance in order for him or her to have a successful career at your organization. Performance feedback conversations, written warnings, and performance improvement plans are some of the tools used to give the employee an opportunity to improve and the resources to achieve a successful result and ultimately meet the expectations of the organization. Unfortunately, there may come a time in your career where your efforts to manage performance do not result in the desired outcome and you find yourself asking “now what?”

Thank your employees, or coworkers, 365 days a year. It seems like a simple thing to do. Find something - anything - one of your direct reports or coworkers has does well on the job and compliment them about it. After informally polling a random sampling of friends, coworkers and family members, I was not surprised to find the vast majority of people answered affirmatively that they do not do this. The most common response back to my informal poll was, “I don’t compliment my coworkers 365 days a year, but I try to do this as often as possible.” While this is a good start, and with the impending holiday season is upon us, it got me thinking: how can we all thank the people we work for, and with, every single day of the year?

In the last several years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of employees requesting the ability to telecommute. Given the technological advances that have occurred to promote web-based collaboration in the workplace, it seems that telecommuting is quickly becoming seen as a standard to the current workforce. Telecommuting is defined as a working arrangement in which employees are able to work from a location other than the normal worksite and utilize technology to complete their work and communicate with co-workers, customers, and managers. Stepping into the world of telecommuting can be intimidating for an organization. You may find yourself asking how you even begin to transition into the telecommuting world. Consider the following when determining the parameters around your potential telecommuting program.

Have you ever considered an Up or Out personnel policy? While traditionally used in the military and academics, I recently had a client shift their career development approach to an Up or Out policy in order to attract, retain, and motivate high performing individuals.

I love fall. The crisp, cool air reminds me of walking to basketball practice in sweatpants and a hoodie, and I get excited! At the time I was just having fun, but looking back I realize how much I learned from sports that can be translated into life and into business. Coaching is one of those things.

Let's face it, during the months of September through February, football is on nearly everyone’s mind around the office. Employees are talking about their favorite football teams, how the teams rank against one another, their Fantasy Leagues, and the scores from Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night’s games. Sounding familiar?